D&D 5E How will you pick a Monster Manual alternative?

[PJ Coffey]

The problem with picking one is that you either pick 'randomly' based on a piece of info you heard and like, while missing a lot of other information, or you have to do an in depth comparison to determine which one you may like best, and I am not sure how feasible that is in practice if you do not own the books yet (or have equivalent access).

Well you don't need to own the Monstrous Menagerie

Aboleth | Level Up

a5e.tools

I love the new art and the lore has been reworked, but it's an online resource.

I think that Monstrous Menagerie 2 will be pretty impressive.

 

[Clint_L]

I have to admit that there is such a huge variety of monsters available to use with D&D already, and they are so convenient to plug into the Encounter Builder on DnDBeyond, that I don't feel much need for another book. When I need something specific that isn't in any of the WotC books, I just build it myself, again in DnDBeyond, which is super easy.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Agreed. Unfortunately, my friends are scattered.

Me too, but we just play on Discord, and occasionally use Roll20 for maps. No game elements on VTT beyond that.

 

[Parmandur]

I have to admit that there is such a huge variety of monsters available to use with D&D already, and they are so convenient to plug into the Encounter Builder on DnDBeyond, that I don't feel much need for another book. When I need something specific that isn't in any of the WotC books, I just build it myself, again in DnDBeyond, which is super easy.

I like bestiaries as Mines for ideas, stuff that breaks the mold like the Bar Brawl from KP Creature Codex.

 

[overgeeked]

Me too, but we just play on Discord, and occasionally use Roll20 for maps. No game elements on VTT beyond that.

Same with us. Roll20 for the maps and roller. The referee still handles the numbers on their end with digital notes or paper. Just because you’re using a VTT doesn’t mean the VTT has to handle monster hit points, AC, etc. It’s a choice. Not a requirement.

 

[PJ Coffey]

I have to admit that there is such a huge variety of monsters available to use with D&D already, and they are so convenient to plug into the Encounter Builder on DnDBeyond, that I don't feel much need for another book. When I need something specific that isn't in any of the WotC books, I just build it myself, again in DnDBeyond, which is super easy.

I, personally, wouldn't depend on the IT offerings of a company that describes itself as "undermonetised", and wants to move their players into a Walled Garden, but everybody is entitled to make their own decisions.

 

[Li Shenron]

The time when WotC has the only Monster Manual-style core monster book is already over and will get less over as time goes on, post SRD going into Creative Commons.

We already have Level Up's Monstrous Menagerie. Kobold Press is crowdfunding its Monster Vault now. Presumably we'll see something similar from Cubicle 7. And they're not likely to be the end of such books. And, of course, there's the 2024 Monster Manual, which will presumably look a lot like Monsters of the Multiverse.

Some folks, with big wallets and expansive shelf space, will likely get all of them. But if you were choosing just one, how would you decide?

Well, I only have 2 monsters books of this edition, the MM and VGtM.

The MM has been widely criticized (by me as well, back at the beginning of 5e) for failing to deliver enough monsters abilities and variants, as were promised during the DnDNext playtests. We got way too many monsters with a single special ability (some, not even that) and very few monster variants (mainly some 'boss' versions of humanoids).

But through the years, I've learned to see 5e as a toolbox rather than a static set of material. I don't care to buy another monsters book, when I can very easily take any MM monsters, and create variants by myself, adding abilities taken from other monsters, adding feats, or even adding class levels (whatever I need from them, with no regards to 'rules' for adding classes to monsters, which in fact don't even exist), and then ballparking the resulting CR/XP, or just don't even give a flumph about it... drop the monster in combat and let the PCs deal with it one way or the other.

Maybe, if the designers were really able to come up with innovative new abilities for monsters, I might consider other books. But what I see most of the times (and not just with monsters, the same also happens with PC's class archetypes) is hardly innovative at all, just colorwashed old abilities, with few exceptions.

So there it is, the MM as the only monster I will ever really need, to set the starting point of a few hundreds famous monsters across the CR spectrum.

If anything, I'd rather need more monsters stories, not more stats. But for that, I have 40 years of D&D history before 5e to look at, plus thousands of non-D&D books (and non-books) as well.

 

[Voadam]

I have a bunch of 5e monster books as is. I am currently in year three and module 3 of 6 of a 5e conversion of a Pathfinder adventure path on fantasy grounds with a good six book set of 5e monsters I use and reskin regularly (including Kobold's Creature Collection and Tome of Beasts) so I expect to continue on for a good while there with what I have. The only thing I have recently gotten on FG in the last two years was an upgrade to ultimate from basic.

I don't have any plans currently to buy the new ones, but I expect I will get some things as they are on sales or included in bundles as I always do.

If I were to go with just one thing it would probably be the baseline 5e MM and I would house rule in 4eisms (elite and solo style stuff, special powers or attacks, etc.) as add ons as I go.

 

[SlyFlourish]

Who needs a monster manual =D

I'm only half-kidding. I've been using and testing the general use monster stat blocks from Forge of Foes (preview available here). It's amazing how easy it is to run monsters like these and players really don't know or really don't care. It's made prep even faster for me.

I'm not ready to throw out monster books completely but it's often easier for me to come up with a creature concept, pick an appropriate CR, use those stats, and improvise unique abilities or just flavor the monster with descriptions than it is to look up monsters.

 

[dave2008]

Who needs a monster manual =D

I'm only half-kidding. I've been using and testing the general use monster stat blocks from Forge of Foes (preview available here). It's amazing how easy it is to run monsters like these and players really don't know or really don't care. It's made prep even faster for me.

I'm not ready to throw out monster books completely but it's often easier for me to come up with a creature concept, pick an appropriate CR, use those stats, and improvise unique abilities or just flavor the monster with descriptions than it is to look up monsters.

I know! I can run a "monster" just from the tables in the DMG. I put them on my DM cheat sheet.