D&D 5E D&D Beyond Confirms Monsters of the Multiverse's May Standalone Release

Monsters of the Multiverse comes out this month as part of a gift set along with Tasha's Cauldron of Everything and Xanathar's Guide to Everything. However, if you don't need those older books, D&D Beyond has confirmed that Monsters of the Multiverse will be available separately on May 17th.

DDB's entry refers to the digital release, but these are typically timed to match the hardcovers. You can preorder the digital version from DDB now.

The book compiles monsters from Volo's Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, and updates them to match WotC's current format; additionally it tweaks stats where needed to ensure monsters are worthy of their Challenge Rating, as some D&D monsters have been felt to be underpowered. In addition, it compiles over 30 races previously published in 5E D&D books, also updated to the current formats.

D&D 5E - Full List of Monsters in Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse

Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse contains revamped stat blocks for 260 monsters previously published in previous Dungeons & Dragons 5E books. The list was compiled by YouTuber Bob Worldbuilder based on some blurry screenshots originally shared by Nerd Immersion (see the video...

www.enworld.org

D&D 5E - A Compilation of all the Race Changes in Monsters of the Multiverse

Over on Reddit, user KingJackel went through the video leak which came out a few days ago and manually compiled a list of all the changes to races in the book. The changes are quite extensive, with only the fairy and harengon remaining unchanged. The book contains 33 races in total, compiled and...

www.enworld.org

Update! WotC has confirmed the standalone hardcover release date is May 17th.

 

[Reynard]

Assuming this is when the hardcover releases, my guess is this is tied up with printing issues not some conspiracy to force early adopters to re-buy the other books.

 

[bedir than]

Assuming this is when the hardcover releases, my guess is this is tied up with printing issues not some conspiracy to force early adopters to re-buy the other books.

Polygon and ComicBook both have the physical release date as same day as Beyond's release

 

[TwoSix]

Assuming this is when the hardcover releases, my guess is this is tied up with printing issues not some conspiracy to force early adopters to re-buy the other books.

If the choice is between boring logistics and a conspiracy, always go with the conspiracy.

 

[HammerMan]

Assuming this is when the hardcover releases, my guess is this is tied up with printing issues not some conspiracy to force early adopters to re-buy the other books.

I am not sure "want people to buy more" counts as a conspiracy, but either way the books could have been printed with the set but it was always behind it... and "some people wont wait especialy if we don't tell them when" had to have atleast come up.

 

[Sir Brennen]

Polygon and ComicBook both have the physical release date as same day as Beyond's release

In an interview on io9, the date is confirmed as well.

Inside Dungeons & Dragons' new 'Monsters of the Multiverse'

Wizards of the Coast has revealed new details about the upcoming D&D Rules Expansion Gift Set, as well as the brand new sourcebook included in the collection: Monsters of the Multiverse, a new rules collection designed to pave the way to D&D's future.

gizmodo.com

 

[Nikosandros]

It still remains to be seen how the updates to the content will be handled. Will there be two versions of each race/monster? Will it auto-update for everyone? Only for those that buy the new book?

 

[bedir than]

Crawford noted that the fairy specifically was designed for Monsters of the Multiverse first, which was sent to press before that adventure.

Dungeons & Dragons: Monsters of the Multiverse Showcases Big Changes to Existing Rules

The first new Dungeons & Dragons book published by Wizards of the Coast this year serves as a [...]

comicbook.com

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Assuming this is when the hardcover releases, my guess is this is tied up with printing issues not some conspiracy to force early adopters to re-buy the other books.

I had hoped that was the case, thankfully it is. I might actually get Monsters of the Multiverse this year because of that.

It still remains to be seen how the updates to the content will be handled. Will there be two versions of each race/monster? Will it auto-update for everyone? Only for those that buy the new book?

DNDBeyond, bless their hearts, are not a high-tech or high-standards operation. When Theros added its own versions of Centaurs and Minotaurs, with their own lore, Beyond made absolutely no effort whatsoever to reflect that. They just gave everyone who bought Theros the Ravnica Centaur and Minotaur (which do have the same stats, I believe), replete with Ravnica-specific lore, and told people to "tell your players to read the book". It would have been trivial - I mean literally take minutes (given how easy it is to make custom races with their system) for them to make "Centaur (Ravnica)" and "Centaur (Theros)" say, but nope. And users can't do it either, except for themselves and their group.

Beyond consistently shoots for the lowest possible bar, and typically doesn't even make that (this wasn't always the case, but it has been since their most recent acquisition).

So what I'd expect that there will be an across-the-board change regardless of whether you have MotM or not. If anything else happens, that would be atypical for Beyond.

 

[Nikosandros]

Unfortunately, I think your analysis is correct. OTOH, if they proceed in this fashion, it would seem that there would be very little incentive for owners of the previous books on the platform to buy this one as well.

 

[kenmarable]

Assuming this is when the hardcover releases, my guess is this is tied up with printing issues not some conspiracy to force early adopters to re-buy the other books.

Yep, but it's not even a guess - they said so way back in the original announcement. It's the same printing/supply chain issues that caused them to release a "gift set" in late January, rather than back in November (like they did with their last gift set) when massive numbers of people go gift shopping. But, I guess "fans" needed to go off about it all being a money-grabbing scam, and conspiracy theorists can just assume they are lying no matter what they say.

Because nothing says "money-grabbing conspiracy" like releasing a set of books aimed at giving as a holiday gift an entire month after that holiday is over! Definitely some 4D chess business moves there.

(And this isn't aimed towards you, of course, but the conspiracy theorists who, like most conspiracy theorists, ignore both simpler explanations and inconvenient facts in order to support their pet theory.)

 

[aco175]

I hope this is not the big May release this year.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Unfortunately, I think your analysis is correct. OTOH, if they proceed in this fashion, it would seem that there would be very little incentive for owners of the previous books on the platform to buy this one as well.

Yeah, if they do deviate from the pattern, it's going to be in the name of selling more books (which they get a cut of), so that would make sense. But they may well consider the monsters in the book already reason enough (there are new monsters in the book, right? I didn't check). I suspect minimum viable effort will win over even profit motive though.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I hope this is not the big May release this year.

Why not? Based on all the complaints we've been hearing constantly about all the new stuff WotC keeps making, it's apparently not like anyone is actually going to want whatever that May book might be.

 

[Dragonhelm]

What I really want to know is whether or not the commentary from Volo and Mordenkainen will remain in this new book.

 

[Reynard]

Because nothing says "money-grabbing conspiracy" like releasing a set of books aimed at giving as a holiday gift an entire month after that holiday is over! Definitely some 4D chess business moves there.

It's actually a stealth drop of NEXT YEAR'S big holiday release!

 

[Nikosandros]

there are new monsters in the book, right?

My understanding is that there is no new material, only updates.

 

[Weiley31]

What I really want to know is whether or not the commentary from Volo and Mordenkainen will remain in this new book.

I doubt it.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

My understanding is that there is no new material, only updates.

Huh. Wow.

That's quite a thing. So there's literally no reason to buy it except to update that material, if you have the material?

Then I think we'll probably see the next lowest-effort option, which is to utterly spam both the races and monsters by adding separate new versions of each. Though we might see some sort of hybrid, depending on which is easier to update, like maybe the races don't get extra versions, just replaced, but the monsters do?

If they do just replace the whole lot I suspect an awful lot of people will be looking for refunds. I notice that MotM is no cheaper if you already have all the material its updating (just tried pre-ordering it for myself, there's no discount shown), which obviously makes sense with a physical book, but not so much with a digital one.

 

[Retreater]

I've heard this release was so delayed, it's actually for 3.5 edition.