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DM Options: Monster Talents (5E)

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The Fantasy Grounds version can be found here.

"This product is bar none, one of my favorite non-adventure supplements. This is a must have 5 star product!" - CritAcademy

"A definite boon for dungeon masters who are tired of players always predicting what monsters are capable of." - AndrewR

"... the final verdict is that Monster Talents is an exemplary product...  and if you are a DM who wants to improve your monsters, I cannot reccomend this book enough. I award it five stars!" Njål R. M.

"This is an astonishing supplement and a fantastic sourcebook to spice up your encounters, totally recommend it for the value it provides in comparisson to its price! 5/5!" -  Libedrator E.

"Excellent work, and well worth the price tag. I'll definitely be looking at this every week while prepping games! This worked great as a stand alone DM creature resource." -   James M.

"The extra firepower and variety in abilities is a welcome addition for those interested in giving their players extra challenges regardless of level."  Lawrence M


DM Options: Monster Talents is the stand-alone follow up to the best selling Character Options: Talents and Character Options: Talents II.

It contains over 150 pages of detailed talents to spice up your monsters and make your encounters more challenging, fresh, and unpredictable!  In addition, it also has a player section for the six new character races presented in Volo's Guide to Monsters! Finally, it includes a new creature template: the Elite Monster!

  • Chapter 1. Talents for the creatures from the Monster Manual.

  • Chapter 2. Talents for the miscellaneous creatures.

  • Chapter 3. Talents for the Character Races from Volo's Guide.


Nerd Immersion's Featurette: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeoMEinJ5W8&feature=youtu.be


About this Book

DM Options: Monster Talents is the third book about the Talents concept. The first two books, Character Options: Talents and Character Options: Talents II, have both been successful and made a huge impact to a lot of players' gaming experience. However, it did have balance issues that a DM had to address. And this book will finally help the DM do that. This time, the talents are not for the players (well. almost... see Chapter 3). This time, it's the DM who gets to have the fun choosing and playing around with feat-like options for monsters. 

This book covers the creatures from the Monster Manual book,  providing several talents to choose from for each critter, depending on their CR. The higher the creature's CR, the more talents they can have and the bigger their selection. As a result, you'll have plenty of options to make the tired and typical encounters your players have gone accustomed to dealing with suddenly fresh and exciting. With talents like the stirge's insidious Anesthetic Bite, the beholder's obnoxious Redirect Central Eye, the balor's destructive  Meteor Strike, the tarrasque's terrifying Disintegration Breath, and the truly horrifying rage-quit inducing Potent Antennae of the rust Monster to arm your monsters with, you'll have a delightful time tormenting and shocking your players. 

If you didn't purchase the Character Options: Talents books, don't fret. DM Options: Monster Talents can still provide you with dozens of ideas on how to create or customize your own monsters. With over 150 pages  of talents, you'll find a lot you can use here! Enjoy!


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Reviews (12)
Discussions (27)
Customer avatar
Sebastien D April 20, 2024 1:26 am UTC
will you be releasing a roll20 version of this?
Customer avatar
Charles G December 07, 2022 11:52 pm UTC
So this is getting the 2nd Edition combined publication, will there be something similar for the Player Talents books with the new content released by WotC in mind?
Customer avatar
Michael H August 21, 2022 8:45 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Just noticed the pic of the new cover… so there will be a 2nd ed, just like for the MMEs, looking forward to that.

Gotta say, the support you give your older products is outstanding.
Reply
Customer avatar
Dragonix B December 10, 2022 12:44 am UTC
CREATOR
Thank you, Michael! Sorry for the late response. Been very busy.
Reply
Customer avatar
Michael H August 30, 2023 12:26 am UTC
PURCHASER
How is the update coming along? I noticed the picture of the front page has disappeared, is this still coming?
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Customer avatar
Dragonix B August 31, 2023 10:33 am UTC
CREATOR
Hi, Michael. I was planning to, but after the announcement of the update/overhaul WoTC plans to do with the official books, I'm holding off on any update until that release. It won't make sense for me to update and then have to change them again. As for the cover, I've decided not to do that anymore and save it for a different or new book instead.

Have you checked out Dragonix's Deadly Denizens yet? I created a lot of new abilities and features for the creatures in there. It's available in DTRPG.
Reply
Customer avatar
Michael H September 01, 2023 10:27 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Thanks for your fast reply. Yes, I have all your monster books (MME 1 to 3 and DDD 1), they are my favorite third party series. Looking forward to the next installments in both (hopefully both in 2024) ;)
Customer avatar
Sebastien D July 27, 2022 6:01 pm UTC
when will this series go into print. its easy to use and a great combination with monster manual expanded series.
Reply
Customer avatar
Dragonix B July 27, 2022 8:59 pm UTC
CREATOR
I can't give you an exact date or period yet but I can say that it will eventually have a printed version and will come out next year.
Customer avatar
Tim S November 24, 2021 8:40 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hi, I was looking for a way to spice things up, but sadly the elite monster template seems to be missing...
Otherwise this book, as well as the other books from the talent series are amazing!
Customer avatar
Jason M March 21, 2021 6:04 am UTC
PURCHASER
I have a question does Numbing Breath become overwritten by Freezing Breath or do the effects stack with one another?
Reply
Customer avatar
Dragonix B March 22, 2021 11:08 am UTC
CREATOR
It gets overwritten by Freezing Breath, which incapacitates the target instead of just slowing it.

Also, there's a missing sentence there before the escape DC sentence. It should read "The creature can make a Constitution
saving throw. The DC is equal to 8 plus the dragon's Constitution modifier plus its proficiency bonus (see MM page 8) at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success."
Customer avatar
John H March 17, 2021 4:15 am UTC
PURCHASER
I really like these but it would be really nice to have an index of sorts similar to the Making a Monster section in the DMG Page 280. It would be easier to sort through them that way I think. Mainly because I will definitely move talents to other creature types.

Thanks!
Reply
Customer avatar
Dragonix B March 22, 2021 11:17 am UTC
CREATOR
That was the original plan, but later on, I realized that most talents couldn't be applied to other creatures because they were very specific. Another reason was that because the talents are not tied to any specific statblock, the DC calculations, damage, etc. can't be precalculated, and thus would put too much work on the DM. I didn't want to do that because that would nullifies the point of the book (make the life of the DM easier when modifying existing creatures). But yeah, you're right. I hope the existing format doesn't discourage you from applying talents to other creature types.
Customer avatar
Ryan S November 28, 2020 11:47 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Any plans for a POD version? I'd love to have a book to use at the table.
Reply
Customer avatar
Dragonix B November 29, 2020 6:57 pm UTC
CREATOR
I would love to, but DM's Guild is the only one that can decide whether a book can be available in PoD format. You can always try to email DM's Guild and request for PoD versions of the Talents books.
Customer avatar
Dragonix B October 02, 2020 12:09 am UTC
CREATOR
v.108 has been released
- various minor fixes, wording corrections, and layout improvements
Customer avatar
Caleb B October 01, 2020 8:13 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I love this supplement! However, I was looking to level up a Night Hag in my campaign and noticed that their talent "Inate Spellcaster" gives them the option to cast Magic Missile 3 times a day. The Night Hag can cast Magic Missile at will, so that part of the talent is redundant.
Reply
Customer avatar
Dragonix B October 01, 2020 9:38 pm UTC
CREATOR
Thanks Caleb! I'll check this and update it soon! Thanks for letting me know!
Customer avatar
David S July 23, 2020 8:10 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hm... I just bought this product and downloaded the PDF (version: DM_Options_Monster_Talents_v1.07.pdf). But this one doesn't have a Chapter 4: Elite Creatures as the description tells me. Is there a way to download an old aka wrong version? I see only one...

EDIT 1: BTW Check back on the minotaur. The first line after the correct title says "mind flayer"...

EDIT 2: BTW Check back on the troglodyte. The first talent mentions slaad instead of trog...
Reply
Customer avatar
Dragonix B July 23, 2020 11:55 pm UTC
CREATOR
Hi David. Thanks, I'll be fixing these in the next update. I've since removed the Elite Creatures as they have become obsolete. Please see the Monster Manual Expanded products.
Reply
Customer avatar
David S July 24, 2020 7:29 am UTC
PURCHASER
Hi Dragonix. This is very sad to read. The Elite Creatures were one reason I bought this product. In which regard have they become obsolete?
Reply
Customer avatar
Dragonix B July 24, 2020 7:32 am UTC
CREATOR
Obsolete in a way that the template I used to create them with does not look as good as the ones I've done in the latest MME books. If you can wait a few days, I will include the old elite section as a separate pdf and upload it here. That way you still get the old version section with the elite creatures.
Reply
Customer avatar
David S July 24, 2020 7:41 am UTC
PURCHASER
This would be nice! But why don't you publish one ruleset for Elite Creatures in all of your products?
I totally understand you want to sell them MME books though.
Reply
Customer avatar
Michael H March 13, 2022 4:49 am UTC
PURCHASER
You fixed the Troglodyte but not the Minotaur.

As to Elite Creatures being obsolete, not sure I agree. The MME has some Elites but no template for how to create them. As the template was used with / intended for the talents in this book, it still should be included imo.
What happened to the separate PDF you mentioned on 7/24/2020 ?
Reply
Customer avatar
Dragonix B March 15, 2022 4:46 pm UTC
CREATOR
Yes, sorry about that. I totally forgot due to the release of MME3 and the 2nd edition updates. I'll work on this as soon as I finish the 2nd edition update for MME1. I should have an update for Monster Talents 1 by early May and will include at least the Elite template.
Reply
Customer avatar
Michael H May 26, 2022 1:46 am UTC
PURCHASER
By now you not only made the 2nd update for MME1, but also the third and final update, so time to update this one ;)
Reply
Customer avatar
Dragonix B May 26, 2022 1:53 am UTC
CREATOR
I actually am working on it, but it will take time (several months) but I promise it will come out this year. Please be patient. I've decided to rewrite the texts to read like a typical stat block feature. And the Elite Creature template will be included.
Reply
Customer avatar
Dragonix B May 26, 2022 3:39 am UTC
CREATOR
Also, in the meantime, if you are looking for other creatures, perhaps you'd like to check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/dm_dragonix.
Reply
Customer avatar
Michael H May 26, 2022 4:31 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I was only saying ‘now’ because your previous conditions were met and you said you would have it available in early May.

If you are doing a larger rework, take your time. This was just intended as a reminder.
Customer avatar
Chris K July 07, 2020 6:23 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Im a buyer of a few of Dragonix products - all are well worth the money and I will soon be adding the rest to my collection Highly recommended!
Customer avatar
Dragonix B June 02, 2020 5:07 pm UTC
CREATOR
v1.07 uploaded
- Fixed balance issue with Extra Legendary Action (now counts as 2 talents)
- Minor aesthetic improvements
Reply
Customer avatar
Dragonix B June 02, 2020 5:41 pm UTC
CREATOR
- fixed balanced issue with Legendary Actions (now counts as 4 talents)
Customer avatar
Robert H May 15, 2020 10:50 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I wrote a review, but I also wanted to post more here after watching a video by Matt Colville about designing villain actions which is basically what this book is for monsters. I'm definitely going to be using these to make the finale to my 20 year long campaign more epic when the demons the party will be encountering will have powers, actions, and reactions that the player's characters haven't run into before. This on top of my recent purchase of the book "The Monsters Know What They're Doing" by Keith Ammann (a book that breaks down the round by round tactics of each monster in the Monster Manual) should give my finale encounters some real depth for the players to dig deep and work together to tactically survive the final fight with the big bad evil demon and its minions. Until I purchased this product I wasn't very excited about running these final encounters, now I feel that my campaign will have the big ending I've been looking for.
Reply
Customer avatar
Dragonix B June 02, 2020 4:58 pm UTC
CREATOR
The sounds awesome Robert! I'm glad you found this book useful! Good luck on your end game!
Reply
Customer avatar
Dragonix B October 03, 2020 8:33 pm UTC
CREATOR
Monster Talents II is now out! You can grab it here: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/330630?affiliate_id=1138250
Customer avatar
Just D May 05, 2020 6:54 pm UTC
I had a question regarding your monster manual expanded series in combination with this one. How would you go about giving creatures in those series talents, would you use the same method but just give them talents of their general category?
So, you would give the Ankheg brood Queen talents from the Ankheg section?
Reply
Customer avatar
Dragonix B May 05, 2020 7:08 pm UTC
CREATOR
Hi Just D. Yes, that's how you would do it but be mindful of the creature's new CR so you know how many talents you're supposed to give it. Monster Talents was designed before the Expanded series, and was originally for just the Monster Manual. That's why you'll notice that some of the talents are already incorporated into the creatures. So for the Ankheg Brood Queen, it has a CR of 8 which means you can give it 3 talents. You'll notice that it already has Rising Burst so you'll have to use the remaining three available (hardened carapace, a spiked carapace, and vitriolic acid spray).

In some cases, the new creature has too high a CR that you won't have enough talents. You'll have to improvise and create your own, or just borrow from a similar creature. Hope that helps.
Customer avatar
DANIEL I February 26, 2020 11:38 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Are there any plans to create a Monster Talents 2 which would include creatures from Volo's and Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes? I've found this invaluable and it's a shame it doesn't cover all the monster currently available.
Reply
Customer avatar
Dragonix B March 13, 2020 11:18 am UTC
CREATOR
Hi Daniel. Sorry for the late response. No plans yet for Monster Talents 2 but it's not off the table. Just not in the immediate future.
Reply
Customer avatar
Avery O June 01, 2020 5:29 am UTC
PURCHASER
I really hope that you make a Volume 2 with Volo's/Mordekainen's monsters
Reply
Customer avatar
Dragonix B June 02, 2020 5:08 pm UTC
CREATOR
Wish granted. :)
Reply
Customer avatar
Dragonix B October 03, 2020 8:29 pm UTC
CREATOR
Monster Talents II is now out! You can grab it here: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/330630?affiliate_id=1138250
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This title was added to our catalog on May 28, 2018.