Wizards of the Coast is attempting to go even bigger with its upcoming Monster Manual, including some significantly larger monster types that might rival the game’s greatest predator known as the Tarrasque.
The book will now have monsters that represent the “apex threat of their creature type,” said Wizards of the Coast Game Director and Monster Manual Co-Lead Jeremy Crawford at a press conference. These include classic monsters like ancient dragons for dragons, the tarrasque for monstrosities and some other new options which will allow DMs to present high-level threats related to nearly every monster type in the game.
At the top of the Manual’s ranking of dangerous monsters remains the Tarrasque, a kaiju-sized monstrosity who is designed to decimate cities and fend off the strongest of adventurers. This level-30 challenge rating monster will remain the hardest monster to fight in the MM, Crawford confirmed, but players should also expect it to get some serious updates to its abilities. “If anyone has experienced a group of player characters who’ve attempted to attack the Tarrasque at long range while thinking “this thing can’t do anything to us, just meet the new Tarrasque. It will be blowing up buildings at long range, shutting down teleportation around it and a whole lot more.”
The Tarrasque has become a notable meme among some older D&D players despite its high AC, its resistance to magic and Godzilla-sized appearance. While the creature is intended to be a threat that scares the pantheon of deities in D&D, the creature’s stat block can be underwhelming in comparison to the cleverness of veteran players. TTRPG forum posters have spent years trying to brainstorm ways that they might be able to fight off the Tarrasque through simple tactics and an abuse of 5e’s mechanics, such as flying while wielding a magic weapon or the infamous “peasant railgun” (a mechanic that the 2024 rules have dismissed as viable.)
Crawford and Schneider did not share the stat block of the Tarrasque, making it unclear what sorts of changes players should anticipate.
Other new apex monsters that were added in the book include the Elemental Cataclysm, a walking sentient amalgamation of varying magic types in a reptillean body, and the Ooze of Annihilation an enormous slime-sized creature with the skull of a god sitting within it which threatens to subsume entire cities. The undead even get a new “apex” monster with the Haunting Revenant, an undead construct where the angry spirits of a graveyard inhabit a structure and use it to assault adventurers and innocent alike in a Monster House fashion. None of these monster were higher than the Tarrasque’s CR 30 rating, however.
Many of these creatures have had their high-level abilities balanced out and their stat sheets refined so that abilities like Legendary Actions and Lair actions are more prominent and easier to use in the midst of a high-intensity combat sequence.
The Monster Manual contains other less dangerous options for DMs as well to flavor their combat. For example, the book contains a variety of new options for cultists and skeletons, offering DMs more options to keep combat varied. For example, a cultist could wield elemental powers or aberrant powers, according to Principal Game Designer and Co-Lead Wesley Schneider. Skeletons could take a number of forms, from humanoids to minotaurs.
Most monster types come with several variants that will allow DMs to choose appropriate options. The elemental dwarf-like Azers, for example, will come in two types with a focus on melee combat or casting. There will also be new varieties of owlbears and vampires expected to release in the future.
The higher-level dragons are also receiving spellcasting options and expanded tools for defending themselves, giving them a bit more flexibility in the process.
Several creatures also come with new options for representation, such as dryads and hags coming in male and female forms. Others have had their creature type changed, such as kobolds being considered dragons or goblins as fey.
The end-goal of the book is to give DMs “more versatility, more gameplay and more opportunities to use them,” according to Schneider. These include offering options that allow players to use monster varieties at a number of levels and new tools to keep players on their toes.
D&D Beyond Master Tier subscribers will have access to the new Monster Manual starting on Feb. 4, 2025. Hero tier players will also have access on Feb. 11, while the physical release of the book is expected on Feb. 18.
Images via Wizards of the Coast
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