Levistus's_Leviathan
5e Freelancer
Since the D&D movie trailer dropped, there's been a bit of discussion on how Owlbears and similar monstrosities that are just combinations of two different animals (Griffons/Hippogriffs, for example) and are natural to the worlds of D&D should probably be reclassified as beasts instead of "monstrosities". While I agree, I personally would go a bit further. I would get rid of the creature-type of "monstrosity" entirely. It's such a diverse creature type that it basically has no meaning and is mostly used as a dumping ground for monsters that WotC gave up on trying to fit into another creature type. Some of them might be easier than the others, but here's my attempt (I'm using D&D Beyond, so this will be organized alphabetically and separated by the products they're included in).
(Monstrosities from other products will be added later.)
Note: These classifications do not take game balance into account. These are entirely based on which creature types I feel they would best fit into. I know it would be overpowered for a druid to turn into a Cockatrice or Basilisk. However, if I were in charge of designing 5e, there would be other changes that I would make in order to prevent these classifications from becoming a problem for game balance. (Mainly by having Wild Shape be based around customizable stat blocks built in the Druid Class, not having the player choose from beasts in the Monster Manual.)
If you disagree with any of these classifications or have any recommendations for the ones I'm questioning, feel free to comment below.
Ankheg - Beast
Basilisk - Beast
Behir - Beast?? (Maybe a creature type for "fleshy creatures made/warped through magic" would be good?)
Bulette - Beast
Carrion Crawler - Beast
Centaur - Fey
Chimera - Fiend? Aberration? Like the Behir, this is a creature created by another creature, so maybe we can keep the "monstrosity" creature type so long as the definition is restricted to "living creatures magic + artificial selection?"
Cockatrice - Beast
Darkmantle - Aberration? Beast? Shadow-creature?
Death Dog - Fiend? Undead? Beast?
Displacer Beast - Fey
Doppelganger - Fey? Aberration?
Drider - Fiend?
Ettercap - Beast or Unseelie Fey
Gorgon - Construct
Grick - Aberration or Beast
Griffon - Beast
Guardian Naga - Celestial
Harpy - Humanoid
Hippogriff - Beast
Hook Horror - Beast
Hydra - Dragon or Beast
Kracken - Celestial (because they were created by the gods) or Beast?
Lamia - Fiend?
Manticore - Beast or Fiend
Medusa - Humanoid
Merrow - Fiend or Humanoid
Mimic - Beast? Aberration?
Minotaur - Humanoid
Owlbear - Beast
Peryton - Beast or Fey
Phase Spider - Aberration? Fey? Beast?
Piercer and Roper - Beast? Aberration?
Purple Worm - Beast
Remorhaz - Elemental or Beast
Roc - Beast
Rust Monster - Beast
Sphinxes - Celestial (I'm honestly baffled they weren't already)
Spirit Naga - Fiend
Tarrasque - Celestial? Beast?
Umber Hulk - Beast?
Winter Wolf - Beast or Elemental
Worg - Beast
Yeti - Humanoid or Beast
Yuan-Ti - Beast, Fiend, or Humanoid
Basilisk - Beast
Behir - Beast?? (Maybe a creature type for "fleshy creatures made/warped through magic" would be good?)
Bulette - Beast
Carrion Crawler - Beast
Centaur - Fey
Chimera - Fiend? Aberration? Like the Behir, this is a creature created by another creature, so maybe we can keep the "monstrosity" creature type so long as the definition is restricted to "living creatures magic + artificial selection?"
Cockatrice - Beast
Darkmantle - Aberration? Beast? Shadow-creature?
Death Dog - Fiend? Undead? Beast?
Displacer Beast - Fey
Doppelganger - Fey? Aberration?
Drider - Fiend?
Ettercap - Beast or Unseelie Fey
Gorgon - Construct
Grick - Aberration or Beast
Griffon - Beast
Guardian Naga - Celestial
Harpy - Humanoid
Hippogriff - Beast
Hook Horror - Beast
Hydra - Dragon or Beast
Kracken - Celestial (because they were created by the gods) or Beast?
Lamia - Fiend?
Manticore - Beast or Fiend
Medusa - Humanoid
Merrow - Fiend or Humanoid
Mimic - Beast? Aberration?
Minotaur - Humanoid
Owlbear - Beast
Peryton - Beast or Fey
Phase Spider - Aberration? Fey? Beast?
Piercer and Roper - Beast? Aberration?
Purple Worm - Beast
Remorhaz - Elemental or Beast
Roc - Beast
Rust Monster - Beast
Sphinxes - Celestial (I'm honestly baffled they weren't already)
Spirit Naga - Fiend
Tarrasque - Celestial? Beast?
Umber Hulk - Beast?
Winter Wolf - Beast or Elemental
Worg - Beast
Yeti - Humanoid or Beast
Yuan-Ti - Beast, Fiend, or Humanoid
(Monstrosities from other products will be added later.)
Note: These classifications do not take game balance into account. These are entirely based on which creature types I feel they would best fit into. I know it would be overpowered for a druid to turn into a Cockatrice or Basilisk. However, if I were in charge of designing 5e, there would be other changes that I would make in order to prevent these classifications from becoming a problem for game balance. (Mainly by having Wild Shape be based around customizable stat blocks built in the Druid Class, not having the player choose from beasts in the Monster Manual.)
If you disagree with any of these classifications or have any recommendations for the ones I'm questioning, feel free to comment below.