The book is notable for being published for use with the two main endorsed campaign settings of Forgotten Realms and Eberron with many creatures containing sections explaining where they might be found in the campaign setting.
Contents
The book contained more monsters and was originally published in the v3.5 format. It is notable for its descriptions of where the monsters might be found in the Eberron and Forgotten Realmscampaign settings.[1]Chris Perkins explained: "Almost all of the monsters in the Monster Manual III are new. We didn't want to give gamers a bunch of beasties they'd already seen, and we found several interesting monster niches to fill. That said, we felt it was important to update some of the yugoloths (canoloth, mezzoloth, nycaloth, and ultraloth) to v.3.5, and we also updated the 1st edition flind, kenku, and susurrus. We also grabbed a handful of monsters from Dragon Magazine."[2]
The reviewer from Pyramid commented: "The Monster Manual III suffers from exactly the same problems that any added-on creature collection always suffer from. Many of the monsters are derivative or simply variations on pre-existing creatures. Additionally, there is the problem of springing these monsters into campaigns that have existed for months or years without them. Many creatures have a back story already added for them, allowing for as seamless of an addition to an ongoing campaign as possible, and virtually every creature lists where it frequently occurs in the Wizard's campaign settings of Faerun and Eberron, nice additions for players in those worlds. As is normal with Wizards of the Coast books, the art is routinely excellent, and the pages are well laid out and easy to follow."[1]