D&D Monsters: Minotaurs

Minotaurs are another creature with their origin in Greek myth. In the original, there was, of course, only one Minotaur, trapped in a labyrinth and slain by Theseus. Contemporary Greek illustrations show a male human with the head and tail of a bull, more obviously a hybrid than the D&D version, but at least broadly similar. However, some of the myths were vague as to exactly what the Minotaur was supposed to look like, and in the Middle Ages an alternative with a centaur-like form, albeit often with horns on the human-like head, started showing up in art. The latter form had some popularity (it was the first illustration of it I saw as a child) but has declined in modern depictions.

Given that crawling around in subterranean labyrinths is part of the point of the original D&D, it's unsurprising that the Minotaur would be included in the game. Here, of course, it becomes a race of beings and thereby loses its capital letter. (As an aside, both "mine-otaur" and "minn-otaur" are legitimate pronunciations in UK English, although the latter seems to be preferred in the US. In Ancient Greek, it was apparently "meen-otaur", so, hey...).

D&D Monsters: Wights

The word "wight", as D&D books are always eager to remind us, originally just meant "person". It was common enough in this sense in medieval English, and into at least the seventeenth century (Shakespeare uses it, for one). After that, it becomes somewhat old-fashioned, and it's unlikely that anyone much has used the word in this sense for over a hundred years, at least outside of poetry. In 1869, however, a translator used the term "barrow-wight" (literally "tomb-person") to describe a form of undead from Norse legends. This term, of course, was later borrowed by Tolkien in Lord of the Rings. Gygax abbreviated it back to "wight" again for D&D, while retaining the "undead" meaning.

It's likely Gygax's coinage that influenced George R.R. Martin when he chose the word to describe his own, more zombie-like, beings. However, in his universe, it's the White Walkers that most closely resemble D&D's wights, although there are a number of clear differences, not least in terms of how they are created.

D&D Monsters: Harpies

Harpies are one of a number of D&D monsters that owe their origins to Greek myth. However, the story is not quite as simple as that, since they actually combine two different Greek monsters into a single being: the harpies themselves, and sirens. Both were said to be creatures that were part bird, part woman, but beyond that, there is little similarity between the two in the original sources.

Although very early descriptions of mythic harpies portray them as beautiful, the great majority show them as monstrous. As is often the case, there isn't complete consistency in the descriptions of which parts are avian and which parts humanoid, although something at least resembling the D&D form is the most common. Sirens were even more variable, and some early Greek artwork shows male examples as well as females. In essence, though, it is really only the signature attack - the siren call - that copies over to the D&D 'harpy', which in other respects, is more closely based on its namesake.

D&D Monsters: Ghouls

1E

The term "undead", as used in D&D actually refers to (at least) three different categories of being. First, there are the mindless undead, such as skeletons and zombies, which are effectively automata that happen to be made from corpses, rather than from inanimate matter. Then there are what we might term the "wilful corporeal" undead, where some kind of intelligence animates the physical body of the deceased, and finally the incorporeal undead, which are a different kind of entity altogether. Ghouls belong to the second of these categories, although they are unusual in the degree of physical transformation that they apparently go through.

Ghouls are originally a creature of Arabic folklore, in which they are a kind of demon (as in the name of the comic-book character Ra'as al-Ghul) that lives in the desert and lures people to their doom in order to kill them. In the eighteenth century, this was introduced to Europeans by Antoine Gaillard, who added the additional detail that they live in graveyards and eat the dead buried there.  This has remained the standard version ever since, although with significant variation.

D&D Monsters: Lycanthropes

In the real world, "lycanthrope" is just another word for "werewolf"; the word literally means "wolf-man" in Ancient Greek. In D&D, and many other RPGs, however, it's meaning has been expanded to refer to a general class of shapeshifters, of which werewolves are merely the most common example. While others have appeared in supplements from time to time, there are four core types other than werewolves. All of these operate in the same general way, in terms of how the moon, silver, and so on, affect them, and how they pass on the condition, so that what I've already said about werewolves typically applies to all of them, too.

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1E

Wererats

Wererats as such appear to be an invention of D&D, although some other legendary creatures (such as vampires) or evil sorcerers have often been said to be able to transform themselves into rats or similar vermin. Non-shapeshifting "rat-men" do predate D&D, but even they are a 20th century invention, appearing in stories by, among others, H.P. Lovecraft and Fritz Leiber. These are most likely the source of Gygax's inspiration.

Wererats are the lowest rung on the stepwise progression of 1E lycanthropes, although they already have the hit dice of a bugbear, the second highest creature in the 'evil humanoid' progression. Unlike the other lycanthropes they can, right from the beginning, transform into both rat and rat-man forms; the latter, unusually, retain human feet and regularly wield weapons. They live in communities of a dozen or so individuals and, according to 2E normally only breed with humans; the condition is passed on to the child only if the mother is the wererat (which makes sense for a bloodborne pathogen). 

D&D Monsters: Werewolves

Werewolves are a longstanding feature of European folklore, with references to men who can turn into wolves dating back to at least the Ancient Greeks, although the belief does not seem to have become widespread before the Middle Ages. For most of this time, however, werewolves seem to have been thought of as evil sorcerers or (in pre-Christian times) one-off individuals cursed by the gods. This "evil sorcerer" version most closely matches the sort of werewolf seen in the works of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis and is quite different from the D&D version.

That instead borrows from horror fiction, most notably the Universal Pictures Wolf Man films of the 1940s. Many of the tropes we associate with werewolves today were made popular by those films, and, in fact, often don't date back much further than the 19th century. In these films, however, as in some more modern examples such as An American Werewolf in London and Harry Potter, werewolves are portrayed as (mostly) tragic individuals, while in Twilight they seem relatively benign. D&D, like many other RPGs, makes them definitively evil although the potential for tragedy is still implicit in their ability to pass on the condition to others.

D&D Monsters: Trolls

Unlike the ogre, which seems to have a medieval origin, trolls have a pedigree that stretches back into ancient myth. Specifically, they are Scandinavian, where they are nocturnal humanoids, often living out in the wilds and at least suspicious of, if not outright hostile to, humans. Tolkien used them in the way that D&D later went on to use ogres, but retaining the mythic feature of them turning to stone in sunlight.

Many other fantasy works have used trolls in the "large, strong and stupid" role of D&D ogres, with the stone-based giants of Pratchett's Discworld and the grey-skinned mountain trolls of Harry Potter being particularly original or well-known examples. The troll of D&D, however, has no real resemblance to these, or to the mythic creature; Gygax instead stated that his inspiration was the 1961 novel Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson, which features a regenerating troll, along with a number of other tropes he adopted for the game.

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1E

Trolls are initially shown as cadaverous humanoids with a green or grey warty skin, exaggerated facial features, including a long pointed nose, and writhing tendrils in place of hair. The eyes are large black wells beneath a pronounced brow ridge. Trolls possess no visible genitalia, and so presumably do not reproduce in the human fashion, and have only four digits on their hands and feet - even then one of the toes appears vestigial.

Physically, they are powerful creatures, able to deliver a rapid series of blows, each more powerful than a typical sword-strike, and they have a rubbery hide that's thicker and more resilient than rhino-skin. Even without their regenerative powers, they are about halfway between ogres and the smallest of true giants in their ability to soak up damage - although some of this could be due to simple combat prowess, or a lack of truly vital organs. They also have acute senses, particularly smell (which would explain the large nose).

D&D Monsters: Ogres

Ogres are a common feature in folklore, in which they are typically powerful and brutish humanoids with a taste for human flesh. The word does not seem to go back any further than the Middle Ages, although the basic concept is, of course, much older, and similar beings exist in a variety of ancient myths. Inevitably, they have been widely used in fantasy literature, although they don't appear in Tolkien, since he adapted the same word-root into his "orc".

The D&D concept of the ogre, however, seems to owe a lot to Tolkien's trolls, and as a big, stupid, foe with no particular frills beyond sheer strength, they seem a popular opponent to throw at low-level characters.

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1E

As described in 1E, ogres are powerful humanoids, closer in size to the smallest of giants than to humans. The image shows enlarged ears and a flattened face with a sloping forehead. Oddly, their feet bend in the middle, and there is a spur (possibly one of the toes) pointing backwards from the heel. In other respects, however, their build is essentially human-like. Their skin is said to vary from yellow to very dark brown, and to have numerous warty bumps that aren't apparent in the illustration.

D&D Monsters: Bugbears

While in modern English, the term "bugbear" is really only used to mean a source of irritation or a recurring problem, it did originally refer to a kind of supernatural being. The first half of the word likely has the same origin as the word "bogeyman", and implies a sort of evil spirit. Whether or not the second half was originally meant to indicate that the spirit in question looked bear-like is less apparent, but it was certainly used as such in the Late Middle Ages. By that time, bugbears, like the bogeyman, seem to have been used more as something to frighten children into obedience (such as, say, not wandering off into the forest) than as anything seriously believed in by adults.

The D&D conception of the bugbear is initially an exceptionally large and hairy goblin. Its function in the original editions is as a means of extending the list of five "evil tribal humanoid" races one further step, and thus providing a continuing challenge once characters had reached 3rd level or so. As with those other races, they have become more detailed and varied in use since.

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1E

In 1st edition, the five tribal races of evil humanoid form a distinct game mechanical hierarchy, running from kobolds to gnolls. Bugbears are essentially the same idea continued one step beyond the gnolls. In fact, almost the only difference between the two races in terms of game statistics is that the bugbear has one extra hit die, and thus a 5% higher chance of landing a blow in combat and (on average) 5 extra hit points.

D&D Monsters: Sahuagin

While mermen have obvious mythological antecedents, the idea of bipedal fish-men such as the sahuagin is a more modern one. This is not to say that occasional pictures resembling such things don't appear in the odd medieval manuscript, or whatever (the Polish bishop-fish is one such example), but there's rarely much detail associated with them beyond the image. Instead, the concept of the sahuagin is more likely to have been influenced by H.P. Lovecraft's Deep Ones and/or the eponymous monster in the 1954 film Creature from the Black Lagoon.

While there are other generally similar-looking fish-men in the D&D canon, the sahuagin have the distinction of being the only one to appear in both the 1st and 5th edition versions of the Monster Manual, so I'll use them as a proxy for the others here. Of note is the fact that, unlike merfolk, they are regarded as "evil" and therefore make suitable monsters, creeping ashore to menace seaside fishing villages or attacking boats.

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1E

As seen in 1E, sahuagin are basically humanoid, but covered in a scaly dark green hide as tough as chain armour. The image shows a somewhat ape-like face with heavy brow-ridges and a spined and webbed crest running from the top of the head down to at least the shoulders and likely further than that. Similarly shaped fins are seen running down the arms and the back of the legs, and there are visible gill-slits on the neck. Physically, they are tougher than typical humans and more intelligent with it.

D&D Monsters: Merfolk

Merfolk are, like centaurs, one of those races that a very common in fantasy settings, but that seem to be present in RPGs largely because they feel like the sort of thing that ought to be, rather than because actually anyone uses them much. Mythically, they are an ancient concept, appearing in tales dating back to the very dawn of civilisation, although, naturally the details vary across time and culture.

Fantasy worlds in literature often include merfolk, although they are often only mentioned in passing. They exist, for example, in both the Narnia and Harry Potter books, and they have become somewhat more popular of late, often in horror films. Some of these versions are inspired by the relatively benign folk of Hans Christie Andersen's The Little Mermaid, while others reflect humanity's ambivalent relationship with the sea, and our perception of fish as 'ugly'. Earlier myths often do a bit of both, with a particular theme being that mermen are ugly and wont to drown sailors, while mermaids are sexy and seductive.

D&D Monsters: Troglodytes

Having looked at the lizardfolk a few months ago, I'm going to (more briefly, I suspect) look at the other low-level race of reptilian humanoids in D&D: the troglodytes. Like lizardfolk, troglodytes have no real counterpart in mythology or legend.

Having said which, the term, which literally means "cave-divers" in Ancient Greek, is an old one, and was used to refer to a purported human tribe by Herodotus back in the 5th century BC, and by other authors since. It's often used to refer to cave-dwelling subterranean races, such as H.G. Wells' Morlocks, and even has its place in modern taxonomy as a part of the scientific names of a number of creatures (most notably chimpanzees and wrens). But none of these things have any real connection to the race described by Gygax, for which, so far as one can tell, he simply borrowed the name.

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1E

Troglodytes, as described in the original Monster Manual, are a reptilian humanoid race distinguished from lizardfolk by a number of features. Their feet are more digitigrade (that is, they stand on their toes, but not on their heel), their tail and snout shorter, and their head more rounded. They are also slightly shorter, but more heavily built, and have a large crest on their head supported by a row of spines - while lizardfolk now have a head-crest as well, this did not appear until 3E, making it perhaps the most obvious physical difference at the time.

They live only in subterranean caverns, as one would expect given their name, and hate all human life. (From context, this probably means mammalian humanoids in general, rather than humans specifically). They have a similar intelligence to the more bestial lizardfolk, and don't wear any form of clothing or armour, with only a few belts to carry their primitive stone tools and weapons. Despite being chaotic, they live in communities averaging a hundred or so individuals, with chieftains and other leaders, but perhaps little in the way of formal organisation or customs.

D&D Monsters: Lizardfolk

The idea of reptilian humanoids is one that's quite common in science fiction, but rather less so in fantasy literature, at least in its early days, presumably because they don't have much in the way of mythical antecedents. H.P. Lovecraft referred to a reptilian race in passing in his 1921 short story 'The Nameless City', while Robert E. Howard introduced a race of serpent people as antagonists in his own writings starting in 1929. Since Howard and Lovecraft were friends, later works considered these two instances to represent the same race, and they became part of the Cthulhu Mythos, and, eventually, the Call of Cthulhu RPG.

Although beings with a mix of humanoid and reptilian features do exist in some mythologies, none have much resemblance to lizardfolk as they exist in D&D, and it seems plausible that Gygax had something like Howard's race in mind when he created them. (Having said which, reptilian humanoids did also exist in SF at the time; Doctor Who's Silurians pre-date D&D, for example, but seem an implausible inspiration).

D&D Monsters: Centaurs

This series of posts doesn't exactly have a large audience, but I have nothing else to do this morning, so let's turn to a race that's a staple of fantasy in terms of its existence, but that, in my experience, is rarely seen in actual games: the centaur.

Centaurs, of course, originally appear in the myths of Ancient Greece, from whence they were borrowed by the Romans, and, later still, often seen in medieval bestiaries. (Similar creatures do appear in some other mythologies, but the true centaur that we're talking about here is the Greek one). They have regularly appeared in fantasy literature, with the Narnia and Harry Potter series being perhaps the best known examples. In the myths, they are sometimes wild and uncivilised hunters, and sometimes wise and noble teachers, reflecting their dual human/bestial form; novels have tended more towards the 'wise' version.

While the very earliest Greek depictions of centaurs varied somewhat in which bits were human and which bits horse, the classic look that we're familiar with today was already in place by about the 5th century BC, so it has a long pedigree, and unlike, say, goblins, there's strong agreement on what centaurs are supposed to look like. Both the human and horse parts are often said to be physically attractive for their species, and, while female centaurs appear only rarely in myth, they have been reasonably common in artwork even as far back as the Greek period.

D&D Monsters: Kobolds

Having recently looked at the toughest of the five standard "evil tribal humanoids" of D&D, it's time to complete the set by looking at the weakest. The kobolds of D&D have, it's fair to say, generally been treated with ridicule. That's not because they're particularly silly (although there are enough examples of creatures that are), but because they're so puny: one of the very few creatures that are likely to lose to first level characters, even when they have them outnumbered. The intent may be to have even first level characters appear heroic by defeating larger bands of foes; the result has mainly been to make those foes laughable.

The word "kobold" is German, and refers to a sort of capricious or malevolent sprite, similar to goblins in English folklore. They are often household spirits, but are, perhaps, better known as evil spirits haunting mines and bringing rock collapses and toxic vapours down on hapless miners. It's almost certainly this conception that Gygax used as inspiration when he devised the race for the earliest edition of D&D.

D&D Monsters: Gnolls

Continuing my look at some of the standard monsters of D&D, and continuing with the theme of the "evil tribal" races, it's time to turn to the gnolls - something that's particularly appropriate right now, given that they've recently been used as antagonists on Critical Role.

Although it has also been borrowed by other works, such as Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, the term "gnoll" is not one that's native to folklore or legend. Gygax borrowed the word from a short fantasy story by Lord Dunsany, in which it is used to describe sinister woodland beings. Although Dunsany never described what his "gnoles" looked like, Gygax has stated that he took the word to mean that they were supposed to resemble a cross between a gnome and a troll, which is as plausible an etymology as any.

By the time of the 1E Monster Manual, however, he had already switched to the "hyena man" look that they have kept ever since. This appears to be original to D&D.

D&D Monsters: Hobgoblins

Last time, I looked at the history of goblins in D&D; now it's time to look at their larger cousins, the hobgoblins. Of the five standard "evil tribal humanoids", hobgoblins stand out in that they appear, from the earliest illustrations, to be rather more civilised than the others. In my experience, a number of campaign worlds, home-brews included, have therefore included relatively sophisticated hobgoblin nations, rather than leaving them solely as barbarian hordes, as is more commonly done with orcs.

The term "hobgoblin" is a part of traditional British folklore, referring to a particular sort of goblin that's usually seen as less malevolent than the normal sort - albeit capricious, and often dangerous pranksters. Puck, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, is a hobgoblin of this sort, showing that Shakespeare, at least, thought of these beings as mischievous, but not actively evil. The original meaning of "hob" is unclear, although there's nothing to suggest that it originally meant "larger".

Tolkien is the first to use "hobgoblin" in that sense, using it, briefly, to refer to larger orcs in The Hobbit, in distinction to the regular "goblins". Gygax presumably borrowed this for D&D, and seems also to have been influenced by the uruk-hai of The Lord of the Rings, which share a number of traits with 1E hobgoblins.

D&D Monsters: Goblins

Following on from my earlier ponderings on the development of orcs in Dungeons and Dragons and related franchises, I am now going to focus on a very similar creature: the goblin. Goblins have, perhaps, changed less than orcs over the years since their first introduction into the game, but change they have, and they are a very common low-level opponent, one that's generally intended to be marginally weaker than a starting player character, and thus a threat in large numbers without being a complete walk-over when encountered in smaller groups.

The term "goblin" is, of course, an ancient one in English, referring to a (usually) malevolent magical being that is typically small and misshapen; a sort of evil fairy. As with orcs, the more modern conception of goblins comes from J.R.R. Tolkien. Indeed, Tolkien uses the word as simply another word for "orc", mainly as the term that hobbits use for that race. The fact that the word therefore ends up being used more frequently in The Hobbit, in which these particular antagonists seem less of a serious threat than their counterparts in Lord of the Rings do, likely combines with the original folklore meaning of the word to produce the "like orcs, only weaker" idea first used in D&D.

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1E

Goblins appear in the very earliest editions of D&D, at first without much in the way of description. By the time of the "Advanced" edition, they are part of a distinct hierarchy of five evil tribal humanoid races, forming the second step on the chain, one slot below the orcs. Statistically speaking, they are extremely similar to orcs, but just marginally weaker: they are slower, have one less hit point, a 5% lower chance of landing a blow on an opponent, and inflict, on average, one less point of damage when they do so. In practical terms, this doesn't make a huge difference, but it could be just enough to turn the tide in an otherwise close battle (as is likely at low level).

The Evolution of Orcs

Orcs are perhaps the quintessential low-level D&D monster, and one that has been adopted by a range of other RPGs and computer games since. Unlike my earlier ponderings on D&D fantasy creatures, I'm not here going to focus much on what orcs might be like biologically; they're pretty clearly anthropoid beings that, some minor features aside, are broadly similar to humans. Instead, I'm going to look at some different conceptions of them down the years, focussing mainly on D&D itself.

Orcs, in the modern sense, are, of course, the invention of J.R.R. Tolkien. He borrowed the word from Old English, in which it's usually translated as "monster", and is possibly just a less common alternative word for "ogre". But it was Tolkien who introduced the concept of the orc as an evil race of humanoid beings, from which Gygax obviously took his inspiration when writing D&D. Tolkien's orcs are the result of twisted experiments on elves, and are typically described as sallow-skinned and misshapen, although there does seem to be some variation among them. They exist primarily as the foot-soldiers of more powerful evil entities.

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1E

Orcs appear in D&D right from the beginning, in which they are an evil, tribal, race of often subterranean humanoids. In 1E (that is, the 1977 "Advanced" edition), they are one of five evil tribal humanoid races, which form a distinct game mechanical hierarchy of increasing physical prowess. Orcs are the third step on this chain, the mid-point against which one could argue that everything else is measured. With no special powers, beyond the ability to see in the dark (which almost everything has) and exactly one hit die, they're pretty much equivalent to starting humans and are about as "default" a monster as one could wish to find.

Some Thoughts on Ankhegs

Whip scorpions also spray acid
...but out of their other end

Giant insects - and other invertebrates - have been a common feature of fantasy role-playing games since the early days. The majority are based on real-world invertebrates expanded to much larger size. The ankheg, which made its debut in first edition AD&D, is unusual in being entirely fictional. Indeed, it is an original creation of the game, with the name being made up because it sounded good, rather than deriving from some mythological or other pre-existing fictional basis. Thus, it seems a good starting point to examine the question of how giant insects in general might actually work.