D&D 5E Zooming In On Monsters of the Multiverse [UPDATED!]

Earlier, WotC announced Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse, a new D&D compilation of monster material from previous products updated to a new format. These screen grabs are as good as I could get them. They're not terribly clear, but you can make more out than in the original images.

The screenshots show the original entry in Volo's Guide to Monsters next to the new entry in Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse.

"The Future of D&D" (New Core Books in 2024!)

The online D&D Celebration event, which has been running all weekend, comes to a close with The Future of D&D, a panel featuring WotC's Ray Winninger, Liz Schuh, Chris Perkins, and Jeremy Crawford, hosted by Elle Osili-Wood. D&D is exploring the multiverse Revisiting classic settings. 1st of...

www.enworld.org

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UPDATE -- a cleaned up version of the War Priest has appeared on imgur.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Anyone else notice that Bard seems to have lost Song of Rest?

RIP short rests, I guess.

Eh, I'm fine with a monster stat block version of the bard not having Song of Rest. It doesn't have Bardic Inspiration or Jack of All Trades, either. I'm worried about short rests becoming useless in the future of the game, but not so worried about them being useful for monsters. They tend to be for players.

 

[Charlaquin]

Eh, I'm fine with a monster stat block version of the bard not having Song of Rest. It doesn't have Bardic Inspiration or Jack of All Trades, either. I'm worried about short rests becoming useless in the future of the game, but not so worried about them being useful for monsters. They tend to be for players.

Yeah, I mean Song of Rest was a pretty useless ability on a Bard monster stat block - it would only ever be relevant if the Bard was an ally to the PCs. But it’s another nail in the coffin of Short Rests, which makes me sad.

Warpriest also seems to be losing its Guided Strike reaction, which recovered on a short or long rest. I’m guessing they’re getting rid of all rest-based recovery on monsters. Things will either be at-will, X/day, or recharge X-Y.

 

[Scribe]

Jeremy's statements make it pretty clear to me that there's not going to be anything new in it.

Ugh.

Really making me question this then. I guess it will be nice to have all in one monster book...but still.

 

[Charlaquin]

Ugh.

Really making me question this then. I guess it will be nice to have all in one monster book...but still.

I mean, it also seems a lot of monsters are being tweaked.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I mean, it also seems a lot of monsters are being tweaked.

I'm definitely going to get it, but not going to get it as soon as it comes out. I already have TCoE and XGtE, and have access to them on D&D Beyond so I'll automatically get the errata. I will get it sometime after it comes out on its own, but definitely not in the box set.

 

[Weiley31]

And if your players want to be able to use the new war priest's Holy Fire action, all they have to do is press C.

Wait: you don't have your players Press C to trigger their Purify Weird Soul supers?
ALL DND players should know how to press the C button!

 

[pukunui]

Wait: you don't have your players Press C to trigger their Purify Weird Soul supers?
ALL DND players should know how to press the C button!

I have no idea what you're talking about. If you click the link and watch the VLDL video, you'll know what I'm talking about, though.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

I'm definitely going to get it, but not going to get it as soon as it comes out. I already have TCoE and XGtE, and have access to them on D&D Beyond so I'll automatically get the errata. I will get it sometime after it comes out on its own, but definitely not in the box set.

Same here, I will get it when I can buy it separately, both in physical and Beyond form.

As to changing spell casting from slots to actions, I pop my champagne! This seems like a way back towards a 4e style, the editions king of interesting and usable monster/npc stat blocks.

 

[Weiley31]

I have no idea what you're talking about. If you click the link and watch the VLDL video, you'll know what I'm talking about, though.

I know now what you mean now. sorry it's 3:41 am on my end and my brain is not computing links.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

The biggest issue for me is that it can be done just as easily without alienating people, yet they choose not to.

Which is easier for the DM:
-A list of 1/day spells where you have to jot down the name of each spell used so far, or
-The MM standard list of spells known and slots per level where you just have to jot down numbers?

I can‘t see how “Level 2: -1” is harder on the DM than “used mirror image”.

And for spells written up as an attack, all you need to do is have (2nd-level) after the spell name.

That gets all the same ease of use functionality while allowing you to have the NPC upcast or take advantage of any game rules that might relate to spell slots and spellcasting.

The reason people give for not liking NPCs to use PC rules is that it makes it harder to DM. But if there is a solution that makes it easier on the DM while maintaining PC / NPC approximation (which some people very much want), isn‘t it preferable to make that the solution of choice? Then everyone gets what they want.