D&D Monsters: Flesh Golems

The flesh golem, as depicted in D&D, is quite clearly based on Frankenstein's Monster. This, of course, has its origin in Mary Shelley's original story, but it's probably fair to say that most people's perceptions of the creature are more heavily influenced by the take on it in the Universal Pictures horror films of the 1930s. So it is with the flesh golem, which owes rather more to the movie version than to that in the novel, despite attempts to transform its look from 2E onwards.

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1E

The debt to Frankenstein's Monster is particularly clear in the 1E illustration, which gives the golem the high, almost cylindrical head seen in the 1930s film version. Otherwise, the golem is an animated humanoid apparently stitched together from pieces of human body; it is hairless with a lantern jaw and distinct brow ridges. It is stated to be 7½ feet (230cm) tall which, given that this is obviously taller than the vast majority of humans, implies that either the magical process which creates it enlarges the original body parts or that multiple pieces are grafted together to make the body. 

D&D Monsters: Pixies

Pixies are a form of fairy originally found in the folklore of southwest England, specifically Devon and Cornwall. They are typically more benign than many other fairies, but still mischievous and inclined to cause trouble for humans. In D&D, they were one of four races of fairy-like beings in the original Monster Manual, and seem to be intended as a bit of light-hearted relief, a potentially humorous inconvenience, rather than dangerous monsters to be slain. Of the four originals, they are the only ones to remain in the core monster books for both third and fifth editions.

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1E

As originally described, pixies look much like elves, except for being only 2'6" (75cm) tall. Or at least, that's what the text says, since the pixie in the picture looks a lot smaller than this. Assuming that the stated figure is accurate, however, it's still a good four inches (10 cm) shorter than a typical two-year-old human child. This makes them the tallest of the four fairy races, and far closer in height to a halfling than, say, a dwarf is to a human.  More distinctively, of course, they have two pairs of wings projecting from their back, which look to be similar to those of a dragonfly. 

DW Monsters: Ood

The final race on my initial list of key humanoid ‘monster’ races is also the only one unique to the modern era of the show. (I’m not currently planning on suspending the series after this post, although it will remain low priority; I’ll explain where it’s going next once I get there).

Appearances

By far the most recent of the seven races I’m listing as key humanoids in this series, the Ood made their debut in the Tenth Doctor story The Impossible Planet in 2006, over 30 years after the next oldest on that list. They returned two years later in Planet of the Ood, in which we learn of their origin, and have made significant appearances in three further TV stories since then, most recently Flux. That’s ignoring short “tardisodes” and the like, some of which have also featured them, and the occasional brief cameo elsewhere.

D&D Monsters: Couatls

The couatl has its basis in Mesoamerican mythology, although it's arguable how much it resembles the original. The name is apparently inspired by that of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl the "feathered serpent". In reality, coatl simply means "snake" so it doesn't refer to any specific mythic creature taken on its own. Having said that, snakes were important to the Mesoamerican people, and associated with many of their gods. In particular, several of them were feathered, magically merging the features of a flying creature with one that crawls along the ground. They seem to have been regarded as divine beings, which fits with the original 1E description of their habitat and relationship with humans.

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1E

As originally seen, the couatl has a head and body that closely resemble those of a regular snake. While the presence of an extra set of teeth between the fangs is unusual, in other respects, the arrangement of the teeth resembles those of snakes such as cobras, kraits, and mambas, rather than say, rattlesnakes or boomslangs. While the head is at least partially covered with scales like that of a normal snake, the couatl's body is feathered, with longer feathers along the back and what appear to be softer, downy, ones on the underside. 

D&D Monsters: Beholders

The beholder is, perhaps, the single most iconic monster in D&D - the one creature that, more than any other, says "this is D&D" rather than some other fantasy setting. That's largely due to its unique appearance, which is quite unlike anything that exists in myth or legend or, indeed, in prior fiction. It was created, not by Gygax, but by one of the players in his original campaign, first appearing in a supplement for 0E, and has successfully stood the test of time ever since.

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1E

As originally shown, the beholder is a spherical creature covered in irregular, flat, "chitinous" plates. A wide mouth occupies much of the lower half and is lined with small pointed teeth similar to those of reptiles. There is a single large lidless eye above the mouth and ten much smaller eyestalks arranged in a ring around the upper surface. The latter are protected by segmented chitin and have also have lidless eyes, similar to those of a snail or slug, although the eyestalks presumably aren't retractable. Severing the eyestalks doesn't otherwise hurt the creature, which suggests that it's able to shut off the blood supply to a severed stalk - or perhaps that it doesn't have blood. There are no other visible features, such as nostrils.

DW Monsters: Cybermen

Mk V

The Cybermen are surely second only to the Daleks as iconic Doctor Who monsters. It also seems to me that they are most significant such race that could be described as “humanoid”, and so are arguably overdue for an appearance here in my list of key races in that category.

This one, by the way, is going to be a long post. There’s a lot to cover!

Note: Since I started this series of posts, Cubicle 7 have announced a 5E version of their existing Doctor Who RPG. I'll continue posting my 5E interpretation of stats here, at least for the time being. Although it's likely they'll be very different from the "official" versions, not least because there will presumably be some difference in the fine details of the systems, these posts do at least include my reasoning.

Appearances

The Cybermen have the distinction of being the first “monster” other than the Daleks to appear in more than one story. They are also the oldest of the races in my pick of the top seven humanoid monsters, dating back all the way to the First Doctor’s era and his final story The Tenth Planet. Frequently re-invented since that first appearance, they appear no less than four times in the Second Doctor’s era (whereas the Daleks only appear twice). The Third Doctor is the only classic-era Doctor not to have a TV story featuring them, with Doctors Four to Seven having one major Cyberman story each, not counting their brief appearance in The Five Doctors. Skipping the Eighth and Ninth Doctors because of their short runs, every modern Doctor from Ten onwards has faced them. In total, that’s 23 stories featuring Cybermen as more than brief clips or mentions.

D&D Monsters: Otyughs

There has been some speculation that the otyugh is based on the tentacled monster in the trash compactor in the first Star Wars film (referred to in the tie-in material as a "dianoga"). Certainly, there is a resemblance, especially given that we don't see the whole creature in the film; based on that alone, the rest of the body could look like almost anything. On the other hand, the film only came out a few months before the otyugh made its debut so it would have to have been a very last-minute addition to the 1E Monster Manual if that really was the source. More likely, it's a coincidence, leaving the D&D monster as an original creation.