Last week TechRaptor had a chance to sit down and hear about the new 2024 Monster Manual, releasing February 18th. We heard from Co-designers Jeremy Crawford and Wes Schneider as well as from Jess Lanzillo about the year that Dungeons & Dragons had in 2024.
We learned all kinds of information from the hard facts about how many monsters will be in the book, what monsters have been given upgrades, and about some new Apex monsters of each of the basic types of enemies. We've boiled down that information to the eight things you'll want to know before you pick up the Monster Manual.
This Is The Biggest Monster Manual D&D Has Released
At the start of our meeting, Crawford took us through the new Monster Manual by the numbers. This is the biggest Monster Manual ever with over 500 monsters, of which 85 are completely new monsters.
Two examples of these new monsters given were a Primeval Owlbear, a higher CR variant of the well-known monstrosity (I'm sure we'll be seeing merch before long), and a Vampire Nightbringer.
While only 85 are completely new Crawford explained that they've revisited every monster from the 2014 Monster Manual to rebalance them, somewhat like what was done with Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse. This should result in some more entertaining stat blocks of monsters to run, and will also throw some surprises out to players who feel they're familiar with the enemies.
DM Tools For How To Best Run Monsters
The opening section "How to use a monster" will teach new DMs the ins and outs of a monster stat block. For those who are brand new they'll teach you how to identify each of the different sections, but once you're ready to run them there are also tips on how to most efficiently do so.
I'm interested to hear more about how they plan to teach getting the most out of combat. You can have the best and most accurately challenging stat block in the world, but if you're using the monster inefficiently any encounter can be a cakewalk to a well versed enough party.
There won't be information about how to make alterations to a stat block or how to build an encounter in the MM for those interested, that instead can already be found in the Dungeon Master Guide.
Dragons Have Spellcasting!
One of the monster groups that has received a big update is that Dragons now have spellcasting. While it was provided as an option in the past Monster Manual those spells are now a part of the Dragon's stat blocks giving them even more combat power and flexibility.
While we still don't know exactly what types of spells they'll have to sling we did get a tease of one of the Dragon statblocks on Twitter late last week.
Higher CR Monster Offerings
Another thing that DMs can be excited for is the inclusion of more higher level CR monsters. Alongside recent campaigns like Vecna: Eve of Ruin, there has been an increase in higher-level focused content.
Alongside new monsters that are a higher CR the Monster Manual will also have higher CR variants of a variety of themed characters. Some examples given here include different levels of pirates from the standard pirate all the way up to captains and admirals letting you scale your game as you continue playing.
Apex Monsters Are The Pinnacle Of Their Type
Sure your players might be familiar with Tiamat or a Tarrasque, but what about if you're crafting a high-level campaign and you need an elemental or an undead? The highest of the high-CR of each type will go to what are called the Apex monsters.
We were shown the artwork for the three of these. The Apex Elemental is the Elemental Cataclysm, the Blob of Annihilation is the Ooze Apex, and the Haunting Revenant is the Undead Apex that takes the form of a haunted house.
Each of these will have their own unique and challenging mechanics such as the Elemental Cataclysm causing environmental disasters across the battlefield, and the Blog of Annihilation having the skull of a god that can pull party members into a different plane. Make sure everyone is out before you kill it as they might end up in the astral sea.
Find The Monster In The Way That's Best For You
Joking about how the Gelatinous Cube was in the 'O' section for Oozes Crawford explained that for this Monster Manual all creatures will be presented in alphabetical order in the book.
At the end of the book however is an Appendix of all of the Animals — like cats and crocodiles, as well as seme more supernatural animals — and an Appendix of Monsters. The Monsters here are going to be listed by CR, Habitat, Creature Type, and by thematic groupings like 'Devils'.
Crawford told us that they realized for a new player going to Ooze to find something required prior knowledge, but keeping everything purely alphabetical it makes it the most accessible, while players searching for viable creatures in a desert or swamp will either know what they're looking for, or hunt that down in the appendix.
This Time The Monsters Brought Friends
A number of themed enemies have had their ranks expanded so allow the DM to create more unique combat scenarios. An example for this is the Azer, formerly just a single enemy type there is now the Azer Pyromancer.
Other groups that have had expanding including Skeletons, different types of Cultists like Aberrant and Elemental Cultists, and the Bulette now has a Bulette Pup.
This is meant to allow DMs not just to throw a group of eight skeletons at a party, where each acts the same, but to have different types of enemies make up more interesting combat.
Almost Every Monster Has Artwork
While this might not do too much mechanically almost every monster in the Monster Manual has it's own piece of art. This isn't just to help you understand what it looks like but the art also shows a scene from the lives of these monsters.
The artwork can help you get a clue at a glance what the monsters is about, perfect if you're browsing for a monster to add to an encounter but aren't sure what you want from it, but it will also show you how they interact with others and what types of environments they might live in.
So that's all we learned and with the early access for the Monster Manual dropping on February 4th with the global release coming February 18th it won't be too long until we have those stat blocks in our hands ready to throw them at our parties.
