Critical Role’s Matthew Mercer got into the new monsters appearing in his upcoming book in an interview with D&D Beyond’s Todd Kenreck.
In exactly two months, the next book will arrive for Dungeons & Dragons. Called the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, it will detail the entire setting of Critical Role, including new character subclasses, new magic items, and yes, even new monsters.
In an interview with D&D Beyond, Matthew Mercer gave a little bit of a teaser for what we can expect in the upcoming book. Those that have listened to the Critical Role podcast or watched the show online know exactly what will be coming, but it's still nice to get the exact stats to finally add these beasts to your home campaign.
"The Monster Manual is what got me into D&D," Mercer explains. "Before I played any games I had that book, and I just read through it for all the pictures and the lore ... it was just an easy ascension for me to start reading that and get obsessed. And this was trying to find creatures that fit within this new realm of Wildemount and Exandria."
The first of which is the Udak, which Mercer describes as a “four-armed gorilla-like beast” that scavenges the wastes in search of food. He also calls it fiendish in nature, which calls back to the calamity that befell Jorhas some time ago.
Then there's the Swimain Basilisk, a modification to the classic basilisk that makes it's home in the water rather than on land. It excretes an oil from its skin that turns creatures to stone for easy consumption, making it different from your average, everyday basilisk that just needs to stare you down to turn you to stone.
There will, of course, be more creatures than just these two, which we'll be able to read all about once the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount releases next March. You can pre-order the new book now wherever fine D&D merch is sold.
Source: D&D Beyond on YouTube