DMR2 Creature Catalog - D to E.

* indicates new to DMR2, and not in the original AC9 Creature Catalogue.

For survivals into 2e, especially when it's a common cross-system animal/monster, I'm generally only considering the Mystara and Savage Coast Monstrous Compendium supplements - and the former is more useful as its setting is broader.

Dark Wing.

Nocturnal winged humanoids. Penalised by exposure to light and continual light, but a failed Morale check results in them fighting to the death rather than fleeing.

Can carry off human-sized targets, but it takes two of them and they both need an 18+ Hit Roll. 

Their lair is a foul and unsettling place. Just the sort of environment for bringing up 2d6 (combatant) young.

Under the slight variation in name (Darkwing), they are also found in 2e. There's more information about how they fit into a local sandbox ecology, but nothing you wouldn't expect.

I can see them sharing space with a Mere-Gaunt, either as minions, scavenging rivals or complementary parts of a grimdark ecosystem. I hadn't really given them any thought until this read through and find myself appreciating them.

Their mechanics allow for reskinning as all manner of nocturnal/subterranean winged things that might carry you off.

Darkhood (Rorphyr).

With a good, monster-y sounding name, the Rorphyr is basically another undead that's a better ghost than the Ghost (whether AD&D or BECMI): a translucent hooded figure that haunts a place, can pass through solid objects and scares you.

While it's a 13 HD monster with negative AC and needing a +2 or better weapon to hit, its main attack is fear - causing you to run until exhausted, rather than blasting you with aging and energy drain. It's touch does cause damage, but - as it feeds on fear - it would rather have you alive, and it is narratively sated once everyone is unconscious (it ignores the KO'd) or has escaped the area.

The fear attack is resolved by rolling vs. INT, but you need to roll over to save as those who are the most intelligent have the most fertile minds for the terrifying visions it projects when it raises its hood or touches a victim. Compare with the DragonWarriors Nightmare.

Also compare with the DW Ghost - the Rorphyr doesn't need really need those 13 HD, except maybe to determine how it saves vs. exorcism.

Once you've experienced and recovered from the fear-effect of a particular Rorphyr, you are immune to it for 24 hours - so it's not an absolute barrier to lower level adventurers, despite it's relative strength, but it could be a significant delay and is very able to split the party.

Death Fiend (Ostego).

That 2e period of calling demons and devils fiends so as not to upset somebody or other.

Very sparse in description and mechanics and it doesn't look like it actually made into 2e for updates/elaboration: paralysing claws, save at -2 or die poison bite, infravision 60', teleport without error, darkness 10' radius. 

Fangs are described as ivory, claws as adamantine but I don't know whether this is mere metaphor.

No mention of horns, nor are they featured in the illo, though they are implied in the description of the Deep Glaurant later.

NB: Finding out that the Ostego appears in Castle Amber and the Deep Glaurant in The Five Shires helps clear up some of my confusion here.

Decapus (Land and Marine).

It's a ten-armed hairy octopus that swings through the trees. Which is pretty gonzo, I suppose. The illo makes it look like a cartoon character. 

Later reimaginings improve on this, though it has its own charm, I suppose.

Both Land and Marine Decapus have 11 Intelligence so might be able to use magic items in their possession, though the description doesn't even tell us if they speak or otherwise understand language.

Pic above reminds me of some prior monster juvenilia: a lake-dwelling octopus that, when slain, evaporates as a green cloud that would later rain down into a nearby treetop and reform to attack you again. Can't remember whether I knew about Cthulhu and its reconstitution trick at the time.

I'd been reading the name as being related to 'decapitate', because of conflating it with the Brain Collector via the Master DM monster jam, and then it turns about to be an octopus +2. The marine variant, though hairy, is pretty much an octopus.

NB: Apparently has its origin and the power to create (controversial?) illusions in B3 Palace of the Silver Princess. I should look into that then, sometime.

Deep Glaurant*.

Subterranean predators that get their name from the sound they make, like Gollum. They're 8' tall with scales, claws, horns and small wings. They glide, they swim, they are capable diggers.

They're non-mechanically stealthy - eerily silent - and can produce one round of darkness every three rounds. The darkness power, their horns and their wings mean they are sometimes mistaken for Death Fiends (see above), to which they are statistically close, but this is not pursued further and is lost in 2e, because there are no more Death Fiends.

Despite being compulsive predators, they are also specified as being intelligent (7, approx. Bugbear) enough to set rockfall traps, plan ambushes (though No. App. is 1 or 2) and use magic items and weapons (for the designated purpose or to trade with).

They are rumoured to have cities and a civilization far underground and that's as far as it goes. The disconnect between this and what is otherwise provided by description and stats is spotlit in 2e, but not otherwise developed.

Feels a bit like a stub of a monster, something that was meant to be something more. However, a perfectly serviceable dungeon threat suited for multiple terrain types.

NB: Now that I've had a chance to check GAZ 8 The Five Shires, I can see that the resemblance to Death Fiends is because Glaurants have flexible horns which fold over their ears to protect them from dust. Thus, being mistaken for something without horns - and this is the reason specified in GAZ 8, but isn't clearly described in DMR2.

Also, these flexible horns are used for feeling their surroundings, so there's a hint of antennae to make the Deep Glaurants into giant insect people if you prefer - moths or cockroaches, for instance.

Desert Ghost.

Electrical elementals (though categorised as Earth) rather than undead, the immature form is non-aggressive but will shock you via contact with metal objects - killing itself in the process.

Mature Desert Ghosts go out of their way to attack metal-bearing targets, presumably as revenge for all their little kiddies. You get a hefty shock (from 5 to 8d8, save for half) and they take a little damage also; you might also get a face-full of blinding dust/sand at the same time. You also take (significantly less) damage when you hit them with metal weapons. Electrical attacks increase their hp like-for-like, but they're vulnerable to water-based attacks.

I like this kind of elemental, especially the immature form - they're a kind of 'wonder of the world' that is incidentally dangerous, and I'd skew them in the direction of air-electricity elements rather than Earth. 

Dinosaur.

Allosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Archelon, Brontosaurus, Dimetrodon, Trachodon, Tylosaurus.

The Tylosaurus is the only one that's anything more than just stats, having an auto-bite if it hits which also penalises your attack rolls if whoever it has a hold of. It scores 7d12 damage with that bite, too, which is one of the best in the book. 

Otherwise, they're D&D dinosaurs and I don't really care - how to take something so intrinsically awesome and reduce them to this?

I know dinosaur habits and abilities would be theoretical and/or fictional, but there must be more to them than hit points, damage dice and low intelligence. They don't even get a 'fight on at 0 hp' ability, which would seem obvious considering how they are framed.

MM2 offers up that the Dimetrodon's ability to swim is questionable but likely, but otherwise there's not much significant difference between the dinosaurs across BX/BECMI and AD&D: they're just hit points with no intelligence.

Dog.

Normal, Elven and War, and there's not much between them. 

The War Dog is pretty much the same as a Wolf, but it might be armoured. It's also pretty much the same as the 1e MM War Dog.

The Elven Dog is a little more interesting; invisibility to mortals, some purple prose - disturbing, flickering verdance... similarly fluctuating green radiance - and a possible relation of Hellhounds. 

Dragon, Pocket.

Has a poisonous bite that penalises your dice rolls and can be treated by cure disease magic.

I guess it could be a pet or a familiar, if you go in for that kind of thing. Seems more of a fantasy animal than actual Dragon-kin. It does gather its own little hoard of trinkets.

More HD but fewer abilities than the 1e MM Pseudo-Dragon, which is probably its AD&D analogue.

Dragon, Sea.

Breath weapon is a 10' globe of poison, spat up to 100'. Save or die, and apparently no other damage.

It's a Sea Dragon, not much more to be said. I'd be more likely to put it in an adventure than I would almost any other Dragon.

Dragon, Undead.

I principally like this because it isn't absolute that the Undead Dragon is the one it was in life: the body of a dead dragon animated by an undead spirit. 

This is what you get for not double-checking with detect evil after you've killed Big Red (or Green or whatever). However, this could just be vague wording - the text also suggests that Undead Dragons are reaccumulating the hoard they had in life.

It keeps it's draconic HD and immunities, gains paralysing claw/bite attacks and undead immunities, but loses things like speech, intelligence, spells and flight. Again, wording is that this could be a deficiency of the animating spirit - implying that a more powerful one could reboot the whole thing.

Characteristic breath weapon is also lost, being replaced with a cloud of disease gas that causes hp=damage and infects you with rot if you fail your save. The victim's skin... rot[s] slowly, while the body gradually deteriorates - lose CON, DEX and STR until you die or get a high-level cure.

It also stinks worse that a Ghast or Troglodyte.

Dragonfly.

Magical hybrid of Dragon and dragonfly. Each one has a colour appropriate breath weapon.

If you don't want to use them as what they are, reskin - Mi-Go with various guns is easy enough.

They look more draconic in 2e and get some individual elaboration (some details of Habitat/Society and Ecology seem to be compulsory by this period).  

Also introduced is the Nymph stage of the lifecycle, which has acidic spit that destroys your equipment, whatever colour it grows up to be. I like a Voracious Larva.

Dragonne.

I didn't get a look at the 1e Monster Manual until fairly late in my pre-hiatus years, certainly after 2e Monstrous Compendia and the CC, so didn't know that the Dragonne was in one of the core/original bestiaries.

It's a Sphinx-y, Manticore-y kind of thing with a deafening/stunning roar, and related to Dragons.

I'd use the roar mechanics for something, but this could as easily be a Chimera or a Griffon or even a Legendary Lion as anything else.

Much the same creature in 1e as it is here.

Dusanu.

This is more my kettle of deadly spores: the Rot Fiend, a horrible skeletal monster (neither undead nor demonic) all covered in mould. 

It's intelligent and very cunning but otherwise just attacks with its claws and its noxious spore cloud. If you fail your poison save, you'll be infested, unable to benefit from cure wounds and have to save vs. death ray each day until you get a cure disease or are consumed utterly by the mould. You rise as a new Dusanu in d3 days.

A lot tougher than a Skeleton covered in Yellow Mould but you get the idea. Compare with the Dragon Warriors Fungus Man. 

An undefined instinct makes me feel the Dusanu would be a good accompaniment/foil to or replacement for Mind Flayers. With this sci-fi flavour and being (according to 2e) a fungal colony monster, the Dusanu is ripe for some psionics (certain moulds etc already get them). 

Note that RAW No. App. means an encounter is always with a minimum of 2.

Like.

Eagle.

Normal and Great, with the Great firmly rooted in Tolkien as they are especially likely to help Dwarfs and Halflings.

Great Eagles get +2 hp on the 1e MM version, at the cost of -2 beak damage and to hit bonus on their swoop.

Eel.

Electric, Giant and Weed, and not much difference to the 1e MM entry.

However: the CC Giant Eel is specifically a Giant Electric Eel (double damage shocks compared the smaller sort).

Furthermore, the CC Weed Eel isn't poisonous, but an entangler/constrictor - so a more dramatic, though less sudden, death. And to add spice, you need to make your Strength save on 3d8 rather than d20 or 3d6. Which I like.

Elf.

Some unsurprising variations on the Elf.

Aquatic: They live underwater and are 95% undetectable in reefs/weeds if they stay still, Halfling-like.

Apparently, they make potions of water breathing despite not needing them. It says to trade with friendly Elves, but isn't this just storing up trouble? 

Gills and webbing, rather than fish-tails and fins. 

I generally don't much like the Dave Simons illos in DMR2, because they look a bit too Marvel comics for my taste in place. However, I just looked him up (RIP) and that's exactly what he's best known for.
This Shadow Elf is one of the few I like - the weird moth-like face/helm, against the the backdrop of a full moon and an avenue of conifers. As if she just stepped out of the secret passage underneath the broken sundial.

Shadow*: While they're not quite the less monstrous Drow-analogue they're initially painted as, they are carrying out a nuclear-powered eugenics-based programme of genocide against the Orcs of Thar and other humanoids. So they're as bad as Paladins, really.

They get a whole Gazetteer supplement to themselves. Includes spells such as transmute rock to lava, which is awesome.

In the CC, we learn that take penalties in sunlight but not much else.

What Was Left Out - Death Leech

Not the one from SnarfQuest - this is basically an Undead Mimic from the Sphere of Death.

While it can appear as any form of undead monster (up to Vampire tier), it attacks in its natural (?) form, which is blob-and-tentacles. If you manage to kill it in undead form (i.e.. before it has been able to attack), it retains that form until touched, then reverts to blob and rots away.

It merits a Wrestling Rating in its statblock because it wraps you up in tentacles, immobilises you, then drains your hit points - though this seems to be straight damage, rather than a vampiric transfer.

An interesting monster, I think, that could do with some tweaking to make it more usable. 

How about upping its intelligence and giving it more control of its form, either as an undead slayer (though the enemy of your enemy is not necessarily your friend), or something conjured by necromancers as agents against rival deathmagi? 

Or maybe this is what becomes of restless dead Mimics, with the additional ability to appear as decrepit and broken objects?

DMR2 Creature Catalog - B to C.

Note: I don't have personal familiarity with the in-game origin of all the monsters, so I'll largely pass over that. A surprisingly significant number appeared in the early X modules Isle of Dread and Castle Amber, and there are numerous contributions from the Mystara Gazetteer and Creature Crucible ranges (though whether these were first appearances, I don't know).

Reminder that * indicates the monster is new to DMR2, wherever it started out from.

Baldandar*.

Protean entity from German literature via Borges' Book of Imaginary Beings (wherein also the Peryton).

For the game, it's an evil humanoid with sleep poison claws/fangs and considerable powers of illusion. Often masquerades as a Dragon or Magic-User. Can also shapechange (you and it) and possess (magic jar), as well as fly and turn invisible.

A good stand-in for all manner of villainous enchanters, including the Oni.

With females that get hormonal when child-bearing/rearing and shift alignment from Evil to Neutral in 2e.

Banshee, Lesser.

These are your basic banshee. Their signature wail causes damage rather than kills outright. Described as haunting families and warning/mourning deaths.

That they are not necessarily the spirit of the deceased they look like, nor that the deceased is restless in their grave, appeals to me.

It says that they're not undead (in AC9 it's under Monsters and Other Fantastical Creatures), but who are they really fooling?  They're even immune to sleep, charm, and hold, and they don't have anything much of the faerie tradition about them, either.

Apart from the differing ideas of various creators, I wonder if there was a desire/need for undead-a-likes in game that RAW wouldn't TPK lower level parties, or that wouldn't just be wiped away by clerical Turning before they got to show off their cool abilities.

Bargda.

Diseased, misshapen, goat-headed ogre/troll/giants with iron-shod clubs. Hate everyone except for monstrous humanoids that they lead on raids. Antagonists. Villains. Bosses. Chaos monsters out of Warhammer (Nurglesque, even) and RQ.

Mechanics for the Dexterity-sapping disease their bite carries.

2e makes it clear that they are actually suffering from the disease they carry, as well as having no digestive enzymes of their own - and needing to infect food with the disease in order to feed themselves! 

This is cool and creepy, and would be worth giving to someone/thing else if you didn't want to use the Bargda RAW.

DMR2 specifies that they are not found in Lost World areas, so make the Bargda grumpy, misanthropic and overall Neutral, and frame them as the unfortunate (doomed and dying) protectors/shepherds of those very Lost Worlds and all the monsters therein.

Beetle, Earthquake.

AC -6 (+15 AAC) and 40 HD, this is approximately the Jinshin-Mushi of Japanese folklore scaled up to Tarrasque-tier threat.

Head of a Black Dragon, beetle body, spider legs. Causes an earthquake (@ 25th level - but this is BECMI/RC) wherever it goes burrowing. Only uses its breath weapon once a week and when it's at half hp, but that's still a possible 160 points of acid damage.

It regenerates 3 hp per day.

Looking at daily regeneration and weekly breath weapon, I'd use the Earthquake Beetle as a Colossal foe (using On the Shoulders of Colossus, for example, or do a quick search of the blogs for something) and make a whole adventure about tracking, diverting, harrying and only maybe about actually killing it. 

If it comes up as a random encounter, use it to reshape the campaign rather than as a TPK. This kind of monster I don't think is very interesting to go at just with spells and swords.

Beholder, Aquatic.

Local/system variant of the Eye of the Deep and has 13 HD vs. 10-12 and a 2d10 vs. 1d6 bite, as well as giving actual numbers to disable its eyes. Its dazzling eye attack paralyses rather than stuns, and its eyestalks cast charm person and hold monster, rather than both hold spells.

Regrows lost eyes in d4 days vs. 1 week for the Eye of the Deep.

Just use the Eye of the Deep if you want to keep 2e canon, though I think its charm ability opens up more interesting possibilities.

Bhut.

In Hinduism, a restless and usually malevolent ghost; in either CC, it's another of those 'not undead even though it clearly is'. Even in 2e, they are still hazily classified as being 'a bit like' lycanthropes and undead.

One of the better illos in the CC, imo.

My comment above (Banshee, Lesser) re. summary execution of unused interesting undead by Clerics probably applies here - cannot be Turned, but have all undead immunities as well as being very stealthy and difficult to hear.

A bit like the Rakshasa (MM), they are vulnerable to blessed weapons, and their habits are similar to the Huecuva's (masquerade as normal folks, then get all monstrous and bitey after dark). They even have an aura that spoils detect and know spells.

Extra points for a freezing bite that causes numbness.

Brain Collector.

From my initial exposure to the Brain Collector via the bare stats in the BECMI Master DM's monster jam, I imagined it as a local/system variant of the Mind Flayer with logical adjustments for a system without psionics. 

While it works well enough as an eldritch horror (extra-planar crab with tentacles and brain removal habits), it could also work as a gruesome speciality Magic-User (NPC only, or not).

Ugly-looking spud from 2e Mystara

It stores stolen brains in internal cranial pockets, causing its head to bulge up in lumps. This would be quite an evocative image for a more humanoid Mind Flayer variation, and possibly you'd want to mechanically account for attacking the brain-pods (first hit on a nat 20, followed by Called Shot or something).

Obviously, could be reskinned as Mi-Go. Or as a brain-swallowing Beholder-kin.

2e further defines their alienness: they do not have hostile intentions as such but they don't see humans etc. as anything more than receptacles from which brains can be extracted.

Brownie*.

There's no mechanics in what is one of the longer descriptions in the book - though it's mainly a recapitulation of what you'd possibly already know from folklore and fairy-tales.

The CC Brownie only gets invisibility compared to the 1e MM Brownie's spell-list of seven, only one of which is not shared between AD&D and BECMI/RC.

Brownie, Redcap*.

A similar amount of text as the other Brownie, but more in the way of practical info for getting into scraps with it.

Suitably faerie and folkloric enough for me - wouldn't be so out of place in DragonWarriors. 

Cat, Great.

Bekkah, Cheetah, Jaguar, Lynx, Spotted Lion and Wildcat. 

While there are some special abilities to tell them apart (Bekkah's roar, Cheetah's movement rate, general rake attacks and surprise), I'm tempted to say Just Use Bears, or the Great Cats or the Wolf from the Basic set/RC as templates.

The Bekkah is a giant black panther with 12 HD and a terrifying roar (a bit like the Androsphinx and the Dragonne, of course). Beyond this, it's clearly your pulpy Man Eater/Jungle God monster - a cryptid, maybe, to challenge Great Hunters of All Hues and None (Nehwon Ghouls and Bone Men of Carcosa). Are they from something (I mean, other than possibly a module or magazine article)?

The CC Lynx is almost identical to the 1e MM Lynx, Giant, but lacks the Very Intelligent tag. Was it just a near-direct port, system to system, and lost the 'Giant' in transition?

There's a difference of 1 hit point between CC and 1e MM Jaguar, and 2 potential points of bite damage between the respective Spotted Lions.

The Wild Cat from 1e MM2 is a slightly more formidable beast than the CC version, but both are capable of slaying a 1st level character as per their reputation.

Cay Man.

Intelligent, 1' tall, 2 HD - otherwise unremarkable tribal humanoids.

Though I think their small size and comparable HD in relation to their much bigger Lizard Man cousins probably does merit a remark of some kind.

Chameleon Man.

They're more like Blink Men, being able to teleport up to 120' instantaneously and without embarrassing/fatal consequences. Can't attack in the same round as teleporting, but you could decide otherwise for your version; can't carry much weight either, so they don't wear armour.

7' tall, spindly, gangling and awkward with tiger-like stripes of red, blue, green, brown, orange, black and white. Which also aren't characteristics of chameleons, as far as I'm aware.

From the 1e Fiend Folio, looking to mix it up

Otherwise they're your standard D&D tribal humanoids, but they put me in mind of the Qullan from the Fiend Folio - probably because of their patterned skin - and I'd look at mashing the two together to come up with something.

I also think they'd make a good addition/alternative to the vari-hued inhabitants of Carcosa.

Chevall.

A Centaur that's a Werehorse that hates Wolves, opposes Werewolves and champions Horses. They're capable of injuring Werewolves in AD&D by dint of their 7 HD, and also by being 'silver/magic to hit' more generally.

Slight stat variations between forms, including Morale - which seems unintuitive to me.

They were an important faction in a Neolithic/Proto-Celtic campaign setting I started sketching in the distant past, though I can't remember many details.

I'd consider bringing them down to Centaur/Horse stats for inclusion in a lower powered game, or keep those stats and make them much rarer/more legendary.

Choker*.

A fairly bare stat block and no additional mechanics in the description, but this is one of my favourite monsters from the book - a spindly stretchy cartilaginous humanoid with a baby-sized body that strangles you and cuts you up to eat. 

Specifies it preys on Dwarfs (and, by logical extension, the other subterranean peoples) - it's originally from Dwarves of Rockhome, I think, with a charming/creepy illo by Stephen Fabian. 

In CC it has a movement rate Through Rock; while this is updated to Burrowing (combined with squeezing through small spaces) in 2e, you could choose to make the Choker more of an elemental, a ghost/undead, or have a rudimentary phasing ability (like the Vilstrak?).

RAW, it has 3 Intelligence, but I think of them as being closer to Human-level. Also, check out the inhabitants/antagonists of The Broadsword by Laird Barron for something horrible that could be developed from the base creature. 

Coltpixy*.

Size-changing faerie horse, able to turn invisible. 

I don't need a separate monster entry to tell me this, could have just been a paragraph in Tall Tales of the Wee Folk or any of the entries of the faerie folk that might ride them.

In 2e, it gets an Elf-like resistance to sleep and charm. Fair enough.

Crone of Chaos.

It's got a bit of an uninspiring name - you could call it Junior Hag, in the right setting. It puts me in mind of the monsters submitted to Out of the Pit in Warlock magazine, having the scent of juvenilia about it - though I mean that as an observation rather than a criticism (and notwithstanding the imagination of various grown-ass men down the years and editions).

Usually encountered disguised by an illusion. Tends towards the sylvan humanoid beauty model, and the text could imply this is the extent of its illusory ability, but why not a pile of treasure or a particularly tempting roast beef sandwich?

It can sustain the illusion while it's attacking (once per round), either by using animal control (no-save control of d6 normal or giant animals; it isn't specified if this is only for that round or until dispelled) or daggers of sorcery (d6 ghostly flying daggers that attack as 1 HD monsters for normal damage + weakness, and can be attacked by characters in turn - again, it isn't specified if this is only for that round, or if this is cumulative - resulting in vast swarms of daggers).

It's spell-like abilities are natural powers (including the one with Sorcery in the title), but can be detected and dispelled like magic. This feels a bit pointless and makes me wonder if there is a prototype for this monster, possibly in another system, from (science) fiction or using psionics - does anyone out there know?

Apart from a brief physical description (it's a crone), there's not much non-mechanical detail in the text - which makes it easier to think on how the abilities could transfer. 

In 2e, we learn that they procreate with, then devour male humanoids. They can have male and female offspring; the former are devoured, the latter are abandoned and it's hoped that they'll be brought up as changelings. Not terribly original, but planting them firmly in the faerie/folklore realm.

Reskin as non-crones - sylvan and aquatic protector/predator; specialist Magic User NPC; rogue AI/security bot. Those daggers could be anything you like, even living things. Options for 'male crones' that survive mum's appetite.

Cryion.

These are the Tran from Alan Dean Foster's Icerigger (1976), though their fantasy-dress is chiropteran/  noctillionine/ pteropine rather than feline. Claws adapted to work as ice-skates, aided by wings-as-sails.

The Tran inhabit an entirely frozen planet, while the Cryion dwell in your fantasy world, so use seasonally frozen waterways as much as any plains of ice.

There's some detail on their nomadic society, based around groups of 10-40 (called mnelds and there are no other made-up words in the entry, which seems like a missed opportunity for naming various arche- and sub-types), and great gatherings every 3 years. Otherwise, they're another fantasy tribal humanoid - so shamans, 1st to 5th level.

Despite my enjoyment of the novel, and frosty wastes being one of my favourite settings, I'm Neutral Indifferent towards Cryions.

I like the illo.

DMR2 Creature Catalog - A

Recently, I've started listening to the Monster Man podcast, which is about monsters, because monsters are great. 

He's right and that reminds me to try and break out of my blog-based doldrums with a long-postponed look at the Creature Catalog from 1993.

DMR2 Creature Catalog updates the 1986 AC9 Creature Catalogue, to complement the Rules Cyclopedia with all the bits of BECMI they wanted to keep. 

Both CCs cover a lot of monsters from existing modules and accessories. I had a passing familiarity with a fair slice already from their inclusion in the stats-only monster jam in the BECMI Master DM's book, and I realise retrospectively that CC has a lot in common with the 1e AD&D MM2 (which I went over back at the start of 2021): it brings together monsters from various scattered sources (inc. modules) and fills in a few gaps; both also expand on the encounter tables. 

AC9 was arranged by monster type, DMR2 alphabetically - making it an easier read. 

The CCs, especially DMR2, are effectively Mystara bestiaries, although they also provide some of the classic/generic AD&D monsters missing from BECMI. Some of the monsters survive into 2e AD&D, updated in the Mystara and Savage Coast supplements, but rarely expanded significantly.

These are personal takes, reflecting personal taste, and I tend downplay/outright ignore features such as Alignment, Intelligence, Number Appearing and Treasure Type - if they catch my eye this time round, I'll comment.

If you've read the MM2 posts, you'll have some idea about how I'll approach certain monsters, and that I'm an advocate of reskinning and transplanting mechanics.

* indicates the monster wasn't in the original AC9.

Amber Lotus Flower.

Lovely flowers that spray you with sleep pollen. Often in symbiosis with other plant monsters so they can all share in the decomposing adventurers.

An environmental hazard that can be cultivated by intelligent creatures for their own purposes. That you can attack and kill with weapons.

I'd make them as something that grows on some Undead - principally, Mummies and Zombies, or just replace with save vs. poison sleep spells that can beat the HD/hp limit through concentration/numbers,

Amoeba, Giant.

A 10 to 15 HD fried egg-looking ooze monster with an acidic touch. Implied auto-surprise without going into mechanical details. Attacks by enveloping victims, also no mechanics.

Just use the abilities of other oozes, slimes and jellies, or any other suitable mechanics.

Animal, Prehistoric.

Baluchitherium, Giant Elk, Grangeri, Hyenodon, Megatherium, Phororachos and Titanothere.

None of them even have any special abilities, and the Phororachos is yet another 3 HD flightless bird. The vernacular name of sword beak so maybe that there's something to play with as a pun-monster along with the Axe Beak and Club Nek.

Giant Elks could be Fomorian mounts/ beasts of burden, because I like the image.

1e MM versions:

• Baluchitherium has more HD, scores more damage, and has better AC, but only just and that because of the 9 vs. 10 base AC difference between systems.
• Hyena, Giant (Hyaenodon) is statistically the same.
• Titanothere has worse AC and slightly more detailed and harder-hitting attacks.

Annelid, Great.*

25-50 HD and up to 2000' of segmented worm monster (compare with Leviathan, Desert & Marine). Eats the rock it burrows through. Being immune to heat and pressure damage also gives them a little bit of a sci-fi/alien fauna gloss. Of course it can swallow you whole.

It's apparently native to the Prime Plane, but it attracts Earth Elementals (and presumably similar extra-planars) by deception, paralyses them and then lays eggs in them.

Weird. 

Updated for 2e, there's more detail on what happens when it swallows you and acknowledgement of the wider range of prey-elementals.

Aranea.

Intelligent spell-casting spiders able to use tools with their handible-mandibles

Sparse description. Only details of their habits/society is that they spend most of their time in magical research.

Instantly likeable. They're updated to something like a Neutral Werespider Spidertaur in 2e, which is also pretty cool.

Archer Bush.

Basically a special ability that I'd use to make a Needleman if there wasn't already a Needleman. Or as an alternative for Porcupine and Manticore spines.

They're very slow moving and have a toothy maw. Presumably they shuffle over to your still-twitching corpse and gobble it up, or maybe you can try and satisfy them by throwing dead monster bits into their eating-holes - if you don't decide to reskin them as a variation on Shriekers and Violet Fungi.

Ash Crawler.

A kind of hog/rat that lives near fire (which it is protective of) and burrows cheerfully in the build-up of ash, mostly eating small animals. Basically, an almost-fire elemental badger or capybara. Has flaky grey shedding skin and natural fire resistance.

If provoked or otherwise on the attack, it locks its jaws after biting and make auto-hits with its claws until you inflict at least 5 hp damage against it. 

In its ashy lair, it gets a decent cover bonus to its AC and saves (something you should consider giving to aquatics vs. land-lubbers, if they don't already get it). The ash layer is described as being particularly deep, so adventurers would need to make a special effort to expose it (and I suppose you could also penalise them for kicking up hot dusty clouds along the way).

It's also got a prehensile tail for dragging you into/under the ash. Penalties to attack and AC, but no hit point loss or threat of suffocation.

One that I overlooked first time round, but really like now. 

Taking the elemental route, this is a supernatural/spirit being that dwells in the generational ashpits of Stone Age cultures - an ancestor of the cosy hearth spirits to come. Reskinned, you've got the thing out of the Death Star trash compactor if you prefer. Would also transplant well to Athas, with or without psionics. Or in a quasi-realistic fantasy ecology, it would probably be found in dragon lairs.

It's got Bugbear equivalent stats, but is basically a Giant Rat so you could stat it downwards, particularly for inclusion in lower level games. Use the inimitable Giant Shrew for a more horrific challenge, leaping screeching at your throat from beneath the shifting ash and clinker.

Survives into 2e, but its bite goes from 2d4 to 1d2 and we get some details about making its hide into fire-resistant leather armour. 

Or we could meet myth and science in the middle and declare the Ash Crawler's hide to be a form of asbestos, with the hazards that go along with that.

What Was Left Out - Agarat.

Non-paralysing Ghoul with a scream attack that temporarily drains your levels.

Can't think of any particular reason why this was dropped, unless it was that howling/screaming Ghouls was thought to be distinctively a Glorantha/RQ thing. 

However, it is given another chance in 2e, gaining a double-strength Greater variant as leader types.

The temporary energy drain is an interesting idea, as you don't know that it is at first.