Monster Manual: "D"

Alright, we're diving into the biggest section of the Monster Manual. You all know what's coming, so let's just get to it.

First up in the 'D' section is the Darkmantle. This is a new monster, but we met it in last month's Dragon Magazine in the first 3rd edition Ecology article. Now we can see that the darkmantle is a Small Magical Beast with 1 HD, a CR of 1, and a natural darkness ability. It's an improved piercer, really. And they can advance to 3 HD, so they're never going to be anything other than low-level monster bait.

The delver is also new. It's a Huge Aberration with 15 HD and a CR of 9. It looks like...well, it's described as a cross between a giant slug and a sea turtle. The art gives me the impression of an animated subway car or something out of the Mountains of Madness (Lovecraft shout-out!). It's not hard to hurt with an AC of 14, but it hits really hard with its Str of 27 and a +17 to its slam attacks. It's quiet for such a big beastie (Move Silently +19), and it's found anywhere underground. It can get up to Gargantuan size and up to 45 HD. I have to say, I would not enjoy running into one of those. It excretes a corrosive slime that does 2d6 damage against living tissue, 4d8 against anything metallic, and a whopping 8d10 against anything made of stone, including stone golems and earth elementals. And when it hits you with its slam attack, the slime sticks to you and does damage for a couple of additional rounds. Yikes.

Alright, now we get into the demons. They are all chaotic evil Outsiders, with one exception. They are listed here in CR order rather than alphabetically like they used to be. Here we go: The Dretch (Small, CR 2), Quasit (Tiny, CR 3), Succubus (Medium, CR 9), Bebelith (Huge, CR 9), Retriever (Huge Construct, CR 10), Vrock (Large, CR 13), Hezrou (Large, CR 14), Glabrezu (Huge, CR 15), Nalfeshnee (Huge, CR 16), Marilith (Large, CR 17), and Balor (Large, CR 18). So a balor demon is now very close to a match with a solar (CR 19), whereas they used to be completely outclassed by solars. Interesting. That tends toward the idea that they really did nerf the solar. The last six are the demons formerly identified as 'Type I, Type II', etc.

The destrachan is another new monster; it's a Large Aberration with 8 HD and a CR of 8. Its primary attack is a blast of sonic energy called 'destructive harmonics', which can do damage, subdue opponents, or shatter non-living material. And it can bounce this attack off solid surfaces like Captain America's shield. These things are usually neutral evil, and have an Int of 12 and a Wis of 18, so they are not mindless brutes. These things are smart enough to know how to hurt you, and evil enough to enjoy it. It has no eyes; it navigates entirely by sound.

The devils are next, and this time they are all lawful evil Outsiders. We have the Lemure (Medium, CR 1), Imp (Tiny, CR 2), Osyluth (Large, CR 6), Kyton (Medium, CR 6), Hellcat (Large, CR 7), Barbazu (Medium, CR 7), Erinyes (Medium, CR 70, Hamatula (Medium, CR 8), Cornugon (Large, CR 10), Gelugon (Large, CR 13), and Pit Fiend (Large, CR 16). I remember most of these with different names from 1st edition, such as the bone devil (osyluth). The kyton is new to me, but it first appeared in Planescape's Planes of Law in 1995. The rest are classics from the olden days of 1st edition. Pit fiends aren't nearly as tough as balors, apparently. I always considered them to be evenly matched.

Alright, next up is the devourer, another refugee from the Planescape Monstrous Compendium III. A lot of the monsters I've never seen before come from that setting, apparently. Anyway, the devourer is a Large Undead with 12 HD and a CR of 11. And it's got some freaky artwork, like it's got a second body poking out of what's left of its ribcage. Icky. It's an energy drainer, but that's not nearly as scary in this edition as it used to be. And it turns out that the second body is actually the trapped essence of the devourer's last meal, which it uses up over time. And that's one of the devourer's special abilities, to trap the essence and use it like a battery until it's completely gone. And just to make it more fun, this thing can advance to 27 HD and Huge size.

The digester looks like a new creature. Actually, it looks like a small carnivorous dinosaur with a long tail and a narrow head. It's got a forehead acid launcher, and uses that to turn its prey into something it can eat since it doesn't have much in the way of teeth. It's a Medium-sized Magical Beast with 8 HD and a CR of 6. The acid squirts out as a cone that does 4d8 damage to everything up to 20 feet away, or as a concentrated stream that does 8d8 to a single target. It lives in temperate and warm land, as well as underground, and can travel in packs of up to six. It can advance to Large size and 24 HD.

Ah, dinosaurs. Every boy's favorite monster. The original Monster Manual had about twenty-five of these listed, with more added in the Monster Manual II. The 2nd edition Monstrous Compendium gave us plenty as well. Here, we get...five. Five measly dinosaur writeups. Seriously? All we get is the deinonychus (Large, CR 3), Elasmosaurus (Huge aquatic, CR 5), the Megaraptor (Huge, CR 6), Triceratops (Huge, CR 7) and the T-Rex (Huge, CR 8). I mean...come on. It's dinosaurs. There are so many possibilities. I get that writeups in this edition are much longer, but even some generic 'large herbivore' or 'small carnivorous' would have been helpful. This...this is just sad. I do like that the T-rex can get up to 54 HD and Colossal size, because that's basically Godzilla right there.

Hmm...next we have a new category: Dire animals. I remember dire wolves from the earliest versions of the game, but now there are a bunch of different ones like dire rats, dire weasel, dire badger, etc. They are described as tougher, meaner versions of the normal animal. Alright, then. We have twelve of them in total: Rat (Small, CR 1/3), Weasel (Medium, CR 2), Badger (Medium, CR 2), Bat (Large, CR 2), Ape (Large, CR 3) Wolverine (Large, CR 4), Wolf (Large, CR 3), Boar (Large, CR 4), Lion (Large, CR 5), Bear (Large, CR 7), Tiger (Huge, CR 8), and Shark (Huge, CR 9). I noticed that the dire wolverine (what a terrifying idea) has a better CR than the dire wolf, even though the wolf is listed next. The only thing I can think of that explains the listing is that it's by Hit Dice rather than by CR. The dire wolverine has 5 HD, while the dire wolf has 6. All of these can advance to triple their standard hit dice, and a Gargantuan dire shark with 54 HD...well, that's Jaws, isn't it? Jaws vs. Godzilla...sure, why not? I'm guessing that these 'dire' versions replace the old 'giant' versions of normal animals from prior editions. Why have a giant rat when you have a dire one instead? And I just had a vision of a dire skunk. That would stink up an entire village with one spray.

The displacer beast is another Greyhawk original. It's a Large Magical Beast with 6 HD and a CR of 4. And I have to say, I am really not a fan of the artwork here. The old displacer beast was basically a six-legged panther with tentacles. Sleek, muscular, and deadly. This thing looks like it hasn't eaten in six months or more. I'd be throwing it a sandwich instead of a sword thrust. Sure, they're evil and want to kill me, but who can blame them when their stomachs look that shriveled up? They have a natural light-bending ability that makes it look like they are a few feet away from where they actually are, meaning you're going to miss 50% of your attacks automatically unless you have some other way of seeing them.

The doppelganger is a 1974 original, and it's a Medium-size Shapechanger with 4 HD and a CR of 3. They aren't much in a fight, but they can continually read your thoughts and shape-shift to look exactly like you. They're immune to sleep and charm effects, and are pretty good at bluffing and disguising themselves. These are definitely not combat machines; they are much more effective as spies and sneaks, adopting the identity of someone important and using their position to effect whatever plans they might have. These are classic monsters for a reason.

And that is it for this section. I know, there are more 'D' monsters to go, but the next part is the game's namesake, and I want to give them their own post to do them justice. In the meantime, we covered a total of 46 monsters today, doubling our total and bringing us to 91. And we're only on page 61. Maybe that 500+ number isn't exaggerating.