Demetrios1453
Legend
Back before VGtM came out, I made a list of 100 monsters that I would like to see updated to 5e, and the vast majority of them have indeed been updated.
D&D 5E - What would you put in monster manual 2?
Obviously, I'd like to see the remaining ones updated as well!
I've recently downloaded some of the 2e Monstrous Compendiums (the three-ring binder ones, not the 2e Monstrous Manual) due to some discussions over the updated 5e MM, and one thing that struck me (again, as it first struck me way back when I first saw it back when the MC3 came out) is that someone at the time really loved dinosaurs, as there are 48 dinosaurs (or, well, dinosaurs and other various Mesozoic reptiles associated with them and often erroneously called "dinosaurs"). That sort of led me down a rabbit hole of what further dinosaurs could be reasonably updated to 5e ("reasonably" being the important word here - we certainly don't need 48!). There's a gap in carnivorous dinosaurs between the CR 2 allosaurus and the CR 8 tyrannosaurus rex that would be an obvious place to have some sort of predator, but after looking into dinosaur sizes, my conclusion is that allosaurus (and quetzalcoatlus to an extent) have been given really inaccurately low CRs compared to what they should have, compared to their real-life versions (and as they did have in previous editions - for comparison, T-rex was CR 8 in 3e as well, but allosaurus was CR 7 and quetzalcoatlus was CR 8 compared to CR 2 now, although CR 8 is as bad of an overestimate as CR 2 is an underestimate). A (5e) CR 1 deinonychus was 3.5 m long and 75 kg, while a (5e) CR 2 allosaurus was 10 m long and 2500 kg! Honestly, allosaurus should be CR 5 or so, with either megaraptor (which was in 3e) or ceratosaurus (which was in both 2e and 3e) slotting in at the CR 2 level.
Beyond that, 5e could definitely use a larger hadrosaur (edmontosaurus could actually be bigger than its contemporary T-rex!); hadrosaurus should also be replaced with one of the more familiar weird-head crest hadrosaurs - it wasn't particularly common and only gets credit for being discovered early and getting to name the group. And 5e could also have a larger sauropod; brontosaurus was large, but some sauropods, especially the titanosaurs, dwarfed it! And outside of dinosaurs proper and going underwater, 5e has plesiosaurus and, with the 2025 update, archelon, but is missing an ichthyosaur (although you could massage the dolphin stat block a bit to get one) and, most glaringly, a mosasaur.
Various versions of the dinosaurs (and associated reptiles) I've suggested did appear in previous editions.
D&D 5E - What would you put in monster manual 2?
Obviously, I'd like to see the remaining ones updated as well!
I've recently downloaded some of the 2e Monstrous Compendiums (the three-ring binder ones, not the 2e Monstrous Manual) due to some discussions over the updated 5e MM, and one thing that struck me (again, as it first struck me way back when I first saw it back when the MC3 came out) is that someone at the time really loved dinosaurs, as there are 48 dinosaurs (or, well, dinosaurs and other various Mesozoic reptiles associated with them and often erroneously called "dinosaurs"). That sort of led me down a rabbit hole of what further dinosaurs could be reasonably updated to 5e ("reasonably" being the important word here - we certainly don't need 48!). There's a gap in carnivorous dinosaurs between the CR 2 allosaurus and the CR 8 tyrannosaurus rex that would be an obvious place to have some sort of predator, but after looking into dinosaur sizes, my conclusion is that allosaurus (and quetzalcoatlus to an extent) have been given really inaccurately low CRs compared to what they should have, compared to their real-life versions (and as they did have in previous editions - for comparison, T-rex was CR 8 in 3e as well, but allosaurus was CR 7 and quetzalcoatlus was CR 8 compared to CR 2 now, although CR 8 is as bad of an overestimate as CR 2 is an underestimate). A (5e) CR 1 deinonychus was 3.5 m long and 75 kg, while a (5e) CR 2 allosaurus was 10 m long and 2500 kg! Honestly, allosaurus should be CR 5 or so, with either megaraptor (which was in 3e) or ceratosaurus (which was in both 2e and 3e) slotting in at the CR 2 level.
Beyond that, 5e could definitely use a larger hadrosaur (edmontosaurus could actually be bigger than its contemporary T-rex!); hadrosaurus should also be replaced with one of the more familiar weird-head crest hadrosaurs - it wasn't particularly common and only gets credit for being discovered early and getting to name the group. And 5e could also have a larger sauropod; brontosaurus was large, but some sauropods, especially the titanosaurs, dwarfed it! And outside of dinosaurs proper and going underwater, 5e has plesiosaurus and, with the 2025 update, archelon, but is missing an ichthyosaur (although you could massage the dolphin stat block a bit to get one) and, most glaringly, a mosasaur.
Various versions of the dinosaurs (and associated reptiles) I've suggested did appear in previous editions.
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