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.
Does this imply that the statblocks used in existing modules will stay the same? Or will they also be twinned (for lack of a better word)?
That I don't know, and it will depend on what Wizards of the Coast instructs D&D Beyond to do. Once there is more information, it'll be made available.
Sorry I haven't got anything more definitive
Thanks. I don't envy DnDb staff at the moment to be honest.
They work very hard for their gold pieces
Okay sure but "whole new pc races and stat blocks" makes it sound like much bigger changes than what has actually occurred (from what I'm hearing.) Its basically a light touch up
I think being upset about the new decisions is okay, but I feel like some of these comments should be written on WoTC's forums and not here.
WotC is the company that decided to make a big errata and sell it as a new book, they also decided to stop selling MToF and VGtM. Right now, DDB is just doing what they're told to do (as far as I know). They can't give us the book for free and they can't sell something WotC doesn't want to print anymore.
If there's something I don't know about the situation, I'd be glad to be corrected.
I think you're right about them being told to sell these a certain way, but at the same time, the complaints that are being voiced are direct complaints related to dndbeyond's sales tactics let's call them. Whether dndbeyond is being told to do it or not, it is still how they're doing it on their website.
I think it would be on dndbeyond to go to their parent company as a result of these complaints. Whether that does anything or not is irrelevant as well, but as users of the website dndbeyond, I think them voicing their complaints and concerns to the forums on that site is the most direct way to do it.
During the Tech Update, they specifically said to take complaints to WotC because they are just licensees who do what they are allowed under their contract.
Imagine being disappointed with a book using recycled content when it was literally explained that it's a collection of the monsters from other books.
DDB (dndbeyond) is neither owned nor operated by WotC, the company that publishes D&D. DDB is owned by fandom. Complaining here will in absolute no way trickle up to WotC. If you want the company responsible for these decisions to hear your complaints, you would do well to complain to them directly: (https://dnd.wizards.com).
To give you metaphors, complaining on this website is like complaining to the cashier at B&N about the content of a book, or complaining to the cashier at Walmart because you don’t like Pantene shampoo, or complaining to the cashier at your local supermarket that you don’t like a certain flavor of Hamburger Helper. Make sense?
How do you actually do that though? WotC have made it very difficult to give feedback (or contact them at all); even when they want feedback on Unearthed Arcana they just suddenly open a time limited poll with no way to be notified about it so 99% of the community don't get a chance to respond because they won't be checking the UA page every single day just in case.
They are mortified of having another 4th edition lynch mob incident so they have made all websites like DnDb take the full load. It's a wee bit on the evil side.
They aren't though for the most part. They are the same things already published. Just like they did with the wayfinders guide to eberron. DND beyond just wants to or is required to make it a completely separate product instead of updating the current ones.
Yeah, but DnD Beyond still has to pay WoTC for access to this book the same way they need to pay for every other sourcebook. You can buy the compendium for $19.99 which will cause you to miss out on some of the updated material, but you save $10.
Get a DnD Beyond Master Tier subscription, find someone on Reddit who has bought the legendary bundle, and ask them to make a character in a campaign that you have content sharing enabled in. This will give you access to all the books, and will let you build encounters on dnd beyond with any of the monsters that have been shared.
naw.
So it's just content that veteran players already owned with nothing new except updates that make the previous things we purchased obsolete. Total cash grab. Very disappointing.
They nerf a lot of races that didn't need a nerf, you Thank for the buffs for goliath and orc, but races like kenku and aasimar got a straight nerf.
Aassimar would had been fine if we can use the ability up to our proficient, but all they did reduce the damage to proficient bonus and it is still once per long rest. At max lv you're hitting for 20 extra damage once per turn to 6. Not only that but why did they take away lizard folk ability to create weapons from slain enemies that was their major stick. Some of the race that was touch seemed like they pick randoms and nerf them to fit their "proficiency" agenda
I probably stick with a lot older sources for the nerf racial ability. So, please keep both old and new.
That does make sense now. It doesn't make sense to me that this is the way it is, but your metaphor does shine more light on the situation.
Hmmm this is kinda weird. Like, I don't really mind paying for a significant update and everything, but this seems... not good. Like, my initial understanding of this was we were getting a new batch of monsters. Now it seems we aren't actually getting anything new? And that's my mistake, but I think it is understandable because why would something that costs over $25 not have new content? Revisions to race were a cool feature in Tasha's Cauldron, but there was also plenty of new stuff too. This sounds like it will just artificially inflate the number of monsters without any new designs. Also, if two different books are being taken off the market...doesn't that suggest that this really doesn't count as new content? It certainly reads as though players who previously bought Volo's Guide and Tome of Foe's paid double for the same content with minor revisions. I'll buy this, I guess, but if it turns out to just be a waste of money, that will definitely inform my future (non)purchases.