Coming off the big success that was Volo’s Guide to Monsters, WotC publishes Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes. Mordenkainen is a name that goes back to the earliest days of the hobby, being one of Gary Gygax’s PCs. 5e players know him primarily for his wonderful utility spells.
Like Volo’s Guide to Monsters, Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes gives us brand-new monsters to use for D&D, something every DM will be happy to have. However, where the previous book focused primarily on monsters of challenge ratings 1 through 10, Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes gives us more monsters above challenge rating 10, and even some above challenge rating 20. These are incredibly powerful creatures whose mere appearance is an epic-level event, possibly even the tent-pole for entire campaigns. These include Geryon, deposed Duke of the Nine Hells, and the hideous Astral Dreadnaught which graced the cover of the very first Manual of the Planes.
There are also goodies for players as well, adding races like the githyanki and githzerai to the list of playable races, as well as another version of the eladrin (which first appeared as an example race in the back of the Dungeon Master’s Guide). It also gives us more variations on the tiefling, and templates for creatures with demonic or devilish ancestry or alliance. Where Volo’s Guide to Monsters gave us gameable details about orc, goblin, and beholder culture and ecology, Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes takes a 30,000-foot view of the multiverse, informing us about the Blood War between demons and devils, the lifestyles of halflings and gnomes, and the fratricidal conflicts between elves and drow, dwarves and duergar, and the githyanki and githzerai.
Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes is available for pre-order today. In addition, if you purchase it from your local Dragon’s Lair Comics & Fantasy® you can get it with the alternative cover. Talk to one of our RPG experts about adding this book to your campaign today.
