So Much Art From the 2025 Monster Manual

Here's some preview art from the 2025 Monster Manual, courtesy of Wizards of the Coast's "Everything You Need to Know Video" on the new book.

A classic Faceless Stalker:

A demon of some kind:

Arch-Hags:

Some kobolds:

A Nalfeshnee, perhaps?

A revenant:

Blue dracolich:

Death Knight:

Death tyrant:

Chimera:

Githyanki (with the central warrior recreating a classic pose):

A mummy lord:

A marrow:

A balrog balor:

Mimics:

While I'm tempted to say a tressym, this actually might be a new sphinx design:

Bone fiend:

Sladd:

Rust monster:

Platinum(?) dragon:

Bronze dragon:

Hezrou, perhaps?

Fire giant, not Karlach:

Cloud giants:

Zombies:

Red dragon:

Hags (including a male hag):

Dryads (including a male dryad):

Horned devil:

Incubus and succubus:

Vampires:

Vampire:

Colossus:

Spirit naga:

Copper dragon:

White dragon:

Blue dragon:

Gold dragon:

Black dragon:

 

[BB Shockwave]

I went through the topic, and a lot of the art shown remains unposted... So since I already took the screencaps and posted them for Minisgallery, here they all are! I will also repost a few where I have bigger/better pics than the ones posted in the first post.
(Except Flumphs... someone mentioned them in this topic, but I did not see them... if anyone has that art, please post it!)

Beholder

A very very filthy Otyugh!

Zombies - specifically, the same ones we had in 2014, regular humanoid Zombie (Human and Dragonborn depicted), Ogre Zombie and Beholder Zombie!

Flesh Golem in a classic "It's ALIVEEEEE!!!" pose.

Spectre - they do mention their sunlight aversion while this pic is shown, hence why I think this is not the Ghost.

Unicorn

Blue Dragon

Tarrasque

All sorts of animals

Bone Naga and its master

Ancient Red Dragon

Ancient Green Dragon

Now this, I am not sure about. I hope it might be finally art for the Lacedon - aquatic Ghouls - but it could be a Scrag too. Or some other watery undead?

Lamiae (female and male, lion-bodied variety) attacking a Copper Dragonborn on a Camel. Oddly, the Dragonborn still has the older style Copper horns.

Magmin setting fire to a library.

Oni/Ogre Mage doing its best Gowron impression!

Hill Giants going shopping.

-"Goblins!"
-"They are fey now?!?"
-"They are fey now."

The stream mentioned more NPC stat blocks for entertainers, acrobats, musicians. I am guessing this is the art for them.

Frost Giants. Guess they brought back the 4E ice axes? Those won't be useful on raids to arid lands, just saying...

Bandits! Love the art, a lot more varied than the old one with many species. And looks like we will get Bandit spellcasters too.

They mentioned Warlocks, my guess is this is the Warlock of the Great Old One (those worms are a dead giveaway of a Kyuss worshiper) fighting a Warlock of the Fiend.

Most likely the Assassin. Poisoned bolt and all.

War Priest, or healer, maybe? Some cleric NPCs.

The other two Vampire art pieces were posted, here is the third, looking more traditional Dracula-style.

Gnolls! Who are now fiends, and seem to come in all the colors of the rainbow. Is the one on the right a green Gnoll Mummy?
From the bone flail, I am guessing the one in the center is the Flind. If so, that is a mighty obscure Baldur's Gate 1 reference - Flinds had purple fur with a red mane in that game!

Remorhaz! And, erm, Penguin? More like lunch.

Probably a new stat block will be added for Unicorn Foals?

Skeletons, Skeletons everywhere! Including the Warhorse Skeleton, Minotaur Skeleton, and probably a spellcasting variant.

They mentioned there would be new weaker Liches like... apprentice Liches? Maybe those two on the sides are? Boggles the mind how that works... if you can become immortal even as a low level wizard, the world would be full of Liches...

This was shown months ago, but here it is again, Kuo-Toa Archpriest.

Quaggoth.

Probably the Androsphinx? Can't say I am a fan of them being just winged Lions now.

More animals, including Mammoth and Saber-Toothed Tiger.

Some likely new plant creatures, including topiary animals and a weird tree.

Shrieker and Purple Fungus.

Behold.... erm, Gas Spore.

Going out on a limb here, and guessing this is the Dao. The whole earth powers and crystals growing out of her shoulders thing.

Unleash the Kraken! And yes, they are now back to being giant Squids instead of the Clash of the Titans inspired look.

Giant Wasps

Rodents of Unusual Size

Griffons, arctic variety. And some very foolhardy egg thieving Kobolds!

I am unsure if this is the Galeb Duhr, or an Earth Elemental.

Sea animals - Orca, Shark, Giant Crab, Giant Eel. Plus a Sea Elf (or Malenti...)

Are you ready to Roc?

This is probably some higher level Earth Elemental.

Bearded Devil/Barbazu. Guess they dyed their beards purple now from the 5E green.

Barbed Devil (Hamatula)

Rakshasas! I am really happy that WotC revived the original lore, where they can now have other animal heads - like Egyptian Vulture, Goat and Crocodile.

This was posted, but was not mentioned what it is - pretty sure this is the Bar-Lgura. It seems having misshapen forms, multiple eyes and mouths and mutations is going to be a thing for Demons in this book. Goes well with all the chaos they embody, I guess!

 

[Tonguez]

Found this on a youtube video called Dungeon Dudes. Apparently, the (originally from Planescape) Animal Lords are making a return to D&D in this book, as CR20 Celestials! Depicted are the Cat and Wolf Lords, but the stat blocks have three variants of the creature (Forager, Hunter and Sage) that can be applied to any type of animal's Animal Lord.
View attachment 392046

Nice, I always liked the Animal Lords and have used them as 'beast gods' in a number of games

is this a second push to introduced Aardlings?

 

[Reynard]

I went through the topic, and a lot of the art shown remains unposted... So since I already took the screencaps and posted them for Minisgallery, here they all are! I will also repost a few where I have bigger/better pics than the ones posted in the first post.

Thanks!

View attachment 392059
A very very filthy Otyugh!

LOVE it.

View attachment 392068
Tarrasque

I desperately want this entry to come with a sidebar on "Kaiju as terrain."

View attachment 392078
-"Goblins!"
-"They are fey now?!?"
-"They are fey now."

In one of my homebrew settings, gnomes and goblins are the same fey species. Goblins is what happens when they go bad.

View attachment 392090
They mentioned there would be new weaker Liches like... apprentice Liches? Maybe those two on the sides are? Boggles the mind how that works... if you can become immortal even as a low level wizard, the world would be full of Liches...

Maybe the lich provides them a portion of their power in order to have these acolytes help with ritual magic?

 

[BB Shockwave]

Gelatinous Cube

Blue Dragon Wyrmling

Copper Dragon Wyrmling. Cute as it is, I think this is the worst Dragon redesign, next to the Green... weird Raptor/Monitor Lizard head and spikey horns, not much like any older version.

Better look at the Dryads. And yes, as mentioned, they can be male now... which was already a thing in the Theros setting in 5E for all Nymphs.

These are probably Green Hags, man they look even uglier than before, good work! And yes, the bearded one is a guy, Hags can be "Aunts and Uncles" now, as they mentioned.

And the third of the "can now be male" monsters, Medusae. Which kinda makes me sad, I was hoping against hope they could bring back the Maedar.

Treants, sitting in the ruins of Isenguard I guess?

Githzerai - yeah, I like most of the new art, but boooy the Gith got ugly. They have long monkey-faces now and giant ears. Just seems odd considering we just had BG3 which had such very good designs for them.

Probably the Ghost.

Two more types of Sphinxes - your guess is as good as mine which ones. I miss the old Crio and Hieracosphinxes... now they are all just colorful tattooed Lions straight out of an anime.

Nice, I always liked the Animal Lords and have used them as 'beast gods' in a number of games

That's essentially what they are! Or used to be in older editions. Each animal type has its Lord/Lady and while unlike gods, they can be killed, there is always a new one created somewhere else if one dies.

 

[BB Shockwave]

maybe,

but this also looks like: what the hell is that?!

hehe

Stupid Surprised Panther...erm, Zombie!

(an old Phelous meme... from the Anaconda movie)

But yeah, that Zombie looks stunned about something. Maybe only realized now he is undead...

 

[MonsterEnvy]

now they are all just colorful tattooed Lions straight out of an anime.

What anime have you seen with designs like that?

 

[R_J_K75]

@FitzTheRuke Do you know the pre-order street date for D&D 5E 2024 Monster Manual? I went to my not-so-favorite local gaming store to pre-order it and they had no clue, like every other time I’ve gone there. Im bewildered that this place is still in business honestly, as they wouldn’t (or didn’t know how to) take my money. Thanks!!

 

[Tonguez]

Overall I think the artwork shown here is fantastic

View attachment 392058
Beholder

This Beholder looks far too cartoonish for me, like its features have been deliberately exagerated for humour

View attachment 392069
All sorts of animals

Tickles my childhood desoires to be Tarzan, if only their was a way for a ranger to summon a horde of beasts and make it a fun experience

View attachment 392074
Lamiae (female and male, lion-bodied variety) attacking a Copper Dragonborn on a Camel. Oddly, the Dragonborn still has the older style Copper horns.

Does anyone know when Wemic started being called Lamia? I know Wemic in DnD date to 1982 Monster Cards.
(Lamia in my head still have serpent tails from the waist down)

View attachment 392075
Magmin setting fire to a library.

nice, but I always imagining them with more viscous lava than rocky bodies

View attachment 392078
-"Goblins!"
-"They are fey now?!?"

Goblins being fey is marvellous, lets hope they do the same for gnomes

View attachment 392080
Frost Giants. Guess they brought back the 4E ice axes? Those won't be useful on raids to arid lands, just saying...

I really like these, they capture the giant look better than the Fire Giant pic

View attachment 392086
Gnolls! Who are now fiends, and seem to come in all the colors of the rainbow. Is the one on the right a green Gnoll Mummy?
From the bone flail, I am guessing the one in the center is the Flind. If so, that is a mighty obscure Baldur's Gate 1 reference - Flinds had purple fur with a red mane in that game!
.

So a Fiendish Gnolls still playable - like Tieflings?

View attachment 392088
Probably a new stat block will be added for Unicorn Foals?

Now the DnD Cartoon iconics can get a fully statted Uni

View attachment 392093
Probably the Androsphinx? Can't say I am a fan of them being just winged Lions now.

Yeah I agree, winged lions seems a step backwards

View attachment 392094
More animals, including Mammoth and Saber-Toothed Tiger.

Loving the fact that mundane animals are getting a lot more attention in the art

View attachment 392102
Griffons, arctic variety. And some very foolhardy egg thieving Kobolds!

Now these kobolds look good (better than the first images) and I love that the art is dynamic and showing interaction between different creatures in the world

View attachment 392104
Sea animals - Orca, Shark, Giant Crab, Giant Eel. Plus a Sea Elf (or Malenti...)

That Malenti looks great

View attachment 392109
Rakshasas! I am really happy that WotC revived the original lore, where they can now have other animal heads - like Egyptian Vulture, Goat and Crocodile.

I do like the detail of the Rakshasas having backward hands

 

[Faolyn]

D&D has a history of different types of sphinxes, this is just a new type (and it is already in the PHB). Also, IIRC, the sphinx head is of a pharaoh, which I believe were mostly (always?) men?

Those are Egyptian sphinxes. Greek sphinxes (that she of the infamous "variable number of legs at different times of day" riddle) were usually woman-headed.

 

[BB Shockwave]

What anime have you seen with designs like that?

You are right, that's not what I meant... They remind me more of that kids cartoon with the flying cat things. Elena of Avalor or something?
Here, these:

Migs, Luna and Skylar

Migs, Luna, and Prince Skylar are three jaquins (magical flying creatures) who support Elena as she learns how to rule her kingdom. Migs is portrayed by Chris Parnell, Luna is portrayed by Yvette Nicole Brown and Prince Skylar is portrayed by Carlos Alazraqui. A little bit of Skylar's background...

elenaofavalor.fandom.com

But the patterns and tattoos on them also make me think of the Rakshasa from Heroes of Might and Magic V.

Those are Egyptian sphinxes. Greek sphinxes (that she of the infamous "variable number of legs at different times of day" riddle) were usually woman-headed.

D&D had all sort of Sphinxes... As you say, the egyptian Sphinx had a male human head - that was the Androsphinx. The greek one conforms to the Gynosphinx. And then there were the Criopshinx and Hieracosphinx, based on the various statues of Sphinxes with Ram (Khnum) and Falcon (Horus) heads that were build as guardians for the egyptian temples.