Brand new details on how the Monster Manual is changing and improving for D&D 2024.
We’re almost there with the full set of revised core rulebooks. The last in line is the Monster Manual, releasing on the 18th February 2025.
With just over a month to go, Wizards of the Coast (WOTC) have launched an hour long video discussing all the changes players can expect. I’ve embedded the video below if you want to watch it. For those that want a briefer overview, I’ve summarised all these changes in the article below:
What’s in the book?
I’ll start with the numbers. I’ve compared the numbers with the 2014 Monster Manual so you can see how the new Monster Manual stacks up in comparison:
| Information | 2014 Monster Manual | 2024 Monster Manual |
|---|---|---|
| Monster stat blocks | 400+ | 500+ |
| Pages | 320 | 384 |
| Brand new monsters | N/A | 85 |
| NPC stat blocks | 16 | 40+ |
Essentially, this is going to be the biggest, most monster-filled Monster Manual ever made!
What changes are coming to the Monster Manual?
More accurate challenge ratings
Challenge ratings so far in 5e have generally been prone to a fair bit of inaccuracy. The 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide fortunately, seems to have balanced these better with more accurate advice on how challenging an encounter will be compared to the levels of characters.
The Monster Manual takes this a bit further by addressing some of the philosophy for calculating challenge ratings. Before, challenge ratings were determined by assuming the DM always chooses the most powerful option for a monster’s turn. However, the most powerful option wouldn’t always be chosen for tactical or flavour reasons. This led to encounters that weren’t always as balanced as they stated on paper.
The designers have now attributed challenge rating that works across the spectrum of possible actions a monster could take which should make challenge ratings more accurate for DMs.
More monster variants
One of the problems the previous Monster Manual had was in the variety of enemy types available. For example:
- Many creatures have a single type that could only be used in a game where players were of the right level to face that creature.
- Some powerful monsters only had appropriate options for minions of a significantly lower level than themselves. Ideally, something as commanding as a death knight, should have lieutenants that can form their retinue for instance.
- NPCs could have varying levels of ability that needs representing if the players end up in combat with them. For example, not all pirates are of the same level or have the same capabilities.
- There weren’t enough high level monsters, and some creature types didn’t have high level alternatives.
This has all been addressed with additional variants of monsters. For example, there are more types of vampires so you can play vampiric adventures at different levels. There are also much more high level monsters to use like the CR22 elemental cataclysm and the CR 21 arch-hag. They’ve also included variations of NPC types with a lot more NPC stat blocks to account for this.
80+ new monster stat blocks
With these changes come 80+ brand new monster stat blocks. Many of these sound like they’re variants of existing creatures, but some may also be brand new creatures for neglected monster types.
While certain monster types still get more love than others (like fiends or undead for example), we have been told that there should be more variety for the more obscure monster types as well. This might include things like plants, constructs and oozes allowing DMs to prepare more varied encounters that involve these types of creatures.
More NPC stat blocks
There are over 40 NPC stat blocks and these are focused around giving variety to groups of NPCs. They also focus on professions rather than species too so you can have a group of wizards that includes Humans, Elves, Aasimar and Tieflings with varied stats based on their capabilities.
Bloodied is back
The old bloodied condition is back (as eagle-eyed readers might have noticed from the Player’s Handbook). This relates to features found in certain monster stat blocks where the monster does things differently once bloodied. This could help keep longer combats against tougher foes more varied and dynamic.
Stat blocks have been refreshed
In many instances, to keep up with the improvements to character classes, monster stats have been beefed up appropriately too. This means that many creatures have more hit points, better AC and hit harder.
Many monsters also have new features. For instance, dragons have more in the way of spellcasting abilities while vampires have ways to slip away from danger much more easily.
Streamlined stat blocks
A lot of minor changes have been made to streamline stat blocks to make them easier to use. Not only is there some reformatting of their appearance, but things like lair actions are no longer separate. These have been streamlined into the main monster stat block.
Each monster also gets a 3 word description to help players unfamiliar with many of the monsters, know if it’s the kind of thing they want to use for their encounter.
We’ll even get information about common loot and treasures these creatures might hold (so you don’t have to make it up on the fly). Monster descriptions will also include where these monsters might be found. There are also updated monster types to better classify monsters to help DMs know where these monsters might be found. For instance, goblins are now classified as fey creatures due to their ancestry while gnolls are now fiends.
Organisational changes for easier discovery
The old Monster Manual organised creatures to some extent, by creature type. This didn’t work very well for new players that might try to find a pit fiend under “P” or a gelatinous cube under “G”, when really, they should have been looking under “D” for devil and “O” for ooze.
Now the entire Monster Manual is organised alphabetically to make it easier to find the creature you’re looking for. You can still see which creatures belong to different creature types in the lists section. A handy tool if you intend to run sessions in certain locales that might have a high presence of fiends, celestials or other creatures.
Artwork demonstrates monsters in action
The aim of the new artwork is to show DMs in particular, the monster in action in their native environment. This should help DMs with things like knowing which monsters to place where and how to describe not just the appearance of the monster, but what they do as well. I love the new beholder artwork which really captures the scale of a beholder compared to the average adventurer.
The idea is also to show what these monsters can do. You can see displacer beasts with their illusory double on display, beholders shooting eye rays, dragons using spells and many other abilities.
Personally, I think the artwork is incredible and a great way to showcase the monsters.
Advice for new DMs
The old Monster Manual simply chucked loads of stat blocks at DMs. The new Monster Manual is much more beginner-friendly. It now has an all new “running a monster” section to help new DMs know how to run a monster encounter.
More gender variants on display
Some creatures that have typically been showcased as one gender or the other, now have different gender variants of them. For example, we see male hags, dryads and medusas as well as female satyrs. Succubi and incubi are no longer male and female variants of the same creature. Instead, both can be either gender and they are distinct versions of a similar creature.
What do you think of the upcoming changes to the Monster Manual? Let me know in the comments below.
Spotlight on D&D 2024
All the latest updates on what’s changing with the 2024 rules revision.
