D&D: Aberrations Ooze Into a New Monster Manual Preview
Aberrations and Oozes are at the gooey heart of a new Monster Manual preview, showcasing how alien threats will throw down.
Aberrations are a wild and varied category that covers a broad swath of alien adversaries, goopy guys, and burbling baddies. From the deadly mind flayers with their Illithid Empire, to the humble roper and/or piercer which serves as a rite of passage for many an adventurer, Aberrations can take many forms.
But they’re all just a little (or a lot) off. Aberration is a category for monsters that are alien. Whether in nature (which means covered in tentacles, slime, and scales), or in thought process. Because, yeah, obviously a being that thinks in ways puny mortals can’t comprehend is a fantasy trope. Almost as much as “and that utterly alien thought process usually means being an utter bastard to whatever the adventurers are doing”.
With such a broad category, WotC has a new preview video up, showcasing almost an hour of Aberrations and Oozes. Take a look!
“Aberrations” Means Tentacles. I Don’t Make the Rules.
Aberrations, in a nutshell, are the cosmic/eldritch horror side of D&D. They’re the kinds of monsters where you get into the viscera and the brain eating and the slime. It’s horrible. It’s gross. I love them for this reason. And in the new Monster Manual, aberrations are back in a big way.
Starting first with, of all things, the Githyanki and Githzerai. Githyanki, in particular, have been enjoying a resurgence lately, thanks to Baldur’s Gate 3 and Lae’zel. And WotC wants to remind you of this with some gorgeous new Gith art.
If you picked up the Spelljammer campaign setting a while back, you know that githyanki and githzerai were reclassified from Humanoid to Aberration. This move continues to be the case in 5.5E, surprising no one. But there’s more than just new art and the new classification. There are also plenty of new stat blocks to play with, too.
One of the new types of githyanki is the githyanki dracomancer. At CR 16, these githyanki represent the connection that githyanki have with red dragons. Which means a lot of dragon magic all around.
Githzerai, on the other hand, have three types: the monk, the zerth, and the psion. This leans into the “more monster variants” principle that we’ve seen in the other previews. And on that note, it feels like psionics are a little more prevalent too. Githzerai psions, in particular, are bastins of psychic powers. And while that typically means just “cast spells but without components” it feels like there’s an opportunity to carve out a new little niche in the Monster Manual.
Kuo Toas Reshape Reality With Their Minds
We got a look at the new kuo toa design as well. These weird little fish guys have been reclassified as Aberrations in the 5.5E Monster Manual. And it shows up in their new abilities and a revamped emphasis on their ability to “change reality with their beliefs.”
Kuo toa can make their own gods. Thyey sort of live alone at the bottom of the sea or deep in the Underdark, and while they’re down there, if they believe in something hard enough, it gains some semblance of divinity. You might have seen this in action in Baldur’s Gate 3 if you came face to face with the worshippers of Booal.
There are more kuo toa stat blocks as well. The kuo toa whip, kuo toa monitor, and kuo toa archpriest. These four stat blocks were all suggested as possible tweaks a DM could make in a sidebar, but now are full fledged monsters in their own right.
So What All is in the Eye of the Beholder?
Beholders are one of the biggest and most iconic Aberrations in all of D&D. And in the 5.5E Monster Manual, the Beholder has been “fine tuned.” What that means, exactly, we don’t know. But, according to the preview video, the eye rays have been made deadlier. You will still roll randomly for a beholder’s eye ray, but on average, whatever shows up will still be dangerous. Or, you can just pick whatever seems appropriate.
We also got a glimpse of the new Spectator artwork, which is absolutely hilarious. But we’ll have to wait and see what difference the fine tuning has made. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s a change to the petrifying ray, because petrification effects tend to be pretty weak in general in 5E.
You often have to fail three saving throws in a row in order to be completely turned to stone, and in the meantime you’re fine, or a little uncomfortable. But if you get even a single success, you throw off the effect in general.
Slaad’s Back on the Menu
Perhaps one of the most beloved Aberrations are the Slaad. Originally created in White Dwarf by Charles Stross, author of “The Laundry Files”, slaad are a bunch of monstrous toads who live in other planes, and whose only goal is to spread their own particular brand of chaos. They come color coded with different powers. You’ve got red slaad, blue slaad, green slaad, white slaad, black slaad, and more. But they’ve also been revamped in the Monster Manual.
Instead of a generic longsword, for instance, now a slaad wields a “chaos blade” which deals different damage depending on whatever you roll before you attack with it. This is an interesting move, and it signposts one of the other big design moves the new Monster Manual is making. Creatures are sort of moving away from dealing just bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing. There are more unique attack names than ever in the 5.5E Monster Manual.
The New Monster Manual Oozes Charm
The other big category in the video is the Ooze category. This is where you’ll find your slimes, your puddings, your oozes. It includes monsters like the Gelatinous Cube with its slimy new art. We also got a look at the new black pudding and ochre jelly.
The gray ooze also has psychic powers now. It doesn’t just dissolve whatever it touches, it also can take over their minds. But the big new ooze is the Blob of Annihilation, which is a monstrously colossal ooze that contains the skull of a dead god inside of it. But whatever it engulfs, it slowly dissolves and then spits their remains out in a random plane of existence, instead of obliterating things entirely like the Sphere of Annihilation, which gives the Blob its name.
When the stars are right, the new Monster Manual will rise from the depths of sunken r’lyeh. Or at least, your FLGS!
