OK, so I really dig what Wizards did with the MM. Imho, maybe the best MM every published (and a crazy turn-around from the 4e MM, which was horrible).
So, any new out there on an MM2? Looking through the MMs has always been one of my most enjoyable things about being a DM. I'm really stoked at the prospects of a new MM, but I've heard nothing about one being in the works. Anyone else?
Side Note...what do you want to see in the MM2? What's not covered already, that should make it's 5e inagural appearance? I'll post a few here, just to get us started...
Catoblepas
Huecuva
Draconians
Kopru
Mud-Men
Cave Crickets
Anything Dark Sun
More NPCs
Other ideas?
None of those are worth another $50 to me. I'll pass.
I would like to see the Demon Lords and Arch Devils that appeared in the 1e MM1 & MM2. Maybe garganuta (aka - Kaiju/Giant Monsters). I can't think of anything else off the top of my head, but I too always enjoy another Monster manual.
There are plenty of classic D&D monsters that need an update. The Spriggan comes to mind.
Fifth Edition Foes, by Necromancer Games has scratched my more monsters itch well enough for the time being. As for MM2, well, I'd be very intersted in the contents, but I'd want to buy it from Amazon or B&N for well under the cover price. (Yes, I'm a cheapskate who doesn't support my FLGS, the failure of the hobby is all my fault.)
Shadar-kai. Firbolgs. Phoenixes. Thunderbirds. Catastrophic Dragons and/or Gem Dragons. The other Chromatic and Metallic Dragons (Purple, Brown, Grey, Adamantine, Iron, Steel, Mercury, Cobalt, Orichalcum, and Mithral). Court Eladrin – Bralanis, Coures, etc. Vryloka. Were-Crocodiles. Shades. Catfolk. Skulks. Wilden/Killoren. Illumians. The other varieties of Gith. Gods. Demon Princes. Archdevils. Primordials. Archfey. Great Old Ones - including Far Stars like Allabar. Muls. Draconians. Kender. More varieties of common races and monsters. The usual. The Lady of Pain. There's plenty of territory to expand into.
Hitdice wrote:
ModusPonens wrote:
i would like to see more variety of humanoid opponents [ orc skald, goblin hexer, hobgoblin battlemaster, ogre brute, etc.], giant bugs, monstrous hazards, minor planar monsters, NPC roster, and most importantly a list of monster abilities for ease of plug in for other templates [pack tactics for instance] allowing me to mod monsters as needed. i like low level critters to populate my world. monsters that support optional rules from DMG could be interesting. hostile terrain?
specifically
genie types
tween
babbler
son of kyuss
rakasta
tortle
lupin
nagpa
belabra
darkenbeast
aspis
spiretop drake
common dragonet
dweomervore monster?
curse/hazard such as memory moss, bookworm, throat leech, hound of ill omen, luck cat, etc
You know, the first monster manual had some rules for squads of goblins, hobgoblins, kobolds, orcs... they had abilities different from what a PC would have and that informed the way they fight.
Why should that be done only for races that aren't playable? What is with giving generic NPC entries for all the player races.
There should be stats for Elves with some sort of NPC ability that reinforces how Elves fight and the same thing done for Dwarves- there should be a bit difference between facing those two things.
And, of course, Dragonborn, Gnomes and Halflings too.
Other than that, I tend to get the impression that MM2s end up becoming the book of
"Oh, that thing has interesting mechanics. I guess I'll use it." rather than a "Okay, I need stats for X that naturally arose during the coarse of this story."
I’ll second the recommendation of Fifth Edition Foes. Especially if a person happens to be looking for some of the classic monsters that didn’t make the cut to 5e (including the Catoblepas).
I do think that we’ll see an MM2 in time, without a doubt. What DM doesn’t want more monsters?
Hitdice wrote:
Yes to more monsters!
Hebitsuikaza wrote:
Some neat suggestions and a few creatures I've not thought of or forgot about.
I would rather see some NPC catalog.
Would a themed monster manual be cool?
One geared toward fey.
One geared toward demons.
And others?
I would like the kind of story focused NPC's and monsters in Threats to the Nentir Vale. I got so much traction out of the book, plus it's just a delight to read.
I think a mix of monsters and NPCs is cool. I do like the list of generic NPC types at the end of the the current MM. I could always use more of that type of format.
A new MM is far down the list of what books I´d want to see published. If they were to publish one I´d prefer it to contain almost nothing but humanoids (including perhaps Giants and monstrous humanoids) with extensive info on culture, personality, lairs with maps etc, options for player character versions, perhaps a new suitable subclass options, ideas for including them into excising fantasy setting etc. Work from the list included in the June survey or simply take the most common types of humanoids, plus expanding on the ones already included in MM1.
What I'd really like, and would happily pay another $50 for, is a Monster Manual Unplugged that takes maybe 20 or 25 of the most popular monsters and scales them up or down to different challenge ratings. Sort of like Dragons, with their various ages. We've got a few variants like Orc War Chiefs or Gnoll Pack Lord, but I don't even need new titles.
It’s pretty easy to increase the level of monsters in 5e, but I agree, it’d be very useful to have more higher level versions of the basics ready to go.
Elfcrusher wrote:
FrogReaver wrote:
MacEochaid wrote:
Kazadvorn wrote:
What's wrong with using the monsters from those books?
Tyranny of Dragons introduced back Drakes, gave us various Dragon Cultists – humans trying to transform into Dragons – and stats for Tiamat herself.
Elemental Evil introduced back the Elemental Myrmidons (called Archons in 4e), gave us various elemental cultists – various races trying to summon the Elemental Princes – as well as stats for each of the 4 Elemental Princes.
If only for those stats, I picked up those books.
I feel there are many monsters missing, but off the top of my head, Gibberlings or Nymph.
I need more mid and higher level threats, and more NPCs, and mid-level humanoids. Specifics are less important than those generalizations for me.
Grigs. Brownies. Barghests.
The list goes on and on. The best resource for these, in my opinion, is Jared von Hindman.
such as this list – http://www.headinjurytheater.com/article73.htm
Marandahir wrote:
The barghest and the nymph are the two monsters that I noticed were lacking in the Monster Manual. I'll be expecting them in the MM2 whenever it releases.
whatisaman wrote:
Monster Manual 2, definitely.
More monsters would be awesome, of course, but it would be great if it had more "stock" NPC foes in it, too, and customization templates that can be applied to quickly boost/cut different foes. For instance, let's say that the party is level 10 but you have monsters of CR 14 or CR 7. You'd like to have a more on-level foe and either have to level up the CR 7 or level down the CR 14. I do this by feel well, but templates can really help folks who aren't nearly so adept at it. And cool templates inspire stories.
Example: Two templates, Prodigy and Decripit that added or subtracted some extra hit dice and damage and changed around powers, you could boost the CR 7 up to CR 9 and the CR 14 down to CR 12. Might make a good story with memorable monsters, too: The first monster is young and brash and tougher than it should be, while the old one has too many battle scars to really function well. There could be several boost templates and several cut ones. For instance, a "fiend-touched" boost tempate implies that the creature "did a deal with the devil" somehow. Cut might be the result of a failed deal with the devil, or the result of being cursed.
Same here. I’ve been reskinning and repurposing the cultists from Temple in a number of ways and it’s been working out quite well.
Marandahir wrote:
Zardnaar wrote:
Clerics could use some more celestials for Conjure Celestial (and as a DM I like having them to challenge the murderhobos when they get too murderhobo-y). Phoenix and nymph would be good. More yugoloths too. How about some more hags and other fey types (so that you could use Conjure Fey to conjure fey instead of big animals)? Speaking of conjure, I wonder what CR 8 and CR 9 elementals would look like (myrmidon commanders perhaps). Did I mention linnorms and sea serpents? Finally, if we have a Shadowfell, we could use some more shadow-y critters to occupy it.
FrogReaver wrote:
MechaPilot wrote:
Xvart
More low level fodder is important.
I noticed many things that were missing from MM showed up in other adventure supplements, such as the drakes (ambush drakes were in Hoard of the Dragon Queen, for instance). I would like to see official entries for enemies like that.
Also, I think it would be nice to see the basic player races, represented by common archetypes of their race, such as combining the NPC stat blocks with unique things about those races, and possibly one unique stat block for that race only that doesn't use a generic NPC stat block.
Also, more NPC stat blocks at the end of the book would be helpful, perhaps higher level ones, maybe have rules for leveling up some of those NPC stats with abilities at higher hit dice with challenge rating. IDK, perhaps that's just too redundant, but I like convenience.
It seems like the AP's are going to give us a lot of low level cultists and higher level bosses, but CR 8-15 seems neglected by them, so that is an area I would like to see get some love in a second MM. That being said, more low level and high level types are always appreciated.
I'm probably the only person who liked the 4E monster manual, hu? I'll fully admit it was lacking in interesting fluff to read, but I found the monsters in it to be far more useful. Heck, minus their lairs, the dragons in 5E are all basically the same thing (sure, breath weapons). In 4E, each dragon type was so different they occupied different roles; the white would blare through your front lines and trample everyone, the red would stand proud and fight, the blue would lay waist with a plethora of ranged attacks, the green would confuse and beguile, and the black would attack and then hide to strike again. Even 3E's dragons were more differentiated than 5E's dragons.
The humanoids were all the same, again calling upon the DM to use NPC stats to make varied humanoids instead of giving us a sizable number of each (the orcs were done right).
Plus, I liked having a god's stats right off the bat, but that's a certain playstyle.
So, my hope for a MM2 is that we get more versions of some of the iconic monsters. More beholders, more dragons, more goblinoids.
Marandahir wrote:
Xeviat-DM wrote: