The light hammer damage has brute baked in, with an extra d4 on top. Monster stat blocks are gearing designed to help DMs speed play, which is good because all the extra player stuff can slow play.
I feel like every new monster helps tide over the immense delay until the Monster Manual comes out in February. So at least we have a few toys in our toy chest until then. I’m hopeful that the DMG will also have a few.
I remember them saying they’ll have an examples for both adventure and setting creation (we know the latter is greyhawk). But for the adventure(s) they’d definitively need to provide some monsters to have the example work, maybe even some for the encounter building guidelines. I think low cr classic fantasy monsters like orcs goblinoids kobolds ogres and a few monstrosities/undead are likely to be provided.
3:19 their bite does more damage straight up d6+1 is 4.5 average and 7 max d4+3 is 5.5 average and 7 max The only time where the former bite would be doing is on a crit, where you are rolling 2d6 instead of 2d4.
It seems like they are doing away with monster spell slots per the mage statblock. If that is the case counterspell nerf is not as bad as previously thought since it only makes an exception for spells cast with spells slots and spells cast with uses/day would not have their uses refunded.
@@ArturoGonzalez-st7xj they started doing that with Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse, so I assumed they were just going to keep thst moving forward
NPCs or creatures are who counterspell is bad for which is why DM’s everywhere have been saying it’s bad. It’s amazing for PCs and other allies because WotC for some reason arbitrarily and one sidedly buffed it.
I know some people don't care about alignment but I noticed the bullywug went from NE (2014) to any (2024). This could be interesting if you somehow run across a good-aligned bullywug.
Let's be honest here, the average lifespan of an enemy caster in this game is measured in single digit rounds. Both the 2014 and 2024 Mages will always open with the big bad cone of cold followed by a fireball. Anything else they manage to get off before they die/surrender is a plus. Those full spell lists sound cool on paper, but 9 times out of 10 they might as well be flavor text.
8:27 bullywugs appeared in a fair amount of episodes of the original cartoon, it makes sense they would appear in an adventure that stems from the animated series. Probably worgs sit in where the wolves did for Kelek in the episode "Valley of the Unicorns"
The Mage is really interesting. It has the ability to protect its own spells against Counter Spell with their own Counter Spell. Which is something almost no PC will be able to do.
@@snakeinabox7220 I think its more about the new spellcasting rules. Rather than being unable to cast multiple spells per turn if You cast one as a bonus action, you can now only cast one spell that you expend a spell slot on per turn.
Blink dog is one of the creatures I've got a soft spot for, I'm happy to see they streamlined the teleport ability. Kind of weird to me it isn't an option for the Pact of The Chain Warlock, would be a really great familiar for an Archfey patron. I suspect most DMs would allow it, Imps are the go-to for Chain, and a Blink Dog is only CR 1/4 while Imps are CR 1, so if someone wants flavor over function I would allow it.
Interesting that the bugbear is fey instead of a humanoid. I checked and the goblinoid player races from Monsters of the Multiverse are humanoids, but have fey ancestry trait
I think it’s very interesting that the bugbear doesn’t have surprise attack because even the Bugbear Chief has it. That, plus the playable race having a similar feature indicates to me that the trait inherent to the species
Removing the extra damage die on the Bugbear Warrior as a separate ability is probably just a simplifying the stat-block thing. Their weapon attack does still get extra damage dice, after all. The Bullywug Warrior's attacks are an upgrade in total damage. They have +4 to hit rather than +3 and do an average of 9 damage on an attack, which is higher damage unless the 2014 Bullywug uses its spear two-handed, which costs it AC. Yeah, only one chance to crit, but the crit is more likely with the higher to-hit and does more damage.
@@AnaseSkyrider Fair, I was thinking the attack is more likely to hit and got my wording confused. The point stands that with higher to hit and total damage, it's better.
I’m very interested in the Spellcasters and do like what I’m seeing. It’s a little wild how good the mage is in Melee but I’m glad to see they included a way for NPCs to use non Action spells, meaning we won’t just have Vecna like uncounterspellable counterspells
Bullywog lost Swamp Camouflage but went from +3 stealth to +4, so like the blink dog it balances out? Makes me thing they are trying to get rid of some of the judgement call abilities to simplfy it?
Hey! Love the vids! Curious about one part though, you brushed off the Bugbear's 10' reach as "matches what the player characters have". What did I miss? They should have a 5' reach for an unarmed melee attack, no? Isn't that a typo though and should be 5' because if you look at the Light Hammer attack, it's also a 5' reach attack. If it was a case of their arms being longer then wouldn't the hammers have 10' reach too? And why would Player Characters have a 10' reach with unarmed strikes? Feels like I'm missing context! If you read this and reply, thank you, keep up the great work, love the channel!
4:40 character goblinoids aren’t fey in mordenkainens, only the monsters are (which are only hobgoblins from what I remember). Still though, kinda odd they did that where the players aren’t fey but the monsters are
It annoys me that instead of just fixing the rules, they're still doing this nonsense of avoiding allowing PCs out of the Medium Humanoid box. It leads to some weird confusing nonsense that would be cleared up by just having specific rules that address the things they do or don't want to work certain ways.
Gotta ask Ted , are you ever gonna give a run down of the ToV version of the monsters ? Maybe this is the right time or when the DMG verison comes out you can do a 3 way comparison and contrast of the monsters in common and what's unique to ToV and 2024
Honestly, there's not enough improvement to the stats of monsters to account for the extra damage that players are now able to do with weapon masteries, stronger class abilities, etc. 2014 players were already cakewalking most things after level 3 without going way over the recommended challenge rating, with the minor improvements to some attack and the Nerf to other parts like HP and abilities, I just think that it's overall going to be pretty bad balance still unless it's just these
I will say that the original monsters with the spells are a bit stronger, but I don't know. I just feel like it's not as much of an improvement as the players got, which I think is a pretty glaring issue for the system. Unless they're encounter, builder is going to be completely different
Making goblinoids, like the bugbear and hobgoblin, into fey is not the answer to making goblinoids different from humanoids. Edit: If it weren't for the Arcane Burst action, the new mage stat block would be overall worse. Arcane Burst is basically a single-target Eldritch Blast cast by a 11th-level warlock (even though the mage is CR 6), and the mage can use it thrice a turn.
Well I don’t think there’s supposed to be any monsters from Monsters of the Multiverse, just redoing the ones from the 2014 Monster Manual plus some new ones to fill in the CR gap for the different creature types
Not really Mordenkainens was updating and reprinting two books that had been discontinued while the 2024 MM will likely mostly update and reprint the monsters from just the 2014 MM
9d10 at CR6 seems chunky. We need to see more tier 2-3 statblocks, will they all have a lot of damage to balance the heal boosts? Also personally I fucking hate the idea of non-humanoid player characters, it just screws with conventional plans and spells too much.
Truth, with so many PCs and monsters ceasing to be humanoids they should just remove the "Hold Person" and "Charm Person" spells since they won't work on most PCs, or NPCs and on none of the monsters.
I disagree. They need more non humanoid player races... but also more things that specifically mess with non humanoids at all levels of play. Take the fey player races... low level they just laugh at some dangerous spells, but theres some nasty ones waiting at high levels. Need more low level ones that are anti-fae. Unusual creature types should be a trade off for players not a straight buff.
One thing that i often don't understand on monster statblocks is the special weapon that aren't equipment, the insectoid rapier is cool, but a player can get it and deal an extra 1d4 poison damage? The same logic applies on putrid staff, i imagine everyone deals with this differently, but a mention in the books would be nice
@@TheRealWilliamWhite 5:18 Ted points out the new "gear" section. Anything that can be taken from the monster seems to be noted in its gear, and anything else is presumably lost upon its death (breaks or somehow becomes unusuable)
But how does it happen then? The sword evaporates when the monster dies? It ia weird in the narrative, if i am a player and hears the description of a insectoid sword i will be interested in the sword, in the staff too( even more, it deals an extra 3d10 after all)
@lordkadu13 It breaks, it gets lost in the terrain, ect. "You strike at the bullywug, and although it raises its blade to deflect your blow, you cleave straight through both." It's up to the DM, but at the end of the day it's so that they can give monsters interesting attacks without needing to make a new magic item every time they do so. If you want to homebrew it that is fine, but I don't really want a bloated book or one full of bland monsters.
Yeah they were like that in Monsters of the Multiverse, but as someone who played a Hobgoblin wizard for a long time (Volo's book version), I will always find it strange.
It depends on edition and lore, I consider any intelligent, basically human shaped creature that can speak a language as a person so it doesn't matter to me.
I don't know how I feel about those changes because on one hand I understand it improves the flow of combat but on the other I feel like they stripped the fun mechanics and flavour those monsters had
Again it appears some changes are to make it easier to program. Bugbear Light hammer for a pc does 1d4. Bullywug, That is leap is powerful. I ran the Uni adventure. Mage Harrumph Worg harrumph Bullywug bog sage. I did not really use this critter in combat, or it died quickly.
Not really, both sets of monsters for instance will work just fine under the new rules. You don't actually have to use the new Monster Manual with the new PHB or the new PHB with the new Monster Manual. Backward compatible means you don't have to fully convert from one system to the next, all the older content still works. That doesn't mean there aren't new versions of a lot of things, just that you can pick and choose with only a few restrictions (and so far those restrictions are contained to the one book you already bought, like no using 2024 subclasses with 2014 base classes). What amazes me is that there seem to be equally large contingents of people treating the update as actually a new edition "oh no end of the world change is bad" as I see people who are complaining that the new books are nothing new, just a cash grab trying to sell us the same thing we already have.
The real backwards compatibility for the new Monster Manual is that they are keeping all of the monsters at the same challenge rating, so it doesn’t mess up the balance of encounters from previously released adventure. Thus, the new monsters are compatible with old adventures. “Backwards compatible” does not mean “no changes”.
@@seppa193 These seem to be contradictory opinions to me. I would understand thinking that there are only minor changes and this is a lazy cash grab to sell more core rulebooks, OR that there are too many changes and that they aren’t really backwards compatible, but both can’t be true in my mind. I personally don’t believe either, as I truly believe that the creative and design teams behind the new books want to improve balance and streamline the onboarding process for new players while refreshing and injecting life into this ten-year-old system. From what I’ve seen so far, they’ve largely done a good job at that. Say what you will about Hasbro and the higher-ups at WotC, but the creators really are passionate and I appreciate what they’re doing.
The stat blocks are really ugly and ineffective. Why repeat the stats/bonus' three times? Get ride of the score all together, it's never used for anything. Just have the bonus and then mark which abilities they have proficient saves in. Takes a huge amount of space with very little information conveyed. The type of action required should be noted in the ability rather than massive header lines. the whole thing seems like an effort to make stat blocks a big and unwieldy as possible - like it's a middle schooler's effort to pad page count on an essay.
I hate the design idea behind new spellcasters npc, if I play a Mage i dont have arcane burst, i cast spells and cantrips.I can spend only one spell slot per turn but npc mage can blast as many it wishes. Why I can not do the same thing as npc with same clas as me? We wnet to diferent magic schouls or what?
@@Enkidu659 Yes! This is my big problem with them. They don't feel like spellcasters anymore, they feel like warlocks or martials just with their weapons reflavoured to be magic. I'm fine with trimming down the spell lists and making some things at will to avoid having to count spellslots but the at will things should still be SPELLS! Not some bland magic attack.
I don't like the Mage losing spells. It removed the diversity that come with being an arcane spellcaster. I'll homebrew the mage so it has the stats of 2024 but with the spell list of 2014.
Yeah, I get what they're doing with the way they want to handle spellcasting going forward. But I don't really love it. I like spellcasters, I like how spellcasting works, but as a DM I just don't get to now? Not like it's hard to just home brew, or just use the 2014 MM versions of course. But I wish they had left some standard casters around, at least for the most wizard-like ones.
@@Lord_zeel It make no sense that an Arch Wizard: a powerful spellcaster with decades of study, know like 8 spells. It is just like you said, the wizards creature should have a way bigger spell list. I can understand other monsters with innate spellcasting that give them just a few spells (most monster with spellcasting are like that anyways). Thankfully, this issue is only for a small section of monsters. That no too bad to homebrew.
11:17 and this right here is why I hate the new blocks. This one single issue infuriates me to no end. Why? Well you perfectly accidentally exemplified exactly what the issue is right here! You didn’t even know they had saving throw proficiencies because they made them unnoticeable unless you knew what was changed and removed them from a list below the stats. The worst part? This could be so easily corrected in the simplest way: highlight the boxes their proficiencies are in as a different color than all the others! Literally all they need to do is sticking with the mage make the save boxes under INT and WIS a different color from what that column’s default color is! Make it something bright like a yellow or whatever you want and then it stands out. Put a small blurb in the beginning of where you write about how to read a stat block in each book that has one that the saving throw proficiencies are highlighted differently from the rest and presto! You’ve solved the problem!
I really hate the balance over worldbuilding of the new stat blocks! It was a problem before, when i could not explain to players why their enemies could poison them with every attack, but they could use poison only once. Now with the new mage stat block, the dicussions will be endless, why some wizards learnt to use Arcane Burst, but the player Wizard went to a different wizard school, where it wasn't part of the curriculum. Also, mages should be glas cannons, not raid bosses! What is going on with those HP pools? Did they put any thought into why creatures have how much HP or did they just use a random number generator?
Most had their hit points increased. Many had damage or status effect buffs in subtle but important ways. Some lower CR monsters (looking at you Bugbear) were notorious for party wiping at Level 1 so they got a slight nerf.
How was Leap not utilizable in combat? it was just part of their movement. Absolutely hate the new spellcasting changes for NPCs... terrible for customization.
Big disagree on the NPC casters. If you don't like a chosen spell, just like before, you can swap it out for something of the same level. Don't want your mage to use Cone of Cold? Go with Bigby's Hand. Don't like upcasted Ray of Sickness? Go extra control/debuff with Blindness/Deafness. It's easier to parse, modular, and should provide a decent challenge. Nothing but wins in my eyes. But hey, we're all free to believe what we believe!
@@CooperAATE for offensive maybe... but any utility is gone unless I hand wave it. I have always been a proponent of NPCs should follow the same rules as the PCs this moves breaks that quite a bit.
Honestly i never had any problem with the 2014 monsters and how they did it, although I do like the new spellcasting rules whithout spellslots. Also i think it's very sad to remove traits like Keen Smell and Hearing, or Underwater Camouflage and just giving the monster in question expertise in the given skill, considering advantage is a +4, not just simple expertise. That alongside them dropping Legendary Actions for 3 Reactions (something my players absolutely hated cause it made them feel like they lose more) and I myself also disliked, alongisde doubling down on Legendary Resistance and removing Lair Actions, has made me come to the conclusion that I won't be bying the 2024 MM. I'll run the old versions of the statblock, and maybe checkout the new ones and any new monsters that are published online for free.
What? they removed Lair Actions? They had better have added a section on "terrain effects" or "terrain actions" or what's the point of having the party go to different locations at all? Just have every combat in the same grey box with randomly positioned grey boxes for cover it would make no difference.
@@agilemind6241 don’t listen to this guy he is bullshiting Legendary actions are not deleted but still there and improved alongside new reactions and Lresistances are unchanged and not double down and lair actions have been fused with the Lactions and not deleted The new monsters are simply better and the adult green dragon that was revealed some time ago demonstrates all that im saying
I really dislike changing spellcasters to attack-spammers. It makes AC so much more valuable than damage resistances or saving throw bonuses for PCs. I would much rather they do something like that Bullywug sage and give them one or two thematic damage spells just at will. So that Mage should have Fireball and Magic Missile (2nd level) at will plus a few more limited use spells (misty step 2/per day, and greater invisibility 1/day), and at least 3 uses of Counterspell and 3 of Shield, THAT would feel like like fighting a mage. This mage feels more like a warlock that just spams an upgrade EB and occasionally throws out an actual spell.
Is mage specifically a wizard? Or is a generic spell caster that could be sorc/lock/wiz. *disregard* even if its often treated like that... its an int caster, which is basically only wizards.
Care to elaborate? I understand why not everyone is a fan, but "it's bs" isn't a particularly compelling argument. Most of the changes in the video seem like buffs or good QoL fixes.
The light hammer damage has brute baked in, with an extra d4 on top. Monster stat blocks are gearing designed to help DMs speed play, which is good because all the extra player stuff can slow play.
Nice catch
I feel like every new monster helps tide over the immense delay until the Monster Manual comes out in February. So at least we have a few toys in our toy chest until then. I’m hopeful that the DMG will also have a few.
I remember them saying they’ll have an examples for both adventure and setting creation (we know the latter is greyhawk). But for the adventure(s) they’d definitively need to provide some monsters to have the example work, maybe even some for the encounter building guidelines. I think low cr classic fantasy monsters like orcs goblinoids kobolds ogres and a few monstrosities/undead are likely to be provided.
Changes are good. More straightforward for DM to run, keeps combat moving. 👍
3:19 their bite does more damage straight up
d6+1 is 4.5 average and 7 max
d4+3 is 5.5 average and 7 max
The only time where the former bite would be doing is on a crit, where you are rolling 2d6 instead of 2d4.
Love these. Easy to run for the DM. Much less overwhelming.
from what we've seen so far, i'm liking the changes
That Bog Sage at the end…could be something to look at for the Shaman in Horde of the Dragon Queen 🧐
It seems like they are doing away with monster spell slots per the mage statblock. If that is the case counterspell nerf is not as bad as previously thought since it only makes an exception for spells cast with spells slots and spells cast with uses/day would not have their uses refunded.
@@ArturoGonzalez-st7xj they started doing that with Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse, so I assumed they were just going to keep thst moving forward
Yeah, the more I think about it the more I think Counterspell is a stronger option for a player than for an NPC
NPCs or creatures are who counterspell is bad for which is why DM’s everywhere have been saying it’s bad. It’s amazing for PCs and other allies because WotC for some reason arbitrarily and one sidedly buffed it.
@@logancuster8035that’s because it is
@@trexdrewOh, I don’t think it’s arbitrarily at all. It’s a decision to improve fun for players.
4:21 the classic bugbear showed up in the original cartoon in the episode "The Hall of Bones" - they were just hanging around in a tavern IIRC.
since the mage is not using spell slots it is not limited with one spell per turn. With this it can counterspell your counterspell to its spell
But it only gets one, which is less than the previous version (which basically got 2)
I know some people don't care about alignment but I noticed the bullywug went from NE (2014) to any (2024). This could be interesting if you somehow run across a good-aligned bullywug.
Bullywug always has been good and benevolent creatures
Ran these on release day, and combat felt way more like what MCDM is trying to do with Flee, Mortals
Thanks for breaking this down! There were some things I missed when looking over them.
Let's be honest here, the average lifespan of an enemy caster in this game is measured in single digit rounds.
Both the 2014 and 2024 Mages will always open with the big bad cone of cold followed by a fireball. Anything else they manage to get off before they die/surrender is a plus.
Those full spell lists sound cool on paper, but 9 times out of 10 they might as well be flavor text.
Overall I like these. I also like how the new spellcasting for monsters is sort of like Vancian casting in older editions.
8:27 bullywugs appeared in a fair amount of episodes of the original cartoon, it makes sense they would appear in an adventure that stems from the animated series. Probably worgs sit in where the wolves did for Kelek in the episode "Valley of the Unicorns"
The Mage is really interesting.
It has the ability to protect its own spells against Counter Spell with their own Counter Spell. Which is something almost no PC will be able to do.
True, but only once.
You haven't been doing this for the past 10 years?
@@snakeinabox7220 I think its more about the new spellcasting rules. Rather than being unable to cast multiple spells per turn if You cast one as a bonus action, you can now only cast one spell that you expend a spell slot on per turn.
@@snakeinabox7220 exactly.
@@snakeinabox7220PCs can't anymore
Blink dog is one of the creatures I've got a soft spot for, I'm happy to see they streamlined the teleport ability. Kind of weird to me it isn't an option for the Pact of The Chain Warlock, would be a really great familiar for an Archfey patron. I suspect most DMs would allow it, Imps are the go-to for Chain, and a Blink Dog is only CR 1/4 while Imps are CR 1, so if someone wants flavor over function I would allow it.
Interesting that the bugbear is fey instead of a humanoid. I checked and the goblinoid player races from Monsters of the Multiverse are humanoids, but have fey ancestry trait
I think it’s very interesting that the bugbear doesn’t have surprise attack because even the Bugbear Chief has it. That, plus the playable race having a similar feature indicates to me that the trait inherent to the species
11:56 mages can counterspell a counterspell since they’re not consuming spells slots?
Yup
*Insert what we do in the shadows style back and forth between several mages arguing over who counterspelled who*
I mean, my answer to counter spelling a counter spell is for a wild magic surge to happen 🤣
Removing the extra damage die on the Bugbear Warrior as a separate ability is probably just a simplifying the stat-block thing. Their weapon attack does still get extra damage dice, after all.
The Bullywug Warrior's attacks are an upgrade in total damage. They have +4 to hit rather than +3 and do an average of 9 damage on an attack, which is higher damage unless the 2014 Bullywug uses its spear two-handed, which costs it AC. Yeah, only one chance to crit, but the crit is more likely with the higher to-hit and does more damage.
"The crit is more likely with the higher to-hit and does more damage" this isn't PF2E 😋
@@AnaseSkyrider Fair, I was thinking the attack is more likely to hit and got my wording confused. The point stands that with higher to hit and total damage, it's better.
I am a big fan of the new stat blocks
The bugbear suprise killed a level 4 ranger & rogue in a game i was running. That suprise is brutal
I’m very interested in the Spellcasters and do like what I’m seeing. It’s a little wild how good the mage is in Melee but I’m glad to see they included a way for NPCs to use non Action spells, meaning we won’t just have Vecna like uncounterspellable counterspells
4:50 they did the same thing with other human monsters that aren’t NPCs like Sahuagin and Gnolls becoming monstrosities
The old statblocks were actually tweaked in cool ways.
For instance, the sprites heart sight is much clearer to parse.
Bullywog lost Swamp Camouflage but went from +3 stealth to +4, so like the blink dog it balances out? Makes me thing they are trying to get rid of some of the judgement call abilities to simplfy it?
I also see it as just trimming bloat/clutter from these stat blocks, a VERY good change.
Why skip the sprite? Looks like the Sprite got a pretty big buff, but also is much simpler to run.
Sorry I skipped it because it's in the new PHB. I can go back and do that though
@@NerdImmersion was there a video comparing phb statblocks? Because I would like to see that, especially if it already exists XD
I don't like the saving throw being removed unless they've severely nerfed conditions it makes them a lot easier to get
Hey! Love the vids! Curious about one part though, you brushed off the Bugbear's 10' reach as "matches what the player characters have". What did I miss? They should have a 5' reach for an unarmed melee attack, no? Isn't that a typo though and should be 5' because if you look at the Light Hammer attack, it's also a 5' reach attack. If it was a case of their arms being longer then wouldn't the hammers have 10' reach too?
And why would Player Characters have a 10' reach with unarmed strikes? Feels like I'm missing context! If you read this and reply, thank you, keep up the great work, love the channel!
4:40 character goblinoids aren’t fey in mordenkainens, only the monsters are (which are only hobgoblins from what I remember). Still though, kinda odd they did that where the players aren’t fey but the monsters are
@dew-it8744 sorry you're right, they just have fey Ancestry
@@NerdImmersionno problem, it’s an understandable mistake
It annoys me that instead of just fixing the rules, they're still doing this nonsense of avoiding allowing PCs out of the Medium Humanoid box. It leads to some weird confusing nonsense that would be cleared up by just having specific rules that address the things they do or don't want to work certain ways.
These are looking great.
Gotta ask Ted , are you ever gonna give a run down of the ToV version of the monsters ? Maybe this is the right time or when the DMG verison comes out you can do a 3 way comparison and contrast of the monsters in common and what's unique to ToV and 2024
@@AnarchicArachnid yup, there's just only so much time given that I don't do this stuff full time
Do a new monster manual series.
When it's out, I will
These are all great, good job wizards!
Honestly, there's not enough improvement to the stats of monsters to account for the extra damage that players are now able to do with weapon masteries, stronger class abilities, etc. 2014 players were already cakewalking most things after level 3 without going way over the recommended challenge rating, with the minor improvements to some attack and the Nerf to other parts like HP and abilities, I just think that it's overall going to be pretty bad balance still unless it's just these
I will say that the original monsters with the spells are a bit stronger, but I don't know. I just feel like it's not as much of an improvement as the players got, which I think is a pretty glaring issue for the system. Unless they're encounter, builder is going to be completely different
These aren't high CR though. Also the Mage is a big buff IMO, that triple attack for 3d8 is a lot more damage output than they used to be capable of.
@@Lord_zeel The mage is the only one that saw a significant boost
The CR 1 and under monsters got nerfed because there are modules that tell you to throw eight of those things at your party.
DnD was too deadly at low levels and too easy at higher levels, so they rebalanced it. I think this is all in the right direction.
I would play
Warg should have +6 in perception just increase wisdom wotc. simple.
But will they change Strahd?!
They already did in Eve of Ruin
How much testing did these monster blocks see? My guess is slim to none but if anyone has actual info on this I’d rather not assume.
I'm guessing they don't do a ton of playtesting on each one, but they probably have some very impressive spreadsheets.
Making goblinoids, like the bugbear and hobgoblin, into fey is not the answer to making goblinoids different from humanoids.
Edit: If it weren't for the Arcane Burst action, the new mage stat block would be overall worse. Arcane Burst is basically a single-target Eldritch Blast cast by a 11th-level warlock (even though the mage is CR 6), and the mage can use it thrice a turn.
So they would be selling a THIRD time the same monsters like with Mordenkainen's books, but this time they did it right?
Well I don’t think there’s supposed to be any monsters from Monsters of the Multiverse, just redoing the ones from the 2014 Monster Manual plus some new ones to fill in the CR gap for the different creature types
Not really Mordenkainens was updating and reprinting two books that had been discontinued while the 2024 MM will likely mostly update and reprint the monsters from just the 2014 MM
9d10 at CR6 seems chunky. We need to see more tier 2-3 statblocks, will they all have a lot of damage to balance the heal boosts?
Also personally I fucking hate the idea of non-humanoid player characters, it just screws with conventional plans and spells too much.
Truth, with so many PCs and monsters ceasing to be humanoids they should just remove the "Hold Person" and "Charm Person" spells since they won't work on most PCs, or NPCs and on none of the monsters.
I disagree. They need more non humanoid player races... but also more things that specifically mess with non humanoids at all levels of play. Take the fey player races... low level they just laugh at some dangerous spells, but theres some nasty ones waiting at high levels. Need more low level ones that are anti-fae. Unusual creature types should be a trade off for players not a straight buff.
how was a blink Dog considered a humanoid, but giants weren't?
One thing that i often don't understand on monster statblocks is the special weapon that aren't equipment, the insectoid rapier is cool, but a player can get it and deal an extra 1d4 poison damage? The same logic applies on putrid staff, i imagine everyone deals with this differently, but a mention in the books would be nice
Loot is listed in a monster's gear. If it isn't listed, it isn't loot.
@The_Crimson_Witch where is loot listed?
@@TheRealWilliamWhite 5:18
Ted points out the new "gear" section.
Anything that can be taken from the monster seems to be noted in its gear, and anything else is presumably lost upon its death (breaks or somehow becomes unusuable)
But how does it happen then? The sword evaporates when the monster dies? It ia weird in the narrative, if i am a player and hears the description of a insectoid sword i will be interested in the sword, in the staff too( even more, it deals an extra 3d10 after all)
@lordkadu13 It breaks, it gets lost in the terrain, ect.
"You strike at the bullywug, and although it raises its blade to deflect your blow, you cleave straight through both."
It's up to the DM, but at the end of the day it's so that they can give monsters interesting attacks without needing to make a new magic item every time they do so. If you want to homebrew it that is fine, but I don't really want a bloated book or one full of bland monsters.
Why are goblinoids fey??? Weird.
Yeah they were like that in Monsters of the Multiverse, but as someone who played a Hobgoblin wizard for a long time (Volo's book version), I will always find it strange.
Because they originate from the feywild?
because historically goblinoid creatures are fey, as are many creature from folklore.
It depends on edition and lore, I consider any intelligent, basically human shaped creature that can speak a language as a person so it doesn't matter to me.
If you've ever seen the Labyrinth 1986 or Legend 1985... I could easily see goblins being Fey.
Not a fan of goblinoids and worgs being fey. That seems really weird and counterintuitive.
Pointy ears
I don't know how I feel about those changes because on one hand I understand it improves the flow of combat but on the other I feel like they stripped the fun mechanics and flavour those monsters had
Again it appears some changes are to make it easier to program.
Bugbear Light hammer for a pc does 1d4.
Bullywug, That is leap is powerful. I ran the Uni adventure.
Mage Harrumph
Worg harrumph
Bullywug bog sage. I did not really use this critter in combat, or it died quickly.
For just a '2024 update' that is backwards compatible they seem to change about everything.
Not really, both sets of monsters for instance will work just fine under the new rules. You don't actually have to use the new Monster Manual with the new PHB or the new PHB with the new Monster Manual. Backward compatible means you don't have to fully convert from one system to the next, all the older content still works. That doesn't mean there aren't new versions of a lot of things, just that you can pick and choose with only a few restrictions (and so far those restrictions are contained to the one book you already bought, like no using 2024 subclasses with 2014 base classes). What amazes me is that there seem to be equally large contingents of people treating the update as actually a new edition "oh no end of the world change is bad" as I see people who are complaining that the new books are nothing new, just a cash grab trying to sell us the same thing we already have.
The real backwards compatibility for the new Monster Manual is that they are keeping all of the monsters at the same challenge rating, so it doesn’t mess up the balance of encounters from previously released adventure. Thus, the new monsters are compatible with old adventures. “Backwards compatible” does not mean “no changes”.
@@Lord_zeel You can deny all you want, but it is just a cash grab.
@@kennethray8473 Yes, I know that, but the more changes there are the more 'trouble' you have to make it compatible.
@@seppa193 These seem to be contradictory opinions to me. I would understand thinking that there are only minor changes and this is a lazy cash grab to sell more core rulebooks, OR that there are too many changes and that they aren’t really backwards compatible, but both can’t be true in my mind. I personally don’t believe either, as I truly believe that the creative and design teams behind the new books want to improve balance and streamline the onboarding process for new players while refreshing and injecting life into this ten-year-old system. From what I’ve seen so far, they’ve largely done a good job at that. Say what you will about Hasbro and the higher-ups at WotC, but the creators really are passionate and I appreciate what they’re doing.
The stat blocks are really ugly and ineffective. Why repeat the stats/bonus' three times? Get ride of the score all together, it's never used for anything. Just have the bonus and then mark which abilities they have proficient saves in. Takes a huge amount of space with very little information conveyed. The type of action required should be noted in the ability rather than massive header lines. the whole thing seems like an effort to make stat blocks a big and unwieldy as possible - like it's a middle schooler's effort to pad page count on an essay.
I hate the design idea behind new spellcasters npc, if I play a Mage i dont have arcane burst, i cast spells and cantrips.I can spend only one spell slot per turn but npc mage can blast as many it wishes. Why I can not do the same thing as npc with same clas as me? We wnet to diferent magic schouls or what?
Me too. Npc spellcasters are closer to warlocks than the classes they're supposed to be.
@@Enkidu659 Yes! This is my big problem with them. They don't feel like spellcasters anymore, they feel like warlocks or martials just with their weapons reflavoured to be magic. I'm fine with trimming down the spell lists and making some things at will to avoid having to count spellslots but the at will things should still be SPELLS! Not some bland magic attack.
I don't like the Mage losing spells. It removed the diversity that come with being an arcane spellcaster. I'll homebrew the mage so it has the stats of 2024 but with the spell list of 2014.
Yeah, I get what they're doing with the way they want to handle spellcasting going forward. But I don't really love it. I like spellcasters, I like how spellcasting works, but as a DM I just don't get to now? Not like it's hard to just home brew, or just use the 2014 MM versions of course. But I wish they had left some standard casters around, at least for the most wizard-like ones.
@@Lord_zeel It make no sense that an Arch Wizard: a powerful spellcaster with decades of study, know like 8 spells. It is just like you said, the wizards creature should have a way bigger spell list. I can understand other monsters with innate spellcasting that give them just a few spells (most monster with spellcasting are like that anyways). Thankfully, this issue is only for a small section of monsters. That no too bad to homebrew.
And you increase challenge rating to 8? Because you give it a massive boost in power!
@@Eisenbrei Yeah, probably.
11:17 and this right here is why I hate the new blocks. This one single issue infuriates me to no end. Why? Well you perfectly accidentally exemplified exactly what the issue is right here! You didn’t even know they had saving throw proficiencies because they made them unnoticeable unless you knew what was changed and removed them from a list below the stats. The worst part? This could be so easily corrected in the simplest way: highlight the boxes their proficiencies are in as a different color than all the others! Literally all they need to do is sticking with the mage make the save boxes under INT and WIS a different color from what that column’s default color is! Make it something bright like a yellow or whatever you want and then it stands out. Put a small blurb in the beginning of where you write about how to read a stat block in each book that has one that the saving throw proficiencies are highlighted differently from the rest and presto! You’ve solved the problem!
I really hate the balance over worldbuilding of the new stat blocks! It was a problem before, when i could not explain to players why their enemies could poison them with every attack, but they could use poison only once.
Now with the new mage stat block, the dicussions will be endless, why some wizards learnt to use Arcane Burst, but the player Wizard went to a different wizard school, where it wasn't part of the curriculum. Also, mages should be glas cannons, not raid bosses! What is going on with those HP pools? Did they put any thought into why creatures have how much HP or did they just use a random number generator?
I like the new concepts... however, I am not thrilled by the fact that most creatures seem to have had their Hit Points and their damage reduced.
Most had their hit points increased. Many had damage or status effect buffs in subtle but important ways. Some lower CR monsters (looking at you Bugbear) were notorious for party wiping at Level 1 so they got a slight nerf.
Only low CR creature have those reduced. Every high CR statblock we saw either have same or more HP and more damage.
How was Leap not utilizable in combat? it was just part of their movement.
Absolutely hate the new spellcasting changes for NPCs... terrible for customization.
Big disagree on the NPC casters. If you don't like a chosen spell, just like before, you can swap it out for something of the same level. Don't want your mage to use Cone of Cold? Go with Bigby's Hand. Don't like upcasted Ray of Sickness? Go extra control/debuff with Blindness/Deafness.
It's easier to parse, modular, and should provide a decent challenge. Nothing but wins in my eyes. But hey, we're all free to believe what we believe!
@@CooperAATE for offensive maybe... but any utility is gone unless I hand wave it. I have always been a proponent of NPCs should follow the same rules as the PCs this moves breaks that quite a bit.
The only thing I dislike here is Arcane Burst on the Mage. It raises too many questions.
Honestly i never had any problem with the 2014 monsters and how they did it, although I do like the new spellcasting rules whithout spellslots. Also i think it's very sad to remove traits like Keen Smell and Hearing, or Underwater Camouflage and just giving the monster in question expertise in the given skill, considering advantage is a +4, not just simple expertise. That alongside them dropping Legendary Actions for 3 Reactions (something my players absolutely hated cause it made them feel like they lose more) and I myself also disliked, alongisde doubling down on Legendary Resistance and removing Lair Actions, has made me come to the conclusion that I won't be bying the 2024 MM. I'll run the old versions of the statblock, and maybe checkout the new ones and any new monsters that are published online for free.
What? they removed Lair Actions? They had better have added a section on "terrain effects" or "terrain actions" or what's the point of having the party go to different locations at all? Just have every combat in the same grey box with randomly positioned grey boxes for cover it would make no difference.
@@agilemind6241 don’t listen to this guy he is bullshiting
Legendary actions are not deleted but still there and improved alongside new reactions and Lresistances are unchanged and not double down and lair actions have been fused with the Lactions and not deleted
The new monsters are simply better and the adult green dragon that was revealed some time ago demonstrates all that im saying
I really dislike changing spellcasters to attack-spammers. It makes AC so much more valuable than damage resistances or saving throw bonuses for PCs. I would much rather they do something like that Bullywug sage and give them one or two thematic damage spells just at will. So that Mage should have Fireball and Magic Missile (2nd level) at will plus a few more limited use spells (misty step 2/per day, and greater invisibility 1/day), and at least 3 uses of Counterspell and 3 of Shield, THAT would feel like like fighting a mage. This mage feels more like a warlock that just spams an upgrade EB and occasionally throws out an actual spell.
Is mage specifically a wizard? Or is a generic spell caster that could be sorc/lock/wiz. *disregard* even if its often treated like that... its an int caster, which is basically only wizards.
Did you not read the part where the mage gets fireball and cone of cold and where the bullywug sage has vitriolic sphere and ray of sickness
you know this is going to get the pinkertons called on you
@@JustFunkyProduction for showing off stuff they released for free? Doubtful
I think that was an attempt at a joke...?
I''ll keep playing 5e 2014 ed. this 2024 ed is bs
I'd bet a lot of money that you said something very similar back in 2014.
Care to elaborate? I understand why not everyone is a fan, but "it's bs" isn't a particularly compelling argument. Most of the changes in the video seem like buffs or good QoL fixes.