5 out of 5 rating for Volo’s Guide to Monsters
Volo's Guide to Monsters is an excellent addition to the Fifth Edition line-up and should be a part of of any DM's or player's library.
As others have said, VGtM is really three books in one, each complimenting the three core rule books. Chapter 1 covers nine monster types in-depth and definitely augments the DMG in that it will help and inspire DMs when using the featured monsters. Chapter 2 details thirteen monstrous races - six having been fully covered in Chapter 1 and seven unique to this chapter - adding to the PHB in giving players more options for character races. Finally, Chapter 3 adds over 100 monsters and NPCs to those already covered in the MM.
The book overall seems to be pretty sturdy, with little of the issues seen in the early printings of the core rulebooks so far. I purchased the variant cover (it was the only type my FLGS had!), and it's quite nice. I can only hope that this experiment was a success and we'll see future variant covers for this type of book. It has 224 pages in total, which is slightly less than typical 256 pages for the hardcover adventures for the same price; however, it definitely has far more re-usability and utility than they do, so the difference isn't that bad, all told (and definitely well above the page per dollar ratio that the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide had!). The art is definitely up to Fifth Editions excellent standards, with the two large pieces in the gnoll section being particularly outstanding in my opinion. There are a few recycled pieces here and there, but they are by far the exception rather than the rule.
While the book at first glance seems to be a report by Volothamp Geddarm on the various monsters of D&D (with interruptions and corrections by Elminster the sage), in reality only the introduction is written in that manner. Volo's and Elminster's voices are heard through the use of frequent side notes commenting on the text, but the text itself is written in typical rulebook style. Those worried that the book itself would be highly Forgotten Realms oriented can rest assured that the mentions of the setting are few and far between, some with suggestions on how to adapt those parts to other settings, and all other cases being as easy as just some name changes. And it's not just the Realms that get some love - Spelljamming is indirectly (but fairly obviously) alluded to in the mind flayer and neogi sections, while the froghemoth and vegepygmy entries reference the classic Greyhawk module Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.
Chapter 1 covers nine different classic D&D monster types: Beholders, giants, gnolls, goblinoids, hags, kobolds, mind flayers, orcs, and yuan-ti. The introduction to the chapter immediately addresses the "why these and not others" question by stating that they plan on this being just the first of many such books, with those covering dragons and other popular monsters to follow (presumably if this is a success, which hopefully it will be!). As a player who cut his gaming teeth when 2e was brand new, a lot of the stuff in the chapter did simply rehash a lot of old lore from previous editions, although there is still plenty of new and surprising information in it (moreover, to those new to the game, this is all brand new to them after all!). By far the most interesting and original section was the one covering hags, who have received little lore love over the history of the game. To state it bluntly, it was pretty amazing. I now cannot wait to throw some hags at my characters, and, from what I have read, I'm far from alone in this now, and it bodes well for this edition if the creative team can turn neglected, run-of-the-mill monsters into something everyone wants to use! (I do have one minor niggle with the hag section though, which I'll get to later). Beyond hags, I was most impressed by the goblinoid section, since they have rarely been described as a total society before, with the places and relationships among the three races in their hierarchy fully explored. I was also pleased to see the entire goblinoid pantheon described in full, as the past few editions have simply reduced the goblinoid gods to Maglubiyet alone. The other sections were more of a distillation of lore from previous editions, although, again each section had some new information. Most notable here is that beholders apparently reproduce simply by dreaming up their offspring, instead of a more normal birthing process (if vomiting up one's children through one's mouth could be considered "normal"!). The discrepancy could be chalked up to the fact that studying beholder reproduction would be a highly esoteric line of investigation, which was likely fatal to many of its practitioners, so there would be little in the way of actual hard facts on the matter. Finally, nearly all the creature types covered in this chapter are given maps for typical lairs or settlements, which can easily be dropped, or adapted, into just about any game.
Chapter 2 covers several new optional character races for players. In addition to the bugbear, goblin, hobgoblin, kobold, orc, and yuan-ti pureblood races described in detail in Chapter 1, this chapter also gives details on how to create characters for seven other races: Aasimar, firbolgs, goliaths, kenku, lizardfolk, tabaxi (cat folk), and tritons. This is going to be a popular chapter for players, and perhaps a bit of a headache for DMs, since requests for monstrous PCs will soon be coming in large quantities (if my own players are anything to go by!). All the races are presented in an interesting way, with useful powers, bonuses, and abilities. I've already had players come up with ideas for aasimar, firbolgs, tabaxi, and kobolds, which goes to show just how intriguing this section will be for players. Most of the races are well balanced, although some may be disappointed that the firbolg isn't Large-sized like it had been in previous editions. Two of the races presented, orcs and kobolds, actually receive penalties to ability scores during character creation (Intelligence and Strength, respectively); this is a pretty controversial first for this edition. When it comes to the kobolds getting a Strength penalty, I don't see much of an issue as their other powers more than make up for it. Orcs losing Intelligence is somewhat worse since their suite of abilities is a bit weaker, but unless you had your heart set on playing an orc wizard, it's not going to have too much affect (and even then, Fifth Edition is much more forgiving when it comes to ability scores anyway).
Chapter 3 covers more than 100 monsters, some variants discussed in Chapter 1, or entirely new monsters being updated to the new edition after being left out of the MM. Starting with those which are simply new variants, for the most part I was very pleased with them. The gnoll, hobgoblin, kobold, and orc, variants all fill empty niches and would allow a DM to create interesting, vibrant communities for their players to come and (most likely) wreck. I'm already planning a low-level kobold complex using all the variants (a sorcerer leader with a dragonshield bodyguard, another dragonshield leading a squad of inventors to make the characters' lives unpleasant, and so on). The updated flind is particularly noteworthy (and nasty!). I also like the mind flayer and yuan-ti variants, which updated important monsters from previous editions while, in the case of the yuan-ti, creating some new interesting types. However, in their cases, I have a minor niggle with the CRs of the Elder Brain and Yuan-ti Anathema; both should be at least a few CRs higher into the 15+ range in my opinion, in order to create some real epic threats in their respective settlements. I liked the beholder variants listed (very happy to see the gauth especially), but I do wish the eye of the deep had been updated as well. It's not like the book was trying to avoid aquatic creatures (there are quite a few in Chapter 3 actually), and they were in the original First Edition Monster Manual after all. I'm sure if the new beholder method of reproduction had been an issue, they could have come up with a way it came about (a beholder in a sea cave lair dreaming about drowning or something similar). As for other monsters, I'm a bit less pleased with the giant and hag variants, not for what is there, as the types in Chapter 3 are all excellent and definitely usable in play, but due to the fact that "leader" types weren't featured and statted out. The giant variants are all interesting, but, other than rare occurrences for the frost giant variant, they can't serve as leaders for groups or settlements (and for any thinking "Well, use the leaders from Storm King's Thunder, only the cloud giant leader in that book has a higher CR than the base type; all the rest of the leaders are just the base type with more hit points and a minor additional feature or two). As for the hags, Chapter 1 kept talking about advanced "grandmother" hag types more powerful than the base type, but, other than giving them some lair actions, it didn't go into further detail what those powers were and just how more powerful (i.e. what CR) they made these advanced hags. As for goblin variants, there is only the rather esoteric (but fun!) nilbog and a few suggestions in Chapter 1 for using the NPC blocks for variants. And finally, as for bugbears, well, they unfortunately didn't get a variant, so you'll just have to use modified NPC stat blocks.
As for the monsters in Chapter 3 which are totally new updates, I do have to say that the vast majority of them were excellent choices. I was truly pleased to see all the dinosaur niches missing from the MM were completely filled by entries in this book. A good amount of fey creatures were also updated, including my favorite, the quickling, which filled a fairly large gap in the MM. Lots of old favorites like the catoblepas and leucrotta that were unfortunately missing from the MM are all here. The morkoth was updated from a rather ho-hum undersea monster to something rather terrifying (although I'm not to sure about their new planar-traveling islands lore). Conversely, one of the few demons in the book, the babau, is missing one of its iconic features (its acidic slime) for no discernible reason (although it wouldn't be excessively hard to home brew it back). Honestly, just about the only monster in the section that I would rather have not seen were the grungs; while cute and interesting, they don't fulfill that "classic monster" mystique that virtually all the others in the chapter do. There are a few notable omissions that would have worked well with the monsters featured in the book - gibberlings aren't updated although they could be re-cast as gnoll underlings in a war band, and some other evil fey (like the spriggan or sirine) could have been used, like the other evil fey in the book, as minions for various types of hags. But then again, these omissions, as well as others (such as gem dragons and celestials), will likely see updates in future books of this type.
Chapter 3 is followed by several appendices, detailing a few beasts (mainly bovines, but also updating rot grubs for the edition) and a whole bunch of useful NPC types for DMs to add to their campaigns. Finally, there are charts listing the monsters covered in the book by CR and type.
So, in conclusion, Volo's Guide to Monsters is an excellent addition to the Fifth Edition line up. If you're interested in monsters, or in playing one, you should definitely pick up this book. Its few flaws are definitely more than made up for in all the quality contained within it!