Monstrosities inDungeons & Dragonsare creatures that defy natural order—beasts born from magical experiments, ancient curses, or otherworldly influences. The 2025 Monster Manual expands this category with terrifying new entries and updated classics, offering Dungeon Masters fresh ways to challenge their players.
These creatures range from bizarre hybrids to nightmarish predators, each with unique abilities that test both strategy and courage. Unlike beasts or undead, monstrosities often blur the lines between the familiar and the unnatural, creating truly memorable encounters. Here are the best monstrosities from the 2025 Monster Manual to add excitement to your campaigns.
8Chimera
Straight Out Of A Legend
If you like how dragons function mechanically, but you want to spice things up narratively, then the chimera is for you. It has many of the threatsa red dragon might have, including flight and a rechargeable fire breath, while having other special qualities like a ram’s head that can knock a target prone.
Due to its low intelligence and lack of speaking abilities, an encounter with a chimera will never be anything other than a fight. However, they are also known for hoarding treasure, so fighting a chimera is not only fun, it can also be lucrative.
7Medusa
A Petrifying Encounter
Quite a few monstrosities are able to petrify their opponents, although few are as iconic as the medusa. This creature isn’t a mindless monster, and it will often hide its true nature from the players until it is too late for them to prepare.
The best part of the 2025 Monster Manual version of the medusa is that if you know the original legend, you may use that knowledge to your advantage. You see, the Petrifying Gaze of a medusa can affect it as well if it sees its reflection, possibly ending up turning itself into stone.
6Primeval Owlbear
Taking To The Skies
The owlbear is one of the most iconic creatures of Dungeons & Dragons, even if it isn’t mechanically complex. This is why the 2025 Monster Manual added the primeval owlbear, giving it a higher challenge rating, an area screech attack, and the ability to fly.
Now, don’t get too impressed by its flying ability since it can only move five feet per turn. However, it can still technically fly, so an owlbear can now chase you up a mountain if you are polite enough to wait for it; if you want your sessions to have a more serious tone, only use the flying ability to hover downwards.
5Rust Monster
Hide Your Metal
Rust monsters are some of the mostevil creatures in Dungeons & Dragons, but that has nothing to do with their alignment. It is all due to their ability to destroy nonmagical metal, often targeting the equipment of low-level adventurers.
Imagine being on an excursion deep within the underdark, only to have your sword be completely destroyed by an otherwise manageable creature. With no settlement in sight, classes like fighters would be severely handicapped by such an encounter.
4Hydra
Five Heads And Counting
The hydra is another monstrosity that can be swiftly dealt with if the players know the original story. This is because, if the players use fire damage against the creature, it won’t be able to use its regenerative abilities to keep growing heads.
If the players lack fire damage, however, the hydra will quickly overwhelm them by growing two heads for each one they remove. It is best to avoid this fate since it can get hard to keep track of how many heads the creature has, the event being more of a chore than a threat.
3Kraken
The Watery Titan
When dealing with gargantuan creatures, it is important to remember that the 16-square size detailed for their sizeis a minimum, not a maximum. As such, a creature like a kraken can be as large as you want it to be, and considering it can swallow up to four large creatures at a time, it should definitely be large for that to make sense.
Facing a kraken isn’t just a fight, it is an event. The creature comes with lair features and special underwater moves, so players exploring the ocean’s depths should be wary of this leviathan of legend; it can, however, slowly follow its prey on land should it need to.
2Mimic
Everything Is Fake
Mimics in popular media often disguise themselves as treasure chests, gobbling up helpless adventurers who check for traps but not for monstrosities. However, the mimic’s Shape-Shift ability allows it to transform into any medium or small object, not just a treasure chest.
Therefore, anything has the potential to be a mimic, from a chair to a picture frame, even that shiny sword atop a pile of coins. While you should definitely not overuse mimics in your adventures, they are a great way to keep players on their toes, looking twice at every door before placing their hands on it.
1Tarrasque
The End Is Here
The highest challenge rating you’ll find on the 2025 Monster Manual is on the tarrasque, with a value of 30. This alone should tell you how terrifying a creature it is, a monstrosity of legend capable of bringing down entire empires on its own while being unfazed by most attacks.
For those unaware, the carapace of the tarrasque can reflect ranged spells that target it directly, with them bouncing off the tarrasque harmlessly. However, there is a chance the spell bounces back to the caster, so on top of everything the tarrasque can do — swallowing adventurers, frightful screams, earth-shattering movement — players also need to watch out for their own spells coming back.
