Beginners' Monster List

[steeldragons]

This is something of a fork from the 5e Toolkit thread. Inspired by comments by both @Lanefan and @MarkCMG and wandering musing, as I am want to do, by yours truly.

Let's make a Manual of Monsters Starter Kit. Assume you have never played the game before. What monsters are essential to get a rounded feel/flavor for a fantasy gaming world?

In a very basic starting set for a fantasy RPG game a la D&D, what "monsters" (this includes mundane animals) would you think worthy to make the cut for providing a solid and varied introduction to the creatures of the game/genre.

Also, who would you give access of their stats to, the players via entries in the Players manual or the DM via a monster's section in the DM's manual?

I recall, in the Basic and Expert sets, the monster section was about half of the DM's book. Mark made the suggestion that players might have access to animals/mundane creatures which makes sense to me, as these would be creatures the PCs would/could have had regular contact with, domesticated animals, common predators (like wolves), etc. Makes sense the PCs would know about these kinds of creatures and the "magical"/otherworldly type things be the purview of the DM...

I also recall, from the Basic (Red) book in particular, that a great deal of "Monster" entires were normal animals (and/or their "giant" types. That's what we called 'em in yon days of yore, before anyone ever heard of a "Dire" anything...I think "Dire Wolves" came about first, but I can't remember where they appeared....well, ANYwho...)

So, let's say, 20 "normal" animals (varieties may be included as a single entry. i.e. "Cat" could include domestic, puma, tiger, etc... and giant/dire versions of each. So it would only count as 1.)

...and, let's start with 20 "monsters"/magical/not-real-world creatures. Again, variants of types (different dragons, for example) could all be included as a single entry.

*Threadmaker's note: If you want to think in terms of a "5e set", fine, but edition is not really the point here. So let's not make it one. Please and thank you.

Look forward to all thoughts. Have fun and happy menagerie-ing.
--Steel Dragons

 

[the Jester]

First of all, no good comes from scattering monster stats between the player and dm books; they should absolutely 100% be dm material. The pcs learn about them through. YMMV and all that.

Secondly, here's my starting palette of monsters for my homebrewed version of D&D:

Ankheg
Ant, giant (worker and soldier)
Ant swarm
Basilisk
Beetle- giant slicer, giant fire, giant oil
Beholder
Carrion crawler
Demon- manes, evistro, vrock
Destrachan
Devil- legion devil recruit, kyton
Dragon, white hatchling
Elemental- lesser fire, moderate earth
Ettin
Frostfolk
Gargoyle
Ghoul
Ghast
Goblin
Golem, iron
Harpy
Hell Hound
Hook Horror
Human
Kobold
Mimic
Ogre
Ooze- gray ooze, green slime, gelatinous cube
Orc
Owlbear
Rat- giant, dire, swarm
Rust monster
Sahuagin
Screaming devilkin
Skeleton
Specter
Spider- swarm, giant gray, giant jumping, giant tarantella, giant black widow
Stirge
Terror bird- axe beak, kocho

Many of the entries have multiples within (goblin bandit, goblin archer, etc). Several of these are included because they fit in the initial playtest adventure- frostfolk wouldn't be on the list otherwise, for instance.
Troll
Wolf
Wraith
Zombie

 

[WillOH]

In a very basic starting set for a fantasy RPG game a la D&D, what "monsters" (this includes mundane animals) would you think worthy to make the cut for providing a solid and varied introduction to the creatures of the game/genre.

Just some to start off a list

Dragon
Goblin
Ogre
Rats
puddings/gelatinous cube
Spiders
stirges
Wolves



The creature stats should be mostly for the GMS. Even if players do get stats, they should be simplified.

 

[Stormonu]

I reserve the right to modify my list after hearing from others, just because D&D has so many monsters, its hard to remeber them all.

Normal critters - mostly stuff that might be hunted as game or thought of as encroaching on human territory, as well as pets/domestc animals

- Bear
- Lion/Tiger
- Ape/Gorilla/Baboon
- Boar
- Wolf/War dog
- Horse
- Bat/Mobat
- Giant Spider
- Shark


"Monsters" - mostly well-known creatures of myth, with a couple critters that fill a specific niche (as noted like this)

- Bandit (player's own race as bad guy)
- Medusa (threat of instant death)
- Goblin (weak bad-guy race)
- Orc (common bad guy race)
- Gnoll (strong bad guy race)
- Troll (difficult to kill)
- Giant (bruiser)
- Gelatinous Cube (trap monster)
- Rust Monster (trick monster)
- Dragon (top-tier/endgame enemy)
- Doppleganger (paranoia-inducing enemy)
- Skeleton/Zombie (bad guy minion)
- Ghoul (undead threat)
- Vampire (undead endboss/paranoia enemy [due to charm/minion ability])
- Elemental (otherworldly/strong minion)

 

[delericho]

Depends on what level range you want to cover. The old Red Box had the advantage of covering only levels 1-3, which meant that the most powerful creature would be the equivalent of CR 5 or so.

Anyway, for a beginners set, I would stick mostly with the classics, and throw in a few D&Disms as well. As for an actual list... The Jester's list looks pretty good, I suppose.

 

[steeldragons]

My 2 Coppers...ok, maybe 4.

"Normal" creatures for Players and DMs:
1. Alligator: normal, crocodile, giant versions of each
2. Ant: giant, giant fire
3. Bear: black, cave, grizzly, polar
4. Birds of Prey: eagle, falcon, hawk, owl, raven, vulture, (normal and giant versions of each, % chance to be intelligent/speaking.)
5. Cat: domestic, lion, lynx, puma, sabertooth, tiger, (normal and giant versions of each)
6. Deer: stag, elk, moose (normal and giant versions of each.)
7. Dog: domestic, hunting/hound, guard/mastiff, wild
8. Dolphin: normal, telepathic
9. Elephant: normal, mammoth
10. Frog: giant, poisonous, toad/giant and poisonous
11. Furry Woodland Creature: Badger, Beaver, Ferret/Weasel, Fox, Otter, Rabbit/Hare, Squirrel (normal and giant versions of each, % chance to be intelligent/speaking.)
12. Herd Animal: antelope, bison, camel, cow, sheep, wildebeest, yak, zebra
13. Horse: draft, riding/light, war/heavy, wild
14. Rat: normal, giant, swarm
15. Scorpion: normal, giant
16. Shark: normal, giant
17. Snake: poisonous, constrictor, two-headed (normal and giant versions of each.)
18. Spider: poisonous, bola, tarantulas, wolf, large and giant versions for each
19. Turtle: giant, giant snapping
20. Wolf: normal, giant, winter

PHEW! That was tough! Getting/cutting them down to 20.

And has anyone else noticed that all of the truly dangerous "Real World" creatures begin with a "S"? Why is that?

Anywho...what do we think?
--Steel Dragons

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

Interesting topic, I'll toss my small list of ideas out here as well. Though I do think that possible animal companions and familiars should be included in the players handbook as well as the DMG (the reason being that they could be monsters for the dm or friendly to the players and they would be pretty common anyhow).

Basic List:
1) Ants (all the varieties)
2) Basilisk
3) Umber Hulk
4) Displacer Beast
5) Stirge
6) Kolbolds (what campaign could be complete w/o them???)
7) Goblinoids
8) Trolls
9) Gelatinous Cube (and the other slimes could be lumped in here)
10) Dragons (duh they are iconic to fantasy)
11) Giantkin (always love throwing stone-tossing giants at players)
12) Owlbear
13) Greater Undead: Vampires and Liches could be lumped together
14) Lesser Undead: Skeletons, Ghouls, and Zombies could be lumped together
15) Beholder
16) Mimics (for the dungeon delvers)
17) Lycanthropes (all varieties)
18) Spiders (the bigger the better)
19) Humanoids (i.e. human bandits, dwarven warrior, elven archer, et cetera)
20) Demons (I'd put a list of between 5-7 types)

Was just brainstorming so I didn't bother to put into alpha order like some of the others.

 

[Jacob Marley]

This would be my list of monsters. Note: I tried to keep some monsters in a generic form in order to allow room for various other types of monsters to be included. I think this list is fairly comprehensive.*

1. Angel
2. Animal (Bat, Bear, Boar, Dog, Donkey, Elephant, Hawk, Horse, Hyena, Lion, Mule, Rat, Raven, Snake, Tiger, Wolf)
3. Bandit
4. Basilisk
5. Bugbear
6. Centaur
7. Chimera
8. Demon
9. Displacer Beast
10. Dragon
11. Dryad
12. Dwarf
13. Eagle, Giant
14. Elemental
15. Elf
16. Fungus
17. Gargoyle
18. Genie
19. Ghost
20. Ghoul
21. Giant
22. Gnoll
23. Gnome
24. Goblin
25. Golem
26. Griffon
27. Hag
28. Halfling
29. Harpy
30. Hippogriff
31. Hobgoblin
32. Hydra
33. Kobold
34. Knight
35. Lich
36. Manticore
37. Medusa
38. Merchant
39. Merfolk
40. Mind Flayer
41. Minotaur
42. Mummy
43. Nightmare
44. Nymph
45. Ogre
46. Ooze
47. Orc
48. Otyugh
49. Owlbear
50. Pegasus
51. Pilgrim
52. Priest (cleric)
53. Rust Monster
54. Satyr
55. Skeleton
56. Sphinx
57. Sprite
58. Stirge
59. Treant
60. Troglodyte
61. Troll
62. Umber Hulk
63. Unicorn
64. Vampire
65. Vermin (Ant, Beetle, Spider, Wasp)
66. Wight
67. Will-O’-Wisp
68. Wizard
69. Worg
70. Wraith
71. Wyvern
72. Zombie

-JM

Edit: 73. Beholder

 

[steeldragons]

I reserve the right to modify my list after hearing from others, just because D&D has so many monsters, its hard to remember them all.

Wise you are in the ways of posting. Shoulda waited longer myself.

Normal critters - mostly stuff that might be hunted as game or thought of as encroaching on human territory, as well as pets/domestc animals
- Bear
- Lion/Tiger
- Ape/Gorilla/Baboon
- Boar
- Wolf/War dog
- Horse
- Bat/Mobat
- Giant Spider
- Shark

Apes, boars and BATS! I can not believe I forgot BATS of all things. ugh.

But the apes and boars as well...right at the front of practically every monster list I've ever seen.

<defeated sigh> Ok, before taking another look to see if at least BATS are workable into my list...or re-negging and admitting we need more than 20 mundane creatures...lemme see what I can come up with for the "Monsters."

I'm going to presume to agree with most of the posters thus far that ALL creatures for a monster starter section should be the purview of the DM only...

While MarkCMG's suggestion makes sense to me, that a PC would have knowledge of "normal" creatures in their day-to-day lives, I suppose that is up to the DM to decide and share with the players as necessary. For example, no reason a game taking place in a desert/arabian-flavored setting should have access to things like sharks or beavers. But camels, elephants...things like scorpions, makes sense.

So, yeah, DM gets all of the info and DM's call as to what PC's would know as common knowledge.

Now...heh, heh, heh..."Monsters"

(How'my gonna do this in 20? I think I painted myself in the proverbial corner of the dungeon with that.)

1. Basilisk
2. Carrion Crawler
3. Centaur
4. Dragon: Start with a list of 8 (so as not to overwhelm). 1 good and 1 evil for each of the 4 elements, maybe? Soooo, something like: Gold/Red (fire), Silver/Blue (air), Bronze/Black (water), Copper/Green (earth)
5. Dwarf: Hill, Mountain, Deep
6. Elemental: air, earth, fire, water (normal and giant versions and 1 "humanoid" creature for each: sylph, gnome, salamander, undine)
7. Elf: Dark, Grey, High, Wood
8. Faerie: Brownie, Pixie, Sprite
9. Giant: fire, frost, hill, stone, storm, wood(treants
10. Goblinoid: Goblin, Hobgoblin, Bugbear
11. Griffon
12. Harpy
13. Human: Bandit, Barbarian/Berserker, Nomad/Tribesman
14. Kobold
15. Ogre: normal, two-headed (ettin?)
16. Ooze: Gelatinous Cube, Green, Grey, Yellow
17. Orc
18. Pegasus
19. Troll
20. Undead: Ghoul, Ghost, Skeleton, Spectre, Vampire, Wraith, Zombie

Ok, that was not so hard as the animals, oddly enough. Though there are several that I'd rather see separated out, like "Ghost" and "Vampire" since they are so different from the "mindless" undead and "Grey" and "Dark" elves might better be saved for the next "set"/installment...assuming there is one. But hey, they're there.

And many of the humanoid races would, as Jester mentions, have varying stats for groups and individual specialists, "captains" or "Chiefs" etc.

I am missing a few classics and favorites, like Stirges (always a good low-level threat) and Chimera and Medusa. But my brain is a bit on overload (as Stormonu mentioned) rifling through the various incarnations of MMs...and, then, of course, there is the fact I have work to do!

Great suggestions/lists thus far.

Check back in a bit.
--Steel Dragons

 

[Crazy Jerome]

I semi-replied via my reply to Lanefan on the spawing topic. Basically, I'd rather have "Stuff that Everyone Needs" book, "Stuff that only the DM Needs" book, and then a third book for the stuff in the middle. Unlike, the Jester, I'm perfectly willing to split monsters across multiple books to make that happen.

So with that said, I agree that any common animals should be in, and maybe some of the dire variants. And good call on familiars. I'd considered mounts, but not those or animal companions in general.

Then I'd also include some of the most common variants of the most common creatues. Include the basic goblin (and a picture of same), but not the leaders, shamans, etc. Also include a fair amount of lore on each creature type by category. That is, you get the stat block for a single basic goblin, along with the rest of the page on common lore. You can even include a few "rumors" that may or may not be true. (Only the DM knows for sure.)

On things like horses, the lore section is more about different types, how sturdy they are, etc. And you might have stat blocks for a nag, common mount, and warhorse.

When you get to monsters that are more prototypical D&D, but not common, you still get a page of lore, but it is definitely sketchy and leans heavily on rumors. The dragon page is like this. While it has no statblock whatsoever, it does have a picture.

For things like undead, you might have more than one page on "undead", with a sample skeleton and zombie stat block. Or you might have a page on "animated undead" with a skeleton stat block and references to zombies, and another page on "undead" that was more like the dragon section.

Then in the DMG or full-blown Monster Manual(s), you have more of the stat blocks for all these types, including the uncommon stuff.

I'm not wedded to those particular examples. There is room for editor discretion around the basic concept.