D&D: Big Changes in the New Monster Manual – Meaner, Beefier Monsters
The new 5.5E Monster Manual has more monsters, more hit points, and just more in general. We deep dive into the previews.
Yesterday Wizards of the Coast released a nearly hour-long video taking you, the viewer, through what’s new in the new 5.5E Monster Manual. This, of course, has one problem. And that is: who has time to watch an hour long video?
You’re either in between Teams calls right now, or else, are already watching a four-hour video breakdown of the Omegaverse and its origins with the Vulcan mating tradition of Ponn Farr, but with way more “slick”. I get it. That’s just life here in 2025.
But the new Monster Manual has a lot of work to do—which is good, because from the video, this is one of the more comprehrensive books that WotC has put out. Of the three, this is the book that does the heavy lifting for the DM, giving them things to throw at, near, or to the players, the action of which creates adventure, and the steadily turning gears of Dungeons & Dragons.
New Monster Manual – Putting The Challenge Back in Challenge Ratings
One of the first thiings out of the gate that they talk about is how the Challenge Rating system has been adjusted. If you’ve tried to DM 5th Edition according to the guidelines in the Dungeon Master’s Guide at all since 2014, you’ve probably experienced some of the shortcomings of the system.
For one, the math is inaccurate. There are several breakdowns about it. And for two, the guidelines on how to use it were presented as “you figure it out” when, it turns out, there was actually a method to the madness. But WotC wasn’t very clear on this.
In the video, Jeremy Crawford says something to the effect of “CR was calculated that, as long as you pick the most powerful option every round, the monster should play as though it were at its CR” and if you strayed from that, the monster might fall short. This is doubtless true, but see the above about math for how that’s not the only thing up with CR.
Now, however, it sounds like Challenge Rating has been revisited. At least for Legendary Monsters, specifically; though from the context of the video it sounds like monsters overall have been adjusted. Or rebalanced. Or whatever you want to call it.
In the new Monster Manual, creatures should be more reflective of their CR no matter what moves you pick in combat. This should be a relief for DMs, because not every DM is going to know the optimal move in any given fight. Even the most experienced DM knows that there are a ton of different variables to account for, not the least of which is “what random magic item did I let the players have this time.”
Art and Artifice in the New Monster Manual
Another thing you may have noticed in the video and this article, is the preponderance of new monster artwork. There are more, and bigger pictures throughout. By design, too.
The WotC team wanted to show the monsters in situ. To give you more of a sense of how these monsters appear in the world. To that end, you’ll have more of a sense of mise en scene within monster artwork. That is, you’ll see the monsters monstering.
There’s an emphasis on getting DMs to think about the monster as they would be in the world that isn’t there in the previous Monster Manual. It reminds me of one of my favorite D&D book series: The Yooung Adventurer’s Guide, by Jim Zub. These books take you into the mindset of someone in the world.
They present monsters as someone who faces them might think about them. And it seasons the thoughts, adds a piquance to encounter building that might not otherwise be there.
So you can expect to see more artistic art. For instance, the room above, where most of the things are actually mimics. Including the treasure chest, a goblet, a barrel, a doorway—how many mimics can you spot?
Monstrously Powerful Abilities
Another big change to monsters is in the kinds of ailities they have available to them. If you watch the video in its entirety, one thing you’ll hear over and over again is that these monsters will “bring the hurt.” And while “bring the hurt” sounds about as 2008core as you can get without having an economic recession and housing market crisis (uh oh), it does seem to translate into monsters having a little more power all around.
In the video, Crawford and Wes Schneider specifically talk about how Dragons have been upscaled (pun intended). Ancient Dragons are now all spellcasting monsters. On top of being powerful, fire, ice, acid, lightning, or poison-breathing monsters, they can also cast Fireball. Or whatever.
I was pleased to learn that Lair actions aren’t gone—not exactly—they have been moved to be inside the monster stat block. That seems like a good move, no more having to read three different pages to remember everything the monster does. Assuming that it works the way you’d think it would.
Speaking of lairs, monsters will now have more stuff detailing where they are in the world. Where they live, where players might expect to encounter them. The entries have been retuned to give you more monstrous context. And of course, more treasure.
Every monster comes with a default treasure table (or the odd note that this monster typically doesn’t have anything to loot), so you can easily figure out what random ogre trash will turn out to be PC treasure.
Variety is the Spice of Monsters
One of the things that 4th Edition did best was introduce a wide variety of different types of monsters. That is, you could populate a whole goblin fort with goblin nightblades, and skulkers and warriors and hexers – there were lots of little roles and variants for monsters, not just the humanoid ones, that let you reflect varying types and abilities within a family of creatures.
Like fighting a Kruthik Matriarch, for instance. And that design principle seems to be back in a big way in the new Monster Manual. Crawford and Schneider talk about how you’ll find more “families of monsters” and not in the nuclear way.
But rather, you’ll find more entries under creature headings like “goblin” or “gnoll” or “orc”. Gnolls and goblins havebe en reclassified—gnolls are fiends, goblins are fey, but also there are variants of big guys too. Vampires have more varieties to play around with, including a new high level vampire, a new mid level vampire, and a new low level vampire.
They also have more abilities. A vampire spawn can disengage and still take their full turn. Some of the more powerful new variants can fly without having to become a bat or cast a spell. There’s a lot more mobility all in all.
Even Death Knights have friends, now. As you’ll see in the new Death Knight Aspirant, which sounds like a Warhammer mini, I’ll be honest. But an Aspirant is an undead who is on their way to becoming a powerful death knight. Someone who might be a lieutenant or herald for a big bad death knight like Lord Soth. And that sounds really fun to play with.
Just from that, you can start to put together a whole adventure: find the death knight’s lieutenants and kill them before taking out the big guy. Or at a lower level, stop the death knight aspirant from completing the ritual (or whatever) that lets them become a true death knight.
The New Monster Manual – Lessons Learned
One thing worth mentioning as we close out the article: the new Monster Manual is the last book that WotC worked on. And they were working on it through the release of the new PHB and Dungeon Master’s Guide. Which means they took lessons they learned and the mechanics expressed in each and got down to business with them.
As you might expect, this means making use of new rules like “bloodied” which exists now. And also laying with the more forgiving but still brutal Exhaustion mechanic. As well some of the animals have their own sections for Wild Shape and Polymorph, making this a handy book for players. All in all, this book sounds like it’ll tie together the other two, giving players and DMs a reference that will make the game run smoother.
Of course, we’ll see just how that plays out in the coming weeks.
Check back !tomorrow for a Dragon deep dive!
