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How the Monsters Have Changed in the 2025 Monster Manual: Aboleth
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<blockquote data-quote="Stalker0" data-source="post: 9576891" data-attributes="member: 5889"><p>I appreciate this kind of deep dive because a lot of the changes here are subtle and yet have a pretty strong impact on how this monster might "feel" in an encounter or combat. A few of my own notes:</p><p></p><p>1) Eldritch Restoration: This one is huge from a recurring villain standpoint. While it was sometimes implied in lore it hasn't been an explicit part of the 5e aboleth until now. Basically without a Macguffin you really cannot "stop" an aboleth, only delay them. And so its a great vehicle for that long term boss that the players can encounter earlier in the game without fear that the monster is just killed and sent on its way.....it will just come back smarter and angrier.</p><p></p><p>2) The attack routine: One thing I have seen now in a few 2024 statblocks, the including of the "special sauce power" in the attack routine. The fact that the aboleth gets to make 2 attacks AND use its mind controlling whammies is a notable improvement in coolness. Getting away from the idea that the DM has to give up their entire offense to maybe land a saving throw on a PC has never felt good, now they can deliver pain AND bring the scary whammies is a very welcome improvement.</p><p></p><p>3) Mucus Cloud: The big change here is its now an active thing the Aboleth puts on the PCs as it moves near them, rather than something the PCs take as a reaction to their attacks. There is some give and take on this one, as the old one did sometimes shake up how you deal with an aboleth. BUT....it is nice that the non-attackers in the group have to deal with the effect as well.</p><p></p><p>4) Consume Memories: A really slick little bit of flavor addition, and fits in so well with the aboleth's notion of a "living library". Imagine the players losing a beloved NPC to an aboleth, and then the next time they fight the aboleth taunts them with memories of times they had together. or even worse, if a PC died! </p><p></p><p>5) Grapple: So grapple is often overlooked as a control imo but its actually incredibly good. With the aboleths reach, it can grapple a character outside of 5 ft and so that might ruin melee attack possibilities. Or just the fact you can auto-move the PCs to nasty areas and drop them in.</p><p></p><p>6) Legendary Action: The biggest note here is that Consume Memories can be done with anything that is grappled (which is far easier than charmed when you consider PC saving throws) and can be done 3 or even 4 times a round. This is a great weapon against the heavier AC characters, as you can now drain them with int saving throws that bypass AC and can get a steady trickle of guaranteed healing, up to 15 a round. Its not a massive change but it does matter.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Now all of that said, its not all gravy:</p><p></p><p>1) Lower damage: Frankly the old aboleth was already lacking in the damage department and this new one deals far less overall. I have never had players feel "threatened" by what an aboleth brings in combat itself, only from its minions, and this aboleth unfortunately continues in that direction.</p><p></p><p>2) No ranged options: The 2014 aboleth really suffered from a lack of ranged options. I have used aboleths many times in my games and they have often disappointed as players found control options to keep the aboleth at bay, and then just took care of them safely at range. While water environments can limit that a bit I consider it MANDATORY for legendary monsters of this CR to have good long range options to account for the common powerful ranged builds you will see at that point in the game.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Stalker0, post: 9576891, member: 5889"] I appreciate this kind of deep dive because a lot of the changes here are subtle and yet have a pretty strong impact on how this monster might "feel" in an encounter or combat. A few of my own notes: 1) Eldritch Restoration: This one is huge from a recurring villain standpoint. While it was sometimes implied in lore it hasn't been an explicit part of the 5e aboleth until now. Basically without a Macguffin you really cannot "stop" an aboleth, only delay them. And so its a great vehicle for that long term boss that the players can encounter earlier in the game without fear that the monster is just killed and sent on its way.....it will just come back smarter and angrier. 2) The attack routine: One thing I have seen now in a few 2024 statblocks, the including of the "special sauce power" in the attack routine. The fact that the aboleth gets to make 2 attacks AND use its mind controlling whammies is a notable improvement in coolness. Getting away from the idea that the DM has to give up their entire offense to maybe land a saving throw on a PC has never felt good, now they can deliver pain AND bring the scary whammies is a very welcome improvement. 3) Mucus Cloud: The big change here is its now an active thing the Aboleth puts on the PCs as it moves near them, rather than something the PCs take as a reaction to their attacks. There is some give and take on this one, as the old one did sometimes shake up how you deal with an aboleth. BUT....it is nice that the non-attackers in the group have to deal with the effect as well. 4) Consume Memories: A really slick little bit of flavor addition, and fits in so well with the aboleth's notion of a "living library". Imagine the players losing a beloved NPC to an aboleth, and then the next time they fight the aboleth taunts them with memories of times they had together. or even worse, if a PC died! 5) Grapple: So grapple is often overlooked as a control imo but its actually incredibly good. With the aboleths reach, it can grapple a character outside of 5 ft and so that might ruin melee attack possibilities. Or just the fact you can auto-move the PCs to nasty areas and drop them in. 6) Legendary Action: The biggest note here is that Consume Memories can be done with anything that is grappled (which is far easier than charmed when you consider PC saving throws) and can be done 3 or even 4 times a round. This is a great weapon against the heavier AC characters, as you can now drain them with int saving throws that bypass AC and can get a steady trickle of guaranteed healing, up to 15 a round. Its not a massive change but it does matter. Now all of that said, its not all gravy: 1) Lower damage: Frankly the old aboleth was already lacking in the damage department and this new one deals far less overall. I have never had players feel "threatened" by what an aboleth brings in combat itself, only from its minions, and this aboleth unfortunately continues in that direction. 2) No ranged options: The 2014 aboleth really suffered from a lack of ranged options. I have used aboleths many times in my games and they have often disappointed as players found control options to keep the aboleth at bay, and then just took care of them safely at range. While water environments can limit that a bit I consider it MANDATORY for legendary monsters of this CR to have good long range options to account for the common powerful ranged builds you will see at that point in the game. [/QUOTE]
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How the Monsters Have Changed in the 2025 Monster Manual: Aboleth
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