Dungeons & Dragons' newMonster Manualwill contain a surprising number of brand-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 artwork, and new layouts that are much more reader-friendly. So far, thePlayer’s Handbookand theDungeon Master’s Guidehave been released with the third and final rulebook, theMonster Manual, due out in February 2025.
In a recent poston D&D Beyond, Wizards of the Coast revealed that theMonster Manualwould contain over 85 brand-new monsters. While Wizards had previously revealed that the rulebook would containover 500 monsters(a significant upgrade over the 2014Monster Manual,which contained approximately 300 monsters), this is the first confirmation of how many would be entirely brand new. The book will also contain over 300 new illustrations, showcasing the many kinds of monsters found in the game.
What Will Be In D&D’s 2025 Monster Manual?
Over 500 Monsters Will Appear In New Rulebook
While details about theMonster Manualare still relatively scarce, Wizards has noted that the book will contain more high and low Challenge Rating (CR) monsters to help diversify campaigns. For instance, the newMonster Manual will contain low CR variants of vampires for low-level adventurers to face, along witha new Vampire Nightbringer that serves as a threat in higher-level campaigns. By comparison, the 2014 Monster Manual contains a Vampire Spawn at CR 5 and a Vampire at CR 13. Other new monsters confirmed include the Blob of Annihilation and an arch-hag.
The newMonster Manualwill also update and streamline various monster statblocks to rebalance them. For manyhigher CR monsters, this means that the monsters will hit harder and have new abilities or attacks.Legendary Reactions and Lair Actions were also removedand replaced in favor of monsters having multiple reactions that can be activated under specific circumstances. Optimally, these changes will help makeDungeons & Dragons' combat feel much more dynamic and engaging with minimal effort by DMs.
Our Take: We Can’t Wait To See The Monster Changes
The Monster Manual Gets A Much-Needed Upgrade
Of the three revised Core Rulebooks, I’m excited to see the 2025Monster Manualthe most. Most of my major issues withDungeons & Dragonsas a combat system come from the fact thathigh-level combat often becomes a slog,with monsters serving as little more than low-energy HP punching bags.
By giving monsters more to do, combat should become a lot more exciting and will encourage players to get creative during their turn instead of doing the same thing over and over again. I can’t wait to see what changes are in store forDungeons & Dragonsmonsters, both big and small, next year.
