Monsters for drama, tension, and tactics
Monsters are an elementary part of Dungeons & Dragons. Most of the rules of the game are about combat—about dealing with monsters. Monsters threaten characters to create drama and tension, and they give players a chance to use the cool stuff their characters can do. Monsters are also self-contained tactical or mechanical puzzles. In short, monsters are really important in D&D.
Which is why we can never have too many monsters. In this article, I want to share my most-used monster books, and discuss why they are my favorite D&D bestiaries. I ordered these into three categories:
- New monsters. These are D&D bestiaries that mostly contain new monsters to surprise players with, and to inject a breath of fresh air into the traditional monster lore.
- Powerful monsters. These D&D monster books will challenge even high-level parties.
- Classic monsters revisited. These D&D bestiaries take classic monsters and give them an overhaul, including more interesting statblocks, updates to lore, and new art.
New monsters
Tome of Beasts 3, Tome of Beasts 2, Tome of Beasts by Kobold Press
The Tome of Beasts series by Kobold Press really needs no explanation. These three books are packed shock full of unique monsters with interesting tactics, and powerful statblocks. The lore is built for KP’s Midgard setting but can easily be adapted to any other fantasy setting.
Note: I designed a monster for Tome of Beasts 3: The Angler Dwarf, an aberrant species of dwarves who lure prey with fleshy lanterns that protrude from their foreheads.
Forge of Foes by Mike Shea, Teos Abadia, and Scott F. Gray
This book is unique because it only contains a few statblocks. Instead it’s a supplement for DMs to build their own monsters, or to improvise monsters at the table. It contains fantastic advice by three very smart designers and DMs. I keep coming back to the general-use statblocks and the monster abilities to quickly throw together a statblock for a unique monster I have in mind.
Arcana of the Ancients by Monte Cook Games
This one’s more niche. Arcana of the Ancients takes monsters from the science fantasy game Numenera and adapts them for 5th edition D&D. If you’re running a science fantasy inspired game, for example in Eberron, then this book has tons of weirdness to throw at your party. (The book also contains a whole introduction to the world of Numenera and how to use more elements than just monsters of it in your D&D game.)
Powerful monsters
Total Party Kill Bestiary Vol. 1 and Total Party Kill Bestiary Vol. 2 by 2c Gaming
When I ran a level 1-20 D&D campaign, I started using this book for all the elite, solo, legendary, boss monsters after the characters reached 11th level. At that point, many of the traditional monsters did not threaten the party anymore. 2c Gaming’s monsters definitely still threatened the party all the way up to 20th level. For example, the eternal lich from Total Party Kill Vol. 1 made for a deadly Vecna in the final battle of that campaign.
Classic monsters revisited
Flee Mortals by MCDM
This bestiary contains many of the classic D&D monsters, and a few new ones. With a focus on tactical combat, the statblocks in this book will challenge players and make for a dynamic battle. I especially like the role tags, like Artillery, Skirmisher, Controller, which each monster has one of. This allows me to quickly throw together a tactically interesting encounter.
Monstrous Menagerie by EN Publishing
This book is part of a total overhaul of 5th edition D&D by EN publishing. There are also re-designs of the Player’s Handbook and the Dungeon Master’s Guide by the same publisher. But the monster book contains updates to all of the core D&D monster statblocks. And by updates, I mean improvements. If I need a classic D&D monster, by now, I am more likely to grab it from this book than from the Monster Manual.
