How monstrous are the new monsters in D&D 2024’s latest release?
Ravenloft: The Horrors Within brings with it a bunch of horrifying monsters to sink your fangs into. While many of these are updates for D&D’s 2024 rules from Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, some are brand new. Some of these have been created to help populate the new eldritch domain of dread, Innsmouth, others provide NPC stat blocks for famous mist wanderers while the rest provide some variety to your monstrous repertoire.
For this article, I’m going to be dissecting these new monsters stat blocks to see which are worthy additions and which should be left as corpses.
If you’re interested in the brand new Darklord stat blocks, I won’t be covering those here, but fear not, I’ve covered them already in my analysis of the Darklord stat blocks already.
Aberrant and petrifying death’s head
Severed, flying heads
What are they?
Death’s heads are literally disembodied heads that fly around tormenting the living. Once, they were mortals that were beheaded with the heads reanimated through wicked magic. Different death’s heads possess different powers and The Horrors Within provides 2 more variants; the aberrant and petrifying death’s heads. You also get a death’s head tree that can grow death’s heads.
Stat block analysis
These are the undead equivalent of pests. They’re not built to survive necessarily, instead they’re built to pester your players in decent numbers using flyby to fly in and out of melee range without taking opportunity attacks. They won’t cause loads of damage either, but the aberrant variety will cause the frightened condition.
If you want something less reliable but far more disabling, use a petrifying death’s head. These pests can restrain and eventually petrify their targets for 10 minutes with a couple of unlucky rolls.
Elder thing
Alien remnants of an ancient, fallen empire
What is it?
Elder things are inscrutable, alien entities that have colonised countless worlds over the eons. They once maintained vast cities and empires but have declined in their dominance since with their former creations and servants (yithians and shoggoths) having broken free of their rule.
Stat block analysis
This isn’t that high damage for its level, but that’s not the point. The idea here is that the elder thing soothes you into being charmed, then skewers your mind to stun and exhaust you. In fact, it’s very possible to become exhausted to death as a result of an encounter with this thing.
Its one to be especially wary of as even if you beat it, you may be in dire straits with all the exhaustion it’s inflicted.
Gennifer Weathermay-Foxgrove
Werewolf-touched investigator
Who is she?
One of the Weathermay-Foxgrove twins, a pair of paranormal investigators. Gennifer had a run in with a werewolf and now staves off the more severe symptoms of lycanthropy with a medicinal concoction of her own making. Trained in the ways of esoteric magic by Rudolph Van Richten himself, she wields magic to complement her sister’s sword.
Stat block analysis
Chances are, you’ll be using this as a low level, allied NPC stat block. She’s nifty against undead (which is likely what she’ll be fighting a lot in Ravenloft) with sources of radiant damage and stunning. She can also revive party members from being downed with healing word.
I’d perhaps suggest she’s quite resilient for her challenge rating considering that she can transform into a werewolf if she drops to 0HP. 44HP isn’t loads for this CR, but it stacks on top of what the werewolf has. She’s not overpowered or broken, just relatively resilient for her CR.
Gug
Gluttonous subterranean predators
What is it?
Huge, toothy monstrosities that are as stealthy as they are predatory. they usually dwell in subterranean locations, favouring humanoids as their prey.
Stat block analysis
Gugs don’t have many tricks, but they are good at hiding, work best in a team and are at their peak when stuffing their faces and chewing on party members. If you can play them this way, then they can be devastating.
For players, the trick will be staying out of range while DMs will need to funnel them towards the gugs. This could create some fun resolutions to combat with potentially dire circumstances or the players managing to overcome the gug without much pain. Flight will definitely be a player’s friend here.
Laurie Weathermay-Foxgrove
Sword-swinging paranormal investigator
Who is she?
The other half of the famous Weathermay-Foxgrove twins, like her sister, she specialises in investigating paranormal phenomenon, favouring a sword over the sorcery her sister possess.
Stat block analysis
Laurie is a more straightforward warrior build compared to her sister. Use her to protect allies with her parry, otherwise, she’s just a standard stat block that fits the character and her role.
Madam Eva
Aged teller of fortunes
Who is she?
A mysterious fortune teller whose fortunes never lie, though they may have veiled and double meanings. She is older and more powerful than many mortals that live within the domains of Ravenloft.
Stat block analysis
Madam Eva may be elderly, but she can also cause a bit of pain. She’s not particularly resilient for her CR (though does better against magic) but she can cause a decent bit of damage and plenty of conditions. She has a ranged attack that can attempt blinded 3 times per turn, an AoE that can cause frightened and can cast hold person as a bonus action.
Her cursed dagger is fairly strong, but the preference will be to keep her attacking at range as long as possible if it comes to that. Preferably, there’ll be others fighting alongside her, whether that’s PCs or other Vistani.
If she is forced into close combat, her level 8 spirit guardians is very nasty. Just be aware that her concentration saving throws aren’t great (+2) and isn’t that tough for her CR so this remains an emergency option, not the main tactic as it will throw her into danger.
Mi-Go
Brain stealing insectoid
What is it?
Alien insectoids that seek to rob the brains of those they encounter and experiment with them. Sometimes this leads them to swapping the brains of their hapless victims or making alterations and observing the results from afar.
Stat block analysis
Don’t let this creature grapple or stun you. And if it does, make sure you escape before its next turn. If you don’t, it will likely deal a lot of damage and potentially just remove your brain. If possible, you may want players to see this creature remove the brain of an NPC after stunning or grappling it just so they know what to expect from this deadly creature.
This is the kind of creature you throw at players if you want to put the fear of mortality in them and if you don’t mind PC deaths.
One issue I have is that extract brain has no range. The requirement is simply that the creature be stunned or grappled by the Mi-Go. That’s fine for a grapple as the creature must be next to you anyway, but for stunned, the creature might be 60ft away.
Considering that it causes piercing damage, I assume this is a physical process rather than magical and the Mi-Go would need to be next to the creature, but this isn’t stated RAW. In fact the range is implied as any distance. I’d suggest that maybe this was intended as something where the Mi-Go is next to the creature in question. I feel like this may have been a missed clarification.
Mist horror
Shapeless stalker of the mists
What is it?
Mist horrors lurk in the mists of Ravenloft as animate entities that seek to terrify unfortunate travellers. They themselves have a misty form that they can manipulate into whatever loathsome appearance they like.
Stat block analysis
Not particularly tough, but definitely problematic. This is the kind of monster you want to throw at your players if they end up in misty areas, which are pretty common in Ravenloft. They’ll be invisible in this situation making them harder to hit and easier to hit the players.
There’s a few extra options here with command and instil dread, but I’d definitely use these as monsters in the mist as a bit of a deterrent if necessary.
Mist wanderer
Travellers between dread domains
Who are they?
Some few are able to traverse the mists of Ravenloft. They are known as mist wanderers. Some, like the Vistani, can do so naturally. Others obtain this knowledge and power from others.
Stat block analysis
It’s handy to have a stat block like this as Vistani and similar mist wanderers can be often met in Ravenloft. There’s nothing too profound here other than a bit of information gathering magic and methods for tackling invisibility.
One trick they have is to curse nearby creatures when they die with the blinded and deafened conditions. This won’t end without a remove curse spell which could be a serious problem.
Mordenheim’s monster
Reanimated monster
What is it?
Viktra Mordenheim’s creations are more than just mere constructs. They take on a life of their own as she attempts to recreate the unbreakable heart. Some choose to serve her, others choose to take their own path or regain the life they’d lost. Whatever the purpose they choose, they are phenomenally powerful beings of great strength.
Stat block analysis
This may be an evolution of the Elise stat block from Van Richten’s Guide. It has some similarities and is created in a similar way, but the stat blocks are vastly different (CR5 for Elise Vs CR12 for Mordenheim’s monster).
As a construct, Mordenheim’s monster can work well alongside Viktra herself, supporting one another with protection and a regular supply of temporary hit points.
For the monster itself, you’ll want to hope that players inflict lightning damage on it (maybe gift them a lightning weapon or 2 ahead of the encounter in the hopes they’ll use them on the monster). Lightning both heals and speeds up the monster.
Mordenheim’s monster is an absolute brute with incredible strength. It has a nice progression of grapple, restrain then suffocate mechanics while tackling ranged encounters with speed and a massive jump that can knock enemies prone.
I think it makes a nice complement to the much weaker Viktra. The interesting thing to balance here though, is that Viktra has a CR of 7 while the monster has a CR of 12. Viktra’s death may mean success in the encounter and you won’t want to trivialise this and allow it to be too easy. So just be careful with how you play these 2. Unfortunately, Viktra’s stat block doesn’t necessarily encourage safe combat (like fighting at range).
Nightgaunt
Faceless flyer
What is it?
Like a winged demogorgon (of the Stranger Things variety), these foul aberrations like abducting victims, using their razor-like claws to overload senses with pain and drop their abductees from great heights.
Stat block analysis
Want a creature that can swoop down, grab a creature and drop them from a great height while avoiding attacks of opportunity? This is what the nightgaunt is built for. It has a 40ft fly speed, but can use ascend in place of an attack to fly upwards 40ft (the intention being to drop that pesky adventurer for some more damage and get clear of melee attacks). Flyby prevents those attacks of opportunity and ascend allows the nightgaunt not to be encumbered by the weight of the creature it’s grappling.
For even more DM cruelty, consider dropping adventurers prone among a horde of melee monsters or off a cliff edge. In fact, you can even drop them incapacitated (with tickle as a bonus action) into that horde so that they have no action with which to disengage or dash away. You are a cruel DM aren’t you!
One slight issue is that having a feature called tickle completely ruins the vibe for me. They kind of justify it in the text, but barely. A more terrifying name might have been nice.
Mechanically, I can foresee another issue. If the nightgaunt can fly quickly and get very high while also incapacitating their victims with a bonus action tickle, there becomes very little a creature can do to not be dropped from extremely large heights as they don’t have an action to resist the grapple (or grapple back). This means the potential for flying extremely high for massive fall damage. I’d resist the urge to abuse this too much.
Relentless nightmare
Murderous maniac
What is it?
The relentless killers are sort of mini bosses. But they’re absolutely terrifying for mini bosses. They’re mortals that have been corrupted by fiends when making a pact and have gained a relentless thirst for murder. The relentless nightmare completes the trio of relentless killers. It can even die and reform from the dreams of one of its cursed targets.
Stat block analysis
Relentless is very much a descriptive term here. They can use a legendary action to simply teleport next to any creature they can see and begin hacking at them. Exhausting gaze will gradually debuff their targets while the curse of their haunter’s spear will ensure that the exhaustion gained is not removed without a remove curse spell placed upon the target.
Add to this the ability to put to sleep without even a saving throw with a legendary action, and this is one terrifying killer. Use its ability to re-form to punish players that don’t have easy access to the remove curse spell to make your nightmare even more relentless.
Shoggoth
Hulking aberration
What is it?
Created by the elder things as eldritch labourers, they have since gained freedom from their creators and can sometimes be found in ancient cities and hidden places throughout the multiverse.
Stat block analysis
Shoggoths are probably best to place near bodies of water where they can grapple adventurers and drag them into the watery depths. The main advantage for shoggoths is they can grapple a lot of creatures (4 to be precise). You can then launch one creature to finish them off or just to give them the stunned condition.
Shoggoths are reinvigorated by the cold and it will shrug off any damage of this type and launch themselves at enemies with a reaction when subjected to cold damage.
Strahd skeleton
Skeletal soldier
What is it?
Some creatures faced by Strahd and his vampires are not worthy to be transformed into vampires. Instead, they are transformed into skeletal servants that perform his bidding. Tales say they whet their blades in the blood of their victims for their vampire lords to feast upon later.
Stat block analysis
These skeletons are definitely more nasty than your average skeletons. For starters, they wield vampiric swords which will sap away the hit point maximum of their victims. Using shield bash is a great way to bully one opponent by knocking prone and giving advantage to all the other melee attacks against that creature. They can also shrug off usually fatal blows by staying on 1HP from attacks that knock down to 0. They’ll need to pass a constitution saving throw to do so, but the odds can be decent there.
Waxwork
Waxen doppleganger
What is it?
A waxen construct made in the likeness of someone else. Most waxworks truly believe themselves to be the original and will launch into a fit of rage if confronted with the truth that they are not the original.
Stat block analysis
I’d suggest that waxworks are intended more as a social and investigatory problem than a combat problem. Yes they can deal a bit of damage and slow creatures down, but really, the fact that they can live and seem as someone else will create much different challenges for players and I’d use them in exactly this way.
Yithian
Alien body swapper
What is it?
Yithians are cosmic scholars that gain new information by swapping minds with creatures they encounter. The minds of their subjects are transported to their unfathomable alien home world while the Yithian temporarily (or sometimes more permanently) remains in the subject’s body.
Stat block analysis
Yithinan’s are intended to grapple and then possess other creatures, forcing its enemies to attack an ally in order to drive it out of the body. It still uses all its usual features while possessing another creature and sup can be especially problematic as it regains its own hit points and saps the hit point maximum of others. The fact that it’s an intelligence saving throw should send most non-wizard or artificer characters into some kind of cold sweat.
Are the new monsters any good?
The easy answer is yes, I happen to think they’re great! They feel fun, unique and there’s a real variety of horror types and needs on show here, including monsters that can work for more investigative or intrigue-based adventures. I feel like these are largely some very well thought out and considered monsters and the only concern I raised was with the nightgaunt’s potential for massive fall damage. Even then, I happen to really like what the nightgaunt can do, it just requires some slightly responsible DM’ing.
If you’re looking for some new inspiration for a horror-themed adventure (or even just a deadly one), then The Horrors Within has a strong bunch of new monsters (plus some returning favourites too).
Which monsters are you looking forward to using? Let me know in the comments below.
Spotlight on Ravenloft: The Horrors Within
All the latest articles on D&D’s latest horror-filled expansion.
