The new Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual (which uses the 2024 rulebooks) contains more monsters, artwork and variations on the classic creatures we all know from our campaigns. More importantly, it provides additional clarity on those monsters but with less complexity.
Much like the Player’s Handbook that we reviewed when it was released earlier this year, you can see the how the complaints and corrections that people had about the 2014 Monster Manual edition influenced the new title. Lead designers Jeremy Crawford and F. Wesley Schneider went out of their way to improve the new Dungeons and Dragons 5E’s Monster Manual so that it now perfectly fits into the core rules collection. The art is a big part of that too, and we will go over that later in the review.
GiN was given a digital copy of the Monster Manual by Dungeons and Dragons Beyond to review, and we went through it and even practiced some combat in an informal session to see how the new and improved monster descriptions and tweaks worked in actual encounters.
This book has less prose and fewer player saving throw requirements than in 2014. The monsters are more powered up this time too. This may be a way to make up for the inherent feats all player characters get, but that is just a guess on my part. In any case, the new monster designs really speed up gameplay.
The Hill Giant is a good example of the new overall monster format. In the 2014 manual, there are twelve paragraphs of backstory. In the new book, there are only three. In the 2014 manual, you only have dexterity to determine the initiative order for Hill Giants (it’s an 8 which gives them a negative one initiative roll). In the new manual, the Hill Giant’s dexterity is still 8, but they list their initiative at the top of the stat block box with a generous +2. The new manual’s Hill Giant also causes any target of their Tree Club attack (who is a large or smaller creature) to have the prone condition when they hit with no saving throw mentioned.
Dragons also are given less words devoted to their lore and a more concise method of attack. Instead of three different attacks of bite, the Ancient Green Dragon’s claw and tail (with differing damages) now makes three rend attacks that all have the same amount of damage. The new edition also gives dragons a bunch of spells they can cast either at will or a limited number of times per day.
This goes back to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1E where dragons were given spells. It makes them deadlier and allows access to noncombat capabilities that make encounters more flavorful. This never stopped DMs in 5E from homebrewing dragons with spell abilities. I did that myself along with another DM in a game where I was a player. In Critical Role’s first campaign, the evil Green Dragon Raishan of the Chroma Conclave also could cast many magic spells.
Still looking at the Green Dragon, in the 2024 Monster Manual the number of hit points has been increased, and their initiative jumps to +15. While this version has three legendary actions, it jumps to four when they are in their lair. Many other monsters in the book have this uptick in hit points, powered up initiative bonuses and less complex methods of attack.
The whole book seems to make it easier for a DM to run a combat and easier for the players to understand the challenges of each monster. The Werewolf and the Vampire, two classic monsters, are also good examples of how this book is different from its predecessors.
The Werewolf in the 2014 manual could not be harmed by “bludgeoning, piercing or slashing damage from nonmagical weapons that aren’t silvered.” In the new manual, all these immunities are gone, but their hit points and armor class have increased. Also, the Werewolf is no longer a humanoid but is instead classified as a Monstrosity. This removes them from the effect of spells like Charm Person (Level 1) or Hold Person (Level 2). A player must have their character use Charm Monster (Level 4) or Hold Monster (Level 5) to stun them with magic.
By moving all the Lycanthropes to the Monstrosity class while also removing their Damage Immunities (and increasing hit points, armor class and initiative), it makes for less complexity and allows those characters who might not have a magic weapon to still do damage. And more importantly, it lets everyone take part in the action. I’ve done a test run of some combat with these new creatures, and it does make the fights run faster. There is less mathematical complexity per round, even if there is a bulk increase in hit points.
The Vampire is also powered up in this new book and is given five different variations too, with some being much more powerful than others. The Vampires in the new manual still have resistances and immunities, but just like the Werewolf, the need for characters to have magical weapons to even touch them is gone. A regular dagger can finally hit and damage a Vampire. But with more hit points, more powers and a higher initiative, you better be packing more than just that!
Some creatures like Dryads can now also be male while Satyrs can be female. One of the players in our game has already homebrewed a female Satyr before this manual came out, so to me this wasn’t a big stretch. She even had a neat backstory for the character.
Also, note that in addition to all the changes, there are some deletions compared with the 2014 manual. Orcs, which were playable according to the new Players’ Handbook, are not in the 2024 Monster Manual. The Drow and the Duergar are also missing. This was at first concerning to me because my weekly gaming group has two players who are respectively playing a Drow and a Duergar. They do a great job playing citizens from the Underdark and our dungeon master has woven some Underdark threads into the game that raise challenges for them and our party.
However, having them not included in the monster manual does not mean the Drow or Duergar are gone from Dungeons and Dragons. They will instead be highlighted in some of the upcoming settings books. Jeremy Crawford stated in a video that the Drow specifically will be included in the upcoming Forgotten Realms setting book. I also hope that these settings books will carry a lot of the lore that we no longer have in the 2024 Monster Manual.
Art Directors Fury Galluzzi (lead), Bree Heiss, Josh Herman, Kate Irwin and Emi Tanji should be commended for this book as the pictures are not just worth a thousand words, but also in many ways replace them. With less lore per monster, the art speaks to where the monsters live and even hints at some of their special actions. The 2014 Monster Manual was, in my opinion, great for the stories it told and the lore it recounted. But the 2024 publication is much easier to use. I also enjoyed the artwork in the older book, but it’s much better now, with more action and combat depicted. Many of the drawings show monsters attacking adventurers, which might inspire game masters and players alike.
One of my favorite pieces of art in the new book features the Displacer Beast. It shows the panther-like monster and its displaced image surrounding an elf archer in a dense woodland. The elf is drawing her bow, and the Displacer Beast is crouching to strike. It’s great because both a story and setting are being shown along with the creature’s capabilities and method of attack.
This is a great new release with amazing art and well thought out game mechanics. I miss some of the story and prose of the previous book, but then again, I have that book and much of the lore of these creatures is also online. The new Dungeons and Dragons 5E’s Monster Manual is worth the purchase if you want to run a Dungeons and Dragons campaign with quicker rounds and clearer stat blocks, something every game master needs.
The new Dungeons and Dragons 5E’s Monster Manual would be extremely useful for any campaign. The manual also has great new artwork that also tells a story, and it features streamlined gameplay and faster combat.
All of that makes the 2024 book one monster of a new manual.