D&D 5E List of All 33 Races in Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse

Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse contains 33 races compiled from previous Dungeons & Dragons books.

• Aarackocra
• Assimar
• Bugbear
• Centaur
• Changeling
• Deep Gnome
• Duergar
• Eladrin
• Fairy
• Firbolg
• Genasi, Air
• Genasi, Earth
• Genasi, Fire
• Gennasi, Water
• Githyanki
• Githzerai
• Goblin
• Goliath
• Harengon
• Hobgoblin
• Kenku
• Kobold
• Lizardfolk
• Minotaur
• Orc
• Satyr
• Sea Elf
• Shadar Kai
• Shifter
• Tabaxi
• Turtle
• Triton
• Yuan-ti

D&D 5E - Full List of Monsters in Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse

Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse contains revamped stat blocks for 260 monsters previously published in previous Dungeons & Dragons 5E books. The list was compiled by YouTuber Bob Worldbuilder based on some blurry screenshots originally shared by Nerd Immersion (see the video...

www.enworld.org

While reprinted, these races have all been updated to the current standard used by WotC for D&D races used in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, including a free choice of ability score increases (increase one by 2 points and another by 1 point; or increase three by 1 point), and small races not suffering a movement speed penalty.

The video below from Nerd Immersion delves into the races in more detail.

 

[Remathilis]

That's a good thing. That's absolutely a good thing for all of us. This isn't even subjective, this is either 100% beneficial to you and everyone that plays D&D, or it doesn't affect you. Overall extremely beneficial.

This book is setting-agnostic. Why would they give extensive lore for these races when a) the races are just reprints, and they have more specific lore elsewhere, and b) the book is setting agnostic and shouldn't determine the lore for the creatures, as they exist in multiple settings in the D&D Multiverse? There shouldn't be "base lore" more than "this is what the race looks like and their mechanics, use them in your settings/official settings however you want to use them and in whichever style matches the specific setting's lore". Harengon are bunny-people, so they act like bunnies. Fairies are fairies, and we all know what those are. Lizardfolk are lizard-people, and their base behavior is drawn from that.

And I don't think "the internet" or anyone on it scared WotC into doing this or anything. I think they just heard what their players want and gave it to them.

Sorry, but that's not true.

Every book is somebody's first exposure to something. Even a book of reprints is the first time someone might encounter the harengon, tortle, shadar-kai or firbolg. They might not seek out Witchlight, Tortle Package, Tome of Foes or Volo's to get more info. And in some cases (especially new races going forward) there might not BE other sources.

Look at ALL the lore we have on the Harengon...

Spoiler

Harengons originated in the Feywild, where they spoke Sylvan and embodied the spirit of freedom and travel. In time, these rabbitfolk hopped into other worlds, bringing the fey realm's exuberance with them and learning new languages as they went.

Harengons are bipedal, with the characteristic long feet of the rabbits they resemble and fur in a variety of colors. They share the keen senses and powerful legs of leporine creatures and are full of energy, like a wound-up spring. Harengons are blessed with a little fey luck, and they often find themselves a few fortunate feet away from dangers during adventures.

Two paragraphs from Witchlight. That is all we have and a bunch of questions: Are they nomadic or do they build settlements? What kind of Gods do they worship? What are their names like? Are they friendly, reserved, cowardly, trusting, competitive, aggressive, etc.? Do they live in families? Do the mate for like or breed like... rabbits? Are they nocturnal or diurnal? The write-up mentions learning new languages, do they have a fascination for language, writing, song or poetry or was it strictly out of necessity? What is their art like? What do they like to eat (are vegetarians like real rabbits)? Do they engage in commerce or trade? What is their view on humanoids from the material plane? How tall are they? What do they weigh? How long do they live? Do they believe in government and if so, what does the typical harengon government look like?

Some of those questions are biological. Some are cultural. Some are just RP suggestions wrapped up as nuggets of lore, and some of that is world-building info for DMs. We are losing that guidance. The Eberron book isn't going to give me where harengon's fit in Eberron, and the core book has given me two paragraphs at most. They are tabula rasa: blank slates that exist to give PCs a rabbit costume and a bonus to jumping.

Ironically, the only harengons NPCs in the rest of the module are brigands, with a CE harengon as their leader. Going by the only NPC representation, they're just rabbit-goblins.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Would you ever think to play a low-Int non-orc wizard?

Possibly, though that's unlikely how I would think of it (I'd frame it as a positive challenge: a wizard with a Dex or Str as the main ability, as with the Rogue in the example.) Lineage/racial ability adjustments are part of what makes a race appealing for a conscioulsy sub-optimal build, but it's not all of it.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Sorry, but that's not true.

Every book is somebody's first exposure to something. Even a book of reprints is the first time someone might encounter the harengon, tortle, shadar-kai or firbolg. They might not seek out Witchlight, Tortle Package, Tome of Foes or Volo's to get more info. And in some cases (especially new races going forward) there might not BE other sources.

Look at ALL the lore we have on the Harengon...

Spoiler

Harengons originated in the Feywild, where they spoke Sylvan and embodied the spirit of freedom and travel. In time, these rabbitfolk hopped into other worlds, bringing the fey realm's exuberance with them and learning new languages as they went.

Harengons are bipedal, with the characteristic long feet of the rabbits they resemble and fur in a variety of colors. They share the keen senses and powerful legs of leporine creatures and are full of energy, like a wound-up spring. Harengons are blessed with a little fey luck, and they often find themselves a few fortunate feet away from dangers during adventures.

Two paragraphs from Witchlight. That is all we have and a bunch of questions: Are they nomadic or do they build settlements? What kind of Gods do they worship? What are their names like? Are they friendly, reserved, cowardly, trusting, competitive, aggressive, etc.? Do they live in families? Do the mate for like or breed like... rabbits? Are they nocturnal or diurnal? The write-up mentions learning new languages, do they have a fascination for language, writing, song or poetry or was it strictly out of necessity? What is their art like? What do they like to eat (are vegetarians like real rabbits)? Do they engage in commerce or trade? What is their view on humanoids from the material plane? How tall are they? What do they way? How long do they live? Do they believe in government and if so, what does the typical harengon government look like?

Some of those questions are biological. Some are cultural. Some are just RP suggestions wrapped up as nuggets of lore, and some of that is world-building info for DMs. We are losing that guidance. The Eberron book isn't going to give me where harengon's fit in Eberron, and the core book has given me two paragraphs at most. They are tabula rasa: blank slates that exist to give PCs a rabbit costume and a bonus to jumping.

Ironically, the only harengons NPCs in the rest of the module are brigands, with a CE harengon as their leader. Going by the only NPC representation, they're just rabbit-goblins.

There's more about them than that, it's just scattered throughout the book.

They're commonly thieves, archers/snipers, and bandits. That's clear in the book. If Agdon Longscarf is anything to go by, they base they primarily go by a first name with hard consonants, with a title based off of their notable achievements/possessions (Agdon is named after his long, blue, magical scarf). They also typically are free spirits, not bowing to Archfey and not liking authority in general, based on how Agdon Longscarf disobeyed her, the Archfey of Prismeer (who is secretly Iggwilv, but he doesn't know that). They also travel through the different Domains of Delight, so they're presumably mostly made up of nomadic bandit tribes that disrespect authority, and are tricksters that often act before they think, and generally don't take in mind the consequences of their actions. In a way, they're sort of like the Feywild's Vistani, being nomadic interplanar travelers that are stereotyped as mischief-makers.

Yes, that's not much to go by, but it is something. It's not "nothing", unlike what some would have you believe.

And it's not like they were going to get much lore in either of these books, anyway. They were originally intended to just be enemies that you could face in the adventure, with them later being added as a possible player race. They also first appeared in an Adventure Book, which are not known for having a bunch of lore in them for player races, and then in a setting-neutral crunch book (which is combining the crunch from two separate books, already making it full of mechanics and not have much room for fluff like lore).

And as for the Eberron book reference . . . so what? Not every race will be in every setting, especially not the races released after the setting books were. If they appear in a future setting book, I'm assuming that they will be more ironed-out lorewise.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

Would you ever think to play a low-Int non-orc wizard?

Found the person who has never used rolled stats.

 

[Gammadoodler]

It was also really bad. Turning Corellon and Moradin into self-absorbed naughty words that scorned their children for petty reasons, punishing the victims of major tragedies, and so on . . . that's just bad lore, especially when they're listed as Good deities in that same book.

I didn't see anything wrong with Halflings, Gnomes, Fiend, and Gith lore in the book . . . but the Dwarf and Elf lore was cringingly bad.

If this book is leaving out that quality-level lore from it? That's a good thing, in my opinion. Most of Volo's and Mordenkainen's lore wasn't good. I'm glad to just have a crunch book. I don't need page count being filled up by awful fluff text. Setting books can give the fluff text, and they can do it in ways that actually make sense and are good lore because they're unified around the setting's core theme/ideas.

They didn't even discuss phb subraces for halflings or dwarves. It's just..dumb that those kind of gaps make it into a "lore" book.

And yet there was time to talk about f-ing sea elves..

Madness.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Maybe it was having ASIs in culture I was thinking of?

Level Up (A5E) - Changes to race (species?)

Your first and second sentence literally cancel each other. If everyone can put +2 to strength then it indeed is not easier to make strong orc! Well any other race is using their floating +2 to do so, while the Orc has still got theirs so yes it easier for them. It costs them less, is probably...

www.enworld.org

The person I'm responding to in that post, while they are making absurd claims refusing to defend them rationally, does not at any point call me racist for supporting cultural ASIs.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Oh man, don't remind me of that. That was just... bizarre.

Yeah, even speaking as someone who has had to be suspicious of people with "88" and other potential codes on their gear, or tattoos, etc, in order to stay safe, it really felt like someone trying to get out their aggression that they couldn't express IRL or something. Just deeply strange.

Even more tangentially, I'm currently listening to the Recorded Books edition of Lord of The Rings, and I rediscover every time I read these books just how beautiful the language is, how full the world, and how moving the story. If you haven't listened to it in audiobook form, give it a try. It is a special delight, and makes the story like new again even after many readings before.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Have you read Fizban's? If you haven't, please do. I would like to see if you have the same opinion of "Wizards of the Coast won't give us any lore anymore" after reading that book.

Sure they will. They did for every setting book so far (Eberron, Wildemount, Theros, Ravnica, etc), so why the hell would they not anymore? The whole point of setting books is to contextualize the creatures and races in the world that is different from the other worlds. Explorer's Guide to Wildemount did this for every single race in the PHB and almost every one in Volo's, as well as the Tortle, Genasi, and Aarakocra, and it's one of the best received books in 5e. Rising from the Last War did something similar with its races, the PHB races, and Goblinoids and Orcs.

There is absolutely no reason for them to stop giving lore for different creatures in-world, so this seems like just nonsensical doomsaying to me.

Again, you guys don't have to like these changes, but the whining of "this is the end of D&D" and "I guess we won't get lore anymore" seems super hyperbolic and overblown, and is just extremely tiring to hear repeated over and over with no evidence for it happening.

You're right, Fiban's does have quite a bit of lore in it. I guess I was blinded by the fact that I hate pretty much all of it. I strongly dislike the First World and everything associated with it.

The other books you mention, whether you like the lore or not, all predate the social media storm that started WotC on their apology tour.

WotC's actions since Tasha's have led me to completely lose faith in their ability to deliver quality product, and these reprints and re-imagingings they are doing or have planned just confirm that for me. I'm sorry you're tired of hearing it, and I'm happy for you that you happen to like almost everything they're doing, but that's what I see.

 

[Malmuria]

Honestly when I see pages upon pages of lore my eyes glaze over. What I want are actionable ideas to put into my game, not a second hand recounting of fake mythology

 

[Scribe]

Honestly when I see pages upon pages of lore my eyes glaze over. What I want are actionable ideas to put into my game, not a second hand recounting of fake mythology

Really? Sell me a world. Sell me a history. Sell me adventure hooks steeped in lore that is consistent, researched, and deep.

I'll take a cool fake mythology over a 'real' mythology pretty much any day of the week, if the creator actually put some effort and love into it.