Preview VOLO'S GUIDE TO MONSTERS

Polygon has scored a look at the upcoming Volo's Guide to Monsters from WotC - six full pages, in fact, which give a very clear idea of what we can expect from the book when it arrived next month! From the looks of their article, it seems that WotC is using this as a testbed for the way they handle future sourcebooks. Polygon confirms the overall product description - 96 new (to 5E) monsters, tons of rules for monster PCs (goblins, orcs, firbolgs), and a buch of deep dives into some iconic monsters. The beholder section is nearly 14 pages on its own. Check out the article at Polygon for more!

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[Dire Bare]

I would love a Volo's Guide to the Planes. I think the snide side comments from Elminister would actually work well there (harken back to the tongue in cheek tone of Planescape).

As for Dragons, well it almost wouldn't feel like a new edition without a Draconomicon. So count me in for that one too (WotC, this is practically a license to take money from me).

The Psychic one is also a good idea. Since the biggest controversy with the psychics in 5e is the proposed tie to the Far Realm, having an unreliable narrator push that theory would seem to satisfy everyone.

I think instead of Volo, we should have Manuel's Guide to the Planes.

And, bring back Van Richten's guides!

 

[Prakriti]

I'm wondering if this goes over well if we'll see similar Volo's Guides in the future with similar formats. I could definitely see, for example, a Volo's Guide to the Planes...

The biggest clue will be in the stat blocks. If there are no demons, devils, celestials, fey, dragons, etc., then we can assume that Wizards is holding those monsters in reserve for future supplements. So far, that seems to be the case, as everything we've seen of Volo's Guide so far suggests a focus on monstrous humanoids.

 

[Parmandur]

The biggest clue will be in the stat blocks. If there are no demons, devils, celestials, fey, dragons, etc., then we can assume that Wizards is holding those monsters in reserve for future supplements. So far, that seems to be the case, as everything we've seen of Volo's Guide so far suggests a focus on monstrous humanoids.

We already know one Celestial, the Ki-Rin is in the book.

 

[Prakriti]

We already know one Celestial, the Ki-Rin is in the book.

That's true. I forgot about that one. Like the unicorn, the ki-rin has probably gone from being a "magical beast" to being celestial. Nonetheless, I wouldn't rule out Volo's Guide to the Planes based on that. It really depends on the overall mix of monsters. If it's as diverse as the Monster Manual, then I probably wouldn't expect more Volo guides. If it's just 1 or 2 each of fey, celestial, fiend, etc., then there's still a good chance that we'll see more.

 

[Nickolaidas]

Sylvester voice: YETHHHHHHH!!!!

 

[bleezy]

More monsters and lore up in a new preview!

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/10/volos-guide-to-monsters.html

 

[Demetrios1453]

More monsters and lore up in a new preview!

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/10/volos-guide-to-monsters.html

Heh, coming here to post this myself!

So, Goliath are going to be covered as well (I guess they are just making the previous web enhancement "official"), as well as some good stuff on orcs, including some nice detail on some of the orc pantheon (so, given that we also know the kobold pantheon will be covered, it looks like we will indeed see some good monstrous deity coverage). Looks like some good higher CR monsters as well in that giant section - the stone giant variant is CR 10, and that storm giant variant looks to be a quite high CR indeed (given from what is shown as well as the fact it has lair actions!).

 

[Parmandur]

Heh, coming here to post this myself!

So, Goliath are going to be covered as well (I guess they are just making the previous web enhancement "official"), as well as some good stuff on orcs, including some nice detail on some of the orc pantheon (so, given that we also know the kobold pantheon will be covered, it looks like we will indeed see some good monstrous deity coverage). Looks like some good higher CR monsters as well in that giant section - the stone giant variant is CR 10, and that storm giant variant looks to be a quite high CR indeed (given from what is shown as well as the fact it has lair actions!).

It looks like we may get quite a few deity based Orc variants, Runequest style?

 

[Demetrios1453]

It looks like we may get quite a few deity based Orc variants, Runequest style?

Yeah, it looks like the end of a Shargraas-themed variant on the Tanarukk page, and the orc lore page seems to indicate there will be a "Blade of Ilneval" variant as well.

I'm hoping that we see more than one variant for at least some of the giant subraces though - while the fire giant dreadnought is intriguing, I want to see at least one other fire giant variant than that...

 

[Azzy]

The kobold entries are what I'm most looking forward to at this point—the MM gave them short shrift.

I also want more of the older monsters updated to 5e.