D&D (2024) What would you like to see in the new Monster Manual (2025)?

[Zaukrie]

Balance out the damage resistances and immunities a bit - make poison a worthwhile attack option while reducing force damage’s superiority over everything (this last one probably should be handled within the spells and abilities that grant force damage.)

Force damage is there for creatures without magic weapons.... Which, and I've never accused wotc of this before, seems lazy. It isn't, it's a design choice I disapprove of.

 

[grimmgoose]

Got it. So you want the griffon to have a specific griffon attack, like grab and drop or bloody beak or something like that. An attack that does something specific. Like bloody beak might yank a piece of armor off, thus lowering the AC of the player by 1 or 2 for each successful attack. Maybe something like that?

If you haven't gotten the chance, check out 4th Edition's monsters. For all that edition's problems (real and imagined), it absolutely nailed the monsters.

 

[TiQuinn]

Force damage is there for creatures without magic weapons.... Which, and I've never accused wotc of this before, seems lazy. It isn't, it's a design choice I disapprove of.

I’m not a fan of designing a system of immunities and resistances and then having a particular damage type that ignores it all because invariably power creep will ensure that more and more new features will use that damage type. Not to mention there is something just blandly vanilla about “force” as a descriptor.

 

[Zaukrie]

I’m not a fan of designing a system of immunities and resistances and then having a particular damage type that ignores it all because invariably power creep will ensure that more and more new features will use that damage type. Not to mention there is something just blandly vanilla about “force” as a descriptor.

Agreed

 

[Scott Christian]

If you haven't gotten the chance, check out 4th Edition's monsters. For all that edition's problems (real and imagined), it absolutely nailed the monsters.

I have. I DMed quite a bit of 4e. I just feel that some of the creatures in the 5e MM had some distinct flair. Perhaps, not enough for most people's liking. Either way, all the more reason to check out the 2024 MM.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

If you haven't gotten the chance, check out 4th Edition's monsters. For all that edition's problems (real and imagined), it absolutely nailed the monsters.

While this generally holds true, funnily enough, my randomly picked griffon is only very slightly better in 4e. If flying, 4e griffon's basic attack also knocks prone, kind of a deal.

 

[grimmgoose]

I have. I DMed quite a bit of 4e. I just feel that some of the creatures in the 5e MM had some distinct flair. Perhaps, not enough for most people's liking. Either way, all the more reason to check out the 2024 MM.

Yeah, for me, it was the biggest shock coming from 4E. I remember thinking, "why are monsters so...boring?" when coming over to 5E.

I used to love tinkering with monsters and making new ones with 4E. I pretty much avoid it entirely with 5E. That being said, @SlyFlourish's 'Forge of Foes' has helped making monsters fun again.

 

[steeldragons]

I want an alphabetized listing.

I want pages of index, at the end, by creature type.

I want pages of groupings of creatures that can be found in particular types/styles of terrains/settings, including not just "mountains, forests, swamps, etc...," but Mini-adventure-ready-made-monster-lists; e.g., 10-15 creatures per for things like, say, "The Faerie Wood. The Haunted Graveyard. The Cursed Mine. The Forgotten Ruin...." and such like...

For example, rather than the "Haunted Graveyard" just being a table of undead, there would be stuff like giant bats, dire rats, were-rats (maybe). Maybe some grave robbers or a grave digger npc. Maybe there are shadow mastiffs roaming around or a friendly/helpful haunt/ghost. And, yes, the skeletons/zombies/ghouls one would expect, a wraith or wight, and let's get a decent leveled threat or two in there, a Necromancer or Evil Cultists, perhaps a vampire -or at least a vampire thrall that might lead on to a larger adventure... "Continue on in...The Forbidden Castle." or something...

Yeah. Not crazy amounts of space. They're just tables...so, maybe,...let's say 10 pages in total...13.5 with art.

 

[Fifinjir]

Some (not all, that would make the book to big) monsters with extra customization options, like the Unspeakable Horror in VRGtR.
Two examples in particular I’d like to see:

• Gulthias Tree. I find it strange how the Blights section on the 2014 MM builds up Gulthias Trees as something that can be an antagonist for an adventure but provides no mechanics for it. I propose having different ways of how to run one described, like whether it can attack with roots or branches, and different abilities driving from the origin of its life force or spirit.
• Sorrowsworn. The origin or sorrowsworn should make them very “personal” villains, very closely tied to the person whose emotions spawned them. These customization options could go a long way in establishing their connection to a character and their backstory.