D&D (2024) Skeleton Entry and Stat Blocks from New Monster Manual

Posted by Christian Hoffer on Twitter, here's a third stat block from 2025's Monster Manual!

Also don't forget check out the ancient green dragon and the kuo-toa.

 

[Quickleaf]

I’m so annoyed that they didn’t give skeletons false appearance. They should be indistinguishable from inanimate skeletons while prone and motionless, and get advantage on initiative if no one notices they’re animate before the start of combat!

Yesssss. We need your skeletons.

 

[Rabulias]

Yeah, I mean, I’ve been running them that way for a while now. I just hoped they’d have come up with something similar in the MM revision.

Yesssss. We need your skeletons.

Regardless of how we run skeletons, players will always be paranoid of any skeletons in room descriptions.

 

[dave2008]

Yesssss. We need your skeletons.

While I love the idea, this is not something I want to see in a stat block. The same with the green dragons "amphibious" trait. That type of stuff, IMO, should be in the description, not taking up space in the stat block.

 

[Quickleaf]

While I love the idea, this is not something I want to see in a stat block. The same with the green dragons "amphibious" trait. That type of stuff, IMO, should be in the description, not taking up space in the stat block.

You are 100% correct. This has no business in a no nonsense 5e statblock!

I OTOH reserve the right to be nonsensical in my mad hacking and system design. Bwahahah.

 

[dave2008]

You are 100% correct. This has no business in a no nonsense 5e statblock!

I OTOH reserve the right to be nonsensical in my mad hacking and system design. Bwahahah.

To be clear, I want that stuff in the monster entry, I just do want the stat block itself to be as no nonsense as possible. I want it to be clear that a monster is the entire entry, not just the stat block. The stat block is primarily the combat representation of the entry, but the monster is the whole entry.

 

[JEB]

Or it could be swinging a big old rusty axe that is more about bludgeoning than slashing. Or maybe another weapon. Why does this matter? Is it that hard to wrap the imagination around?

Excellent! A bludgeoning axe! Or maybe it's an illusionary axe, only there to menace and deceive players, so they're not ready when the skeleton does bludgeoning damage instead.

This wasn't an error, clearly, it was an opportunity for us to be creative!

 

[dave2008]

Excellent! A bludgeoning axe! Or maybe it's an illusionary axe, only there to menace and deceive players, so they're not ready when the skeleton does bludgeoning damage instead.

This wasn't an error, clearly, it was an opportunity for us to be creative!

Technically it is not anything yet as it is not published yet (and will not be out for 6 months IIRC).

 

[JEB]

I said this elsewhere, but -especially looking at these stat blocks- the new books have a bit of a 4E vibe.

OK, so I wasn't the only one who got that impression. I'd say both 4E and 2024 seem to be aiming for efficiency, which is why the focus on structure and brevity. (Though these are still far more "natural language" than 4E.)

 

[Rabulias]

So the Monster Manual is not releasing until February 2025, and we are getting previews. The Dungeon Master's Guide is coming in November 2024, so where are the previews for that book?

 

[Reynard]

OK, so I wasn't the only one who got that impression. I'd say both 4E and 2024 seem to be aiming for efficiency, which is why the focus on structure and brevity. (Though these are still far more "natural language" than 4E.)

I still don't see much difference from the 2014 stat block and it doesn't look anything like a 4E stat block to me.