Dungeons & Dragons Brings Back Monstrous Compendium Series, Free for All Players
Dungeons & Dragons is bringing back its Monstrous Compendium series as a free online supplement. Yesterday, Wizards of the Coast announced Monstrous Compendium Volume One: Spelljammer Creatures, a new online supplement containing 10 monsters from the Spelljammer campaign setting. The Monstrous Compendium contains a mix of low and high CR monsters, including the fearsome eldritch lich, the robotic clockwork horror, and the annoying goon balloon. Interestingly, these ten monsters are unique to the Monstrous Compendium and won't appear in the upcoming Spelljammer: Adventures in Space boxed set, which will be released later this year.
Several of the new monsters have appeared in previous editions of Dungeons & Dragons. For instance, the clockwork horror is a creature that first appeared in the original Spelljammer setting, as did the fractine, a strange construct that resembles a 2D mirror and has the ability to suck creatures into a pocket dimension in a manner not dissimilar to the Phantom Zone's depiction in Superman 2. Other monsters are older D&D monsters that originally appeared in other D&D campaign settings, such as the Nightmare Beast that originally appeared in Dark Sun material. Other creatures, such as the Yggdrasti, appear to be brand new to D&D.
The Monstrous Compendium series was originally published by TSR Inc. for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Second Edition as an accessory that contained loose-leaf papers, each of which contained stats and descriptions for various D&D monsters. The first Monstrous Compendium contained a binder that players could put their Monstrous Compendium papers inside, with room for additional Monstrous Compendium sheets. The Monstrous Compendium served as a replacement of sorts for the Monster Manual and other bestiary books, although several compendiums were eventually combined for a single Monstrous Manual volume. The original Monstrous Compendium series did contain a Spelljammer volume, featuring dozens of different D&D monsters.
As its name suggests, Monstrous Compendium Volume One: Spelljammer Creatures is the first in a planned series of new Monstrous Compendium supplements, all of which will be available for free on D&D Beyond. In order to access the Monstrous Compendium monsters, players will just need a D&D Beyond account.
All ten monsters will be available for free on D&D Beyond, a digital free-to-use toolset recently purchased by Wizards of the Coast earlier this year.