Monster Manual 2024 - Book Review
With the final core book of the new 2024 Dungeons & Dragons ruleset out, it is finally time to get to my favorite part of the game… the monsters! Nothing is more exciting, for me, than finding (or creating) awesome monsters to throw at my parties. Especially monsters that can be behind the scenes, like an oni who takes control of a thieves’ guild or a key role in a government.
So, without further ado, let’s jump into the Monster Manual.
Monster Manual
There are 509 stat blocks in the book. I had to count it because everyone just kept repeating “over 500”. So there you have it, the real number of stats. I feel like it should be more than that for them to use the phrase “over 500” but that’s just me being fussy. 509 is more than 500.
Review
I’m not going to force you to read my entire post just to know what I think. Here is an abbreviated review, followed by a closer look at the book.
3.5/5
I don’t want to be the guy who is always upset about Dungeons & Dragons—when I really like it! But it’s not the only game I play. I don’t feel like I have to force myself to grit my teeth and say something is good when it isn’t.
And while this isn’t me gritting my teeth, I would be lying if I said I was a bit disappointed. There are a lot of things I like, a lot of things I find frustrating, and just areas I wish that Wizards would improve on, like making more interesting monsters!
In fact, there isn’t even a system in this edition for creating monsters. Their advice is just to reskin an existing monster, which feels a bit hostile to people who like to create homebrew monsters and 3rd party publishers. Wizards does not want us to create things outside their control because they want the consumer to spend money only with them, not 3rd party publishers.
Monster Manual, 2025 Wizards of the Coast / Carlo Arellano
Art
The first thing I will tackle is the thing I’ve been seeing the most buzz about and irks me a bit. I keep hearing over and over how great the art is in this book. I hear that far more than anything else.
Which… like, neat… but also, like… that’s not the point of this book (IMO).
The point of a Monster Manual book is to have exciting monster game mechanics, ideas to help Game Masters introduce these monsters in their games, how to utilize monsters in an encounter, and information on how to create monsters.
When people just talk about how great the art is, it makes me think that no one is looking at the stat blocks. The art is way cooler than monster stats, and that doesn’t excite me. I want way cooler monster stats. I want people to be talking about how great the monster mechanics are, not just talking about the ‘fluff’.
That said, the art does look good. I mostly appreciate that every piece of art has the artist who did it, which makes it very easy for me to give credit to artists when we use that art on this site. Artists should be credited for their work.
Organization
A big change in this book is the organization. No longer are creatures in alphabetical order based on their ‘family of monsters’, but rather just based on the monster name (sort of). This means if you want to find a Chain Devil, you would go to the C section of the book (for Chain Devil) instead of the D section of the book (for Devil).
Monster Manual, 2025 Wizards of the Coast / Michael Broussard
While this makes it very easy to turn to that page in the book during an encounter, it has the drawback that it is frustrating to know where all the devils are in the book. Or all the dragons. Or yugoloths, or genies, humanoids, etc. Those families of monsters have been ripped apart and scattered.
For me, that makes it difficult for when I want to see all my Devil options. Now I have to remember them all and flip through the book trying to find them and one with an appropriate CR.
HOWEVER, before anyone corrects me, on page 381, there is a table for “Monsters By Group” that provides 12 monster family groups and which monsters are part of it. So like, I can see that Devils has 11 entries under it, but sadly doesn’t show me their CR so I still have to flip through the book to find which one is an appropriate challenge for my party.
The other thing we are losing with this new organization is that we no longer get generic information about the monster family. Looking at my previous example, Devils does not have general information about the Devils, like how they live in the Nine Hells, their favorite vacation spots, or how they interact with one another. Instead, you only get information about a specific Devil and nothing else to describe their society.
So we are losing information about them that we could use to get ideas and inspiration for long-flowing adventures and quests. For Devils, we also lose the Infernal Hierarchy we had in the previous book, letting us know the difference between Lesser Devils, Greater Devils, and Archdevils. The same goes for generic information about Dragons, Angels, and other family groups.
I have very mixed feelings about this new style of organization. On one hand, it makes it easy to flip to the monster you need during an encounter. On the other hand, it makes it harder to find monsters that you need for your prep, and you’re losing information that can help you prep your campaign, like a Devil Hierarchy or the tension between different colors of dragons.
Final side note, I went through all of this only to realize that all of the Slaads are in the same place, as well as Modrons, Kuo-Toa, and a big section for just animals in the back. Which feels right but does not fit the other bits of organization in here.
Especially as the Naga are all separated in the book. Even more maddeningly, in the Index, Guardian Naga comes after Guard, but in the actual book, Guardian Naga (page 161) comes before Guard (page 162).
One last example, as I pull out my hair, is the Death Tyrant, which is separated from the Beholder. It doesn’t feel consistent. It just feels frustrating.
Stat Blocks
They’ve changed the stat block design, and I think most of the changes are good. It’s way easier to see what saving throw is needed for an effect. I like that creatures now have ‘magic attacks’ instead of spells (but there is a problem in how you rule counterspell which makes it harder to block or stymie your enemies), and there are some small quality of life things as well, like listing gear.
However, there is a dire elephant in the room that I have to complain about. What is going on with the Ability Scores? You have the Ability Score, then the Ability Modifier, and then the Saving Throw. Three numbers are right next to each other.
But for most creatures, the last two numbers are the exact same. It just looks dumb and like someone forgot to change something. I look at it, and it just looks dumb. I get the intent, but it just makes me think there is a mistake.
In addition, can we get rid of Ability Scores for monsters? Do we really need that number when you could just have the modifier and call it good enough? What are we losing by removing the Ability Score? Super niche situations where a shadow attacks a monster and you need to know whether their Ability Score for their modifier is even or odd? Just assume it is even.
If a creature has an Intelligence of 8, I don’t play them differently than if they had an Intelligence of 9. Just give me the -1 modifier and call it a day.
In addition, it seems like everything has had a few minor buffs. I’m seeing more hit points, slightly higher damage output, and Initiative is finally separated and a few creatures get to add their Proficiency Bonus to it.
One thing that hasn’t changed is that many of these monsters are just boring to run. The Griffon, for example, just makes two Rend attacks. The Grick does a Bite and Tentacle attack. These just deal damage or deal damage and add on a Grapple, but little else in the way of fun mechanical effects.
You can give attacks all sorts of different names, but it all boils down to Claw, Claw, Bite. Basic attacks that deal basic damage, and are just boring to run. That said, it does look like there was an effort made to give some monsters interesting effects… unless you’re an animal. In which case, you get nothing. Just a bite or a claw. Boring.
I also just want to take a moment, now that I have your attention, to stand on a soap box and complain. Why is a Lion only CR 1? A Hyena is CR 0, but a Mastiff is CR 1/8?
Every edition of Dungeons & Dragons feels like they just insult animals by giving them way too low of CR. Perhaps it is because they want people to think how dangerous a dragon must be if a lion is only CR 1, but it just feels disrespectful. I think a lion should be at least CR 3. And an hyena should have a higher CR than a small octopus at CR 0! That’s the same CR as an Owl and you’re telling me that a Hyena and an Owl have the same chance to kill me!?
The only animals given any respect are the dinosaurs, but I still think CR 8 is too low for a T-Rex. I bet if we had a T-Rex fight an Abominable Yeti, the T-Rex is winning. It’s just disrespectful.
Monster Manual, 2025 Wizards of the Coast / Kai Carpenter
Lore
There just isn’t much to say here. The lore is being eradicated from the monsters in place of larger pieces of art. For some people, that’s a plus, for me, that’s a negative. I love reading Ecology of articles from old Dungeon magazines. I like someone spending way too much time thinking about how a monster might live and breathe in the world.
When you start removing lore, you start getting boring, samey monsters. Lore should inform the mechanics of a monster. If the lore says a monster uses a light on its head to attract prey, its stat block should have a mechanical effect for using the light to charm creatures. It’s that simple.
Concluding the Monster Manual
I don’t want to be the person who just hates on the newest and latest. My first edition of Dungeons & Dragons is 5th edition. This is just updating 5e and refining it. I don’t want to hate it. I want Dungeons & Dragons to excite me!
Monster Manual, 2025 Wizards of the Coast / Olivier Bernard
But this book is a bit meh for me. I like some things and I dislike other things. It’s a mix bag. It’s a bag that looks full, but when you dig into it, is pretty bare bones.
Do I recommend this book?
If you’re playing Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition and don’t have the original Monster Manual, yes, get this book (or find the 2014 for cheap and grab that one). If you have the 2014 book, I’d only recommend getting the book if $50 isn’t a big deal to you and you’re tired of the monsters in the 2014 version. Otherwise, just give your monsters a few more hit points, increase the damage die for their attacks, and you’ll be in pretty much the same shape as the 2024 Monster Manual (and you’ll have a lot more lore and be used to the organization of that book).
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