D&D 5E 2024 Monster Manual - Thoughts & Stuff
I think for 50$ U.S. the new D&D Monster Manual is absolutely a good value if you are playing D&D 5E. I only have a couple of complaints I’ll go over after I talk about some of the things I like.
It’s 384 pages and they put the index in the front.
2. Many of the monsters have tables with flavor details to help DMs. Here is an example from the free monsters they posted online.
The artwork feels intentional and complimentary. In many books I’ve bought, artwork while good, has felt more as if it was used to fill space or just be decorative. No where in the book did an image feel random or out of place.
Three design choices that just don’t make sense to me
I get that my issues with the book can easily be considered minor but even so they could have easily been avoided given the experience of the design leads at Wizards of the Coast.
Everything, including a Commoner, has at least a +2 to hit. If everything in the monster manual and all level 1 characters have a +2 to hit, then it’s a meaningless extra step of math. Unnecessary math is a big sore spot for me. It slows the game down with no added value.
The new monster manual uses the following four treasure types. Source.
A monster’s treasure entry specifies whether the monster hoards treasure and the type of treasure it prefers. These preferences are detailed as follows:
Any. The monster’s treasure hoard can include monetary treasure and any kinds of magic items.
Individual. The monster doesn’t have a treasure hoard, but it might keep monetary treasure.
Treasure Theme (Arcana, Armaments, Implements, or Relics). The monster’s treasure hoard features magic items with the noted theme. The Dungeon Master’s Guide details treasure hoards appropriate for each theme.
None. The monster doesn’t care about treasure. Any treasure the monster has is incidental.
Any treasure a monster has is in addition to equipment listed in the Gear entry of its stat block.
These are so vague they are almost useless. As welcoming to new DM’s/Players as D&D is trying to be this offers no practical help. At a minimum a one-line example of standard treasure should have been included. In early editions of D&D monsters had references to treasure tables so you could roll for the appropriate number of gold coins, types of magic items, etc. If you are trying to make the game easier to run, especially for the DM’s who are the ones spending most of the money, bringing this back would be a big help.
The Challenge Rating (CR) of monsters is in small print in the middle of the stat block making it harder to find than it needs to be. Personally, I think it would have been better on the first line on the opposite side from monster name.
Other Resources
The official errata have been posted here but you have to click an easy to miss button to show it. If you don’t click that little button that says “Spoiler” the errata aren’t visible.
Many of the monsters are available in the free version of the rules posted here.
If you are looking for deep dive discussion, I recommend this one. D&D 2025 Monster Manual Deep Dive – Lazy RPG Talk Show
Yeah, treasure tables seem to be lacking. I did a search on dndbeyond and only the dmg 2014 had tables.
If nothing else, it's an opportunity for someone to make a few bucks on DMs Guild, but yes, Wizards should have provided this. As a refinement of 2014, they should know what they need. They're not writing a whole new edition (in theory).