In tweaking legendary creatures D&D Monster Manual designers admit DMs don't always "want to choose the most deadly option every round"

(Image credit: Wizards of the Coast)

Wizards of the Coast's Jeremy Crawford and F. Wesley Schneider recently spoke to Todd Kenreck in a livestream about the upcoming D&D Monster Manual – the final core Dungeons & Dragons rule books expected to drop this year. When asked what's changed, Crawford replied, "Everything is new in some way." A bold claim, but one that they're backing up with some dramatic tweaks to monsters that will affect legendary creatures in particular.

In a previous interview, Crawford told us that the new D&D Monster Manual would include "a high-CR construct, a Colossus, that is a skyscraper tall", but how these beasts were going to change compared to previous D&D books mechanically was still a mystery. Now we understand that their deep re-tuning of legendary creatures might finally keep monsters with a high challenge rating feeling just the right level of terrifying.

The problem with CR

An undead creature in raising its hand in an ancient temple — (Image credit: Wizards of the Coast)

In WotC's livestream, the two started off chatting about how monster books are their favorite and how, with 500 stat blocks, this is going to be "the biggest monster manual D&D has ever had". Then finally they addressed the titan in the room – Legendary CR. In previous editions, Crawford admits, challenge ratings for legendary monsters "often led to a monster feeling weaker than it should" because "many of us as DMs found that sometimes we don't want to choose the most deadly option every round." So how have they worked to fix the issue?

"A decade ago, the way we calculated CR was focussed on if the DM chooses the most powerful option every round, here is the monster's CR", says Crawford, which left things feeling unbalanced. In order to combat the issue, they've changed their methodology in that "no matter which sequence of legendary actions you pick, that monster is still going to be on CR."

They reckon that this change is "going to actually have a cumulative effect of making these monsters seem more terrifying because there will not be those drop-offs that people had before."

Not only do they promise that the changes will make it "much easier for the DM to find their way through the stat block of an ancient dragon, or the Blob of Annihilation", but also "keep that monster terrifying in a way that is appropriate for its challenge rating."

Show, don't tell

A dragon readying a spell — (Image credit: Wizards of the Coast)

Time will tell as to whether DMs world-round agree, but at least we can say the Monster Manual's artwork has an impressive way of showing you just how terrifying these monsters can be.

"It's a book that's really rooted in showing you how these monsters exist in the worlds of Dungeons and Dragons", says Schneider.

Where previously, many monsters were pictured in a vacuum, out of context for you to imagine in your campaign setting, Schneider says "I don't think that there's a single monster in this book that's just 'here's a critter floating in white space'. They're all in these worlds, doing the thing that makes them exciting."

The upcoming D&D Monster Manual is set to land next month on February 18, so now's the time to pre-order on the D&D store if you're looking to get scary with the all-new monster challenge rating mechanics.

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Katie is a freelance writer with over 5 years experience covering everything from tabletop RPGs, to video games and tech. Besides earning a Game Art and Design degree up to Masters level, she is a designer of board games, board game workshop facilitator, and an avid TTRPG Games Master - not to mention a former Hardware Writer over at PC Gamer.