Tome of beast

[j_spencer93]

So I got the tome of beast and was browsing through it. Honestly...the creatures seem cheesy to me. Maybe its just their pictures however I haven't used anything from it.
Are there any gems within this book anyone can suggest? Something new or unique that a basic Monster Manual creature can't do?

[hellgrammite]

Not sure their is that much drastically different from the MM, but it does have interesting creatures and some decent art associated with them.

Wolf Spirit Swarm seems very fun to put as a guardian type of creature, or something that lurks around in the woods.

Malakbel (demon) seems like a decent mid-level beater, since it gives off so much heat the PCs get exhausted just from being near it.

Star Spawn of Cthulhu since its quite a challenge, turns your PCs into vapor and its picture is very solid.

MBielu (dinosaur), because it will fall and it tries and crush a PC trying to grapple it (if you have a grapple prone PC.)

Rift Swine - pigs with tentacles

[j_spencer93]

Honestly, I think its the art that made me just skim the book. Felt a little ripped off at first but I may have to go back through it. three of those you named sound very interesting to me.

[Regitnui]

I can see myself using a lot of the fey, if with a bit of alignment changing, because "chaotic evil" makes little sense as an alignment for D&D fey. It wears its campaign association a little too close for an ostensibly setting-neutral book, even in the normal flavour text. The Abominable Beauty, for example, makes a great replacement for 3.5's Nymph, and I plan to use it as such.