With over 500 monsters, including 40+ stat blocks for nonplayer characters, the new Monster Manual has a creature for every occasion. For those moments when you're describing an NPC and your players immediately try to pickpocket them, you'll find several groups of Humanoid stat blocks that can represent any type of nonplayer character your campaign needs, from bandits to mages.

Below, we'll take a look at two NPC groups in the new Monster Manual: Cultists, a classic D&D villain with new variants, and performers, a brand-new addition for when you want to practice your vocal runs!

• Cultists: What's New
• Performers: Bring a Little Levity to your Games

Claim Your Free Copy of Hold Back the Dead

Hold Back the Dead is a single-session adventure part of D&D's yearlong 50th-anniversary celebration. In this adventure designed for four to six level 4 characters, players are tasked to defend Ironspine Keep against the looming horde of the sinister lich, Szass Tam.

Dive straight into the action with stat blocks from the new Monster Manual, a full map of the fortress defense zones, details on siege weapons, and pre-generated character sheets!

Cultists: What's New

Artist: Aurore Folny

Dungeons & Dragons has a long history with cultists as villains. Your players may find themselves face-to-face with the Cult of Zargon, the Cult of the Dragon, the Cult of Elemental Evil, or a cult of your own making with dastardly plans for destruction and domination. Now, you can challenge your players with these zealous foes no matter their level!

Agendas and Occult Symbols

Cultists are known for their radical beliefs and the extreme measures they'll take to fulfill their purpose. If you're looking to include a cult as an antagonist in your campaign, the new Monster Manual can inspire their insidious purpose with random tables to help determine the cult's agenda and the occult symbol that reflects the cult's purpose.

Rolling on these tables you can quickly create a cult with a unique identity, like one that seeks to burn away the comfortable lies of reality that uses the symbol of a flame to represent the fuel of their burning desire!

Cultist and Cultist Fanatic

On top of the quality-of-life changes that all returning monsters received in the new Monster Manual, the Cultist (CR 1/8) and Cultist Fanatic (CR 2) have been given melee attacks that pack a necrotic punch to reflect their dark devotion. While these zealots may still be expendable to the cult's higher-ranking members, they've now got a fitting supernatural flair!

Cultist Hierophant

The new Monster Manual also introduces the powerful and charismatic Cultist Hierophant (CR 10).

A hierophant is a position of authority, and you can use this stat block for the cult leader or one of their trusted lieutenants. The cultist hierophant is a perfect mid-tier villain, perhaps as a commander of the lower ranks of the cult.

In addition to supernaturally charged melee attacks, the hierophant has access to a powerful ranged attack option and various spells, allowing the hierophant to tactically shape the battlefield from the back lines while their minions charge forward.

A Cult for Every Occasion

Most cults worship different types of supernatural patrons. Some may follow otherworldly beings like an elder god or serve powers of undeath like the archlich Vecna. Others reach for primal destruction and revere a primordial power of the Elemental Planes, and many stick to the classics and worship Fiends from the Abyss or Nine Hells.

In the new Monster Manual, you'll find stat blocks for cultists that reflect their unique supernatural powers gained from the cult's patron: Aberrant Cultists, Death Cultists, Elemental Cultists, and Fiend Cultists. Each of these foes has a CR of 8, so you can use them individually as a challenge for lower-level parties or throw a few of them at higher-level parties!

Each of these new cultists has abilities that reflect who or what they worship. For example, an Aberrant Cultists can summon eldritch tentacles to restrain enemies, a Death Cultists can impose the Frightened condition on foes and prevent them from regaining Hit Points, an Elemental Cultists manipulates destructive natural forces and can switch between several damage types, and a Fiend Cultists can summon hellish fire to sear their enemies.

Performers: Bring a Little Levity to your Games

Artist: Katerina Ladon

If your world is full of workers who need to pass the time between shifts at the docks or the tavern, then it likely has entertainers for those looking for distraction and amusement. These performers have honed their skills and become experts in their craft, whether it's storytelling, singing, or jesting.

Some have even practiced their performances long enough to become locally famous headliners or worldwide legends.

The new Monster Manual introduces three stat blocks for performers that are sure to entertain your party, even at higher levels: the Performer (CR 1/2), Performer Maestro (CR 6) and Performer Legend (CR 10).

Performers

Performers wield an array of abilities that show off their talents. They have solid bonuses to Strength (Athletics), Dexterity (Acrobatics), and Charisma (Performance) checks—all of which are important when it comes time to dazzle their audience.

A performer can also use their agility to stay alive in a fight thanks to their Uncanny Dodge Reaction. So go ahead and write those unflattering poems about the local crime lord!

Performer Maestro

If you need to fill your circus with some especially talented entertainers, you may want to reach for the Performer Maestro stat block. Maestros are quick, agile, deadly with a blade, and can weave enchanting magic with their Beguiling Song—which allows maestros to impose the Charmed condition on oncoming enemies in addition to blasting targets with Psychic damage.

Performer Legend

Performer legends are renowned across a nation, continent, or world, and this fame usually extends even to people who do not care for the performer's art form. (You may have never purchased one of her albums, but you know who Beyoncé is.) Performer legends often travel with a retinue of guards, noble patrons, employees, other performers, and people who laugh at their jokes. Your party may run into one of these performers in a big city or might be hired to guard them while they travel!

A performer legend uses their talent to manipulate the emotions of the people around them, imposing the Charmed or Frightened conditions on targets and shredding their minds with Psychic damage. (I certainly have heard songs that did the same.) If that doesn't do the trick, a performer legend might reach for Illusion magic to aid in an escape or rely on their Warding Charm to deflect incoming attacks and temporarily charm their enemies.

A World Full of Inspiration

As a Dungeon Master, you can't prepare a unique stat block for every NPC—but they're out there: the bandits, nobles, priests, spies, cultists, and performers. And when players inevitably push the limits, you'll find yourself asking, “Does a 14 hit?” or “What can this NPC do in response?”

Well, thanks to the 40+ NPC stat blocks in the new Monster Manual, you'll find plenty of inspiration for every individual that crosses your characters' path!

Damen Cook (@damen_joseph) is a lifelong fantasy reader, writer, and gamer. If he woke up tomorrow in Faerûn, he would bolt through the nearest fey crossing and drink from every stream and eat fruit from every tree in the Feywild until he found that sweet, sweet wild magic.