Additionally, some very cool content creators are posting sneak peeks at some new monsters and stat blocks, and we don't want you to miss them! I'll be adding them to this main post as they're spotted, so feel free to share them when you see them!
Sounds really positive so far LaTia, thanks very much for posting this with the links to the reviews. Great to see the challenges being ramped up. Can't wait to get my hands...err, eyes, it will be digital... on it.
Really happy to hear there's going to be some added variety within monster types. Just finished running Curse of Strahd and my only complaint about an otherwise fantastic campaign is that there's only so many Vampire Spawn you can throw at players before it gets repetative. The new artwork looks great too, I think that's been one of the strongest elements across all three of these new books
Really happy to hear there's going to be some added variety within monster types. Just finished running Curse of Strahd and my only complaint about an otherwise fantastic campaign is that there's only so many Vampire Spawn you can throw at players before it gets repetative. The new artwork looks great too, I think that's been one of the strongest elements across all three of these new books
There is SO. MUCH. ART. in this book. Like it's understandable that it has more art than the previous two (not combined; don't quote me), but like... DANG
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I watched the preview video and was encouraged by almost everything that was said with the exception of the comment "we didn't want to put Lore into the book...." because "we didn't want the DMs to think they needed to take another class".
Guys... you missed the mark here. We're DMs. We WANT the Lore. All of it. More of it. We get so many ideas for encounters and campaigns with that material. Why WOULDN'T you add it? We only look it up when we need it, and there's not one DM I know who would NOT welcome having that content. We spend hours, sometimes, looking this material up. Why, why, WHY didn't you include it???
Excited for the new book, but honestly, this was a major let down when I heard it.
Come watch us save the multiverse in "The Lost Dragons of Phandelver" - a homebrew based on Lost Mines of Phandelver, Dragon of Icespire Peak, and They Tyranny of Dragons. https://www.twitch.tv/kdinla The Gatewalker Saga - Dragons Beware
I watched the preview video and was encouraged by almost everything that was said with the exception of the comment "we didn't want to put Lore into the book...." because "we didn't want the DMs to think they needed to take another class".
Guys... you missed the mark here. We're DMs. We WANT the Lore. All of it. More of it. We get so many ideas for encounters and campaigns with that material. Why WOULDN'T you add it? We only look it up when we need it, and there's not one DM I know who would NOT welcome having that content. We spend hours, sometimes, looking this material up. Why, why, WHY didn't you include it???
Excited for the new book, but honestly, this was a major let down when I heard it.
I do want more lore, just not in a core book. I would rather have deep lore (which is what was specifically referenced in the video) in setting books. Lore is good, but I want it in a location where it makes sense to have THAT specific lore apply, like in Forgotten Realms or Exandria.
I do want more lore, just not in a core book. I would rather have deep lore (which is what was specifically referenced in the video) in setting books. Lore is good, but I want it in a location where it makes sense to have THAT specific lore apply, like in Forgotten Realms or Exandria.
I agree. I don't want or need the lore to be in the core books. Save it for the setting books.
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I do want more lore, just not in a core book. I would rather have deep lore (which is what was specifically referenced in the video) in setting books. Lore is good, but I want it in a location where it makes sense to have THAT specific lore apply, like in Forgotten Realms or Exandria.
I agree. I don't want or need the lore to be in the core books. Save it for the setting books.
Right, because heaven forefend you give new DMs any possible guidance on how to run creatures as something other than generic murder bots. Sadly, it's what I've come to expect from this release.
Since we're on that tangent: yeah, I've found the active aversion to lore in 5E2024 disappointing. While I understand not wanting to burden new DMs nor constrain them, it also ends up making more work for them as they have to make it all up with no guidance or inspiration.
I'm not saying we need anything nearly as comprehensive as from books like Volo's Guide to Monsters or Fizban's Treasury of Dragons, but the existing write ups for the actual monsters- as opposed to things like the Drow NPC blocks, which are probably not being carried forward- are a good basis for fleshing things out a bit. Gives inspiration for personality, quirks, and such.
Kinda skimmed over the video for a couple parts I was curious about. Was pleased to hear the gnoll humanoid->fiend change and fits with pre-existing things like the Fang. (Honestly might homebrew the 5.0 gnolls to that type to if I do a gnoll-themed campaign.)
With the art I'll probably be stealing some of that for Owlbear Rodeo monster tokens. The Displacer Beast image definitely looks tantalizing.
And certainly will be interested in taking a look at the Free Rules monsters when it comes out. And with that comment at 28:27 of the idea with "I'd love to include a lich in this adventure... we are level 1" that kind of thing actually did come up in a campaign I play with friends. At the time, due to scheduling, it was just two of us both with lv5 characters. DM had us go to a lich's place and when the warlock player through hands I was like, "DUDE! What are you doing!?!?" since I knew of liches as high-CR monsters. (Fortunately for us the DM did use a very very very weakened lich for it so we didn't immediately die.)
I'm not saying we need anything nearly as comprehensive as from books like Volo's Guide to Monsters or Fizban's Treasury of Dragons, but the existing write ups for the actual monsters- as opposed to things like the Drow NPC blocks, which are probably not being carried forward- are a good basis for fleshing things out a bit. Gives inspiration for personality, quirks, and such.
My two cents is that I enjoy seeing the lore in the MM. My Discord group uses a wholesale homebrew we're collectively building so for me it wouldn't make sense to get a FR book or an Eberron book for monster lore. But the lore under the entries gives me a nice inspiration point. For the things I've built I've changed the lore in some cases. And much of the lore is also fairly setting agnostic IMO.
Also wondering if it was mentioned if there'd be more detailed monster creation guidelines in the 5.5 MM. I found the monster creation in the 5.5 DMG rather lacking so was curious if they did have a mention I missed of if they had a more detailed version there since there was speculation on that.
The stripping of basic lore from the core books is a really sad direction in my opinion and will make me more dependent on published adventures. The concept of DM's having ultimate creativity to do whatever they want in their own campaigns sounds great on the surface, but the reality is many DMs don't have the time to create a lot of lore and, if we're being honest, a lot who do would be well served by some initial guidance. And we already had that license for creativity - taking published monster lore and turning it on its head when you want to can be great in a campaign.
The thought of "just include all the lore in setting books" sounds nice, but it's also completely unrealistic. Let's say there are 300 unique-ish monsters in the new Monster Manual. How many monsters do you think might get a nod in the Forgotten Realm's DM-facing book? 20? My guess is less, but even if it's double that, still you're only scratching the surface. Meanwhile the other 85%+ are "Here are some stats, now show how creative you are and make them all feel unique. Good luck!"
I totally understand not wanting deep lore included, but some basic information that gets my mind working on how I might use a monster for me is much much much more valuable than another 50 stat blocks.
I do want more lore, just not in a core book. I would rather have deep lore (which is what was specifically referenced in the video) in setting books. Lore is good, but I want it in a location where it makes sense to have THAT specific lore apply, like in Forgotten Realms or Exandria.
I agree. I don't want or need the lore to be in the core books. Save it for the setting books.
Right, because heaven forefend you give new DMs any possible guidance on how to run creatures as something other than generic murder bots. Sadly, it's what I've come to expect from this release.
Why are you putting words in my mouth? Lore is not the same as monster behaviors anyway, which can be covered under the creature's Details if they choose to. They even said they were including how to use the monsters tactically and the overview of the monsters (16:31 of the video). That said, the point of the discussion related to lore was to specifically not limit DMs to what WotC thinks the 'deep' lore should be for all 'creature X'. It liberates the DM and allows them to use their imaginations to build lore around that creature for their table. I don't understand why you view that with such animosity.
I do want more lore, just not in a core book. I would rather have deep lore (which is what was specifically referenced in the video) in setting books. Lore is good, but I want it in a location where it makes sense to have THAT specific lore apply, like in Forgotten Realms or Exandria.
I agree. I don't want or need the lore to be in the core books. Save it for the setting books.
Right, because heaven forefend you give new DMs any possible guidance on how to run creatures as something other than generic murder bots. Sadly, it's what I've come to expect from this release.
Why are you putting words in my mouth? Lore is not the same as monster behaviors anyway, which can be covered under the creature's Details if they choose to. They even said they were including how to use the monsters tactically and the overview of the monsters (16:31 of the video). That said, the point of the discussion related to lore was to specifically not limit DMs to what WotC thinks the 'deep' lore should be for all 'creature X'. It liberates the DM and allows them to use their imaginations to build lore around that creature for their table. I don't understand why you view that with such animosity.
I was speaking about WotC’s approach, not the opinions of anyone in the forum. And all of our past experience to date has been that “liberating” DMs and players from text they can already quite easily ignore if it doesn’t suit them results in extremely bare bones content. I compared the initial class descriptions between 2014 and 2024 a little while ago and 24 literally only has something like a quarter of the word count. That’s not just trimming off allegedly “restrictive” bits of fluff, that’s carving away sizable portions of content and potential inspiration, and that doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence that the entries for the new MM will be any more substantial.
Hey everyone! If you missed it earlier, Todd talked to Jeremy and Wes about the upcoming Monster Manual.
I'll be adding the other videos below as they premiere.
Additionally, some very cool content creators are posting sneak peeks at some new monsters and stat blocks, and we don't want you to miss them! I'll be adding them to this main post as they're spotted, so feel free to share them when you see them!
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Sounds really positive so far LaTia, thanks very much for posting this with the links to the reviews. Great to see the challenges being ramped up. Can't wait to get my hands...err, eyes, it will be digital... on it.
Added two more previews from the Dungeon Dudes and Dungeon Dad.
Also did you know that the more you type 'sneak peek', the more wrong it starts to look?
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You can call me LT. :)
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Generally active from 9am - 6pm CDT [GMT-5].
Thank you for your patience if you message me outside of those hours!
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This is why Sean Bean doesn't use his birth name.
The new Cyclops is awesome and really makes me want to play one. I'm so glad we're moving away from "they're Hill Giants that lack depth perception."
Hands down what I'm most excited for with the new MM however are the Beast forms for Moon Druid!!
Hi !
Can't wait to get my hand on it !
Will there be a digital early access to it for the people who preordered like with the PHB or the DMG ?PS : The video from Pack Tatics seems to have disappeared.
edit : found the answer to my question, 4th of February for master tier and 11 for hero tier.
Really happy to hear there's going to be some added variety within monster types. Just finished running Curse of Strahd and my only complaint about an otherwise fantastic campaign is that there's only so many Vampire Spawn you can throw at players before it gets repetative. The new artwork looks great too, I think that's been one of the strongest elements across all three of these new books
He had to re-upload, the link is fixed!
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There is SO. MUCH. ART. in this book. Like it's understandable that it has more art than the previous two (not combined; don't quote me), but like... DANG
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You can call me LT. :)
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Generally active from 9am - 6pm CDT [GMT-5].
Thank you for your patience if you message me outside of those hours!
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I watched the preview video and was encouraged by almost everything that was said with the exception of the comment "we didn't want to put Lore into the book...." because "we didn't want the DMs to think they needed to take another class".
Guys... you missed the mark here. We're DMs. We WANT the Lore. All of it. More of it. We get so many ideas for encounters and campaigns with that material. Why WOULDN'T you add it? We only look it up when we need it, and there's not one DM I know who would NOT welcome having that content. We spend hours, sometimes, looking this material up. Why, why, WHY didn't you include it???
Excited for the new book, but honestly, this was a major let down when I heard it.
Come watch us save the multiverse in "The Lost Dragons of Phandelver" - a homebrew based on Lost Mines of Phandelver, Dragon of Icespire Peak, and They Tyranny of Dragons.
https://www.twitch.tv/kdinla
The Gatewalker Saga - Dragons Beware
I do want more lore, just not in a core book. I would rather have deep lore (which is what was specifically referenced in the video) in setting books. Lore is good, but I want it in a location where it makes sense to have THAT specific lore apply, like in Forgotten Realms or Exandria.
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I agree. I don't want or need the lore to be in the core books. Save it for the setting books.
Mother and Cat Herder. Playing TTRPGs since 1989 (She/Her)
Right, because heaven forefend you give new DMs any possible guidance on how to run creatures as something other than generic murder bots. Sadly, it's what I've come to expect from this release.
Since we're on that tangent: yeah, I've found the active aversion to lore in 5E2024 disappointing. While I understand not wanting to burden new DMs nor constrain them, it also ends up making more work for them as they have to make it all up with no guidance or inspiration.
I'm not saying we need anything nearly as comprehensive as from books like Volo's Guide to Monsters or Fizban's Treasury of Dragons, but the existing write ups for the actual monsters- as opposed to things like the Drow NPC blocks, which are probably not being carried forward- are a good basis for fleshing things out a bit. Gives inspiration for personality, quirks, and such.
Kinda skimmed over the video for a couple parts I was curious about. Was pleased to hear the gnoll humanoid->fiend change and fits with pre-existing things like the Fang. (Honestly might homebrew the 5.0 gnolls to that type to if I do a gnoll-themed campaign.)
With the art I'll probably be stealing some of that for Owlbear Rodeo monster tokens. The Displacer Beast image definitely looks tantalizing.
And certainly will be interested in taking a look at the Free Rules monsters when it comes out. And with that comment at 28:27 of the idea with "I'd love to include a lich in this adventure... we are level 1" that kind of thing actually did come up in a campaign I play with friends. At the time, due to scheduling, it was just two of us both with lv5 characters. DM had us go to a lich's place and when the warlock player through hands I was like, "DUDE! What are you doing!?!?" since I knew of liches as high-CR monsters. (Fortunately for us the DM did use a very very very weakened lich for it so we didn't immediately die.)
My two cents is that I enjoy seeing the lore in the MM. My Discord group uses a wholesale homebrew we're collectively building so for me it wouldn't make sense to get a FR book or an Eberron book for monster lore. But the lore under the entries gives me a nice inspiration point. For the things I've built I've changed the lore in some cases. And much of the lore is also fairly setting agnostic IMO.
Also wondering if it was mentioned if there'd be more detailed monster creation guidelines in the 5.5 MM. I found the monster creation in the 5.5 DMG rather lacking so was curious if they did have a mention I missed of if they had a more detailed version there since there was speculation on that.
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The stripping of basic lore from the core books is a really sad direction in my opinion and will make me more dependent on published adventures. The concept of DM's having ultimate creativity to do whatever they want in their own campaigns sounds great on the surface, but the reality is many DMs don't have the time to create a lot of lore and, if we're being honest, a lot who do would be well served by some initial guidance. And we already had that license for creativity - taking published monster lore and turning it on its head when you want to can be great in a campaign.
The thought of "just include all the lore in setting books" sounds nice, but it's also completely unrealistic. Let's say there are 300 unique-ish monsters in the new Monster Manual. How many monsters do you think might get a nod in the Forgotten Realm's DM-facing book? 20? My guess is less, but even if it's double that, still you're only scratching the surface. Meanwhile the other 85%+ are "Here are some stats, now show how creative you are and make them all feel unique. Good luck!"
I totally understand not wanting deep lore included, but some basic information that gets my mind working on how I might use a monster for me is much much much more valuable than another 50 stat blocks.
Why are you putting words in my mouth? Lore is not the same as monster behaviors anyway, which can be covered under the creature's Details if they choose to. They even said they were including how to use the monsters tactically and the overview of the monsters (16:31 of the video). That said, the point of the discussion related to lore was to specifically not limit DMs to what WotC thinks the 'deep' lore should be for all 'creature X'. It liberates the DM and allows them to use their imaginations to build lore around that creature for their table. I don't understand why you view that with such animosity.
DM mostly, Player occasionally | Session 0 form | He/Him/They/Them
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Answers: physical books, purchases, and subbing.
Check out my life-changing
I was speaking about WotC’s approach, not the opinions of anyone in the forum. And all of our past experience to date has been that “liberating” DMs and players from text they can already quite easily ignore if it doesn’t suit them results in extremely bare bones content. I compared the initial class descriptions between 2014 and 2024 a little while ago and 24 literally only has something like a quarter of the word count. That’s not just trimming off allegedly “restrictive” bits of fluff, that’s carving away sizable portions of content and potential inspiration, and that doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence that the entries for the new MM will be any more substantial.
You are completely free in your game to have lawful good black dragons and chaotic evil gold dragons.