Review copy courtesy of Wizards of the Coast.
Pros
Lots of full colour art (as we have come to expect of this edition)
Lots and lots of stat blocks
Combat seems to run faster, and it felt like a more refined and play tested version from what I’ve done so far.
Could Go Either Way
Often seems like there’s less description for monsters, their habitat, etc.
Cons
Some oldies but goodies, like drow, really didn’t make the transition well.
I really miss the spell level section, and the list of prepared spells for the stronger spellcasters. Things like Liches used to become epic page duels. Now...there’s a lot more like any other monster. And unfortunately, there’s not a straight forward easy way to go back and forth.
No PDF*
* Denotes nitpicking.
.jpg "Monster Manual 2024 Cover") |
| Monster Manual (2024) cover. |
Introduction
I’ve been at this for a long time. In fact, the 2014 Monster Manual was my first ever D&D review. However, we’re now here with a new Monster Manual for this edition. It’s a bit nostalgic for me. The original Monster Manual was quite a thick book, particularly for this edition. However, since then, we had ~10 years of adventures. Given how much overlap there is here, I’ll do things a bit differently than usual.
The Art and Book Build Quality
The art is good, and like we’ve come to expect. Some of it isn’t my style, as per usual, and the book contains several styles within it. There’s the cartoon-y style, and more photo real style. Some, like the Bone Devil, I liked both in the original and here. Others, like the Erinyes, I liked more in the previous book. But all in all, it looks decent.
The quality of the book here is good too. There was no binding issues or printing issues that I could see or complain about. I’m quite pleased with this aspect of the book. All in all, in terms of the physical appearance of the book, it’s up to standard.
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| A dragon. I quite liked this one. |
Old Stuff
There’s a lot of old creatures that moved over here. Some are from the original Monster Manual, many are from previously published adventures. But there’s a lot of old favourites here. In a way, it’s like a compilation of all the different monsters we previously had, which was sorely needed. It’s pretty unreasonable to expect someone new to buy all of them to have the complete set.
New Stuff
Many creatures had changes done to it. They may not seem big at first, but they do make a difference. Vampire Spawn can attack twice and bite now, instead of only 2 attacks. Health values were adjusted. Vulnerabilities were adjusted too depending on the creature.
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| Not one of my favourites. But eh, looks alright. |
What I like And What I Don’t Like
I like that there’s so many monsters to choose from. Some that are missing are provided in the form of a conversion chart which...I half like. I like that it’s there and technically all of the old adventures can be run by consulting this chart. But some of them turn out weird. Look at the drow for example. Those old important elements like tentacle rods, or even the poison they used in Out of the Abyss, is missing. There should’ve either been more creatures in the book, or in the conversion instructions small changes to make them fit better.
At some point, we would need a compilation or a refresh. There’s just so many books, and so many creatures spread across them. And this is a bit of that. There could be an argument to get it if you had the original, and combine them together to get a wider array of monsters, as well as 2 versions to choose from.
The balance in general feels pretty good. There were some complaints that the original monsters were a bit easy, and challenging players was hard. These seem to be a bit better balanced, but also, it’s early days. We’ll see how well it holds up with time. But initially, the feelings is good.
And finally, my biggest issue here. D&D monsters have gone through several changes. Some of the 4e stuff, like rolling a dice for recharge, did make its way into the original D&D 5e dragons breath attacks. However, we still had creatures like the lich. They are a spellcaster. They had lots of spells, and they had their own spell slots. This was easy to understand, easy to tell how it interacted with, and allowed things like attacking them when they were low on spell slots. Or go for hit and run tactics. The new system, with a bunch of special attacks in the stat block, is easier to run. It’s easier to manage for Dungeon Masters. I’m not sure my wizard players would like it better. I’d like to at least have the option. I’d happily make the lich’s subordinates use a simplified stat block. But for the lich, I’d want the whole thing. And for me, the ability to choose how much I’ll bite off would be a big benefit. There were already some ways to reduce the work of such creatures by making a 4 round or so “combat script,” with the ability to improvise. We’ll see. Maybe I won’t miss it as much as I think. But right now, I miss it.
Price
Standard prices as we’ve come to expect. Look around for your local store, or online, as they do go on sale.
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| I wish there was more art in this style. I really like it. |
What I felt was Missing
There really should’ve been either more entries, like for drow, or better conversation notes. That way they'd be closer to the flavour of the old version. The drow entry is functional...but it lacks the same spirit. The paralyzing poison that made them special in earlier adventures? Not there. Special spider based items, magic items, or descriptions? Also. This is something that could be provided through a free document.
Summary
It’s a good book with lots of monsters, putting together many books worth into one place for people starting in D&D. In general it’s well done. However, I find myself missing the old spellcasting rules. They were harder on the Dungeon Master, but allowed for very interesting wizard duels. I do like how it makes the combat easier to run. But I wish we had an option for a more original system. At the very least, please tell me the spellcaster level of all the spellcasters.
