Shiny But SHALLOW? - D&D Monster Manual 2024 REVIEW

[@AboveTheTableNews]

Will you be picking up the new 2024 Monster Manual after this review? Let us know in the comments!

[@sambro6657]

I pre ordered it I regret it the book does not nearly go far enough it is boring uninspired and not a well done set of monsters. Mechanically the monsters do not bring any new interesting or crazy abilities they needed a lot more passes to make monsters scarier.

[@Cassius335]

Templates would definitely be nice, rather than clumping all of humanoid together as if they were one species.

[@quillogist2875]

I figure I will just add the species traits to npc's when i use the npc stat block.

[@josuke4448]

Not a fan of the guaranteed effects on a successful attack. You roll less, sure, but rolling for things is what you do. And I think it'll take away uniqueness with saving throws. Some characters have a higher chance at resisting some things than others, and that feels more dynamic. Not to mention the DC on some saving throws requires a really good roll to succeed, so odds are the effect will happen anyway. But this is the first I'm hearing of it so maybe there's more to it.

[@spooderous]

You'd be surprised how many other games just have something happen by resolving one roll. I'm not sure why 5e players are so obsessed with granularity for what is supposed to be a simple system. I don't think you need to make 2-3 rolls to resolve one game action.

[@josuke4448]

@@spooderous It just makes sense to me. You get a chance to resist and when you manage to pull it off in a tense moment it feels great. Now it's just, get hit, well, you're paralyzed now. It's not like that one extra roll makes things any more complicated, and it's not like we're trying to speedrun the game. If you disagree then fair enough, not everyone's the same

[@hrayz]

I'm a huge fan of auto effects. Critters became useless very quickly (ie: who fails a dc13 trip after a few levels in??)

[@rory7590]

The new Player’s Handbook amplified PC powers. The new Monster Manual will need to amplify monster powers accordingly to keep up. The result is continual power creep. While fans will always be attracted to the the new shiny, the reality is that the game continues to move away from the original D&D model. This does, of course, give other games an opportunity to fill the niche and is why OSR games and the like continue to have a significant market.

[@IronTon11]

No. My DM is grabbing the book and sharing it. I'm not sure about the monster manual book still

[@LuizCesarFariaLC]

For more content creators that just call it 5.5! 😂

[@LtCdrRoyFokker]

2025 Monster Manual. It's releasing in 2025 and that's been known publicly since Gencon at this point so it's not some sort of last minute delay beyond their control. They just didn't get their crap together in time for the anniversary despite being the 800lb gorilla in the industry and technically having 50 years to prep! :)

[@matthewsnow-zj1cu]

Yup. Definitely picking up. The art does look wonderful. Especially that new Tyler Jacobson cover. It’s interesting that the design team seems to have streamlined the running of monsters while expanding player options. If those two dovetail well, hopefully it keeps the play for encounters either even, or not as time consuming, while encouraging more people to try out DMing. We’ll see. Tales of the Valiant expanded Templates for different creature types and gives more guidance on home brewing monsters, for anyone missing those options in 2024 DnD.

[@AboveTheTableNews]

The art is absolutely fantastic

[@MikeJohannessen]

Yes, all ready preordered it :)

[@MeluhKnight]

Not a chance, overpriced, lacks lore, the dragon redesigns are ugly, the lack of templates and monster crwation rules also hurt the book and don't trust wotc

[@FrostMaleike]

Totally agree.

[@simonfernandes6809]

Templates have always been overrated and I couldn't care less about monster creation rules. I can't think of a 3pp bestiary that has monster creation rules either. Just admit you hate WotC and move on.

[@davrosdavros7198]

Yup.