Monster Manual X: What's Next?

[PurpleSerpent]

Introduction
I’ve been meaning to do some extended research into what monsters are currently missing from the Monster Manual for a while, but after a suggestion from The Blonde, I decided to have a go at guessing what monsters might turn up in the next Monster Manual volume. I proceeded to spend four hours typing out an entire essay on the subject, because it turns out I can’t predict how long something is likely to take.

I’m going to group all the remaining entryless races (and some notable sub-races, as defined on the DDO Wiki, which either don’t count as their parent race, or have a parent race which also isn’t in the manual) by the categories currently used in the Monster Manual. I’ll then give them a rating on the following scale:

0: Will never be added to the Monster Manual.
1: Unlikely to ever be added to the Monster Manual.
2: Might plausibly get an entry someday, but I’d be very surprised if it’s in the next volume.
3: I’d expect this to get an entry someday, but I wouldn’t expect more than one or two to be in the next volume.
4: Most of the next few volumes' entries will probably be from this list.
5: If the next couple of volumes don't have this in somewhere, I will be very surprised.

I’ll be considering how long each type of monster has been around, how they’re used in-game, how many of them there are and how many different expansions and adventure packs they appear in.

I should finally note that this post represents my opinions as of early January in 2024. Future releases may affect the probability of certain monsters being added, or add new contenders. As this post is speculative and opinion-based, I will not be updating it regularly to account for this - I will likely replace it with a new post when Monster Manual X is released.

 

[PurpleSerpent]

Aberration

• Ettercap race (7 monsters): 3. Ettercaps are currently unique to the Isle of Dread, but there’s no reason to suspect that’ll always be the case, especially since Myth Drannor’s wilderness seems like a pretty likely place to contain a few.
• Evil Eye race (5 monsters): 3. Although there aren’t many types of these, they are reasonably widely spread across the Xoriat content.
• Eye Horror race (6 monsters): 3. Again, an uncommon type of monster, but fairly well distributed, and common enough to be possible to farm for.
• Kopru race (9 monsters): 2. Kopru are entirely restricted to the Isle of Dread, and lorewise it’s going to be hard to justify them showing up anywhere else.
• Nothic race (5 monsters): 2. These are probably too recent an addition for a Monster Manual entry, especially since they’re restricted to Vecna Unleashed at the moment. On the other hand, it does seem quite likely that we’ll be finding a few in Myth Drannor.
• Otyugh race (7 monsters): 3. Found in a variety of places, albeit in small numbers. Could have a Monster Manual entry at this point, but I’d expect a couple more to be added first.
• Umber Hulk race (10 monsters): 4. There are a fair few of these in the game now, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a few more appear in Myth Drannor.
• Will o’ Wisp race (13 monsters): 4. These are pretty widespread in the game now, and appear in greater numbers than Umber Hulks, so I’d call them the most likely Aberration to get an entry.

Animal

• Bird race (1 monster): 1. One of those set dressing creatures sometimes placed in forest zones.
• Crocodile race (7 monsters): 3. Probably one or two more of these need to be added before they get their own entry.
• Deer race (3 monsters): 1. One of those set dressing creatures sometimes placed in forest zones. There are at least multiple types of Deer, but that doesn’t do much for their chances overall.
• Dinosaur race (40 monsters): 4. Given how long Raptors have been around I’m surprised that Volume 9 didn’t include any dinosaur types. The one thing I will say is that since Dinosaurs vary a lot between sub-races, I can see this race being broken down into multiple entries. I’ve rated each sub-race’s chances below.
• Dog race (26 monsters): 4. This is one of those monsters I was pretty surprised to find out didn’t have its own entry already. I’d say it’s a pretty safe bet one is on the way.
• Fox race (1 monster): 1. One of those set dressing creatures sometimes placed in forest zones.
• Frog race (1 monster): 1. One of those set dressing creatures sometimes placed in forest zones.
• Saber Toothed Tiger race (3 monsters): 2. Restricted entirely to the Isle of Dread. I’m honestly not sure why these didn’t count as Lions, as that category is supposed to include all big cats.
• Squirrel race (1 monster): 1. One of those set dressing creatures sometimes placed in forest zones.
• Ankylosaur sub-race (6 monsters): 2. If the Dinosaur race is broken down, this will probably be the last of the different types to be added. Ankylosaurs are the least common type of Dinosaur and only appear in Isle of Dread and Vecna Unleashed.
• Chipmunk sub-race (2 monsters): 1. Only two chipmunks appear in the game, and one of them can’t be killed.
• Raptor sub-race (17 monsters): 4. If Dinosaur race is broken down into several entries, as I suspect it will be, Raptors are going to come first.
• Triceratops sub-race (8 monsters): 3. At least one of Raptor or Tyrannosaur is going to get an entry before this does, even if Dinosaur race is broken down.
• Tyrannosaur sub-race (9 monsters): 4. The second-most common type of dinosaur in DDO, but also by far the most famous, which probably helps its chances.

Construct

• Golem race: 0. We already know that Golem race is being split down into sub-races for MM entries - several already exist. I’ve rated the chances of the other Golems below.
• Helmed Horror race (5 monsters): 2. Currently restricted to the Forgotten Realms, and there aren’t many of them - that said, this summer’s expansion is set there…
• Cannith Drone sub-race (11 monsters): 3. I expected these to appear in the Animated Object entry, but they didn’t. Now that the similarly-absent Magefire Cannon has its own entry, I’d expect these to get their own at some point moving forwards.
• Marut sub-race (9 monsters): 4. These really ought to be Outsiders and not Constructs, but they’re typed as Golem race. At present, it’s in close competition with both Shield Guardian and Scarecrow.
• Scarecrow sub-race (9 monsters): 4. One of the remaining Golem type monsters in competition for an entry with Marut and Shield Guardian.
• Shield Guardian sub-race (9 monsters): 4. If I had to guess, this Golem is most likely to be the first to appear in upcoming content, as they’re pretty common in Eberron content and I can just about see one appearing in Myth Drannor. I’d therefore guess it’s slightly more likely than the others to get a Monster Manual entry.
• Worker Construct sub-race (8 monsters): 3. There are a few of these around, although they’re entirely restricted to Sharn content.

Elemental

• Ice Elemental race (8 monsters): 3. The Hunter objective might want one more of them, but there are enough of these in the game now for them to have a decent chance.
• Invisible Stalker race (5 monsters): 2. We haven’t seen one of these (ho ho) for a few years, and they’re not exactly the most common of monsters.
• Water Weird race (11 monsters): 4. Water Weirds seem to have been pretty popular among SSG’s developers, as they made the Anniversary Party in the year they arrived and several appeared in both Isle of Dread and Vecna Unleashed.

Fey

• Blink Dog race (3 monsters): 2. Introduced in Fables of the Feywild, although they were quite rare even there, Blink Dogs have so far only appeared in one quest outside the expansion in which they were released. Most of the other Feywild creatures introduced in this expansion probably have priority.
• Dryad race (11 monsters): 4. They’re well-known, they’re pretty widespread, and they can be farmed reasonably easily now.
• Kelpie race (10 monsters): 4. I’d have initially expected these to count as Monstrous Plants, but aside from the one in The Offshore Account, they don’t, which looks like a clear indicator of a unique entry in the future.
• Nymph race (2 monsters): 1. There are just two of these, and they’re restricted entirely to Fables of the Feywild.
• Pixie race (12 monsters): 4. The most common of the Fey added in Fables of the Feywild, and nearly as widespread as the Dryad outside of that.
• Redcap race (10 monsters): 3. I’d put this as a 4 if it were in any other category, but Redcaps have a lot of competition in the Fey group. I’d expect either Pixie or Dryad to go first.
• Unicorn race (5 monsters): 2. Again, this is a bit lower than other categories, but Unicorns have a lot of competition in their class and so far there aren’t very many of them.

Giant

• Giant race: 0. We already know that Giant race is being split down into sub-races for MM entries - two, Hill Giant and Fire Giant, already exist. I’ve rated the chances of the other Giants below.
• Cloud Giant sub-race (14 monsters): 3. While Cloud Giants are fairly numerous, I’d expect at least one of the more common Frost and Stone Giant sub-races to be added to the MM before Cloud Giants.
• Frost Giant sub-race (19 monsters): 4. The most common of the remaining Giant types to be added.
• Stone Giant sub-race (18 monsters): 4. Although very slightly less common than Frost Giant, Stone Giants are a little more likely to show up in Myth Drannor, so I’m ranking them both equally.
• Fomorian sub-race (11 monsters): 3. Again, Giant type has a lot of competition, and at the moment there probably aren’t enough Fomorians for them to be a priority.
• Storm Giant sub-race (3 monsters): 2. You can’t even kill one of these (the past version of the Stormreaver), and it’s been years since one has been added. There’s a small chance a Storm Giant will appear in upcoming Forgotten Realms content, but unless more are added I can’t see an entry happening.

Humanoid

• Lizardfolk race (37 monsters): 5. After they put so many of these in Saltmarsh and Isle of Dread, I was very surprised that Volume 9 didn’t have Lizardfolk in anywhere. I’d say they're long overdue an entry at this point.

Magical Beast

• Displacer Beast race (10 monsters): 4. A very popular Dungeons and Dragons monster, and now found in two places outside of its release expansion, I’d expect the Displacer Beast to get its own entry pretty soon. I’d also say it’s pretty likely that entry will come with a Creature Companion.
• Manticore race (7 monsters): 3. Found in a wide variety of places, but I’d say we probably need a couple more of them to dedicate an entry to them.
• Nightcrawler race (3 monsters): 0. These are basically just purple worms, and whichever dev added the one in Turn the Page to the Purple Worm list seems to agree with me that it would make more sense just to fold them into that entry.
• Sea Lion race (10 monsters): 4. Spread out quite nicely across content, and tying with Displacer Beast for the most common Magical Beast absentee.
• Sphinx race (1 monster): 1. There’s only one in the game that will actually fight you - the rest seem to be more interested in putting on trials or being distracted by disordered bookshelves.
• Cooshee sub-race (4 monsters): 2. So far entirely restricted to the Feywild, and not much different from an ordinary Dog really; I’d say it’s much more likely that these will be folded into the entry for Dogs.
• Fey Hunt Hound sub-race (16 monsters): 2. Although 16 monsters technically belong to this sub-race, 6 won’t be returning until Hardcore Season 15 (and may well not count as they’re event monsters) and 6 are from last year’s Anniversary Party and are unlikely to return at all. The remaining 4 are nowhere near enough for an entry.

Misc

• Inanimate Object race (89 monsters): 1. This is supposed to be a Monster Manual, and these aren’t monsters in any sense of the word…
• Airship sub-race (13 monsters): 2. Unlike their parent category Inanimate Object, Airships are actually hostile. They’re also a manageable size for implementation and Hunter objectives, especially if a few monsters which are part of them (Grappling Hooks and Elemental Engines) are also counted. The awkward bit is that currently they’re found in Epic Three-Barrel Cove and nowhere else.

Monstrous Humanoid

• Bullywug race (23 monsters): 4. Introduced in Saltmarsh a couple of years back, Bullywugs have appeared in (or, in one case, been swapped into) two adventure packs and an expansion since, and are already one of the more common monster types without an MM entry.
• Hag race (39 monsters): 5. There are loads of Hags, they’re all over the game, and I’m honestly pretty surprised they weren’t in Volumes 7, 8 or 9. They look like a shoe-in for Volume 10.
• Medusa race (20 monsters): 4. Both widespread and well-known, it’s fairly surprising that these were missed out of Volume 7, although I suppose there were a lot of monsters competing for that volume. I’d say they’re a pretty likely call for Volume 10.
• Wererat race (6 monsters): 3. Probably not quite enough of these yet for their own entry, although they have made it outside of Vecna Unleashed.
• Wildman race: 0. SSG have stated their intentions to remove this one from the game entirely.

Outsider

• Angel race (12 monsters): 4. Angels are pretty common as allies in DDO, but it’s very rare to encounter them as opponents - probably because this requires the devs to contrive a reason for two good-aligned groups to fight each other. This said, they’ve already managed it three times, and there’s enough of a variety now (especially if Radiant Idols are counted) to make this entry a fair possibility.
• Bralani Eladrin race / Ghaele Eladrin race (7 monsters): 1. They appear in two quests, both over a decade old, and they’re outdated versions of a monster already in the Monster Manual.
• Daelkyr race (1 monster): 1. DDO already has a three-adpack-long Xoriat arc, and several raids and standalone quests dedicated to the place. So far, only two Daelkyr have even been mentioned. It seems extremely unlikely that there are going to be enough Daelkyr enemies for a Monster Manual entry any time soon.
• Djinn race (14 monsters): 4. Efreeti got their own race a while ago now, so it’s probably only fair that the Djinn get one too.
• Howler race (3 monsters): 2. There are only three Howlers in the game, and very few quests contain them. I’d rate them a 1 except that they are more common in the Forgotten Realms lore, so there’s a chance more are coming with Myth Drannor.
• Reaper race (7 monsters): 2. “There should be a Reaper Monster Manual” is a common suggestion on the forums, but personally I don’t see it happening anytime soon. People who don’t play Reaper tend to get a bit annoyed when content is restricted to Reaper difficulty (see: about 50 different forum threads about Illithid Invasion), and this would be forcing people to play on R7 to get a Doom Reaper.
• Salamander race (10 monsters): 4. Fairly common, fairly widespread, and they’re found in a lot of Forgotten Realms content which suggests the possibility of a few in Myth Drannor.
• Slaad race (26 monsters): 5. Very common in recent content, and found in several quests in other parts of the game too.
• Balor sub-race (1 monster): 1. There’s only one Balor in the game. Several more need to be added, and at least one needs to appear outside a raid, before this can get its own entry. (Myth Drannor is said to be infested with fiends, so its release might help with this.)
• Bebilith sub-race (10 monsters): 4. Now that they’ve started showing up outside of the Demonweb, Bebiliths are one of the more common of the many Demon and Devil sub-types yet to get an entry.
• Erinyes sub-race (6 monsters): 3. Vecna Unleashed showed that the developers at least remember this monster exists, but there still aren’t quite enough for a Monster Manual entry to be likely yet.
• Goristro sub-race (6 monsters): 3. Again, Vecna Unleashed was a good sign for a monster that hadn’t previously been seen since Tower of Frost, but Bebilith and Pit Fiend are likely coming first.
• Jarilith sub-race (7 monsters): 3. The basic Jarilith is all over the place, but generally there aren’t quite enough of them yet.
• Nightmare sub-race (3 monsters): 2. A pretty new type of Outsider, Nightmares have a lot of competition to deal with, and just having three monsters isn’t helping.
• Pit Fiend sub-race (9 monsters): 4. As Bebilith is the most prominent remaining Demon, Pit Fiend is the most prominent remaining Devil. There’s a fair chance they’ll both be added at the same time.
• Vrock sub-race (5 monsters): 2. Not many of these exist yet, and they’re restricted to just Vecna Unleashed. Also, Outsider has a lot of competition.

Player Races

• Half-Elf race (5 monsters) / Half-Orc race (46 monsters): 0. Most of the Half-Elves, and nearly all of the Half-Orcs, in the game already count as Elves or Orcs respectively, which is a pretty clear indicator that Half-Elf and Half-Orc categories are unlikely to appear in future volumes. Especially given that there are just five half-elves.

Undead

• Ghost race (6 monsters): 2. Only appear in two areas (maybe 3 if Rosemary Hargrove counts, and I’d argue she should), and one of those is a single rare encounter in Thunderholme’s wilderness.
• Spectre race (58 monsters): 5. I was very surprised that Volume 9 included both Quells and Wheeps and yet Spectres still didn’t get their own entry. If they don’t get one in Volume 10, I’ll eat my hat. And I don’t own a hat, so that’s going to be complicated.
• Vampire race (52 monsters): 5. Another surprising omission from the Monster Manual so far, given how few Liches there were when that entry was added.
• Cinderspawn sub-race (6 monsters): 2. It would be cool to see more Cinderspawn in the game. Until this happens, there are only two locations they appear in.
• Flameskull sub-race (7 monsters): 3. A reasonably wide-spread sub-race that doesn’t currently count as a Skeleton in the Monster Manual, although it might need one or two more monsters for its own entry.
• Vargouille sub-race (2 monsters): 1. There are only two of these and they’re both in Ravenloft. They’re also not very likely to be added to future content, unless we head back to the Dread Domains at some point.

Vermin

• Crab race (9 monsters) / Crayfish race (8 monsters): 3 each individually, 4 if grouped into a Crustacean entry. Although both types of monster have been around for a long time and appeared in quite a few different adpack since release, there aren’t really many monsters belonging to either race, which makes Hunter objectives awkward. I’d expect the two to be grouped together when their entry arrives.
• Insect race (14 monsters): 4. Unlike Crab and Crayfish, this race is likely large enough to stand on its own.
• Fire Beetle sub-race (10 monsters): 2. I’d expect this to remain as part of the Insect race rather than being split out into its own entry.

 

[PurpleSerpent]

My Conclusions

Alright, so now the essay’s over, here are the monsters I think are currently most likely to appear in the next few volumes of the Monster Manual, with particularly likely suspects in bold:

• Angel
• Bebilith
• Bullywug
• Crustacean (Crab and Crayfish)
• Dinosaur (or Raptor and/or Tyrannosaur)
• Displacer Beast
• Dog
• Djinn
• Dryad
• Frost Giant
• Hag
• Insect
• Kelpie
• Lizardfolk
• Marut
• Medusa
• Pixie
• Pit Fiend
• Salamander
• Scarecrow
• Sea Lion
• Shield Guardian
• Slaad
• Spectre
• Stone Giant
• Umber Hulk
• Vampire
• Water Weird
• Will o’ Wisp

Of course, some of this is going to depend on what monsters release in this year’s content, particularly with the Myth Drannor expansion. Among other things, this is going to include some brand new monsters (my bet’s on Bone Nagas and Phaerimm, based on Myth Drannor’s Forgotten Realms Wiki entry.)

Still, that’s a list complied of the 30 or so monsters most likely to get entries in upcoming volumes of the Monster Manual. Was it worth four hours? Probably not. Ah well.

 

[CBDunk]

Thorough and logical... but I'm going to guess that one reason monsters like Hags, Spectres, and Vampires have not been added yet is that they do not appear anywhere in great numbers. There may be numerous different examples of each, and thus enough variety for MM 'hunter' rewards, but they lack the sheer numbers to be 'well represented' for purposes of 'slayer' rewards. Basically, there are a few different quests (and the IoD wilderness) which someone can go to and get dozens of Bullywug kills. There is NOWHERE to get dozens of Pit Fiend kills.

If so, that'd suggest that some of the list above may be less likely for inclusion. Maybe; Bebilith, Displacer Beast, Djinn, Dryad, Hag, Marut, Medusa, Pit Fiend, Spectre, and Vampire.

That said, only 120 purple worms are needed to max the slayer count for those... so they could include a few of these with lower than average slayer totals. Vampire would be a good bet given how iconic they are, how long they have been in the game, the presence of a few quests with more than one, et cetera.

 

[PurpleSerpent]

Thorough and logical... but I'm going to guess that one reason monsters like Hags, Spectres, and Vampires have not been added yet is that they do not appear anywhere in great numbers.

I'd be more inclined to accept this if I didn't know all too well that one of the slayer requirements is 1,600 Glabrezu.

 

[Dunspartacus]

I'm still amazed we haven't gotten dinos considering how prevalent they've been in the game for the past few years, and yeah I could see raptors being put in their own category.

 

[Mindos]

Was it worth four hours? Probably not. Ah well.

 

[Matuse]

Thorough and logical... but I'm going to guess that one reason monsters like Hags, Spectres, and Vampires have not been added yet is that they do not appear anywhere in great numbers. There may be numerous different examples of each, and thus enough variety for MM 'hunter' rewards, but they lack the sheer numbers to be 'well represented' for purposes of 'slayer' rewards. Basically, there are a few different quests (and the IoD wilderness) which someone can go to and get dozens of Bullywug kills. There is NOWHERE to get dozens of Pit Fiend kills.

There's nowhere to get dozens of Warforged Titan or Glabrezu or Horned Devil or Clay Golem or Mind Flayer or Dragon or Draegoloth or Purple Worm or Marilith...I find the argument unconvincing. Defiler of the Just has 5 or 6 Pit Fiends each run. The Amrath wilderness has 2 or 3 named ones. Amrath quests have another what, 4? Shroud, Devil Assault...plenty of places to find Pit Fiends.

 

[The Blonde]

Amazing work, thank you!

 

[CBDunk]

I'd be more inclined to accept this if I didn't know all too well that one of the slayer requirements is 1,600 Glabrezu.

Sure, but if we're going by outliers then your logic about how many types of each creature exist (for 'hunter' rewards) wouldn't apply either.

Warforged Titan was added when there were only six of them in the game. When Living Spell was added, there was a hunter requirement for all 12 that existed at that time. Et cetera.

Put another way, based on your 'hunter requirements only' logic you're surprised that monsters like hags, spectres, and vampires aren't already in a MM. Looking at their relative scarcity for 'slayer' requirements, I am not.

 

[PurpleSerpent]

Sure, but if we're going by outliers then your logic about how many types of each creature exist (for 'hunter' rewards) wouldn't apply either.

Warforged Titan was added when there were only six of them in the game. When Living Spell was added, there was a hunter requirement for all 12 that existed at that time. Et cetera.

Put another way, based on your 'hunter requirements only' logic you're surprised that monsters like hags, spectres, and vampires aren't already in a MM. Looking at their relative scarcity for 'slayer' requirements, I am not.

The thing is, scarcity for slayer requirements hasn't historically been much of a consideration. Mariliths and Glabrezu are already in the manual, and those spawn on a one-per-quest basis. Gnomes, Rakshasa, Liches and Clay Golems have entries too, many of them with pretty big slayer requirements, and those are also pretty difficult to find in large numbers.

Meanwhile, Spectres appear throughout Necropolis Part 2 and around Inferno of the Damned, Vampires are all over the Vol part of Orchard of the Macabre, and even Hags are reasonably common in Wheloon Prison and Barovia. As for Lizardfolk and Slaad, those are all over the place in several quests each - they even share a location in Search and Rescue. In fact I can only think of two races in my "most likely" list - Bebiliths and Pit Fiends - which are on par for difficulty with Gnomes and soforth, and even those have at least one location in which multiples appear.

 

[Dandonk]

I love MM.

Or, I would if mine wasn't bugged and I'm unable to get most of the account rewards. Sad Dan.

 

[Muggins]

Speaking of new Monster Manual additions, I wouldn't mind seeing :
a) Unlocked Pets of
Will o'wisp, Sea Lion, Displacer Beast, Pixie and Salamander
b) Unlocked HP for
Bebilith, Djinn, Frost Giant, Marut, Medusa, Shield Guardian, Slaad and Umber Hulk
c) final reward being DDO Points instead of Remnants

 

[Mystra]

does the MM reset with each TR?

 

[Dandonk]

does the MM reset with each TR?

The character deeds do. This enables you to earn the xp afresh each life, which is nice.

The account deeds do not reset. Which is good, enables you to climb toward those HP view unlocks and so on, even while on the TR train.

(Unless you transfer servers, that is, then it's up to whatever deities you believe in whether you can ever get those unlocks)

 

[Mystra]

I would like cosmetic rewards for MM completion. Particularly like if I kill a bunch of dragons I want a cloak made out of the head and wings of a dragon or if I kill a ton of beholders I want to wear it's eyeball as giant gold chain necklace.

 

[Smokewolf]

Would be nice if there was an actual point to completing monster manuals. Like being able to pierce resistance, do more damage, or bonuses to evading their attacks.

 

[Elves United]

If they follow the pattern the next monster manual update will have:

1 or 2 large population ones
a few medium population ones
1 or 2 low population ones

The reason being that the large ones probably require a lot more work.

 

[Cheeps]

Hop Giant race is missing because the dev's killed that race?

I guess they have their own monster manual for their kills...

 

[Synalon]

If they keep adding to the monster manual, I hope they can fix the bug with it not resetting on server transfer