Add some awesomeness to your campaign: The MONSTROUS LEXICON

Always looking out for some devilishly good creatures to add to my adventures has led me to purchase the Monstrous Lexicon by Matt Rauscher and Kelsey Dionne.  I have been following Matt on Instagram for a while now and have been anxiously waiting for this book release and I wasn’t disappointed. But I do have one BIG problem now that I have it and some of my players have looked through it.  You see they not only gave all the DM’s nice new ways to terrorize the players, they also gave us some very new and very cool new playable races! So now I have players wanting to make new characters or asking if they can change to one of these new races!

Me-“But we’re right in the middle of an adventure!…”

Player-“Yeah, but can’t I be a Grooleshi!”

Me-“No, you’re a Dwarf and staying a Dwarf!”

Player-“But I want to be an elephant man! WHAAAA!!”

Me-“ugh..”

I mean, I get it. Who wouldn’t want to be an elephant type race that acquires trunks (up to 5!) as they level up and wear a gem in their forehead that gives them racial benefits?  Hum… Know that I’m thinking about it maybe I’ll make one of those.  But what about the Minotaur’s or the wolf like Lupine? In all there are four new playable races for your party to experiment with and add some deep, deep, role playing. Let’s be serious here, you’re not just going to walk into a tavern in a small village as an 8 ft. tall Minotaur without a detailed backstory and some interaction between you and the patrons. One item I will say didn’t sit quite right with me was the sizes of the Grooleshi (Elephant type) and the Minotaur.  The Grooleshi stands 7ft and the Minotaur nearly 8ft and weighs more.  I think I would have had it the other way around.  It’s just seems in my mind that the pachyderm based race would outsize all other, but that’s a very small issue in some very well thought out new races.

                As for the Bestiary what can I say but “All hope abandon ye who enter here”.  Matt and Kelsey have given the DM way too many ways to wreak havoc upon their parties.  Is that’s even possible?  Using this book alone you can really Eff-up some characters’ lives. From Dungeons to the high seas they have seen to it that no place is safe from their wicked imagination.  Seriously what do these people think about? Now not all the creatures want to eat your face off or suck all your magic out of your brain, no some are cute little moppets.  I already have players begging me to let them find a pocket dragon for their Druid. So, thanks, I have to write that into one of my adventures now to keep everyone happy.  I have to be honest I have not read every creature as of the time of publishing of this post but intend to soon.  What I have read so far is well done and stands up against any of the other bestiaries you can get out there from bigger companies and will add some very unique new challenges to your game.

                Technically the book is very well done.  I purchased the hard cover from Amazon where it is doing very well in sales.  The book itself is well made with good spine and an awesome wrap around cover art by Borg Thorvald and Rynne Siruul.  The outstanding art is done by a pool of very talented artist and along with the page layout gives this book a very professional look.  The hard work show itself in every aspect of this tome and for that it earns its rightful place on the shelf next to all my others.

The Monstrous Lexicon was written by Matt Rausher (@the_pickled_dragon on Instagram or @1Pickleddragon on Twitter) and Kelsey Dionne (@thearcanelibrary on Instagram and @arcanelibrary on twitter)

You can also go to their website for other amazing supplements for your 5E game. www.thearcanelibrary.com 

or www.thepickleddragon.com

Great job all.