Disclosure: I received a review copy of this product.

At 9 pages long, This product delivers as advertised on an excellent range of simple templates that expand the possibilities for monster and encounter design. It does an amazing job at it as well, understanding the nuanced design to templates and monsters alike.

To be brief, there are diamond, eternal, ghul, mighty, missing, and two-headed templates. I won't go into too much detail, but...

Diamond- This makes the monster into a living diamond. Physically tougher, and able to make slashing attacks. I'd worry about the players trying to sell the corpse of a diamond anything, but it's not too hard to put the kaibosh on that.

Eternal- This makes the monster immortal, as in can't be killed. Though this worried me at first, it was handled with a great deal of care and attention, addressing in the description the need for restraint from the GM. I wish that more products did this, treating GMs with respect rather than handing out powerful rules and hoping we know how to handle it off hand.

Ghul- This makes a monster into a ghoul, in essence. This is a great addition to the standard "zombie" and "skeleton" options when making undead. Best of all, it lets the creature be a thinking undead, which is rare for a simple template.

Mighty- Here is my favorite. It makes the creature amazingly powerful, more so than say a combination of the "giant" and "advanced" templates (though putting all three together might be fun, if used responsibly). I'd see this as a good way to leverage a creature as a boss fight, helping the survivability of a monster without just simply heaping on hp or AC (though it does those things too). Well implemented and thought out.

Missing- Displacer beast without the beast. This lets you shock your players with displacer otyughs or anything you might want. I rather like this option, but I'd personally advise that it be used sparingly.

Two Headed- No surprises here, but the two headed template is well done. I know that I've toyed with adding a head to a given creature, but the rules here are solid, and I'm glad to have a means to do so that isn't slap-dash.

Ultimately, the beauty to this product is in its simplicity. Like simple templates, it is easy to internalize the information here to add to your creatures on the fly, and with minimal page flipping. I could probably put the templates on note-cards or on the margins of my campaign book with ease, which is a big plus in my book.

There is an excellent understanding of the math AND fun that makes an encounter memorable, and the simple templates stand with those tried and true core rule templates that are so ingrained in the game that we now take them for granted. Bravo, 5 stars.

Iron Nugget

Dungeon Masters can always use supplements that can help them out in a quick fix. Super Genius Game’s Genius Guide to Simple Monster Templates allows DMs to swiftly boost a creature’s CR by 1 or 2. At one point or another, every DM has underestimated the strength of their party and needed to up the next encounter to provide a sense of challenge. The 5 templates are less involved than templates from other sources. Most simply add a few abilities to the creature.

The Iron Word Super Genius does not try to overdo it with this product, which is very relieved. It is just the right size and each template is effectively creative, providing a different experience each time. Everyone will love the eternal template, which grants near immortality. I can really see a creative Dungeon Master pairing a haunt when using this one. Simple Monster Templates will leave you wanting for more and awaiting the next volume.

Simple Monster Templates by Super Genius Games

This product is 9 pages long. It starts with a cover and intro. (1 pages)

Templates (7 pages) Below is a list of each of the templates in the book. Each one also has a stat block of a sample monster with the template applied. Diamond – a creature made out of diamond Eternal – They can only be killed in single way. Otherwise they just come back eventually. Ghul – a type of undead template. Mighty – A beefed up normal creature. Missing – A template that makes creatures be displaced and invisible. Two- Headed – Just like it sounds, creature has a second head.

It ends with a OGL and credits. (1 page)

Closing thoughts. This book is exactly what it says it is. A book of 6 new simple templates. I liked all of them but the diamond one which I thought was meh. The rest was all either clever or help make iconic creatures, like two headed dogs that guard things. Diamond wasn't written bad it just lacked that little something extra. Eternal was my personal favorite of the bunch. I like the idea of the characters have to take time to research how to kill something. Even if they beat it and keep beating it, it keeps coming back till they figure out how to end it for good. The artwork is nice, better than most of the SGG art. Layout and editing was top notch as always for SGG stuff. So what's my rating? I am going to have to go with 5 star's, I could not find anything wrong with the book. While one of the templates didn't do it for me that was just personal taste and it was well written. I hope this becomes a new series, at least until they run out of cool or clever idea's.

Super Genius Games have given us an 8 page document that can really give that needed bit of extra life to your Pathfinder encounters.

Even with two Beastiaries published, encounters can still get a bit stale - especially after all of your players have read through both of the books and won't really be surprised by anything you throw at them. Enter the monster template.

Here we have 6 new simple monster templates designed to increase a monster's CR by anywhere from 1 to 5, and give your players a bit of a surprise.

The Diamond template, in which the monster is made out of living diamond, adds a decent natural AR and some hit points, as well as a new natural weapon.

The Eternal template effectively create an immortal monster - one that cannot be killed, even if disintegrated, or turned in to a type of undead. Along with this comes the caveat that this template is more to facilitate roleplaying opportunities and that Eternal creatures should be limited in some other ways - otherwise you'd have an extremely powerful foe, one that literally cannot be overcome.

The Ghul is a fairly powerful undead template offering a few new abilities for any creature that becomes one, including the mimicry of life and a new breath weapon.l

A Mighty creature is one who is, well, mighty strong. Giving the highest CR boost to a creature, they gain a large number of hit points, bonuses to dodge and AC, significant damage resistance and immunities. I must admit, my first thought was to create a race of Mighty Goblins, just to throw them at a mid-level party and watch the fun ensue.

The Missing template is my personal favorite. A Missing creature is one with innate displacement and invisibility abilities. This makes them harder to hit and much more likely to skulk around. Of course, the template they created was one for a Missing Lynx.

The last of the new templates is the Two Headed creature - a fairly simple template to apply with some interesting results, including a double bit, improved multiple attacks and if the creature already has an attack based around their head (such as a breath weapon) more options for using it.

In all, this is a handy document to have and can easily add some interesting changes to creatures which will make for some unexpected encounters.