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

[Voadam]

Gotta say I like the name thugs more than toughs for a D&D specific low CR NPC role.

 

[Reynard]

Worth throwing another $150 at WotC?

I don't think this is a fair even especially useful question, since $150 means different things to different people (and I am pretty sure @FitzTheRuke has a store so may not have paid retail for the books).

 

[Reynard]

Gotta say I like the name thugs more than toughs for a D&D specific low CR NPC role.

Why. they are essentially synonyms and one doesn't have racial connotations.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I have an answer, but I think it makes sense to save it until I have a book in hand, rather than speculate. If you don't see a need for "core rulebooks" to provide all the basic information most people will use to play, i suspect we just won't see eye-to-eye in any case.

I'm not sure what you mean by it "not having the core rules you need to play". I'm pretty sure it DOES.

Now, I agree with you that I'd like an orc statblock (and I would like a dwarf, elf, gnome, whatever statblock) but I don't NEED one, or I wouldn't have been able to play D&D for the past 10 years without the Elf statblock that I'd like to have, just as much as I'd like an orc one.

2024 D&D just expects us to use NPC blocks to represent Orcs, giving them the wide variety of individuals that entails. And if you're running an old adventure "by the book" you just use "toughs" for "orcs". (Though if I were to do it, I'd use more NPC blocks than that, but I already did that, as I'd be bored with running an orc horde that's all made of base "orc" statblocks.)

Again, feel free not to agree with their choices, but the game is hardly ruined by it. It's not even damaged by it.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Worth throwing another $150 at WotC?

Absolutely. I would rather play 2024 D&D than 2014 D&D. Though I'm perfectly happy to mix the two.

 

[TwoSix]

I don't see why earth magic lizardfolk have to be elementals as opposed to humanoids like the rest of their species. Earth magic-using monsters if other species aren't elementals. Why the difference, except that they wanted a former humanoid to fill in the "earth" box on their elemental chart?

We don't have every earth-using monster in existence in the MM, so we can't know that.

Maybe lizardfolk magic is special? Where you see "inconsistency", I see "story hook".

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Why. they are essentially synonyms and one doesn't have racial connotations.

I think there would be something of a backlash if WotC were to replace "Orc" with "Thug", given that one of the whole points of changing Orcs is that they've been (unfortunately) conflated with marginalized groups. It would be to continue the trend, not end it.

 

[Quickleaf]

@FitzTheRuke Are there monsters that could be conceivable summoned that restrict ability to take Reactions? If you’ve noticed any. Asking for a friend fighting a 2024 dragon with legendary reactions.

Edit: Sort of a double question as I don’t know how summon spells work in 2024, if there are any that summon actual MM monsters still vs bespoke stats within the summoning spell itself.

thanks Fitz! You’re the best

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I don't think this is a fair even especially useful question, since $150 means different things to different people (and I am pretty sure @FitzTheRuke has a store so may not have paid retail for the books).

You are right. My answer to that question can be taken with a grain of salt, or at least, understood for its biases: But I was assuming that my answer was based on whether I thought it was "worth it" for someone other than me to spend the money, and under the assumption that they have the means to do so.

 

[mamba]

Because it reinforces their diegetic expression as geomancers?

It's expressing the narrative reality as a mechanic.

I buy that when I have to be a fire elemental to cast fireball