Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse (2022)

Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse (Monsters of the Multiverse) is a sourcebook for the 5th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, originally published as part of a box set in January 2022. It was published as a standalone edition in May 2022. The book is a supplement to the 5th edition Monster Manual (2014) and Player's Handbook (2014). It is also a replacement book for two older supplements – Volo's Guide to Monsters (2016) and Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes (2018).

Contents

The book updates a variety of options for both players and Dungeon Masters:

33 player races

Bestiary that contains 268 monster stat blocks

Publication history

The book was originally published as part of the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Expansion Gift Set on January 25, 2022. It was scheduled to have a standalone release on May 17, 2022; however, it released a day earlier on May 16.

Monsters of the Multiverse revises previously published aspects of 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). Both player races and monsters were rebalanced. Jeremy Crawford, principal rules designer for D&D, said the revised rules are backward compatible. Setting specific lore and alignments were removed to allow for broader story creation by Dungeon Masters and players. Polygon highlighted that this "will also give Wizards of the Coast more elbow room to expand its multiverse, either relaunching classic settings like Dragonlance and Spelljammer or unleashing entirely new settings built from scratch". Monster challenge ratings were not changed; instead, monster stat blocks were adjusted to better represent their challenge rating. TechRaptor stated that mechanically for player races the revision means "the removal of set Ability scores, [...] a change that was first introduced in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. [...] Races might also get new Traits entirely, or simply have their traits renamed to something more generalized".

Digital edition

The book is also available as a digital product through the following Wizards of the Coast licensees on May 16, 2022: D&D Beyond, Fantasy Grounds, and Roll20. Christian Hoffer, for ComicBook.com in January 2022, reported that "with past updates to content, either via errata or updates in new books, D&D Beyond has updated the stat blocks for all of its subscribers regardless as to whether they purchased the updated content or not. [...] However, this will not be the case with Monsters of the Multiverse, especially as some of the changes made in the book are considered unpopular with a segment of fans. [...] [D&D Beyond head Joe Starr] didn't specify exactly how it would implement the new stat blocks and player races found in the book".

On May 10, 2022, it was announced that the digital release of Monsters of the Multiverse will correspond with the delisting of Volo's Guide to Monsters (2016) and Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes (2018) on D&D Beyond as Monsters of the Multiverse revises the player races and monsters previously published in those sourcebooks. D&D Beyond then confirmed that users will retain access to previously purchased copies of Volo's Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. D&D Beyond also stated that they "may update naming conventions of content to easily differentiate our listings" for users who have purchased access to both old and new content. Christian Hoffer, for ComicBook.com in May 2022, commented that "one major concern about the delisting is access to the chapters of lores contained in Volo's Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. Both books contained dozens of pages of lore about the D&D multiverse that don't appear in Monsters of the Multiverse. [...] D&D Beyond has not said whether the various expanded lore chapters will be available to D&D Beyond players moving forward, or if they'll be delisted and essentially removed from access by new players moving forward. Of course, D&D players can still read the lore in Volo's Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes by purchasing physical copies of the books, which will still be available even after Monsters of the Multiverse is released next week".

Related products

The boxed set, Dungeons & Dragons Rules Expansion Gift Set, contains the Monsters of the Multiverse along with new printings of Xanathar's Guide to Everything (2017) and Tasha's Cauldron of Everything (2020). An exclusive edition, with white foil alternate art covers by Joy Ang, is only available through local game stores.

Reception

In Publishers Weekly's "Best-selling Books Week Ending May 21, 2022", Monsters of the Multiverse was #2 in "Hardcover Nonfiction" with 23,889 units sold which Publishers Weekly called a "solid debut". The book remained on the top 25 list for fourteen weeks. In USA Today's "Best-Selling Books List for May 22, 2022", Monsters of the Multiverse was #10; it slipped to #95 the following week.

Monsters of the Multiverse was included on Kotaku's 2022 "The 10 Best Tabletop Roleplaying Books Of 2022" list — Claire Jackson commented that both the updated monsters and player race options make Monsters of the Multiverse a contender for "fourth core book". Jackson wrote that the player races is where the book "really earns its place. It contains the more flexible and much better race rules from Tasha's Cauldron Of Everything, where stat boosts aren't based on essentializing qualities, but can be chosen by the player. It also adds so many more options for fun characters that the Player's Handbook looks like a mere playtest of suggestions. It's a solid D&D book, and a great resource for both Dungeon Masters and players".