Should you buy Mordenkainen Monsters of the Multiverse? Is it worth it? D&D Review
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- Опубликовано: 6 июл 2024
- Is it worth it to buy Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse? In this video we preview the book and compare it to Volo's Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes.
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WotC: "We saw how multiple 3rd party content producers were putting out huge monster books, with new creatures, lore, battle tactics, and game mechanics, and decided we wanted to capitalize on that. So we put out a book that has none of that. Just simplified stat blocks for creatures you're already using."
This comment literally made me laugh out loud! lol, well said Orion. Well said!
and the 'simplified' stat blocks do basically nothing to actually streamline play :D
Players: Let me guess - It's running for about 60 dollars?
Wotc: ermm...look at the shiny cover - sshhiinnyy covveerr..
Fans: .....
"And also while we're at it we're removing swathes of content from the stuff we're reprinting, $60 please."
can u point me where to see the monster books? im interested in collecting them and use them as inspiration
Anyone else notice the pattern that a book deconstructing monsters and player races is always released between when that version of D&D starts going off the rails and when they release a new version resetting the whole thing?
One thing to notice about the Annis Hag Lore changes: the lore has been deliberately censored to tone down reference to them hunting children. The word "children" is replaced with "the young". There's missing text about making children's skin into supple leather, etc. The headers highlight this information, so by taking out the headers, the potentially disturbing lore that remains in the text is harder to find by casual observation. This means that people who will be offended or file online complaints (or who are looking to make frivolous complaints) will have a harder time doing it, unless they seriously sit down and scour the book for lore, which is something that people who are just trying to complain rarely have the patience to do.
This is why the 2nd edition tactic of renaming all the demons and devils worked against people complaining about D&D during the Satanic Panic. According to Jim Ward, when a person would gripe at them at a convention, they'd just say, "see, there aren't demons and devils in the game anymore," and it actually tricked the complainers, who hadn't ever bothered to read the game books.
This is part of a general trend by WOTC to make the game more PG rated, and appeal to a mass audience, which fits in with their corporate goal to mass market the game as a "lifestyle brand", selling t-shirts, cook books, cozies, throw blankets, etc, in an attempt to cash in on the game's recent mainstream popularity. This has the unfortunate affect (IMHO) in dumbing down the game a bit, and making the source material less weird and interesting, and more bland and corporate.
Another thing to consider: WOTC got into hot water about censoring their books recently. They reassured their audience that they weren't censoring anything, just "updating the lore". It is possible that they are planning to completely censor the lore in Volo's and MTOF, by combining material from those books into the new book, minus the detailed lore, and then letting Volo's and MTOF quietly go out of print. Then they've effectively erased the detailed lore without looking like they're overtly censoring it.
This was an interesting read. I didn't even notice the text changes, I'll have to go back and look at that. Thank you for watching Cowper. Cheers!
Ooooohhh I hate this…. I hate this so much… fucking WoC.
i always wanted some kind of "dnd 5.5e" of all the races, classes and subclasses revised and balanced....but after this i think im good...just leave it alone
Me too! I thought it would be cool as well, but this is definitely not what I had envisioned. Cheers, Augusto!
From the beginning, I've viewed this as a thinly veiled cash grab with how they only released it as part of the set at first. The more I read about the changes they were making, the more I was certain I would never buy this book. There are some good points I'll likely use to compile my own PDF, such as natural weapons increasing to 1d6. I also appreciate the Aarakocra speed adjustments as the one race that needed it. I also don't mind the Kenku being able to speak freely as their forced mimicry was an isolated concept to 5e in the first place.
I'm against removing all negative qualities from every race, and against the minimum base 30 movement for everyone. I hate the changes to kobold and may or may not offer the choice to my players in which kobold they play. In their current form, when considering what was released with Fizban's, Kobolds are essentially Dragonborn-lite. I'll keep tracking monster spells the original way because they didn't make it any easier. They just changed the process to something equally complicated.
I will need to playtest the new monster stat blocks a bit, though, just to see if the CR rebalance was successful or not. Currently CR is meaningless, so if this can actually make it useful, I may not have to strictly rely on resources like Kobold Fight Club or general experience DMing.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. I also feel like they did some unnecessary tinkering in areas. There were a few things I liked, but so much I didn't. Cheers!
ruclips.net/video/9_Yf6GXDYRU/видео.html
I was close to buying this set. I saw some videos and they only talked about the art and the cover. They almost convinced me, forgetting for a moment, the most important rule in the world of books: The most valuable thing in a book. It is the information it contains, not the appearance of the cover. Thank you.
I do not even feel like touching it with a 10 foot long stick
I already have volos guide and mord's tome of foes. Thank you for comparing those two with multiverse. It was helpful and saved me resources.
Glad I could help. :-)
If you already have the 5E MM, Volos, Tome of foes then you do NOT need this. All the changes are free online.
If you do not have Volos, and Tome of foes then yes wait till may and buy it.
If you already have Tasha and Xanather you DO not need this unless you want the new art
if you do not have Tasha and xanthers then sure get it.
Is it worth $170.00
NOPE
You do not need *any* of those if you have the Rules Cyclopedia :)
@@markfaulkner8191 LOL -yes
I still have my original BECMI series on standby. Although, I must admit, they are a bit worn at this point with pages falling out, lol.. :-)
@@WallyDM Get the PDFs and make prints! For me it is not about nostalgia or old books. I just started BECMI two years ago when I got back into playing D&D. I *did* track down most of the originals, because I am an obsessive collector LoL!
But by that token, I am probably gonna wind up buying the book in the video eventually. I am a bibliophile, and those books are *beautiful*! And I am hopeful that a revival of the multiverse concept will facilitate people playing different editions and/or different settings. I am interested in playing Mystara using 5e for example.
@@WallyDM ohh ouch. Id save those and maybe find a pdf or s osr retro clone
I would hate to see the original fall apart
Great as always :)
Thank you, my friend. I really appreciate it! Cheers!
This is a really informative review. Thanks for putting it together.
I am glad you found it helpful! I was nervous about doing a review on this level. Cheers!
Really good (and fair!) summary!
Thank you, my friend! Cheers!
Thank you. You just saved me getting this book. I already have both Volo’s Guide and Mordenkainen’s Tome.
Glad I could help! Cheers!
Thanks for the heads up
I was waiting for reviews on it
If I get it it will be the stand alone version
You bet Rivers, I am glad you found this helpful. Cheers!
thanks for the insight!
Thank you buddy. Much appreciated!
That DM screen is SIIIIICK. Too bad about the book though
I used the DM screen a few weeks ago. I was the coolest DM in the world on that day. But yeah, I wish the books were as dope as the screen. Cheers!
The art looks great, but it's not enough for me to buy it in hardcover and digital both. Almost all my games are online. I think they failed with the book. There are more negatives than positives for me. I only did digital so players would have access to the newly updated races. As I have said I also created homebrew of the existing races before the change, so my player can have a choice of old or new. Great quick review.
Absolutely. These are beautiful books... but, I think you nailed it. It is indeed a failure. Thank you for watching and providing great feedback, my friend!
Geezer here....
Thanks for a great video. The formatting change and having less information confirmed my original suspicion. Nope, won't be buying the new stuff. Until the itch strikes to add a art book to the collection.
Game on.
Solid position on this Geezer! I'm glad my review helped confirm your suspicions. Cheers, friend!
thank you for the review, Wally! i agree with you, those bold titles pop up when you are reading, preparing or running a game. They are very useful. And as a lore lover, well, not for me :p
Yeah, definitely a missed opportunity on Wizard's part, for sure. Hope you are having a great day. Cheers! :-)
Very good, impartial review.
The book is beautiful for a collector, but I'll wait for the upcoming 5.5e in a few years to see how all the changes play out, (assuming that these changes carry over to the 5.5e book) and wait for any other changes.
Thank you Alberto, glad you enjoyed the review. Waiting to see what develops might be a good idea. Cheers!
I'm not familiar with printing restrictions, but it seems like adding the extra monsters from adventures as well as the lore from previous books may have been too much to physically fit in one book.
Fair point on this Gus. With that in mind. I would have rather had monsters from several books in a compilation rather than just 2. Who knows, maybe they'll do that someday. I mean, don't get me wrong, Monsters of the Multiverse is still a good book, it just only appeals to a very niche audience. Cheers!
Kobold Press regularly turn out monster books for 5e that are about three times as thick as the WotC official monster books for around the same money so no it’s nothing to do with a physical restriction. This just smells of a pure cash grab
If you cut out all the lore and creation options you can fit everything.
Great review
Thank you, I'm glad you found it helpful. Cheers!
thank you for the review :)
Hope it was helpful. Cheers!
@@WallyDM it was
Seems to be continuing the trend - WoTC seem to have entirely shed their disciplined, smart strategy of 1-2 high quality releases per year. In favor of a glut of cash-grab DLC expansions.
For me, the case for switching to Pathfinder 2e just grows and grows...
Yep, I hope they are watching the reaction to this and correct their mistakes. Cheers!
might as well consider WOTC dead and call it what it really is.
Its Hasbro now.
It WAS working, not so much anymore
Great review.
Thank you David, glad you liked it!
You mentioned a RUclips series all about D&D races? I think your buddies name was Eric. Do you have the link? Thanks
I did! Here is the link to FryMinis. Eric is still in the process of uploading all of his videos, but he is putting them out at an incredible rate: ruclips.net/p/PL3KrfXkwVmzDsV6wJy-fyRuG_v3czEJhz
i realized i got MotMV in a 3 pack. Will this have new updates/content with the standalone coming out in May??
Nope. The May release of MotMV will be the exact same book as the one you received in the 3 pack.
I personally like the way they have the monsters listed more alphabetically.
This could definitely be a positive for someone that knows their monsters, for sure. Thank you for watching. Cheers! :-)
Any take on why they didn't included the Monster Manual in this? I was revisiting some creatures and we there is some mechanics that got a little bit different. Aside of what you talked about the monster lore (that could've been expanded at least), there are a restructuration of the stat blocks that are now only in this book. In other words... why? hahaha
The Monster Manual will be restructured and published in 2024.... but, I really wish they would have included all of the monsters from the adventure modules and campaign settings. That would have been an epic book, for sure. Cheers!
@@WallyDM indeed it would! I'm with you on that. Thanks for the intel.
A really thoughtful video wally!
a few points:
1. DNDBeyond have a pronunciation feature on the things you search and they would claim hat Bheur Hag sounds like "Burr".
2. The new alphasort feature has been requested by many DM's for many years. You had to know something was a demon or devil to have a chance at finding it before. So I was particularly in favour of this change until I just watched your video and although the old system was bad and still flawed, I believe its better than the new system.
3. Alignment. Not many DM's find a use for alignment so i understand their perceived need to ditch it. I use it more than average though for players walking into opposing alignment structures [temples, shrines and the like]. I am also a great fan of alignment traps.
4. Removal of lore is a huge deal breaker for me and this is a real negative move for them in my opinion.
5. The changes made in the Multiverse book dont justify a reprint but rather an errata. I really cant see anything that is so game changing on that basis. This alone makes the whole release a cheap and sleazy cash grab from my angle. I am unsure about the other two books included, so cant comment.
6. With all of the excellent points others have made and you in this video, I cant justify £150 for the exact same material I already have paid for three times [books, DNDBeyond and Fantasy Grounds]. The best concession that WOTC will get out of me is me buying the digital version on DNDBeyond unless a player gifts me it.
Thank you Badger! And, you are a life saver on that Pronunciation feature on DnDBeyond, I'm definitely going to use that in the future. Also, I am not familiar with Alignment Traps, are they simply triggered by opposing alignments?
Thank you for taking the time to present your opinions on this book, I enjoyed reading through them. Cheers!
The lack of lore makes sense considering WotC's erratas that slimmed down the lore for a bunch of monsters. Personally, not a fan of that move, and them doubling down on that... yeah. And the new formatting makes reading lore a chore anyway.
The statblocks... I feel ambivalent, mostly. I like that it adds proficency bonuses. I would have liked consistency with how they organised spellcasting, but it's not a big deal. The fact that they are re-shuffling resistences and HP sounds a bit annoying, but ultimately, I don't hate it. At least it will increase the perception that monsters are something that are modifyable and don't have to look exactly like they do in the books?
Considering that I already own Volo's and MToF, I am gonna skip this one.
I am wondering what the business strategy behind this release was. I mean, this almost feels like they are trying to make previously published books like Volo's or MToF obsolete. I can't imagine these books are gonna sell better after this release.
Planned obsolescence?
Some great insight here, thank you for sharing! And yeah, I'm not sure what exactly they were trying to accomplish with this book, but even after watching interviews of Jeremy Crawford trying to explain the goodness of it, I'm not even sure he is 100% on board, lol. Cheers!
From what I can tell, the move was solely to axe the lore associated with certain races because WotC and certain Twitter people think certain races are "racist" toward Black people somehow. Aside from that, as well as making older races more competitive with their newer races in terms of optimized abilities, I don't see any other reason why they made this book. It's to pander to people who don't even play the game
@@salvadortoscano2534 They could have just gone with something like "optional ancestry traits" or something. Give older races a similar treatment like they did with classes in Tasha's. Instead, they discouraged newbies to buy their other books.
I dunno, looking at sales numbers might give more insight, but I don't think they did everything new just because of a shitstorm on twitter. WotC is still a corporation and still mainly cares about overhead on sales, and only cares about being politically correct if they can advertise with that. Everybody calls someone (or something) famous racist on twitter nowadays. This is waay too huge for just an image-thing.
@@ff-pj3de I agree, they could've done something like what you suggest with races and ancestral traits. Instead they choose to get rid of fixed ability score bonuses and for the most part racial traits that rely on a certain ability score. Either way, they chose to decontrust what they already have instead of build upon what they have.
In regards to their politically correct crap, they've been doing this in MTG, too. WotC's employees/higher-ups agree with most, if not all, of the crap on Twitter in general. It might have something to do with sales as well, but I don't think that's it, as many people can get their official books as PDF's for free on the internet, or as part of a public database. Some people who play do buy their content, but I don't think it's all of the people who play D&D. Also, there would be no mechanical reason to get rid of racial lore while keeping mechanical bonuses and traits around. I don't see this as WotC trying to make more sales by being more "inclusive" in how their orcs or Drow interact with other races lorewise. It's not because of sales that people got angry that they see a certain real world skin color when they look at a Drow or orc image. I agree that seeing the statistics for their sales might shed more light on the direction they've chosen to go with D&D, however I do not believe they made a more informed decision beyond, "some people think we're racist because they see Black people on our orcs and Drow, so we'll neuter the lore for all our fantasy races to appease these people."
I never got tome of foes, so for me this was an easy buy. The only reprint content i am getting is the volos guide stuff. Having the massive expansion of playable races and fiend and humanoids really makes me very happy. Tho i wish like you we had gotten some of the adventure module bestiary creatures. Also wish that we could get some more celestials, as having ONLY the kirin is kinda sad. Also, where is the warforged?
Agreed. Warforged coulda been in here too.
so if you don't own volo's guide or modenkainen's tome, you should get this right?
Yep. It should serve you well!
One of the best things about this book, that was not mentioned, is all of the new art. Volo's guide to Monsters and Mordekeinens Tome Of Foes have a lot of monsters with out pictures for them and Mordekeinens Monsters Of the Multiverse remedies that, and it has a new dolphin and a new bovine...
I agree with you 100% on this. I really do like some of the new art in the book. I think I may have mentioned it, but I definitely should have emphasized this a lot more. Great call!
I actually like this book cause it gives me most of all the races since I had only one other book
Yep, that is definitely a positive. I'm coming around to enjoying the inclusions of the races a lot more lately.
My dnd group was going to pick up a copy or two (we have several groups at my location). After watching this video, and especially after realizing they’re not new monsters, I’m going to steer clear of this. Do I think it’s kinda cool? Sure. Do I think it’s more useful or necessary? Not at all. Especially since many players already own Volos Guide and Tome of Foes (among other monster resources, whether it be modules or something else), this book seems to be mostly useless
Yeah, other than getting updated races, you have everything you need (and more) in Volos and Tome of Foes. Cheers!
@@WallyDM and some of the updates are even not that good (either for gameplay, or for quality of life)
@@user_deleted5456 definitely cannot disagree. They tried to do too much, for sure
I picked up the alt cover set. I also like to collect shiny things. I figure that I still have all of the lore on D&D Beyond if I need it. I am selling my copies of the 4 books collected in the set, so this set ended up costing me $20.
This is a good plan! 100% on board with this. I hope you are enjoying your alt cover set. Cheers!
Exactly what I came for. Precise breakdown of the differences. You saved me some money, my new friend. Subscribed 👍
Glad I could help Ryan. :-) And welcome to the channel, it's great to have you here. Cheers!
Thanks, money saved!
You bet! I'm glad you found it helpful. Cheers!
Thank you for reviewing this D&D 5e set. Something I can avoid, because I'd be basically rebuying manuals that I already have.
Glad I could help, Michael. Cheers!
Thank you for the honest review
I personally don’t have it on my list to get now
I will wait until it’s available on its own but I am uncertain if I will get it then too being honest
The last few books I have purchased from WoTC have left me very disappointed and thinking I had wasted my money so in no hurry to do so again just now
Cheers
Thank you Scott, glad I could help. And yeah, I see this being a standalone $20 book at some point in the future. I'm hoping Wizards brightens our day with better releases this year. Cheers!
@@WallyDM
I hope they do as well though honestly not holding my breath 😀
So I have a couple theories about this book personally.
Firstly, it isn't a replacement for MTOF or VGTM. That's why MOTM lack the lore sections. The previous two books had lore relevant pretty much exclusively to the forgotten realms, and MOTM is supposed to be setting agnostic, so they only kept the lore in that would transfer from setting to setting unless the DM specifically wanted to fundamentally change how the creature worked (like switched the roles of devils and celestials for example).
That being said, despite WOTC saying the above often (not in the exact wording), I find it odd that they chose to still include the demon and devil lords. I guess those are just supposed to be universal beings, so are considered setting agnostic? Idk, they seem pretty forgotten realms specific to me.
Secondly, I think the main purpose of this book was as a market test. WOTC know how they want to proceed with 5.5e in 2024, so they throw this book out using the mechanics they intend to use going forward. This book has a heavy emphasis on mechanics, which is bizzare for WOTC as this is far form their usual style. Even their more recent books like Wild Beyond the Witchlight is filled with rich ideas and story potential, and WBTW follows the same design philosphy as this book does. So to me, this isn't a usual book by them. Overall, I actually like the design changes going forward personally. Listing a monsters reactions, actions and bonus actions separately is nice. I know Annis Hags no longer having resistance to non-magical weapons seems like a step down, but in the long run you probably wouldn't even notice because if you fight an annis hag at the levels you're meant to those resistances won't mean anything. Heck, a 5th level pact of the blade warlock could solo an annis hag, because a large contributor to her defensive CR is that resistance. So they just got rid of it and bumped her actual HP, still making her daunting for lower level parties were non-magical weapon resis matters while making her more challenging for the intended player level. It seems like a step down, but it's a huge step up.
One thing I don't like is the fact that they're just giving monsters abilities which are obviously spells, changing the name, and calling it a day. Players aren't stupid, they'll know what you've done and they won't be happy when their abjuration wizard is getting shunted. Either put effort into making the abilities more interesting, or do what you did in Candlekeep where you list the spell's level in brackets for the purposes of counterspell. I do like not having to check other sources to know what my monster's main attacks are though, so having the description there is pretty nice.
All in all, I personally am happy about the changes. All these little tweaks shave minutes off of a monster's turn, which can lead to saving 10 to 30 minutes by the end of combat so there's more time for my player's to shine instead of waiting on me to look up the description of this one bizzare spell a monster has that I've never heard of. Also having uses per day instead of spell slots is amazing or running encounters with multiple enemies.
Lastly, I prefer the new Kobolds. The old Kobold had no useful abilities. Pact tactics only ever served as an equalizer to sunlight sensitivity for me. In 4 campaigns I'd played, I went into an area not in direct sunlight twice. OOTA or COS would be amazing modules for them, just fingers crossed you don't get certain items along the way. At least now they have abilities I can actually use.
You have some really good takes here Crimson. I really enjoyed reading through this with your thoughts on the book. Thank you for sharing them. Cheers!
@@WallyDM Thanks! I don't usually leave comments, but this book seems so decisive so I felt the need to cast my hook in the proverbial ocean.
You did a great job yourself on the video and breakdown, showing off all the relevant parts of the book in a way that doesn't invalidate it by showing the whole thing off. Equally, you still showed enough to give people a good impression of what the book is like. Keep up the good work!
You’re gonna need this book eventually anyway. Especially come 2024 5.5E. So I’m waiting till may. I own every book anyway.
JUST THE STATS MOM. JUST THE STATS MOM. TLDR. A must GROUP buy for your Adventure League Group or we love our DM gift. But only one new monster and does not fully reprint all the monsters from the book.
Bought the core books....I'll just use the stat blocks to build custom monsters or just get some old pathfinder or d&d books for cheap and adjust them to 5e. I was into the "buying stuff" phase. I'm broke.
I'll probably pick up a hard copy of it eventually. I don't own Volo's or Tome of Foes physically, so it really is just a physical concatenation of my digital stuff I have on DnDBeyond. Probably won't pick up a digital copy of it though.
If you just want the monsters all in one book, it is definitely worth picking up. It's a shame that folks have to wait until May to get the stand-alone book though. Dang... Cheers!
I started reading through what came on Dndbeyond and after about 20 minutes started trying to work out how to get a refund. Dndbeyond's policy is "we have you money, go away."
Just picked it up in the hardback version for $30 on Amazon. There Volos was $27, Tomb of Foes $45, and I have neither so the Multiverse was a good option.
With the other two books now out of print, the price point is definitely tipping the scales in favor of the new Multiverse book, for sure. I'm glad that you picked up the Multiverse book, the monsters in it will serve you well. Happy gaming, cheers!
Simply, I want it cos I don't have the other two books, and I do find spell casters hard to run..
I may have been a bit too harsh on the book in this regards. But yes, absolutely. This makes for a nice option if you don't have the other books. Get it if you can and enjoy the content. Cheers!
I would be totally content with this if they would update the online (dndbeyond) stat blocks as free errata. Then you would just pay the $50 if you want the physical book.
I would buy this happily if I didn't already own Volo's
Yep. So many of us are in the same boat. It's hard to justify buying another book when the one you already have will suffice. Thank you for watching! Cheers!
Super helpful. I think I'll be waiting for the standalone release, just to have it for when I travel and play D&D. It seems like it would be useful as a hyphenated version, and could be treated as a "Monster Manual 2"
At present, I have all the books (even the campaign guides) but when I travel, I usually only bring:
Core: DMG, MM, PHB
Expansion: Tasha's & Xanathar's
Critters: Volo's & Mordenkainen's
So I think it'll be nice to cut my go-bag from 7 down to 6 books, and just do the prep work before I leave. Those books are heavy.
Ya know, I hadn't even considered that. I travel with 4-5 books, so I can only imagine how heavy 7 is going to be. Sometimes, I just take a picture of a monster in a book on my phone if I only plan on using one from the book. I do that a lot with Tome of Beasts. Because those books are delicously good, but so darn heavy. Haha, cheers!
for me, I like the paragraph split up because when I know what I am reading it makes it easier for me. And I looked on D&D beyond and roll 20 you can't buy the old book anymore they discontinue them. I probably not going to buy it.
After watching this video I doubt I will get it when its released in DNDBeyond. I might have purchased it if it had anything new or actually improved.
Hey there Dave, hope you are well! Glad the review helped you a bit. Question. Do you have Volos and Tome of Beasts already on DnD Beyond? I'm curious as to how the whole thing will work when it goes live in May with regards to the existing races and the new races. I wonder if both options will be available or if they will replace the old versions.
@@WallyDM As I watched the video I checked the Annis Hag and DnDBeyond still had the old version. We'll have to check again after its released.
Curious about the same. Dndbeyond has basically two choices: 1) update all stat blocks to the new standard for everyone. (Basically treat it as errata) or 2) have two versions of every monster/race duplicated and allow those with all books to pick/choose while “forcing” one version on those with just a part.
Option 1 is going to basically give the book/update for free making it an even more irrelevant buy and potentially upsetting WotC.
Option 2 is going to make dndbeyond a whole lot more confusing which runs counter one of their core principles.
Either option is going to have big consequences.
Thanks for the review, Wally! I'll definitely pass on this one. Just a reprint with less lore!
Absolutely! Thank you, Aviad for stopping by to say hello. Cheers, friend!
good to know its worth buying only in very specific circumstances.
You bet! Glad I could help! :-)
Pretty disappointed that a book of this price had only 1 page per character race and MANY of the monsters were just redos of the ones from Volo's and Tome of foes. Either this book was a a rip or they were?
The reason they're listed by name alphabetically, is because that's what everybody was clamoring for. I know people got used to the groupings but many many people wanted the alphabetical listing.
Interesting. I did not know there were mods to adjust gameplay. I wonder if the Switch version will have these as well.
Yo. The Yuan Ti nerf is wack.
Guess I'll just buy Volo's and the old Mordenkainen when I come into some money, thanks!
Do keep in mind that this is an older video now. If you just want the monsters and updated races, then Monsters of the Multiverse is now the better option for the lower price. Being out of print, the Tome of Foes and Volo's Guide will keep escalating in price. But yeah, if you want the lore and the story-bits, the older books are what you'll want. Cheers!
@@WallyDM I'm definitely in it for the lore, I like my monsters to be a bit more than a punching bag so my players remember them as something more than just beholder nr 21. 😛
@@Mc_Beefcake I like your style Sammie. I'm the same way. And, that beholder section in Volo's is one of my FAVORITE portions of any D&D 5E book. Cheers!
This was exactly the video and breakdown I needed! Going to grab it on Dndbeyond to integrate it into their system and for physical I'll pick up Volos and Mordenainen's as instead.
Fantastic. I'm glad I could help. Cheers!
Thank the snowflake lord of melting that the monsters now say Typically. Phew we really dodged a bullet on that one.
Thanks for the review Wally. I dislike this book so much and yet I will find myself buying it because my subscribers will want me to review it also.
Thank you Fred! Video is doing well so far. I'll be looking forward to your review as well. Cheers!
@@WallyDM Thanks. lol
I'm not gonna buy it, ngl I'm not too keen on wotc selling back the same things we already have if that makes sense? And the changes (to races) feels like, unnencessary? maybe I'm too stuck in my way but it feels like it can be a point of confusion where ppl will use different books for the same race n not be sure which to use, it's a good thing then that you don't need the newest books to play, I'm very much happy with the more limited selection I have
I think if we could forget this book exists everything would be fine... but yeah, I also see confusion in the road ahead. Cheers!
if you have volo's, xanathar, Tome of Foes, Tasha's and the three core (PHB, DM Guide and MM) you don't need to get the new one.
I think you don’t get the point… this item is for players who do not own other books. You have two books in one for the price of one. Most DMs do their own lore… like yeah it’s cool to have wotc’ one but I love to have new stat blocs and interesting monster ideas.
The bold point I agree.
Nah, I get the point and what they were trying to do. But, I think they could have done it better. If they would have combined monsters from a broader spectrum of books, I would have been giddy. Especially monsters from all the previous adventure modules and campaign settings. There are some good monsters that you don't see often because they are spread across so many different books. Combining the monsters from 12 or more books into one, that would have been an easy sale for me. A win for players that don't have the previous books and a win for those that do.
With regards to lore. It's nice to have a base idea of the monsters. Let's take hags for example. The entry in Volo's Guide on hags is a fascinating read. After you read it, you may be like, this is interesting, but, I'm going to adjust a few things here or there for my campaign or you may toss out the entire concept and go about them in an entirely different way.
And there is more than just lore in the old books. My favorite section of Volo's guide was the "Build your own Beholder" section. This isn't lore, but it shows you how to change up one of D&D's most iconic monsters. I've drawn so much inspiration from that section alone.
But, again, no worries. To each their own. There is a place for this book, absolutely. And, I agree that it is decent for new DMs that just want monsters and don't want to pick up the previous books. Everyone wants different things. Heck, I bought the book and I am glad to own it, but I am still of the opinion that given the choice, I'd rather have the previous two books. Which, at this time, you can get for $25 a piece vs $40 for the Multiverse book. A difference of only $10.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this! I really appreciate you stopping by the channel and hope that the Monsters of the Multiverse serves you well. Cheers!
@@WallyDM Thanks for the answer, and I get why you would like monsters from adventures, but to me this is the cool thing about adventures, you get some monsters that you have never seen before, being a DM and a player, I often have an idea of the statblocks because I have read them.
I am more than happy to see a monster manual 2 in the form of Volo and 3 with mordekainen. But I didn't have the chance to get those books wich are 50€ in EU, and rarely lower than MSRP here.
So having a book that is the same price rhan two and getting the monster I couldn't get before got me very excited.
I should get my copy tomorrow and I know I won't have all the cool features that were on the other books, but I will be able to use most of them and what is essentially a new monster manual to me.
Again, thanks for the kind answer and I get that this book isn't for everyone, but it has an audience and to me it is far from a cash grab, wich is something I've read a lot around, I was kinda disappointed that your video could confort some in this idea.
Great channel, thanks for the videos =)
@@mefagar It does my heart good to hear that you are looking forward to getting this book. A lot of things you said here make perfect sense to me and I agree with you. :-)
I do admit that there are a few more "positives" that I could have included in my review, but to be honest, they didn't occur to me until I started having deeper conversations with folks like yourself.
Anyways, thank you for the kind discussion and stopping by my channel. Feel free to stick around for a bit, we do a lot of Encounter ideas that you can plug into your game.
I hope you enjoy the book for many years to come. Cheers! :-)
I have Volo's and MTOF and I'd rather just buy new 3rd party books then a patch update for stuff I already have. Why buy revised races, when you can get new ones?
I reccomend the book if you don't already have Volo's or Tasha's. One of my players moved away and became a dm so he had to build his own book collection so he got the book bundle.
i understand there's no reason to buy this book if you've already bought previous material. Well, I suppose I'll just save the money.
I mean, if you want the updated races, I think it's good for that. But yeah, if you have the other two and you are not a collector, I'd recommend saving your money.
A few minutes into it about if players should buy it... I totally agree. Why should a player buy a book with races in it and the rest of the book is monsters? The only person that appeals to is a hobbyist or someone who plays and dms and not everyone is a player and a dm.
Glad you agree! I was worried I was doing a bit of a "hot take" on that, but I really feel that this book is a waste of many for a "player only", unless they collect books and want it for their collection. Cheers!
They mash them together so they can squeeze both players and GMs alike for maximum money from every print run of new books. (Instead of the more helpful thing for customers of creating separate books targeted for the different sides of the table, which would be less profitable for them.) And they know, that including just a small chapter for one group or the other is enough to increase the sales of a book that is mostly for the other demographic.
Dang. I don't expect a D&D book to be organized as well as a reference book or anything but completely throwing away the sub categories for devils and demons is really a step backwards. I don't understand the value in that compared to the value of having all of them next to each other for the DM.
Exactly! I was so disappointed to see things scattered about. Hopefully Wizards will see the negative feedback on this project and tread more carefully on future releases. Cheers, my friend!
"typically evil" as if it wasn't obvious that this entire thing is make believe and the person running the game can make a "good" creature evil or an "evil" creature good.
Excellent breakdown. It really does look like a cash-grab by WoTC/Hasbro. I shall not be buying - as you say, all the lore of MToF and VgtM is absent!
I'm going to buy Mordenkainen Tome of Foes instead. For the lore.
Great choice. I love Tome of Foes. It's a fantastic book!
@@googleuser2609 what didn't you like about it? Curious
@@googleuser2609 that is a really good answer. Thank you.
I hate when people get angry about not getting new monsters just chill it’s supposed to be a compilation of monsters so you don’t have to get a bunch of books out when finding a good monster for your players to fight
Bought the gift set to have a an extra tasha and xanathars to the table. This 5 month exclusive book isnt worth it. Half of the art is ripped from magic the gathering cards. I wanted more lore for creatures than statblocks. I can do the numbers myself now they made the bag monster.
Extra books for players is always a good thing, for sure!
I hear a lot of hate for this book, and I kinda get it. But at the same time, I actually really like it and don't think it's as bad as people are saying. My thoughts on it is that WotC stripped out all the lore and certain race features because this books is about the "Multiverse". So far most books have been strictly been about the Forgotten Realms, where a lot of this lore comes from. Kobolds may have sunlight sensitivity in Forgotten Realms, but they might not in a different setting. By giving everything a default value, they can now say in a campaign setting book "these are how Kobolds in this setting work, and this is their lore." (very similar to how Explorer's Guide to Wildmount had a section on races) Or even in a homebrew setting you have enough to get how that creature functions, but isn't held back by setting specific details and can implement your own lore and changes. Maybe elves are the master builders instead of dwarves and get smithing tools at the start, maybe duergar have been held back by constantly having to defend against Underdark creatures and don't reach the heights they typically have in Toril, in this setting Kenku have mimicry and this other setting they've evolved past that (and let's face it, how many people have passed on playing a Kenku because of the mimicry trait alone?). We might even see a new Sword Coast's Adventure Guide that adds in a bunch of extra lore and stuff missing from these books (Possibly D&D24?) or in setting books going forward. On top of that we have so many more resources then their books for lore and creative ideas! Just look at this channel alone, or the many others out there that produce much better lore then anything WotC has done in 5e.
You've strung together some nice thoughts here, well done! I like the idea of being able to use whichever version (old or new) best fits your game or the world that your campaign takes place in. Thank you for watching. Cheers!
I like your shirt
Thank you!
I really hate that WotC has chosen to get rid of their own lore to appease people -- who don't even play D&D -- that were offended that they thought certain races (namely Drow and Orcs from what I remember, feel free to offer more races that were lumped in here) represented real world Black people, for some reason or another. WotC chose to appease strangers to the game, who probably will never *play* a game of D&D, by changing how they do everything from lore to character creation to how adventure modules are run (discouraging combat, specifically) instead of listening to their actual player base to actually *improve* D&D. Although, we seem to improve D&D quite well ourselves with vetted homebrewed systems, but to see WotC care more about the opinions of people who don't play their game and will probably not buy D&D content than care about the people that already buy their content, it's disheartening to many, and a slap in the face to many others. Thank you for your review
Orcs have traditionally been an evil group like goblins as they have been there to fight player characters. There's nothing wrong with seeking to change that and add some complexity and moral grey area.
What if there was a vampire that could be good too, or a hag?
There can still be lots of evil orcs, goblins, hags and vampires, but having the players consider a characters motivations and actions without assumptions makes for a more intriguing game.
@@AlexExale Alex and Salvador good points, but none of it is relative to this new monster book. The changes they are making are to game mechanics not really that much on lore from what I am seeing, other than leaving out the lore sections in the previous books. They aren't really changing much of the lore, they are just not packaging it in this book. The real issue to me is that they are asking players to plop down more cash for minimal updates and a few changes in existing game mechanics.
@@googleuser2609 Then maybe prove them wrong instead of just saying, "You're wrong for so many reasons I won't elaborate on??"
Otherwise you sound like you don't really care one way or the other. Maybe do what Behind the Noob did in their comment, just don't say, "you're wrong because reasons!" then leave without explaining those reasons. It makes you look like just as much of a fool you think I am.
So, lore changes which ultimately make any old content incompatible with new content for the most part (and I am talking about people who play traditional content straight out of the box--not homebrew), coupled with lost information (aasimar as an example) basically means none of the new books are really worth buying. Like you I am very disappointed in the Monsters of the Multiverse...beautiful book...they really missed an opportunity to combine some books and possibly bring back spelljammer.
I'm not familiar with spelljammer, but yes, they absolutely missed an opportunity here. Disappointing, for sure. Cheers, Edward!
@@WallyDM spelljammer is essentially d&d in space, but not the space we know, more of a suped up fantasy version with interesting ships.
I disagree about kobolds i think they did an amazing job with kobolds. they whole goal with all of these was to make the races more friendly to every class so by removing pact tactics 1 they removed it as a niche rogue pic and then gave them an option to pick from three things which makes customization choices make every character feel unique!
Can I be Vampire Gnoll?
Or a Gnoll Vampire, totally up to you.
Shoot. I assumed it would have the big stat blocks from the adventures. Stuff like the Atropal. Well, guess I’ll just get Volos and Mordenkainen’s in hard copy.
Yep, you can't go wrong with the originals. Tome of Foes and Volos Guide are amazing. Cheers!
Yeah this is why I prefer 5e tools over this.
Sadly I jumped the gun on this book preorder it way to early on DnD beyound, the whole 30 new races and 250 monster got me, what a joke it was. As stated in this vid its mostly re done content and as some one who allready has most of the books this was a waist of my money even if it was only 30 bucks.
Ah, sorry to hear. Yeah. The book has more value if you don't have Volos or Tome of Foes, but, if you already have those, then getting the Monster of the Multiverse can be very disappointing.
you complain that you want creatures grouped by kind instead of alphabetically. But i've also heard lots of DMs say they prefer it this way, because sometimes they didn't know something was a fiend or demon, they just wanted to search by name.
lets agree to disagree.
I was very much into the idea of the book, but now I have zero interest in it. A compilation of all the system agnostic creatures would have been amazing.
Cheers!
Sigh... agreed. Hoping the next compilation is much, much better. Cheers!
Great video. I had been considering picking this up but it just feels lazy and a money grab from WOTC. Monsters have potential to be so much more than just a stat block. All that lore can really enhance encounters for players. Plus I already own most of the books so why should I spend money just to consolidate. WOTC dropped the ball on this one.
100% Agree, my friend. No need to waist your money on this one.
Nope not gonna buy it, why would I? I already own the old books and as you said, the new book does not have all the lore and it is not worth the $ for the few updates that it does offer imo. Also I think it was terrible for WOTC to force you to buy the gift set in order to get the book, should have been available as an individual offering all along
Cannot disagree here. Great points. Cheers!
They passed on the opportunity to print NEW stuff in the book. It's beautiful, certainly, but it could have been much much better.
100% agree!
Nope! Next!
and you get dark vision and you get dark vision
lol. This comment made me laugh, but, it's so true!
I hate to say it, more than anything else, what we need is an update to the core 3 books. Clarify things like is pact magic separate from normal magic. Create a new section for racial features, so they can remove spells when referencing abilities for racial feats. Clarify concepts like whether or not a player needs to be proficient to perform tasks. Expand out the core races. Make goblinoids a race with Goblin, Hobgoblin, and Bugbear subraces. Don't make goblinoids fey creatures. There are too many fey creatures and races as it is. Make the monster manual entries more detailed and universal. Update the DMG toolset, but differently from what is in xanathar's.
That update to the core 3 is coming in 2024... I hope they get it right and don't try to overcorrect things. Buckle up, this could get bumpy! lol. Cheers!
@@WallyDM they way I may do. It is..ill by the books, and as long as the rules of dice are the same and combat, I’ll let my players decide if tehy wanna be tye old versions or new versions of races and classes, as long as they could still work with older versions
While i know this was mostly a cash grab, I don’t own Volos guide or tome of foes and as a broke teen with no source of income I’d rather buy this just to have those monsters and races for my game
I may have been a bit too harsh on the book with this regards. If you don't have the other resources already, this all-in-one book will work well for you. Cheers!
Not buying!
A.There is a sense of foreshadowing of removing short rests in 5.5.
B The reshaping of lore as regards the strictly arbitrary changes to player races with no lore at all in the books.
C. In only two years there will be a new MM!
All that being said, I am most angry that I am forced to buy the digital copy because Volo's and the OG Mordenkainen are no longer supported!
good to see WOTC realized resistance to non-magical BPS is generally not worth the CR adjustment.
CR is just so weird to me. To be honest, I'm still scratching my head on how that whole CR thing works.
@@WallyDM well it's an approximation based on all the factors they evaluate. In DMG on how to make custom monster there's a 20ish step process and a lot of fiddly math.
I think they assign far too much weight to resistances. Treating the monster as if it had more hp even if none of the players do poison damage is dumb.
The other thing is they math damage with assumed hit, which is even worse now that players can hit ac 30.
I really was expecting new monsters, not just altered old ones. That alone makes it a rip off in my opinion.
Content-wise I am very disappointed in what I see ... Looks like a "cash grab" (to put it mildly) or even ""false advertisement" (from an emotional way of looking at things).
But seeing the different cover-version, I can see why people might be interested in spending money on this.
The last two years of WotC's DnD feel a lot like the mid-ninetees, when TSR through out a ton of stuff while struggling to run a business. Now, to me, it looks like WotC finishes (off) DnD 5 in preparation of the next edition of the game.
We will see how this evolves (and ends).
Yeah, this was a head scratcher, for sure. The next 2 years will be very crucial to this edition of the game, for sure. Cheers, Gus!
It's not worth it to buy any new WotC books. Their content and direction is not at all in most of our interests.
WotC continues with the minimal effort for maximum profit model. Stop giving them your money.
I do not understand why they made this book and why they made it this way.
Why waste time, money and resources to just do a bunch of reprints. And if you are going to do that then why leave out the lore section of the most classic and popular monsters in the game. Finally the book was advertised as a rework of all the monsters in order to make them easyer to run yet it seems that they haven't done that either witch means that they've tried to scam the costumers.The only thing that this project dose is damage the companies reputation and track record witch make's me want to ask this question again: why did they do this?
So, in conclusion, what just happened?
A definite heard-scratcher, for sure. I mean, who green-lighted this project as a good idea? Definitely a huge mistake. I hope they are able to correct their course. Also... hey... I recognize you from Fred's live streams! Cheers, Nicolae!
@@WallyDM Hay there Wally!
You can call me Gabi if you want!
@@nicolaezenoaga9756 Will do Gabi, much appreciated. See ya in a future live stream, lol. Cheers!
@@WallyDM Have a good time!
Zero interest. Just an attempt to get more money for the same product, but with a clock in it.
In short,no