So I've been doing my best to prepare for the next game day in a month with very little to go on. Here's what we know so far:
5th-level adventure, called "Journey through the Silver Caves"
Focuses on the new monsters--especially an iconic new to the MM2.
So I figured it'd be worth it to try and find out what new monsters to expect in the new book. Guess what! I found a list...
New Monsters: Careful! Serious book spoilers ahead!
Abolethic Skum Ooze
Archangel
Ankheg
Barghest
Behir
Black Pudding
Centaur
Centipede
Cockatrice
Couatl
Darkmantle
Bebilith-Demon
Dretch-Demon
Djinn
Copper Dragon
Gold Dragon
Silver Dragon
Duergar
Giant Ant
Frost Giant
Frost Titan
Stone Giant
Stone Titan
Clay Golem
Iron Golem
Blood Hawk
Frost Hawk
Gray Render
Green Slime
Krenshar
Pennaggolan Vampire
Wereboar
Weretiger
Werewolf Lord
Remorhaz
Retriever-Abomination
Rust Monster
Shark
Phase Spider
Tiger
Dire Tiger
Vargouille
will-o'-wisp
Winter Wolf
Xorn
Not a lot of surprises on the list, interestingly.
No idea as far as what the plot entails, but I have to imagine we're looking at mostly subterranian stuff, maybe icy stuff, probably a new dragon as the big centerpiece fight (which will be interesting since we're looking at a silver most likely).
Spiffy!
I'm looking forward to the
Gray Render
Rust Monster
and the new dragons
No idea as far as what the plot entails, but I have to imagine we're looking at mostly subterranian stuff, maybe icy stuff, probably a new dragon as the big centerpiece fight (which will be interesting since we're looking at a silver most likely).
In the May Minis set, the dragon is a "young gold", FWIW.
There is the "bonechill chimera" with a white dragon head, so if there's a cold theme, that could be a good mini. Also a "frost giant" and a "ghaele of winter" there.
Provided of course, that they're going to feature the new minis set with the new book and the game day adventure. I'd hope that's where they'd go...
Duergar appeared first in Thunderspire Labyrinth - they're a little bit different to what you might expect...
These monsters are very conventional and old school - I guess they correctly judged the reaction to the weird stuff in the MM1.
These monsters are very conventional and old school - I guess they correctly judged the reaction to the weird stuff in the MM1.
I could be wrong, but I think Grimcleaver's list is simply taken from the recent updates to the 4th Edition SRD, which so far has only included monsters which are seen in some form in past editions. Entirely new creatures (the "weird stuff" you mentioned) wouldn't show up in the SRD, and thus wouldn't be in Grimcleaver's list.
|
These monsters are very conventional and old school - I guess they correctly judged the reaction to the weird stuff in the MM1.I could be wrong, but I think Grimcleaver's list is simply taken from the recent updates to the 4th Edition SRD, which so far has only included monsters which are seen in some form in past editions. Entirely new creatures (the "weird stuff" you mentioned) wouldn't show up in the SRD, and thus wouldn't be in Grimcleaver's list.
I agree with Scott on this. Notice, for example, that only three types of metallic dragons are listed. We know that there are going to be five, including the iron and adamantine dragons. In fact they have already released minis for both types. There are likely more creatures that we haven't been told about yet. MM2 will be 228 pages, which is 60 pages shorter then MM1, but it still doesn't seem like the monsters listed in the spoiler would be enough to fill it.
Edit: The entry for each listed monster would have to take up about 5.25 pages to fill the book. My guess is that most will take up 1-2 and some like the tigers and the hawks will take a half page each.
Man I hope there's going to be some weird stuff. Monster Manuals are my favorite kind of D&D books, but this one totally had me bummed as a "repurchase" of old edition stuff. I like that most of the 4e stuff has been a nice mix of half new and half vintage stuff. Hope the Monster Manual 2 goes the same way.