 Cover | |
| Genre | Role-playing game |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Wizards of the Coast |
Publication date | 29 May 2018 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 256 |
| ISBN | 978-0-7869-6624-0 |
Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes is a sourcebook for the 5th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, published in 2018. It is, in part, a supplement to the 5th edition Monster Manual and the Players Handbook . [1] [2]
This book adds a variety of new playable races and expands on existing creatures in the Monster Manual in addition to adding many new ones. The book also contains marginalia by Mordenkainen, a wizard originally created by Gary Gygax for his World of Greyhawk campaign. [1] [2] The book expands on existing setting and background information for the main setting of the game. [3]
In February 2018, Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes was announced. [5] From May 7, 2018 to May 18, 2018, Wizards of the Coast released two podcasts a day to support the launch. [6] An exclusive edition with alternate cover art by Vance Kelly was released early to select game shops on May 18, 2018. The book was published on May 29, 2018. [4] [5] The book was also released as a digital product through the following Wizards of the Coast licensees: D&D Beyond, Fantasy Grounds, and Roll20. [4]
The Oblex, one of the monsters in this book, was conceived by Make-A-Wish recipient Nolan Whale during his day at Wizards of the Coast. [7] SyFy Wire in 2018 called it one of "The 9 Scariest, Most Unforgettable Monsters From Dungeons & Dragons", saying that "Eaten by an ooze that can then use your memory and form to trick and lure others in? That’s the stuff of horrors — and the stuff of an epic adventure. If you weren't paranoid about other characters before, you should be now!" [8]
The digital edition on D&D Beyond was delisted on May 17, 2022 which corresponds with the digital release of Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse (2022). Monsters of the Multiverse contains revised versions of the player races and monsters originally published in Volo's Guide to Monsters (2016) and Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. [9] [10] In May 2022, D&D Beyond stated that users will retain access to previously purchased copies of Volo's Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. [11] Christian Hoffer, for ComicBook.com in May 2022, commented that "one major concern about the delisting is access to the chapters of lores contained in Volo's Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. Both books contained dozens of pages of lore about the D&D multiverse that don't appear in Monsters of the Multiverse. [...] D&D Beyond has not said whether the various expanded lore chapters will be available to D&D Beyond players moving forward, or if they'll be delisted and essentially removed from access by new players moving forward. Of course, D&D players can still read the lore in Volo's Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes by purchasing physical copies of the books, which will still be available even after Monsters of the Multiverse is released next week". [9]
Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes won the 2019 Origins Award for best "Role-Playing Game Supplement". [12] [13]
Bleeding Cool gave a positive review, appreciating the addition of sub-races to Tieflings and details on conflict within Elf and Gith society, also allowing Gith PCs to become a viable option. [14]
Rpg.net gave a rating of 83% with a positive response to the tone captured in the book and the planar background and resources which it gives to DMs. The score was lowered due to the lack of a PDF version that didn't rely on a third-party app, and for reusing verbatim much material from previous editions. [15]
Cameron Kunzelman, for Paste , wrote that "on one hand, I don’t think that Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes is a bad sourcebook for D&D. It has lots of great information about the different playable species of the game, their pantheons of good and evil gods, and solid explanations for how those gods impact the long and short term lives of those species. [...] Asmodeus, the lead devil of the cosmology, is delightfully Satanic, and even reading through the book I was trying to figure out how to fit him into the campaign that I am currently running without disrupting the flow and feeling of the world that I am working in. And that, for me, is the other hand: Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes feels like a book you need to build your campaign around. The two previous sourcebooks of its type, Xanathar's Guide to Everything and Volo's Guide to Monsters , are both books that I use constantly as a Dungeon Master. The former is a rules expansion and clarification that helps to build out the interactions of any campaign, and the latter is a book of monsters that any party could come upon during any given romp through the world. They are books that are grounded in the dusty roads and dirty swords of fantasy tabletop campaigns, and they slot easily into the workflow that I have to make those kinds of adventures feel good. Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes doesn’t work that way. It starts at a very high level of the D&D cosmology, and it feels harder to borrow from or augment than other D&D source books". [16]
Rob Hudak, for SLUG Magazine, wrote that "Tome of Foes has little mechanical application for most players outside of the additional playable races, save for probably the most important facet in all role-playing games—inspiration.[...] Tome of Foes may have the pages you need to conjure richly imagined facets for both playable characters and narrative threads alike, and I think it’s in that latter category where this book offers the greatest value. From the position as a dungeon master, Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes is a must-buy. There are a couple sections of the bestiary that feel slightly recycled, namely the demon and devil lord stat blocks. The adventure Out of the Abyss has a dedicated segment specifically for these unholy rulers and their context in this region, but that’s ultimately a negligible detail when you consider the immense top-level detailed contribution to the unremitting conflict between them. I vastly prefer the direction and focus 5E took with its supplementary books by dressing them in a vibrant tapestry built on decades of D&D history. When flipping through dozens of new monstrosities on display, I become giddy with anticipation for the countless opportunities to terrify and captivate my players". [17]
In a review of Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes in Black Gate , Howard Andrew Jones said "This one gets two thumbs way up from me. Referring to my review of Xanathar's Guide earlier this year, I see that I gave it a 9.5, docking it only because I thought it wasted space on a mostly useless appendix. I don’t think the Tome can be knocked for anything at all, so that means it gets a whopping 10. Wow." [18]
The drow or dark elves are a dark-skinned and white-haired subrace of elves connected to the subterranean Underdark in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game. The drow have traditionally been portrayed as generally evil and connected to the evil spider goddess Lolth. However, later editions of Dungeons & Dragons have moved away from this portrayal and preassigned alignment. More recent publications have explored drow societies unconnected to Lolth.
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, illithids are monstrous humanoid aberrations with psionic powers. In a typical Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting, they live in the moist caverns and cities of the enormous Underdark. Illithids believe themselves to be the dominant species of the multiverse and use other intelligent creatures as thralls, slaves, and chattel. Illithids are well known for making thralls out of other intelligent creatures, as well as feasting on their brains.
D&D Adventurers League is the organized play association for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) roleplaying game which is officially administered by D&D's publisher, Wizards of the Coast. It was rebranded with the launch of D&D's 5th Edition in 2014. Prior to 2014, it was known as the Role Playing Game Association Network. The organization was originally established by D&D's previous publisher, TSR, Inc., in 1980.
Several different editions of the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game have been produced since 1974. The current publisher of D&D, Wizards of the Coast, produces new materials only for the most current edition of the game. However, many D&D fans continue to play older versions of the game and some third-party companies continue to publish materials compatible with these older editions.
Kenku(pronounced keng-KOO or KENK-oo) are a fictional race of bird-like humanoid creatures in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game. They have appeared in multiple editions in the game's history and became an official playable race in Volo's Guide to Monsters. They are loosely based on tengu, spiritual beings in Japanese mythology, and are most recognizable for their lack of a voice; instead of speaking themselves, they use their gift of mimicry to communicate. Jeremy Crawford, lead rules designer of the Dungeons & Dragons game, says "[they] can cleverly piece together voices and sounds they've heard to communicate".
Mordenkainen is a fictional wizard from the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. He was created by Gary Gygax as a player character, only months after the start of Gygax's Greyhawk campaign and is therefore one of the oldest characters continuously associated with Dungeons & Dragons.
A dwarf, in the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy roleplaying game, is a humanoid race, one of the primary races available for player characters. The idea for the D&D dwarf comes from the dwarves of European mythologies and J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955), and has been used in D&D and its predecessor Chainmail since the early 1970s. Variations from the standard dwarf archetype of a short and stout demihuman are commonly called subraces, of which there are more than a dozen across many different rule sets and campaign settings.
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the centaur is a large monstrous humanoid. Based upon the centaurs of Greek myth, a centaur in the game resembles a human with the lower body of a horse.
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the term monster refers to a variety of creatures, some adapted from folklore and legends and others invented specifically for the game. Included are traditional monsters such as dragons, supernatural creatures such as ghosts, and mundane or fantastic animals. A defining feature of the game is that monsters are typically obstacles that players must overcome to progress through the game. Beginning with the first edition in 1974, a catalog of game monsters (bestiary) was included along with other game manuals, first called Monsters & Treasure and now called the Monster Manual. As an essential part of Dungeons & Dragons, many of its monsters have become iconic and recognizable even outside D&D, becoming influential in video games, fiction, and popular culture.
Volo's Guide to Monsters is a sourcebook for the 5th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, published in 2016. It is, in part, a supplement to the 5th edition Monster Manual and the Players Handbook.
D&D Beyond (DDB) is the official digital toolset and game companion for Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition. DDB hosts online versions of the official Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition books, including rulebooks, adventures, and other supplements; it also provides digital tools like a character builder and digital character sheet, monster and spell listings that can be sorted and filtered, an encounter builder, and an interactive overlay Twitch Extension. In addition to the official D&D content available to purchase, it also provides the ability to create and add custom homebrew content.
Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage is an adventure module for the 5th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It is the second part of the Waterdeep storyline and follows the first adventure, Waterdeep: Dragon Heist.
Xanathar's Guide to Everything is a sourcebook published in 2017 for the 5th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It acts as a supplement to the 5th edition Dungeon Master's Guide and the Player's Handbook.
Eberron: Rising from the Last War is a sourcebook that details the Eberron campaign setting for the 5th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Jeremy Crawford, co-lead designer of the book, said the book "is the size of one of the core rule books of the game, it is jam packed".
In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Corellon Larethian is the leader of the elven pantheon, and the deity of Magic, Music, Arts, Crafts, Poetry, and Warfare. Corellon is also considered a member of the default D&D pantheon. Corellon is the creator and preserver of the elven race, and governs those things held in the highest esteem among elves. Corellon's symbol was originally a crescent moon; in the 4th edition Corellon's symbol is a silver star on a blue field.
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons is sourcebook that focuses on dragons in the 5th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game and was published October 26, 2021. The book adds a variety of draconic themed options for both players and Dungeon Masters.
Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse is a sourcebook for the 5th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, originally published as part of a box set in January 2022. It was published as a standalone edition in May 2022. The book is a supplement to the 5th edition Monster Manual (2014) and Player's Handbook (2014). It is also a replacement book for two older supplements – Volo's Guide to Monsters (2016) and Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes (2018).