2024 Monster Manual Review - We Take A Look At Some Of D&D's Most Well Known Monsters Including Goblins, Beholders, and an Adult Black Dragon.

The D&D 2024 Monster Manual is the final piece of the 2024 Core Rulebooks – including the Dungeon Master's Guide and Player Handbook. With it not only can DMs craft intricate worlds and players create new and improved characters, but that world can now be filled with all manner of daunting creatures.

The Monster Manual is split up into two sections, the first section is dedicated to the general idea of how to use a monster. This starts with the basic understanding of how to read a stat block before moving on to highlight how the different monster entries will provide DMs with additional context about a monster's habitat (something you can also sort monsters by), what treasure they may have, and an introduction of the concepts of Lairs.

Improved Stat Blocks

Before we go into talking about the different ways that certain monsters stat blocks have been improved or altered the first thing to highlight is how much better the look and style of the new stat blocks are.

The most noticeable change is the inclusion of a stat table that doesn't just show a stat score and modifier, but also includes the saving throw modifier. This information is neatly sorted and quick to catch the DMs eye allowing for it to be accessed quickly.

The information found here was never missing, but in the instance of a saving throw it would sometimes be in a different location, never too far away but when a DM is trying to manage player actions, multiple monster types, and narrating a scene can be easy to miss.

Other efficiencies seen across the stat block include folding together Damage and Condition Resistances and Immunities to have a simplified Resistances and Immunities into two headings. Again, an instance where all of the information was present but it's now combined. This is one efficiency that I feel is perhaps an oversimplification. When running combat I would never be wanting to check a damage type and a condition at the same time so it's easy to hop to one or the other, now it takes a bit more time to parse through.

Descriptions of actions have also been made more efficient, quick to fetch information by the DM. The Air Elemental's Whirlwind now has the following description:

Whirlwind (Recharge 4-6). Strength Saving Throw: DC 13, one Medium or smaller creature in the elemental's space. Failure: 24 (4d10 + 2) Thunder damage, and the target is pushed up to 20 feet straight away from the elemental and has the Prone condition. Success: Half damage only.

A bold name has always been used to draw the DMs eye to the attack, but now italics are providing quick and crucial information. If you want to quickly see what save, what happens on success, and what the punishment of a failure is they're fast to hop to. The phrasing is also far less conversational, and more technical. "Each creature in the elemental's space must make a DC 13 Strength saving throw." vs "Strength Saving Throw: DC 13, one Medium or smaller creature in the elemental's space"

The only improvement over this new system, and maybe one only possible on D&DBeyond where page space isn't a worry, might be breaking out the Failure and Success into a small list underneath allowing for even faster understanding in the heat of battle.

When comparing a 2014 stat block to the 2024 equivalent stat block it's not that there's too much added information, but that the information is now presented in a faster to reference manner. Ultimately these changes will make seeking out that information easier for a DM, resulting in less paused times in your game.

Making Your Monster Meet Their CR

This section doesn't just outline how to read a stat block, and what each of the different aspects of the monster could mean, but also a short but sweet outline for how to make sure your monster meets their Combat Rating (making sure you're giving your players a worthy challenge).

While it's simple the basic outline is to use special abilities as much as you can, Multiattack when you can't use special abilities, and use Bonus Actions, Reactions, and Legendary Actions where applicable.

While it can feel counter-intuitive to be so aggressive against your friends by following those steps you'll be able to keep the game tense and have players truly feel rewarded.

So SO many stat blocks…

After making your way through what a monster stat block, how to read it, and how to best optimize running encounters you'll find yourself at the beginning of 361 pages of monsters from Aarakocra Aeromancers to Zombies.

By the numbers the book includes more than 500 stat blocks, completely new monsters as well as monsters reimagined for 5e from previous editions, as well as variant monsters for common groups.

An example of one of these groups is Skeletons. You'll learn about their habitat, that they don't normally have treasure, and how a skeleton might have come about but you won't just have a stat block for your run of the mill shortsword/shortbow Skeleton, you'll also get a statblock for a Warhorse Skeleton, Minotaur Skeleton, and a Flaming Skeleton.

With the CR for each of these monsters being ¼, ½, 2, and 3 respectively this allows you to create a more unique skeletal-based encounter.

Another nice touch of the Monster Manual is how they present all of the Monsters in a variety of ways to make sure you can locate what you're after. Inside the book itself, the monsters are organized from A to Z with some grouping when it comes to monster types. For instance all of the dragons are grouped together even if an Adult Dragon and Young Dragon would be at the other end of the Alphabet.

Then there is a true alphabetical list of Stat Blocks as an index showing page numbers. Organization gets even deeper as you can then look at list of all of the monsters by Habitat, Creature Type, Group, or Challenge Rating.

For the experienced DM this offers the chance to skip right to the stat block of the Displacer Beast that has prowled out of a dungeon, but if you're writing a campaign and need a good monster for a high-level party to fight on a coastline you can get suggestions like a Storm Giant or Dragon Turtle.

Creature Spot Check

It's hard to really compare every stat block for the purpose of this review so I've selected a few monsters from basic creatures that I'm sure every DM has thrown into their campaign at least once, monsters that are immediately recognizable to someone even tangentially aware of Dungeons & Dragons, and finally… some actual dragons.

In this section, I'll highlight some major differences between the 2014 and 2024 edition's Goblins, Owlbears, Beholders, Mind Flayers, and Adult Black Dragons. If you're familiar with any of these it might show just how nice the improvements are.

Goblin

The immediate change you'll see when opening to the Goblin section of the Monster Manual is that while Goblin is a heading, there's no exact Goblin stat block like it would present in the 2014 Monster Manual. Instead the Goblin section is made up of stat blocks for Goblin Minons, Goblin Warriors, Goblin Boss, and Goblin Hexers.

The 2014 Goblin's closest parallel is the Goblin Warrior. The differences here are that the 2024 Goblin Warrior has 10 hp as opposed to the 2014 Goblin's 7 hp, Nimble Escape is now an Action instead of a Bonus Action, and the Scimitar and Shortbow now do 5 (1d6 +2) damage plus an additional 2 (1d4) damage if they had advantage.

The Goblin Minion only has a dagger option, less AC, and less HP, while the Goblin Boss gets stat boosts, Multiattack, and even a reaction to cause an attack to redirect to a different ally in proximity. Even more powerful than that the Hexer has spells and a reaction that can cause an attacker to miss with their attack.

This is a perfect example of the kinds of changes present in the book to give more options to a DM wanting to create unique scenarios. I'm also a big fan of the interactions between Goblins giving more benefits to advantage, and how a Goblin Boss can shove others around creating interactions between the monsters.

Owlbear

The Owlbear statblock has had some changes, but these ones are far minor. The 2024 Owlbear has had a climb speed of 40 added to it and it now has a +5 to it's perception skill, but has also lost Keen Sight and Smell and the Beak and Claw attack have been replaced by a single rend.

This stat block is smaller than the original, but really the only thing it can no longer do is Piercing damage.

For those who wish there was more Owlbear however a Primeval Owlbear has been added. This CR 7 monster has an AC of 16, over double the HP, a 5ft Fly Speed, and has Magic Resistance and a Ravage and Screech attacks.

Mind Flayer

With more HP, a fly speed of 15ft, and a resistance to Psychic damage the 2024 Mind Flayer also has a few weakened stats, no longer having a Deception or Persuasion skill.

Aside from that the majority of the Mind Flayer's abilities are the same, with minor tweaks. A save might be 14 instead of the original 15, or instead of dealing 2d10 + 4 attack it's instead 4 d8 + 4. 

The Mind Flayer here has really barely been changed, and it's in the numbers not any effect.

Beholder

For anyone whose ever ran a Beholder before, you know it's got a massive stat block… but nevertheless we wanted to take a look and see just how much this well known creature might have changed in the new version.

In terms of the Beholder's raw stats it has 10 more HP, it's fly speed has doubled from 20ft to 40ft, it's initiative bonus is now a whopping +12 instead of a +5, and it's Strength has been increased from 10 to 16.

The Antimagic Code is now a Bonus Action instead of an innate trait, the DM can choose to activate it and it will last until the start of the Beholder's next turn. In terms of attacks their Bite has a higher roll to hit (fitting their increase in Strength) and they can still shoot three eye beams per round.

Now we get to the differences in each of the Beholders 10 rays:

1. Charm Ray - The DC of the Wisdom Save has been lowered to 16, but now on top of charming the target there's also 3d8 Psychic damage associated with the beam (half damage and no charmed effect on saving)
2. Paralyzing Ray - While the wording is different, and honestly a bit more confusing in the 2024 edition, the effect remains the same.
3. Fear Ray - The Wisdom Save is the same, but on failure the target is only Frightened until the end of it's next turn (as opposed to the 1 minute time of the 2014 edition) and there's also 4d6 Psychic damage (half damage and no Frightened effect on save)
4. Slowing Ray - Again the Save is the same, and again damage has been added. On a failed saving throw the target takes 4d8 Necrotic damage, their speed is halved, they can't take reactions, and can pick either an Action or Bonus Action. On a success it's just half the damage and none of the effects.
5. Enervation Ray - The damage type of this ray has shifted from necrotic to Poison. If the target fails the save they take 3d8 Poison damage and have the Poisoned condition until the end of their next round. On top of that while under this effect they can't regain HP
6. Telekinetic Ray - This is another Ray that has wording changed, but the effect remains the same. Interestingly the 2024 edition specifies that "the target succeeds automatically if it is Gargantuan. I'm not sure what scenario would have a Beholder taking on a Gargantuan foe but I want no part in it…
7. Sleep Ray - Another ray with no difference.
8. Petrification Ray - This ray now requires a Constitution Saving Throw instead of a Dexterity one (while the value of the save is the same). The effect of the ray itself, Restrained at first, and Petrified on second failure is the same. The verbiage about needing to be freed by Greater Restoration or other magic however isn't in the 2024 edition.
9. Disintegration Ray - For Disintegration ray the damage dealt by the attack has been reduced from 10d8 to 8d8. This attack is now no longer all or nothing as making the save still results in you taking half damage and if you're reduced to 0 hp it spells out immediate death.
10. Death Ray - The only change to the Death Ray is that a successful save still has you taking half damage, and again if the target is reduced to 0 hp it immediately dies.

Being the powerful creature that it is the Beholder also has Legendary Actions as well as Legendary Resistances. It can have 3 of each, or 4 if it's inside it's lair, this is a fun alteration that helps you make creatures more powerful in their lair even if they don't have Lair actions.

The inclusion of a damaging element to almost every Ray that a Beholder can use means that while rolling to attack with these eyes there's always incremental damage even if the effect of the Ray isn't properly connecting. This makes the Beholder not only a far more terrifying entity but a more consistent one.

Adult Black Dragon

The stats of the Adult Black Dragon are largely unchanged, with it's Charisma increasing from 17 to 19. It has lost it's greater Constitution and Charisma Saving Throw, instead now saving with a +5 and +4 respectively.

The Legendary Resistance and Legendary Actions have also received the same Lair buff that the Beholder has, 3 when outside the Lair and gaining an additional 4th when resting at home. 

Once we get to Actions and Legendary Actions however there's a lot of changes that take place. Instead of comparing the two here I'm going to just outline the different abilities and attacks that the 2024 Adult Black Dragon has.

The Adult Black Dragon's Multiattack allows it to use Rend - a simple melee attack dealing slashing and acid damage - three times or it can replace one of those Rends with a use of a 3rd level Melf's Acid Arrow.

On top of that the Adult Black Dragon has an Acid Breath that recharges on 5 and 6. It is a 60-foot-long line dealing 12d8 Acid damage on a failure, and half damage on a success. For spellcasting the Adult Black Dragon can cast Detect Magic, Fear (essentially replacing Frightful Presence), and Melf's Acid Arrow at 3rd Level. Once a day they can also cast Speak with Dead, and Vitriolic Sphere.

As a Legendary Action, the Dragon can use Frightful Presence, Pounce by moving half it's speed and making a Rend attack, or it can create a Cloud of Insects. This is a DC 17 Dex save throw where a fail will cause 4d10 Poison damage and will force you to have Disadvantage on saving throws to maintain Concentration for a turn. Cloud of Insects can't be used again until the start of it's next turn.

While a lot has been changed here there's nothing specifically better or worse than it's 2014 counterpart. I like the removal of the three very similar attacks in Bite, Claw, and Tail, in exchange for a simplified Rend and I like the addition of Spellcasting even if the list is only 5 things with two of them being damaging spells.

Dungeons & Dragons 2024 Monster Manual Review | Final Thoughts

The 2024 Monster Manual is, as the book says, a manual of all of the Monsters that have been reworked and are ready to be thrown onto the table in your 2024 games of Dungeons & Dragons.

The book does an excellent job explaining each part of the stat block, especially useful for beginners, but also clearly explains the best course of action to ensure you're playing each of these monsters to the best of their abilities.

Whether you'll want to pick this book up will really be driven by if you really want these updated stat blocks from the 2014 edition. From those I walked through there's some clear improvements, but others where the changes are minimal. The new monsters are at their best when they increase the reliability of the monster, or introduce mechanics that allow them to be used in new and interesting ways, but you can also create those interactions on your own.

For a DM and a Player this isn't going to be as important as the PHB or the DMG to understand what is new about D&D in 2024, but it will definitely throw players who have been playing since 2014 for a loop when monsters start breaking out new abilities.

This review was completed with a PDF of the 2024 Monster Manual provided by the publisher. Photos used in this review are a combination of previously available artwork, and artwork provided by the publisher.