AD&D Monster Manual 2 - R & S.

Back to N to Q...

Ram.

Sheep, but S was too crowded, apparently. 

It's an Animal, Herd.

Rat.

Ordinary rats seemed a glaring omission from the 1st MM and lack of swarm mechanics is a glaring omission here. 

Vapor Rats can turn gaseous and inhabit the same places as Cloud Giants. Low rather than Animal Intelligence, and release a stinking cloud when killed or as a defence when seriously wounded. 

Can steer on the wind as they float through the air. Reskin as elemental wisps or baby Mihstu.

Like.

Raven (Crow).

I like Crows (my family took in abandoned fledglings/ hatchlings when I was growing up - we fed them cat food with tweezers and my mum jumped off things flapping her arms to teach them to fly).

Not much here, but 10% chance of taking an eye out - wear a full helm or buy an eyepatch. Three sizes - Ordinary, Huge and Giant. Can use this entry for Magpies and Jays, too.

Ordinary Crows should be at least Semi- Intelligent.

Retch Plant.

Chiefly included to tell you about one of the things that Banderlogs might throw at you.

Rock Reptile.

Says it's got 'chameleon-like powers' (even has it listed as Special Defence), but that it surprises 1-3 on d6 because its 'initial rush is at twice normal speed'. 

The description narrates that you can't tell it's anything other than a pile of rocks, lacking mechanics other than the surprise attack.

Hit points and damage bonus dependent on size, which makes sense. Smells like RuneQuest to me.

Sandling.

A great little monster that could be an elemental, poltergeist activity, a spell or Gamma World/ sci fi-style entity - wouldn't be out of place in a retro or contemporary horror scenario.

I picture Sandlings as landscape bursting to life with writhing silicate tentacles, outside of the ecology of living things.

Scorpion.

'Merely smaller versions of the giant scorpion'.

Scum Creeper.

Because the AD&D combat round is a minute long, the Scum Creeper's 1 in 20 chance to attach to your face when it attacks (so it could be a critical roll) might be that it crawls up your body to do so. 

It's not in the description that they specifically do so, but my false memory was that these drop from the ceiling.

A 6 or 10 second round brings to mind a slug (it takes damage from salt contact) that behaves like a face-hugger, leaping at your face. Consider making it the larval form of something else.

Selkie.

I'd class these as ambivalent figures of folklore and myth - faerie folk, paramortals, godlings, nature spirits; liminal beings of sea and land, human and animal - rather than 'a sort of sealwere'.

For extra folklore, splice with the Swanmay (transforming item) and/or the Nereid (bound to it's shawl/ removable skin).

Shade.

It's only sort of a monster, being a template you can apply to a character or monster. Almost every one of its stats is Variable or As original class. Doesn't make you Evil, but does make you not-Good.

Useful information on what constitutes relative levels of illumination - the Shade's abilities are enhanced or penalised depending on these.

Their intrinsic ability to Hide in Shadows is based on their class level (equal to a Thief), and Shade Thieves are only 2%-5% per level better at this - this seems cheese-paring for having bound oneself to the shadowstuff, defying/ forfeiting your mortality.

Shedu, Greater.

I'm going to take 'they typically rule any group of 6 or more normal shedu, doing so most beneficently' as being ambiguous as to consent and desirability, so that this isn't just another Basilisk, Greater situation.

Lawful Good has never meant nice as far as I'm concerned.

Sirine.

I'm guessing that this is based on the Classical Siren - they have a charm song, are all female and are associated with the sea (actually, all water).

With their power to change shape and turn invisible, an intelligence-removing touch (which they can reverse), being able to live out of and under water, and the likelihood of magical armament, they also give off strong faeries vibes.

MM2 doesn't give much detail on their behaviour, though notes they can be of any Alignment, so they are clay to shape to your setting.

Skeleton, Animal.

Weaker Skeletons.

Skunk.

Mechanical effects of a really horrible smell.

One of the monster-book animals cluing you in that D&D's default setting assumptions are North American.

Slime Creature & Slime, Olive.

They have adjacent entries but you can't have one without the other - Olive Slime turns you into a Slime Creature and Slime Creatures infect you with Olive Slime.

Slime Creatures 'can be identified only upon close examination' - but is the context what they are now or who they were then? Could be used straight or reskinned for more John Carpenter's The Thing flavour.

Olive and Green Slime neutralise each other.

Snake.

Normal-sized Giant Snakes! 'Actual length, color, habitat, etc., are variable'.

d20 table for random determination of poison strength and effect.

Solar.

This monster thinks it's better than you and takes itself very seriously.

Solifugid.

Large, Huge and Giant camel spiders - lack the terrifying features of the more recent urban myth/folklore/internet lies about them.

Spectator.

Not quite a goodie Beholder, summoned as a guardian (from the same plane as the Modrons). Quite friendly and 20% likely to be asleep, but absolutely committed to its task.

It has four eyestalks and one casts create food and water, presumably so it can sustain itself while guarding its charge for up to 101 years. Does it make generally edible/potable stuff, or whatever it is Spectators eat?

Spider, Giant Marine.

'In all respects other than those noted above, giant marine spiders resemble giant water spiders' - well, thanks for that, then.

Spriggan.

Either a 3' thief or a 12' bandit. 

Firmly in the faerie fold, very much on the Dwarf/ Troll axis.

Squealer.

Multi-limbed forest monster, getting its name from its ability to mimic distress calls. 

Feels very specific to a setting, a creator, even a particular adventure - I don't know the facts.

Would reskin admirably.

Squirrel & Squirrel, Carnivorous Flying.

Putting these together, as the Black Giant Squirrel and the Carnivorous Flying Squirrel (as minions) would make good Goblin stand-ins.

Stegocentipede.

'It is probable that stegocentipedes developed on some far removed parallel world or were the creation of some insane genetic manipulator'.

Not big enough to be kaiju, but feels like it should be.

Stench Kow.

This made the Stupid Monster category, but I think dismal herds of stinking, ugly cattle stretching across the plains of the Lower Planes (specifically the Nine Hells according to the entry) make for an evocative image - at least for an afterlife, if not a place to go adventuring.

They have stinking cloud breath and immunities allowing them to survive the Hellish environment, but are otherwise just herd animals. 

An alternative to Gorgons, or put the stinking cloud at the other end to make a Bonnacon.

Stone Guardian.

A construct.

Based on both needing a wish, I'd suggest saving up for a Stone Golem instead.

Storoper.

I've used it as the basis for a stone demon, but otherwise it's a Roper (MM) variant. 

Venom gives victims the false appearance of being turned to stone, which - used elsewhere - has possibilities.

Sundew, Giant.

If you've followed me this far, you well know what I think about most of the plant 'monsters' in MM2.

Quite like the Giant Sundew for a reskin as a sweet-smelling tentacular menace.

Swan.

Their wings-and-bill attacks have a 50% chance of blinding and disorienting opponents so they cannot strike back that round - I'd consider giving this to some other winged monsters. 

Only surprised 1 in 10, with the note that this is the same for geese (but Gygax didn't feel the need to stat them).

If this was #BOSR, they'd get a chance to break your arm, because that's the only thing everyone in the UK knows about swans, aside from the fact that only the Queen is allowed to eat them.

Swanmay.

Though I rather like the Swanmay, this is not a monster - it's a magic item for female human Rangers.

As a Swan, +1 magic weapon to hit, 2% Magic Resistance per level (actually per HD - rangers start with 2), and presumably the keen senses and disorienting attack.

I think it might be a false memory, but did one of the D&D magazines (Dragon?) do a Goose version for an April Fool bestiary?

Swordfish.

Almost forgot to include this. 

Its 'bony "sword" [is] a fearsome weapon', but mechanically just comes down to damage output.

Next up: T, U & V (contains Tarrasque)...