What D&D monster has changed the most over the years?

[steeldragons]

Dang! the_orc_within beat me to the kobolds.(gotta spread it around again or I would have given you some XP) Maybe not changed "the most". But significant (and distastefully) enough for my taste.

Also I think, dun dun dunnnn, the Drow.

What they were created/as originally presented to what they are like in today (and, I suppose since around 2e) are definitely not the same.

If for no other reason than going from the original Fiend Folio to being an acceptable PC race.

--SD

 

[BriarMonkey]

Amongst those changed, there's also the Green Slime. In 1st Edition, it was a monster; now, it's an environmental condition.

As for least changed, I'm thinking that pretty much all the animals have stayed pretty much untouched through the editions. You know, like the wolf, badger, weasel, etc.

 

[amerigoV]

Green slime - it went from a monster, to a subcategory under ooze, to a hazard (did it make it into 4e?).

 

[NewJeffCT]

Pre 4e lamia: Cruel human/lion hybrid.
4e lamia: Sentient swarm of bugs.

I think that's odder than the archons.

Good call on the lamia!

I was running a converted 4E version of Rise of the Runelords and there are lamias mixed throughout. However, they were not converted as swarms in the modules, so I tend to forget them. And, isn't the lamia in myth what it was in editions 1-3.5 - a woman with the lower body a serpent/snake?

 

[Shemeska]

Good call on the lamia!

I was running a converted 4E version of Rise of the Runelords and there are lamias mixed throughout. However, they were not converted as swarms in the modules, so I tend to forget them. And, isn't the lamia in myth what it was in editions 1-3.5 - a woman with the lower body a serpent/snake?

Two different lamias appear in 3.x. There was one with the lower body of a lion, and another 'noble lamia' that had the lower body of a snake. I think the second one was done with some intention of making up for the first one in 3.x which was itself different from how it was often presented in mythology (I don't know how it appeared in 1e or 2e).

 

[NewJeffCT]

Two different lamias appear in 3.x. There was one with the lower body of a lion, and another 'noble lamia' that had the lower body of a snake. I think the second one was done with some intention of making up for the first one in 3.x which was itself different from how it was often presented in mythology (I don't know how it appeared in 1e or 2e).

I think I remember a male lion lamia before 3E, but I'm not sure. However, I think the one with the lower lion body was the male version, while the one with the snake lower body was the female version.

But, I could be wrong.

 

[pawsplay]

Orcs. They started off as Chaotic brutes with pig-faces. Then they became brown or greenish brown LE brutes who attacked each other all the time. In 2e, they stopped being pig-faced and became more broad-snouted. In 3e, they become gray, with snub noses, very tall, and monstrously (+4) strong, and by this point were often barbarians, and in some cases, led by druids. About the only common theme throughout is that they are violent, tribal, generally nocturnal, and none too bright. Also, in many cases, they seem to worship some form of crypto-Sauron.

How about gargoyles? They started off as magical constructs, then became magical beasts, and then extra-planar creatures.

Shadows. Originally they were not undead and could not be turned. Then, in AD&D, it was decided they were undead and could be turned. Then the incorporeal subtype was invented, and they became incorporeal.

 

[Huw]

Don't have the books on hand to check, but I think that several demons/tanar'i/baatezu/devils/daemons/yugoloth have undergone many changes in spell inventory between editions. Pit Fiends got a wish in 2e IIRC.

 

[Wik]

Sorry. You're all wrong. The correct answer is HALFLINGS.

Halflings have changed so much over the editions, it's not even funny.

in BECMI, they were hair-footed little gluttons who really didn't have a lot going for them mechanically, and capped out at level 8. Basically, you played a halfling, and then whined to the GM that if you had known you'd stop playing at level 8, you would've played a fighter instead.

Then 1e came around, and halflings became excellent thieves. Still hairy feet, less gluttonous.

2e? Three different flavours of halfling! All Useless compared to an elf!

3e? Goodbye, hairy feet. Goodbye beer belly. Hello, useful mechanical bonuses.

4e? Guess what? Halflings don't even live in shires anymore. Now they live in river communities.

Not to mention that, through all this, halfling height has gone up, and down, and then sideways. Halfling age went from "lives considerably longer than humans" to "lives slightly longer than humans" to "lives like humans".

 

[pawsplay]

Sorry. You're all wrong. The correct answer is HALFLINGS.

I thought of them, but even with 3e kenderization, I think they have a hard time catching up to kobolds in orcs, in terms of being completely different other than three or four words used to describe them.