Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy
Monsters (193)
A
- Acolyte - 1st level NPC magic-users
- Air Elemental - Huge vortexes of whirling air
- Ape, White - Albino, herbivorous, gorilla-like apes that live in caves and emerge at night to forage
- Arachnid, Giant Tarantella - Huge, hairy, nocturnal arachnid carnivores with large heads and mandibles and 10 legs
B
- Baluchitherium - Giant (12' at the shoulder), ancient relatives of the rhinoceros, with massive, blunt horns
- Bandit - NPC thieves who live by robbery
- Basilisk - 10' long, serpentine lizards. Unintelligent, but highly magical
- Bat - Small, nocturnal flying mammal with natural sonar
- Berserker - Fighters who enter a rage in battle. They never take prisoners.
- Black Bear - 6' tall; favour eating berries and roots
- Black Dragon - Dwell in swamps and marshes
- Black Pudding - Amorphous creature that lives only to eat, scouring underground areas for organic matter
- Black Widow - 6' long, black spiders with a red hourglass pattern on their abdomens
- Blink Dog - Strange wolf-like creatures that can teleport at will
- Blue Dragon - Favour open plains and deserts
- Boar - Bad-tempered wild swine covered in coarse, grayish-black fur
- Brigand - Outlaws and mercenaries who make a living by raiding settlements and attacking travellers
- Buccaneer - Sailors who make a living by raiding coastal settlements and robbing other ships
- Bugbear - Huge, hairy goblins standing about 6 feet tall with darkish brown eyes
C
- Caecilia - Gigantic (30' long), grey, worm-like amphibians, with huge, toothed maws
- Camel - Irascible animals that are adapted to life in dry climates
- Carrion Crawler - 9' long, 3' high, many-legged, segmented worms with a ring of 2' long tentacles around their mouths
- Cave Bear - Ferocious, 15' tall grizzly bears found in caves and Lost World settings
- Centaur - Half man, half horse creatures that are haughty, aloof, but very honorable
- Centipede, Giant - Larger versions of normal centipedes, 2 to 3 feet long, fast-moving predatory venomous arthropods
- Chimera - Strange creatures having a lion's body with the heads of a lion, a goat, and a dragon, and the wings of a dragon
- Cloud Giant - Aggressive, 20' tall humanoids with skin and hair ranging from grey to white
- Cockatrice - A strange creature appearing to be a chicken with a long serpentine neck and tail
- Crab Spider - 5' long hunting spiders that can change their colour to match their surroundings
- Cyclops - 20' tall humanoids with a single, central eye
D
- Dervish - Fanatically religious, nomadic people who wander steppes and desert regions, living in tents
- Devil Swine - Corpulent humans who can change into huge swine
- Dire Wolf - Efficient pack hunters that will kill anything they can catch
- Displacer Beast - Large, black, six-legged, semi-intelligent monsters. Look similar to panthers with a tentacle growing from each front shoulder
- Djinni - Humanoid creatures from the Elemental Plane of Air
- Doppelganger - Intelligent, human-sized shape-shifters of wicked character and highly magical nature
- Draco - 6' long, carnivorous lizards with skin flaps between legs that enable gliding
- Draft Horse - Bred for great strength and endurance. Used to pull vehicles and ploughs or as beasts of burden
- Dragon Turtle - Massive aquatic creatures up to 200 feet long, occasionally mistaken for rocky outcroppings or small islands
- Dryad - Female nature spirits mystically bound to enormous oak trees
- Dwarf - Short, stocky, bearded demihumans who dwell in mountains and subterranean realms
E
- Earth Elemental - Huge, humanoid figures of earth or stone
- Efreeti - Humanoid creatures from the Elemental Plane of Fire, about 12 feet tall and 2,000 pounds
- Elephant - Massive herbivores with valuable ivory tusks
- Elf - Slender, fey demihumans with pointed ears. Live in harmony with nature, in beautiful natural settings.
F
- Fire Beetle - 2½' long. Commonly found underground
- Fire Elemental - Whirling columns of fire
- Fire Giant - 16' tall humanoids with black hair and red skin
- Frost Giant - 18' tall humanoids with pale skin and pale, yellow or blue hair
G
- Gargoyle* - Demonic-looking winged humanoid monsters with gray stone-like skin
- Gecko - 5' long, carnivorous, nocturnal lizards with light blue scales and orange spots
- Gelatinous Cube - Nearly transparent cube that travels dungeon corridors absorbing carrion, creatures, and trash
- Ghoul - Undead monsters which eat the flesh of dead humanoids to survive
- Giant Ant - Giant (6' long), omnivorous, black ants
- Giant Aquatic Termite - Giant (1'–5' long), wood-eating, aquatic insects with a sack to take in and jet out water
- Giant Bass - Shy fish that only attack when seeing a bite-size morsel
- Giant Catfish - 15' long, pale white fish with four feelers that lurk in mud
- Giant Crab - Unintelligent crustaceans that lurk in coastal waters and creep along beaches
- Giant Crocodile - More than 50' long crocodile that will attack small ships
- Giant Ferret - 3' long ferrets that hunt giant rats in their burrows
- Giant Octopus - Giant, eight-armed cephalopods. Lurk in coastal waters, close to settlements.
- Giant Piranha - 5' long piranhas with black and green scales that attack anything in water
- Giant Rattler - 10' long snakes with brown and white diamond patterns on their scales, and a rattle of rasping scales on their tails
- Giant Rockfish - Spiny fish with lumpy, rock-like skin that live in saltwater shallows
- Giant Scorpion - Huge arachnids, as big as a small horse, with pincers and deadly stingers
- Giant Shrew - Brown-furred, mole-like, insectivores with long snouts. Dwell underground; skilled burrowers.
- Giant Squid - Giant, ten-armed cephalopods. Two of the ten arms are larger, and may be used to attack ships
- Giant Sturgeon - Huge aggressive fish with armour plating, nearly 30' long
- Giant Toad - Warty amphibians with long, sticky tongues. As large as a great hound, weighing 150 to 250 pounds.
- Giant Weasel - 8' to 9' long, vicious, predatory mammals with rich fur of brown, gold, or white
- Gnoll - Hyena-headed, evil humanoids that wander in loose tribes
- Gnome - Small humanoids standing 3 to 3½ feet tall with tan to woody brown skin
- Goblin - Small, wicked humanoids that favor ambushes, overwhelming odds, and dirty tricks
- Gold Dragon - May be encountered in any terrain, often in the guise of a person or animal
- Golem, Amber - Amber golems are generally built to resemble lions or other great cats
- Golem, Bone* - Huge four-armed monsters created from the skeletons of at least two dead humanoids
- Golem, Bronze* - Ten-foot-tall bronze statue golem with molten metal interior
- Golem, Wood* - Small constructs not more than 4' in height, crudely made of wood
- Gorgon - Magical monsters resembling cattle made of iron
- Green Dragon - Lair in jungles and forests
- Green Slime - Dripping, green slime that clings to walls and ceilings
- Grey Ooze - Slimy horrors that lurk on stone surfaces or among boulders
- Griffon - Large carnivorous creatures resembling lions with the head, foreclaws and wings of eagles
- Grizzly Bear - Aggressive, 9' tall. Silver-tipped fur, brown or reddish brown in colour
H
- Halfling - Diminutive, furry-footed demihumans who dwell in small villages (30–300 inhabitants)
- Harpy - A giant vulture bearing the torso and face of a human female
- Hawk - Raptors that prey on small creatures
- Hell Hound - Monstrous, cunning, and very intelligent hounds, the size of a small pony. Breathe fire and love heat.
- Hill Giant - Hairy, brutish, 12' tall humanoids of low intelligence
- Hippogriff - Large flying horses with the forefront of a bird of prey
- Hobgoblin - Larger cousins of goblins, about the same size as humans with dark orange or red-orange skin
- Horned Chameleon - 7' long lizards whose scales change colour as camouflage
- Hydra - Reptile-like monsters with multiple heads, gray-brown to dark brown with light yellow or tan underbelly
I
- Insect Swarm - A large group of ordinary flying or crawling insects moving as a unit
- Invisible Stalker - Creatures native to the Elemental Plane of Air that serve wizards and sorcerers
K
- Killer Bee - Giant (1' long) bees of aggressive temperament. Build hives underground.
- Killer Whale - 25' long, carnivorous whales. Dwell in cold waters and hunt sea creatures (including other whales)
- Kobold - Small, dog-faced reptilian humanoids
L
- Large Crocodile - 20' or more long crocodile that may attack small watercraft
- Large Herd Animal - Wild animals that live in large, grazing herds
- Leech, Giant - Slimy, segmented wormlike creatures which live in water
- Lion - Large cat found in grasslands and savannas with muscular bodies and prominent manes on males
- Living Statue - Animated statues of any size and material
- Lizardman - Semi-intelligent, tribal, aquatic humanoids with reptilian heads and tails
- Lycanthrope - Shapechangers with a human and an animal form
M
- Manticore - An overgrown lion with thick leathery wings and an ugly humanoid face
- Mastodon - Intelligent, aggressive prehistoric relatives of the elephant
- Medium Herd Animal - Wild animals that live in large, grazing herds
- Medusa - Human female with vipers for hair whose gaze turns victims to stone
- Merchant - Organized traders who travel between settlements in well-armed caravans, buying and selling trade goods
- Merfolk - Aquatic humanoids with fish tails in place of legs. Live in coastal waters, farming seaweed and hunting fish
- Minotaur - Huge bull-headed humanoid monsters
- Mountain Lion - Great cats about 7 feet long and 140 pounds that hunt day or night
- Mule - Stubborn horse/donkey cross-breeds used as beasts of burden
- Mummy - Undead monsters, linen-wrapped preserved corpses animated through dark desert gods
N
- Narwhal - 15' long, intelligent, magical whales with grey to white skin and an 8' long, spiralling horn on their nose. Live independent and secretive lives in arctic waters
- Neanderthal - Squat, powerful, primitive demihumans with ape-like faces
- Nixie - Small water fairies with pale green skin and dark green hair
- Noble - Powerful humans with noble titles (e.g. Count, Duke, Knight, etc.)
- Nomad - Superstitious tribes who wander steppes and desert regions, living in tents or temporary huts
- Normal Crocodile - Large reptiles that are ungainly on land and live primarily in water
- Normal Human - Non-adventuring humans without a character class
- Normal Wolf - Carnivorous relatives of dogs that hunt in packs
O
- Ochre Jelly - Giant, ochre amoeboids
- Ogre - Large, brutish, ugly humanoids standing 9-10 feet tall
- Oil Beetle - 3' long, burrowing beetles sometimes encountered below ground
- Orc - Grotesque humanoids bent on war and domination
- Owl Bear - Huge (8' tall, 1,500 pounds), ill-tempered, carnivorous bear-like creature with the face of an owl
P
- Panther - High-speed hunters that live in plains and forests
- Pegasus - Winged horse prized as aerial steed, shy creatures living in highest mountains
- Pirate - Sailors who make a living by raiding coastal settlements, robbing other ships, and illegal slaving
- Pit Viper - 5' long snakes with grey/green scales
- Polar Bear - Aggressive, white-furred bears that stand 11' tall and live in cold regions
- Pteranodon - Giant-sized pterodactyls with wingspans of 25 feet or more
- Pterodactyl - Prehistoric winged reptilian creatures with a wingspan of around 25 to 30 inches
- Purple Worm - Gigantic subterranean monsters with poisonous stingers
R
- Rat - Multitudinous, disease-ridden rodents that will eat anything
- Red Dragon - Dwell in hills and mountains
- Rhinoceros - Dim, armoured, herbivorous mammals
- Riding Horse - Lightly built horses adapted to run at high speed
- Robber Fly - 3' long, carnivorous flies with yellow and black stripes that hunt killer bees
- Roc - Giant eagle-like birds with dark brown or golden plumage
- Rock Baboon - Large, particularly intelligent variety of baboon that is omnivorous but prefers meat
- Rock Cricket - 2–3' long, herbivorous, giant crickets that dwell in caverns
- Rock Python - 20' long snakes with spiralling brown and yellow patterns on their scales
- Rust Monster - Strange monster built like a huge turtle with insectoid head and feather-like antennae
S
- Sabre-Toothed Tiger - Huge, aggressive cats with foot-long fangs. Normally only found in Lost World regions
- Salamander, Flame - Giant flaming serpent from the Elemental Plane of Fire with dragon-like head and lizard forelimbs
- Salamander, Frost - Giant six-legged lizard from the Elemental Plane of Water with ice-colored scales
- Sea Dragon - Intelligent, aquatic dragons with green scales, fin-like wings, and a yellowish crest
- Sea Serpent - Serpentine monsters which live in the sea, ranging from 20' to 40' long
- Sea Snake - 6' long snakes that live underwater, coming up for breath only once per hour
- Shadow* - An incorporeal creature that drains Strength with its touch
- Shark - Aggressive, predatory fish of low intelligence and unpredictable behaviour
- Shrieker - Large, semi-mobile fungus that wails loudly when approached or threatened
- Skeleton - Mindless undead created to guard tombs or serve their creator
- Small Herd Animal - Wild animals that live in large, grazing herds
- Spectre - Incorporeal undead monsters that drain life energy
- Sperm Whale - Gargantuan whales up to 60' long. Dwell in open oceans and hunt deep sea monsters (e.g. giant squids)
- Spitting Cobra - 3' long snakes with grey/white scales
- Sprite - Reclusive fey creatures, looking like tiny elves just a foot tall with dragonfly-like wings
- Stegosaurus - Stocky, herbivorous dinosaurs with a ridge of plates along their backs, and a tail studded with spikes
- Stirge - Weird winged creatures resembling hairless bats with tubular proboscis
- Stone Giant - 14' tall humanoids with stone-like, grey skin
- Storm Giant - 22' tall humanoids with bronze-hued skin and garish hair (red or yellow)
T
- Tarantella - 7' long, hairy hunting spiders that resemble tarantulas. Magical in nature
- Thoul - Magical monstrosities that look like hobgoblins (except on close inspection), but combine the powers of ghouls and trolls
- Tiger - Large striped great cat with orange fur and dark vertical stripes
- Tiger Beetle - Carnivorous, 4' long, tiger-striped beetles with powerful, crushing mandibles
- Trader - 1st level fighters who live by trading in borderland areas
- Treant - Large, roughly humanoid tree-people that resemble oak trees when still
- Triceratops - Massive (12' to the shoulder, almost 40' long), aggressive, herbivorous dinosaurs with a protective crest behind the head, and three long horns
- Troglodyte - Intelligent, reptilian humanoids with agile hands, long legs, short tails, and spiky combs on their heads and arms
- Troll - Huge, rangy humanoids with lumpy grayish-green skin and regenerative powers
- Tuatara - 8' long, iguana-like, carnivorous lizards with olive scales and a ridge of white spikes along the back
- Tyrannosaurus Rex - Great (over 20' tall), two-legged, predatory dinosaurs with huge jaws
U
- Unicorn - Horselike creatures with a single spirally-twisted horn in the middle of the forehead
V
W
- War Horse - Bred for strength and courage in battle
- Water Elemental - Huge waves of water
- Werebear - Highly intelligent, also in bear form
- Wereboar - Semi-intelligent and irascible
- Wererat - Intelligent, humanoid rats who can change into normal humans
- Weretiger - Exhibit feline behaviour
- Werewolf - Semi-intelligent pack hunters
- White Dragon - Found in cold regions
- Wight - A weird and twisted reflection of the form it had in life
- Wild Horse - Lightly built horses adapted to run at high speed
- Wraith - Incorporeal creatures born of evil and darkness
- Wyvern - A huge flying lizard with a poisonous stinger in its tail, distant cousin to true dragons
Y
- Yellow Mould - Deadly fungus that covers walls, ceilings, and other surfaces
Z
- Zombie - Undead corpses of humanoid creatures that are deathly slow but move silently and are very strong
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