Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes is the latest book for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. It’s named after the Wizard Mordenkainen, a character who was created and played by D&D creator Gary Gygax, He has such go on to become a major character within the DnD lore. You may have also heard of him through the many spells named after him in earlier editions.
The vast majority of the book details additional information about the D&D lore, specifically the lore behind the vast war that has been waging between the archons and devils, Elves, Dwarves and much more.
Like with the previous two releases, Mordenkainen offers commentary throughout the book in the form of side notes. However, compared to Volo and Xanathar’s notes, I found them pretty boring and some of them were very hard to read, as in the font they chose to you use to make it like handwriting, which I get why they did, was super hard to read.
The Book
Chapter 1: The Blood War
This was by far my most favorite chapter of the book, in fact, I’ll be honest and say I read this chapter twice in a row, yes folks it’s that good! This breaks down the Blood War between the devils of the Nine Hells and the demons of the Abyss. This chapter is all about the lore and there is a TON presented here, talking about how the two evil planes of existence operate, how the devilish and demonic pecking orders function, the actual environment of both planes, and Mordenkainen’s theory of the Balance that keeps the multiverse from being devoured by one or the other
There is a ton of new character options here for the player looking for a change, 8 new Tiefling subraces, 9 Infernal Cults, and 7 Demonic Boons.
Chapter 2: Elves
This is another lore section, that breaks down everyone favorite, or not race the Elf.
They break down the many aspects of elves, their creation from the blood of Corellon, their relationships with him and the other various members of their pantheon, the descent from those initial primal elves to the various types of elves in the modern era, the elven life cycle. Several varieties of elves, their societies, and their environs receive special attention, such as the Eladrin and the Feywild, the Drow, and the Shadar-Kai and the Shadowfell.
Players will get a few new options here, three elven subraces from Unearthed Arcana return. First are the Eladrin, elves of the Feywild who shift with the seasons.
The Sea Elf and Shadar-Kai both made it from the Elf Subraces article.
Chapter 3: Dwarves and Duergar
This all about the dwarves in all their varieties, including their dark cousins known as duergar. This chapter focuses a lot on dwarven society, such as the clan, the stronghold, the values. There are player options here as well
Chapter 4: Gith and Their Endless War
Another great lore chapter here as well, it’s The story of the Gith slaves to the mind flayers, the gith eventually revolted and freed themselves, but split along ideological lines to become the Githyanki and the Githzerai. Player options are presented for those wanting to play either one.
Chapter 5: Halflings and Gnomes
The shall we say “Short of stature” races get a section, The halfling section focuses a lot on what makes a halfling the typical personalities and ways of looking at the world, their superstitions, their penchant for stories, and their somewhat insular communities.
The gnome section lays out deities, including the home of the gnomish pantheon in Bytopia’s Golden Hills, and what drives gnomes to the adventuring life. The primary focus of their section is the different subraces,
Chapter 6: Bestiary
This is for the DM that want’s new monsters to unleash many new foes for their players, and what good DM does not want that! With 140 new monsters, there should be plenty of choices here.
This makes up the bulk of the book, which is not a bad thing at all, (142 of its 256 pages) The majority of the monsters within follow the theme of Mordenkainen being a multiplanar traveler: fiends of the Abyss and the Nine Hells, creatures of the Feywild and Shadowfell, beings from the various Elemental Planes, spawn from beyond the stars, and others of the like feature heavily. There is enough here that will give the DM options, from a CR 1/8 all the way up to CR 26. If you even want to throw Orcus at your party, he’s here in all his glory. A word of a caveat here though, More than half the monsters are CR 10 to 26, making the book a lot more useful for campaigns in their mid to late stages. Less than 10 monsters are CR 1 or lower. So if you find yourself with a mid to high-level campaign, and need some foes you are well covered here. Oh, and if you a big fan of Stranger Things, we have full stats presented for the one and only Demogorgon!
Final Thoughts
Artwork
Once again, I must give some kudos to the art team at WOTC, they chose some amazing art and it shows all throughout the book.
A note here there is a “limited” edition cover on this book as well as there has been on the past few, I’m not big into this gimmick, and yes I think it’s a gimmick, but this one is amazing, it pops and just draws you in, not saying the “Normal” edition cover is not good, but the limited it wonderful.
I touched on it above, but my biggest nitpick is the notes from Mr. Mordenkainen himself, the cursive they used for this handwriting, was crazy hard to read, the rest of the book was easy and clear, but the side-notes from him not so much.
So, should you pick up this book? If you’re a DM I would say I think it’s essential. Yes, this is a MUST HAVE book, with so much lore, and monsters in here, this is a one of those tomes, (See what I did there) that you must have on your shelf. It’s a healthy mix of knowledge and materials that both players and Dungeon Masters need, and will enjoy.
Mordenkainen’s Tome Of Foes, can be found at your FLGS, Amazon or other online outlets, also can be found on Roll 20, and Fantasy Grounds.
A big thanks to WOTC for providing the review copy of Mordenkainen Tome Of Foes for this review, this as always had no effect on the outcome of the review.
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