D&D 5E Monster Manuals - Too Many, Not Enough?

[JEB]

Here's a tangential conspiracy theory: what if the Monstrous Compendium as freely distributed add-ons replace the Monster Manual for the 2024 reset?

Well, that would be an interesting 2020s variation of the original 2E approach to monster books...

 

[aco175]

I like monster books for reading and looking through, but at some point I seem to have all that I need. This is especially true when you add in all the spin off monsters from the base. My goblin sniper is different than my goblin brute or my goblin backstab. When I seem to have 5 variants of 100 monsters I find it enough to work with except when I want something unique(er) to have as a focus for an adventure.

I do like the newer trend of having more lore with monsters to talk about how to play them and pair them with other monsters and such.

 

[Parmandur]

Tome of Beasts and Creature Codex from Kobold Press are great: weirdly. The uneven tone is a bit of a plus in my estimate, because Kobold Press isn't bound by brand management concerns

 

[Parmandur]

Well, that would be an interesting 2020s variation of the original 2E approach to monster books...

Yeah, it just feels like they could mix that supplementary strategy with a "Rules Cyclopedia" containing all the base rules a player could want, with thr core DM needs...

 

[toucanbuzz]

Lots of reference books are okay...until it begins to feel like the below. In AD&D day, monster manuals were 3-ring binders. Getting some new monsters? Just insert them into (your semi-durable, easy to rip) primary monster manual binder. Right now, I am shuffling between the MM, Volo, Mordenkainen, and Fizban, along with my converted/homebrew monsters. It's a pain. That said, the core MM remains my goto with modifications (making monsters more exciting in battle by adding a feature or too).

 

[Jacob Lewis]

One of the best monster books of any edition, Monster Vault: Threats of the Nentir Vale is as much a monster manual as it is a campaign supplement. Every monster has a specific place and motive within the 4th edition default setting. The book is full of details and plot ideas for anyone running adventures in the Nentir Vale, or just steal them for your own campaigns.

It also includes many unique villains of the Vale, like the Bloodspear orcs who are ruled by a warrior queen and her bloodwitch. Or the various tribes of lizardfolk who serve the master of the Witchlight Fens, the great black dragon Shadowmire.

These small details give more life and breadth to the campaign setting through the perspective of the creatures that live in it. Even if you don't play in the particular setting, statblocks are useful in any campaign. And there's no reason you can't steal ideas to inspire your own adventures.

To me, this is much better overall than more collections of random monsters put together with no reason other than to fill out a wandering monster table. And to top it all off, it includes cardboard tokens of every monster using the exact images as shown in the book.

 

[Stormonu]

Never enough. I think I'm the proud owner of at least ten 5E versions (primary and 3rd party), and I still hanker for more.

As far as "Monster Manuals", I think the 5E monster cards and D&D Beyond are best way to go. For the former, I've bought some binders to keep the cards in, and before a game I can just pull the ones I need and have them on hand. When I'm putting together an adventure, Beyond's database is excellent for helping me find what I want to use.

 

[el-remmen]

Aside from the core Monster Manual (and the MCDM monster book FLEE, MORTALS!, which I supported on KS because the design philosophy seems interesting) I don't really need new monster books, but that is because I have old monster books and prefer adapting 1E/2E (sometimes 3E) niche monsters to someone else's adaptation, plus it's fun!

 

[Quickleaf]

Volo's monster lore section is just great – nice balance of lore, cool concepts to hang adventures on, supporting tables, and mini-lairs/maps.

I'm strongly looking at Nord Games' Revenge of the Horde as my next monster book purchase (review link); seems like they took a VGtM kind of approach to bugbears, gnolls, goblins, hobgoblins, kobolds, orcs, and trolls.

EDIT: Oh! I remember there was a joke about Volo's Guide to Specters & Spirits, but just saw that Nord Games also put out Dreaded Accursed covering ghosts, ghouls/ghasts, lycanthropes, mongrelfolk, mummies, revenants, shadows, skeletons, specters, vampires, wights, will-o-wisps, wraiths, and zombies!

 

[delericho]

I get pretty good use out of all my monster books (except perhaps "Fifth Edition Foes", which is definitely the weakest). That said, I do now have enough monsters to last me for the remainder of this edition, so am highly unlikely to buy any more.