Weiley31
Legend
Because I have more Barbarian pcs that I play than other classes. haha.
D&D 5E Let’s Read Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse.
FitzTheRuke
Legend
Haw! That would do it!
Leatherhead
Possibly a Idiot.
Dinosaur (VGtM)
Open the door, get on the floor, everybody walk the Dinosaur~
Dinosaurs are the largest of mundane beasts, but calling them mundane might be a bit of a stretch considering they are prehistoric beings we only know from fossils. However this is D&D, and people will take their not-explicitly-magical creatures anywhere they can get them. If you want to make the most of these creatures, consider giving a few to your world’s Druid population. If it’s good enough for Eberron, it’s good enough for you.
It’s worth noting that all Dinosaurs now have the Dinosaur tag, just like Cattle having the Cattle tag. What this means going forward is up to any kind of speculation you can muster, but it does leave the door open to things like undead fossil dinosaurs or dinosaur angels. It could even, perhaps, be a possible hint for the return of Saurials. Other than this tag, none of the dinosaurs here had any significant changes.
Brontosaurus
As a gargantuan CR 5 creature, this might be the first, or even only creature of that size your party will ever see. Despite their prodigious bulk, the Bronto is a very simple creature when it comes to combat. It will stomp, to knock prone, then Tail anyone who is knocked prone.
Deinonychus
You know the Raptors from Jurassic Park? These are those, but IRL they are a bit smaller than they are on the big screen, still big enough for medium size though. You can totally rip off all the things they did in the movie and get away with it. But it does afford a hotly debated question: Dino-feathers yea or nay? Personally, I’m for the feathers, if only because you can totally mess with people who don’t expect them. And who knows, you could maybe make an archer that uses dinosaur feathers as their fletching.
Anyway, Deinonychus is brutal in combat. Using its superior mobility, it can pounce on a creature to knock them prone, and get an extra bite attack, for a total of four attacks per round, with advantage on some of them! Considering you get to pick what order the multiattacks go in, save the bite for last, just so you can make sure it will get advantage if the prone happens.
Dimetrodon
OK, so here is the point where I have to point out, much like how D&D treats Mushrooms like a Plant even though they totally aren’t, The Dimetrodon isn’t actually a Dinosaur, even though it has the tag. Aside from that, the only notable thing about this poseur is that they have a swim speed and CR ¼ which means you can summon them for amphibious assaults, if your DM lets you that is. You could also make them into a Beastmaster pet, but that would require playing a Beastmaster using the old rules, and nobody wants to do that.
Hadrosaurus
This duck-billed dinosaur is big enough to ride, which is cool. Do I have anything else to say about them? Honestly not really. They aren’t a complex beast by any measure. The only interesting part of combat for this creature is whatever is riding it.
Quetzalcoatlus
Once again, this isn’t a dinosaur. But it is named after a god, and it's one of the biggest sky beasts ever, which means you use it to fly a few people around, which is cooler than riding around on a hadrosaurus.
In combat, this beast that I have to use copy-paste to even try getting the name right, uses their flyby to joust targets and deal extra damage for their efforts. If they do have a rider, the rider should stick to ranged attacks.
Stegosaurus
Now for a dinosaur you can’t really ride. The Stego has a bunch of plates sticking out of its back, and likes to thwack pesky predators with their mighty Thagomizer. Which is the name for the pointy bits on their tail, in honor of a joke by Gary Larson that is as old as I am. Seriously, it’s a real word, go look it up.
Velociraptor
These would-be birds of prey are about the size of a chicken, but they are also one of the most deadly cr ¼ beasts. Thanks to pact tactics and their tiny size, they can use their multiattack with advantage nearly every turn as it’s almost impossible to block all of them without an actual wall. When a druid casts Conjure Animals, they are secretly hoping for a pack of these.
Leatherhead
Possibly a Idiot.
Dolphin (VGtM)
Dolphins are surprisingly intelligent sea mammals that are famed for being the closest things that humanoids have to a friend in the ocean. Despite their intelligence, they are stuck in a body that is streamlined for swimming. Which might actually be a relief to all other forms of sea life considering what dolphins have been recorded doing to other animals. Dolphins have echolocation, mechanically represented by blindsense. A dolphin can hold their breath for up to 20 minutes, which is far more time than any combat will ever need, but not enough time to free them of having to live near the surface of the ocean. While they can keep up with ships quite easily for your age of sail games, they cannot go explore an underwater dungeon with your party unless you pack water breathing ring for them.
Interestingly enough, Dolphins don’t have a Dolphin tag like the other similar groupings in this book. A fact that makes these beast tags even stranger. Though to be fair, the Cranium Rats didn’t have a Rat tag either. I suppose we are going to have to wait till the actual 5.5 books to see what the deal is with that.
A Dolphin will initiate combat by charging into their enemies with their slam attack. Allowing for a bit of extra damage on the first round of combat. Aside from using blindsight, and the 3d nature of open water, the dolphin’s best trick is traveling with a pod, which enables other dolphins to get the distance needed to trigger their charge attacks should one dolphin be ambushed.
Dolphins were only reformatted for the changeover
Dolphin Delighter
Now here is something I am sure you have all been waiting for: The first new monster in the book!
The Dolphin Delighter is a fey creature that looks like it jumped right out some Lisa Frank school supplies, and functions as an aquatic bard. Using their telepathy to sing songs and their aquatic forms to do acrobatic stunts, they entertain and protect aquatic humanoids like sea elves, tritons and tortoles.
Yes, they can sing directly into your mind. You will never be safe from the sea shanties. At least they have proficiency in performance to make it sound on key.
In combat, the Delighter is an incredibly effective CR 3 support unit. Their main attack deals psionic damage and blinds with no saving throw. They can use a bonus action to teleport themselves and a friend up to 30’. And they have another bonus action that grants THP to any number of creatures within 10’ of it. They may lack a way to actually heal, but otherwise they sport the full package of support: Mobility enabling, debuffing, and buffing. The only thing I would have done differently is given them a ranged attack that does thunder damage, because when I think of a bard with echolocation I imaging them using sonic attacks.
Dolphin Delighters did not exist until this book, so there was nothing to be changed.
Remathilis
Legend
Now that's interesting and explains a lot. Why some NPCs (Abjurer Wizard, Warlock of the Fiend) didn't have tags, but others (the Strixhaven Professors) did.
Man, reverse engineering these stat blocks are a mess without that guide.
Micah Sweet
Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
Unfortunately, that tends to happen when game design focuses heavily on ease of use "out of the box". You end up with discrete game elements that are good for their intended purpose, but difficult to break down and customize.
Leatherhead
Possibly a Idiot.
Draegloth (VGtM)
Despite its similar naming convention, the Draegloth is not a Yugoloth. It is a half-drow, half-glabrezu, which makes it a highly specialized form of half-demon. A Dregloth is created using a ritual that I’m not going to go into this time, though I am sure someone will.
Draegloths are seen as a blessing of Lloth, and houses keep them around to smash their enemies. Despite this, the fiends can’t actually gain status in a Lloth cult and at cr 7, they aren’t actually quite as dangerous as other key-players in a Drow house (as we will see soon). This causes a few to flee the house to do their own fiendish things, which are most likely no good for anyone else involved.
In combat the Draegoloth is a slow moving brute with barely enough tricks to keep them interesting. They are immune to poison, which Drow are famous for using, giving them a synergy should someone set off some kind of bomb next to them. They can also cast the typical Drow spells: Faerie Fire, Darkness, and Dancing Lights. Thanks to their Demonic heritage they can cast Darkness at will, and have access to Confusion. Darkness is their best option for casting, thanks to not needing a saving throw (their casting stat is a measly 11), and can be used to block line of sight or serve as a springboard for trying to use their stealth score.
In the changeover, the Draegoloth can finally cast their Dancing Lights spell at-will.
Leatherhead
Possibly a Idiot.
Drow Arachnomancer (MToF)
The next 6 entries in this book are Lolth-cultist-Drow, you know the wide strokes by now: An evil, spider-worshiping, matriarchal society with severely implicative undertones. They live underground with a bunch of slaves, and like to backstab each other. I was thinking about merging the Drow into a single entry, in order to save space, but their entry would still be like 7 pages long, so I vetoed that option in favor of doing multiple posts.
While there have been Drow that defied this culture from the very beginning of the race, it wasn’t until relatively recently that WotC finally emphasized the non-Lolthite Drow. Book Updates | Sage Advice | Dungeons & Dragons . It stands to reason that you could divorce the fluff from these following entries to make generic high threat humanoids. I will note where that would be easy.
As for right now, I will point out a universal change to the spellcasting Drow: They do not require material components for any of their spells. They still need to speak or use a free hand to cast spells, but you cannot disarm them from their wands or unholy symbols to limit their spellcasting options. This kind of change makes them only slightly easier to run (I’m sure a lot of DMs don’t actually keep track of spell components until someone tries to restrict them), but I feel that it ultimately reduces the options of PCs against such powerful foes.
Drow Arachnomancer
This isn’t your friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man by any stretch. The Arachnomancer is, as the name implies, a Spider-Mage, and does a bang-up job of delivering on that idea. While you could remove the Drow parts of this stat block with ease, the spider parts are baked into the core. Fortunately, there is no shortage of spider themed stories you can tell if you are willing to bend webbing and threads into allegory.
In combat, the Arachonamer is a CR 13 melee controller with the ability to crawl up walls and webs. They are also shapechangers, with the option to be either a humanoid or a Large Spider. While their choice of form does not change their stats (other than size) it does enable different actions for their multiattack.
The Spider form has a bite attack that deals middling damage due to the fact that it requires an attack roll (DEX based) and a saving throw (CON based), and their highest stat is INT! At least the poison is the famous Drow poison that leaves a target paralized at 0 hp, preventing the target from jumping back up to fighting strength with just a Healing Word. As an alternative attack, they can use a ranged Web attack. It’s the same kind of Web attack as a Giant Spider, with a slightly higher escape DC, meaning you are looking to target a caster, who will eat up their action in order to escape the web. Warrior types at this level will use one of their many attacks and continue their assault.
The Humanoid form has a Poison Touch that just deals damage whenever it hits, no saving throw.
Either form can supplement their multiattack by casting a spell. Insect Plague can lock down a key chokepoint, and Dispel Magic is always handy. The rest of their spell list is handled better by allies (if you have another Drow in the fight, let them use Faerie Fire) or for running away and/or getting the ambush. Etherealness is the best one for these purposes. But redundancies are always nice, especially when they have to run away after setting up said ambush. You might even want to lead in with Invisibility just to save the other spells as an ace in the hole.
In the changeover, the Arachnomancer lost most of their spells. From 24 down to 9. Though to be fair, they used the Warlock spellcasting mechanic (also removed), meaning they wouldn’t have been able to use a large chunk of them anyway. To further divorce this mage from any PC class, they switched from using CHA as their casting stat to their much higher INT score. On the melee side, they lost their “sneak attack” bonus damage but gained a third multiattack, and gained the powerful ability to use their multiattack to cast spells.
Leatherhead
Possibly a Idiot.
Drow Favored Consort (MToF)
The Drow Favored Consort is a combination of an arcane bodyguard and, er consort, that typically serves a priestess of Lolth. Outside of being arm candy, they make for simple yet effective CR 18 spellswords, for any reason that you may need to stab and/or sling a spell at something at that level.
A particularly useful out of combat spell for the Consort is Message, which allows them to act like a government agent that has a wire in their ear. The rest of their spells are more useful for combat.
Speaking of combat, the Consort will stay close to whomever they are protecting, in order to use their Protective Shield power, and in case they need to use Dimension Door to escape with their ward. While their Scimitar is functional as a melee option, their Arcane Eruption is a superior combat choice, having long range and the ability to automatically push targets around with no save for a measure of control.
The rest of their useful spells are Fireball, for dealing with groups, and either Levitate (to mimic flying) or Faerie Fire as they have nothing else worth concentrating on.
In the changeover, the Consort was totally overhauled. They lost the bulk of their spells, (including Counterspell, which is extremely handy for a bodyguard) but gained the Arcane Eruption attack, which was attached to their multiattack. Their multiattack can now be used to cast spells, which ups their attacks per spell cast from one to two. The Drow poison on their Scimitar was replaced with a pure damage poison. They lost their hand Crossbow entirely. And finally they gained the Protective Shield power to use as a reaction.
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