Total Party Kill Bestiary Vol.1 Review
I originally posted this article on A Pawn's Perspective on June 4, 2020.
Sometimes you just need a really nasty monster to pit against you heroes in Dungeons & Dragons, especially when they’re past level 10. 2CGaming has you covered with the Total Party Kill Bestiary Vol. 1. This 280-page book contains over 100 new creatures, most over CR10, for your D&D 5th Edition game. This isn’t just a book of stat blocks. The TPK Bestiary Vol. 1 contains lore, creature tactics, how best to use them against adventurers, plot hooks, and more.
The book is separated into several different groupings of creatures, with some of my favorites being Behemoth Mimics, Brown Dragons, Greater Liches, Imperial Dragons, and Metallic Oozes. Each group has several different creatures contained within, each with Lore, Notes, Flavor text, Plot Hooks, Treasure, Ecology, and the stat block itself. The entire Volume is a treasure trove of information that far exceeds most bestiaries on the market.
Of course all the creatures in the Total Party Kill Bestiary are incredibly deadly. DMs with parties under level 10 won’t get much use out of the book unless they’re looking for ways to scare off their parties from certain situations. 2CGaming advertises this fact very well, as that’s the whole point of the book. Other than falling short on the number of illustrations it contains, and some spelling and grammatical errors, the book is damn near perfect.
At the very back of the book is one of the most impressive indexes I’ve ever seen. It indexes the creatures in the TPK Bestiary by classification, monsters that favor classes, and monsters that foil classes. It’s a great way to quickly find encounters relevant to the current adventuring party, and a fantastic addition to the book.
Physically, the book is really well produced. It has a glossy, hardcover with a strong binding. The pages are thick and matte, with a wonderful feel to them. The print is extremely easy to read, with no noticeable smudging or fading.
2CGaming has a really great product on their hand here, and with a bit more polishing it could have been an absolute home run. That being said it’s still an amazing book that every DM should have in their library, especially for higher-level parties.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to plan how my party is going to encounter a Mimic Galleon.
A copy of the Total Party Kill Bestiary Vol. 1 was provided free for review by 2CGaming