D&D 5E Let’s Read Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse.

[Leatherhead]

Skull Lord (MtoF)​

Skull Lords are a creature that has many disparate threads to pull on. They are undead Sorcerers, with three heads that constantly plot against each other. But also they are from the Shadowfell, where they constantly wage war for territory against other Skull Lords. And also they were fused together from the officers of Vecna's army, right around the time Kas dismembered him.

It might even be arguably too much to pull on. I was simultaneously overwhelmed and underwhelmed when I read their description, thought that might be due to the fact that those lore bombs are metered out in the span of two paragraphs, while creatures like the Sea Spawn get an entire half-page to pad out.

In combat, Skull Lords are also quite disparate. They are Sorcerers, with full plate, and Evasion, that summon undead. Yeah, that’s a bit wonky. At any rate, they have a Multiattack, with deadly laser beams or staff strikes, that cannot swap out an attack to cast a spell. Which is a significant downgrade when compared to their contemporaries in this book. They are also Legendary Monsters who do not have the ability to cast spells as a Legendary Action, instead they can summon up to 5 zombies or skeletons to help in combat, which are buffed by the Skull Lord’s Master of the Grave Aura. If you are thinking this creature doesn’t sound anything like a Sorcerer at this point, I am with you. Their spell selection is also quite lacking, with a total of 6 spells, two of which are non-combat cantrips. At the very least, they can use their Stinking Cloud as a form of concealment for their undead allies, and get a bit of higher burst damage from Cone of Cold.

In the changeover, the Skull Lord lost quite a few spells, and the ability to use their cantrip selection as a legendary action (which went a long way to making them feel like Sorcerers). In return, they got a generic Death Ray attack, which they can use as a legendary action instead. They also gained a bit more damage from their Bone Staff attacks, and a few extra HP.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Skull Lord (MtoF)​

Skull Lords are a creature that has many disparate threads to pull on. They are undead Sorcerers, with three heads that constantly plot against each other. But also they are from the Shadowfell, where they constantly wage war for territory against other Skull Lords. And also they were fused together from the officers of Vecna's army, right around the time Kas dismembered him.

That was just the original ones. It's stated that others followed in his footsteps after.

 

[Leatherhead]

Slithering Tracker (VGtM)​

In D&D, there are a great number of unstated rituals that can be performed on common folk, in order to transform them into (relatively) powerful monsters. And a greater number of common folk that have been wronged, some of which might just willingly take part in such a ritual if it means they get a chance for vengeance.

Enter the Slithering Tracker. While most people would balk at the idea of losing their humanity in favor of becoming an ooze, there is no denying that a CR 3 ooze is leaps and bounds more powerful than a CR 0 commoner. After ditching their body, in a ritual that is known to quite a few kinds of people and monsters, the Slithering Tracker gains a suite of abilities that make it an ideal assassin. high stealth, high mobility, an ability that makes the target incapable of screaming out in the middle of the night, and a bonus to initiative rolls. If all you care about is taking the target down with you, it seems like a sweet deal, even if you are doomed to live the rest of your life as an ooze.

It's even possible that the Slithering Tracker does such a thing just to get back at some PC who killed one of their loved ones, perhaps one of the relatives of those bandits they took out not too long ago. Though if you are going for this story beat, it is better to set up the NPC as a normal humanoid beforehand, in order to maximize the dramatic effect. Alternatively, they can serve as highly stealthy “guard dogs” hiding in plain sight around some temple, in a(n un)holy water reservoir.

In order to get the full Slithering Tracker experience in combat, it's going to have to ambush someone. Which should be incredibly easy to set up. Their skills make sneaking into private areas, like bathrooms or bedrooms, trivial. After that, they are going to try and grapple their target, which engulfs the target in their oozy body, drowning them (which can prevent Verbal Spells). There are also a few tactical advantages to this grapple, not only does it deal significant damage, but half of all damage that the ooze receives is transferred to the grappled target. It is worth noting that the Slithering Tracker can spider climb, meaning that it is a good idea to drag their grappled target up to the ceiling, where it will take fall damage even if it escapes this deadly embrace.

In the Changeover, the Slithering Tracker gained a Survival score in place of its tracking bonus, and lost its Ambush ability. In return, it gained a few HP, and Resistance to non-magical weapon damage, which should make it significantly harder to kill at t1 of the game.

 

[Remathilis]

Skull Lord (MtoF)​

Skull Lords are a creature that has many disparate threads to pull on. They are undead Sorcerers, with three heads that constantly plot against each other. But also they are from the Shadowfell, where they constantly wage war for territory against other Skull Lords. And also they were fused together from the officers of Vecna's army, right around the time Kas dismembered him.

It might even be arguably too much to pull on. I was simultaneously overwhelmed and underwhelmed when I read their description, thought that might be due to the fact that those lore bombs are metered out in the span of two paragraphs, while creatures like the Sea Spawn get an entire half-page to pad out.

In combat, Skull Lords are also quite disparate. They are Sorcerers, with full plate, and Evasion, that summon undead. Yeah, that’s a bit wonky. At any rate, they have a Multiattack, with deadly laser beams or staff strikes, that cannot swap out an attack to cast a spell. Which is a significant downgrade when compared to their contemporaries in this book. They are also Legendary Monsters who do not have the ability to cast spells as a Legendary Action, instead they can summon up to 5 zombies or skeletons to help in combat, which are buffed by the Skull Lord’s Master of the Grave Aura. If you are thinking this creature doesn’t sound anything like a Sorcerer at this point, I am with you. Their spell selection is also quite lacking, with a total of 6 spells, two of which are non-combat cantrips. At the very least, they can use their Stinking Cloud as a form of concealment for their undead allies, and get a bit of higher burst damage from Cone of Cold.

In the changeover, the Skull Lord lost quite a few spells, and the ability to use their cantrip selection as a legendary action (which went a long way to making them feel like Sorcerers). In return, they got a generic Death Ray attack, which they can use as a legendary action instead. They also gained a bit more damage from their Bone Staff attacks, and a few extra HP.

Once again proving the "sorcerer" tag is all but useless.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Once again proving the "sorcerer" tag is all but useless.

Tag means they can use any gear a Sorcerer can use.

 

[Leatherhead]

Sorrowsworn (MtoF)​

Sorrowsworn are raw emotions given physical form from the Shadowfell. Unfortunately, given the nature of the Shadowfell, all of the emotions incarnated this way are negative ones. Sorrowsworn also feed off of their named emotion, a cool concept, with mixed results depending on the mechanic.

Angry

Angry Sorrowsworn are melee brutes that get stronger if they are attacked, and weaker if they are ignored (though not enough to actually destroy them, you still need violence for that.) They even possess resistance to all weapon damage, regardless of whether it is magical or not, as long as they are in the shadows. Unfortunately, that’s all they have. At CR 13, with a speed of 30’, no reach, and no control on their attacks, it is very easy to just control or ignore them while dispatching other threats. I suppose that is the intention of the creature, but it feels weird to have a monster that is designed to be ignored. On the up side, they are a bit harder to control than most, given that they have advantage against a bunch of control options due to their two heads.

In the changeover, The Angry had their advantage in perception folded into their perception skill.

Hungry

Hungry Sorrowsworn are voracious predators that only exist to consume, presumably reflecting the negatives of starving to death while being lost in the Shadowfell. At CR 11, they are a bit more effective in combat than an Angry, given that you can’t just ignore them to make them weaker. Instead, they get a boost in power whenever anyone around them is healed. I’m not sure I see the connection between healing and hunger, but it is a terrifying mechanic that should be explored more often. They even have a grappling attack for a minor control, which is at least something to work with other than mindlessly slashing at things.

Also worth noting, the Hungry has no “weakness.” You would think that you could distract them by throwing food on the ground or something, but that’s merely a suggestion and not hard-written into the rules.

The Hungry were not significantly changed for this printing.

Lonely

Lonely Sorrowsworn just want a hug. Unfortunately for them, they have harpoons for arms, and psychically leach emotions out of the people nearby, which kills any company they might have. The Lonely are quite well designed. The aforementioned harpoon arms can grapple a target from up to 60’ away, and they have an attack that can reel targets in close, where their damage arua can also chip away from them. Their weakness is playing keep-away, if you can manage to stay more than 30’ away from them, they gain disadvantage on their attack rolls. If there was any way to make this monster more perfect, it would be a climb speed to match their creepy spikey-limbs (and of course, the option to drop people from high up after grappling them.)

The Lonely was also not significantly changed.

Lost

Lost Sorrowsworn are basically worse Lonely Sorrowsworn. They come from the feeling of being lost, but their gimmick is also to run up and grapple people. Unfortunately for the Lost, their grapple is only single target, Melee Range, and has a Recharge mechanic. However, their grapple inflicts Fear (making it a bit harder to escape) and they do get a nifty reaction that causes damage to the grappled target when they are hit. They lack any sort of bonus or penalty tied to their namesake emotion, which makes them a bit bland when compared to other Sorrowsworn.

The Lost is another creature that was not significantly changed.

Wretched

Wretched Sorrowsworn represent the emotion of annoyance. When manifested in a CR ¼ creature, this makes them into overgrown leeches, apparently. The Wretched attack their target once (with advantage if there is an ally nearby), then latch on dealing automatic damage in the subsequent rounds. This bite is not a grapple, and the Wretched moves for free when the target they have latched onto moves. Removing a Wretched takes an entire action, which makes them suitably annoying when in a mixed pack of monsters that is way above their CR, and their resistance to weapon damage makes them suitably deadly when faced in Tier 1 of the game. Their weakness is not having any allies to make attacks with, which is kind of a nothing weakness that is only likely to show up if you have already “won” the encounter at that point.

Like most of their fellow Sorrowsworn, the Wretched was not significantly changed for this printing.

 

[Remathilis]

Tag means they can use any gear a Sorcerer can use.

As an NPC, it can use whatever gear I want it to. NPCs, I'm told, don't have to conform to the PC class restrictions it's mimicking when it comes to armor, weapons, spells known or even class features, but it needs a special rule tag to tell me it can attune to a staff of fire? [emoji52]

Yeah, sorry. The class tags as is right now barely have any function, either descriptive or mechanical.

 

[Micah Sweet]

As an NPC, it can use whatever gear I want it to. NPCs, I'm told, don't have to conform to the PC class restrictions it's mimicking when it comes to armor, weapons, spells known or even class features, but it needs a special rule tag to tell me it can attune to a staff of fire? [emoji52]

Yeah, sorry. The class tags as is right now barely have any function, either descriptive or mechanical.

They serve the function of confusing people who assume they do mean something? I really think if they're going to abandon the idea that PCs have anything in common with NPCs they should have just gone whole hog. Oh, and making their design intentions clear in the product would also have been nice.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Yeah, sorry. The class tags as is right now barely have any function, either descriptive or mechanical.

Barely a function is still a function.

This is all the tag is supposed to do. The book says what it means, and it means no more than that.

Finally, if a stat block contains the name of a class in the monster’s name or in parentheses under the name, the monster is considered a member of that class for the purpose of meeting prerequisites for magic items.

 

[Weiley31]

I mean, the Sorcerer tag at least lets ya know that said NPC/Monster can utilize Meta Magic Abilities while the Warlock tag lets ya know the NPC/Monster can use Eldritch Blast+Agonizing Blast Invocation.