D&D (2024) "D&D Monster Manual 2025 is going to pack a serious punch thanks to a family of monsters descended from gods, and frankly I’m terrified"(Gamesradar)

[MonsterEnvy]

You said it!

If the new MM didn't have a new critter above CR 17 people would br griping in the other direction. I'm just speaking for the vocal minority.

Is it a vocal minority if it's just you? Cause I have not seen a single person other than you complain that more high level monsters are being added.

 

[CM]

What I want specifically is variants of monsters that fill a role. 4e did a great job of this, as have a lot of the 3rd-party 5e monster books.

Orc berserkers, orc shaman, orc assassins, orc warlocks, that sort of thing. Especially more elite lieutenant and boss-level threats.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

What I want specifically is variants of monsters that fill a role. 4e did a great job of this, as have a lot of the 3rd-party 5e monster books.

Orc berserkers, orc shaman, orc assassins, orc warlocks, that sort of thing. Especially more elite lieutenant and boss-level threats.

Orcs were pretty good for that in the original Monster Manual. We had the normal Orc (probably the Orc Warrior now), the Eye of Gruumsh (Orc Cleric), the Orog (Elite better equipped Orc), and the Warchief (Leader). Volo's guide later gave us some extra Orc units, but they were not updated with Monsters of the Multiverse for unknown reasons.

 

[dave2008]

So does that mean the Atropal is back? They need something that's undead and descended from a God.

As already mentioned:

 

[Distracted DM]

Honestly you NEED godlike beings to challenge tier 4 parties. 5e characters already punch way above their weight class. Slaying gods is not my cup of tea, but I did really enjoy 4e's deity statblock presentation. "Here is Bahamut, the actual god. If you slay his corporeal form, you need to go on this whole quest to actually kill him for good, otherwise he'll be back in 50-100 years." Then again, 4e had their epic tier built into the game; I can't say how well it actually worked because I largely skipped 4e, but my experience with tier 4 5e combat is not stellar.

Modern DnD will become high-powered high-fantasy after tier 2. I imagine that those of us that gripe about it (hi there!) would rather be running something else but can't for various reasons- so we complain and try to hack it to be closer to what we want. (modern dnd = 3e-5e; older stuff had extra rules for crazy power too ofc, but not as core accessible as modern).

But heck, look where BG2 ended up, one of my favorite games ever. I know it's a video game, but you WERE out there planehopping and dealing with demigods.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I also echo the sentiment that we needed more high-level monsters in the MM. In the original 5e Monster Manual there were no monsters from CR 25-29. And there were only two CR 24 monsters (Ancient Red/Gold Dragons) and the Tarrasque was the only CR 30 monster. This was a problem once campaigns reached higher levels, in my experience at least. Eventually we got a handful of monsters in later supplements for these “dead levels,” but very few of them and they’re scattered throughout the books (there are 25 distinct stat blocks from CR 25-28 in all of 5e). 10 years later and we still do not have a single CR 29 monster in all of the official 5e books.

In my opinion the Monster Manual should contain monsters of every CR. At least one, preferably two or three for the higher CRs.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Orc berserkers, orc shaman, orc assassins, orc warlocks, that sort of thing. Especially more elite lieutenant and boss-level threats.

You can use the NPC statblocks to expand the roster orcs and other humanoids. Just give them a little tweaking for flavour.

 

[ezo]

Is it a vocal minority if it's just you?

That is the most vocal minority---a minority of 1.

I will cry out against the direction WotC continues to take 5E until my dying breath. No more supers, no more supers!

 

[Parmandur]

Volo's guide later gave us some extra Orc units, but they were not updated with Monsters of the Multiverse for unknown reasons.

I mean, I think rhe reasons were pretty clear: the lore around the Volo's Orc statblocks were all about tge Orc pantheon, and a particular dated idea of "Orc Culture" that WotC has been thankfully moving away from at top speed.

 

[dave2008]

What I want specifically is variants of monsters that fill a role. 4e did a great job of this, as have a lot of the 3rd-party 5e monster books.

Orc berserkers, orc shaman, orc assassins, orc warlocks, that sort of thing. Especially more elite lieutenant and boss-level threats.

To be fair, we already have this in the 2014 rules, it is just split between two books.

The 2014 MM has a large section of NPCs (the roles you speak of). Then the 2014 DMG has a table of "NPC Features" that modify the NPC stat blocks in the MM to give NPC roles of a specific monster type.

So if you want an orc berserker, you take the NPC berserker stat block from the MM...

...and then modify it as follows (from the DMG):

• +2 Str
• -2 Int
• add "Aggressive" trait
• add Darkvision 60 ft.
• add speaks Common and Orc.