D&D 5E Does Anybody Else Seriously Love the Monster Manual? My Thoughts on the MM.

[Sadras]

I liked those also. Maybe I should go back through that list and really work them over to 5e standards. Would that interest anyone? My idea is just to have plug and play powers you can slap onto anything you want for added complexity.

Second that. I decided since the PCs last encounter, that from now on many of the listed special attacks of a monster will kick off freely during the monster's turns given the party's capabilities, as I hardly ever get the opportunity to use them, and this just to provide an appropriate and exciting challenge as I find the 5e monsters a little too "soft" ... So yes, your ideas are most welcome.

 

[Nebulous]

Second that. I decided since the PCs last encounter, that from now on many of the listed special attacks of a monster will kick off freely during the monster's turns given the party's capabilities, as I hardly ever get the opportunity to use them, and this just to provide an appropriate and exciting challenge as I find the 5e monsters a little too "soft" ... So yes, your ideas are most welcome.

Well, I'm working on the list right now. I'll probably spend a good 6-7 hours cleaning it up and then will repost here, or start a new thread.

 

[billd91]

I've been playing since 1981 and the 5e Monster Manual has managed to capture my imagination again in ways I didn't expect D&D to be able to do. So I'm really enjoying it as well.

My main quibbles are over the book's organization and lack of utility lists. Yes, I know the DMG has some, but I'd still prefer them in the Monster Manual - which is almost certainly where any follow-up Monster Manuals are going to have to put them since they won't be able to retroactively print them in my DMG.

 

[Nebulous]

My main quibbles are over the book's organization and lack of utility lists. Yes, I know the DMG has some, but I'd still prefer them in the Monster Manual - which is almost certainly where any follow-up Monster Manuals are going to have to put them since they won't be able to retroactively print them in my DMG.

Sorry, what do you mean exactly by utility list?

 

[billd91]

Sorry, what do you mean exactly by utility list?

Monsters by CR, Monsters by Environment. Sure, they're in Appendix B of the DMG but I think the odds of WotC not producing another monster book is extremely low. Since they can't expand Appendix B, they'll probably put the new utility lists in the new monster book. It would have been convenient for them to have done the same with the first Monster Manual as well.

 

[Chocolategravy]

It is high on art and low on content, having less monsters than we're accustomed to and lacking the awesome customization we got in 3E with templates, feats and the like, and ability to use monsters as player races.

The monsters themselves are are light on options making them pretty 2-dimensional when fighting them.

There are several glaring problems such as damage immunity for lycanthropes.

There is a lack of consistency with many numbers obviously just pulled out of the air and not in line with similar monsters or attacks of the same type.

The monster math doesn't fit with the encounter building guidelines and higher level monsters are significantly underpowered.

Many examples in low to mid level where the damage numbers on a crit are too high and can result in 1-hit kills on PCs.

So while in many ways it is a step up from 4E where the monsters were just boring sacks of HPs until the math got changed for MM3, it is a pretty huge step down from the highly customizable 3E where monsters weren't just monsters but also players.

 

[steeldragons]

...having less monsters than we're accustomed to and lacking the awesome customization we got in 3E with templates, feats and the like, and ability to use monsters as player races.

Some might say "feature, not bug" about any/all of that.

 

[Nebulous]

Here are the modified powers to look at for 5th edition monsters. I'll start a different thread as well for anyone who might be interested.

https://app.box.com/s/qmnik6w63kzhiaycpopil5fh6cujcf17

 

[Staffan]

Monsters by CR, Monsters by Environment. Sure, they're in Appendix B of the DMG but I think the odds of WotC not producing another monster book is extremely low. Since they can't expand Appendix B, they'll probably put the new utility lists in the new monster book. It would have been convenient for them to have done the same with the first Monster Manual as well.

That's the other thing the Internet is for.

 

[Rhenny]

Here are the modified powers to look at for 5th edition monsters. I'll start a different thread as well for anyone who might be interested.

https://app.box.com/s/qmnik6w63kzhiaycpopil5fh6cujcf17

This is really nice. I wish the list in the DMG (the one that lists all the monster features and how they affect CR) actually described the power like you do here.