D&D General The core monster lineup across all editions
delericho
Legend
Possibly. Although in the cases of the 81 and 83 Basic sets the designers knew that there was an Expert set coming to expand the roster. That being the case, they would* have cut down on the number of high-level monsters in the Basic set to those they felt they just couldn't live without.
(I suppose it should be "should have cut down..." - with TSR things were sufficiently random that you can never be certain a good decision wasn't an accident.
)With the exception of horses, Monsters & Treasure just has broad guidelines for "insects or small animals" and "large insects or animals", leaving the details to the referee. 1e, as you note, changed that significantly.
(And even on horses, the subtypes changed multiple times between 0e and 5e, so there's no consistent throughline.)
J-H
Hero
Which is a bit funny considering even Tolkein had a Green Dragon.
It was a pub...but still, the idea was out there.
RangerWickett
Legend
A friend of mine postulated that most monsters are just 'chupacabras' - meaning that they are simply things that leap out at you and try to kill you, and have no more 'story' to them than would an angry wolf.
Like, most every demon just wants to tear you apart. They just have different powers. A bulette isn't going to have a complex narrative related to its motives. A chimera, or a golem, or a skeleton, or a purple worm, or a troll. They're all just physical threats.
Monsters only really get interesting, in my view, if they create a story that affects the characters. If you could swap the monster for a golem and the story would run the same, I'd prefer something else. I usually find people more compelling foes than chupacabras. Something you can talk to, someone that has motivations. Or monsters like mind flayers and medusas that create a unique type of tension, something elevated beyond, "Will it manage to rip me apart."
That said, even a chupacabra can be good when the monster has an interesting ecology, and you can notice its presence and maybe do something to avoid a conflict, that's at least a fun mental challenge, so long as it's not rote. The first time a player learns about what a troll is, and sees it refusing to die, that's exciting. But once you know, "Oh yeah, just burn them," it's not nearly as fun.
That's why you need trolls to only attack during thunderstorms.
Like, most every demon just wants to tear you apart. They just have different powers. A bulette isn't going to have a complex narrative related to its motives. A chimera, or a golem, or a skeleton, or a purple worm, or a troll. They're all just physical threats.
Monsters only really get interesting, in my view, if they create a story that affects the characters. If you could swap the monster for a golem and the story would run the same, I'd prefer something else. I usually find people more compelling foes than chupacabras. Something you can talk to, someone that has motivations. Or monsters like mind flayers and medusas that create a unique type of tension, something elevated beyond, "Will it manage to rip me apart."
That said, even a chupacabra can be good when the monster has an interesting ecology, and you can notice its presence and maybe do something to avoid a conflict, that's at least a fun mental challenge, so long as it's not rote. The first time a player learns about what a troll is, and sees it refusing to die, that's exciting. But once you know, "Oh yeah, just burn them," it's not nearly as fun.
That's why you need trolls to only attack during thunderstorms.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
You've got dragons (because it's the brand), humanoids to fight, iconic low level horror monsters, a mythological monster, a dungeon slime and a vaguely medieval monster to stick on Gothic buildings.
Since monsters couldn't level up for about half of D&D's existence, there are more types of humanoids than we really need (and I'd cut the white dragon if I were streamlining for a core book), but it's a pretty good list.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
The creators of D&D grew up watching the Blob and similar films that are no longer a big part of pop culture consciousness.
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