Dungeons and Dragons' new Monster Manual will contain a surprising number of new monsters. As part of D&D's 50th anniversary celebration, Wizards of the Coast is releasing new versions of the game's core rulebooks. Each of these rulebooks has received major overhauls, with revised rules for the game's current Fifth Edition ruleset, new art, and new layouts that are much easier to read. Until now, the Player Handbook and the Dungeon Master's Guide were released with the third and final rulebook, the Monster Manualscheduled for release in February 2025.
In a recent post in D&D beyondWizards of the Coast revealed that the Monster Manual would contain more than 85 new monsters. Although Wizards had already revealed that the rulebook would contain over 500 monsters (a significant upgrade from the 2014 rulebook). Monster Manual, which contained approximately 300 monsters), this is the first confirmation of how many would be completely new. The book will also contain more than 300 new illustrations, showing the different types of monsters found in the game.
What will be in D&D's 2025 Monster Manual?
More than 500 monsters will appear in the new rulebook
Although details about the Monster Manual still relatively scarce, Wizards noted that the book will contain more high and low Challenge Rating (CR) monsters to help diversify campaigns. For example, the new Manua MonsterContains low-CR vampire variants for low-level adventurers to face, along with a new Vampire Nightbringer that serves as a threat in higher-tier campaigns. By comparison, the 2014 Monster Manual contains a CR 5 Vampire Spawn and a CR 13 Vampire. Other confirmed new monsters include the Blob of Annihilation and an archwitch.
The new Monster Manual will also update and simplify various monster stat blocks to rebalance them. For many monsters with higher CR, this means the monsters will attack harder and have new abilities or attacks. Legendary Reactions and Lair Actions have also been removed and replaced in favor of monsters with multiple reactions that can be activated in specific circumstances. Ideally, these changes will help make Dungeons and Dragons'combat feels much more dynamic and engaging with minimal effort from DMs.
Our Take: We Can't Wait to See the Monster Changes
The Monster Manual gets a much-needed update
Of the three revised core rulebooks, I'm excited to see the 2025 Monster Manual the most. Most of my main problems with Dungeons and Dragons as a combat system comes from the fact that high-level combat often becomes hard work, with monsters serving as little more than low-power HP punching bags.
By giving monsters more activities, combat should become much more exciting and will encourage players to be creative during their turn rather than doing the same thing over and over again. I can't wait to see what changes are in store Dungeons and Dragons monsters, big and small, next year.
Source: D&D beyond