Let's Read: The Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual!

[Shining Wrath]

Agree. Elementals are servants - or wandering monsters on an Elemental plane. I did publish a DMGuild treatise on Elemental Progression, providing elementals of CR 1-10, for Reasons. If you want smaller or larger mooks, there you go. The earth elemental does have Earth Glide - the ability to disappear into the ground and pop up next to the squishy can have its uses.

[tsuyoshikentsu]

Water seems like one that would grapple two party members, then retreat back into water. Earth's burrow ability would allow it to flank opponents if they're underground by hiding in the cave walls.

You're missing the classic earth move--grapple someone, then retreat with them back into solid rock.

[Millstone85]

So these are the things a 10th level moon druid can wild shape into. How do you suppose that feels? It is also a way to introduce smart elementals as enemies.

In order to claim the four crystals of light, you must first travel to the Elemental Keep and challenge four elemental guardians each in an arena corresponding to earth, air, fire, and water.

Isn't that adventure supposed to pit you against a lich, a marilith, a kraken and freaking Tiamat? But I guess doing it with elementals is more reasonable. Anyway, the best party for the classic version has a paladin, a monk, a bard and a cleric.

[MrStabby]

Water elementals are pretty brutal. Emerge from the water and drag a couple of softer party members under - bonus points if they are casters with no spells that don't need verbal components. Dash action each turn and the party is screwed unless they have people with a swim speed. That's before the sharks smell blood and turn up.

[Shining Wrath]

Water elementals are pretty brutal. Emerge from the water and drag a couple of softer party members under - bonus points if they are casters with no spells that don't need verbal components. Dash action each turn and the party is screwed unless they have people with a swim speed. That's before the sharks smell blood and turn up.

Would a water elemental in an underwater encounter function as an air elemental, tossing people about the room? Seems likely.

[tsuyoshikentsu]

Elves: Drow

In the long, storied history of Dungeons and Dragons, some monsters have gotten their time in the sun. Others have gone largely ignored. A choice few, though, have had thousands if not hundreds of thousands of words spilled on them, their culture, their allies, their enemies, their history. Dragons. Giants. Demons.

And... the Drow.

Whether we like it or not, these are some of D&D's most prolific villains--and some of its most annoying Mary Sues. Let's see how this edition handles them.

Art

A lot of drow art over the years has been incredibly campy--see the guy on 127 as an example. ("Okay... who took the last cookie?!") The main pieces, though, on 126 and spread across 128 and 129? Perfect. We know what the drow are... the white hair, the darkness, the spiders. This captures them perfectly for us... and I can only imagine how effective it is against someone seeing them for the first time. Despite my lack of love for the drow in general, this art is perfect.

Purpose and Tactics

Asking what the purpose of the drow is in a campaign is basically the same as asking what a human is. These aren't a few statblocks with a limited scope; if you wanted, enough drow statblocks have been produced even in this edition that you could probably run a campaign without ever using an enemy that wasn't a drow--and if you need any more, literally any humanoid statblock can be turned into a drow using the table on page 282 of the DMG. But let's have a look at the options here.

Even the basic, no-nonsense drow is an incredibly potent threat at level one: Poisoned is no joke, the save can't be repeated, and it has what amounts to a built-in save or die. Oh, it can also light up targets with faerie fire. These are some real tough guys. The elite warrior is basically the same, except it can multiattack and parry. If you let it parry while wielding its crossbow, it's a decent low-level solo boss all on its own.

The mage continues the trend of being horrifying with some very potent crowd-control spells, coupled with flying, invisibility, and the power to summon demons that also can be very hard to see. After all this, though, the Priestess of Lolth winds up being somewhat of a letdown--the crowd control is based with some summoning, and the flying with freedom of movement. I'd honestly rather just scale up the mage here.

Fluff

Pretty much exactly what you'd expect--ancient war, Lolth, darness, spiders, matriarchy, Underdark, slaving raids, noble houses. For a newcomer it does hit all the high points, though there's little here for the more experienced player. It's likely worth mentioning that drow fluff also appears in the PHB, the SCAG, and some adventure path books to boot.

Hooks

There's literally nothing I could say here that hasn't been suggested elsewhere. I mean, Rage of Demons is heavily drow-focused and that'll take you from level 1 all the way through to 15!

Verdict

I'll be honest: I'm not a big fan of the drow, and the Priestess of Lolth is about as disappointing as I expected. But by keeping the information in the MM to the simple basics and making the run of sample enemies suitably threatening, the race goes from being a cheesy stereotype of brooding loners and large-chested stripper-priests back to its roots of the terror of the dark.

[ShikomeKidoMi]

Earth's burrow ability would allow it to flank opponents if they're underground by hiding in the cave walls.

Walls? They can pop out of the ground, they can flank you any time you're not flying by rising out of the ground on whatever side they want.

[MrConsideration]

I agree Tsuyo, these are some tough enemies at low-levels and very scaleable, and they hit the high points of what is a distinctive D&D intellectual property with a pretty interesting culture without alienating your newbie DMs. This is especially true as almost any Drow combat is going to take place on turf that gives them a distinct advantage: darkness. You can also pair them with Giant Spiders, Ettercaps, demons and almost any other race as slaves.

Using Drow at higher-levels is a little more difficult - beware the Daylight spell! I as a Druid used this once to nuke an entire drow encounter. We as the players were pretty chuffed with the rout but our DM looked a wee bit crestfallen watching his encounter crumble.

i personally like Drow a lot as enemies, and the Underdark generally, but weirdly I never use them.

I've also found Elementals a pretty boring concept and they're generally just chucked into arcane or fey related encounters to buff them. Zak Smith had some interesting riffs on his blog.

[Shining Wrath]

Most low-int monsters are effectively watch dogs for plot purposes. They don't have goals of their own beyond "eat, reproduce, sleep". Elementals don't even reproduce, but the point remains. They are critters someone else puts someplace to make the life of an intruder difficult, or part of the scenery on an elemental plane similar to a beast.

Gary Gygax invented drow so that the Underdark could have residents. They are the most successful MacGuffin in the history of D&D. Their society, as designed, would collapse under external pressure rather quickly; how they'd keep the duergar from overrunning them after a few generations escapes me.

[Millstone85]

Using Drow at higher-levels is a little more difficult - beware the Daylight spell! I as a Druid used this once to nuke an entire drow encounter. We as the players were pretty chuffed with the rout but our DM looked a wee bit crestfallen watching his encounter crumble.

But the drow have sunlight sensitivity, not daylight sensitivity.

Elementals don't even reproduce, but the point remains.

From the fluff of the druid class and what I saw of Princes of the Apocalypse, it looks like each of the four Elemental Planes is trying to turn the other three and the Material into more of itself. Being essentially a piece of its plane, an elemental might be considered to be entirey driven by an instinct of "reproduction".

Their society, as designed, would collapse under external pressure rather quickly; how they'd keep the duergar from overrunning them after a few generations escapes me.

The recent thread about what a non-evil drow society would look like made me realise that it is probably better to imagine a functioning society of (Under)dark elves before adding all the truly villainous traits.

[tsuyoshikentsu]

Look, as far as I'm concerned I think their society is set up as an excuse for their BBEGs to be busty priestesses that can be drawn on covers without a lot of clothing, or to give brooding antiheroes something to rebel against. But I'm horribly biased.

[Mith]

As the original concept, sure. It doesn't mean that you cannot implement something a lot more interesting and not as immersion breaking for your personal game.

[Spellbreaker26]

The stereotypes aside, I think there's something corny but charming about drow classic. Like Black Numenorians from LotR, they're pasty bitter jerks who skulk around doing spiteful things. They provide an easy hook for any elven members in your party to get invested in fighting them (assuming that the PC elf in question is not a drow themself).

I think that the actual Lolth thing is the biggest flaw in the drow fluff - she's not particularly interesting and neither, honestly, are Yochlols (mold demons? really?).

Drow do hold the distinction in my mind as being one of the few monster types able to serve as both the BBEG of a campaign (even if she's likely to end up as 80's paperback cover fodder) and the disposable enemies, and as cannon fodder they're a damn sight easier to make interesting than orcs, gobbos or bugbears.

[ShikomeKidoMi]

Look, as far as I'm concerned I think their society is set up as an excuse for their BBEGs to be busty priestesses that can be drawn on covers without a lot of clothing, or to give brooding antiheroes something to rebel against. But I'm horribly biased.

Maybe the busty priestess one. The brooding anti-hero thing came more than a decade later.

I always wondered if the drow were made matriarchal because they revered spiders or made to revere spiders because they're matriarchal, since female spiders are generally larger and stronger (and often eat males, it's not just black widows).

[tsuyoshikentsu]

I always wondered if the drow were made matriarchal because they revered spiders or made to revere spiders because they're matriarchal, since female spiders are generally larger and stronger (and often eat males, it's not just black widows).

I really hope not, because recent science on the subject has showcased some rather horrible implications.

[Regitnui]

I really hope not, because recent science on the subject has showcased some rather horrible implications.

The equivalent would probably be young teens, which offers a different and disturbing vision of a male-ruled drow city. I'll just say such a city would have very many young women and no older women, though plenty of old men.

[DragonSorcererX]

Verdict[/B]

I'll be honest: I'm not a big fan of the drow, and the Priestess of Lolth is about as disappointing as I expected. But by keeping the information in the MM to the simple basics and making the run of sample enemies suitably threatening, the race goes from being a cheesy stereotype of brooding loners and large-chested stripper-priests back to its roots of the terror of the dark.

In my own homebrew campaign setting there will be no Drow, instead, there will be Dark Elves that will be basically Anti-High Elves (also, my High Elves are more like the Gray Elves from older editions), they will be similar in everything but at the same time they will be contrary in everything, while the High Elves are all about arcane magic, swordplay, and comfort, the Dark Elves will be all about psionic powers, crossbows and more complex "medieval" tech, and getting more power, not a race of backstabbing jerks like the Drow.

[MrConsideration]

Empyrean

Behold, the Mary Suest monster you could ever throw into your campaign. A walking (swimming, flying) manifestation of holier-than-thou immortality. The Empyrean is a literal demigod; beautiful, powerful and better than you. I don’t think I’ve ever looked at the Empyrean before – my eye was always drawn to the overweight-bank-manager-meets-Lolth depiction of the Ettercap rather than this blue Abercrombie and Fitch model.

The concept of the god’s mortal descendants is in many cultures, from Hercules to Maui to Vali to Cu Chulain. Let’s see how D&D handles it…



Art
It’s a big, buff blue dude with a bizarre stance that doesn’t seem to work right. He’s wearing some sort of demure skirt, a pro-wrestler’s belt and knee-high boots, so the whole image is a bizarre combination of kinky and boring. The Empyrean shares a lot of conceptual and artistic space with the Deva, Planetar and other creatures featured in Monster Manual’s hunky-fireman calendar subsection. It doesn’t really inspire much in the way of excitement or interest in me, I must admit. I’d build his appearance on his progenitor’s, personally.

Purpose and Tactics
Obviously, this is your ultimate big bad, rocking out at CR 23 and with the caveat that should be mess up daddy will simply resurrect him anyway. Ignore the ‘75% chaotic good’ - this incarnation of celestial privilege is obviously far more exciting if he’s rebelling in some way against the parental figure (one of my villains has this exact story). As with all BBEG CR23 badasses in your campaign, your players will never know him as ‘An Empyrean’. They’ll know him as Kelthren, Thrice-Cursed Son of the God of Knowledge who betrayed him to Vecna.

It’s essential that any Empyrean be first and foremost an NPC, with a name, backstory and relationship to their parent. Integral to that will be his relationship to his parent’s domain(s). My villain was a child of a god of seas and storms, and thus can never leave dry land. Perhaps your Empyrean is rebelling against the God of Truth, or Industry, or Wine – and is therefore lying, lazy or teetotal.

As a result of this, I’d chuck out most of the spell list and powers for thematic alternatives, but let’s see how good the RAW Empyrean is in a scrap. As it would ruin a precious, railroading DM’s day if their pet NPC was made to look embarrassed, the Empyrean has Magic Resistance and Legendary Resistance, so you’re never going to take them out of commission that way. Ditto Illusions, as they’re packing Truesight. They can only be harmed by magic weapons, but any player crossing swords with a CR 23 has so many magical weapons they butter their toast with a Holy Avenger.

In terms of Magic, there are some big-hitter evocation spells and some At-Will utility, which can be used to damage the party- Earthquake can be very disruptive and damaging in an urban environment, and Firestorm gives some much-needed AoE. The Empyrean’s attacks are pretty damaging but dropping one of those a turn doesn’t seem like all that much impact in a high-stakes epic-level combat. He has some excellent support options if you’re giving the Empyrean minions (you are at this point throwing the CR budget rules out of the window, no doubt) as Bolster and Trembling Strike can massively boost his side in a battle against the players, and it makes sense that the Empyrean would rule over some minions.

Fluff

Some aspects are interesting, for example the built-in Pathetic Fallacy, where the weather reflects his mood: excellent fluff and an excuse for you to battle in thunderstorm or hurricane. The idea of their being ‘beautiful, statuesque and self-assured’ doesn’t gel though. For me, the story an Empyrean should tell is almost Oedipal – it’s about the relationship to a father-figure (who could be overbearing and cruel and capricious – they are a god after all) and the pressure to meet familial expectations (when your brother was your age he was worshipped across the world – you’re still living in the basement of Valhalla). If anything, insecurity should define the Empyrean, and lead into their actions.

Plot Hooks
Kuldgirr the Wrathful rules the vast empire of the Kulgur Wastes, and plunders any town that takes his fancy. His father, men say, was the War-God Aegishjamlur himself, and he sees all the world as his dominion…

Gruthfrith’s mother, Hedelleleid, was the Mistress of Songs, the patron god of bards, singers and beautiful things. Gruthfrith’s fingers are a blur; his voice makes a Nightingale weep, and as women lay at his feet and men bury him in gold, a thought grows in his mkind like a cancer. Why is HE not Master of Songs, Patron of Bards, Singer and Beautiful Things…?

Vallnir’s father, Kelum, the Righteous Fire, demands endless self-sacrifice and ceaseless vigilance. As Vallnirr crosses yet another battlefield, and spends another way warring with evil and terror, despair has grown in his heart like rot. Kelum never sees him as worthy. Kelum never values his life. Should he spend his entire life earning the approval of Kelum? Or should he, for once, use his mighty gifts to benefit himself.

Aumvorax once was the most feared pirate of the Dameshti coast. Loved by his father, The King of Storm and Spray, and his Mother, the Queen of Deluge and Deeps, he was master of all seamanship, and his ship, Favoured, grew fat with plunder. However, in one fatal storm Aurumvorax was wrecked, and washed ashore, and found himself screaming at a mother and father whose fickle favour had slipped through his fingers like so much sea-water. Cursing them, he made his Dark Pact and swore an oath to be revenged…

Verdict: Poorly executed, but a great seed for compelling NPCs.

[Regitnui]

Given that my preferred setting has ambiguous at best gods, I prefeo cast Empyreans as the long-lost Titans of Xen'drik, those who enslaved eladrin and bred elves, fought the Quori and, at the height of their power, blew up a moon. All modern giants descend from these great creatures, after they were struck low by an attack from the dragons of Argonessen. A single attack.

How would you face one today? Stasis spell, ghosts, or flung through time. It may even be that they exist on other planes, fighting amongst the armies of Shavarath or lording over angels on Syrania.

[Slayn82]

I look at the Empyrean's illustrations and see Planescape's The Nameless One fashion sense. I would give him some followers based on that game: a flying skull Fighter/Bard, a Githzerai Favored Soul Sorcerer, a rogue tiefling, a Modron Dual wielding Crossbow Master and a Succubus priest.

[MrConsideration]

I agree Regitnui - my setting has a traditional Titanomachy-style war in its ancient past and I would base a Titan statblock on an Empyrean chassis.

[Caelestion]

I look at the Empyrean's illustrations and see Planescape's The Nameless One fashion sense. I would give him some followers based on that game: a flying skull Fighter/Bard, a Githzerai Favored Soul Sorcerer, a rogue tiefling, a Modron Dual wielding Crossbow Master and a Succubus priest.

Dak'kon is a Eldritch Knight with an attuned sword, surely. :p

[M Placeholder]

Dak'kon is a Eldritch Knight with an attuned sword, surely. :p

Know that Dak'kon is a dual classed Fighter/Wizard, one that by his Will, Knows the teachings of Zerthimon and a school that is not known to me.

As for the big grey dude, he should by rights be using one of his torn off arms as a melee weapon.

[Spellbreaker26]

I actually came up with a similar villain for one of my campaigns. Don't know if the party's ever going to get anywhere near the necessary level, but he was the chief henchmen of a lord. He was the son of a forge god whose mind turned to things of torture and ghastly constructs so he was cast down from heaven, and now resides in a volcanic forge, turning out golems and flying swords and the like to outfit the army of one of the potential BBEGs of the setting.

What these guys are really missing is a sort of special domain ability - so perhaps a death domain empyrean, a son of Hel or Nergal or whatnot, would have immunity to necrotic damage and could command undead, that sort of thing. Instead their powers are fairly generic and they feel more like big magic giants rather than the sons of the gods.

I actually like the "daddy can resurrect me" clause - because fallen empyreans are highly likely *not* to be resurrected, so as they start losing they slowly begin realising that this is the beginning of the end, and as they die you can have them get really frantic and desperate and pleading, all the good "villain about to die" stuff.

[Millstone85]

I think "daddy is a god" would make for a great sorcerous bloodline or warlock pact, depending on whether it is more a matter of heredity or what you get for your birthday.

As a race, now... Er, I don't know... With D&D gods being so varied in origins and appearances, why would this marble-white giant be representative of anything? And isn't the appeal of demigods that they are also demimortals? I just don't feel it.

[Spellbreaker26]

I think "daddy is a god" would make for a great sorcerous bloodline or warlock pact, depending on whether it is more a matter of heredity or what you get for your birthday.

I think that is the intention of the Favoured Soul sorcerer. But gods don't really have warlocks - if you're a god, you have clerics.

[M Placeholder]

And next, a far more down to earth creature than the previous MM entry, we have the Ettercap, a monster that has been with D&D from way back in the beginning, named after an old Yorkshire term for a spider. Ladies and Gentlemen......

The Ettercap

Appearance.

The ettercaps appearance has changed a lot from its beginnings in the original Fiend Folio, where it resembled a canine visaged bugbear, to a six limbed chintinous monster in the last edition, but its back to being a humanoid spider, and it looks great.

There is a sense of cuteness in the eyes and the facial features that you get in real world spiders, and despite not having chelicera (just big ol' fangs), palps or eight legs, this monster has a real arachnid feel, especially the hands and feet with their two huge claws. One of the nicest drawn monsters in the manual for me, with just a touch of whimsy. It's a shame that there are no spiders drawn around it like in previous editions and other works, but its good non the same.

Lore.

Ettercaps are neutral evil in this edition, and that means almost always evil. Guess spiders are still seen as something that is always associated with evil monsters, despite spiders in real life being essential to the ecosystem by keeping insect numbers down and we now know that many of them supplement their diet with plant matter. Maybe in the next Volo's Guide we will get a neutral or good alligned spider humanoid. Here's hoping.

In the lore, its stated that they basically are spider shepards, which is adorable. And kind of goes against the lore that “ettercaps have no desire to live in harmony with nature” and a forest infested with ettercaps is infested with giant insects. Wouldn't the spiders that the ettercaps look after eat the giant insects? Though the parts about bones dangling from webs is particularly great.

Its also stated that ettercaps are natural enemies of fey creatures, and in this case, that means “good” fey creatures. If you have a campaign where the fey are more like The Fair Folk, then ettercaps could make strange allies. It does state that fey will approch outsiders for aid on rare occasions.

In previous editions, ettercaps had a language that consisted of chitters and shrieks. Now, they have no language, which is a shame roleplaying wise – walking though an otherwise silent woodland with only the chitters cutting through the undergrowth would have made for nice atmosphere building.

Mechanics.

With perception, stealth and survival proficiencies, and spider climb, an ettercap is pretty stealthy and can make a great ambusher, and with their spider buddies, a group of 4-5 ettercaps can be quite a challenge. Rack up the tension in an adventure by having ettercaps creeping up on a party, draping them with webs and either carting off one of the team to feed to the younger spiders or attempt to lure them further into the dee, dank woods. With two attacks, a poison bite and no restrictions on movement over the webs these and their spidery friends weave, these make for challenging opponents from levels 5-10.

Verdict.

A classic D&D monster with a great illustration, nice mechanics and pretty good lore, and one that is ideal for vexing your players when they delve into a gloomy woodland strand.

[Spellbreaker26]

The Ettercap is a cute guy isn't he? I'm assuming that their name comes from the same source that Bilbo's insult of "attercop" comes from in The Hobbit.

In terms of spider themed baddies ten times better than the drider. They've got a lot more character and their abilities have a great synergy. They are a good ambush creature but still have options for interesting stuff after the surprise round, which makes their stat-block ten times better than, say, Dopplegangers or Bugbears. Too often the party either gets wiped too easily or survive and have a boring curbstomp. But with the spider shepherd, they've got a nasty opener but their web and bite still make them interesting in the rest of the fight.

[Envyus]

On the Empyrean I should note that they are the kids of gods. Not Gods and Mortals. And the kids of good gods in particular. It appears there are going to be different titans for the Kids of Gods of Chaos, Law and Evil.

[Millstone85]

I don't know if it is from 5e or 4e but I remember reading that ettercaps originally came from druidic wild shape gone wrong. Pretty cool idea.

I think that is the intention of the Favoured Soul sorcerer. But gods don't really have warlocks - if you're a god, you have clerics.

My idea was that it would be different from the relationship between a deity and their clerics. The kid could severely lack wisdom and/or piety and still get spells because of the deity's parental love for them. It would work with adopted children too, as well as with godchildren (pun intended). The term "favored soul" would be even more appropriate than for a sorcerer.

On the Empyrean I should note that they are the kids of gods. Not Gods and Mortals.

Not really demigods then, alright.

And the kids of good gods in particular. It appears there are going to be different titans for the Kids of Gods of Chaos, Law and Evil.

It still feels oddly generic. Bahamut is a god of good. His children wouldn't look like that.