Monster Manual

The D&D Monster Manual is an indispensable core rulebook that earns a full five stars for its comprehensive content, detailed illustrations, and invaluable utility in any campaign. Comprehensive Content: The Monster Manual is packed with a vast array of creatures, from classic monsters like dragons and beholders to lesser-known entities and unique new creations. Each monster entry is rich with lore, abilities, and stats, providing Dungeon Masters with endless possibilities for encounters. Detailed Illustrations: The artwork in the Monster Manual is stunning. Each creature is vividly brought to life with detailed illustrations that spark the imagination and add depth to the descriptions. The visuals alone are enough to inspire countless adventure ideas. Utility in Campaigns: This book is an essential tool for Dungeon Masters. It provides ready-to-use stat blocks, making it easy to drop monsters into any campaign. The detailed descriptions offer insights into each creature's behavior, habitat, and tactics, allowing for more immersive and dynamic encounters. Inspiration and Creativity: Beyond its practical use, the Monster Manual serves as a wellspring of inspiration. The rich lore and diverse creatures encourage creativity, helping DMs to craft unique stories and challenging scenarios that keep players engaged and excited. Well-Organized and Accessible: The layout of the Monster Manual is user-friendly, with creatures organized alphabetically for quick reference. The book includes helpful appendices and an index, making it easy to find specific monsters or categories of creatures. This organization streamlines the game preparation process. Versatility: Whether running a high-fantasy epic or a gritty, dark campaign, the Monster Manual has something for every style of play. The range of monsters ensures that Dungeon Masters can tailor encounters to suit the theme and tone of their game. Enduring Value: The Monster Manual is a timeless resource that remains relevant across multiple editions of Dungeons & Dragons. Its enduring value lies in its ability to enhance gameplay and storytelling, making it a worthy investment for any D&D enthusiast. Conclusion: The D&D Monster Manual is a cornerstone of the Dungeons & Dragons experience. Its comprehensive content, detailed illustrations, practical utility, and inspiration make it an essential resource for any Dungeon Master. This book truly elevates the quality of any campaign, earning it a well-deserved five stars!

I am learning how to run 5th edition. I have played and DMd for a lot of years. The artwork in this book is absolutely amazing. The stats for the critters and their descriptions....perfect. I am very glad I ordered this book

This is a fantastic volume, one which you simply cannot play Dungeons & Dragons without. Wel, I suppose you could, but you shouldn't! Whether you're a player or the DM, this book contains information you need to have quick access to. But, if you're into the game, you already know all this. But if you don't know the game and are purchasing this as a gift for someone else, rest assured that this is money well spent. This book will be valued by the recipient. On to other things. What's in it? Again, if you know the game, you already know what's in here. But it's not just a list of monsters and their game stats. There is valuable information about the habits and lifestyles of these monsters. Referencing these details in-game will allow for a much fuller game experience. The information in the book is easy to access, well organized, and easily understood. Of the three core D&D books, this is, by far, the most enjoyable. The art is outstanding. So much better than the various incarnations of the Monster Manual from the 1970s and 1980s. In the 1990s, there was another sourcebook called the Monstrous Compendium which did have some artwork that was slightly better than what we are seeing in this current volume, but the Monstrous Compendium was not bound together in a book; it was sold in packages of individual pages which you then had to stick into a looseleaf binder from which pages were inevitably lost. This new Monster Manual is really one hell of a book.

The Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual (2014) is packed with wild imagination — creatures, lore, and all sorts of creative ideas that make your campaigns come alive. The art is beautiful, the writing is detailed, and for storytelling, it’s top-notch. 🎲✨ But as with anything fantasy-related, it’s important to remember: this is fiction, not faith. Some of the monsters and dark elements can seem intense, so I always remind myself and my kids that the real power doesn’t come from spells or swords — it comes from Jesus Christ, who already conquered every evil thing! 🙌💪 Ephesians 6:11 says, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” And hey, if you ever want to play a paladin, that verse makes a great character motto! ⚔️😄 So yes — it’s creative and fun, but keep your heart grounded in truth and light while you play. Jesus > dragons, always. 🐲❤️✝️

Its a great book for those who want to learn more about the different beasts in the dungeons and dragons universe

I've bought a few of these things from a few different publishers over the years but haven't "read" any of them, as opposed to pulling them out for consultation. MONSTER MANUAL 5th ed places the creatures in D&D lore and presents their history so well that I ended up actually reading the entries rather than simply skimming to the stat block. I don't thing I've seen the Lair Effect and Region Effect in an RPG monster book before - which would mean WotC managed to actually *evolve* the concept of a "manual of monsters." Kudos! Animals and their dire versions are piled as quick references in the back of the book (does anyone require writeups on the ecology of dinosaurs? The diet of wolves? The intelligence stat of a bear?) which respects the page space and saves it for fictional beasties. Really, the team's only oversight is the scarcity absence of appendices - there is, for example, no table of monster entries by challenge level - whereas PATHFINDER has 14 (you read that right!) at the back of their own BESTIARY. Hasbro Inc. hardly needs my help selling these books at this point so let me just say to a prospective buyer: don't hesitate!

I missed many of the gaming manuals throughout the 80s (and therefore saved some money) but with the arrival of this amazing edition, containing as it does almost all the "classic" creatures/beings familiar to most keen gamers, plus a fair number of newer entries that most may never have come across, for its price, is probably the most conscientiously filled and booted monster guide out there. Though many people looking at this cool tome are likely well versed in the many rules and stats of the beings in the D&D and Pathfinder world-and the gamebook world for that reason, this also acts pretty well as a cool introduction for the novice. It is very easy to read the book from beginning to end and it barely takes ten pages on the general rules before launching into a beautifully illustrated and well detailed history of a stunning range of monsters in a decidely helpful alphabetically succint system. Just before the bestiary begins, the first eight pages soak you easily in with a brief and welcoming introduction to the world of D&D, how this book works, the definition of 'monster' and the different types-i.e aberrations, beasts, undead, constructs and so on, with examples of each group. There's also brief breakdowns of all the other numerous stats-speed/skills/senses/languages/special traits/alignments. Sometimes this is just too much, and I often prefer the simpler Fighting Fantasy/Hero Quest game approach that all these stats multitudes that seem to interrupt play more than anything else as you mull over the meanings instead of just straight into an encounter, and in truth, seem to make something that's supposed to be hugely enjoyable far more complicated than it needs to be. And in truth, seems more designed for bleeding computer games than the grand old unbeatable idea of long gone yonder-tabletop gaming with miniatures, boards and scenery. But it's the monster chapters themselves that sell this book-and boy are they great. Almost all of them hit the extreme heights, with only seemingly truly redundant to the beautiful world of gaming, which sadly means that some other great beings are absent, and glaring omissions from this grand publication are the Phoenix, Kelpie, Fairies and the dreadfully ignored but quite brilliant Fimirs. I also realise that some others clearly can't be included if they were created by Games Workshop co-founders and creators of the Fighting Fantasy explosion of the 80s-Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. A pity as a fair number of their own beings-Rhino Men, Garks, Ice Ghosts, Scurrellors, Sentinels and Chamelonites are worthy of it-and also of having models based on them. A pity this, but on the strong side, the rich yet speedy round-up of each being's history (detailing how many were created) is far better than the basic and often smoothed over (ah, so you don't know either!) kobbled together bits and bobs summaries of the charming if hardly extensive 'Out Of The Pit'-the Fighting Fantasy monster accompaniment, of which this is a far more invigorating and prevailing version, not least because of the meticulous and outstanding full-colour illustrations of EVERY being named-from Kenkus to Hezrous and Nothics to Satyrs. At only a few times do certain drawings flag-mainly ones that contradict annoyingly with the beings I'm used to through the Gamebooks, so the Goblins and Hobgoblins in here (with red skin no less-they're not devils!) lose for me, as do the Kobolds and Troglodytes for being way too akin to the Lizard Men in likeness, just lacking. The Jackalweres are just wimpy attempts at werecreatures, yet kept seperate! The inclusion of something like a Werebadger or Wereape would be far better! And Orcs with grey skin?! What? And why Orcs are not referred to as Goblinoids I'll never know, when the hairy ape/bear humanoids the Bugbears are is a mystery that should really be cleared up. The Harpy's description is all well and good, but is a little too much like the Siren's in places, though the picture is lovely. And the illustation of the "Pixie" is blatantly a Fairy or a Nymph (if they have wings. A Pixie-the ones I know-cannot fly. Oh well. But in wins in spades with its thorough genius-such as intriguingly dangerous looking beings like Xorn's being neutral, and how a Genie isn't a Genie at all but an umbrealla term for four different types, what Elementals actually are and how they work, and best of all-the different types of undead and how they came into being. There's also a wry little piece at the start in the early introductory pages further reminding the reader that this is still THEIR world after all-and they can switch alignments and environments how they see fit! As my favourite (though I love most) FF Gamebook was always 'Demons Of The Deep'-an adventure set beneath the waves where you can breathe underwater, I was always miffed there would be no more like this, so to find several marine beings-Merfolk, Merrows, Kuo-Toa and the horrific but pretty Sahuagins, and to know there's models of other marine beasts is brilliant. My biggest gripe is that for all the scintillating and showy reels of the many death-dealing ways a large number of D&D monsters can attack and kill you and how many are invulnerable to usual weapons and an awful lot of spells, there is barely ANY reference to how they CAN be fought off/harmed/killed or escaped from when usual attacks fail. This is most unfair-even Out Of The Pit tried to include this, though they had nothing like the awesome number of almost impossible-to-face-and-live beings in the pages of this book. This makes me think we've got to do the work ourselves, and fair enough I guess, as it's our world after all. But this would still be much appreciated, not least cos the creature's different histories mostly offer not even a hint to what might may be done against them. There's a seperate A-Z for animals-mostly bigger versions of ones you find in this world-deer, bears, wolves, gorillas and so on, with a couple of weird inclusions that should really be in the Monster A-Z-i.e the lawful Blink Dog and Chaotic Death Dog. After this is another Appendix for the many types of human being/Elf/Dwarf people you can meet in the game-cultists, scouts, beserkers, pirates, guards, mages and so on. Most helpful is the Monster Index at the end which can take you straight to the monster you want rather than flipping impatiently, yet lovingly through the luscious monster prints. Also cute are the small sketches of certain beings spread about such pages-many witty such as the hulking Minotaur standing behind a human perusing a map or scroll and having no idea its behind him ready to pancake him, while a Rug of Smothering envelops a warrior, and a Giant Squid looks like it's just had a Tardis dropped on its head! At between £17.50 and £20, this painstakingly generally great manual is utterly indispensible and £10 less that the price Orc's Nest, War Boar and other gameshops place on it, though it's still lovely to see they carry it. The cover art is also brilliant but don't believe that beauty is only in the big Eye of that Beholder.

Awesome book for lore and statb blocks! It's a delight to read and understand how I can put the monsters on my campaign. Even if I choose not to use their lore, I can have a general idea about how I can change things in a way it can fit to my stories!

Hab das Buch bei einem Freund von mir gesehen und als "Nerd" musste ich mir das einfach holen. Es ist sehr schön und hochwertig, die Illustrationen sind genial, die Erklärungen sehr ausführlich und auch wenn ich selbst kein D&D mehr spiele, ist das Monster Manual jeden Cent wert. Macht sich natürlich auch sehr gut im Bücherregal!

This is a great book with beautiful artwork and lot of information on all the monsters. One issue though is that the product arrived slightly damaged.