"Monster Manual III" was published in 2004, and was designed by Rich Burlew, Eric Cagle, Jesse Decker, Andrew J. Finch, Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, Rich Redman, Matthew Sernett, Chris Thomasson, and P. Nathan Toomey. This Monster Manual is notable for its descriptions of where the monsters might be found in the Eberron and Forgotten Realms campaign settings. 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.