Crazy Cat Lady
AC 10
HP 4
Throw Cat +2 to hit, reach 10/20, 1d4 damage to target and to thrown cat. If the cat survives, it lands on an adjacent space.
Uncut Nails +2 to hit, reach 5 ft, 1 slashing damage
Equipment: 1d4 cats in a bag

Lair Actions
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the crazy cat lady takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects:

• Two cats to appear within 30 feet from doorways or furniture.
• A miasma of kitty litter smells forms a cloud in a 5-foot-radius sphere centered on a point the crazy cat lady can see within 30 feet of her. Each creature in that area must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until the crazy cat lady takes a different lair action.
• A stack of old newspapers collapses in a ten-foot long, five-foot wide line. Each creature in that line must make a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw, taking 1d4 bludgeoning damage and being knocked prone on a failed save, or half as much as much damage on a successful one. That area becomes difficult terrain.

This is objectively the best monster ever created for 5e.

Any news on what the fey and fiendish templates are like or how they work?

I have to say... any MM1 that contains Yugoloths, Modrons, and Flumphs is aces in my book.

Not that I've seen yet. But I've been on the lookout for most everything I can get my hands on.

Welcome to NGA by the way!

The reimagining of sphinxes is super cool.

I wanna see mindflayers

SO have we seen Skeletons or Zombies yet? Because the Cambion looks a lot to me like what would be the old 'half-fiend' template what with the changes to fluff and all. I'm beginning to think templates aren't a thing anymore.

I've seen no skeletons or zombies yet.

Just the Bonedevil and the Cambion.

There's a page about becoming a werecreature, but it was just "Your ability score changes in this way and you get this other attack." Probably to keep it easy and there'll be more complicated alternative rules later. Unless you mean a template to apply to monsters rather than a player thing.

I was thinking the applying to monsters thing. Mostly for Skeletons and Zombies so you can actually get Skelly Dragons or Skelly Hydras or whatever rather then just 'Medium Humanoid Skeleton #124125'. As an advocate of the necromatic arts that was probably the most annoying thing about 4E's MM for me.

Wouldn't all that just be different sizes of skeletons, except maybe some creatures have multiple attacks like if a hydra died with five heads. Are skeletal bird creatures more fragile with their hollow bones? Does a roc or a phoenix have hollow bones? Can a skeletal dragon breathe fire? Can a zombie dragon breathe fire? If a skeletal hydra's head is cut off, does it grow two more skeletal heads? If a zombie hydra's head is cut off, do two living heads grow out of the stump? Does it recognize that it's mostly dead? Is it horrified? Do the other heads see the new heads as food?

Mostly it's about size, strength, movement types and the occasional special ability that persists after the reanimation process. Admittedly it's a lot of work for relatively little gain but it's just so much fun learning exactly what tricks you can pull. Manipulating corpses correctly is the necromancers equivalent to an illusion spell - rather boring if used straight but a whole barrel of laughs if you put the effort in to lean creative uses.

If nothing else a flying undead mount is about 100% cooler then a living equivalent and much more effective too.

Maybe there will be a whole necromancer's book where you can do things like build skaabs and fit hydra heads on a dragon's body for a skeletal hydragon.

I really hope so. Libris Mortis was probably one of my favourite D&D splat-books ever. Necromancy just doesn't get enough love.

http://dreadgazebo.net/monsters-are-coming/

Dread Gazebo on some of the MM stuff. He will also be streaming as he flips through his next Monday on his twitch channel.