D&D 4E What does your dream 4e Monster Manual contain?

[Greg K]

none of the new monsters introduced in MM1, very few of the newly created 3.x monsters from later monster books, and none of the threshold stuff from MMV.

 

[Kaodi]

Now that I have had time to realize it, I want Apep. Apep would so eat Orcus for breakfast.

 

[TwinBahamut]

Let me see here...

Dragons, but no chromatics or metallics, just more general types.

Giants, though they can drop some of the varieties.

Golems

Genies

Faeries

Nymphs (and put Dryads and Nereids under this category where they belong)

Undead, lots of undead (and make them interesting, with less emphasis on humanoid or intelligent undead)

A very large number of magical beasts, with guidelines for them being useable as mounts for PCs.

Mythological monsters

Lycanthropes

Good animal lists

Demons, devils, and angels (not a huge amount, though)

And finally, a very large section on humans and humanoids, emphasizing ready-made soldiers and grunts of a variety of levels, and useable stats for humanoid Lieutenants for the BBEGs.

 

[NilesB]

I'd like to see Rakasha that don't take 70's TV shows a their primary source material.

 

[Scholar & Brutalman]

stats for every animal which existed on real-world earth in the last few thousand years

I'd think the 350 000 beetle descriptions would take up a lot of space. After the first 200 Monster Manuals full of beetles, even the keenest Coleoptera fans would probably get bored.

 

[ruleslawyer]

Going out on a limb here with something that may be unpopular.

They have said that monsters have been redesigned to fill "roles" on the battlefield, so each critter has an overall "feel" to it that defines what role it plays. For example, an orc is an up front combatant, while the mind flayer is a behind the scenes manipulator.

Taking the "monster role" idea one step further...

Leave all the Good aligned monsters out of the Monster Manual.

Seriously. The "role" of good aligned critters in most campaigns is sponsor, ally, friend, or something to be rescued. Do you need stats for that? Not really. From a game mechanic standpoint, does it matter if the individual sending the PCs on their adventure is a wealthy noble, a high level wizard, a gold dragon, an astral deva, or a couatl? They can show up in the 4e Monster Manual II, or in the equivalent of the BoVD as adversaries for evil PCs.

I love this idea, and your idea for a familiars/animal companions/summonable allies book. Sure, it requires buying a second book; but the opportunity cost savings generated by either including more adversary-type monsters in the MM or cutting the price would be worth it IMO. Moreover, I tend to think that evil PCs vs. good-guy adversaries should be non-core.

 

[ideasmith]

I'd think the 350 000 beetle descriptions would take up a lot of space. After the first 200 Monster Manuals full of beetles, even the keenest Coleoptera fans would probably get bored.

Where multiple species have the same D&D stats, they would of course have a single entry (as is already done in the current Monster Manual). This should reduce the number of beetle entries to something reasonable.

 

[Szatany]

Pao Kai

 

[Gold Roger]

Stuff I'd like to see appart from obvious choices:

Barghest

Behir

Boneclaw from MM3

Cambion as true monster

Deathknight

Genies (Dao, Djinni, Marid and Efreeti)

Gith

Haunts from MM5

Lamia

Modrons

Naga

Otyugh

Rakshasa

Roper

Umber Hulk (though I'm sure they are given)

Xorn

Yugloths

no half-fiend template

All Archdevils but Asmodeus (confirmed out due to god status)

Demogorgon, Grazzt and at least two other demon lords

Archomentals of Evil

And please fix Vampires

 

[Szatany]

I want:

- dwarven giants

- two-eyed cyclops

- wingless pegasi

rest is up to you.