List of monsters confirmed in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

[SkidAce]

One of the entries screenshots implies that Blue Abishai are CR 17, which would be quite a power boost from before where Abishai were low-powered Devils.

There's Bulezau which makes sense if they're including Baphomet in the book.

Man I hope not, I liked using the all the colors in one scenario, leaders/followers etc.

 

[gyor]

Man I hope not, I liked using the all the colors in one scenario, leaders/followers etc.

You can still do that. At low level make the higher CR Abashai social encounters or have another creature on your side to even the odds, and the lower CR ones for fighting and/or summoning.

At higher level use groups of the lower CR Abashai as minions of the higher Abashai who you use as Solo's. I use 4e terms for this, because 5e doesn't use these terms.

 

[SkidAce]

You can still do that. At low level make the higher CR Abashai social encounters or have another creature on your side to even the odds, and the lower CR ones for fighting and/or summoning.

At higher level use groups of the lower CR Abashai as minions of the higher Abashai who you use as Solo's. I use 4e terms for this, because 5e doesn't use these terms.

I hear yah.

I guess I'm just used to my 1st edition viewpoint where they were the bulk of fiendish draconic armies, and the leaders were fiendish wvyverns, dragons, or linnorms.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

Other monsters from those previews:

Duergar Soulblades and Xarrorn (both from OotA), as well as Duergar Hammerers and Screamers (which aren't from OotA, unless they are renamed variants).

Ogre Battering Rams and Ogre Bolt Launchers (which sound like ogre siege equipment, but they are listed under creatures, so, presumably, living ogre siege equipment)

"Merrenoloth", which I assume is either a misspelled, or a new spelling for, Marraenoloth, although its CR 3 is much lower than the CR 10 it had in 3.x days.

Iron Cobra and Meazel are both mentioned in the Bestiary chapter introduction (as is one more creature who would appear after the "and..." but is cut off at the bottom of the screen).


I'm very happy to see more ogre and troll variants, which will spice up encounters with that type of creature.

The Winter Eladrin is interesting. We know that the playable eladrin will have seasonal variants (even within the same character), but we had assumed that the creature eladrin would revert to the pre-4e versions. I'm guessing that they've reskinned some of the pre-4e versions as eladrin with seasonal names (although they could have scrapped the old versions entirely and relaunched brand new types, but that seems to be against the MO of 5th Edition). So, if that's the case, which of the older types is our new CR 10 Winter Eladrin? The CR 10 eladrin back in 3.x was the Firre, but as it's fire based, it would be utterly inappropriate for a Winter Eladrin (and would easily be the Summer Eldadrin). My guess would be the Bralani (although CR 10 is a bit of an upgrade for them), as they traditionally inhabit Pelion (the desert and snow filled layer of Arborea), were able to turn into a snowstorm (among other forms), and have snow white or silver hair.

(Also, this preview has checked off even more from my "100 most wanted monsters" list. Between Volo's and this, I might see the huge majority of them updated for the current edition!)

For the seasonal eladrin, they might do like what they did with the genies, where they all have the same CR in 5e, whereas they had different power levels in previous editions.

 

[QuietBrowser]

Can we get the opening post edited to gather up all the monsters listed in this thread? That'd be a nice easy reference to have.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Does anyone remember how powerful Abashai we're in previous editions?

According to the Hierarchy of Baator chart in the 2e Planescape Planes of Law boxed set, they are right above spinagons (which are right above lemure) and right below barbazu and kocrachon. In other words, pretty low on the totempole!

I couldn't find a good link to post, but an image search for "Hierarchy of Baator" will turn up some charts with the correct relationships.

They've always done their own thing in Tiamat's area of Avernus, kind of off to the side of the rest of the devilish hierarchy.

Not according to that chart. I think the Tiamat thing was mostly a side element in AD&D days (at least in Planescape), since they were described as basically the most representative archetypal devil. They were extremely common and a fundamental part of the baatorian society.

But in any case, it still is a pretty significant change, and I wonder how it will be explained in the book...

They sure as Baator better give a good explanation!

 

[dave2008]

They sure as Baator better give a good explanation!

There is no Baator, only the Nine Hells!

 

[Elderbrain]

There is no Baator, only the Nine Hells!

I think the Baatezu would beg to differ. "Devils" is what Primes call them; "Baatezu" is what they call themselves... "The Nine Hells" is what we call their home; "Baator" is what they call it. They have their own language - why wouldn't their name for their home Plane be different than what others call it?

 

[dave2008]

I think the Baatezu would beg to differ. "Devils" is what Primes call them; "Baatezu" is what they call themselves... "The Nine Hells" is what we call their home; "Baator" is what they call it. They have their own language - why wouldn't their name for their home Plane be different than what others call it?

I was just having a little fun. I'm just old school. I grew up reading the 1e MM and MM2 and 2e never caught on with me. I could never get used to the Baatezu and Tanar'ri.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

It appears we are going to get Molochs stats when Dragon + comes out for this month. Which can be any day now.