Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual: Review
The Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual (MM) is part of the initial 5e core rules set. This is a comprehensive guide of monsters that you can use in your games. It also includes many of the mounters included in official campaigns created by Wizards of the Coast.
What it is
The book is entirely for Dungeon Masters (DMs) and is used to bring life to your encounters. It gives you more monsters than you can probably use in a year of gaming and some cool ideas for where the encounters can take place.
There are stat blocks for all the monsters and at the back you have stat blocks for common animals as well as some basic Nonplayer Character (NPC).
There is also a section at the beginning of the guide that tells you how to read the stat blocks, what each ability means and how to handle Legendary Creatures.
This guide is more than just a listing of monsters, it is also a gold mine of information about the way they operate, their lairs and the kind of environments they live in.
Filled with useful bits of information, like what do equip monsters with when they don’t have anything mentioned in the stats blocks and where monsters dwell, this guide is aimed at being useful tool for all DMs.
What it is not
The MM lists monsters alphabetically. There is no way to differentiate monsters by challenge rating or environment in the Monster Manual itself. However, there are lists in the Dungeon Master’s guide that provide this information.
I would much prefer monsters to be grouped together by challenge rating or even environment. I would also like it if there were lists of monsters by kind of damage. That would be a fun way to decide which to pop into a game.
Who will benefit from it most
All DMs will benefit for the book. It’s a relatively easy to use tool that can stir your imagination and story.
The stats are, for the most part, clear and easy to use. The flavour text is fun to rummage through for inspiration and details of the environment or lair in which they live.
Get the Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual here
Products that we review link to sales pages with affiliate links. This means that if you buy within 24 hours of clicking on the link we get a small commission. We cannot see who clicks or any personal details
If you enjoyed our review of the Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual then you may also like the reviews of the rest of the D&D core rule books.
