In the Astral Sea, the cruelest of liches thrive and even the asteroids are suspect. That's what you'll discover in Monstrous Compendium Volume One: Spelljammer Creatures, the first in a series of monthly drops available to all D&D Beyond users! This collection brings 10 new monsters to your fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign, five from classic Spelljammer lore and five that are brand new. You won't find these monsters in Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, either!
D&D Beyond users can access this collection of monsters today! Sign up for D&D Beyond and within minutes you'll be able to plan and run combat encounters with them!
What you'll discover in the Monstrous Compendium
In Monstrous Compendium Volume One: Spelljammer Creatures, you'll come face to face with 10 unique monsters from the Spelljammer setting. Find out what happens when a spellcaster petitions a Great Old One for eternal life with the eldritch lich and see why Wildspace adventurers never trust a stray asteroid! Click below to see all of the monsters in this collection:
This is just the first volume of monsters coming to your D&D Beyond account! You'll be able to collect more creatures from across the multiverse as additional releases of Monstrous Compendium drop!
What is D&D Beyond?
As the official digital toolset for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, D&D Beyond is your home for tools to play the game! Sign up for free to create characters in minutes, plan and run combat encounters, and access books you've purchased in the marketplace on the fly. You can even roll dice directly from your character sheet, create and use homebrew content, and more! With D&D Beyond, it's easier than ever to get into D&D!
If you want to level up your D&D experience, sign up for a subscription! You'll be able to create unlimited characters and even share books you've purchased with players in your campaigns (Master-tier only).
Michael Galvis (@michaelgalvis) is a tabletop content producer for D&D Beyond. He is a longtime Dungeon Master who enjoys horror films and all things fantasy and sci-fi. When he isn’t in the DM’s seat or rolling dice as his anxious halfling sorcerer, he’s playing League of Legends and Magic: The Gathering with his husband. They live together in Los Angeles with their adorable dog, Quentin.
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Posted Apr 21, 2022Goon Balloon...
I love it.
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Posted Apr 21, 2022Nice!
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Posted Apr 21, 2022This so hot!!! Additional content for free?! I pre-ordered 5 books in total today, and I got 10 monsters as a bonus. I'm VERY excited. Thanks D&D Beyond! WOO!
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Posted Apr 21, 2022I'm totally going to drop that spider on my party.
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Posted Apr 21, 2022Sweet. Now I can make a space Paladin riding one of those shark things. Love it!
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Posted Apr 21, 2022This is awesome! I look forward to reading more of these every month. This is a definitely a great perk of DND Beyond getting acquired by WotC.
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Posted Apr 21, 2022And these are always going to be free on DDB?
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Posted Apr 21, 2022Can’t wait to see if they release a new DRAGON and what is Spelljammer?
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Posted Apr 21, 2022Aren't Ghaunadaur and That Which Lurks the same being?
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Posted Apr 21, 2022ELDRITCH LICH!!!! I LOVE IT!!!
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Posted Apr 21, 2022I assume you're asking because of the separate entries in the Great Old Ones table under the Eldritch Lich?
Looks like you're right, judging from the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (Ch. 3 and Ch. 4) as well as Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes (Ch. 2):
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Posted Apr 21, 2022Will this be permanent content or will it be only temporary?
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Posted Apr 22, 2022interestingly, the pdf is available when you log in at https://dnd.wizards.com/collection
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Posted Apr 22, 2022Where will it be accessible in the menus, sources? I haven’t found it anywhere but in this article.
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Posted Apr 22, 2022The clockwork horror looks and feels exactly like what I'm needing for my game rn! Awesome!
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Posted Apr 22, 2022Oh that Fractine is going to her verrrrrrrry useful
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Posted Apr 22, 2022Minor suggestions:
The damage values for the Clockwork Horror's melee attacks seem to be switched. Logically, the bite should be 1d4 (tiny mandibles) while the saw-appendages should be 1d8 (swinging, spinning blades) this would also present a better balance to the melee-vs-ranged attacks (1xd4 + 2xd8 vs 2xd10)
The Nightmare Beast entry does not indicate if it is under any obligation to obey the commands of its creator - could it be bribed, tricked, charmed or coerced into taking actions against it's creator - based upon stats it should be sentient, does it have any memories or motivations to be exploited? Perhaps a statement or hint as to its method of creation would lend answers to these questions.
The Puppeteer Parasite has an excessive amount of hit-points - as it seems to be a flying psychic cousin to the mimic - perhaps 9d4 (58) would be slightly more balanced for a CR3 considering all of it's resistances and immunities?
The Yggdrasti description / stat block is unclear - how would creatures hitch a ride on/in a space-travelling tree with blindsight whose "innate hatred of other living things is extremely difficult for it to suppress" ? They cannot hide from it. Creatures within get 3/4 cover, but can still be physically attacked by roots and are subject to unlimited uses of the lightning discharge / lightning conduit (tree targets itself with discharge, zaps creatures within, immediately regains discharge via conduit). Perhaps there was supposed to be a clarification that the Yggdrasti is incapable of targeting creatures within the cavities?
Overall looking forward to the product, just a few observations I hoped to share after reading through twice.
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Posted Apr 22, 2022Eldrlich Blast
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Posted Apr 22, 2022Think D&D Guardians of the Galaxy with pirates and actual sailing vessels that fly through 'space' (I think the astral plane in 5e) ... also lots of mind flayers and gith.
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Posted Apr 22, 2022I hope they give the Sources menu an overhaul. With the Basic Rules being redundant with the PHB, the Italian PHB and future languages only bloating the list, and now monthly drops going to make it even worse; they really need to change it. Heck, I'd love it if I could disable the Basic Rules and make it unsearchable on the website. We should also be able to hide languages we don't need. The Monstrous Compendium Volumes should also be combined into a single source.