Mordenkainen, the Lord Mage of Greyhawk, renowned for his seminal piece, Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, returns with his second official work, Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse. This book summons in one place over 250 monsters and 30 playable races, the greatest number of monsters since the Monster Manual and the most player race options since the Player’s Handbook! Pulling together options previously found in Volo’s Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, this book will provide a one-stop reference for a vast number of options for your D&D game.
This article was last updated on May 12, 2022.
What's in Monsters of the Multiverse?
The first thing you’ll notice is an array of updated races, some with modified or improved abilities, and some with new ones! Those little kobolds have just become a lot mightier! You'll also find monsters have been improved to make the lives of Dungeon Masters easier when running combat. For example, some monsters have seen changes to streamline spellcasting. Others have received buffs to their damage and resilience to help you better challenge your adventurers. New and updated lore also shifts focus away from any one particular world and instead toward the wider Dungeons & Dragons multiverse. All of this combines to present a variety of options that empower DMs and players to tell the stories they want to tell!
Here, we answer some frequently asked questions about Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse:
- What is going to happen if I own all of the existing content from Volo's Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes and don't buy Monsters of the Multiverse?
- Will two versions of every monster be maintained on D&D Beyond?
- Will the character races in Monsters of the Multiverse be available in addition to the old versions?
- Will I be able to share older content or access older content in a campaign?
- Will I still have access to a character created using Volo's Guide to Monsters or Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes?
- If I want one of my characters to use the new content in Monsters of the Multiverse, but not another, will that be possible?
- I built an encounter with monsters from my Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes and Volo's Guide to Monsters purchases. Will that still be usable after May 17 if I don't buy Monsters of the Multiverse?
- Will I have to purchase Monsters of Multiverse on D&D Beyond even if I already own Volo’s Guide to Monsters and/or Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes?
- Can I still buy Volo’s Guide to Monsters or Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes on D&D Beyond?
What is going to happen if I own all of the existing content from Volo's Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes and don't buy Monsters of the Multiverse?
You won’t need to take any action on older content, as it will not be removed from your account, be hidden from you, or have its statistics changed! You will notice, however, older content being designated as legacy content. For example, a legacy badge (LegacyThis doesn't reflect the latest rules and lore.Learn More) can be seen when navigating to a monster’s statistics page or when hovering over a monster tooltip.
You will also see race naming conventions updated to denote “(Legacy)” on the Races page and a legacy badge appearing next to old subraces on race pages. In the character builder, old races can be identified by the book source shown below their name.
Will two versions of every monster be maintained on D&D Beyond?
If you own the old content and purchase the new content, yes, you will have two different versions of official content. Older content has been designated as legacy content.
Will the character races in Monsters of the Multiverse be available in addition to the old versions?
Character races presented in this new book are new versions of existing character races. Purchasing Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse will not replace older character races, but rather, will provide new ones with updates compared to the originals. If you want to use the new version of the tabaxi, for example, you will need to purchase the new book, or purchase the tabaxi character race from the book’s additional purchase options in our Marketplace.
If you already own a character race that has been updated in the new title, you will continue to have access to them in their current state; that character race will not be changed or updated except to designate it as legacy content.
Will I be able to share older content or access older content in a campaign?
Yes! If you are a Master-tier subscriber and own the older content, you can still share it in new and existing campaigns. Similarly, if you are accessing shared content in a campaign from a Master-tier subscriber, that content will still be accessible.
Will I still have access to a character created using Volo's Guide to Monsters or Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes?
Yes! If you own that book you will still have access to that race and character. Any existing characters will not be changed with the release of Monsters of the Multiverse. Players who purchase Monsters of the Multiverse will be able to update their characters themselves by selecting the new version of a race in the character builder.
If I want one of my characters to use the new content in Monsters of the Multiverse, but not another, will that be possible?
If your Dungeon Master allows it, then yes. If the game hasn’t started yet, this would be perfect to bring up during your session zero.
I built an encounter with monsters from my Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes and Volo's Guide to Monsters purchases. Will that still be usable after May 17 if I don't buy Monsters of the Multiverse?
Absolutely! Your previously owned content is not being removed from your account. Your encounter, and the monsters in it, will remain intact. In the Encounters tool, you may notice a legacy badge (LegacyThis doesn't reflect the latest rules and lore.Learn More) appearing next to monsters’ names to identify them as content from older books.
Will I have to purchase Monsters of Multiverse on D&D Beyond even if I already own Volo’s Guide to Monsters and/or Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes?
Whatever book content you already own on each digital platform will still be accessible for your use, and to gain access to both the new and updated content in Monsters of Multiverse, you will need to purchase Monsters of Multiverse.
Can I still buy Volo’s Guide to Monsters or Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes on D&D Beyond?
Starting on May 16, you can acquire the streamlined and up-to-date creatures and character race options, as well as a plethora of exciting new content, by purchasing Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse. On May 17, Volo's Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes will be discontinued from our digital marketplace.
Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse releases on D&D Beyond on May 16. You can preorder it from the D&D Beyond marketplace.
Davyd is a moderator for D&D Beyond. A Dungeon Master of over fifteen years, he enjoys Marvel movies, writing, and of course running D&D for his friends and family, including partner Steph and his daughter Willow (well, one day). They live with their two cats Asker and Khatleesi in the south of England.
Why are we being charged for updates to the rules? This is absurd.
As far as I'm aware, the best way to view only the updated options (at least for monsters) will be by using the source filter on the monster search page
These are not updates to the rules in the sense that errata are (which are provided free of charge and applied automatically). These are new versions that will be provided in tandem to the old ones and as such are separate purchases.
Which I for one appreciate. 👌
my opinion on all of this is: its a mixed bag. some PC races got buffed, some got nerfed and some are the exact same but now without subraces.
Also, original Kobold is way better, i will die on this hill. :)
understandable, but for anyone who doesn't own those two books, that's basically like hitting two birds with one stone. you get the content from both books.
WOW Seriously?! What is the point in removing the content - to avoid confusion? or is WOTC simply ending support of those titles?
are the travelers of the multiverse races like plasmoid and astral elf in this book? or is that going to be later this year?
There are no new monsters or races in this book
Edit: there is one new monster, the dolphin delighter!
Ok. So every monster and race in MP:MotM is being treated as a new variant, essentially. This is very good to know.
Yes, but the old book being discontinued means the new book is essentially errata, despite the chosen nomenclature - not existing alongside the original book in tandem as alternative versions. If they were co-existing versions, both books would remain on sale.
It is absolutely clear that this is a re-definition of 'errata' to 'new versions' to make people have to buy the newer version. It was explained on the Dev Update that this was WotC's decision, not DDB.
The precedent has now been set so it's pretty clear on how things will work in the future. The mantra of 'DDB will always update content to the latest version' can no longer be claimed.
Not digging at DDB here. Mellie was clear that this was WotC's decision.
So why aren't the originals going to still be available? It's still unclear.
Will future content be added based on the "New Update Format" or will it exist in both formats?
So tome of foes and guide to monsters are going to be unavailable? Both have great lore to go with the races and monsters. The blood war section of foes was incredibly fun to read and provided great inspiration.
it is a bit disappointing... but you have to remember that most of the races you have right now are from Magic the Gahering and are not the type of races we are used to. so it makes sense for them to redo the races and place them here. same with monsters.
the only thing i hate is the fact that many races are now from other worlds because they couldn't just create more instead.
thats a weak ass move on their part.
also, the innate spell casting is even worse for monsters. spellcasting was easier to follow.
sure there was spellslots to take care, but innate... how many times did you cast each spells yet ?
its not something new, its something we have had since day one of the monster manual. so i dont know why they say its new.
dragonborn have the greatest changes as they now have a better breath weapon and have other usefull stats now.
becasue they can still be bought, they are not removed, they are still official books we can use.
updated versions are not errata, they do not remove the old content. if you preffer the old content, you can.
nobody forces you to buy the new book.
it is still a book. its still your choice. not theirs.
following your view thoughm, we do we buy any new books. they are all updates to D&D basics. and basics is free !
I have a question about this. The language is quite deliberate about "owning" the books with the older content. Does that mean that the races from the free Elemental Evil supplement won't be available in their current form after the new versions of the races from that book become available? Homebrewing them to keep them available for players in both the older and new versions is always an option, but I'm just curious about how that book will be impacted by the new one on dndbeyond.
Wait, Wizards is dropping Warforged? When did this happen?