D&D: The New Monster Manual Isn’t Even Out Yet And There’s Already Errata
The New Monster Manual releases everywhere February 18th, but this past weekend, WotC released a batch of errata.
Another round of pre-day 1 errata for WotC. This time it’s a batch of new Monster Manual errata releasing before the official release. This is similar to what happened with the release of the 5.5E Player’s Handbook, which saw a batch of prerelease errata hit ahead of the physical book. Of course, this is all well and good for people who have digital copies. They won’t have to worry about remembering details like an updated AC – that’s already done for them. It’s the book-enjoyers who have to suffer. If not knowing that a Balor’s average HP is 287 (23d12 + 138) now, can truly be said to be suffering.
I joke, of course. But it does sort of highlight one of the modern dilemmas we face. Because, n the one hand, it’s amazing that the WotC team is able to catch these things so swiftly. But on the other hand, you can see why some might fear that the aggressive deadline for the new edition of D&D (to coincide with the 50th Anniversary) has led to a few careless errors.
At any rate, this is just the first batch of changes made to the book. Though it doesn’t address some of the issues that community members have found in the 2025 Monster Manual – more on that later. Presumably there’ll be an updated printing with a whole host of changes at some point. But for now, this is what we have to work with.
Monster Manual 2025 – Issues And Support
The errata was posted this past weekend on the D&D Beyond forums. In an entry titled Monster Manual – Issues And Support WotC released a list of changes to a number of stat blocks under “Monster Manual Errata”. There are tweaks for 20 different monster stat blocks all in all.
“Please note that there is an errata with the release of the Monster Manual. These changes have been implemented in the game data listings and the compendium. You can find all the changes below.”
- Ancient Red Dragon (p. 256). In the Spellcasting action, “1/Day” has changed to “1/Day Each”.
- Ancient White Dragon (p. 330). The ancient white dragon’s Charisma score has changed to 18.
- Arcanaloth (p. 19). The arcanaloth’s AC is now 18.
- Balor (p. 26). The balor’s HP is now 287 (23d12 + 138).
- Cloaker (p. 73). In the Attach action, in the sentence that begins with “While the cloaker is attached…”, “Bite attacks” is now “Attach attacks”.
- Cyclops Sentry (p. 88). Both instances of “Greatclub” have changed to “Stone Club”.
- Death Knight (p. 92). In the Spellcasting action, “2/Day” has changed to “2/Day Each”.
- Death Knight Aspirant (p. 93). In the Spellcasting action, “1/Day” has changed to “1/Day Each”.
- Fomorian (p. 123). Both instances of “Greatclub” have changed to “Stone Club”.
- Galeb Duhr (p. 127). The Initiative entry has changed to “+2 (12)”.
- Giant Frog (p. 357). In the Bite action, the Melee Attack Roll modifier has changed to “+3”.
- Githyanki Warrior (p. 134). In the Spellcasting action, “2/Day Each” has changed to “2/Day”.
- Goblin Boss (p. 143). The range for the Shortbow action is now “80/320 ft.”
- Green Slaad (p. 286). In the Spellcasting action, “1/Day” has changed to “1/Day Each”.
- Ice Devil (p. 176). In the Senses entry, “Blindsight 60 ft. (unimpeded by magical Darkness), Darkvision 120 ft.” has changed to “Blindsight 120 ft.”
- Kraken (p. 187). In the Fling action, “Large” has changed to “Large or smaller”.
- Performer Legend (p. 237). The Initiative entry has changed to “+9 (19)”.
- Performer Maestro (p. 237). The Initiative entry has changed to “+7 (17)”.
- Swarm of Lemures (p. 194). The swarm’s Dexterity score is now 7. In the Swarm trait, “Small” has changed to “Medium”.
- Violet Fungus (p. 126). The Initiative entry has changed to “–5 (5)”.
As you can see, most of these changes are minor. Tweaks to categories, corrections to languages – but there are a few important ones in there. Like the Ice Devil having Blindsight out to 120 ft. instead of 60. Or the clarification in Death Knight spellcasting – it can cast each of its spells twice per day.
But for all that – there’s at least one major errata that some of the early access folks have found that, as of press time, hadn’t been addressed yet.
Carrion Crawlers And You – An Auto-Fail Fix
It all comes down to the iconic insect monster known as the Carrion Crawler. An enemy since the first edition of the game, Carrion Crawlers are famous for their acidic bites and paralyzing touch. They have been known to paralyze prey before dragging it off to their lairs to be slowly devoured. Fighting one is a rite of passage for many an adventuring party.
Although if you fight a Carrion Crawler using the rules as they are written in the 2025 Monster Manual, it’s a rite of passage that you’re not likely to survive. And it’s all thanks to the Carrion Crawler’s Paralyzing Tentacles:
“Dexterity Saving Throw: DC 12, one creature the carrion crawler can see within 10 feet. Failure: The target has the Poisoned condition and repeats the save at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. After 1 minute, it succeeds automatically. While Poisoned, the target has the Paralyzed condition.”
Now at first brush, that doesn’t seem too bad. The DC isn’t that high, and even if you fail, you can repeat the save each turn, so you’ll break out eventually, right?
Except – a closer read of the Paralyzed condition reveals the following:
“While you have the Paralyzed condition, you experience the following effects […] you automatically fail Strength and Dexterity saving throws.“
So that repeated Dexterity saving throw you’ll make at the end of each of your turns? It’s an automatic failure. You won’t break out for a minute. And in the meantime, the carrion crawler will automatically score a critical hit on you every time it attacks you.
It seems like this was maybe meant to be a Constitution save or something like that. But the fact of the matter is, playing by the rules, a carrion crawler that gets a paralyzing tentacle attack off is well on its way to decimating a party, especially since it gets to make a bite attack that crits for 4d4 + 2d6 + 2 damage alongside the paralyzing tentacle.
So the day 1 errata doesn’t catch one of the more egregious things out there. But give it time. The community will catch it, and eventually, WotC will put out the updated fix list. In the meantime, you might want to read those monster abilities and Conditions carefully.
How would you fix the carrion crawler?
