Monster Manual
Monster Manual is the 2025 edition of the core rulebook for the epic fantasy Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, written by Jeremy Crawford, F. Wesley Schneider, Makenzie De Armas, Christopher Perkins, and Ben Petrisor and published by Wizards of the Coast.
By Aaron T. Huss
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The 2025 edition of the Monster Manual is a revision and expansion of the 2014 edition and serves as the baseline collection of beasts, adversaries, and animals for Dungeons & Dragons. The new edition apparently contains over 85 new monsters and the stat block count comes in over 500. This last piece is important to note as most of the entries include more than one variant or age-progression to create this high count. This comes at the detriment of creature lore, but it does include all the basic locale information where these adversaries are commonly found, aligning with the appropriate content in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Although these are the basics, there are few things I’d like to specifically point out.
First, as 5th Edition has progressed, there has been this artistic shift that really comes alive in this new edition of the Monster Manual. Wizards of the Coast has grown D&D further and further away from its classic fantasy roots and the style of art that went with it. This includes many retro fantasy games. Many of the “most dangerous” creatures often looked far from scary / intimidating and some looked downright silly. The artwork herein, which apparently features over 300 new pieces, is much edgier and depicts these creatures as much more horrific and threatening. Really what you would expect for something to be considered as a monster.
Second, I find the stat blocks easier to read. The book’s sell sheet does point out easy-to-use stat blocks, but in generally I just find them easier to read. This is a common aspect found in other rules-medium games as I feel 5th edition has slid into that category (as opposed to those 3rd edition roots).
Finally, I find the book to be a perfect blend of the monstrous, fiendish, humanoid, aberration, celestial, draconic, beast, and more. You literally get a lot of everything plus some valuable cross-reference tables to identify each adversary by habitat, type, group, and challenge rating. Definitely worth the upgrade!
