(This is a WIP 1/26/2017)

Monster Manual is a Dungeons & Dragons bestiary for 5th Edition, published by Wizards of the Coast, and is officially available on the Roll20 Marketplace.

The Roll20 Monster Manual Bundle

When you purchase the 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual through Roll20, you get a bundle that unlocks the Monster Manual Index of pages on the the 5th Edition SRD Compendium. Instead of seeing the SRD entries from the 5th Edition SRD Compendium, you will access the full text entries and graphics available from the hardcover book.

The Monster Manual Compendium Edition

When you buy a copy of the Monster Manual through Roll20, you don't get a PDF of the book. Instead, you unlock the entire contents of the book transferred directly into the 5th Edition SRD Compendium. Each monster has been given their own dedicated Compendium entry.

The Monster Manual Entry Index

Monster Manual Index Page
- Monsters: The Rule Page for Playing Monsters
Miscellaneous Creatures: Appendix A
NPCs: Appendix B
Credits

Utilizing the Compendium in your Game

One of the benefits of transferring the Monster Manual into Compendium form is being able to use it directly in a Roll20 game. A GM is able to drag and drop a Monster entry from the 5th Edition Compendium onto the Tabletop to create a statted token AND generate a new NPC character journal under your Journal tab that will be linked to it. This NPC sheet will be automatically set up with all that monster's attributes, traits and skills that you can roll from immediately.

Additionally, any non-monster entry such as rules, lore, items, et cetera that you drag to the Tabletop will create a Handout of that entry that you can share with your players.

Adding the 5th Edition Compendium to your Game

The Compendium Tab

First, you will need to add the D&D 5E Compendium to your 5th Edition game if you haven't done so already. To do this, you either create a new game using a 5th Edition Character Sheet OR go to your [Game Settings Page] afterwards to add the Compendium to the game. (For best Drag and Drop compatibility with the Compendium, we recommend using the Official Roll20 5th Edition Character Sheet) The 5E Compendium is added by default if you've built a game using our existing Marketplace products such as the Lost Mine of Phandelver or Storm King's Thunder modules.

Once added, a new tab will be added to the Sidebar situated between the Journal and Jukebox tab. Symbolized by a lowercase "i" (i), this is the Compendium Tab. The search bar operates exactly as the one found on the exterior website version of the Compendium.

Book Source IDs

Three monster entries from three different source books: Monster Manual, Volo's Guide to Monsters, and the 5E OGL. SRD entries do not contain art, and that is why the SRD Aboleth entry lacks a token image.

5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons has many books of content. A Book Source ID has been applied to all the entries added to the 5th Edition Compendium. This will allow you to keep track of which printed book an entry is coming from. To the right of any Compendium entry found on the Compendium Tab is a three digit Source ID directing towards a specific book.

Book Source IDs for the 5th Edition Compendium

SRD: An entry from the D&D 5th Edition OGL SRD

MM1: An entry from the D&D 5th Edition Monster Manual

VG1: An entry from 5th Edition Volo's Guide to Monsters

How to Drag and Drop Entries into from the Compendium

Three screenshots showing how to drag and drop from the Compendium to the Tabletop and creating a linked token and character journal at the same time

Step 1: Search the Compendium Tab for an entry (we'll use Volo's Guide to Monsters' Alhoon entry as our example)

Step 2: Click and drag the entry from the Compendium Tab to the Tabletop

Step 3: Step 2 begins the automation process, what is created depends on what the entry type is:

Non-Monster Entries

A handout will be created in your Journal Tab containing all of the text and images contained within the entry. For Monster Manual content, this allows a GM to share the content with your players who do not have access to the Marketplace bundle.

Monster Entries

Dragging and dropping a monster entry to the Tabletop first creates a character journal on the Journal Tab for the monster. If using the Roll20 5E OGL character sheet, the sheet will automatically swap over to the NPC version and have all of the Compendium entry's attributes, traits, skills, and actions already inputted. The lore, images and description of the monster entry will be listed in the character journal's bio. The token graphic attached to the Compendium entry will then be placed on the Tabletop, statted with the HP and AC of the desired creature, and then linked to the character journal that was just created.

Notes

Token Art: There were a handful of creatures where we were unfortunately not allowed to contract artwork for. In those instances, we created a token that has the name of the creature inside it in place of art. ((((((names of creatures))) are the creatures that are treated in this fashion.

Player Access: Players do not have direct access to the Monsters Manual within the In-App Roll20 Compendium. The GM can drag and drop any entry from the Compendium as either a Character or Handout (depending on the entry type) into their Journal to be available for player use.

Other 5th Edition Character Sheets: We can't guarantee that the Compendium Drag and Drop features will work predictably with other 5th Edition character sheets like the Community-Created and Shaped 5th Edition Sheets. Wizard of the Coast modules are designed with the Roll20 Official 5th Edition OGL Character Sheet in mind.

Spellcasters: There was an intentional decision made with spellcaster monsters where we limited the individual spell entries down to the most commonly used offensive spells. For those we created a separate actions for each to be rolled from the sheet. We went with this method instead of having an NPC sheet with every single spell inputted under Spellcasting to keep the attribute bloat low to keep your games optimized. That being said, any spellcasting NPC should have all their spells listed under their Spellcasting Trait on the NPC sheet when you do a drag and drop from the Compendium.