D&D (2024) Another D&D 2024 Monster Preview: The Kuo-Toa!

Following the ancient green dragon preview, here's a look at another iconic D&D monster from the 2025 Monster Manual!

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I'm not complaining about them making money, I just can't see why this book is getting so little change, apparently, compared to the PHB and DMG. From what we've seen and been told.

Why would it need to change? It’s not a book of new monsters, it’s the book of core monsters. The new layout is change for change’s sake as it is. I’m happy that I can keep using my old MM with the new rules.

 

[Zaukrie]

Why would it need to change? It’s not a book of new monsters, it’s the book of core monsters. The new layout is change for change’s sake as it is. I’m happy that I can keep using my old MM with the new rules.

Because the monsters in the core MM are largely boring to run and just bags of hit points with the same kinds of attacks? Because the vast majority have no shtick. The only difference is fluff. YMMV, of course......but for me, the core MM statblocks are really boring to run.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

We can hope.....

Kuo-Toa looks fine as does the dragon.

Now that Kuo-Toa is not very different, but it was already a decent monster.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Because the monsters in the core MM are largely boring to run and just bags of hit points with the same kinds of attacks? Because the vast majority have no shtick. The only difference is fluff. YMMV, of course......but for me, the core MM statblocks are really boring to run.

So buy one of the many supplemental monster books, or do what I do and create your own. This book is still a replacement for the existing monster manual, they can hardly throw out all the old monsters for new ones, or give them radically different abilities!

 

[Zaukrie]

So buy one of the many supplemental monster books, or do what I do and create your own. This book is still a replacement for the existing monster manual, they can hardly throw out all the old monsters for new ones, or give them radically different abilities!

They are giving players new stuff.....so I'm not sure this statement is true. They can make changes if they want. We're just going to disagree, I'm ok with that. I'm stating what I want, not trying to convince anyone to do anything else or tell them what to think or do.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

They are giving players new stuff.....so I'm not sure this statement is true

They are not throwing out the old classes for new ones, and the changes to class abilities are small, and aimed at addressing problems or simplifying things.

And we know 5e was founded on a KISS philosophy, even when they create new monsters they aren’t going to add anything more complex.

You need to look at 3PP if you want more complexity.

 

[mamba]

Well, it does have nigh 200 more stat blocks.

isn’t it more like close to 100? From 400 to 500?

 

[Parmandur]

isn’t it more like close to 100? From 400 to 500?

441 to 500+, double checking. Dunno why I had a number closer to 300 set in my head, but that makes more sense with the page count anyways.

 

[JEB]

I suspect they are intentionally unclear to avoid potentially offending someone with a specific opinion into not paying them, just like every other time they sit on the fence.

They do seem to be intentionally unclear, but at least they're presenting multiple options for the kuo-toa, rather than not saying much at all. A little more substance for those options would have been nice, though.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Honestly, I think the people who keep complaining about how there are "almost no changes" don't think very much about how little changes can make a big difference.

The change in the Green Dragon statblock from "Bite/Claw/Claw and legendary tails" to "Rendx6" and increased their damage from 124 to 162. Technically a small change, but increased the average damage by 40.

Kua-Toa got small changes, but again, one of them is increasing their damage from 4 to 5, which sounds bad, but as a CR 1/4 monster, you might expect to see four of them against a level 1 party. And an extra 4 damage (1x4) on a fighter with only 13 HP is BAD for that fighter. It literally takes them from "Three hits and I'm still up" to "three hits and I'm down".

The net went from a +3 vs AC (which was usually a 16 on the front line) to a Dex save... and if you have a 10 dex, then that is potentially a big problem for you. And it remains a threat even at much higher CRs.

Slippery went from advantage on escaping a grapple to an auto-success on escaping a grapple as a Reaction.

These are not major changes, sure, but these sort of minor changes add up. And looking at the design, I feel good that more monster abilities are going to be listed, especially at higher CRs and that is WITHOUT the new high CR monsters.