D&D: ‘Planescape’ 5E – Morte’s Planar Parade, Take a Look at More Than 50 New Monsters
Today we delve through the Planescape monster book, Morte’s Planar Parade–and it’s packed full of plane-hopping mayhem.
Now that Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse has hit stores, we’re taking a look through each of the three books included in the boxed set. Yesterday was Sigil and the Outlands, which covered the setting (all too briefly). Today we’re looking at the setting’s monster manual, Morte’s Planar Parade.
This book introduces 54 new monsters, assuming that you count each separate stat block as an individual monster. Which is the easiest way to do it. But just know that some of those monsters are, for instance, Ancient Time Dragon or Wyrmling Time Dragon. But all in all, the monsters reflect some of the more cosmic/planar aspects of D&D.
Old favorites return. 3.X fans will doubtless be delighted to see the return of Hound and Lantern Archons. These were a favorite staple for planar allies. Also included in the 54 are a number of humanoid NPCs, representing agents of Sigil’s various factions.
And by and large, in the new book, we can not only get a sense of Planescape, but the future of D&D. At least for the next little while. Because in the monster design, we see the evolution of 5E. As we approach 2024 and the release of new corebooks, the monster design has been steadily shifting.
You might have seen this in books like Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse. The refinement of those design philosophies continues. These monster stat blocks reflect the changing nature of D&D’s core rules. We’ve talked about how Legendary Actions seem to be phased out. And alongside this, creatures seem to have more actions in general.
Morte’s Planar Parade
Immediately out of the gate, there are several exciting things to dig into. One of the things that has been sorely lacking in 5th Edition are tools for adjusting your monsters. Sure, you can always homebrew it. But where 3rd and 4th Editions had various templates or other modular things you could add on to tweak monsters, 5E has been pretty lacking in that department.
The closest thing out there, prior to this book, has been the demonic cultist rules. But the Planar Influences rules are a breath of fresh air for DMs looking to shake up things in the monster department. You’ll find a list of 16 different Outer Planes, each with 2-3 different traits you can just add to a monster for a new flavor.
And by and large, they give monsters interesting options in combat. Some are fairly passive, like Entropy of the Abyss which lets a creature that deals bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage to necrotic damage instead. But even that’s pretty good. Others are a little more active, like Ysgardian Stand, which lets a creature stand up without moving.
They aren’t the full-on “half-dragon/half-celestial/half-fiend” style nonsense that made 3.X a grueling amount of work. But it’s nice to have tools to play with that let you make the setting your own. This is something that’s honestly missing from the setting book. There aren’t rules for generating your own Ward of Sigil. Or rules for putting together Outlands regions. And the setting book definitely feels lesser for it. Especially since books like Mythic Odysseys of Theros show you can do a lot with just a couple of pages. That’s all it takes for the “make your own fantasy island” engine that can fuel a campaign.
But, this book has fun tools. On to the monsters!
Morte’s Monsters
This book is full of iconic Planescape monsters, which is very fun. It’s definitely a little fan service-y, but I’m not complaining. It’s just harder to shake off the nostalgia filter. Morte’s Planar Parade gets to play in the cosmic playground. There are lots of demons and devils and celestials and weirder things besides. All of the monsters are “typically” from other planes, and that lets them get weird. At every tier of play.
Which is very fun. Take the Darkweaver, a CR 10 monster that embodies the darkness of the Shadowfell.
And boy does it get some fun tools to play with. Its shadowy form means that a Darkweaver wants to be in darkness or dim light (where all attack rolls will have disadvantage, even if you have darkvision, meaning a Darkweaver in darkness is immune to Sneak Attacks). And that’s just one of its traits.
It can web multiple creatures into a grapple. It can pull them in and bite them. And then skitter off while its targets struggle against the grappled condition. All very fun stuff.
You’ll find a cavalcade of creatures big and small here. From Demodands (for you old school D&D fans), to the adorable Sunflies…
…to the Planar Incarnate, which is a primal embodiment of one of the Upper or Lower planes. They’re surprisingly challenging, though still within reach of characters in the higher levels of play.
And that’s Morte’s Planar Parade. Check back tomorrow for the adventure: Turn of the Fortune’s Wheel!
