Bestiary

A field guide into the existing creature catalogs, organized first by what the creature is and then by how the narrator should run it.

3 chapters · source material retained

02 · Scale the threat

Encounter Toolkit

6 refs

The monster rules remain the place to learn how scalable stat blocks, minions, hordes, bosses, big monsters, and kaiju work.

Monster RulesScaling, size, intelligence, and the monster framework.MinionsFast, fragile threats.HordesMany bodies as one encounter element.BossesNamed threats with room to breathe.Big MonstersSize, soak, and the damage problem.KaijuThe largest scale of encounter.

01 · The living catalog

Categories

12 refs

Each category opens the existing scalable creature catalog, with its original stat blocks, options, and trait glossary.

BeastsAnimals, dinosaurs, marine creatures, and more.VerminBeetles, centipedes, scorpions, spiders, and other vermin.CelestialsAngels, archons, celestial paragons, and holy judges.ChymericsGriffins, manticores, hydras, and chimeric monstrosities.DraconidsTrue dragons, wyverns, drakes, and primordial serpents.FeySidhe nobles, wildwood spirits, tricksters, and courtly horrors.FiendsDemons, devils, infernal warlords, and corrupted outsiders.GigasTrue giants, cyclopes, ettins, and mountain colossi.PlantsCarnivorous flora, assassin vines, blights, and fungal terrors.QlippothCosmic horrors, alien psionics, and aberrations from beyond the known planes.SpiritsEphemeral brood entities across the 6 primal ladders.UndeadSkeletons, ghouls, draugr, revenants, and spectral horrors.

03 · Run the creature

Intellect & Traits

5 refs

Monster intelligence and the existing trait glossary help the narrator turn a stat block into behavior.

Monster TraitsThe current alphabetical trait reference.IntellectHow creatures think, choose, and act.Monster IntelligenceThe full intelligence reference.Monster HeuristicsPractical guidance for running monsters.Monster PufferyFast reference and threat at the table.