I really hate how WotC hide behind "giving the DM creative freedom" as an excuse to be lazy. Nothing was stopping us from homebrewing before. But now, we *have* to homebrew because the official creators of the game refuse to put in more than the bare minimum effort.

"Here, have some prone condition" is actually a pretty funny taunt to say to someone you're about to knock down.

Book: you has prone condition. Scroodge Mcduck: Bah!

Some of these could have been beasts but they didn’t want Druids to wildshape into them because that would be to fun

So a small note, while doing research for the book bigby was accidentally crushed and while there wasn’t a cleric with revivify around there was a Druid with reincarnation available that’s why he’s a gnome now. It’s not a retcon it’s a small advancement in a classic character’s story that makes some sense.

With this book, the war between Rock & Roll Fantasy and Cocomelon Fantasy rages on.

The Dinosures make my monky brain light up. I like that the Giant Ox is blue.

The wording change comes from OneDnD, where everything is worded this way. "Gains X condition" instead of "target is X". I suppose GotG is a transition-phase book for them, so they already switched. I expect more of this new terminology in all future releases. Same for the new planescape book.

I'm not gonna lie, if I found out a tick the size of a boar existed in our world, I think I would just end it right then and there because this would not be a world I want to live in.

Long time subscriber here. I LOVE your videos, Esper! They provided me a lot of entertainment and inspiration over the years. Listing to your monster rankings is truly a joy and a comfort. Hope you keep making videos, and your adventures are many!

please never stop being mad about the new stupid corporate wording 👍

When you started the frostmourn segment, my initial thought was that it would be an undead frost giant who died from despair, suicide, or some similar tragedy. That gave me a really cool idea for a unique undead creature, more of an NPC than a monster. It would be some form of spirit similar to a ghost, formed from the tormented soul of an intelligent creature who committed suicide while there were still mortals who cared for them. Cursed for the pain and torment it brought to the people who loved it in life, the spirit must endure until there are none left alive who mourn its death, trying desperately to comfort or console them while being barred from allowing them to know the dead creature's spirit endures. The same curse would force the undead to suffer the pain of the living creatures it is spiritually bonded to. It seems like it would be a very compelling NPC that is rich with possible adventure hooks and plot lines, from why it chose death to how the party can ease the suffering of those who are unwittingly keeping it bound to its semblance of life.

A barrow is a burial hill or grave, so that is the hill giant connection to the name. Barrow wights not having more connection to their hills is the oddity, if anything.

My wife has been razzing me for years, saying that my “offense” taken from boring language was singular. Thank you for putting that pet in the episode.

When you showed the altisaur art I suddenly remembered that this is the book that had the controversy of using AI-generated art.

When I hear people say "It's not too bad" I hear it as "It's just bad enough."

The one thing I was glad to see was the really high CR creatures, and it seems like they are finally understanding how massive enemies would have passive abilities and other obvious effects, however I really hate the no Legendary Actions

I actually have a player that is planing on making a Firbolge Eldritch Knight for the next campign, and he wants to focus much more on the fact that his people are Giant Kin. So yeah, this video came on a good time, and while I sense that this book has it's flaws, I can't help but love some of it's ideas. I mean we haven't even gotten to the mutated troll and that thing had me do a double take; it was already badass enough that we had the Dire Troll!

Excellent. I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for part 2

I left 5e and I couldn't care less, but your videos are too good to be ignored so I'll watch it anyway!

I love these rankings so much I'm ruing the day he runs out of monsters

Love these vids and your commentary. Oh, and the heavy metal background music. Perfect!

Great video bro. Always enjoy these rankings, even if I disagree on some. God bless, homie.

Sorry, I was gone for a bit. I was so happy to see you made some new videos.

Been binge watching your monster ranking and make me want you to have your own monster making series or redesign monster or hell even another book i love the book you made

Been wanting to get into D&D for so long but could never get my friend group to commit. Baldur's Gate 3 has been my outlet and your videos have been absolutely amazing. Keep up the great work!

I have my hardcover on pre order. Thanks for the monsterous heroes update

there's a lot of great DnD channels but this one is becoming my favorite

Woohoo! another banger of a video by Esper. I STILL havent played ONE game of D&D in my life but I enjoy so much the lore and how you break it down. Awesome you gave TMBG their due, but Stone Cold is a dull song imo... why not 'I'm Impressed', "Larger Than Life" or even "Boss of Me"? Particle Man is an odd choice as well, when there is 'Snowball in Hell', "Reprehensible", "Take Out the Trash", or "Don't Let's Start!" to choose from!

Always enjoy your rankings, Esper. If I were to have designed a giant for this book, I would’ve made something based on Ultraman. I’m thinking of calling them Star Giants.

I love storm crab art. There is something enjoyable in dragonturtle running for its dear live.

"Good sir! The diagnosis came in and I regret to inform you, thatyou indeed have the prone condition"

A giant-sized dose of quality from The Bard.

What are you complaining ... the Glory of the Giants references directly to the price tag.

My man came out swinging today haha.

Altisaur is so cool, that was my favorite. It's so beautiful

Glad to see the Maw of Yeenoghu, I was wondering how she was doing.

I’m using this video to determine whether I should buy this book. I value your opinions on DnD a lot!

Yayyyyy, it’s here

So far, I'm liking this. The cycles are pretty cool and creatives. Using the Ixalan names for the dinosaurs is a little odd, but the monsters are conceptionally cool, and megafauna-sized mammals are always fun to me. My only real gripe is that same "have the prone condition wording." It sounds too mechanical. Like it was written by a computer programmer instead of a writer.

"may i supply you with some more prone, good sir?" "oh yes thank you, sir - top-up my prone" i agree on the passive-voice critique lol

I've been watching these rankings literally for years now. They're my only inroad to DnD beyond the Baldur's Gate games. I've never been too interested in actually playing tabletop, but these videos really get me into the setting and into tabletop design. I just wish wotc didn't try to homogenize and water down such a rich game.

I like Gigant being a bit of reference to Mothra. I wish they'd include more kaiju references in this book

weird question, with the maw of yeeboghu if it hit's you with a ranged tooth attack does that count as being bit? I don't mean for the purposes of a life drain like a vampire. This isn't a question of mechanics, this is a question of philosophy and what it means to be bit.

Did you say "pray on a Dragon Turtle"? Dragon Turtles have predators? Omg

Friendly reminder, never pull off a tick! It will end badly for you. Strike a match, blow out the flame, and prod the tick with it. The tick will release you of its own accord.

That Altisaur is awesome. 🦕 🌋

2 ideas off the top of my head for barrowghast: 1. Adventurers infiltrating a giant's fortress somehow get word of a Mouth of Grolantor being kept starved within a warded off chamber. Thoughts that they could deny their foe an ally or even secure themselves an ally by freeing them off they go to free the beast. Only when they finally open the chamber it is no living hill giant they find but a Barrowghast, starved past the point of death by the local giant chief's attempt to harness the Mouth and then sealed away when he reanimated. 2. Adventurers looking for aid against some great threat (lets call it a lich and his undead swarm) get word that there is a fortress of hill giants in some remote mountain valley. So off they go only to find there is a swarm of undead surrounding said fortress and the halls themselves are dark, yet the walls still stand strong. Thinking smartly the adventurers manage to sneak their way into the fortress only to find out the worst had happened, for while the undead swarm outside never managed to breach the walls they did deny the giants the ability to leave. So now the players are trapped in fortress of giant's filled with an entire clan's worth of Barrowghasts.

2:09 - Your ratings... for this one... are They Might Be GIANTS songs?! Perfection.

Fun fact: all lions are spotted. It's just that their spots are really faint and only visible upon close examination or under certain light conditions

I can hear the "you have the prone" with Yoda's voice 😂 this phrasing sounds so silly

Just wanna mention, esper the bard is such a cool name

The "has the prone condition" sounds like they're avoiding the natural language of 5e and trying to crib the keyword centric style of older editions and pathfinder

You know, I would like to see a video like this, but of your favorite book, weather it be some other DnD book or another system. Just so I can get some perspective on what the greatest is like.

I bequeath to you the condition of prone!

"Has prone" sounds like some video-gameified language. D&D is much more than that, and this is coming from someone who plays video games and is learning about the D&D universe.

10:22 is the 3rd one. People wanted monsters to do more interesting things (and a little more damage), so they complied without making many of the weapons they use work as efficiently for the players. Players have their own items, after all.

I’m curious, now that 5.1 is coming soon are you going to update your class rankings?

5:40 Sensitivity reading/editing a.k.a. the death of fun

Im so happy i stopped playing 5e when I did

Despite having moved to better grounds for a game, (pathfinder 2e at the moment) i really enjoy your videos and insights.

Regular lions don't have spots because they live in the Savannah - which is mostly brown with tall grasses. They are perfectly camouflaged for their environment. It wouldn't surprise me if the spots were to help it blend into mountainous redwood or pine forests that would provide it sufficient cover to perform ambush predation like most great cats prefer.

So overall how do you feel about the concept of giants being empowered by different magic sauces.

Obviously this is going to get buried, but the "MAGIC WEAPONS" trait has been axed since monsters of the Multiverse

I wonder how often Mouth's of Grolantor end up becoming Maw's of Yeenoghu

To explain the stone giant club, the bludgeoning damage is regular damage, and the thunder would be magical. As if the outer "crust" of the weapon is not magical, and the inner "core" is

A lot of the dinosaur monsters in here are named after MTG dinosaurs

Lol the giant ox gives me Paul bunyon vibes

6:23 So big it covered the rating icons. God damm.

titanotheres are very similar to the brontotheres, a group of rhinos with 2 spade like horns that lived during the eocene period 56-33.9 million years ago, so right before the last ice age.

For f tier that elk thing is pretty neat

15:45 So it's like the Gray Philosopher undead, obsessed with one thing instead of retaining it's mind. Got it

Wouldnt it make more sense for the Elemental Evil Frost Giant to be dedicated to Cryonax, the prince of cold. And Olhydra to have aquatic storm giants instead?

The wording change likely has to do with their whole vtt. Think of it like programming, "x

I feel like the Aerosaur could do with a look closer to actual pterosaurs than it is the leathery, pointy-winged bird monsters of yestercentury. Not because I'm a stickler for scientific accuracy in depictions of prehistoric life - this is a fantasy game, afterall - but because I feel like the aesthetic could nicely slot into the role of a thunderbird without directly appropriating it from Native American belief.

4:22 ( *notices Mammoth skull the size of it's paw* ) Only double, you say...

Particle Man - should be the S tier song IMHO ...then again, you are the one with a successful KZfaq channel so....

have you seen chains of asmodeus?

The KarenWhite looks like a hard time to deal with.🤪

Good taste in heavy metal

I saw the giant ox and thought of Babe of Paul Bunyan

Torag survives in Pathfinder as the patron god of dwarves.

Ok but a vampire giant would be so cool

hello, I can't preorder the digital version of Monstrous Heroes, only the physical version, is it normal ? I'm reeeeeally interested of your book

22:04 - funny thing. In my native language, Polish, gigant means giant, so... When I first saw it, my brain lagged. XD

I don't like how the Hulks having a stronger connection to the elements makes them less of a Giant. They literally have their elements in their names! In Volo's it makes it sound like the Giants were originally crafted from the elements themselves!

Instead of using the term evil earth wouldn't it be better to call it corrupted or tarnished earth? I agree with you Esper it feels as tho the writing was written from A.I

The writer in me find removing “knocked prone” a miss, but the former 5e Homebrewer in me out weighs it, celebrating a new ways to cut word count in the inefficient grammar of 5e stat block design.

on the undead hill giant, how about the name Hillghougheist I can imagine a hill giant saying that. Sending adventurers to take down a friend that was lost for a while but came back wrong. Unlikely i know for a hill giant to give a quest, but still, the prospect of a hill giant owning a favor to the party has its benefits, i imagine a hill giant in serious despair losing his friend and having he turned into that As far as i can remember hill giants don't have many friends, so i figure that would require an unorthodox aproach.

Imma homebrew the dinosaurs

A CR11 Crab hunting down dragon turtles???????

I guess this book was writen by an AI.

Wait so the hulk monsters..are giants that are exposed to the elemental planes.... ISNT THAT WHAT THEY WERE TO BEING WITH????

the tick and the bag slime i see them more like creatures who would be in Hill giant's belongings. it kind of fits them. a hill giant would keep a giant tick if it's makes him look bigger than his neighbour. also the ram got some cool things going on for it with the whole "can be turned into a magic item". you have to locate this specific magic ram, you gotta fleece it without damage it and if it's a magic ram of resistance you know there's some really fucked up shit hunting this thing besides you. the elemental evil giants weapons i interpret as the weapon being imbued by the giant's power and hte giant dying just stops the elemental power going through it making it back into just a weapon

Are we even sure they actually meant the "prone", instead of "prune"?

On the magical weapons thing, I think they are getting rid of it as a concept in 5e over time, replacing it with force damage etc. Tbh I think it makes sence, so much of 5e becomes, do you have a magic weapon, and so many player resistances are to non-magical (rage being the exception).

I can already imagine running an Evangelion-style campaign where it’s one gargantuan monstrosity after another, and the only way to slay them is to carefully outmaneuver their unique defenses. I do wish there would be some kinda rule that when a monster reaches such size that conventional attacks simply won’t work. You can’t just poke its foot until it dies; you need to attack a specific weak point or overcome a certain damage threshold.

I love Esper's "beh"s expressing his disgust.

bigby okay I always thought biggby should have been especially if you was retcon to be a fat goblin jazz musician that this has a lot of crazy powerful spells that would have been a fun redcon not whatever they just showed.

To be fair on the giant rm wconomy iasue it ia fey sp it can be restricted to the fey wilds