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

[Micah Sweet]

I dunno, changing the whole story bothers me a lot more than things that could just be explained as misinterpretations or new developments. There's no way to reconcile the backstory of Descent into Avernus with previous lore other to say that Zariel fell millions of years ago, ascended and became a Solar again, and then fell again.

Since you also have a copy: how's the Marilith art? Does it include a male marilith like they did with hags, dryads, and medusae?

I've never really bought into any lore post 3e. Inconsistencies have increased markedly since then. Descent Into Avernus means very little to me.

 

[Chaltab]

And one more time: "erinyes" is plural. The singular is "erinys". I don't know how / when that got confused in D&D, but I wish they'd correct it!

It's all Greek to me.

I've never really bought into any lore post 3e. Inconsistencies have increased markedly since then. Descent Into Avernus means very little to me.

I mean fair enough, but you understand many of us feel the same way about the lore changes 5.24 is making with creature types.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Browsing through the MM, I actually quite like most of it.

I am a bit sad, that false appearance as trait was ditched. I did not like it how it was in the MM 2014, because it worked 100%.

I liked it how it worked in later books, where an investigation DC was used to determine something is wrong.
In 2024, noticing something however is always a wisdom(perception) check. So maybe this is why they did not want that either.

Now it is purely in the flavour text. And monsters usually have a stealth bonus... I wish, they would have a hide in plain sight ability spelled out in the statblock as a reminder that they can easily hide in fitting enviroment. Maybe the solution is just using their passive stealth check with advantage as DC to find them there. That seems like a fair way to deal with that.

A similar thing I noticed in undeads: they all lost the undead fortitude trait. But they all gained immunity to exhaustion. So they can neither starve, nor suffocate, nor die due to lack of sleep.

I wish some things were spelled out a bit more explicitely in the sat block. But I guess, you can´t put everything in there. Short stat blocks also have merits.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It's all Greek to me.

I mean fair enough, but you understand many of us feel the same way about the lore changes 5.24 is making with creature types.

As in, you don't care about them? Fair enough, but those books aren't for us anyway. I'm thinking if all those new people who are getting only the 2025 corp version of everything. It's limiting.

 

[pukunui]

I wish some things were spelled out a bit more explicitely in the sat block. But I guess, you can´t put everything in there. Short stat blocks also have merits.

Agreed. Meanwhile, we get things like ACs with no explanation of how they were calculated and other things like "The lich casts Counterspell or Shield in response to the spell’s trigger, using the same spellcasting ability as Spellcasting." That last phrase is repeated elsewhere (including in the non-statblock text). Surely there was a less wordy way in which to say that!

But then, WotC refused to make "slowed" a condition in 2014 and so had to repeat the full effects of being slowed in every statblock where it showed up. Now at least they've shortened it by just having those monsters cast the Slow spell but still ...

 

[Baron Opal II]

But why are they elementals? What purpose does it serve?

They're not. They are infused with the element since they bound themselves to it to gain power.

Purpose? Not sure.

 

[Chaltab]

As in, you don't care about them? Fair enough, but those books aren't for us anyway. I'm thinking if all those new people who are getting only the 2025 corp version of everything. It's limiting.

There's actually a pretty good justification for many of the changes in today's fiend video--certainly the best one I've seen thus far from Crawford: a creature type gives you a quick indicator on the function and purpose of the monster. Kuo-toans as abberations lets you know they're eldritch and weird. Sahuagins as fiends instantly tells you they're evil and likely serve something even more evil.

Granted I prefer a more nuanced take on the sharkfolk (they're neutral/unaligned in my game as in A5E) but if you're going to have an uncomplicated sea devil enemy it makes sense for them to actually be fiends.

 

[Micah Sweet]

There's actually a pretty good justification for many of the changes in today's fiend video--certainly the best one I've seen thus far from Crawford: a creature type gives you a quick indicator on the function and purpose of the monster. Kuo-toans as abberations lets you know they're eldritch and weird. Sahuagins as fiends instantly tells you they're evil and likely serve something even more evil.

Granted I prefer a more nuanced take on the sharkfolk (they're neutral/unaligned in my game as in A5E) but if you're going to have an uncomplicated sea devil enemy it makes sense for them to actually be fiends.

Like you, I'd rather not have the game default to simplicity. Sets a bad example. But I suppose explaining and discussing the nuance of people and personhood in the books is just too much work for WotC's bottom line.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Berserker is an Orog, Cultist Fanatic is for Eye of Gruumsh. (Mechanically they were quite similar in 2014)

I thought that I might be misremembering that. Probably should have double-checked before posting. Thanks for clearing that up.

Also just discovered that Beyond has some extra art. Was going through the Cultist Section and they have extra art of the cultists.
Aberrant Cultist, Hierophant, Fiend Cultist

Ooh! I missed that.

 

[pukunui]

Ooh! I missed that.

They don't exactly broadcast that fact! I only discovered it by accident myself because I had been reading through the Eberron section of the Vecna book first on DDB and had seen all the colorful warforged illustrations there, and then when I got the physical copy, I could only find one of those illustrations and I was like "I'm sure there were more!" It wasn't until I went and looked on DDB again that I realized there was art there that wasn't in the physical book.

It would be nice if they let us know "Hey, there's some extra art in this version that we couldn't fit into the print book" or something. (It would also be nice to know if they'd tell us about the errata updates they do, but those also seem to be all done by stealth.)