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:

 

[MGibster]

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

Finally! Something we can all appreciate and celebrate.

 

[Faolyn]

Sure, we do. Kobolds are to Dragonborn as Halflings are to Humans.

At least the 5.5e Kobold is better-looking than the PF2 Kobold.

I dunno--those guys are awful cute!

(I've basically thought that about every piece of official kobold art, even the "giant eyes stare into your soul" art of 2e.)

 

[Delazar]

are the Medusas a JoJo reference???

 

[BB Shockwave]

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)

Wemics have always been a different thing from Lamia. They are totally non-magical anthropomorph Lion-taurs. IE the upper body is a fur-covered anthropomorph lion too, with fangs and cat ears and a mane for males.

Lamiae are also Lion-taurs but their upper bodies are always Human-like. They are highly magical evil beings too. However, they used to be female only. The ones you think of are the Noble Lamiae who have serpentine lower bodies, those could be male or female. They are a race to their own, but can mate with the female Lion-bodied Lamiae.

I blame anime and all those JRPGs for the Snake-bodied Lamia being now considered as the typical form, when it was always the Lion-bodied form.
Even most video games and non-D&D fantasy use the Snake version, except for Titan Quest, which did use the Lion-taur ones!

I do like the detail of the Rakshasas having backward hands

Yeah, even the 2014 MM remembered that thankfully. I think most miniatures of them have backwards hands too, except for a few Eberron-based ones. Gotta love that weird detail!

I dunno--those guys are awful cute!

(I've basically thought that about every piece of official kobold art, even the "giant eyes stare into your soul" art of 2e.)

Pathfinder 2E Kobolds seem to be based on the Skink lizards! And yeah, they are cute though I prefer the D&D design.
Btw, Wizkids made a life-sized statue of these based on this exact artwork!

 

[dave2008]

View attachment 392099
Unleash the Kraken! And yes, they are now back to being giant Squids instead of the Clash of the Titans inspired look.

Yep, I was disappointed to see the 2014 kraken disappear. I always thought the giant squid approach was rather uninspired. I will probably use both, with the old 2014 design being a greater kraken or something similar.

 

[dave2008]

are the Medusas a JoJo reference???

No

 

[Bitbrain]

Wow, I go away for a bit and come back to the granddaddy of all art drops! Thanks!

Now, let’s see…

View attachment 392067
Blue dragon

I really like how the blue dragons appear to be focusing more on the sky than the desert. Seems much more intuitive to me.

View attachment 392071
Ancient Red Dragon

Ah yes, the red dragon. My favorite of the chromatics. Demonstrating once again, the value of never skipping neck day.

View attachment 392068
Tarrasque

And here I thought the new art for the red dragon made them look jacked. Dang bro, this guy doesn’t live in the gym, he is the gym!

View attachment 392075
Magmin setting fire to a library.

Look at that happy face. So cute.

View attachment 392076
Oni/Ogre Mage doing its best Gowron impression!

aside from the skull in hand, those horns, and the blue-green skin, this guy looks disturbingly similar to my neighbor the last time he OD’d on Flakka.

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...

“We come from the land of the ice and snow!”

View attachment 392082
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.

From a mechanics standpoint, I don’t even like warlocks. But this? This right here is some badass art.

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!

Not a fan of gnolls being fiends, but as a Mystara fan, the gnoll mummy is greatly appreciated.

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

Pleistocene epoch, assemble!

View attachment 392095
Some likely new plant creatures, including topiary animals and a weird tree.

Weird tree… you know, that’s actually a great name for a new plant-monster. Love the purple-red leaves too.

View attachment 392097
Behold.... erm, Gas Spore.

Looks like Brother Eye from DC Comics has gone eco-supervillain. Which now that I say that, actually sounds like a great idea for a campaign.

View attachment 392098
Going out on a limb here, and guessing this is the Dao. The whole earth powers and crystals growing out of her shoulders thing.

Artist: “so, how much bling do you want on them?”
WOTC: “yes”

View attachment 392099
Unleash the Kraken! And yes, they are now back to being giant Squids instead of the Clash of the Titans inspired look.

“Here I am (here I am). Rocked you like a hurricane!”

View attachment 392100
Giant Wasps

Oh, heck no!

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

Arctic griffins!

View attachment 392106
This is probably some higher level Earth Elemental.

My favorite art piece of this whole collection. Love it.

 

[wicked cool]

New artwork on fb shows a beholder? With a wand fighting?? A behir with a cloak or dragon? Any thoughts

 

[Tonguez]

Wemics have always been a different thing from Lamia. They are totally non-magical anthropomorph Lion-taurs. IE the upper body is a fur-covered anthropomorph lion too, with fangs and cat ears and a mane for males.
View attachment 392202View attachment 392203
Lamiae are also Lion-taurs but their upper bodies are always Human-like. They are highly magical evil beings too. However, they used to be female only. The ones you think of are the Noble Lamiae who have serpentine lower bodies, those could be male or female. They are a race to their own, but can mate with the female Lion-bodied Lamiae.
View attachment 392209View attachment 392207View attachment 392204
View attachment 392210View attachment 392208View attachment 392205

I blame anime and all those JRPGs for the Snake-bodied Lamia being now considered as the typical form, when it was always the Lion-bodied form.
Even most video games and non-D&D fantasy use the Snake version, except for Titan Quest, which did use the Lion-taur ones!
View attachment 392211


Yeah, even the 2014 MM remembered that thankfully. I think most miniatures of them have backwards hands too, except for a few Eberron-based ones. Gotta love that weird detail!


Pathfinder 2E Kobolds seem to be based on the Skink lizards! And yeah, they are cute though I prefer the D&D design.
Btw, Wizkids made a life-sized statue of these based on this exact artwork!
View attachment 392221

Ah, thank you for that clarification on Wemics and Lamia - interesting lore.

And gotta say I like those Wizkud minis

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

New artwork on fb shows a beholder? With a wand fighting?? A behir with a cloak or dragon? Any thoughts

They’re polymorphed wizards.