Yeah, not only were there five in the Fiend Folio, Gygax saw fit to add a sixth in MM II...
D&D General The abandoned core monsters of D&D
Finishing up with 2e... the Monstrous Manual! Another big block of abandoned core monsters here.
Why were they included? The easy answer would be as with the 1e and 2e compilations, they were just trying to put everything they had in one place. But that's not quite true here - there are hundreds of other monsters from the 2e Monstrous Compendium series that didn't make it into this hardcover. That suggests most if not all of these were considered a "best-of" selection, worthy additions to what had been in the first two MCs. So what makes these stand above the rest?
Also worth noting is that every then-current 2e setting was represented here. Not just Greyhawk and the Realms, but also Dragonlance, Kara-Tur, Spelljammer, Ravenloft, Dark Sun, and Al-Qadim. Maybe it was just for advertising purposes, but they actually didn't nod much to the setting origins in the text. So again, these seem like favorites. What might have been the appeal?
Why were these cut? Well, to be fair, some cuts were necessary - this is just a lot of creatures, they couldn't all carry forward! And as with MC Vol. 1 and 2, a lot were variations on a better-established monster, which made them easy to trim. But there are still a few surprising omissions, like gremlins.
Any other thoughts on these monsters? Speaking for myself, this book is near and dear to my heart, as it was the one that led me to playing D&D (unlike the Fiend Folio, which was also very important to my childhood but didn't push me towards the game). And a lot of these cuts remain personal favorites: especially the crypt thing, deepspawn, and wemic.
- Arcane (mercane)
- Argos
- Aurumvorax
- Broken one
- Crabman (crab folk)
- Crypt thing
- Deepspawn
- Eyewing
- Feyr
- Firedrake
- Gargantua (humanoid, insectoid, and reptilian)
- Giant bloodworm
- Giant carp
- Gibberling
- Giff
- Gloomwing
- Grippli
- Half-ogre
- Hatori
- Kirre
- Living wall
- Mist mephit
- Moon dog
- Neogi (normal and great old master)
- Phantom
- Sirine
- Tabaxi (and tabaxi lord)
- Tako
- Wemic
- Wereraven
- Zaratan
- Mummy, greater
- Shedu, greater
- Abishai (black, green, and red) (baatezu/devil)
- Archlich (lich)
- Bird maiden (swanmay)
- Maedar and glyptar (male medusa)
- Storoper (roper)
- Ustilagor (intellect devourer larva)
- Xaren (xorn)
- Yuan-ti histachii (broodguard)
- Beholder-kin: death kiss, director, examiner, hive mother, lensman, overseer, and watcher.
- Dragons: gem (amethyst, crystal, emerald, sapphire, topaz), brown, cloud, deep, mercury, mist, steel, and yellow.
- Elemental: composite (black cloud of vengeance, skriaxit, tempest, arctic tempest) and pech.
- Giants: desert, fog, jungle, mountain, reef, and wood (voadkyn).
- Gith: Dark Sun and pirate flavors.
- Gnome: tinker gnome and spriggan.
- Golems: bone, doll, gargoyle, glass, caryatid column, juggernaut, necrophidius, and stone guardian.
- Gremlins: gremlin, fremlin, galltrit, mite, and snyad (not to be confused with synad).
- Mists: vampiric and crimson death.
- Ooze/slime/jelly: mustard jelly, olive slime (and slime creature), and stunjelly.
- Skeleton: giant and skeleton warrior.
- Sprites: atomie and sea sprite.
- Trolls: desert, giant, ice, spectral, and spirit.
- Zombies: sea zombie and zombie lord.
- Bats: azmyth, night hunter, and sinister.
- Birds: 'wari, boobrie, condor, eblis, emre, kingfisher, raven (giant and huge), and skyfisher.
- Cats: elven and wild.
- Insects: aratha, aspis, assassin bug, bumblebee (giant), cave cricket, dragonfly (giant), firefriend (giant firefly), fly (giant), fyrefly, horax, pernicon, termite (giant harvester), and velvet ant (swarm).
- Mammals: bhaergala, chattur, cooshee (elven hound), dakon (not to be confused with Dak'kon), debbi, hsing-sing, losel, monkey spider, rothé, sleek, stench kow, Steppe pony, taer, and tyrg. Plus generic giant mammal.
- Plants: obliviax, quickwood, retch plant, snapper-saw, thornslinger, and thorny.
- Snakes: boalisk, elder serpent, heway, jaculi, and winged snake.
- Spiders: flying, hairy, trap door (giant), and watch.
Why were they included? The easy answer would be as with the 1e and 2e compilations, they were just trying to put everything they had in one place. But that's not quite true here - there are hundreds of other monsters from the 2e Monstrous Compendium series that didn't make it into this hardcover. That suggests most if not all of these were considered a "best-of" selection, worthy additions to what had been in the first two MCs. So what makes these stand above the rest?
Also worth noting is that every then-current 2e setting was represented here. Not just Greyhawk and the Realms, but also Dragonlance, Kara-Tur, Spelljammer, Ravenloft, Dark Sun, and Al-Qadim. Maybe it was just for advertising purposes, but they actually didn't nod much to the setting origins in the text. So again, these seem like favorites. What might have been the appeal?
Why were these cut? Well, to be fair, some cuts were necessary - this is just a lot of creatures, they couldn't all carry forward! And as with MC Vol. 1 and 2, a lot were variations on a better-established monster, which made them easy to trim. But there are still a few surprising omissions, like gremlins.
Any other thoughts on these monsters? Speaking for myself, this book is near and dear to my heart, as it was the one that led me to playing D&D (unlike the Fiend Folio, which was also very important to my childhood but didn't push me towards the game). And a lot of these cuts remain personal favorites: especially the crypt thing, deepspawn, and wemic.
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I wondered that too, but the greater mummy actually appeared separately in 3e's Deities and Demigods. That said, the mummy lord certainly seems to be the spiritual successor of the greater mummy, even if it's technically different!
Voadam
Legend
Yeah, again with no mention of Akhtepot or Ravenloft. Plus to complicate it further there is the officially licensed 3.0 Ravenloft Campaign Setting with its Ancient Dead mummy template including the classic Ravenloft/Monstrous Manual different power rank progressions as they age which the other two 3.0 ones don't.
Advancing onward from 2e, let's take a look at 3e!
Monster Manual (3.0)
There are no monsters only core in this book, and never again.
However, there are plenty introduced here that were only core in 3e:
Monster Manual (3.5)
A somewhat shorter list of core additions only appeared in this book:
Most of which were simply monster variants, to demonstrate advancement and templates and such. (There are actually even more if you count the ones that were just "add a class level".) Though the hellwasps, leonal, and inevitables stand out.
3e generally
The 3e set seems different in flavor to the sets for most earlier editions. Before, it could be argued they were just compiling all the monsters they had on hand, or at least picking a "best of" selection of same. But 3e? There seemed to be two major strands dominating this "once and never again" crowd: planar monsters, primarily drawn from 2e Planescape, and actual brand-new monsters. (3e probably has the largest number of the latter since the early days of the game.)
Considering how much of early 3e seemed to be evoking a return to 1e-style gaming, why put so much emphasis on these two blocs? Why not just pull forward more creatures from, say, the Fiend Folio or Monster Manual II (as the 2e books had)?
As for why these didn't carry forward? I haven't a clue this time. Any ideas?
And feel free to discuss your favorites, or un-favorites, of this set! (I'll be over here waiting for the yrthak to return.)
Monster Manual (3.0)
There are no monsters only core in this book, and never again.
However, there are plenty introduced here that were only core in 3e:
- Aasimar
- Achaierai
- Allip
- Animated object (generic)
- Aranea
- Arrowhawk
- Assassin vine
- Barghest
- Bebilith
- Belker
- Chaos beast
- Delver
- Digester
- Ethereal filcher
- Ethereal marauder
- Formian
- Frost worm
- Girallon
- Gray render
- Hellcat
- Howler
- Krenshar
- Lillend
- Megaraptor
- Mohrg
- Phantom fungus
- Phasm
- Rast
- Ravid
- Retriever
- Shocker lizard
- Skum
- Spider eater
- Tendriculos
- Thoqqua
- Tojanida
- Vargouille
- Xill
- Yeth hound
- Yrthak
- Flamebrother (salamander)
- Deep dwarf
- Deep halfling
- Wild elf (grugach)
- Templates: Celestial creature, fiendish creature, half-celestial, and half-fiend.
- Celestials: Hound archon, lantern archon, trumpet archon, and avoral (guardinal).
- Mephits: air, earth, ooze, salt, and water.
- Dire animals: ape, badger, bat, lion, shark, tiger, weasel, and wolverine.
- Regular animals: Dog (riding), donkey, giant (monitor) lizard, pony (war), and squid.
- Vermin: Monstrous centipede, monstrous scorpion, and monstrous spider (though various specific sizes of these were core in other editions).
Monster Manual (3.5)
A somewhat shorter list of core additions only appeared in this book:
- Hellwasp swarm
- Leonal (guardinal)
- Cauchemar (nightmare)
- Golden protector (lammasu)
- Nessian warhound (hell hound)
- Basilisk (abyssal greater; which seems to differ from 4e's abyssal basilisk, surprisingly)
- Black pudding (elder)
- Shadow (greater)
- Stone golem (greater)
- Umber hulk (truly horrid)
- Inevitables: kolyarut and zelekhut.
- Lycanthropes: werewolf lord and dire wereboar.
Most of which were simply monster variants, to demonstrate advancement and templates and such. (There are actually even more if you count the ones that were just "add a class level".) Though the hellwasps, leonal, and inevitables stand out.
3e generally
The 3e set seems different in flavor to the sets for most earlier editions. Before, it could be argued they were just compiling all the monsters they had on hand, or at least picking a "best of" selection of same. But 3e? There seemed to be two major strands dominating this "once and never again" crowd: planar monsters, primarily drawn from 2e Planescape, and actual brand-new monsters. (3e probably has the largest number of the latter since the early days of the game.)
Considering how much of early 3e seemed to be evoking a return to 1e-style gaming, why put so much emphasis on these two blocs? Why not just pull forward more creatures from, say, the Fiend Folio or Monster Manual II (as the 2e books had)?
As for why these didn't carry forward? I haven't a clue this time. Any ideas?
And feel free to discuss your favorites, or un-favorites, of this set! (I'll be over here waiting for the yrthak to return.)
Voadam
Legend
For not carrying over 4e had old core things with multiple variations each and their own new cosmology tie ins with multiple variations (elemental archons, mixed element elementals) and their layout of no carryover stats to a second page meant less room for existing stuff in general so not even all classic giants or dragon types let alone new 3e oddballs like a big cat whose face peels back to frighten prey.
5e continued this a bit with more complete coverage of classics but also a couple variations thrown in for a number at different CRs.
5e continued this a bit with more complete coverage of classics but also a couple variations thrown in for a number at different CRs.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
It was the first chance WotC had to put its fingerprints on D&D. I suspect a lot of it was stuff that they, and folks like Monte Cook, had been thinking about and enthusiastic about for years.
But like everyone's first campaign setting, there are plenty of things that were weird blind alleys that they'd rather forget, having done it. (Spider eaters? Really?)
So these new monsters might basically be ascended homebrew? Interesting idea. (I suppose that also suggests a reason some didn't stick around - their creators weren't around to advocate for them anymore.)
Orius
Legend
The 2e MM of course was the biggest core collection of all D&D monsters, so it's not surprising some of that stuff did not go core with 3e. A good amount that didn't carry over seems to be either setting specific stuff or stuff that had been second string in 1e or early 2e anyway.
From what I've read, some of the decisions on 3e's selection are about trying to ensure a diverse lineup of monsters from the various monster types with a decent CR spread, partially so the DM can customize encounter lists as needed, and partially to make sure that PCs with class abilities that interact with specific types of monsters can use their abilities. Monte Cook talked about this in a post from 20 years ago:
From what I've read, some of the decisions on 3e's selection are about trying to ensure a diverse lineup of monsters from the various monster types with a decent CR spread, partially so the DM can customize encounter lists as needed, and partially to make sure that PCs with class abilities that interact with specific types of monsters can use their abilities. Monte Cook talked about this in a post from 20 years ago:
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