Dungeons & Dragons' 2025 Monster Manual is out now in early access, and it's already made good on one of the best changes introduced in 2024. The Monster Manual has always served the same purpose: it's a physical rogues' gallery, giving a DM all the tools they need to design an enemy encounter from the bottom up. With statblocks and lore details for hundreds of monsters, as well as tips and tricks for organizing and running both appropriately challenging and lore-friendly battles, the Monster Manual is an invaluable resource for any campaign.

The 2025 edition of the Monster Manual brings a few changes to the table. These include bigger, more sweeping new ideas, like how DnD encounters are run.

D&D’s 2025 Monster Manual Makes Use Of Bloodied

Bloodied Is Back, And Better Than Ever

The Bloodied mechanic has made its return in the 2025 Monster Manual, and it actually has an effect on gameplay now. Bloodied was introduced in the Fourth Edition as a lore-friendly way for the DM to say that an enemy had reached 50% of their maximum HP. It referred to the enemy having a visibly battered appearance, with multiple injuries that affect their movement. Declaring an enemy "Bloodied" was established as an alternative to flat-out stating how many hit points a monster has left, which can potentially break immersion and encourage metagaming.

The Bloodied status was removed from the 2014 version of the 5e sourcebooks, at least in name. The Dungeon Master's Guide does encourage the DM to give visual descriptions of how hurt an enemy looks instead of simply reciting their remaining HP; it just doesn't use Bloodied by name. However, Bloodied makes an official return in the 2024 Player's Handbook, and it's expanded on even further in the new Monster Manual.

In the 2025 Monster Manual, some enemies have special effects that only activate when they become Bloodied - when they're reduced to 50% or less of their maximum HP. Think of it like a Dark Souls boss entering a second phase when their health bar hits a certain milestone: they may gain new attacks, deal extra damage, or get statistical advantages. It's not every monster that's affected by the changes, and some of them are certainly more game-changing than others. But these new Bloodied effects have massive potential.

Bloodied Effects Can Change Up Any D&D Battle

How Bloodied Effects Work (And How DMs Can Use Them)

There are many different kinds of Bloodied effects in the 2025 Monster Manual. Each is specifically designed to fit the monster it's associated with, and has lore-friendly reasons for how it works and why it activates when it does. For example, look at the combat-minded Berserker. Nowhere is this enemy more at home than in the heat of battle, blood-stained, adrenaline rushing, axes swinging. Therefore, they have a special effect that makes them more powerful when they're seriously injured: once Bloodied, a Berserker (or Berserker Commander) gets Advantage on all attack rolls and saving throws.

Other Bloodied effects relate to the physical realities of the enemies who use them. Instead of tracking the HP and initiative of 20 individual Tiny creatures, DMs may combine them into a Swarm, which acts as a group. When a Swarm takes damage, some of its number is killed, reducing the total number of creatures available to attack and defend. Therefore, most Swarms have Bloodied effects that remove one of their damage dice in the new Monster Manual. Similarly, Jellies and Puddings will divide in two as a Reaction when Bloodied.

Trolls have a random chance to lose one of their limbs when they become Bloodied.

And it's not just monsters who are subject to Bloodied: the effect equally applies to player characters, even though they're free to express their remaining HP more openly. However, some enemies have Bloodied effects that only activate when their targets are below 50% HP, not themselves. These are typically enemies who are motivated by or take sustenance from blood. When a Blood Hawk attacks a Bloodied target, they can do almost double the damage, switching from a d4 damage roll to a d8. Gnolls have a similar effect, gaining extra movement speed and attacks when their targets are Bloodied.

With such a wide variety of different effects, the new Bloodied changes can make any DnD encounter more immersive and exciting. An enemy who gets stronger when Bloodied can remind players not to get complacent, heightening the stakes near the climax of the fight. Enemies with special effects on Bloodied targets will remind them to keep their HP up, and can turn a simple flesh wound into a major crisis in a single turn. Enemies who lose strength (or limbs) as a battle rages on let players see the effects of their attacks in real time, and force them to adjust to changing conditions.

D&D Can Still Take The Bloodied Status Further

There's A Lot More To Be Done With Bloodied

The 2025 Monster Manual's Bloodied changes are great, but there's still more to be done. The existing Bloodied changes are relatively simple: they might give a monster (or a player) a little extra edge in the second half of the fight, but they're not earth-shaking enough to force a party to change its entire strategy. At least, not yet - but they very much could. We need look no further than the humble Flesh Golem for inspiration.

The Flesh Golem has by far the most detailed and potentially game-changing Bloodied effect in the 2025 Monster Manual. When it starts a turn Bloodied, the DM rolls a d6; on a 6, the Flesh Golem goes berserk, and is no longer in control of its actions. It'll simply attack whoever's nearest to it, and if the entire party moves out of its range, it'll start attacking objects instead. It continues rampaging until it's either healed above Bloodied, or its creator calms it with a Persuasion check - but as long as its total HP is below 50%, it'll have to roll for the berserk condition every turn.

In a word, this is wild, and has the potential to create a thrilling and unique encounter. There are many ways a party could potentially deal with a berserk Golem: they can run away and let it attack its allies, cast deafness on it so it can't hear its creator's soothing words, or simply roll an explosive into its midst and watch sparks fly. Of course, it'll take them a couple of turns to understand how the berserk condition works, but strategically-minded players can take advantage of it quickly.

Simply put, DnD needs more Bloodied conditions like this one. In its current state, 5e combat strategy, as it relates to understanding and responding to enemy attack patterns, is badly in need of a shakeup. Players simply experiment with their own abilities until they discover an effective strategy for mitigating the enemy's damage while dealing their own, then pummel them until they're dead. The monotony of that latter half makes battles feel a lot longer than they actually are - and they're pretty long to begin with.

But imagine a boss whose moveset completely changes when they're reduced to half of their max HP, turning the encounter into a completely different kind of battle. This would provide an extra shot of adrenaline during that boring back half, forcing players to look up from their repetitive attack-bonus action-heal cycles, pay attention, and develop a new strategy. They're probably best reserved for high-level encounters among experienced players, but introducing more dynamic battles as a campaign proceeds sounds like a brilliant idea. It's the perfect thing to keep a Dungeons & Dragons campaign interesting, even after months of regular play.