D&D 5E A Compilation of all the Race Changes in Monsters of the Multiverse

Over on Reddit, user KingJackel went through the video leak which came out a few days ago and manually compiled a list of all the changes to races in the book. The changes are quite extensive, with only the fairy and harengon remaining unchanged. The book contains 33 races in total, compiled and updated from previous Dungeons & Dragons books.

D&D 5E - List of All 33 Races in Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse

Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse contains 33 races compiled from previous Dungeons & Dragons books. Aarackocra Assimar Bugbear Centaur Changeling Deep Gnome Duergar Eladrin Fairy Firbolg Genasi, Air Genasi, Earth Genasi, Fire Gennasi, Water Githyanki Githzerai Goblin Goliath...

www.enworld.org

D&D 5E - Full List of Monsters in Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse

Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse contains revamped stat blocks for 260 monsters previously published in previous Dungeons & Dragons 5E books. The list was compiled by YouTuber Bob Worldbuilder based on some blurry screenshots originally shared by Nerd Immersion (see the video...

www.enworld.org

 

[humble minion]

There are some good changes there (boosted natural weapon damage and the ability to choose your casting stat for racial abilities in particular), but on the whole I think it's a net negative.

The big one for me is the homogenisation of speeds and the removal of all detrimental traits (ie, daylight sensitivity) combined with the lack of any new ones being introduced (c'mon, stuff like disadvantage on Climb checks for centaurs is just a no-brainer). It's just a big step towards conservatism, homogenisation, and samey-ness in race design, and a step away from pushing the boundaries. I'd really expect the design team to be going the other way this deep into the edition's lifespan.

I can see how the fey-ification of goblinoids would work very well in some settings, but I think it's a mistake as a universal retcon. There's more settings where it wouldn't work than where it would. Goblins got the short end of the stick again, and they were none too great in the first place. That's a big shame for what should be a very common 'monstrous' PC race. And come on, they couldn't find the page count to just reprint Shape Water for the water genasi? And I really, really hate the ability to reconfigure your proficiencies on the fly every time you trance. It's just a bit of a slap in the face for the PC who actually selected a rare tool proficiency (or whatever) at level 1 for character reasons, and has carried it around ever since, rarely using it, and once the situation finally comes up when it's useful and it's that PCs turn to finally shine - the elf has a quick nap and suddenly knows it too. Uuuuuurgh.

Really disappointing for me. I dunno if I'll end up using it, cos i'm not the GM and it won't be my decision. But the thing that really bugs me - where were the speed changes etc in the UA? They run a damn UA, and don't put something that significant in there? Really annoys me. I know they do pay attention to UAs because they've sometimes made changes (generally rushed and poorly-thought-out) as a result of feedback, but I'll never understand why they pick and choose what they UA with such apparent abritrariness.

 

[dave2008]

Besides what we already knew from the UAs, there are a number of implied core changes for the 2024 edition in here.

• Will movement speeds more broadly be standardized? I assume the monsters in this book will tell us.

The preview someone posted in another thread (from a video) showing the duergar still had 25 ft speed in the monster stat block. It seems to be a PC thing?

• Magic resistance being strictly limited to spells raises the question of what exactly those non-spell spells are, now, if not magical.

They are still magical, just not spells. Lots of PC classes have magical things that are not spells too.

 

[dave2008]

Really disappointing for me. I dunno if I'll end up using it, cos i'm not the GM and i won't be my decision. But the thing that really bugs me - where were the speed changes etc in the UA? They run a damn UA, and don't put something that significant in there? Really annoys me. I know they do pay attention to UAs because they've sometimes made changes (generally rushed and poorly-thought-out) as a result of feedback, but I'll never understand why they pick and choose what they UA with such apparent abritrariness.

this is an odd take to me. It is not like they have any responsibility to preview this with UA. Anything they provide early is just a nice bonus IMO.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

Lots of things I really like. Some things I dislike. The PB times per long rest is something I really like for species mechanics, as it keeps them scaling over the game.

It's nice to see certain genasi as less useless as they're my favourite race. However I absolutely hate the fact that they don't have their elemental cantrip, and it's instead been replaced with combat cantrips. Hopefully my DM will let me replace acid splash with shape water as it's far more on theme for a water genasi.

Sad that cunning artisan has gone. Sure it's cultural so shouldn't be linked to race. But they've not cut it off from race. They've just completely deleted it. At least bring it back as a feat or background feature please.

 

[Zehnseiter]

That switch to PB uses of abilities is not really my cup of tea. It adds too much bookkeeping for my taste. I am more comfortable with either "per combat" abilities (you can use short rest here very well) or a pool of resources that powers all abilities. Less hassle to track. But then I never got too warm with 5E anyway. Those rule change won't really change anything on my opinion about the game.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

I'm not a fan of PB based features on classes or subclasses due to the risk of multiclass shenanigans.

I like it on racial features as it keeps them scaling nicely over the course of the game and ensures they remain relevant even at later levels.

 

[sevenbastard]

Well this dashed my hope they had gone for the race as class in the B/X model...

 

[Kobold Stew]

I would have thought that WotC would have changed the goblin ability that was redundant with Rogue abilities. Goblin Rogues should be a no-brainer, but such an egregious redundant feature usually discourages Goblin Rogues.

For me, this is a plus. As I've noted elsewhere, every goblin is Rogue-like (as it were). This will increase the diversity of rogue builds, rather than reduce them.

 

[Kobold Stew]

One thing not noticed yet:

The negative valence has been removed in the names of many of these abilities.

• Orcs are no longer "aggressive"
• Kobolds no longer "grovel cower and beg"
• Hobgoblins no longer need to be "saving face"
• even Kenku's duplication is no longer tied to forgery.

Even when the mechanical benefits remain unchanged (perhaps especially when), there is a moralizing aspect to these changes.

 

[Dungeonosophy]

there is a moralizing aspect to these changes.

or moral.