D&D heroes routinely face down monstrous foes, but mundane beasts can give them significant and interesting challenges as well. In this vein, Critter Cache 3 offers eleven basic types of beasts, each with several variations, giving you a total of twenty-seven distinct creatures. The lore and stat blocks do a good job, as far as I can tell (I’m no zoologist), of translating these real-world creatures and their fantasy kin into D&D 4e stats. However, since publication of this bestiary predated Monster Manual 3, you may find it prudent to adjust the hit points and damage expressions to bring them in line with current standards.

I was disappointed by the Monster Manuals' lack of basic animals (the indices of animals and vermin at the end of the 3rd edition MM was great). Some of the best adventure story moments come from animals, from predators in the night to circus escapes or the savage pets of arch-villains, so I was pleased to find this product aiming to partly fill the gap.

Content: The product covers a decent range of animals, mostly theoretically tropical species, but there are a couple of tundra species (woolly rhino and mammoth) and most could be readily adapted to other climates. I was especially pleased to see frogs, eagles and weasels in there, which are a bit more unusual as monsters, but much easier to slot into a game without extensive planning than some of the more dramatic beasts. Not that I don't intend to use those as well! Several monsters are useable as mounts, so I was pleased to see a table of mount costs and carrying capacities as well. On a slight downside, some of the more obvious creatures (big cats, apes and elephants) either are or will be in the Monster Manuals, though having extra versions available won't do any harm.

Presentation: Goodman Games stick with the familiar Monster Manual format, which is clearly presented, with the usual encounter groups and tactics sections. There were a few minor editing mistakes, irritating to people like me, but I haven't spotted anything that would affect gameplay (although it does make me wonder if a number might be off here or there). The artwork follows the cover style of clear black-and-white illustrations; if you lust after the MM full-colour spreads you'll be disappointed, but I considered it a plus, as I imagine that would at least triple the price. As I'm looking for gaming material, not an art book, the illustrations are a bonus and the low price tag suits me fine. Some pictures are more striking than others (I get the impression Mohn enjoyed drawing the brontotherium) but nothing to make you claw your eyeballs out.

All in all, I see it as a very decent product at a reasonable price.

This book had perfect timing. I'm using the wooly rhinos in my game tonight, and definitely plan to use more of these critters later on. This (and the other books in the series) are filling in some noticeable gaps in the 4th edition monster roster rather nicely! This particular book is especially clean, well edited and nicely presented; I think Goodman Games is fast becoming my favorite third party D&D source for 4E.

Another very solid product from Aeryn and the Goodman gang. This PDF again features classic-style art from the talented Jesse Mohn (his work is really growing on me). In this installment of a series (which I have pledged to buy every one of since the first sold me on the quality of the product) of "critters" we get some very workman-like creatures. The only reason this product did not receive a 5 star vote from me was the very nature of the material did not lend itself to a lot of "wow factor". These are nuts and bolts creatures (wolverines, frogs, etc. can only be so exciting). With that said however the imagination of Aeryn Rudel comes shining through as usual (particularly check out the Olyphant's Stamp and Crushing Weight combo!). I also enjoyed the venomtoad swarm very much and look forward to using them.

This is another case where I'd be hard-pressed to send you in another direction with your $5 of gaming dough. Simply put -buy this Critter Cache and if you haven't bought the first two go back and do so for what I believe are both 5 star products!