D&D 5E New Monster Manual Cover

From IGN, the cover of the 2025 Monster Manual!

@Morrus

 

[MNblockhead]

WotC really wanting to make nothics a thing in 5E is such an interesting choice.

They're not bad monsters -- I've liked them since they first appeared, as I recall, in the 3E Miniatures Handbook -- but they really seem to be C-tier, like cloakers, and not worthy of being on a Monster Manual cover or being the first big deadly monster player characters run into in Lost Mines of Phandelver.

I wonder if one of the two game leads is a big fan of them.

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if someone used them to good effect in their campaign and fell in love with them.

I love roleplaying nothics in my game. As a combat encounter, meh, but as an ongoing social encounter they are a lot of fun.

"A nothic is a monstrous creature with terrible talons and a single great eye. When driven to violence, it uses its horrific gaze to rot the flesh from its enemies’ bones." Meh.

But read the rest of the flavor text. I don't know how DMs can pass them over. They are awesome.

 

[MNblockhead]

Is it just me or aren't things going to end very well for Dynaheir, Jaheira, Minsc, Boo, Vajra Safahr, these people?

Well you have a beholder and a kraken in the same scene, two notoriously egotistical creatures.

"HEY BEHOLDER! The Kraken just telepathically told me to stab you in your big ugly eye. He said he always wanted a beach ball to play with."

 

[pukunui]

I think Khelben got killed or something. Also Vajra was technically introduced in 4e, not in Dragon Heist.

OK, so according to the FR wiki, "On the Feast of the Moon, 1374 DR, Khelben Arunsun brought together many powerful mages in order to cleanse part of the High Moor and restore Faer'tel'miir, a lost city of Miyeritar. In order to make the magic permanent, Khelben ultimately gave his own life, together with the Grand Mage Ualair the Silent. The restored city came to be known as Rhymanthiin, the Hidden City of Hope ... After his second death, Khelben's spirit coalesced in Blackstaff Tower to guide and advise future Blackstaffs. Rumors were that he might return as he did after his first 'death' as he was one of Mystra's Chosen."

Also, Vajra was first introduced as the new Blackstaff in the 2008 novel, Blackstaff Tower. She also featured in Ed Greenwood's 2016 novel, Death Masks. So I guess you could say that Dragon Heist made Vajra canon, since the novels don't count anymore.

Well jeez, it's nice that SOMEBODY died in the100-year time jump! Because most everyone else made it through just fine. I get the elves like Drizzt would be there, as would the nigh-immortals like Elminster and Allustriel, but Mirt, Durnan and Volo, Wolfgar and Cattie-Brie, Minsc and Boo, they were all humans and got hit with plotonium 181 to make it over 100 years hale and hearty! I kind wish there was SOME repercussions for jumping a century into the future with the timeline...

I still don't get why the freaking bartender was someone they felt they had to keep around. Surely Forgotten Realms fans could make room in their collective heart for two different bartenders. People loved both Coach and Woody on Cheers!

• Volo survived the time jump because he was trapped as a stone frog in Elminster's garden or something.
• Wulfgar, Catti-Brie, and the other Companions (sans Drizzt) all died, but then RA Salvatore had Drizzt's patron deity, Mielikki, bring them all back to life so he could keep writing novels about them.
• Minsc and Boo came back in a comic book when a sorcerer's wild magic transformed a statue of them in Baldur's Gate.
• Durnan and Mirt apparently got their unnaturally long lifespans after being the first to delve into Undermountain and return. Durnan appears to be unable/unwilling to leave the Yawning Portal, so it's possible his life force is tied up with the knot in the Weave that has also made Halaster immortal.

My point is just that they didn't all necessarily survive the time jump. Some of them died but were then brought back to life. But yes, at least Khelben got to stay dead. I think some of the Seven Sisters are still dead as well.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

We don't talk enough about Dungeon Master's mullet.

Do you mean “skullet?”

 

[Henadic Theologian]

There is no evidence it is factual. I have seen Ed attributed with saying "anything" published in the realms by TSR/WotC is canon. If that is the case, WotC can make it whatever they want. However, I have not seen him actually saying this, just people saying he did.

Your lucky I like you, because it took me awhile to remember the video were Ed straight up says this.


Its in the section that starts at the 5 minute mark #2 on his list he mentions it.

The Novels are canon and WotC can't uncanonize them, not even the movie adaption novel. And this is basically confirmed when Jeremy Crawford tried to decanonize everything, saying their is no canon, Chris Perkins had to come along with a seperate blog post a try and fix that, walk it back in a specularly none sensical messy way that kept WotC out of trouble, because they couldn't do that to FR.

 

[MNblockhead]

I still don't get why the freaking bartender was someone they felt they had to keep around. Surely Forgotten Realms fans could make room in their collective heart for two different bartenders. People loved both Coach and Woody on Cheers!

I figured Duran is an El-Aurian.

Little known fact, for a while he came to our Earth in the late '70s:

From the song "Late Bar" on that album:

There's a hole in the wall next to you
Things with legs are crawling through
They're madly searching for the door in your room
You're coming out, you're going down

 

[MNblockhead]

Alright, PHB, DMG, and now MM! All THREE SUCK! Way to go WotC. At least they seem to be sucking less... sort of.

Done. Said my two bits. Glad people like it so WotC can make money off of their efforts anyway. Nice that people will keep their jobs and everything.

Glad you could get that off your chest.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

It wasn't just work for hire though. He sold the rights and then did work for them. He made it first, then sold it.

With stipulations, kind of like how some products have stipulations on what you can do with a product you buy (such as not allowing you to repair it yourself, hence why some governments crafted right to repair bills), if the owners violate this agreement of sale, the rights revert back to Ed Greenwood.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

As expected, the cover shows monsters at different challenge levels (goblins, ogre, gelatinous cube, mimic, displacer beast, flame skull, beholder, and kraken [not necessarily in that order], as they've done with PHP and DMG covers, which I like. I was sure they would have put an ancient dragon on the cover as the big bad and the highest CR creatures for both the PHP and DMGs were draconic (gold dragon and dracolich) and having dragons on display makes sense for a 50th anniversary edition. I would have liked to see a dragon on the cover of the MM for the symmetry with the other books and because, well, I like dragons. But I love this cover's take on the beholder. I also like the open chest on top of the structure, that's a nice touch.

Dragon's eye is on the back cover.

 

[Queer Venger]

doesn't disappoint at all; really happy with this cover and throwing that menagerie in the back is a big plus. Is this Jacobsen?