I heavily homebrew poison, having studied neurobiology it pains me how simple and empty the poison mechanic works in DnD, it can be as deep as the Curse mechanic. I understand why it is simple of course, I just dont enjoy it so I make it much more specific, no thing as "general poison" with always the same effect and the same damage
@@boniakarloyou could also read the DMG and get access to 14 additional poisons, all with their own unique combination of delivery method and effects.
I didn't see it coming from you. I knew you probably had some early access but damn. Thanks for sharing, Colby! I was just talking to my friend about what the new Monster Manual might be like since we both DM in our respective games. Super excited to see you, Chris and the Dungeon Dudes on Insight Check's channel later this week.
Ooh, very cool! I'm all for monsters that hit harder and can keep up with/overtake the power creep inherent in 5.5 character builds. Combat is at it's most fun when it's tense and dangerous.
A good DM will know how to challenge their party. The specific monster stat blocks have nothing to do with it. Need more challenge? Get tougher monster or add more lower level monsters.
I enjoy that both PCs and monsters seem to ramp up more at higher levels. It's more clear separation between the lower tiers and the higher tiers of play so your players really feel their progress, and (hopefully) more confidence in the CR system. I love the ability to choose to be stunned or not! As a DM i always shy away from stun-using monsters as just skipping a player's turn feels terrible, so giving them a choice for stun or damage is a great mechanic I might immediately steal lol
It is good to see that WotC sees you as one of the better D&D content creators on UA-cam and have backed that up by partnering with you without dictating what you need to say.
A note about the Empyrean's resistance: the emphasis on crafting rules in the new version means that if you know you're fighting one beforehand, the Wizard can try to make a Flametongue beforehand to pierce through that resistance. Alternatively, the Vorpal Sword ignores all resistance.
These sneak peaks are heralding me back to 3.0 and 3.5 days. When the higher CR creatures were BONKERS and SUPER intimidating! YOU MUST work as a TEAM to take them down. YES!
The new art is such a banger. I love how there's two different examples, showing how the angellic servants of the gods are just as varied as the gods themselves
2:49 if they wanted to make life easy for DMs, under *Bonus Actions,* the new CR 1 *Empyrean Iota* should simply have: _"Healing Word (1/day spell). A creature that the empyrean can see within 60 feet regains 2d4 + 3 HP."_ I'm baffled that they ended up using: _"Healing Word (1/day). The empyrean casts Healing Word, using the same spellcasting ability as Spellcasting."_ Which means that DMs not only have to look up the spell description in the PHB, but also read through the rest of its statblock just to figure out that Wisdom is its spellcasting ability _(found in the 3rd line of "Spellcasting", it's 2nd option under "Actions"),_ which is a +3 bonus _(found in the 7th column under its stats):_
As nice as this would be, it absolutely wouldn't work for more complicated creatures with big lists of spells, the statblocks would become unmanageable It feels silly here because they only have the one spell but a part of design clarity and efficiency is making a format and this statblock just follows it like all the rest Also if they wrote it out like an ability the way you suggest it would no longer be a spell mechanically - and then other abilities such as counter spell would no longer interact with it So yeah I agree it sucks but it's absolutely necessary
@@joshgooding3273 No monsters have been able to cast spells with spell slots since the release of Monsters of the Multiverse. All spells are X times per day especially in the upcoming Monster Manual And yes counter spell will work on them it works on any spell - I'm not sure where you got this rule from? Just go read the spell it's in reaction to any spell with components regardless of how it is cast With your ruling players also wouldn't be able to counter spell lots of class features and also magic initiate and the like... That doesn't make any sense
@@joshgooding3273 counterspell would work, counterspell works on any spell within 60 feet of you that is being cast with a somatic, verbal, or material component. Only interaction with spell slots is, if counterspell is successful, then the spell slot is not consumed
@@joshgooding3273I don't think that's the case, Counterspell's casting time description: "Reaction, which you take when you see a creature within 60 feet of yourself casting a spell with Verbal, Somatic, or Material components". The only place in the spell where spell slots are mentioned is in its description, at the end: "IF that spell was cast with a spell slot, the slot isn't expended". That "if" there at the end suggests to me that you CAN actually counter a spell that didn't require a spells slot, it's just that if the spell happens to use a slot, the caster doesn't lose it.
Although you didn't mention it, it also seems that the XP associated with the CR ranking went up considerably. So although the CR remained the same, the balancing formula is still adjusted. Between this, the new encounter balancing guidelines in the DMG, and the changes in the PHB, I wonder how well encounter balancing is going to work when all the dust settles.
This is actually very cool for them to do. They could legit just showcase all these monsters on one of their own channels and just have constant content for themselves.
I think the change from “resistance/immunity to non magical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage” to just blanket resistance against those 3 damage types is a design decision alongside Weapon Masteries to encourage martial characters to invest in multiple weapons, rather than having one all-rounder weapon choice. For example, instead of a +X longsword you get a Flametongue Longsword or a Sunblade to use in situations where bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage is less valuable due to resistances or immunities. On the other hand, you can also always switch back to a normal sword or axe if you encounter an enemy that resists the damage of your magical weapons or if you think a certain Weapon Mastery buffing allies or debuffing enemies will be more useful in a fight that raw damage output. It’s a way of encouraging martial characters to branch out and be more well-rounded for those players who like tactics and strategy while also not forcing that kind of gameplay onto players who just wanna whack things with a sword.
Relying on the DM giving you a good weapon that does non-BPS damage isn’t ‘branching out’, its luck. The old ‘non-magical BPS immunity’ was terrible design but at least you knew if you had any magic weapon at all (basically any upgrade) it would bypass that stupid mechanic. This is the same issue but different. What I really want to know is if the God awful ‘immunity to all spells below X level’ is gone or still hanging around like a bad rash.
That partially only works if we assume they won't just give resistance to all three 90% of the time. Magical weapons that give decent alternative damage are pretty rare. Idk, maybe I'm just being pessimistic but I have this feeling.
That's exactly what I wanted to see from WotC presenting their Monster Manual, cover at least 1 Monster per video with the change from 2014. I like their designer's feedback but also need examples. From that and some other Monster leakes/shown so far that new MM seem really worth it
High level groups are generally regarded as unkillable , if these changes spice things up a bit and add jeopardy I'm all for it . Thanks for sharing Colby and keep up the good work :-)
I always thought the biggest problem with 5e was monster design, so excited to see it's improving. Still will have to see if it's worth using the new monster manual over the fantastic options from Flee, Mortals! though I'm sure I'll keep using a mix of both
Interesting that the XP for a CR23 creature has jumped from 32,500 to 50,000. Given the DMG encounter guidance is based on XP, this looks like the standard for encounters won’t be quite as tough as we might have thought.
@ I’ve checked out a couple of monsters that other UA-camrs have revealed, and at least up to CR10 it looks like there’s no change to XP, so it must just be a change for high level play.
I was a little worried when they said they were cutting back on lore in the interview, but all of the actual examples I've seen so far feel very flavorful. I hope that's the case throughout!
I see many ideas I am already using in my game at play here. The boosted initiative is a trend I hope to see across a plethora of monsters in the new book. I give many monsters advantage on initiative in their lair, and/or allow init mod to be based on a different stat, depending on the monster's abilities. The other is granting stat boosts to other damage types besides Strength/Dexterity based ones to raise average damage slightly. The options of a base attack, an AoE, or an aura style effect in the Legendary Actions is always nice and I hope to see at least two of those on each legendary monster. 😀
Now this is the type of creature that you feel like optimising for, I am already considering dwarf+tough on any characters i expect to frontline because I too am slightly scared lol. As an aside, a monk can conceivably reduce the force damage from the sacred weapon attacks (and i don't think the MM will have provisions for this) so at level 18 (when they also get superior defense) i reckon they might end up being the tankiest characters against monsters with a high chance to hit (as even against 25 AC an empyrean has a 60% chance to hit, and that is battlemaster+shield+evasive footwork territory/eldritch knight+shield+shield spell territory), whereas a monk can conceivably (unless it's force damage) reduce damage by much more than 50% on account of deflect attacks *at level 18*. Yes this random aside is sponsored by my undying love for monks, which has been here even before 2024.
Am I the only one concerned about those initaitve numbers? Like I knew alert was good, but this makes it nigh-mandatory to even stand a chance at beating high level monsters, altough I’m glad this makes the nerfed gloomstalker look a little better. Great vid!
this is wild. I actually got my paladin player who wanted to multiclass into hexblade, a patron connection with Uldrak the Empyrean. I made a custom subclass called Titan Blade. and had some vaguely similar ideas you have here. But this was started like 2 years ago! Wtf! (I think this is really cool just crazy that it happened haha)
Good to see legendary resistance and actions remaining. Initial looks at monsters hadnt had this so it was kinda iffy how wotc was gonna balance action economy if they got taken away. But this looks really nice for making high level encounters more challenging.
Great vid, nice of WotC to send out some little tid bits for some content creators to review (hashtag the ddudes) :) +19 initiative feels kinda brutal, maybe I'm just a really bad player but the characters I've played up to levels 15-16 still only have a +2 or +3.
My only real gripe with this new statblock is I wish that they had provided a more spellcasting focused alternative, though I suppose one could easily just add an action that does comparable damage to their melee attack. Keep in mind with the new way they are handling resistance to b/p/s damage, that there are a number of magic items that allow one to bypass or ignore resistance when certain damage types. Additionally there is an epic boon that allows one to do this as well. I think you'll see a lot of martials either seek an alternative damage source through magic items for when needed or find other ways to do stuff in combat for those encounters when they pop up. For example, find a way to make yourself large and grapple that Empyrean instead of just straight up hitting them! Also keep in mind weapon masteries will sort of help fill the gap a bit too in making those resisted attacks feel less bad. Maybe you switch to a slow or sap weapon to help protect allies from the monster instead? etc.
Would you consider remaking your barblock with a mix of the 2024 and 2014 rules? Because I wanted to float an idea by you real quick. If you take the sculptor of flesh invocation and giant barbarian from 2014, you could have a way to gain hundreds of temp hp on a barbarian and also get armor of agathys, and on top of that, you could use your pact of the blade to summon an oversized weapon when you rage (+ Maybe Tasha's bubbling cauldron for another size increase). Love your videos; keep up the great work!
So I have an idea for a build around the new archfey warlock who's patron is the winter queen, and thus uses cold spells, but am having a hard time coming up with how I want to level them. Any tips or ideas?
Not gonna lie, if a vast majority of monsters in this new book are as interesting with their changes as this, it might actually make me wanna fiddle with 5E some more.
Thanks for sharing😊 I think you may want to abbreviate bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage to BPS if you have to say it more a couple times in a video. That should keep that mouthful at bay.
I kinda wish there were more options to replace physical damage with non physical. Few magic items do, the empyrian is going to resist your sun blade too. Hell elemental weapon doesnt either despite the name
I need WOTC to come up with something other than blanket clausing the copy+paste of Legendary Resistance and Magic Resistance for their high level stat blocks.
Welp, I can say one thing's for certain - you will NEVER grapple an Empyrean, unless literally your whole party invests in it. +17 on a STR save means that anything but a nat1 or 2 is a success on their save. You're gonna literally have to have multiple people in your party chip in so that a grapple attempt could potentially maybe succeed. xD Also, have they reverted the changes to Legendary Actions? Last year, we got a preview of the Adult Green Dragon I think, and they didn't have legendary actions anymore, they had instead multiple reactions with specific triggers. I mean, I didn't really see a need to change legendary actions. The real problem are the legendary resistances, and they haven't seem to have done anything with those, which is a shame.
Not sure - it's something I've typically done whenever I've added a tab but... I don't know if it feels like enough time has passed for it to make sense :). That said, I think I *will* be doing another "Colby Awards" show this summer where I give my favorites and a winner based on a few categories...
I love the new look, but in gonna miss the big brute of the gods. Not alot of just big guys with a big weapon at higher levels in 2014 version. It evoked the feeling of fighting a demigod like hercules for me.
Habitat any kinda makes me sad, I love the habitats for the regular monsters (forest, coast etc.) but for Celestials and Fiends and Elementals I wish they'd say specifics! These guys should say Habitat: Upper Planes, Fiends should say lower planes, devils should say nine hells, and fey should say feywild It'd be a nice hint that you're looking at an extra dimensional creature and might need an explanation for what it's doing in the material plane.
Definitely a big improvement. That +19 Initiative is a sight for sore eyes.
It is a little bit unjust that no pc can win initiative now (except with extreme luck).
@@SergioMongeBenitoyou’re fighting the child of a GOD. Were you expecting to get the drop on them?
@@michaeldejean3742 Personally, I was planning to throw pocket sand at them to get advantage on initiative
@SergioMongeBenito they have a 25% chance to roll 5 or lower on the d20, at which point it's possible to win Initiative for any PC with a Dex bonus
@@ethanb8382 Crazy enough it just might work
I don't see an Immunity to Poison! I mean, he wasn't before, but we fans of Poison take our wins when we can get them.
I heavily homebrew poison, having studied neurobiology it pains me how simple and empty the poison mechanic works in DnD, it can be as deep as the Curse mechanic. I understand why it is simple of course, I just dont enjoy it so I make it much more specific, no thing as "general poison" with always the same effect and the same damage
@@boniakarloyou could also read the DMG and get access to 14 additional poisons, all with their own unique combination of delivery method and effects.
@@boniakarlohey, that sounds amazing. Can you please share if you have anything? Thank you❤🎉
I can't tell you how much I enjoy your unashamed enthusiasm. Never change.
I didn't see it coming from you. I knew you probably had some early access but damn. Thanks for sharing, Colby! I was just talking to my friend about what the new Monster Manual might be like since we both DM in our respective games. Super excited to see you, Chris and the Dungeon Dudes on Insight Check's channel later this week.
The artwork is absolutely gorgeous
Ooh, very cool! I'm all for monsters that hit harder and can keep up with/overtake the power creep inherent in 5.5 character builds. Combat is at it's most fun when it's tense and dangerous.
A good DM will know how to challenge their party. The specific monster stat blocks have nothing to do with it. Need more challenge? Get tougher monster or add more lower level monsters.
I enjoy that both PCs and monsters seem to ramp up more at higher levels. It's more clear separation between the lower tiers and the higher tiers of play so your players really feel their progress, and (hopefully) more confidence in the CR system. I love the ability to choose to be stunned or not! As a DM i always shy away from stun-using monsters as just skipping a player's turn feels terrible, so giving them a choice for stun or damage is a great mechanic I might immediately steal lol
It is good to see that WotC sees you as one of the better D&D content creators on UA-cam and have backed that up by partnering with you without dictating what you need to say.
They never dictate what a reviewer can say. Basically nobody does that.
A note about the Empyrean's resistance: the emphasis on crafting rules in the new version means that if you know you're fighting one beforehand, the Wizard can try to make a Flametongue beforehand to pierce through that resistance. Alternatively, the Vorpal Sword ignores all resistance.
If you're a Ranger, you can overcome this very easily with Hunter's Mark.
Sure. If you can come back to this adventure 250 days from now. ???
These sneak peaks are heralding me back to 3.0 and 3.5 days. When the higher CR creatures were BONKERS and SUPER intimidating! YOU MUST work as a TEAM to take them down. YES!
The new art is such a banger. I love how there's two different examples, showing how the angellic servants of the gods are just as varied as the gods themselves
I love the idea of a warlock having a familiar that also reports back to the patron!
2:49 if they wanted to make life easy for DMs, under *Bonus Actions,* the new CR 1 *Empyrean Iota* should simply have:
_"Healing Word (1/day spell). A creature that the empyrean can see within 60 feet regains 2d4 + 3 HP."_
I'm baffled that they ended up using:
_"Healing Word (1/day). The empyrean casts Healing Word, using the same spellcasting ability as Spellcasting."_
Which means that DMs not only have to look up the spell description in the PHB, but also read through the rest of its statblock just to figure out that Wisdom is its spellcasting ability _(found in the 3rd line of "Spellcasting", it's 2nd option under "Actions"),_ which is a +3 bonus _(found in the 7th column under its stats):_
As nice as this would be, it absolutely wouldn't work for more complicated creatures with big lists of spells, the statblocks would become unmanageable
It feels silly here because they only have the one spell but a part of design clarity and efficiency is making a format and this statblock just follows it like all the rest
Also if they wrote it out like an ability the way you suggest it would no longer be a spell mechanically - and then other abilities such as counter spell would no longer interact with it
So yeah I agree it sucks but it's absolutely necessary
@@laterbot 2024 counterspell still doesnt affect it. CS only works on spells cast with a spell slot, which this isnt using
@@joshgooding3273 No monsters have been able to cast spells with spell slots since the release of Monsters of the Multiverse.
All spells are X times per day especially in the upcoming Monster Manual
And yes counter spell will work on them it works on any spell - I'm not sure where you got this rule from? Just go read the spell it's in reaction to any spell with components regardless of how it is cast
With your ruling players also wouldn't be able to counter spell lots of class features and also magic initiate and the like... That doesn't make any sense
@@joshgooding3273 counterspell would work, counterspell works on any spell within 60 feet of you that is being cast with a somatic, verbal, or material component.
Only interaction with spell slots is, if counterspell is successful, then the spell slot is not consumed
@@joshgooding3273I don't think that's the case, Counterspell's casting time description:
"Reaction, which you take when you see
a creature within 60 feet of yourself casting a spell
with Verbal, Somatic, or Material components".
The only place in the spell where spell slots are mentioned is in its description, at the end:
"IF that spell
was cast with a spell slot, the slot isn't expended".
That "if" there at the end suggests to me that you CAN actually counter a spell that didn't require a spells slot, it's just that if the spell happens to use a slot, the caster doesn't lose it.
Empyrean Iot's make me think a little of the Lantern Archons, just here's a little floating thing that's not too strong but has holy or godly origins.
!!! The empyrean is my favorite monster concept that I've still not gotten a good chance to use so I am stoked!!!
Although you didn't mention it, it also seems that the XP associated with the CR ranking went up considerably. So although the CR remained the same, the balancing formula is still adjusted. Between this, the new encounter balancing guidelines in the DMG, and the changes in the PHB, I wonder how well encounter balancing is going to work when all the dust settles.
This is actually very cool for them to do. They could legit just showcase all these monsters on one of their own channels and just have constant content for themselves.
I think the change from “resistance/immunity to non magical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage” to just blanket resistance against those 3 damage types is a design decision alongside Weapon Masteries to encourage martial characters to invest in multiple weapons, rather than having one all-rounder weapon choice.
For example, instead of a +X longsword you get a Flametongue Longsword or a Sunblade to use in situations where bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage is less valuable due to resistances or immunities. On the other hand, you can also always switch back to a normal sword or axe if you encounter an enemy that resists the damage of your magical weapons or if you think a certain Weapon Mastery buffing allies or debuffing enemies will be more useful in a fight that raw damage output. It’s a way of encouraging martial characters to branch out and be more well-rounded for those players who like tactics and strategy while also not forcing that kind of gameplay onto players who just wanna whack things with a sword.
It also makes the Monk and the Moon Druid much more interesting with their reworked magical damage features.
Relying on the DM giving you a good weapon that does non-BPS damage isn’t ‘branching out’, its luck. The old ‘non-magical BPS immunity’ was terrible design but at least you knew if you had any magic weapon at all (basically any upgrade) it would bypass that stupid mechanic. This is the same issue but different.
What I really want to know is if the God awful ‘immunity to all spells below X level’ is gone or still hanging around like a bad rash.
That partially only works if we assume they won't just give resistance to all three 90% of the time. Magical weapons that give decent alternative damage are pretty rare. Idk, maybe I'm just being pessimistic but I have this feeling.
That's exactly what I wanted to see from WotC presenting their Monster Manual, cover at least 1 Monster per video with the change from 2014. I like their designer's feedback but also need examples. From that and some other Monster leakes/shown so far that new MM seem really worth it
High level groups are generally regarded as unkillable , if these changes spice things up a bit and add jeopardy I'm all for it . Thanks for sharing Colby and keep up the good work :-)
I have never had that problem. Then again, I know how to add monsters until my party will be threatened. Esoteric skill apparently.
@@hawkname1234 Want a cookie?
I always thought the biggest problem with 5e was monster design, so excited to see it's improving. Still will have to see if it's worth using the new monster manual over the fantastic options from Flee, Mortals! though I'm sure I'll keep using a mix of both
I can’t wait to look at the new options for moon druids, polymorphism, etc
I love that Homelander explains the new Monster Manual to us, these days. :3
But for real, that was a pretty awesome video, thanks for the infos! :)
Interesting that the XP for a CR23 creature has jumped from 32,500 to 50,000. Given the DMG encounter guidance is based on XP, this looks like the standard for encounters won’t be quite as tough as we might have thought.
I noticed that too, and I’m kinda surprised.
@ I’ve checked out a couple of monsters that other UA-camrs have revealed, and at least up to CR10 it looks like there’s no change to XP, so it must just be a change for high level play.
Thanks Colby! ❤
So cool, cant wait to see the new manual drop! Thanks, Colby
Love the "caramba"
I was a little worried when they said they were cutting back on lore in the interview, but all of the actual examples I've seen so far feel very flavorful. I hope that's the case throughout!
It’s 8 days into the new year. Just here to say one thing…
WHERE’S THE 2025 BLADESINGER VIDEO?!?! What’s taking so long?!?! 😂
PS - Love the channel!
Oh hey, I have that shirt! And yes - this looks a lot more like how I have been beefing up D&D monsters for years,
The changes are good but that artwork is even better.
Art is very evocative of theros, love it
Got me sold on the art alone.
NICE HERE WE GO MY FAV CHANNEL UPDATE
Im loving the art so far, and I really like this surprise peak! I hope they let you fo more! Thanks for sharing!
I see many ideas I am already using in my game at play here. The boosted initiative is a trend I hope to see across a plethora of monsters in the new book. I give many monsters advantage on initiative in their lair, and/or allow init mod to be based on a different stat, depending on the monster's abilities. The other is granting stat boosts to other damage types besides Strength/Dexterity based ones to raise average damage slightly. The options of a base attack, an AoE, or an aura style effect in the Legendary Actions is always nice and I hope to see at least two of those on each legendary monster. 😀
Now this is the type of creature that you feel like optimising for, I am already considering dwarf+tough on any characters i expect to frontline because I too am slightly scared lol.
As an aside, a monk can conceivably reduce the force damage from the sacred weapon attacks (and i don't think the MM will have provisions for this) so at level 18 (when they also get superior defense) i reckon they might end up being the tankiest characters against monsters with a high chance to hit (as even against 25 AC an empyrean has a 60% chance to hit, and that is battlemaster+shield+evasive footwork territory/eldritch knight+shield+shield spell territory), whereas a monk can conceivably (unless it's force damage) reduce damage by much more than 50% on account of deflect attacks *at level 18*. Yes this random aside is sponsored by my undying love for monks, which has been here even before 2024.
Super cool! Art looks great
Am I the only one concerned about those initaitve numbers? Like I knew alert was good, but this makes it nigh-mandatory to even stand a chance at beating high level monsters, altough I’m glad this makes the nerfed gloomstalker look a little better. Great vid!
Damn. Now I am interested in the rest of the new art.
great video hope your holidays were well
Love your work man
this is wild. I actually got my paladin player who wanted to multiclass into hexblade, a patron connection with Uldrak the Empyrean. I made a custom subclass called Titan Blade. and had some vaguely similar ideas you have here. But this was started like 2 years ago! Wtf! (I think this is really cool just crazy that it happened haha)
Wow hit like a truck is not even close to what this thing will do to a marshal class. This is a demigod.
Art is fantastic!
Unexpected but very exciting!
I've so been looking forward to the new Monster manual. and this gets me even more excited! loved you enthusiasm
Great video! Art is awesome. Excited for the new monster manual
Possible homebrew invocation: If your warlock has Find Familiar and has an Empyrean patron, you may choose an Empyrean Iota as your familiar.
Thanks Colby
Good to see legendary resistance and actions remaining. Initial looks at monsters hadnt had this so it was kinda iffy how wotc was gonna balance action economy if they got taken away. But this looks really nice for making high level encounters more challenging.
Oh boy I can not wait to see the big boys in this new monster manual. I am itching to see the new lich and other really popular boss monsters
Great vid, nice of WotC to send out some little tid bits for some content creators to review (hashtag the ddudes) :) +19 initiative feels kinda brutal, maybe I'm just a really bad player but the characters I've played up to levels 15-16 still only have a +2 or +3.
My my my my Iota🙌🏻
Came for the Empyrean, stayed for... The Empyrean. That thing is terrifying.
Because the Legendary Actions are back, did Wotc get rid of the multiple reactions? Nice video btw. Looking forward for the new Monster Manual.
Excellent video
Thanks for the analysis !
Honestly I’d love to see some monster breakdowns, and any DM advice or thoughts on the new monster manual when it’s out!
Hopefully there will be a song next time. Can’t wait for a super cut of all his singing in one video
My only real gripe with this new statblock is I wish that they had provided a more spellcasting focused alternative, though I suppose one could easily just add an action that does comparable damage to their melee attack.
Keep in mind with the new way they are handling resistance to b/p/s damage, that there are a number of magic items that allow one to bypass or ignore resistance when certain damage types. Additionally there is an epic boon that allows one to do this as well. I think you'll see a lot of martials either seek an alternative damage source through magic items for when needed or find other ways to do stuff in combat for those encounters when they pop up. For example, find a way to make yourself large and grapple that Empyrean instead of just straight up hitting them! Also keep in mind weapon masteries will sort of help fill the gap a bit too in making those resisted attacks feel less bad. Maybe you switch to a slow or sap weapon to help protect allies from the monster instead? etc.
Damn that artwork O.O
eagerly waiting for your new builds for bg 3 new update
2:03 The old art looks like a lvl 3 Aasimar Barbarian, the new art looks like an arcane, godly servant sent to strike down the non believers
To be fair, I think the old art was there to provide a throughline from the original Monster Manual’s Titan, on which the Empyrian was based.
Thanks, Colby!
Oh, I love it! :D
Would you consider remaking your barblock with a mix of the 2024 and 2014 rules? Because I wanted to float an idea by you real quick. If you take the sculptor of flesh invocation and giant barbarian from 2014, you could have a way to gain hundreds of temp hp on a barbarian and also get armor of agathys, and on top of that, you could use your pact of the blade to summon an oversized weapon when you rage (+ Maybe Tasha's bubbling cauldron for another size increase). Love your videos; keep up the great work!
So I have an idea for a build around the new archfey warlock who's patron is the winter queen, and thus uses cold spells, but am having a hard time coming up with how I want to level them. Any tips or ideas?
VERY COOL. Love the art. And I love your shirt, too. Where did you pick it up???
Omg Empyrean Iota’s flavor text just sounds like (Stormlight Spoiler)
SPREN
New CR20 Monsters really know hot to deal with high level party for sure 😂
Oh snap! Let's go!
Not gonna lie, if a vast majority of monsters in this new book are as interesting with their changes as this, it might actually make me wanna fiddle with 5E some more.
So i thought legendary actions were going to become just more reactions 🤔 interesting it may be different across the board
Thanks for sharing😊
I think you may want to abbreviate bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage to BPS if you have to say it more a couple times in a video. That should keep that mouthful at bay.
9:30 dude was so scared that he spoke portuguese
Your voice was made narrate! I would love to hear you do some voice acting 🙌🍻
Thanks
Legendary actions live!
Monsters!!! Hooray!!!
did u just say "ai caramba"? u activated the br-pt side of my brain
I kinda wish there were more options to replace physical damage with non physical. Few magic items do, the empyrian is going to resist your sun blade too. Hell elemental weapon doesnt either despite the name
Let's dive into this monster and see what's up
The iota makes me think of the Scion from elantris
The new art is just so superior. Commenting again for the algo gods
Maybe CME isn’t that broken after all
No, it definitely is. The problem is balancing CME among other players/abilities.
I need WOTC to come up with something other than blanket clausing the copy+paste of Legendary Resistance and Magic Resistance for their high level stat blocks.
Like an attack that auto-stuns? How about that for new, impactful and evocative?
Yeah I am seeing blanket EHP bloat as well.
Interesting that they didn't get rid of all Legendary Actions! I thought they would all be reactions now.
It seems the two weapon fighting buff (nick/vex) for PC's is going to be balanced with resistance to bludgeoning/slashing/piercing by monsters?
potentially...
Welp, I can say one thing's for certain - you will NEVER grapple an Empyrean, unless literally your whole party invests in it. +17 on a STR save means that anything but a nat1 or 2 is a success on their save. You're gonna literally have to have multiple people in your party chip in so that a grapple attempt could potentially maybe succeed. xD
Also, have they reverted the changes to Legendary Actions? Last year, we got a preview of the Adult Green Dragon I think, and they didn't have legendary actions anymore, they had instead multiple reactions with specific triggers. I mean, I didn't really see a need to change legendary actions. The real problem are the legendary resistances, and they haven't seem to have done anything with those, which is a shame.
Hi Colby, I wanted to ask you a question. By any chance, will you be making ranking videos of your builds again this year? :)
Not sure - it's something I've typically done whenever I've added a tab but... I don't know if it feels like enough time has passed for it to make sense :). That said, I think I *will* be doing another "Colby Awards" show this summer where I give my favorites and a winner based on a few categories...
I had to look at the 2014 MM. So the Empyrean is actually a Titan. That's what they were called in earlier editions.
Moon druid build next?
When will you take a peek at the Gurps Bestiary?
This is a joke, right? Colby isn't into GURPS, is he? Also that Bestiary is famously terrible. They didn't even update it for 4e. Like 20 years ago.
I love the new look, but in gonna miss the big brute of the gods. Not alot of just big guys with a big weapon at higher levels in 2014 version.
It evoked the feeling of fighting a demigod like hercules for me.
Question for other DMs. How would you present the choice to not be stunned in Roleplay?
Tank the blow for more damage, or get winged and spun around.
Actually tempting me to grt the new books. Good but p a i n xox
Habitat any kinda makes me sad, I love the habitats for the regular monsters (forest, coast etc.) but for Celestials and Fiends and Elementals I wish they'd say specifics! These guys should say Habitat: Upper Planes, Fiends should say lower planes, devils should say nine hells, and fey should say feywild
It'd be a nice hint that you're looking at an extra dimensional creature and might need an explanation for what it's doing in the material plane.
Please do a build to see how strong you can make a druid that uses plant seeds as weapons
Imagine throwing a fistfull of rose bush thorns at an enemy and casting plant growth
are then any Beasts above CR 8 in the new MM?
@@dm_fausto6242 yes, lots!
@ polymorph spell boost! Noice!