Is there a D&D 5e book of monster templates yet?

[jdrakeh]

Something like the Advanced Bestiary that Green Ronin published for 3x and, later, Pathfinder? I'm basically looking to increase the utility of the monster book I already own without falling into the trap of buying an endless slew of monster books. I'm not a big fan of big books of hyper-specialized and largely inflexible monsters, especially when those books cost a lot of moolah.

 

[Voros]

Not from a reliable source that I’m aware of. Probably something like that on DM’s Guild but that is a bit of a crapshoot.

 

[The Butcher]

Templates were one of the best ideas from D&D3; too bad later editions discarded them. Great way to build unique opponents.

 

[jdrakeh]

Templates were one of the best ideas from D&D3; too bad later editions discarded them. Great way to build unique opponents.

Yes! Green Ronin's original Advanced Bestiary for 3x was hands down the best thing to come out of that edition for me.

 

[Baulderstone]

I found monster templates to be one of those ideas that I loved when I first read them, but ended up disliking in practice. The actual act of making, say, a werewolf goblin with a template felt like more work than just scribbling down some stats for what I felt a werewolf goblin should have.

I'm not meaning to disparage others love for them. Everyone has their own prepping practices. I like to prep in the mechanically laziest way possible. I can see other people liking the mechanical rigor that templates add to a setting.

Now I think about it, I might like them more in 5E. I think my dislike of templates in 5E might have simply been an extension of my dislike of the heavy stat blocks of 3.x in general. The same idea applied to lighter monsters would probably be cool.

 

[Voros]

I believe there are monster creation templates in the 5e DMG but if I remember right one of the first things they recommend is to simply reskin an existing monster instead of starting from scratch.

 

[jdrakeh]

I believe there are monster creation templates in the 5e DMG but if I remember right one of the first things they recommend is to simply reskin an existing monster instead of starting from scratch.

Well, that's what templates in the Advanced Bestiary are - they're explicit mechanical overlays for existing monsters. They are specifically designed so you don't have to start from scratch. They're just codified systems of mechanical alterations and enhancements for creatures you already have stat blocks for. That is, they're an actual system for reskinning as opposed to just saying "hand wave it".