Well, folks. I did it. It took me most of the day, but I've read through the entire 2025 Monster Manual (ok, I'll confess that I skimmed the Animals section - though I did note that some creatures, like Giant Eagles, are actually classified as Celestials and thus not suitable for Wild Shape/Polymorph anymore).
What are my broad takeaways?
Well, first things first: the vast majority of the stat blocks presented here are updates to old ones. We've seen refinements to spellcasting monsters much as we did in Monsters of the Multiverse, and while I wasn't going and comparing every single creature to its 2014 version, there's a definite sense that many are tougher than they were.
There are a few ways this was achieved:
First off, HP. Creatures like the Lich or the Mummy Lord now actually have enough HP to last more than a round (Mummies are still vulnerable to fire, though). A simple-enough but welcome change.
Next, I think a lot of monsters that used to have to first hit you with an attack and then have you fail a saving throw to impose a condition now just do it on the hit. A Mind Flayer, for example, simply grapples and stuns anyone it hits with its Tentacles, giving the party one chance to get them off before they do their Extract Brain.
Also, damage generally has been increased, especially among high-level monsters. That being said, the thing I really pay attention to is hit chance - a creature that does the same damage when it hits with a +7 to hit versus one with a +12 to hit is actually going to do significantly less damage overall.
Next, they have really, really committed to the idea that Humanoid creatures are only represented by species-neutral NPC stat blocks. There are no Drow or Orc stat blocks here, as those are playable humanoids. However, this also means that any creatures that are explicitly featured here have had their creature types changed. Off the top of my head:
Aaracokra are now Elementals
Goblins (and all other Goblinoids) are now Fey
Merfolk are now Elementals
Gnolls are now Fiends
Sahuagin are now Fiends
Lizardfolk are now Elementals
Yuan-Ti are now Monstrosities
Thir-Kreen are now Monstrosities (actually in line with their Spelljammer playable option)
Centaurs are now Fey (likewise in line with their playable option)
I might be forgetting some (I think Satyrs were always fey, right?)
A few other creatures had their creature types changed as well. Oni, for example, are no longer Giants but are now Fiends, and no longer lore-tied to Ogres (though my understanding is that in Japanese culture, they're kind of both ogres and demons). Sphinxes are now Celestials instead of Monstrosities (but still Lawful Neutral).
In a lot of ways, I think that the efforts to inject nuance into the various creatures of D&D, treating the aforementioned former humanoids as complex beings with less rigid identities and alignments seems to have been pulled back. I'm of two minds about this: I like a nuanced fantasy world, but I also understand the need for intelligent monsters to fight. Granted, I think it's important to remember that the DM can always reintroduce complexity - I, for one, really think I'd prefer to play up the Fey aspect of goblinoids from here on out, making them less malicious than perhaps just mischievous.
The invitation, it seems, is to treat humanoids as truly "people" with all the positives and negatives that implies, and to allow these creatures to be a little more alien - not necessarily bad, even, but just less likely to have a shared moral/ethical baseline.
The book introduces new, different-CR variants of several creatures. Some of these feel like they play a truly different role, like adding magical effects and ranged attacks, while others are more or less just CR-adjustments. The Death Knight Aspirant, for example, is really pretty much just a CR 11 version of the Death Knight, with the legendary actions and legendary resistance the true DK got removed. It still has a Hellfire Orb, but it does 6d6 fire and 6d6 necrotic instead of 10d6 and 10d6. In fact, this might serve you better as a Lich's minions than the prime DK because of how it's toned down.
I will say that, running a high-level campaign might skew my sense of power level here. For one thing, many of my players have really high ACs, above 20, and so when I see a monster with a +9 to hit, I think of that as actually missing more than half the time.
As a big fan of gothic, undead monsters, I was excited to see the Vampire "tribe" grow from 2 stat blocks to 5. The Umbral Lord is the highest CR of these, though at 15 it's just two higher than the classic Vampire. This one has some magical abilities, like a Recharge-based Hunger of Hadar.
I'm also happy to see some higher-level Blights, with the Tree Blight (CR 7) and the Gulthias Blight (CR 16).
Naturally, some of the headliners are the Titans. The Colossus is not quite like a Warforged Colossus, but it has similar elements, including a beam attack with a Dex save DC of 26, meaning that basically, if you don't have Dex save proficiencies, you just aren't going to succeed against it.
The Tarrasque got some love - its Dex save bonus went up from +0 to +9, and it now has a recharging 150-foot cone attack roar that will do a pretty hefty amount of thunder damage and both frighten and deafen you. Interestingly, its Reflective Carapace is slightly nerfed, no longer bouncing back line-shaped AoE spells like Lightning Bolt. But it's also now resistant to all bludgeoning/piercing/slashing damage, which will really slow down your martial characters who try to grind through its 697 HP (which I think is maybe slightly more than the old one had?) Oh, and that Thunderous Bellow's DC? 27. Good luck.
One of the very welcome additions here is an expansion of the various humanoid NPC "tribes," with several versions of, say, Bandits, or Scouts, or Performers. Cultists in particular get a lot - there are three "catch-all" cultists, with the familiar Cultist and Cultist Fanatic, plus the new Cultist Hierophant. But there are also a few type-of-cult-specific options - oddly all CR 8, including Fiendish, Aberrant, Death, and Elemental cultists. These feel like they can be good minions for a high-level monster, like Death Cultists serving a Lich or Fiendish Cultists serving a Pit Fiend or something. None of these NPC stat blocks get super-high - I think that they cap out around CR 12 or so - but it does mean that you should be able to have some pretty serious tier 2 and even tier 3 villains.
Now, in terms of demons, devils, and yugoloths, I don't think we have any brand-new ones here. Actually, that's not quite true: we've got swarm variants on Lemures, Larvae, Manes, and Dretches. There's also a Manes Vaporspawn, which is only CR 1, but a little scarier than the standard version.
To a large extent, boring old monsters that were just a sack of hit points and some basic attacks have been given at least one cool thing. I think the only exception here is the Ogre, who remains just dumb muscle.
Another change, and one that I'm a little less happy about, is that certain monsters that required specific materials to damage have more or less just lost those features. Lycanthropes are no longer specially damaged by silver weapons - except that Silvered Weapons are now a common magic item that affects shapechangers. But I had been hoping for a Loup-Garou-style health regeneration.
Going through this, there certainly are some creatures that have inspired some potential adventures or plot points. Now, what remains is to see how these play.
Of course, my primary job as DM is to run a campaign for 17th level characters, so most of these things are way-too-low level to pose any significant threat to them. It'll be exciting to start a new campaign with this as my primary monster book.
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