by Isabel Beis

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written by Isabel Beis

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, the dragon ampersand, and all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries.

This work contains material that is copyright Wizards of the Coast and/or other authors. Such material is used with permission under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild.

All other original material in this work is copyright 2016 by Isabel Beis and published under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild.

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ContentsThis book is a collection of monsters both taken from previous editions of D&D and newly created, inspired by sources both in and outside the game. The monsters in this book are used the same way as those in the Monster Manual and Player’s Handbook. Each monster has one or more stat blocks to represent one or several variations of the creature. The Monster Manual explains how to use monster and NPC stat blocks and how each element of a stat block functions in the game.

Achaierai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Allip* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Arcadian Avenger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Arcanian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Arrowhawk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Astral Stalker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Athach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Automatons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Balhannoth* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Banderhobbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Banedead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Banshrae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Berbalang* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Bladeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Blood Fiend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Bloodfire Ooze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Bloodhulks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Bodak, Unmarked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Boggoul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Boneclaw* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Bonedrinker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Bonesinger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Briarvex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Cadaver Collector* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Catfolk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Cave Fisher, Toxic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Choker* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Chraal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Clockroach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Crucian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Crypt Thing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Cursed Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Deepspawn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Demons* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Destrachan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Displacer Serpent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Dragons, Cosmic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Drakkoth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Dread Guard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Dread Ram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Dryad, Briar Witch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Eidolons* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Equiceph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Ettercap Spiderherd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Fihyr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96Formians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Frost Salamander* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Frost Worm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Giants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Girallon Alpha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Gray Render* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108Gremlin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Grisgol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110Gulgar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Harbinger Beast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112Harpoon Spider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Howler* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Howler Wasp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Howling Echo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117Ibixian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118Igneous Strider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Inferno Spider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120Iron Cobra* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Kopru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122Krenshar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Kruthik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Larva Mage* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Lizardfolk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129Lodestone Marauder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132Lunar Ravager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Magma Hurler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134Maug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Meazel* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Meenlock Half-Spawn . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Merskarab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138Mimics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139Mohrg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142Nagas, Lesser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Nagpa* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145Nerra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146Nightshades* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148Nixie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150Norker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151Obyrith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152Ophidian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162Penanggalan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Phane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164Phantom Fungus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165Phargion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165Primal Lycanthropes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166Protectar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169Quicksilver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170Ramadeen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171Rast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172Ravid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173Redcap, Elder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174Rot Harbinger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175Sanguineous Drinker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Scaled Stalker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177Shadar-Kai* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178Shadow Beasts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179Shardmind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181Shardsoul Slayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182Shocker Lizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183Skulk* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184Skull Lord*. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185Skullbat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187Skum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188Spark Lasher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188Spectral Steed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189Spellweaver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190Spriggan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191Steel Predator* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192Stone Spike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193Stonechild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194Su Monster* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195Swarm Husk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196Thoqqua . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197Thorn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198Tojanida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199Tulgar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201Ulgurstasta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203Vampiric Mist* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204Verbeeg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205Vivisector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206Walking Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207Wicker Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208Wild Effigy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209Wilden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210Wood Woad, Tree Woad . . . . . . . . . . . 211Wrackspawn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212Xill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213Xvart Degenerate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214Yrthak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215Yugoloths* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Monsters as Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . 220Monster Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Appendix A: Miscellaneous Creatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Appendix B: Skeletons & Zombies . . . 232Appedix C: Elementals . . . . . . . . . . . . 244Appendix D: Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . 253Indices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

*This monster or monsters in this category have received alternative lore and names in the Critter Compendium Lore Update, available for free on the DM’s Guild, to make them usable in the same setting with their versions published in later official Wizards of the Coast publications.

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Bestiary

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AchaieraiAchaierai hail from the lower plane of Acheron, but can often be found on the material plane. Their features resemble those of birds, although achaierai have strangely short torsos, small, stubby wings, incapable of flight and possess an additional pair of long legs that make them excellent runners. Achaierai are fast, predatory creatures, who prefer open plains as their hunt-ing grounds. They use their height to spot smaller prey in the wilderness and their long, powerful legs to close the distance fast and then bring down the target with powerful attacks from their claws and beak.

Pack Hunters. Achaierai can often be found roaming in groups, where their ability to speak and coordinate attacks makes them more effective as hunters than natural pack preda-tors. A large enough pack of achaierai is not afraid to even attack small villages and torment and consume their inhabitants.

Consummate Torturers. Despite their animalistic appear-ance, achaierai are intelligent creatures with a distinct taste for

torture. Achaierai often avoid killing their prey outright, instead inflicting as much pain as possible on their victim before con-sumption. As a result, an achaierai’s favourite prey tend to be intelligent creatures, such as humanoids, whose suffering is more expressed and delects the achaierai’s senses more than that of a simple animal.

Cloud of Insanity. An achaierai can release a black cloud of toxic gas, which, if it doesn’t kill its victim, will cause a tem-porary loss of lucidity, which can lead to the victim becoming dangerous to its own allies or even itself.

The achaierai delights in the mayhem its toxin can cause, but also knows how to use it to its advantage in battle, disrupting hostile creatures and clearing a way to priority targets.

AchaieraiLarge fiend, lawful evil

Armor Class 15 (natural armor)Hit Points 53 (7d10 + 14)Speed 50 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA16 (+3) 15 (+2) 14 (+2) 11 (+0) 14 (+2) 16 (+3)

Damage Immunities poisonCondition Immunities poisonedSenses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12Languages Infernal Challenge 3 (700 XP)

Magic Resistance. The achaierai has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

ActionsMultiattack. The achaierai makes two melee attacks: one with its bite and one with its claws.Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one tar-get. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) piercing damage.Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) slashing damage.Black Cloud. The achaierai releases a choking black cloud. Creatures within 10 feet must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw, taking 7 (2d6) poison damage on a failure or half as much damage on a success.

Additionally on a failure, the creature can’t take reactions for one minute. At the start of each of its turns it rolls a d4 to determine what it does: On a 1 or 2, the creature does nothing. On a 3, the creature takes no action or bonus action and uses all its movement to move in a randomly deter-mined direction. On a 4, the creature makes a melee attack against a randomly determined creature within its reach or does nothing if it can’t make such an attack. At the end of each of its turns, a creature can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on itself on a success.

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AllipMedium undead, neutral evil

Armor Class 12Hit Points 26 (4d8 + 8)Speed 0 ft., fly 40 ft. (hover)

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA6 (–2) 14 (+2) 14 (+2) 11 (+0) 11 (+0) 16 (+3)

Damage Resistances acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons that aren’t silvered

Damage Immunities necrotic, poisonCondition Immunities charmed, exhaustion,

frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10Languages — Challenge 2 (450 XP)

Babble. An allip constantly mutters and whines to itself, creating a hypnotic effect. A creature that starts its turn within 60 feet of the allip and can hear it must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed for 1 minute. While charmed, the creature is incapacitated and can’t move or speak. At the end of each of its turns, a creature can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on itself on a suc-cess. A creature that succeeded on the saving throw cannot be affected by the same allip’s Babble ability for the next 24 hours.Ethereal Sight. The allip can see 60 feet into the Ethereal Plane when it is on the Material Plane and vice versa.Incorporeal Movement. The allip can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. It takes 5 (1d10) force damage if it ends its turn inside an object.Mind of Madness. A creature that targets an allip with a spell or ability, trying to read its thoughts, takes 10 (3d6) psychic damage and must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or gain disadvantage on Wisdom checks and saving throws for 24 hours. A creature that is reduced to 0 hit points while under this effect automatically stabilizes but perma-nently falls into a coma and is unconscious until healed by a restoration spell or similar magic.

ActionsTouch of Madness. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (3d6) psychic damage and the tar-get must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or gain disad-vantage on Wisdom checks and saving throws for 24 hours. A creature that is reduced to 0 hit points while under this effect automatically stabilizes but permanently falls into a coma and is unconscious until healed by a restoration spell or similar magic.

AllipAllips are what is left of the spirit of someone who was driven to suicide by madness. The allip’s appearance, while vaguely humanoid, mirrors the warped and tattered state of its mental state in life.

Seeking Vengeance. Allips crave revenge and relentlessly seek out those who tormented them in life and ruined their sanity. An allip will stop at nothing to exact vengeance on its tormentors.

Spirits of Madness. Being incorporeal creatures, allips can-not inflict physical harm on other creatures, though they don’t appear to be aware of this, their distorted insubstantial limbs flailing madly at any creature they come close to, inflicting no physical wounds. However, their touch can sap the target’s men-tal health, rending its psyche asunder.

Insane Whispers. An allip constantly mutters and whines, incoherently and obsessively repeating to itself the horrors and injustices it had to endure. Those who listen often become so enraptured by the unintelligible noise emanating from the spirit, that they forget themselves and the danger the creature poses, becoming easy prey for the allip.

Undead Nature. An allip doesn’t require air, food, drink, or sleep.

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