Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, released in 2018, is a sourcebook for Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition.

Content[]

Cover[]

The cover, by Jason Rainville, depicts Mordenkainen observing conflicts throughout the multiverse through a complex orrery.

Preface[]

This section features an introduction from Shemeska the Marauder, explaining the purported origins of the book, along with comments from Mordenkainen's apprentice Qort explaining why he provided Shemeska with the work, and the first of many comments by Mordenkainen himself.

The Blood War[]

The first chapter of the work provides an overview of the Blood War, as well as information on the Lords of the Nine and demon lords; devil and demon cults; new cambion variants and tiefling subraces; and options for customizing demons and devils.

Elves[]

The second chapter provides an overview of elves, to include their history and culture; information on the Seldarine, the Dark Seldarine, and the Raven Queen; and details on elf subraces such as the eladrin, drow, shadar-kai, and sea elves.

Dwarves and Duergar[]

The third chapter provides an overview of dwarves and duergar, to include their history and culture; dwarves in various campaign settings; the Mordinsamman and duergar deities; and rules for duergar characters.

Gith and Their Endless War[]

The fourth chapter provides an overview of the gith races, to include guidelines for githyanki and githzerai characters.

Halflings and Gnomes[]

The fifth chapter provides an overview of halflings and gnomes, to include their histories and cultures; halfling and gnome deities; halflings and gnomes in various campaign settings; and rules for deep gnome characters.

Bestiary[]

The sixth chapter provides game statistics for over 100 monsters:

allip, astral dreadnought, balhannoth, berbalang, boneclaw, cadaver collector, choker, clockworks (bronze scout, iron cobra, oaken bolter, stone defender), corpse flower, deathlock (deathlock, deathlock mastermind, deathlock wight), demons (alkilith, armanite, bulezau, dybbuk, maurezhi, molydeus, nabassu, rutterkin, abyssal wretch, sibriex, wastrilith), demons: demon lords (Baphomet, Demogorgon, Fraz-Urb'luu, Graz'zt, Juiblex, Orcus, Yeenoghu, Zuggtmoy), derro (derro, derro savant), devils (black abishai, blue abishai, green abishai, red abishai, white abishai, amnizu, hellfire engine, merregon, narzugon, nupperibo, orthon), devils: archdevils (Bael, Geryon, Hutijin, Moloch, Titivilus, Zariel), drow (drow arachnomancer, drow favored consort, drow house captain, drow inquisitor, drow matron mother, drow shadowblade), duergar (duergar despot, duergar hammerer, duergar kavalrachni, duergar mind master, duergar screamer, duergar soulblade, duergar stone guard, duergar warlord, duergar xarrorn), eidolon (eidolon, sacred statue), eladrin (autumn eladrin, spring eladrin, summer eladrin, winter eladrin), elder elementals (leviathan, phoenix, elder tempest, zaratan), elemental myrmidons (air elemental myrmidon, earth elemental myrmidon, fire elemental myrmidon, water elemental myrmidon), giff, gith (githyanki gish, githyanki kith'rak, githyanki supreme commander, githzerai anarch, githzerai enlightened), gray render, howler, kruthiks (young kruthik, adult kruthik, kruthik hive lord), marut, meazel, nagpa, nightwalker, oblex (oblex spawn, adult oblex, elder oblex), ogres (ogre battering ram, ogre bolt launcher, ogre chain brute, ogre howdah), retriever, frost salamander, shadar-kai (gloom weaver, shadow dancer, soul monger), skulk, skull lord, sorrowsworn (The Angry, The Hungry, The Lonely, The Lost, The Wretched), star spawn (star spawn grue, star spawn hulk, star spawn larva mage, star spawn mangler, star spawn seer), steeders (female steeder, male steeder), steel predator, stone cursed, sword wraith (sword wraith commander, sword wraith warrior), tortles (tortle, tortle druid), trolls (dire troll, rot troll, spirit troll, venom troll), vampiric mist, yugoloths (canoloth, dhergoloth, hydroloth, merrenoloth, oinoloth, yagnoloth).

Appendix[]

The appendix includes lists of the book's monsters organized by creature type, challenge rating, and environment.

Development[]

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The lead designers for Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes were Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford. Further credited designers included Adam Lee, Ben Petrisor, Robert J. Schwalb, Matt Sernett, and Steve Winter. Kim Mohan, Christopher Perkins, and Kate Welch were credited with "additional design". Crawford was also the managing editor for the work, with Mohan and Michele Carter as additional editors.

Kate Irwin was the art director for the work, with additional art direction provided by Shauna Narciso. Emi Tanji was credited as graphic designer. Richard Whitters and Shawn Wood served as concept artists. Interior illustrations for the work were provided by Dave Allsop, Tom Babbey, Mark Behm, Eric Belisle, Michael Berube, Zoltan Boros, Aleksi Briclot, Filip Burburan, Christopher Burdett, Matt Cavotta, Sidharth Chaturvedi, Jedd Chevrier, Ed Cox, Olga Drebas, Wayne England, Justin Gerard, Lars Grant-West, Leesha Hannigan, Jon Hodgson, Ralph Horsley, Lake Hurwitz, Tyler Jacobson, Julian Kok, Daniel Landerman, Olly Lawson, Howard Lyon, Warren Mahy, Brynn Metheney, Aaron Miller, Scott Murphy, Jim Nelson, William O'Connor, Efrem Palacios, Adam Paquette, Claudio Pozas, Vincent Proce, Rob Rey, Richard Sardinha, Chris Seaman, llya Shkipin, Craig J Spearing, Zack Stella, Philip Straub, Bryan Syme, David A. Trampier, Cory Trego-Erdner, Richard Whitters, Anthony S. Waters, Shawn Wood, Ben Wootten, Min Yum, and Xi James Zhang.

Stan! was responsible for project management. Production services were provided by Cynda Callaway, Carmen Cheung, Jefferson Dunlap, and David Gershman. Others credited for the work include "D&D team members" Bart Carroll, Trevor Kidd, Christopher Lindsay, Shelly Mazzanoble, Hilary Ross, Liz Schuh, Nathan Stewart, and Greg Tito.

The book was dedicated to artist William O'Connor, who passed away before it was complete.

Nolan Whale was credited as a "guest designer", and provided the oblex and Balthran Ireheart, a dwarf illustrated in the third chapter. Whale's contributions followed a visit to Wizards of the Coast in 2017, arranged through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, where he worked with the design team for a day.^[1]

Several inclusions had appeared in previous 5th edition works. The deep gnome had appeared as a character race in Elemental Evil Player's Companion (2015), while the duergar had appeared as a character race in Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (2015). The elemental myrmidons had appeared in Princes of the Apocalypse (2015). The derro, duergar kavalrachni, duergar soulblade, duergar stone guard, duergar xarrorn, and all the demon lords had appeared in Out of the Abyss (2015). The steeders also appeared in Out of the Abyss, but were changed from the beast type to the monstrosity type in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. The choker, deathlock wight, and vampiric mist had appeared in Tales from the Yawning Portal (2017). The tortles had appeared in The Tortle Package (2017).

Release[]

According to the book's inside cover, Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes was released in May 2018.

The store release date was May 18 for Wizards Play Network stores, and May 29 for all other retailers. Wizards Play Network stores also received a limited-edition alternate cover, by Vance Kelly;^[2] this cover depicts Mordenkainen observing a selection of monsters and other enemies.^[3] The alternate cover editions were affected by a printing error, prompting Wizards to offer to exchange returned copies for undamaged ones. Wizards suggested the Cult of Asmodeus might be involved, and claimed they would burn returned unsold copies in the Nine Hells.^[4]

Reception and influence[]