Dungeons & Dragons: Volo's Guide to Monsters Late Review

Review copy courtesy of Wizards of the Coast.

A little late to the review party as usual, but better late than never.

Pros

• Lots of full colour art (as we have come to expect of this edition)
• Lair maps are included
• Quite detailed descriptions of a subset of creatures from the Monster Manual (beholders, giants, gnolls, goblinoids, hags, kobolds, mind flayers, orcs, yuan-ti)
• New races seem alright but closer to half-elf than human in terms of abilities though more play could change my opinion
• 124 (give or take a couple if I miscounted) new stat blocks of creatures and NPCs (most of which are humanoids) with those not mentioned in the first chapter being treated the same way as monsters in the Monster Manual

Could Go Either Way

• Again, there is a Forgotten Realms focus though it is subtle (similar to the Monster Manual)
• The book contains notes by Elminster and Volo, many of which are trying to be comedic. You might find some of them a waste of space if you don't find them funny. They are similar in frequency to the notes in the Monster Manual.
• If you played D&D heavily in previous editions, you probably already know a lot of the lore of most of the creatures presented and can make your own version using the creature creation rules in the Dungeon Master's Guide or your own personal system

Cons

• Some repetition between the stats section at the end and the creature descriptions earlier (usually in different words)
• At 224 pages, it's around 30 pages shorter than an adventure and much shorter than the core books released so far but at the same suggested price
• No PDF*

* Denotes nitpicking.

The standard cover for Volo's Guide to Monsters. 

Introduction

Volo's Guide to Monsters was officially released for the 5^th edition of Dungeons & Dragons on November 15^th, 2016. Instead of focusing on a location, this book instead focuses on monsters as they are in the Forgotten Realms. The majority of the book focuses on giving background lore on creatures from the Monster Manual (98 pages) as well as stats for new creatures and non-player characters (99 pages not including lists). Mixed in are 13 new player character races (18 pages), 6 of which are monstrous.

The Internals

First and foremost, this book is focused on monsters. Adventures until now have contained a bit of everything. There were a few new monsters for the adventure, quite a bit of effort on the setting, the adventure itself and sometimes a player option or two (spells, etc.). This book is kind of like that but there is no adventure. Instead we get about 124 new stat blocks and a lot of lore and description of the monsters. Some groups are described more than others (chapter 1 is the majority of the lore and it covers 9 types of creatures).

The Monsters

The majority of stat blocks in this book focus on humanoids of different types (there aren't very many new undead, which you all should know by now are my personal favourites). The table of contents of the book is provided on the Wizards of the Coast website and has an alphabetically ordered list of all of the stat blocks contained within the book. As mentioned before, I counted about 124 different stat blocks. Some of these monsters are variants of already existing monsters. While this doesn't compared to the the number of stat blocks in the Monster Manual or the overall length of that book, it is still a good amount of new monsters. You can also create more monsters for your players by using the new races presented in the book, which I go over below. Most of the monsters provided are at a challenge rating of 10 or below. Below 10, they are fairly well spread out. The first chapter also has quite detailed descriptions of lairs and example lair maps for beholders, giants, gnolls, goblinoids, hags, kobolds, mind flayers, orcs, and yuan-ti. Those creatures get the most focus and the most detailed lore explanations.

One of the images from the book showing beholders. Some of the new art is very nice like this.

Some of these are non-player characters such as new types of wizards. If you've been looking through the DMs Guild, you probably already have some variants of these (more don't hurt but you probably wouldn't want to pay a lot for them). They are not the majority but there are a few. I don't think the book is as well balanced as the Monster Manual. There are some that are more situation and silly. There are also some nice variants to already existing monsters and some creatures that caught my eye (how have we not had elder brain stats before this?). For these reasons, I'd recommend a quick skim of that table of contents provided on the website.

The stats in general are fine and present some interesting tactical opportunities. There were some rare cases where I thought the math seemed odd, particularly for NPCs based on character classes. One particular example I noticed is the differences in health for different kinds of warlocks. The one with the highest spell casting level doesn't have the most health even though it matches the constitution score of the one with the most health. If this bugs you, I'd bump up the random health component to spellcasting level * d8, giving you a different variant you can use (the basic formula for NPCs based on a player class seems to be level * hit die + level * con modifier). However, this is the exception not the rule.

New Races

As mentioned previously, there are 13 new races for players. 6 of these are monstrous races, which are races that were previously presented in the Monster Manual as monsters that players would face (bugbear, hobgoblin, goblin, kobold, orc, and yuan-ti). The races in general are not as simple as humans. They tend to have more feat like abilities. This is why I compared them to the half-elf. Right now I don't think they are much better than what we already have and that they make a nice addition to the current line up. Since they take up so little of the page count, I can't recommend getting the book purely for the new races. It does present the opportunity to make new variations of those races though, which is something I like seeing as a Dungeon Master. As with the monsters, I'd recommend a look through the table of contents to help make a decision over buying the book.

The Writing

The closest book I can compare Volo's Guide to Monsters is the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide if it was a Monster Manual. They are both shorter than the core books. They both also focus heavily on lore and as such rely on the quality of the writing. There was lore in the Monster Manual but Volo's Guide to Monsters has a larger portion of its page count devoted to lore. Not all creatures get equal treatment though. The first chapter focuses on beholders, giants, gnolls, goblinoids, hags, kobolds, mind flayers, orcs, and yuan-ti. That first chapter is also responsible for quite a large portion of the page count.

The writing is as we've come to expect in this edition. It describes features of a creature's character or place in the world and does so in a way that makes the creature interesting. If you didn't like the Monster Manual because it was too much lore and not enough stat blocks, this part of the book won't be for you. There are some minor errors but almost all of them don't detract from the meaning. When they did, I was able to figure them out after a reread (this only had to happen a couple of times). I got the impression that the lore is focused mainly on the Forgotten Realms. However, it gives off the impression that the book is trying to use that setting as an example to inspire.

Throughout the book there are notes by Volo and Elminster. They are similar to the notes presented in previous books like the Monster Manual only this time they sometimes argue with each other. If you don't find it funny or entertaining, you probably won't appreciate it any more than in previously published books. However, it does highlight the attempt to add some character to the book instead of making it just a listing of monsters (something I feel they've done a good job of doing here and in the Monster Manual before it). It also gives options and different behaviours in place, which along with the notes and explicitly mentioned some things aren't known helps make it seem less authoritative.

The trouble is that quite a bit of the lore isn't new. If you've played through Storm King's Thunder, you'll know a lot about giants already. Likewise, if you've already read material about these creatures in previous editions the lore probably won't be as important to you. Some people might like to see what they kept, removed or changed though. It does act as a nice collection and provides a large amount of details for the creatures highlighted in the first part of the book. The good news though is that the monsters take up a good portion of the book, probably about half of the pages, so there are still quite a few useful pages if you want those stats blocks. If you've already made your own, would rather make your own versions of those creatures, or just don't care for the ones listed in the table of contents, there is less reason to buy the book.

If you are new though and liked the Monster Manual, this is very similar and you'll probably like it. You'll just be wishing there was even more. It's about 30 pages shorter than the recent published adventures (they tend to be around 255 pages long). It's longer than the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide but it also doesn't share that book's discounted suggested retail price.

The Art and Book Build Quality

The art is also as we've come to expect. Some of it is recycled (I could swear I saw some before in the Monster Manual) but quite a bit of it is new as well. There are also some maps provided as example lairs of the creatures that are discussed in detail in chapter 1. I really like this and I hope that books with an emphasis on monsters will continue to include a few going forward. The visual is very helpful when the lair is being described and it makes it far easier to run the creature during play.

Defects

The book in general is the same style as we've seen before. My particular copy was generally good, though I'd still recommend taking a look at the cover, the binding, and checking for stuck together pages. I didn't have that issue in this one (a little bit less than perfect binding on the first page is my only nitpicky complaint) and any issues I did see seemed to have been done during shipping (it looks like someone discus threw it into a pole because of the marks on the cover). I'd still recommend keeping an eye out when picking one out at the store.

Price

The best prices I could find doing a quick search were $29.97 on Amazon in the US and $38.85 in Canada. If you go to your local hobby store it'll probably be more expensive but you'll be able to support them. These prices may change with time as well. 

What I felt Was Missing

Again, we are missing a PDF. I would've liked a PDF bundled with these books since the beginning but they are extremely helpful when searching through stat blocks for monsters such as here. As far as providing things for monsters, this has all of the elements you'd expect (monsters, and lore) as well as some that are very nice to see (lair maps). I just wish it was a little bit longer so that it would be matching the length of the published adventures. Some more undead in particular would be welcome since they are a common type of enemy. Don't expect monster tokens like the 4e Monster's Vault either. 

Summary

It's basically a miniature Monster Manual with a heavier emphasis on lore and containing some new player race options. Beholders, giants, gnolls, goblinoids, hags, kobolds, mind flayers, orcs, and yuan-ti get the majority of the attention with the entire first chapter being devoted to them. Included in these chapters are details about their lairs (not just lair actions) and an example map in a style very similar to Storm King's Thunder. Despite being shorter, it's still the same suggested retail price. If you don't have an issue with that you'll probably enjoy it. Around 50% of the book is new stat blocks, totally about 124 new stat blocks, with the majority of them being humanoids. If you already know the lore of the listed creatures from previous editions, you are probably here for the new races, to see what changed/was kept, and/or the stat block. There is new art but there is also some that is reused. I also wish it was 30 pages longer to put it in line with the length of the recently published adventures. To make your choice, look at the table of contents. If you like the creatures there or want the more detailed lore for those 9 creatures, you'll probably like it. If you already know the lore and prefer to make your own stat blocks, there's not much I can say. I generally found it an enjoyable read and I like having more monsters to throw at my players. It's not a book I'd recommend for someone who is trying to get into D&D, since I think the core books are far more important. It's a nice addition afterwards when you want new monsters, more lore and/or like the look of the table of contents.

Other Stuff

• Reading over this book, I noticed 14 minor typos and mistakes. They didn't influence meaning but one of two of them were written in an ambiguously so I had to reread them. If you've read the Monster Manual, you'll be fine.
• Free parts of the book are available on the Wizards of the Coast website including the a table of contents that shows the names of all monsters provided
• One particular example I noticed is the differences in health for different kinds of warlocks. The one with the highest spell casting level doesn't have the most health even though it matches the constitution score of the warlock with the most health. If this bugs you, I'd bump up the random health component to spellcasting level * d8, giving you a different variant you can use (the basic formula for NPCs based on a player class seems to usually be level * hit die + level * con modifier)