While the upcoming 2024 Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual will include the majority of new and updated creature stat blocks, the 2024 Player’s Handbook Has a little of its own. The selection of the book includes several classic monsters from previous editions, each with minor or major changes to their mechanics. Some have gotten more dangerous, others more durable, and some have gotten completely new abilities.
Most of the creatures included in the handbook are beastsWith a few undead, fiends, celestials, and aberrations thrown in for good measure. This is because the monsters in the book are all options for stat blocks that the players themselves can control, or as summons, druid transformations, or creatures that the party befriends. While the summoning mechanics of certain spells have changed entirely with this new book, many class options for familiars and wild shapes remain, albeit with some new powers.
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The return of the rat
This little guy illustrates the changes made to many familiars
Many wizards have chosen a rat for their familiar over the years, because of their small, unassuming nature and sense of smell. Much like other challenge rating 0 creatures, such as the cat, frog, or raven, rats don’t have much combat ability, but can provide some creative forms of recon and assistance. There are Two big changes to the rat stat block that are also present for many other tiny animals.
For one, the rat has a new trait called “agility,” which Makes them immune to opportunity attacks When they let the enemy reach. It’s nothing big, but it makes the animal feel more distinct; Comparatively, cats gain a higher jumping distance, ravens retain their mimicry feature, and so on. These little changes are nice, as they make the choice of which animal players choose as their helper feel more impactful.
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The other big change is one that happened to most of the animals in the book, and that’s it The removal of the “alarm sense” features. The animals no longer benefit from certain kinds of Perception checks that rely on smell, hearing, or sight. Many of them, including the rat, now have a higher perception skill modifier in place of this missing feature. Mathematically, the average perception check rats make will now be one or two points lower, but of course, they may be able to gain advantage in another way.
9
The Slade Tadpole gets some minor stat buffs
A strange new choice for certain warlocks
Many players may not know what a Slade is, but they have actually been around D&D Since the early 80s. These frog-like creatures grow from tadpoles that physically resemble ugly, evil worms, and they get their own stat block in the 2024 Feb Since Warlocks with the Pact of the Chain can now choose them as a familiar. With a 1/8 challenge rating and fairly low stats, it’s uncertain whether anyone would want to, but the Slade Tadpole is getting some changes to its 5th edition stats.
The tadpole now has a burrowing speed of ten feet, putting it Just above the docks for fast burrowing familiar. It also deals more damage with its bite, dealing one extra point of damage on average per attack. It may not be the most powerful choice Warlocks have for their pack of the range, but it’s certainly an interesting one.
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Sprites are better than their challenge rating gives them credit for
A number of unique attacks make the fairy stand out
Another new choice for the pack of the Chain Warlock is the Sprite, a tiny fairy creature with some pretty neat powers. Sprites have received several upgrades from their previous form. These include More health, higher weapon damage and an attack that can now charm creatures Very easily. It’s a bit strange that they are still considered 1/4 in challenge rating when they have so much more up their sleeves.
Sprites in 5th edition earlier had a muzzle two hit points; Now, they have five times as many. Still not high, but definitely better. Their sword attack actually has a damage dice associated with it now, rather than just dealing one point of damage. and their bows, rather than potentially poisoning targets, Now automatically charm them for one turn. This is in addition to them retaining their core sight feature and invisibility at will, making them quite useful in and out of combat.
7
The quasit returns as a chaotic challenge choice
Warlock familiars get some stat improvements
The Quasit was one of the original options for Warlocks taking the Pact of the Chain, along with the Imp and Pseudodrakon. All three return in this book, though none of them with particularly big changes. The biggest difference is in The health and resistance of the imp and the quasit.
Both used to have fairly low hit point totals, the quasi only seven, but now each have over twenty. On the other hand, both used to have resistance to non-magical bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage, which they now lack. The extent to which their durability is actually improved will vary from game to game. Additionally, options like the Quasiit remain among the best for warlocks, Able to turn invisible, shape shift into normal animals and make attacks with significant damage.
6
The new giant spider has its pros and cons
Giant animals get better health, but there is a trade-off
Some animals in D&D Have giant variants, with higher damage and more health. The new one PHB did Made the giant versions of beasts a little more formidable Across the board, with some getting higher health and others better ability bonuses to their attacks. But the giant spider has definitely seen the most impressive changes. In particular, their two unique actions have received updates.
Their bite once deals piercing damage, with the chance to deal poison damage if creatures fail a saving throw. That save is removed with, making the poison damage always apply, leaving the bite more deadly in general. Their web still requires a saving throw, although it is one point higher in difficulty.
However, the giant spiders will likely find it much harder to enweb anyone. The old stat block said the spider makes an attack roll, restraining creatures on hit. The creature can only make the save on later turns as an action. now, The web is just a saving throw, which does nothing if the creature succeeds Initially.
5
Skeletons are more of a threat in a necromancer’s army
Higher stats make this challenge more effective
Skeletons and zombies are a necromancer’s bread and butter. Using the spell animate death, they can summon armies of the undead over time in the two varieties. Typically, zombies serve more effectively as tough, front-line troops, while skeletons are better at hanging back and making ranged attacks.
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Now, skeletons might just be the better option overall. That’s because zombies have received a healthy debuff, while Skeletons have received a bonus to their Dexterity modifier. This raised their armor class and the damage they do with their bow and short sword, and they can now serve just like zombies in the front line.
4
Horses now work a little differently
New mounts for a new ruleset
There are Three types of horses that can serve as mounts: riding horse, draft horse, and war horse. All three get updated stats in the new one PHBAlthough none of them are very different from how they worked before. As always, riding horses are the fastest option, draft horses are the most powerful, and war horses can deal the most damage with their attacks.
The difference is only in how much each of the variants is better than the other in its specified tasks. Draft horses are now objectively worse, with lower health and damage. Riding horses make a little more of a trade, also with lower health, but also higher dexterity to reflect their speed and reflexes. The War Horse is still technically the strongest in combat of the three options, although its damage output is down. total, The horses are a little less distinguished than they once were.
3
Dire wolves feel more scrappy in how they fight
Lower defense, higher offense
While many of the animals in the rulebook have higher hit point totals than before, the dire wolf goes in the opposite direction. This may be necessary for balance, as the last 5th edition was heavily wolfed in combat at early levels. This new stat block lowers their defenses a bitMaking them easier to wallop in fights.
But the dire wolf received one important change in his offense. Now, when it charges a creature and attacks it, that creature is automatically prone. This used to require a saving throw from the hit creature, but now, a hit is all it takes. Creatures have advantage on melee attacks against prone targets, Making this beast great for setting up the rest of the party to get better hit chances. It may not be the tank it once was, but the heavy wolf still has a place in a moon droid’s arsenal.
2
Reef sharks can now move on land
Very slowly and not for long, but they can
Reef sharks are a common early choice for moon droids looking for a transformation that can fight underwater. The restriction of druids not taking the form of sea life until later levels has been liftedMaking the reef shark easier to access. It gets slightly better damage from its bite, but a more comical change comes in the form of its new walking speed.
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Most underwater, non-amphibious life in 5th edition has a walking speed of 0 feet, meaning on land they cannot move at all. The reef shark was like that, but somehow, in the last few years, it has developed the ability to walk very slowly across land. It has a five-foot walking speed now In addition to its swimming speed. This is probably just to illustrate how a shark can flop across land to cover short distances, but one can also imagine the new sharks having very small feet for marching towards land-bound enemies.
1
The lion has a new movement inspired by a player species
The 2024 Player’s Handbook includes the Leonine (in spirit)
Large, dangerous animals like lions, tigers and bears are also found in these 2024 Player’s Handbook. They stats are pretty much unchanged, at least in health and damage The lion in particular has new abilities it can use to scare prey. Mechanically, it is almost identical to a species ability available to the leonin in previous books.
This ability, roar, only allows lions to frighten nearby creatures for one turn if they fail a saving throw. It is simple, but effective, and a good feature for Beasts to affect the battlefield by doing more than just attacking. Some may say that the leonine ability is actually inspired by real-life lions, which is true. But it’s great to see the real animal get this terrible feature for itself.
All in all, the updated creature stat blocks reflect the changes in the rules Dungeons & Dragons in large. There are several options to make different creatures feel distinct, and the balance of health and damage has been tweaked. When the new Monster Manual finally comes out later this year, it will be revealed whether the changes are also reflected in the creatures player parties are likely to fight.
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