With the release of the newMonster Manual,Dungeons & Dragonsnow has more options than ever to start you off on your journey to build a great campaign. However, it can be a struggle to find good enemies for the other players to encounter in an urban campaign that aren’t just your typical humans.Bandits and pirates and mages are all the usual suspects, and they can be easy to throw at your friends in the city. That said, with many more options, there are plenty of fun things to use in their stead.
The new2025 Monster Manual inD&Dgives players like you and me so many more choices now that it can be hard to narrow down. It feels overwhelming sometimes to look at sometimes, but once you get over the initial feeling of searching through the manual for just the right enemy, you can start building something quite cool. There are some great choices for an urban campaign, you just have to know where to look.
10Animated Broom
The Hilarious Option
I saw this, and I thought it was so funny that I had to add it to the list. There is a full set of animated objects among the otherenemies in theMonster Manual,but the broom is the absolute classic. If you have ever wanted to recreateBeauty & The Beastbut where the furniture is the villain, now is your time to shine. And looking at the entries in the manual, it’s quite an interesting idea as there is a whole chart to roll for the furniture’s backstory.
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The brooms also fly about, and they can attack foes from weird angles. They are immune to an odd number of things, and it can fly by without triggering an attack.It might not be the most challenging enemy to face in the city, but it is a fun one and could lead to a more complicated plot line from there.
9Any Kind Of Ghost
For A Truly Haunted Experience
If you want a more haunted experience, there are a plethora of undead spirits to choose from in the book. From Ghast to Poltergeist to Specter to an Oni, there are many options to pick from that canhelp you create a full campaign fighting the ghosts that are taking over a city. And, if you want an added mystery, you’re able to always have your players stumble across a Phase Spider that is chasing after the ghosts.
This could be a fullGhostbusters-esque campaign, or you could style it more afterScooby-Doo, but now the ghosts are real. The idea of aScooby-Doocampaign has always intrigued me,and one where the characters are facing real ghosts could be incredibly interesting. They could even attempt to solve which type of spirit it isPhasmophobia-style. There are a lot of potential ways you could go here, all of which would be quite fun.
8Gas Spore Fungus & A Zombie
Create Your Own Last Of Us Campaign
The Gas Spore Fungus isn’t supposed to be in an urban environment, but there is a big potential to tweak it just a little and pair it with some Zombies to create your ownLast of Uscampaign.This particular fungus can already infect victims and cause them to dieand burst with new spores. The only change you would have to make is for the victims to become new Zombies instead of die entirely.
It has such a high potential, as it could be spreading slow enough for your players to slowly uncover the mystery and find out what’s really going on. If you have a Druid in the party,they might even recognize some of the effects and not know how the two are connected when they stumble across it the first time. Maybe it doesn’t last for an entire campaign, but the city could slowly get taken over as well, leaving the party surrounded by enemies.
7Doppelganger
For Chaos Mode
If you are looking for a more spy-focused campaign fueled with political intrigue, the Doppelganger could be a big factor. If theD&Dcharacters in the partyare separated, the Doppelganger could even come in as one of them,taking on one of the parties' appearances and tricking the rest of them. It could bring a lot of tension into a campaign, as players would not know who to trust or who is telling the truth.
I would play this one of two ways, either in a campaign with a lot of mystery and something happening in the highest parts of the kingdom,or in a campaign that wants to lean into urban horror a little more, with creatures appearing that appear almost human. Either way, it’s a great enemy to introduce when you want to unsettle your players a little.
6Shadow/Invisible Stalker
When The Party Becomes The Prey
If you want to set the party on edge, introducing a Shadow or Invisible Stalker would have the party constantly looking over their shoulders.They could be visiting a city and suddenly feel like they are always being watched, or one day after a major event, they suddenly find there is a new presence always following them.
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A Shadow is also a kind of undead, but they are a little different than the ghosts. I think the Invisible Stalker is a bit more convincing and a bit of a more solid enemy to face in terms of gameplay.It’s also a higher challenge rating, meaning that this can be a creature for your players to face when they’re a bit better off than at the beginning of the game. It could even begin stalking them early, before revealing itself later.
5The Coastal Monsters
For A City By The Sea
There are a number of very interesting coastal and underwater-themed monsters in theMonster Manual. This includes monsters like Merfolk, the Merrow, Sahuagin, and some of the dragons. Most historical cities were built by the water,and this could make for a very fun port-themed urban campaign. It could lean into the Lovecraftian horror in a city that feels a lot like Innsmouth, or it could be closer to the typical fantasy as you have the players interacting with the Merfolk.
The latter option could have your party investigating and negotiating on behalf of the city with the underwater populations. There could be any number of conflicts between them,and some nefarious folk might be purposely making the relations between the two groups worse. There are a lot of fun possibilities for an environment-themed coastal and urban campaign, and you could really flesh out the narrative.
4Vampires & Were-Creatures
The Usual Suspects
Players who want a traditional urban fantasy campaign will want to use these monsters. It might be stereotypical, but it is a classic, and it is a group very likely to end up in an urban environment. I thought the Were-Rats,the only were-creature to be tagged as “urban,“could be an interesting enemy or NPC to encounter, but that is the part of my brain that wants the city to be plague-infested and the Were-Rats are being unfairly (or fairly) blamed for it.
However, I see no reason why none of the other were-creatures could join the roster. Werewolves are too ingrained into urban fantasy to leave them behind.Vampires also open up a lot of potential for role-playingwith lots of variants in the new manual, and both creatures introduce an element of danger for the players into the mix.
3Incubus
Invading Dreams
I think this is an under-utilizedenemy inD&Din general, and in pop culture overall it is less known than its other form of the Succubus. It has the ability to be absolutely terrifying, and players might have a hard time trying to find or fight itsince it primarily attacks mortal dreams. This could be side-stepped a little if one of the players is a creature who doesn’t need to sleep as much, but there are ways to make it more terrifying.
Even if you manage to find the Incubus outside of dreams, the Incubus can curse you with its touch. It also has some spells to help it escape or force you to dream. Additionally,the Incubus can become a Succubus if it so chooses, giving it a way to confuse any trackers or attack your players easier if they are onto the dream form.
2Water Weird
For Sudden Surprises
This one is odd, but I think it’s something different and likely something most players would not have encountered before. They can be found protecting pools, fountains, and other magical bodies of water,so you could pick any water feature inside a city and have this Water Weird pop out of it. It’s not the most difficult enemy to face if your players want to take it on, but it would introduce a moral dilemma if it was protecting a pool players had to get in.
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It also looks super cool, and it can completely disappear inside the water, so no one would expect it right away. It could even be a test for players entering a new city to seeif your players interact with a pool they shouldn’t. It could immediately put them in hot water with that city, making it harder to accomplish their purpose.
1Tarrasque
If You Want Your Players To Save The World
This a massive, unstoppable apocalyptic monster that inevitably comes and cannot be fully defeated. It is described as a catastrophe and a destroyer of nations.There are a lot of high-stakes campaigns you could put your players inthat involve these mighty creatures, and it would be a big, bad monster to finish off a campaign fighting.
It might be a little heavy-handed, but what better way to finish off a big urban campaign than one more chance to fight off a city-ending beast? There are other options too, but this one is particularly apt. However, you could fit any monster in theDungeons and Dragons' Monster Manual to suit your campaign.
