You're not blind. To my knowledge the only 5.5 guidance is in the 5.5 DMG saying, "reskin an existing monster."
Since they did go with the idea of backwards compatibility to an extent, I think you'll be able to use the 5.0 guidelines more or less. But haven't done any testing with that.
Maybe I’m just blind, but did they not include an actual guide for making custom monsters like they had in the 2014 DMG?
You're not blind. To my knowledge the only 5.5 guidance is in the 5.5 DMG saying, "reskin an existing monster."
Since they did go with the idea of backwards compatibility to an extent, I think you'll be able to use the 5.0 guidelines more or less. But haven't done any testing with that.
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