So, there's an extensive bestiary in Ravenloft Horrors Within, but I'll warn you: most of them are revisions of the creatures presented in Van Richten's.
To be fair, there have A: been several new additions and B: they've made some refinements (though in one case, I'm a bit upset about it) and C: there's also a new bespoke statblock for every featured Darklord (though the line-up has changed a little from Van Richten's, gaining a few but losing some others, as the featured domains aren't the exact same list). I'll be covering those in a separate post (again, just giving vibes and gist). There are also named NPCs like Rudolph Van Richten or Madam Eva who aren't Darklords but whom I'll cover in the Darklord post.
I believe every monster from Van Richten's has a reprint, from the Carrionette to the Greater Star Spawn Emissary.
So, let's go over the new monsters. I'm not going to give a full breakdown of their stats (at a certain point I worry about copyright infringement, but also because I don't have the energy to do so) but I'll give the vibes and I think intended uses of the new monsters.
Elder Thing:
One of several monsters taken directly from the stories of HP Lovecraft, the Elder Things are I think technically plants (though as for creature type, they're aberrations) that had an ancient civilization in what is now Antarctica in the story At the Mountains of Madness. These are CR 14 large aberrations that can fly very fast, and has attacks that can charm, punish spellcasting, and inflict exhaustion.
Gremishka:
While this was featured in Van Richten's, I wanted to note that the monsters are now a single stat block and always CR 2. Their magic allergy just changes them into a medium swarm of tiny creatures and alters some of their attacks after regaining some HP. Basically your Gremlins.
Gug:
Another monster from Lovecraft (though I don't recall which story,) Gugs are Huge CR 12 aberrations that act as meaty brutes who can restrain and kind of chew several creatures that they stick in the maw that splits their faces vertically.
Mi-Go:
Another Lovecraft monster, I think from "Fungi from Yuggoth," as these are actually fungal monsters who come from Pluto (aka "Yuggoth") and have weird technology with which they use to steal brains. Medium CR 9 Aberrations, they can fly and pry peoples' brains out to put in canisters (which might become something like a Brain in a Jar).
Mist Horror:
CR 3 Large undead, these are cloud-like spirits who are invisible within fog or mist (including The Mists of Ravenloft) and can inflict psychic damage and fear.
Mist Wanderer:
This represents people who travel through the Mists, and can certainly be used as your default statblock for the Vistani, the itinerant peoples who call all domains their homes. Killing one can inflict a curse on you, and they have a little more spellcasting.
Mordenheim's Monster:
First off, WotC? We know you know exactly what you were doing with this art. The "step on me, mommy" of flesh golems, these are significantly beefed-up versions at CR 12. They seem suited for brutal hit-and-run tactics, and can grab and then either crush or throw grappled creatures, and have a bonus action leap that can deal AoE damage. Naturally, Elise, Viktra Mordenheim's former lover that she resurrected as a flesh golem, is the prime example of this creature, but other creations of hers can take this form.
Nightgaunt:
Another Lovecraft monster (though again, I don't recall from which story,) Nightgaunts are somewhat dmeonic/gargoyle-looking monsters that swoop down, grab victims, and then can rocket up into the sky either to keep their victim away from friends or potentially just drop them. Oh, and their heads unfold like the demogorgons from Stranger Things. At CR 8, they're the lowest-CR of the Lovecraft monsters.
Relentless Nightmare:
An addition to the family of slasher-movie monsters (though I can't recall if this is basically the one from Vecna Eve of Ruin,) the Relentless Nightmare curses targets with its spear, preventing them from recovering from exhaustion and then also inflicting exhaustion with their gaze. They're a legendary CR 11 fiend, and so a little less powerful than the Juggernaut in theory, but exhaustion is nasty and, worse, if it still has cursed targets, it can't permanently die, eventually respawning near one of them. (Basically, the Freddy Kreuger to the Juggernaut's Jason Vorhees).
Shoggoth:
Another Lovecraft monster, and one also from At the Mountains of Madness, these were created as servitors to the Elder Things, but rebelled. They're conceptually similar to a Gibbering Mouther, though they don't absorb victims. They can grapple foes and then potentially launch them. Interestingly, they're particularly susceptible to being charmed, and they love being subjected to extreme cold. They're Huge CR 11 aberrations, and can swim and climb.
Strahd Skeleton:
Empowered skeletal soldiers, Strahd Skeletons are CR 4 and have undead fortitude and a vampiric sword that reduces max HP with its necrotic damage.
Waxworth:
Constructs made of wax to imitate a humanoid person, they seek to kill and replace the people they're based on, and might even forget what they are if they succeed. They can slow targets with gobs of wax, but also slow themselves if they start to melt because of fire damage (to which they are vulnerable).
Yithian:
The last Lovecraft monster (other than Cthulhu,) Yithians are strange alien scholars, CR 15 Large aberrations, from the story The Shadow Out of Time. Not necessarily malevolent in intent, they still do some messed up things. They can possess people and vanish as their will takes over the person's body, and they can grab and drain life out of targets.
Returning Monster Changes:
Again, I'm not going to go in super deep, and monsters where I didn't notice any profound changes I've left out, but here are some takeaways:
Dullahans:
These are no longer legendary (indeed, in Van Richten's, they used the short-lived Mythic tech). They can still behead people, and in this case, the heads they take become Death's Heads. They also have some ways to inflict fear. They're also built to be mounted, with some features that help them protect their mounts. While not legendary, I think they're complex enough that I don't know I'd toss a ton of these at a party - better to have them show up at the absolute minimum level for a hard encounter (factoring in their mount, probably) to make them scary.
Gallows Speakers:
I believe these are now much bigger (they're Huge) and also possibly higher CR (6 - though I think they've generally been pretty strict about keeping them at the same CRs). They have an aura that can cause players to attack one another and a recharge ability that can terrify targets into shrieking along with it, preventing verbal components of spells.
Loup-Garou:
I actually loved that the Van Richten's version of this finally gave us a werewolf that truly required a silver bullet (or weapon of some sort) to take them down. Sadly, as the whole "silver" thing has been completely excised from werewolves in 5.5, the danger has shifted entirely into the werewolf's curse (and, you know, a bunch of damage). Like the lycanthropes in the Monster Manual, the bite inflicts a curse now that activates if the creature drops to 0 HP, turning them into a werewolf when this happens. It's still a legendary CR 13 monster (now a monstrosity, consistent with other 5.5 lycanthropes) but also, Harkon Lukas has his own separate stat block as well.
Relentless Slasher:
The lesser of the Relentless Killer monsters, this one no longer inflicts a bleed effect, instead just doing a ton of necrotic damage on a hit (which probably actually means it's doing more damage overall).
Relentless Juggernaut:
Sadly, there's less flavor of the environment working at the Juggernaut's will, like shards of glass or wooden spikes snagging fleeing characters. The art here, incidentally, seems to go more for Pyramid Head from Silent Hill 2, and I think this would be a reasonable stat block for that figure.
Strigoi:
These guys now have a very deadly attack that will leave behind nothing but skin if they kill a target with their proboscis. Also, they now have a recharge bonus action to summon a swarm of mosquitos around them that can poison and damage foes.
Unspeakable Horror:
The "modular statblock" idea that we had in some of the mid-5.0 books seems to have been abandoned, so we now just have a singular stat block for these amorphous monstrosities. They now lean into the warped and incomprehensible nature of them, giving disadvantage on all attacks against them as well as creating a fear aura that can paralyze foes. They seem quite nasty, frankly.
Vampiric Mind Flayer:
Their mind drain now inflicts exhaustion levels - a bit of monster tech that I anticipated with the redesign of exhaustion.
And there you have it.
Again, there are a lot of reprints here, but actually going through it, I think that the number of new monsters (and I haven't even covered Darklords and other named NPCs) is actually pretty hefty.
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