D&D General D&D monsters that have been changed the most over time

[Benjamin Olson]

why were they pigs anyway?

Rhymes with pork. And pigman (who wants to eat you) is a pretty solid and evocative basis for an early fantasy enemy. I'm guessing one or another artist gave them somewhat piglike noses just to emphasize that they were ugly and inhuman and someone else's imagination ran with it.

 

[toucanbuzz]

While Firbolg probably is my #1 pick (as above), the Lamia took a severe turn from a hybrid lion trickster demon monster in 1E/2E to a 4E swarm. A swarm of scarabs for a Greek myth creature...shame.

1600s Lamia, boobs and weird dangly part: AD&D Lamia:

4E Lamia: 5E Lamia:

 

[toucanbuzz]

The Gnoll has a unique history. From 1974's Monsters and Treasure Volume 2 by Gary Gygax and Dave Arenson (this is all on a wiki):

GNOLLS: A cross between Gnomes and Trolls (. . . perhaps, Lord Sunsany (sic, should be Dunsany) did not really make it all that clear) with +2 morale. Otherwise they are similar to Hobgoblins, although the Gnoll king and his bodyguard of from 1 - 4 will fight as Trolls but lack regenerative power. Lord Dunsany and another writer St. Clair used the term "gnole" and described them as woodland creatures that spy on you from trees. A senior gnole has tentacles rather than arms and no ears, with small red gemstone eyes. Elves spoke gnoll, hinting at woodland nature.

1977, Gnolls get a makeover. AD&D invests in them hardcore as a common humanoid race. Yeenoghu becomes the Demon Prince of Gnolls and provides our glimpse of hyena folk. They are now "rapacious," lazy, subterranean monsters on great terms with most other evil humanoids. No trolls, no gnomish size, no woodland. They're also large.

1989/1993, Gnolls get more evil. They will eat anything meat, including other races, and they like hearing you scream as they eat you. They are ecological nemeses, eating everything in sight and moving on. In 3rd Edition, they keep nasty and hate giants too. But, they shrink from Large to Medium. In 2005, we get the option to play gnolls, because Drizz't did it so why not? Is that why they had to shrink?

2008, 4th Edition, gnolls remain medium murderhobos. In 2008, we get Dungeon Magazine #367 that explains Yeenoghu created gnolls by feeding demons to hyenas. However, although gnolls are basically demon lunchmeat packaged in a hyena body, some of them figured out how to be good. Oh, and we got some cool art for these shrinking, most-of-the-time bad guys that once were gnome-trolls.

5E came back full circle and gave gnolls some loving in Volo. They're back to being their vile, vicious selves who repopulate in an insane way.

 

[Faolyn]

Their size changed pretty drastically, from small to large. You notice it in the 5e version of Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan. The water weird first appeared in the original version of that adventure. By 5e it doesn't actually fit in the pool it is living in!

I like to imagine it is the pool, and it takes on the snakey form only when it attacks.

 

[Faolyn]

4E Lamia:

View attachment 139662

What the heck is going on with her body?!

 

[Yora]

She's turning into a swarm of beetles.

 

[Richards]

She's apparently either turning into a swarm of scarab beetles or returning to human form after having been a swarm of scarab beetles. Regardless, while it's a cool concept for a creature, it has nothing to do with the traditional lamias.

Johnathan

 

[see]

I mean it necessarily predates that, because out of the gate in 3E they're described as speaking Draconic and look like little dragon-people (as opposed to weird horned flat-flaced mini-goblins or rat-people as they typically were in 2E). So the changeover is probably formalized by 3E but pretty much had to happen in 2E between 1993 and 1999.

Actually, no, they weren't draconic out of the gate in 3rd edition. What 3rd edition did was:

1) Actually exercise discipline over the art. There was a lot of variants in how artists did kobolds over the years, which spawned a lot of confusion. But the text descriptions in the monster books (like the 2e Monstrous Compendium Volume 1) gave them "dog-like" heads and scaly bodies. Compare the canonical 1e MM image and the canonical 3e MM image, and tell me how much changed other than art style?

2) Make kobolds speak Draconic . . . but that was a universal change for all reptilian beings in 3e, including lizardfolk and troglodytes, not an indication that kobolds were especially dragon-like.

The conversion of kobolds from small lizard-people (which 3rd edition did set in stone, ending the era of confusion) into small dragons occurred gradually over 3.x, between the influences of Meepo in the Sunless Citadel, the statement that kobold sorcerers were particularly vehement advocates of the theory that sorcerers bore the blood of dragons, and the fact that the lizard-person niche was largely filled by the lizardfolk. But it didn't really become definitive until Races of the Dragon, as can be seen by the fact that Mongoose's 2003 Slayer's Guide to Kobolds only mentions a relationship to dragons as a theory some people have and others dispute.

 

[Alzrius]

Devourers - the tall, gaunt monsters that sucked your soul out and imprisoned it behind their ribcage - underwent a minor change throughout the editions.

Originally debuting in the Monstrous Compendium Planescape Appendix III in AD&D 2E, they were explicitly called out as not being undead. Third Edition and Fourth Edition (both of which had the devourer in their respective Monster Manual tomes) reversed this, saying that devourers were undead creatures. Then in 5E, Volo's Guide to Monsters classified them as being fiends, rather than undead.

 

[Black Dougal]

When did it actually happen? When I started D&D, kobolds were like, goblins, if goblins were too hardcore/dangerous for you.

The first time I really came across the idea that they were really associated with dragons was Dragon Mountain, in 1993, but it seemed like it wasn't an entirely new concept then. And the Monstrous Manual from the same year (both this and Dragon Mountain illustrated in part by the incredible DiTerlizzi, offering us both flat-faced and ratlike visions of kobolds) doesn't mention dragons.

Yet by 3E, kobolds are solidly little dragon-people.

We still use the canine-influenced Kobolds, pack tactics screams.....well dogs.