D&D (2024) I have a Monster Manual. AMA!

[pukunui]

Yeah, there ia another Appensix that also lists out all the families for DMs, I gather.

I would have preferred they go with "Fungus, Gas Spore" and "Fungus, Shrieker" in that case. I recall the alpha playtest version of the 2014 MM did that with various creatures. So you'd have Owl then Owl, Giant and Wolf followed by Wolf, Dire. If I have to have purely alphabetical organization, then I think that method works better to keep similar creatures together. You could do it with dragons, devils, demons, giants, etc too.

Giant, Fire
Giant, Storm

Dragon, Red
Dragon, White

etc.

 

[Yaarel]

Mu h like the fellow Monstrosity, the Ettercap, the Thri-kreen is unnatural as a giant insect. Shouldn't work in nature. But they aren't Fey or Aberrations, soooo...

I think that approach has potential, but then Giant Spider would also be a Monstrosity. But it is a Beast.

Meanwhile, an animal that can hypothetically exist, like an Owlbear should also be Beast.

 

[pukunui]

The less said about the "NPC statblock instead of monsters" situation the better. The dumb part is how the swamp dwelling amphibious lizardmen are connected to Earth.

See here (my emphasis):

Sure. It actually makes more sense when you read it.

For lizardfolk, the conversion guide suggests that a regular "lizardfolk" would use the "scout" stablock (and, I presume, any other humanoid NPC block, for various humanoid-lizardfolk.

The MM page for Lizardfolk explicitly states that these are Lizardfolk who live in jungles suffused with primal magic or who have undergone rites to enhance themselves with a connection to the elemental plane of earth, and are the Lizardfolk Sovereign and Lizardfolk Geomancer statblock.

For Aarokocra, it seems more simply that they originate on the Elemental Plane of Air. The statblock is for an Aeromancer, and a more "regular" Aarokocra Skirmisher, but both are elementals as listed.

 

[Parmandur]

I think that approach has potential, but then Giant Spider would also be a Monstrosity. But it is a Beast.

@FitzTheRuke is the Giant Spider a. East in this book? Any other large insects?

 

[Yaarel]

@FitzTheRuke is the Giant Spider a. East in this book? Any other large insects?

I just doublechecked the Players Handbook, the Giant Spider is a Large Beast.

 

[Parmandur]

I just doublechecked the Players Handbook, the Giant Spider is a Large Beast.

Given the Tolkien influence of making the Giant Eagle a Celestial, I think Giant Spider was a good candidate for a Fiend.

 

[Azzy]

Yeah, I'll be changing some creature types.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Question have you noticed any monsters that have a Damage Threshold? PHB says creatures can have it, and wonder if there are any examples.

 

[Remathilis]

The less said about the "NPC statblock instead of monsters" situation the better. The dumb part is how the swamp dwelling amphibious lizardmen are connected to Earth.

Maybe the earth elemental ones are geckos?

 

[Yaarel]

Given the Tolkien influence of making the Giant Eagle a Celestial, I think Giant Spider was a good candidate for a Fiend.

Where the Material Plane associates nature and the "Primal" power type,

perhaps a Monstrosity always has some kind of explicitly "magical" property, and this magic is always Primal.

This then can explain telepathic Thri-Kreen, shapeshifting Lycanthrope, and others.

Any creature that lists as Monstrosity but lacks an overt magical ability, add some magical trait.

The Thri-kreen might still be Humanoid, by definition of having "professions", unless it actually doesnt. If its group behavior is strictly instinct, and not learned culturally, it wouldnt be humanlike, and it would be unable to adapt to human cultural expectations.

If magic is what makes a Monstrosity, then Gnomes being innately magical would either be a Monstrosity or a Fey.