The Monster List
The Intro to the Intro
This is a work in progress. Notably absent from the list, at the current time, are the Fiend Folio, Epic Level Handbook, and Monster Manuals III–V. Also, Monster Manual II is only partially finished.
Introductory Notes
The material on this site (http://www.oocities.org/xaeyruudh/) is relevant to the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. If you arrived at this site in error, or you don't know what a roleplaying game is, I encourage you to consult the Wizards of the Coast website for an intro to the roleplaying hobby. If you're still not interested, I trust you'll find some comfort in clicking your Back button. Have a nice day.
This is intended to be a listing of every monster that stands a chance of appearing in my Xaeruudh campaign, as a tool for constructing random encounter tables and as a way to make me think of interesting ways to incorporate as many creatures as possible. However, every monster I find —whether or not I choose to throw it at the PCs— will eventually appear here, so it may serve as an index of creatures found in sourcebooks published by Wizards of the Coast and others. Check the Sources page for which books have already been integrated into this list.
Wizards keeps their own index of monsters, but this one will be more complete (by virtue of including the work of other publishers) and the notes will be tailored to this particular campaign.
The Xaeyruudh campaign is centered in the Forgotten Realms. It may venture into other Primes and other planes, and any monster which has been introduced in a d20 supplement may be considered for inclusion in the campaign.
Most of the information on this page is considered campaign notes and may not be as readily available to player characters as it is to the players themselves. If you're participating as a player in the Xaeyruudh campaign and reading behind–the–scenes information spoils the surprise for you, you may wish to stop here.
As elsewhere in this site, errors may be pointed out to Xaeyruudh himself.
Navigation
I've tried to streamline this very large body of information as much as possible. The list is divided into several large divisions, each having one or more sections.
Source lists monsters by which books they're described in.
Classification lists monsters by types, subtypes, and a couple of special categories.
Planes of Origin lists monsters by where they come from.
Environment lists monsters in terms of geographical features in the Old Empires.
Summoning lists monsters by alignment and CR for handy reference.
Finally, the List gives brief descriptions of each monster, in alphabetical order.
Oh, and Familiars talks about the casters' best friends.
Assumptions, Inventions, and Departures
This is where I'll note anything I've altered from the sources, including new monsters and changes in monster type and descriptive details.
Note that these changes are not official! They should only be considered binding for the Xaeyruudh campaign.
- Additions and Omissions
- The abyssal greater basilisk [17755] was omitted. It should be either (1) a new creature, free of templates, or (2) be obtained through applying one or more known templates to the basilisk. I was unable to reconstruct it using templates... a half–fiend basilisk would be close, but that combination isn't workable. If it's a separate creature, it should have notes on Advancement.
- dire bear was amended to include
dire black bear
and dire polar bear. The existing dire bear entry corresponds to dire brown bear.
- Genie was amended to include
noble dao,
noble djinni,
noble efreeti,
and noble marid.
- Human was added as a reference point for related races, such as derro.
- legendary bear was amended to include
legendary black bear,
legendary brown bear,
and legendary polar bear.
- Lycanthrope was amended to include
dire werebat,
black werebear,
dire black werebear,
dire brown werebear,
polar werebear,
dire polar werebear,
dire wereboar,
dire werecrocodile,
werelion,
dire werelion,
wererat,
dire wereshark,
dire weretiger,
and dire werewolf. The existing werebear entry corresponds to brown werebear.The existing wererat entry corresponds to dire wererat.
- Mephit was amended to include
ash,
lightning,
mineral,
radiance,
smoke,
and void.
- Para–elemental was added, including
ice,
magma,
ooze,
and smoke.
- Quasi–elemental was added, including
ash,
dust,
lightning,
mineral,
radiance,
salt,
steam,
and void.
- Dire snake was amended to include
dire constrictor snake
and dire viper.
- Legendary snake was amended to include
legendary constrictor snake
and legendary viper.
- Templates have been included but the half–fey centaur and other examples of templates were deliberately omitted.
- Type and Subtype
- The air Subtype is used for the purposes of summoning spells. Unless otherwise noted, dragons have nothing to do with elemental air and cannot be summoned. Accordingly, the following creatures were removed from this Subtype:
crystal dragon,
emerald dragon,
fang dragon,
green dragon,
and steel dragon.
- The beast Type was removed in 3.5e of D&D. All or most of the monsters that were previously classified under this Type are now considered animals; the rest should probably be treated as magical beasts.
- The chaotic Subtype is used for the purposes of summoning spells. Since members of the native Subtype cannot be summoned, the following creatures were removed from this Subtype:
draegloth
and krathbairn.
- The cold Subtype was modified for this campaign. It is renamed cool and includes only creatures which have immunity to cold–based attacks and vulnerability to heat–based attacks.
- The earth Subtype is used for the purposes of summoning spells. Unless otherwise noted, dragons have nothing to do with elemental earth and cannot be summoned. Accordingly, the following creatures were removed from this Subtype:
amethyst dragon,
blue dragon,
brown dragon,
copper dragon,
deep dragon,
and sapphire dragon.
- The evil Subtype is used for the purposes of summoning spells.
The following creatures were added to this Subtype:
fiendish creature
and xill.
Since members of the native Subtype cannot be summoned, the following creatures were removed from this Subtype:
beast of Xvim,
draegloth,
and durzagon.
- The extraplanar Subtype contains, for most of this campaign, all creatures which are not native to the Prime Material. The following creatures were added to this Subtype:
chain golem.
- The fire Subtype was modified for this campaign— see this explanation for more details. It is split into warm (which includes only creatures which have immunity to heat–based attacks and vulnerability to cold–based attacks) and fire (which, outside of a few exceptions, includes only elementals and outsiders with a connection to the Elemental Plane of Fire).
The fire Subtype is used for the purposes of summoning spells. Unless otherwise noted, dragons have nothing to do with elemental fire and cannot be summoned. Accordingly, the following creatures were removed from this Subtype:
brass dragon,
gold dragon,
mercury dragon,
rattelyr dragon,
and red dragon.
- The gith Subtype was added to contain githyanki and githzerai.
- The good Subtype is used for the purposes of summoning spells.
The following creatures were added to this Subtype:
celestial creature.
- The lawful Subtype is used for the purposes of summoning spells.
The following creatures were added to this Subtype:
xill.
Since members of the native Subtype cannot be summoned, the following creatures were removed from this Subtype:
beast of Xvim
and durzagon.
- Using atropal as a precedent, creatures may belong to two Types. Accordingly, hellfire wyrm is now an outsider as well as a dragon.
- Shapechanger is now a Subtype instead of a Type. This means that I had to assign new Types to certain shapechangers who haven't been revisited in Third Edition:
ghaunadan is an aberration;
pterafolk is a humanoid;
greater doppelganger is a monstrous humanoid;
and beast of Malar and malaugrym are extraplanar outsiders.
- The water Subtype is used for the purposes of summoning spells. Unless otherwise noted, dragons have nothing to do with elemental water and cannot be summoned. Accordingly, the following creatures were removed from this Subtype:
black dragon,
bronze dragon,
mist dragon,
and topaz dragon.
- Hit Dice and CR
- There's a hiccup in the CR calculations for some elementals in the Monster Manual; suggested corrections are shown in this abbreviated chart.
- The hellfire wyrm's advancement chart was reworked.
- Climate and Habitat
- Pretty much anything that can fly should be added to the aerial habitat listing (which is a rather empty honor at the moment), and anything that swims may appear in the aquatic habitats.
- Aasimar was added to all terrestrial and subterranean habitats.
- Aboleth was moved to lakes and rivers habitats.
- Legendary ape was limited to temperate forests, to match the habitat of ape.
- Chain golem was moved to Baator.
- Death kiss was added to the subterranean habitats because the source description mentions them moving through the Underdark.
- Legendary eagle was limited to temperate aerial and mountains areas, to match the habitat of eagle.
- Dire elephant was limited to the plains habitat, to match the habitat of elephant.
- Great fihyr was limited to the urban habitat, to match the habitat of fihyr.
- Dire hawk was limited to the aerial and forests habitat, to match the habitat of hawk.
- Dire horse was limited to the plains habitat, to match the habitat of horse.
- immoth was added to Para–Elemental Plane of Ice, and retained in the Elemental Planes of Air and Water.
- Jahi was added to all aerial and aquatic habitats, as well as terrestrial and subterranean habitats.
- Juggernaut was removed from aerial, aquatic, subterranean, and urban habitats, but left in other terrestrial areas.
- Kopru was limited to the ocean habitat.
- Leviathan was limited to the ocean habitat.
- Medusa was added to all terrestrial and subterranean habitats.
- Ocean giant was limited to the ocean habitat.
- Sahuagin was limited to the ocean habitat, to reflect its saltwater dependency.
- Sea cat was limited to the ocean habitat, to reflect its saltwater dependency.
- Skum was moved to lakes and rivers habitats.
- Tiefling was added to all terrestrial and subterranean habitats.
- Dire toad was limited to the marsh habitat, to match the habitat of toad.
- Triton was limited to the ocean habitat, to reflect its saltwater dependency.
- Vampire was added to all terrestrial and subterranean habitats.
- Elemental weirds were added to the elemental, para–elemental, and quasi–elemental planes.
- Legendary wolf was limited to temperate forests, to match the habitat of wolf.
To Do
There are several things this list does not address, and perhaps it should. Some day.
- CR Lists
- You'll find the summoning tables broken out by CR deriving from HD, but that covers only extraplanar creatures with an alignment or elemental subtype. I haven't bothered with CRs for other monsters. The reason for this is that it quickly becomes hideously complicated by templates, hit die advancement, and the addition of class levels. A crafty and headstrong DM can create a version of any monster for any given CR, so a bunch of charts are mostly useless.
- That being said, I am working on CR charts for at least one more group of monsters— dragons.
- Climate Separation
- The Xaeyruudh campaign is centered on Mulhorand and the lands around, which are each affected to some extent by weather controlling magic. It's always warm and moist in Mulhorand due to the devoted ministrations of the churches of (primarily) Hathor and Isis. In contrast, the weather in Threskel is highly erratic— continuously disputed by various priests and wizards around the Wizards' Reach.
- Consequently, the monsters most likely to appear in this campaign are the ones that are comfortable in environments which are usually warm or temperate but I can find a spot for just about anything. However, since this list attempts to do everything else, it might as well also group the cold–loving creatures in each habitat. Some day.