D&D 5E What do you want to see in Monster Manual Expanded IV?

[thundershot]

I would love to see more creatures from the AC9 Creature Catalog. I know many of them were from other sources, but that book was a treasure trove for us back in the day. I used so many of those monsters (and allies) in my old school adventures…

 

[Nixlord]

I would love to see more creatures from the AC9 Creature Catalog. I know many of them were from other sources, but that book was a treasure trove for us back in the day. I used so many of those monsters (and allies) in my old school adventures…

This was the first bestiary I bought as well and until now still holds a special place in my heart. That's the reason why I brought back the agarat (mme1), aranea (mme2), bargda (mme2), bhut (as the aswang buso in mme3), living statues (as mme1's animated statues), and gator man (now as mme3's gatorfolk). I've used them a lot back in the day.

There are other favorites I'll be looking at doing (iron gargoyle, rorphyr, sacrol, sabreclaw, dusanu, surtaki, fyrsnaca, etc.) so we'll see.

And, yes, I've considered the old classic favorite, the decapus, but it hasn't aged well lol.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I'll be exploring the fringe giants too (death, fog, sand, sea, jungle, etc.).

Missed this on the giants earlier, but I'm glad to hear it. Since verbeeg were featured in Rime of the Frostmaiden, could we have some more variants for them as well? (Edit, forgot they were in MME2, but more variants would be fine) And voadkyn as well, although they are rather obscure.

Another classic creature that's only appeared in an adventure so far (Out of the Abyss) is the ixitxachitl. The vampiric version appears in that book as well, but it would be nice to have further variants.

I'd like to see some higher CR oozes, but that might be difficult other than making them just huge. Also, the mustard jelly is a classic ooze which has yet to be updated.

It would be nice to have further fey, depending on what Witchlight has in its bestiary. It's actually fairly surprising that the spriggan hasn't been updated for 5e yet. The sirine has been sort of updated (as a singular creature named "Siren" in the updated Tomb of Horrors), but it would be nice to have it fully updated and with variants. Other classic fey like the leprechaun or brownie would be nice as well.

There are a few dinosaur/Mesozoic reptile niches which could be filled. Most notably 5e is missing Ichthyosaurus, which is the third of the classic Mesozoic marine reptiles (MM has the Plesiosaurus and MME1 has the Mosasaurus) that (I believe) have appeared in every edition. A smaller pterosaur like Pterodactylus would be nice. As for actual dinosaurs, Iguanodon has appeared in previous editions and its thumb spikes make for unique natural weapons. A predator like Gorgosaurus* or Albertosaurus would fill the predator CR gap between Allosaurus (CR 2) and Tyrannosaurus rex (CR 8). And it would be nice to have one of the really huge sauropods like Patagotitan or Argentosaurus that dwarfed even a Brontosaurus! (Sorry, I love dinos in D&D, so I'm probably getting carried away!)

Again, that's all I can think of for now, but I'll probably come up with more in the future!


*Gorgosaurus was definitely in previous editions - a very, very memorable game session back in 2e featured one that somehow sneaked up on us on a "flat treeless plain", scaring off our horses that were unfortunately tied to a petrified character (as there were no trees to tie them to); the petrified character's player was hugely annoyed we had done that, and we had fun hunting down all his scattered stone parts after dispatching the beast!

 

[Rabulias]

Can you use creatures from Dragon Magazine? If so, I would love to see the chagmat from the adventure in Dragon Magazine issue 63.

 

[Nixlord]

Can you use creatures from Dragon Magazine? If so, I would love to see the chagmat from the adventure in Dragon Magazine issue 63.

Yes it’s possible.

 

[Demetrios1453]

So a couple of (probably) final suggestions...

For some reason, the piscoloth yugoloth hasn't been updated to 5e when almost all the other types have been, so it would be great if you could add them.

I'm agreeing somewhat with @Inchoroi that we do need more NPCs around level 20 or so. What I would suggest would be powerful NPCs not only with legendary actions, but also lair actions - like the archwizard in their tower, the high priest in their temple, the thieves' guildmaster in their guildhall, the general in their fortress, the archdruid in their grove, the grandmaster monk in their monastery, and so on.

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[Azzy]

I'd like to see some more of the "lost" monsters from BECMI and 1e.

 

[Nixlord]

So a couple of (probably) final suggestions...

For some reason, the piscaloth yugoloth hasn't been updated to 5e when almost all the other types have been, so it would be great if you could add them.

I'm agreeing somewhat with @Inchoroi that we do need more NPCs around level 20 or so. What I would suggest would be powerful NPCs not only with legendary actions, but also lair actions - like the archwizard in their tower, the high priest in their temple, the thieves' guildmaster in their guildhall, the general in their fortress, the archdruid in their grove, the grandmaster monk in their monastery, and so on.

​

I have something planned for the piscoloth.

As for the legendary NPCS with lair actions, yes, that's a good idea. I'll make a note of that.

 

[Nixlord]

I'd like to see some more of the "lost" monsters from BECMI and 1e.

Can you give me examples?

 

[rgoodbb]

<------ Cilops in or out of Dark Sun always gave me the shivers. DS had some other great monsters that waited under the sand or hung in the air and let their tentacles paralyze. The Gaj, Jhakhar, Kank, Kestrekel, Mekillot, Silk Wyrm, Silt Horror and Silt Runner are a few more from that setting. But definately the Cilops for me!