D&D 5E Has anyone made a 4E-style Monster Manual for 5E?

[Dausuul]

Since "4E in 5E" is having a moment, it got me thinking about something.

A lot of folks say one of 4E's greatest strengths was its approach to monster design. I am one of those folks. And the thing about monster design is, it's not dependent on the rest of the system. You could create a Monster Manual, using the 5E rules, that was built entirely along 4E principles: Monster roles, minion/standard/elite/solo, self-contained statblocks, standard stats based on role and level, and all the rest. And you could then use those monsters in a bog-standard 5E campaign.

So, my question: Has anybody in fact done this? And, if so, where can I get a copy?

 

[the Jester]

I'm actually doing a massive audit and rewrite of my homebrewed and converted monsters right now to add more 4eisms to them, but I have barely begun.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

In fact, I'd to the opposite: take then MM(s) from 4e and redo the using the maths of 5e. When I do this, I usually wing it, but doing the job using the right proficiency bonus, HP calculation etc would be somewhat easy, if long as hell.

 

[overgeeked]

I don't know of anything that's been published. But I basically do this with my homebrew monsters. I started with the 5E MM on a Business Card from Blog of Holding, assumed that those were the numbers for a "solo" monster, and cut the HP and damage down to what a standard monster should be (1/3 of what's listed), then build them up from there based on party size. Four PCs is the equivalent to 4 standard monsters. I use minions as written. And monster roles as a means to quickly get a handle on what the monsters do in combat.

 

[overgeeked]

In fact, I'd to the opposite: take then MM(s) from 4e and redo the using the maths of 5e. When I do this, I usually wing it, but doing the job using the right proficiency bonus, HP calculation etc would be somewhat easy, if long as hell.

That's what Excel is for. Do it once and never worry about it again. Figure out what the average hit points should be and refer to a list of what dice give what results as an average. And roll those bones. Like one standard 1st-level monster should average 10 hit points. So what dice average 10? 2d8+1 averages 10, so roll that.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

That's what Excel is for. Do it once and never worry about it again. Figure out what the average hit points should be and refer to a list of what dice give what results as an average. And roll those bones. Like one standard 1st-level monster should average 10 hit points. So what dice average 10? 2d8+1 averages 10, so roll that.

I generally just bolt the actions list of a specific 4e creature unto the equivalent creature of 5e. If an attack targets Will, I decide if it requires a Wis save or Cha save, depending on how I feel that day

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

You want to check out Giffyglyph's Monster Maker, which is basically a tool for making 4E 5E monsters. Even has an app.
On Reddit, there's a few monsters made with this tool posted, but no published MM or siimilar, alas.

 

[Rhuarc]

If you are familiar with Matt Colville, his next major product is going to be a monster manual that is aimed at partially replacing the official one, with a more tactical approach to and overall more interesting monsters. As he is a big fan of 4E, one can reasonably expect to see this reflected in the statblocks of the creatures featured within.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I know Matt Colville and MCDM's next book is a monster book using their 'Action-Oriented Monsters' format. As he is a big fan of 4E he's made monsters that are more in line with that way of thinking. So all the monsters get Actions, Bonus actions, Reactions, as well as special "lair"-like actions that occur each round. The prototypes for them have been in their two previous books (Strongholds & Followers and Kingdoms & Warfare), and an entire book of them is being worked on now.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

I know Matt Colville and MCDM's next book is a monster book using their 'Action-Oriented Monsters' format. As he is a big fan of 4E he's made monsters that are more in line with that way of thinking. So all the monsters get Actions, Bonus actions, Reactions, as well as special "lair"-like actions that occur each round. The prototypes for them have been in their two previous books (Strongholds & Followers and Kingdoms & Warfare), and an entire book of them is being worked on now.

If it's anything like Strongholds & Followers, the rules for reactions and lair actions will be in a companion volume. On the other hand, you will get a some magic items and plenty of lore about Matt's home campaign!