The Best 5e Dungeons & Dragons Monsters Not in the Monster Manual

by Titus Lunter

While working on a conversion of an old adventure, I started looking through Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes to study some different types of monster mechanics. In A Paladin in Hell, there's these little hell worms that burrow into the characters, and I was trying to figure out how to do that within the 5e framework. It turns out that the Spawn of Kyuss has the rules that I was looking for.

That got me looking through Mordenkainen's again. I started to think about my favorite 5e monsters. I thought it might be fun to list them and explain why I like them the best.

Often, a product comes out and there is stuff in it I love, but I forget about them when the next book comes out. I hate the idea of some of these creatures being forgotten or lost. 

These are my favorite 5e monsters that are not in the Monster Manual, presented in alphabetical order.

(Curse of Strahd) Barovian Witch

by Chris Seaman

My absolute favorite low level monster in 5e is right here - the Barovian witch. The art is beyond perfect. I mean... look at it. I love how the cat is in the foreground and is slightly more vivid. I love the witch's face, hat... everything.

My one issue with D&D "witches" is that I get a bit confused about what exactly the difference is between witches and hags. Does a witch become a hag? In this book, it explains that witches make pacts with Strahd and the Dark Powers in exchange for magic and longevity. It seems like the line is a bit fuzzy.

These Barovian witches are low level spellcasters, so there's not too many spells that you'll need to remember. They've got invisibility and Tasha's hideous laughter, which is formidable for low level heroes to deal with. Really, I just love pairing them with a flying broom, dropping ranged attacks on the adventurers.

A... coven? Band? of witches seems like a really fun ongoing group antagonist for a low level campaign.

(Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden) Brain in a Jar

by David Rene Christensen

"Through an eldritch ritual combining alchemy, necromancy, and grim surgical precision, the brain of a mortal being (willing or unwilling) is encased in a glass jar..."

It can mind blast, it can cast piles of spells, it can sense the presence of creatures within 300 feet. This one also makes for a great villain.

These things just make me smile. Fun bad guys! Whose brain is it? What does it want? Does it order around a bunch of flunkies? Does it want a new body?

(Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes) Cadaver Collector

Giant constructs that wander battlefields, cadaver collectors collect the dead by impaling them on their spikes. They "lumber aimlessly across the blasted plains of Acheron." I wish we could get more details, as Acheron is one of my favorite planes. Where do they bring the bodies? Who made them?

They can summon the spirits of the cadavers (1d6 specters), but honestly I don't really care so much about this monster when it comes to combat - I just think they are really cool. The heroes come upon a battlefield littered with dead bodies, and there is this lonely thing scooping up dead bodies and bringing them... where? To me, a cadaver collector is most fun as a potential ally, or the sad minion of a villain. Maybe its only friends are the birds who pick at the corpses on its back.

(Volo's Guide to Monsters) Cranium Rats

Cranium rats! Rats with exposed brains that share a hivemind. This one borders on the ridiculous, but it's done so well (especially in older Planecape products) that they are made great. There is a scene in Planescape Torment where the main character meets with a hive in Undersigil, and all you see is a dark hole in a wall filled with pairs of red eyes. These creatures are scary when amassed in large numbers.

Mind flayer colonies use cranium rats as spies and have the ability to transmit their thoughts back to the elder brain. Swarms can cast spells, including command and dominate monster.

I used cranium rats as an NPC ally in my Planescape campaign and the players really liked them. I think putting cranium rats as intelligent vermin "infesting" the home town of your characters adds a lot. They're just a lot of fun, and there is so much that the players can do with them.

(Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes) Eidolon

So basically, they took that statue thing from the cover of the 1e DMG and made a monster out of it. Well, sort of. An eidolon is a divine spirit, a ghostly spirit that has the power to merge with a statue pertaining to their deity and animate it. The book gives us stats for both the actual eidolon spirit, and the "sacred statue" it inhabits.

This was just a really fun thing to put in a 5e book. You could recreate the scene from the 1e PH cover. Or, this being D&D, set it up and then watch your players do something with it that you never expected.

(Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes) Hellfire Engine

by Christopher Burdett

I really loved the 3rd edition version of the Hellfire Engine - a titanic construct made of hell metal that rampaged through Blood War battlefields. If you had told me that, in 5th edition, they were going to change it into to a vehicle, I don't think I would have been happy.

But the art and the stat block sold me. I love this thing. It looks really cool and it has some great weapons on it: The bonemelt sprayer! A thunder cannon! Are you going to survive getting hit by the bonemelt sprayer?! Of course not! It melts your bones.

It pains me to think that most groups haven't encountered one of these things in a D&D campaign.

(Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden) Living Demiplane 

I think that all of the living spells in this book are fantastic. Living Bigby's Hand really stands out, but to me, the living demiplane is a masterpiece.

The stat block is long and wall of text-y, but the ideas in it are exciting enough to pull me through.

It appears as a "...shadowy rectangle, 5 feet wide and 10 feet high, which creeps along flat, solid surfaces and groans softly when it moves." It can suck you into a small extradimensional space and you are stuck there until you figure a way out.

There's a billion things you can do with this. I love the idea that the heroes need something stashed in a living demiplane - they just have to find it. Or! The group's base is a living demiplane.

(Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes) Marut

There is a lot to like about the 5e marut. I love the art. I like the idea. I love that it has lore linked to Primus and Sigil, and I really appreciate that they re-designed a monster that I thought looked goofy in older editions.

Maruts enforce contracts forged in the Hall of Concordance in Sigil, an embassy of pure law. Contracts with maruts are chiseled onto a sheet of gold and affixed to their chest. They are linked to Primus and the modrons, another plus.

They can shoot out blasts of radiant energy, and can actually teleport creatures to the Hall of Concordance. This is especially interesting to me, because in certain 2e Planescape books, it says that one can't teleport in or out of Sigil - the only way in and out is through the city's portals. That became confusing over time, and I think some adventures contradicted that idea. I think it is better to go ahead and say you can use magic to come and go from Sigil.

I think what I love the most about this monster is the design. It looks a bit like a modron with the eyes, the little wings, and the armor plating, but it's still its own thing. It's perfect!

(Volo's Guide to Monsters) Mindwitness

What happens when an illithid tadpole is implanted into a beholder? It becomes a mindwitness!

Merging a beholder with a mind flayer is a great idea, and I think the art is just perfect.

In addition to being a deadly monster for lower level groups to face, they act as a telepathic hub for mind flayers, who can "group chat" with 7 other illithids via the mindwitness.

(Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes) Ogre Howdah

by Chris Seaman

I think this might be my absolute favorite 5e monster. It's an ogre with a fort on its back! There are goblins in there, shooting arrows. What an awesome monster for a low level band of heroes (it is a CR 2). It's just a simple, fun idea, really creative.

(Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes) Merrenoloth

 

This one was tricky. It was sometimes referred to as the "Styx Oarsman" in previous editions. It is a yugoloth, which is the weird no-demon/not-devil neutral evil fiend group. Their role is really cool - they sail ships on the River Styx.

I've always thought merrenoloths were a unique, fun creature, but the art was very hit or miss. In 5e, I think they totally nailed the art. It looks great. Somehow the artist used almost exclusively shades of brown, but still made it interesting and badass in its own way.

(Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus) Reaper of Bhaal

I really like all of the humanoid/NPC villain statblocks in this adventure. They are able to get across the point of a monster without giving it a million powers. This particular bad guy has two abilities that stick out:

• Aura of Murder: Creatures within 5 feet gain vulnerability to piercing damage.
• Shroud Self: It can turn invisible until the start of its next turn as an action (becoming visible if it attacks/casts a spell/etc).
  

These are stat blocks you can easily transpose, to use for your own purposes. This one is good for any type of assassin you might need in your game.

The idea of an aura that gives vulnerability to an enemy really makes it feel like a threat.

(Ghosts of Saltmarsh) Skeletal Alchemist

by Leesha Hannigan

An undead entity that toils in a dark laboratory, "...often falling dormant for long periods of time."

I really like the art of this one, and I love the idea. Who made it? What is it working on? Does it serve a lich? What is in the lab? You can make a great encounter/storyline out of this one.

(Curse of Strahd) Strahd Zombie

This one is all about the stat block. When a Strahd zombie takes 5+ damage, it loses a body part: either an arm, a leg, or its head! The fight doesn't end, though. The severed part acts on the zombie's initiative and has its own action and movement.

It's a really fun idea, definitely a curveball that the group won't see coming.

(Tomb of Annihilation) Tyrannosaurus Zombie

This is definitely one of the highlights of 5th edition - a zombie t.rex that spews humanoid zombies from its mouth!

A really fun monster, very inspired! It definitely captures a certain style of play. It's definitely one of those monsters where the group will remember for a long time after they've faced it.

There were more in Mordenkainen's, but I didn't want to take too many from that book. The neogi should probably be on this list, though.

Thanks for reading!