D&D 5E New Monster Manual Cover

From IGN, the cover of the 2025 Monster Manual!

@Morrus

 

[Warpiglet-7]

I was pretty sour about a new edition…Printing…book…thing.

But I have to admit these are good looking covers. The PHB actually made me want to play - new character so I think that says something. I found it inspiring.

The beholder for this MM is cool…I zoomed in on the glowing eyes. Well done…

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

• 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.

OK, I guess I was unclear: I don't get why WotC chose to have Durnan around in the 5E era. They could have easily left him behind.

The Salvatore characters, sure. They're money makers. The BG1 and 2 characters, you bet, they have a big audience. There's probably even someone who likes Volo. (I'm deeply disappointed that my Dark Urge can't murder him in BG3 for his attempted lobotomy.)

But Durnan? Really?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The beholder for this MM is cool…I zoomed in on the glowing eyes. Well done…

 

[Queer Venger]

What colours were you expecting Venger to be. How were you expecting his horn to look?

View attachment 366171

Would you prefer this pose?
He always was a drama queen.

Not always... okay, sometimes

 

[DarkCrisis]

Assuming the alt cover is as good as the PHB and DMG, Ill be getting those instead.

 

[dave2008]

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.

There is no evidence of stipulations though. Ben Rigs (of "Slaying Dragons), who has seen the contract (and I posted pics of it earlier) and he said there were no stipulations. The story of stipulations and requirements was a falsehood apparently created by fans.

 

[Remathilis]

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.

• 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.

Really, it goes to show how poorly thought out the Spellplague /time skip was that they ultimately needed Marvel levels of handwavium to bring all the important named characters back rather than let the world evolve. But I get it, those names are synonymous with the Realms and WotC has gotten very protective of their named characters (Which is why Van Richten and Lord Soth both came back).

Still, if there was ever a setting to clean up mucky continuity with, it's Faerun.

 

[Azzy]

Gotta say that this is the best MM cover of any edition IMO.

 

[dave2008]

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.

Fantastic - I stand corrected! Thank you for the source. I wouldn't believe it unless I heard it from Ed himself.

However, it is still ambiguous (to me at least) what exactly his stipulations are.

 

[JEB]

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.

Did he? When was that? As far as I knew that statement - where every iteration of the brand was its own separate canon with no continuity between them - was the last word.