D&D 5E Volo's Guide to Monsters: General Discussion.

[GarrettKP]

Yes

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Goblins get darkvision, nimble escape like the MM description, fury of the small, and +2 DEX and +1 Con. Fury of small, useable once per short or long rest, allows you to add your level to damage of any attack or spell you make against a target larger than you. There is a TON of information on goblin society and lore in this book. I particularly like how goblin casters are called "booyahgs" and those with wild magic care called "booyahg, booyahg, booyahg". That's just so goblin lol.

Wow! I thought goblins were good bardlocks even without any racial stat bonuses at all. The fact that Fury of the Small works with spells is interesting too, and pretty much everything you fight is going to be eligible to be damaged by it. It's not terrific, but it'll see plenty of use (because why not?).

I'm looking forward to all the info on goblin society and lore. Planning to pick up a copy after work today, if I get my work done before the game shops close.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Yeah, it has all the information for caste societies, and all that stuff for all goblinoids. The bugbear race has a particular trait I can see many polearm masters using: long limbed. It basically extends your reach with melee weapons by 5ft. Can you imagine a sentinel polearm master with a 15ft radius? Yeah...

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

What info is there on hobgoblin stats and society?

 

[GarrettKP]

What info is there on hobgoblin stats and society?

Hobgoblins, Goblins and Bugbear are all in the Goblinoid lore write up.

 

[Sacrosanct]

What info is there on hobgoblin stats and society?

A ton of info. All of the goblinoid races have a lot of info. There's stuff on religion, rank/status/titles, Honor&glory, Iron Shadows (assassin monks), and academy of devastation (arcane casting hobgoblins). Then of course, a ton of info on the call to war and how they prepare for large scale combat.

PC hobgoblins get +2 CON, +1 INT, and their interesting trait is saving face. Once per short or long rest, if you fail an attack roll, check, or saving throw, you gain a bonus to that roll equal to as many allies you can see within 30ft (up to +5)

 

[MonsterEnvy]

What's the deal with:

Hags?

Xvart?

Firenewts?

How are the tables for random stuff?

Hags get a entire section of the book which is pretty cool.

Xvarts are now super weird. (For one thing they are only males.) They are all the creations of a weak demigod named Raxivort. Raxivort was a minor fiend that served Graz'zt the Dark Prince as his treasurer. One day Raxivort grew to desire his masters riches and one day stole a bunch of stuff from the treasure vault and fled to the material plane. One of the objects was an artifact called the Infinity Spindle which could transform even a weak and pathetic creature like himself into a Demigod which he did. He then made himself a Divine realm in Pandemonium and relaxed for a bit.
Eventually Graz'zt then decided to pay him back for his treachery, Graz'zt had little interest in the spindle because it was useless to him as he already possessed power greater then what it could grant. So instead he had his agents tell beings about the spindle and the power it could grant along with the fact that it's current owner was a pathetic weak creature. Which soon resulted in a lot of enemies chasing after Raxivort to claim the spindle.
Raxivort facing destruction came up with a plan. He fled to the material plane and traveled through many of it's worlds. Spawning creatures that were exact duplicates of him the xvarts. Along with looking identical to him they foiled any magic used to track him down. Any magic used to find Raxivort's location instead point to the nearest xvart.
Raxivort still remains in hiding fearful of planer entities traveling the planes and spawning more xvarts to ensure his safety. This is what Xvarts and by extension their god look like.


I have not looked at firenewts in detail yet but they seem to worship Imix.

The tables are pretty fun. One I like allows you to create a Gnoll warband. Also as you can tell I have read more on the Xvarts then the other things you have asked about.

 

[flametitan]

What info is there on hobgoblin stats and society?

Hobgoblin stats: +2Con +1INT, Darkvision, proficiency with two martial weapons of choice, and the ability to add a modifier equal to the amount of allies nearby (to a max of +5) when you fail an attack roll, saving throw, or ability check 1/short rest.

It's a weird one. It's not bad, but it's not too impressive either. It's stat bonuses and proficiencies also encourage a pseudo gish wizard, which considering how important "playing to type" is around here, does not seem to fit into that mentality.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I mentioned the bugbear, goblin, and hobgoblin races. Here is the kobolds as well: +2 DEX, -2 STR. In addition to normal kobold traits, they also get grovel, cower, and beg. Once per short or long rest, become so pathetic that all allies gain advantage on attack rolls to a target within 10ft of you.

Orcs: +2 STR, +1 CON, -2 INT. They have aggressive like normal orcs, and menacing (gain intimidation skill) and powerful build (count as one size larger when carrying)

Yuan-Ti: +2 CHA, +1 INT. Innate spellcasting (poison spray, and animal friendship as long as the animals are snakes, and suggestion at 3rd level). They also get poison immunity

 

[Sacrosanct]

Xvarts are now super weird..

NOW super weird? LOL, they've always been pretty weird, looking like a regular sized Danny DeVito's head on a doll.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

PC hobgoblins get +2 CON, +1 INT, and their interesting trait is saving face. Once per short or long rest, if you fail an attack roll, check, or saving throw, you gain a bonus to that roll equal to as many allies you can see within 30ft (up to +5)

Oh, that is very awesome flavor. The powergamer in me isn't excited by it, but the roleplayer in me loves it! It's kind of too bad that they don't retain their Martial Advantage feature but oh well--I guess hobgoblin footsoldiers must have some kind of special roguish-training.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

NOW super weird? LOL, they've always been pretty weird, looking like a regular sized Danny DeVito's head on a doll.

I linked how they are depicted in the book so they do look super weird still.

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah, it has all the information for caste societies, and all that stuff for all goblinoids. The bugbear race has a particular trait I can see many polearm masters using: long limbed. It basically extends your reach with melee weapons by 5ft. Can you imagine a sentinel polearm master with a 15ft radius? Yeah...

What are the castes? Do Goblinoids get unified personality trait tables, or anything like that?

 

[Zene]

2 questions:

1) What CR is the ki-rin?

2) For the Kobold player race's sunlight sensitivity, does it actually say "per the MM" or something to that effect? Because if I remember correctly, the MM version of sunlight sensitivity is only when "you" are in direct sunlight; whereas the PHB (i.e., Drow) version of it is when you, your target, or whatever you're trying to perceive are in direct sunlight. Critical difference for an ranged attack build.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

2 questions:

1) What CR is the ki-rin?

2) For the Kobold player race's sunlight sensitivity, does it actually say "per the MM" or something to that effect? Because if I remember correctly, the MM version of sunlight sensitivity is only when "you" are in direct sunlight; whereas the PHB (i.e., Drow) version of it is when you, your target, or whatever you're trying to perceive are in direct sunlight. Critical difference for an ranged attack build.

Ki-Rin CR is 12

Player Kobold is the same as PHB version and Drow. But the Kobold variants in the book use the MM version. However Pack Tactics means that if you have a ally close to your target and it's sunny out the disadvantage will be gone.

 

[vpuigdoller]

What the book says about vegepymy exactly just statblock? Variants of it?

 

[Sword of Spirit]

We heard that there was a table of quick stats for other races that didn't get a full write-up. Is that accurate, or was there some misinformation or last minute crash rewrites going on?

 

[Sacrosanct]

We heard that there was a table of quick stats for other races that didn't get a full write-up. Is that accurate, or was there some misinformation or last minute crash rewrites going on?

Not a table, per se, but only stat adjustments and abilities with no fluff. Those are the goblinoids talked about earlier in this thread. The rest get full write ups like in the PHB

 

[Sacrosanct]

What are the castes? Do Goblinoids get unified personality trait tables, or anything like that?

Lashers: highest caste, the best warriors and trained in special skills like trap making
Hunters: trained in weapons, but that's about it
Gatherers: self explanatory
Pariahs: the lowest of the low. muckers, miners, etc

There's no unified trait table, but there is a table for status symbols. d20 table with things like nose rings, orc-tusk lip piercings, frog in a jar, etc

 

[MonsterEnvy]

We heard that there was a table of quick stats for other races that didn't get a full write-up. Is that accurate, or was there some misinformation or last minute crash rewrites going on?

Not a table, per se, but only stat adjustments and abilities with no fluff. Those are the goblinoids talked about earlier in this thread. The rest get full write ups like in the PHB

This is misleading. The monstrous races that don't get fluff in chapter 2 are the Goblinoids, Orc, Kobold and Yuan-Ti Pureblood. While they don't get fluff in chapter 2. All of them get massive sections in chapter 1 that eclipses any phb race.