D&D 5E New Monster Manual Cover

From IGN, the cover of the 2025 Monster Manual!

@Morrus

 

[Benjamin Olson]

no, it was a codename, just like D&D Next

Okay. I kind of figured it was all along. But I got a new job as a teacher in a remote village, disconnected from my D&D groups, overworked, and often without internet, and haven't really followed the development of 2024 D&D at all since April or so of last year, and back then everyone here seemed to treat OneD&D as the official name or at least the closest to an official name as there was and it seems to have vanished, so I genuinely wasn't sure what the preferred nomenclature was anymore.

If you’re using the 2024 revisions of the 5e core rulebooks, then the edition you’re playing is 5e. It’s not really necessary to specify that you’re using the most recent printing of the books. If you’re choosing to use an out of date printing and for some reason consider it important to specify that fact, you could say “pre-revision 5e” or something.

That seems to make a lot of assumptions about how minor the differences will be that weren't borne out by what was being proposed last time I was following news about this, but as explained above I have been living under a rock as far as "2024 revisions of the 5e core rulebooks" news has gone for the last year, so no doubt I've missed something or many things.

 

[Hussar]

Sure, but like, it’s okay not to like things, even for no particular reason.

Oh absolutely. I have no needs with that.

But then you have folks who feel the need to tell you something is bad over and over and over again.

That’s the one I don’t get.

 

[Charlaquin]

That seems to make a lot of assumptions about how minor the differences will be that weren't borne out by what was being proposed last time I was following news about this, but as explained above I have been living under a rock as far as "2024 revisions of the 5e core rulebooks" news has gone for the last year, so no doubt I've missed something or many things.

How minor or how significant the revisions are seems to depend on what argument the person describing them is trying to make. If you ask the folks who wanted drastic changes, it’s practically the exact same, not even worth all the hubbub. If you ask the folks who are perfectly happy with 5e as-is and don’t want anything to change, it’s basically a completely different edition that they’re trying to pass off as “backwards compatible” despite being drastically overhauled. The reality is, it’s the same rules system with some quality of life improvements and some power level adjustments, buffing the classes that needed it and fixing some unintended overpowered options, easily compatible with all existing adventures, just as WotC had been telling us it would be all along.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

How minor or how significant the revisions are seems to depend on what argument the person describing them is trying to make. If you ask the folks who wanted drastic changes, it’s practically the exact same, not even worth all the hubbub. If you ask the folks who are perfectly happy with 5e as-is and don’t want anything to change, it’s basically a completely different edition that they’re trying to pass off as “backwards compatible” despite being drastically overhauled. The reality is, it’s the same rules system with some quality of life improvements and some power level adjustments, buffing the classes that needed it and fixing some unintended overpowered options, easily compatible with all existing adventures, just as WotC had been telling us it would be all along.

Oh, okay. I'm in the "fine with 5e and don't want anything to change" camp. So it sounds like it's probably still just a (to me) crappier version of 5e that adds nothing I like better (other than, it seems, the cover art). Good to know.

 

[Charlaquin]

Oh, okay. I'm in the "fine with 5e and don't want anything to change" camp.

Really? I never would have guessed.

 

[Horwath]

So does Rule 34.

War is good for business!?

 

[Meech17]

I just wonder a bit at all the people for whom the cover art is apparently enough to sell or unsell them on the book. Seriously, you don't see the cover while it's on the shelf, you don't see it while you're reading the book, and it does nothing to change the contents of the game rules for better or worse. It is literally the least important part of the book, in my view.

Also, the easiest part to change. If you want to use the rules but hate the cover art, just buy a dust jacket for it with art you prefer. You don't even need DM permission, like you would if you wanted to change the rules content.

I don't know.. I think I get it.. It's a lot of money. Dropping $50 on something that every time you pull it out, you'll be reminded that you didn't like the cover. If you end up not loving the revision too, that would least to extra resentment.

Rule Book Dust jackets should totally be a thing though.

 

[Parmandur]

Well that's cumbersome branding. "Hey what edition are we playing". "We're playing the 2024 revisions of the D&D 5e core rulebooks!"

Presumably "OneD&D" was just a nightmare I had.

"What edition are we playing?"

"'24"

Easy.

OneD&D was never the name of the revision, that was an umbrella term for Beyond, the VTT and pen and paper play that they abandoned a long time ago now.

 

[Meech17]

"What edition are we playing?"

"'24"

Easy.

OneD&D was never the name of the revision, that was an umbrella term for Beyond, the VTT and pen and paper play that they abandoned a long time ago now.

I think the idea is also that it can be:

"What edition are we playing?"

"5e"

and even though player A has a fighter made from the 2014 PHB, and player B has a wizard made from the 2024 PHB it shouldn't be problematic.

 

[Parmandur]

That seems to make a lot of assumptions about how minor the differences will be that weren't borne out by what was being proposed last time I was following news about this, but as explained above I have been living under a rock as far as "2024 revisions of the 5e core rulebooks" news has gone for the last year, so no doubt I've missed something or many things.

The Classes have been lightly revised in ways that were very well received in pyblic testing, Race is now Species, grappling has been tweaked, the Monsters are all getting revised stat blocks. But the game is staying pretty much the same

More importantly, the Monster Manual is going from 300 stat blocks to 500, the DMG has been root and branch overhauled structures, and the core books are now each 384 pages instead of 320 and 352 at $50 2024 MSRP (about tge cheapest core D&D books ever). Even if you don't like the Class changes, the DMG changes and expanded Bestiary in the MM provavlt merit a look (because it is 100% possible to only adoot 1 or 2 of these books and keep 2014 stuff going).