History Characters / DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesD

''[[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreatures Creatures]]'': [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreatureTypes Creature Types]] ([[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesA A]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesB B]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesC C]] | '''D''' | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesE E]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesF F]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesG G]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesH H]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesIToJ I to J]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesK K]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesL L]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesM M]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesNtoQ N to Q]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesR R]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesSPartOne Sa-Sn]], [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesSPartTwo So-Sy]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesT T]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesUToV U to V]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesWToZ W to Z]]) | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsBeholderkin Beholderkin]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiendsDemons Demons]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiendsDevils Devils]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsDragons Dragons]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsGiants Giants]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsMindFlayers Mind Flayers]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiendsYugoloths Yugoloths]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCrossoverCreatures Crossover Creatures]] \\

->'''Classification:''' Undead (3E)\\

''[[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreatures Creatures]]'': [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreatureTypes Creature Types]] ([[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesA A]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesB B]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesC C]] | '''D''' | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesE E]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesF F]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesG G]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesH H]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesIToJ I to J]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesK K]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesL L]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesM M]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesNtoQ N to Q]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesR R]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesSPartOne Sa-Sn]], [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesSPartTwo So-Sy]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesT T]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesUToZ U to Z]]) | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsBeholderkin Beholderkin]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiendsDemons Demons]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiendsDevils Devils]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsDragons Dragons]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsGiants Giants]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsMindFlayers Mind Flayers]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiendsYugoloths Yugoloths]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCrossoverCreatures Crossover Creatures]] \\

See also the [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsBeholderkin Beholderkin]], [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiendsDemons Demons]], [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiendsDevils Devils]], [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsDragons Dragons]], [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsGiants Giants]], [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsMindFlayers Mind Flayers]], [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsUndead Undead]], and [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiendsYugoloths Yugoloths]] subpages for information about those respective creatures.

''[[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreatures Creatures]]'': [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreatureTypes Creature Types]] ([[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesA A]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesB B]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesC C]] | '''D''' | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesE E]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesF F]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesG G]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesH H]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesIToJ I to J]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesK K]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesL L]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesM M]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesNtoQ N to Q]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesR R]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesSPartOne Sa-Sn]], [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesSPartTwo So-Sy]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesT T]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesUToZ U to Z]]) | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsBeholderkin Beholderkin]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiendsDemons Demons]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiendsDevils Devils]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsDragons Dragons]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsGiants Giants]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsMindFlayers Mind Flayers]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsUndead Undead]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiendsYugoloths Yugoloths]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCrossoverCreatures Crossover Creatures]] \\

[[folder:Death Linen]]
[[quoteright:316:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_death_linen_2e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:316:3e]]
->'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Bedsheets, pillowcases and other cloth items that have become animate and murderous.

* AchillesHeel: While death linens take next to no damage from blunt weapons, they're WeakToFire and ''slowed'' by at least a gallon of water being sloshed on them.
* AnimateInanimateObject: They are cloth objects given life by nightmares.
* BackFromTheDead: Even if a death linen is reduced to zero hit points, there's a 10% chance each month that its life force might infect a new set of sheets -- "After all, we all sleep, and we often have nightmares, which strengthen the strange beings." But if a year passes without a death linen returning, its life force dissipates.
* MistakenForUndead: While they resemble {{Bedsheet Ghost}}s, they're literally animated bedsheets rather than undead, and thus cannot be turned by priests or harmed by holy water.
* {{Poltergeist}}: Death linens are normal bedsheets that have become "infected with latent psychic forces born of nightmares," causing them to move and attack living creatures.
* SinisterSuffocation: If a death linen rolls high enough while attacking, it can begin to suffocate its target.
* SupernaturalFearInducer: The flopping, gyrating but disturbingly human form of an attacking death linen forces witnesses to save or flee in terror.

[[folder:Death's Head Tree]]
[[quoteright:307:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_deaths_head_tree_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:307:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Plant (3E, 5E) and Undead (3E, 5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (3E); 1/2 (death's head), 2 (tree) (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Willow-like trees that grow where blood has been shed, sprouting macabre fruit that resemble humanoid heads.

* FaceFullOfAlienWingWong: Prior to 5th Edition, these plants reproduce by having their death's heads bite or [[BulletSeed spit at]] (in 3E) living creatures, implanting seeds into their flesh. Since those seeds are coated in a low-grade anesthetic, victims might not notice they've been implanted, until they start taking cumulative damage for each day the seeds have taken root. Unless magic or surgery is used to remove the seed, the victim will die and a new death's head tree will begin growing in their corpse.
* FlyingFace: A death's head tree's "fruit" can detach and fly about (buoyed by foul natural gases, in 2E and 3E) to defend the tree or find new hosts, becoming an independent Undead creature. 5th Edition has several varieties of death's head available, from standard gnashing humanoid heads, to aberrant heads with a [[BrownNote "mind-bending bite,"]] to heads with a [[TakenForGranite petrifying bite]]... meaning that yes, you can [[{{Expy}} recreate]] ''VideoGame/{{Castlevania}}''[='s=] infamous [[LedgeBats flying medusa heads.]]
* LuringInPrey: The "fruit" of a death's head tree softly call for help in the language of the victim the tree sprouted from.
* MorphicResonance: Rumor has it that the heads of these trees resemble the visages of whoever's blood nurtured it.
* StationaryEnemy: While death's head trees can move their branches to attack foes, they can't uproot themselves and move about like other animate trees.
* WeakToFire: Averted; unlike most plants, death's head trees are immune to fire damage, making their wood useful to make fire-resistant magic items.

[[folder:Deathcoils]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_deathcoils_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''\\
'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 7 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Fearsome and cunning serpents who can grow up to 80 feet long.

* BreathWeapon: Twice per day they can exhale a cone of ''[[ForcedSleep sleep]]'' gas that also deals a bit of Constitution damage.
* CraftedFromAnimals: Deathcoils' scaly hides, though hard and slippery, are valued for not losing their supple sheen for centuries, and are sometimes used in furniture-making. However, the difficulty in hunting the beasts means that their hides are usually only found in the homes of royalty.
* EyeOfNewt: The yuan-ti use deathcoils blood as a secret ingredient in one of their ''osssra'', alchemical mixtures that provide various effects when burned and inhaled as smoke. The mixture in question, ''duthlah'hass'', puts Scaled Ones into a state of "dreamsleep" that helps them recover memories with perfect clarity or receive messages from their deities. Humanoids describe the smoke as "nose-clearing" and smelling of burning moss or sizzling seaweed, and have to save to avoid becoming ''feebleminded'' and taking Dexterity damage after inhaling it.
* TheGreatSerpent: They're certifiably Huge snakes, though despite their size, they lack a "Swallow Whole" attack.
* ItCanThink: While Faerûnian folklore can exaggerate deathcoils' intelligence, the fact remains that they're as smart as the average human, and dangerously cunning when they hunt. They've been known to scatter treasure to lure humanoids into an ambush, drag prey wrapped in their coils into a river to drown, sink boats and pin the wrecks with rocks to create sunken larders, chase prey over cliffs to create a pile of broken corpses for easy feeding between hunts, or sneak out of the forest at night to eat livestock.
* SuperPersistentPredator: Deathcoils are "relentless" hunters, known to chase prey that eludes or wounds them for miles.

[[folder:Decapus]]
[[quoteright:301:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_decapus_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:301:2e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Mystara}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 4 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil (2E), Unaligned (5E)

Large, arboreal predators that use their ten tentacles to move through the trees and grab prey.

* AdaptationalDumbass: 2E decapuses are as intelligent as humans, enough to have an alignment, but 5E makes them more animalistic predators.
* StarfishLanguage: In 2E, they have "a complex language of clickng sounds and body movement."
* TentacledTerror: Ten-tentacled terrors, to be precise. It's mentioned that a decapus can use one tentacle to hang from a branch, leaving the rest of their limbs free for combat, though 5th Edition restricts them to a single "tentacles" attack that deals less damage if the creature is currently on the ground or busy grappling something. As for the "terror" part, 2nd Edition notes that decapuses' "savagery is legendary," and the creatures eagerly prey upon the likes of elves and humans.
* TerrestrialSeaLife: They're basically tree octopi.
* UndergroundMonkey: Some decapuses dwell in the ocean, where they compete with the likes of sharks for dominance of their territory.

[[folder:Deep Gnome]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_deep_gnome_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E, 5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (3E), 1/2 (5E)\\
'''Playable:''' 2E, 3E, 5E\\
'''Alignment:''' Neutral Good

Properly svirfneblin, these gnomes dwell in hidden enclaves within the Underdark, concerned with their own survival and avoiding the attention of their dangerous neighbors. See [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsRaces the Playable Races subpage]] for more information about them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Deep Imaskari]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_deep_imaskari_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]

'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

The scions of the ancient empire of Imaskar, who fled deep into the Underdark and adapted themselves to life underground.

* BeneathTheEarth: Their home of Deep Imaskar is an UndergroundCity in the Lowerdark, fully 10 miles beneath the surface. The city itself is sustained by magic, from the Great Seal that gives a ''suggestion'' to everyone on Faerûn that the Imaskari are extinct, to the subjective gravity that lets the locals build along the walls of the three-mile-long cavern.
* HumanSubspecies: Deep Imaskari are humans who have lived underground for thousands of years.
* InnateNightVision: Downplayed; they have low-light vision, which is a step above normal human vision, but falls short of the darkvision enjoyed by most Underdark races.
* MageSpecies: As the survivors of a [[TheMagocracy magocracy]], deep Imaskari have a passion for magic, so that one surefire way to win their friendship is the gift of a new spell or piece of arcane lore. They have a racial bonus to Intelligence, favor the wizard class, and have the "Spell Clutch" ability to retain a 1st-level spell after casting it, once per day.
* RetiredMonster: Imaskar was a godless empire that subjugated eastern Faerûn for thousands of years, before falling to a divinely-incited SlaveRevolt. A population of survivors fled deep underground to found a new homeland, protected by a Great Seal, and kept to themselves for four millennia. Now that the Great Seal has been breached, the deep Imaskari are beginning to venture out to explore the outside world, seeking communication and commerce rather than conquest. They're guarded and detached, but curious about other creatures... though wary of Mulhorandi and Untheri, the descendants of the slaves who overthrew ancient Imaskar.
* RockMonster: Subverted; deep Imaskari's skin looks like fine marble, but it's just as soft as normal human flesh. Their skin tone does help them blend in with rocky environments, however.
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Those who leave Deep Imaskar are unable to return, as they [[LaserGuidedAmnesia have their memory of its location wiped from their minds]], to keep it safe even if a deep Imaskari falls into the clutches of mind-reading foes like illithids.

[[folder:Deep Scion]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_deep_scion_5e.png]]

->'''Classification:''' Humanoid (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (5E)\\

Krakens or other terrors of the deep may rescue people from drowning at sea, or abduct them from their homes, solely to offer a sinister ultimatum: serve or die. Those who accept are given the power to shift into an aquatic hybrid form, then sent to infiltrate coastal settlements on behalf of their new masters.

* FishPeople: Well, kraken-people -- deep scions' hybrid forms are more about tentacles than fins and scales.
-->'''Volo:''' If you meet a human and there's something fishy about them, they might be a deep scion. Or a crook, or just a fishmonger. Sometimes fish stink is just fish stink.
* SuperScream: Deep scions can let out a terrible scream which ravages the minds of nearby creatures with psionic energy, potentially stunning them. This scream also transmits a record of the deep scion's most recent memories to its master, but only if it screams while underwater.
* TentacledTerror: Deep scions' hybrid forms are depicted as having a dozen squidlike tentacles growing from the backs of their head, though they don't use them for combat.
* ThisWasHisTrueForm: When a deep scion is killed, it reverts back into its original humanoid form.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Deep scions can freely switch between their original humanoid forms and the half-humanoid, half-piscine form bestowed upon them by their dark masters, which is amphibious and moves better through the water than on land.

[[folder:Deepspawn]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_deepspawn_3e.jpg]]

->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''\\
'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 8 (3E)\\

Large, spherical creatures studded with eyes and tentacles, notorious for their ability to produce more monstrosities.

* CloneArmy: Deconstructed by the deepspawn themselves. In one instance, the shield dwarves used deepspawn to create an army of clones, which caused problems when those copies integrated with dwarven society after the Spawn Wars. The implied result is that genetic variety amongst the shield dwarves crashed, contributing to their fertility issues in later eras, something that took literal DivineIntervention to fix.
* CombatTentacles: Three of their tentacles have eyeless maws on them, three more can make slap attacks but are also dexterous enough to wield weapons.
* FantasticLivestock: Dwarven settlements in the Realms sometimes keep captive deepspawn as a food source, feeding them livestock so the aberrations will make numerous copies of meat animals. This can easily backfire on the deepspawn-keepers, if one of their captive monsters ever manages to sink its teeth into something more dangerous than cattle.
* ItCanThink: Despite their monstrous appearance, deepspawn are highly intelligent.
* MookMaker: A deepspawn's signature ability is being able to create spawn based on any living, Material Plane being (so no outsiders, elementals or undead) they've consumed. These spawn are born in less than four days and emerge fully-grown and ready for action. They retain only faint memories of their previous existence, and their alignment and intelligence are the same as the original creature, but the spawn are wholly loyal to their creator and cannot even be magically compelled to attack them. In other words, deepspawn are the answer to the question "What is an X doing in this dungeon?"
* PooledFunds: Deepspawn have a habit of burying themselves beneath a pile of treasure, which gives them the benefits of surprise and confusion (enemies may think its tentacle attacks are coming from separate creatures), and also a bonus to Armor Class from the hard metal covering its central body.
* TentacleRope: If they aren't wielding weapons, their tentacles can be used to grapple and constrict.

[[folder:Delver]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_delver_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 9 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Huge, slug-like burrowing creatures with a taste for rock and metals.

* AcidAttack: Delvers are coated in a corrosive slime which deals increasing damage to metallic or stony creatures or objects.
* AlienCatnip: Metal intoxicates delvers, and some become addicted enough to menace miners or anyone carrying metal equipment.
* DigAttack: If delvers are expecting trouble, they honeycomb an area with thin-walled tunnels, which they can then burst through to attack enemies.
* EatDirtCheap: Delvers primarily feed on stone, and can also enjoy various non-metallic minerals like gems, so adventurers who speak Terran or Undercommon can sometimes exchange minor treasure for information.
* FastTunneling: Fast compared to mundane diggers, anyway - delvers have a fairly slow 10-foot burrow speed, but leave behind 10-foot-wide tunnels that can be used by other creatures.
* GentleGiant: Despite their size, delvers are usually shy and inoffensive, and have little reason to attack organic entities. Though they will make meals out of earth elementals and creatures like xorns.
* MooksAteMyEquipment: The acid that covers a delver's body can dissolve weapons that strike them, or the armor and clothing of creatures they attack.

[[folder:Demodand]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_demodands_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:From left to right, a farastu, kelubar and shator (3e)]]
->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E), Fiend (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil (2E), NeutralEvil (3E, 5E)

Also known as gehreleths, these cruel fiends are native to the Tarterian Depths of Carceri, and are simultaneously inmates and the self-appointed wardens of that prison plane.
----
* ApeShallNeverKillApe: ''AD&D'' notes that while gehreleths are merciless towards outsiders, they never attack each other, and have a stable society built upon raw power.
* AssociationFallacy: 3E mentions that demodands have no reason to bother non-petitioners on Carceri, but unfortunately for planar visitors, "If a creature is on Carceri, the demodands think it belongs there, and thus they see that keeping it there is their duty."
* DemonOfHumanOrigin: 2E states that gehreleths are born when mortals perish on the Lower Planes, prompting the dark power they worship, Apomps the Three-Sided One, to convert the cadaver into a new gehreleth.
* EnemySummoner: Like other races of Outsiders, demodands have a chance to summon others of their kind, to various degrees of success. But their ''AD&D'' rules put an interesting spin on the notion by additionally making gehreleths the "summoning stock" of the Lower Planes, so that a mortal summoner might accidentally call up one of them rather than a baatezu or tanar'ri. This is a bad thing, since gehreleths hate servitude, hold grudges, and are capable of disobeying their summoner. It also mentions that the shator like to write magical texts explaining how to summon specific denizens of the Lower Planes, particularly fiends whom the author dislikes.
* FatBastard: Kelubars and shators are obese, partly because they live fairly sedentary lives.
* NoSell: Demodands as a race are immune to acid and poison, and enjoy a permanent ''freedom of movement'' effect that lets them ignore difficult terrain or magical effects to reduce their speed.
* NoodleIncident: What exactly led to the demodands' exile to Carceri has been lost in the mists of time, but the kelubars and shators agree that it was the farastus' fault.
* {{Sadist}}: Demodands have no interest in corrupting mortals, ruling the world, or imposing their particular notion of evil upon the cosmos. Their only real desire is to make others suffer in various ways.

!!Farastu
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_farastu_5e.png]]

->'''Challenge Rating:''' 11 (3E, 5E)

The least and most common of the demodands, who when they aren't pushing around weaker creatures can be found serving their stronger kin, or hunting down escapees from Carceri.

* TheBerserker: In 3E, farastus can fly into a berserk rage during combat, which gives them a chance to vent their frustrations from being at the bottom of the demodand pecking order.
* TheChainOfHarm: They have to endure the hatred and disdain of their kin, which makes them all the more arrogant and cruel when those stronger demodands aren't around.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Farastus are barely tolerated by other demodands, who blame them for landing the race in Carceri.
* StickySituation: Farastus ooze a tarlike slime that can aid in grapples, or cause attackers' weapons to get stuck fast when they strike the fiend.

!!Kelubar
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kelubar_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:5e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 13 (3E, 5E)

The middle rung of demodand society, kelubars serve as bureaucrats, or supervisors for squads of farastus.

* AcidAttack: Kelubar skin is coated in a pale green acidic slime.
* BackStab: In 3E, kelubars can deal Sneak Attack damage like a mid-level rogue, which makes their ability to cast ''invisibility'' at will all the more dangerous.
* WeaponizedStench: Kelubars' slime is so foul that it can nauseate other creatures within 30 feet.

!!Shator
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shator_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 16 (3E, 5E)

The corpulet shators rule what society exists on Carceri, managing the plane's prisoners and extending its influence to other worlds.
----
* LargeAndInCharge: The Large (and horribly obese) shators are at the top of the demodands' pecking order.
* InstantPeopleJustAddWater: A liquid variant; shators have the weird ability to reduce willing farastus and kelebars to pools of tar and slime that can then be collected into flasks, each housing its own fiend. Demodands stored in this way will keep for centuries, and will be revived the instant someone opens their flask.
* TheParalyzer: A shator's slime acts as a paralytic neurotoxin.
* WardensAreEvil: Shators are unusually cruel wardens of Carceri, and secretly hope those that are bound to the plane will attempt to escape, just so they can hunt the fugitives down.

[[folder:Demon]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_demons_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:A balor and marilith (3e)]]
->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E), Elemental Magical Beast (4E), Fiend (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' Varies by type\\

Destructive fiends from the Infinite Layers of the Abyss, the demonic hordes embody the ChaoticEvil alignment. See [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiendsDemons the Demons subpage]] for more information about them.

[[folder:Demonhive]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_demonhive_3e.jpg]]

->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (demonet swarm, attendant), 6 (queen) (3E)\\

Insectoid fiends that originated in the Abyss, but have since spread across the Lower Planes.

* AttackAttackAttack: While foraging, demonhive attendants attack anything larger than a non-demonic insect.
* BeePeople: The demonhive is a species of eusocial, insectile fiends, with a reproductive queen giving birth to thousands of demonets, most of which grow up to be male attendants. Females remain immature as long as the queen lives; after this, they grow up and establish their own hive.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Individual demonets are the size of rats, attendants the size of dogs, while the bloated demonhive queens are 10 feet wide.
* HiveCasteSystem: Demonhive members are divided into three castes: demonets that gather in swarms, male attendants that hunt for the hive, and the hive's queen.
* HiveMind: All demonhive members within two miles of a queen are in constant communication.
* MamaBear: A demonhive queen lets out a [[SuperScream "maternal scream"]] as her demonet swarms are killed, dealing sonic damage to anything within 60 feet (which won't affect other demonhive creatures, since they're immune to sonic damage).
* MonstrousCannibalism: When food runs out, a demonhive queen begins to starve, and starts to kill an attendant each day. The queen does not eat the corpse but instead [[PetTheDog leaves it for demonets and other attendants to feed on]].
* TheSwarm: Demonets operate as such, allowing them to swarm around and distract enemies with the [[DroneOfDread mind-numbing droning]] of their wings.
* TurnsRed: Should a demonhive queen enter negative hit points, her attendants fly into a frenzy similar to a ''haste'' effect.
* WolfpackBoss: A demonhive is intended to be encountered as a unit, and part of the challenge comes from how the hive's components support each other with their abilities. Optimally, the adventurers will defeat the attendants first, then the queen, and finally mop up the swarms.

[[folder:Demonthorn Mandrake]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_demonthorn_mandrake_3e.jpg]]

->'''Classification:''' Plant (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Evil, intelligent, predatory plants common across the Lower Planes, or protecting the lairs of evil cultists on the Material Plane.

* CombatTentacles: In melee, these plants make slam attacks with their bristly vines.
* FacialHorror: For a ranged attack, a demonthorn mandrake can spit a spore pod out to 30 feet, which then explodes in a 10-foot-radius burst. Any living creatures in the blast radius take damage as thorny growths burst from their faces, and then have to save or take DamageOverTime from the thorns until they're either pulled out (dealing additional damage) or cleansed with a vial of holy water.
* ItCanThink: Demonthorn mandrakes are smarter than ogres but dumber than humans, capable of following a summoner's orders, but are unable to speak themselves. As predatory plants, they don't have anything in the way of a society, either.
* MonsterLord: Somewhere in the Abyss is the Mother Seed, the largest demonthorn mandrake in the Great Wheel, whom lesser mandrakes obey without question.
* PerpetualMotionMonster: Unlike normal plants, demonthorn mandrakes don't require water or light to survive, only the flesh of their victims. If they go a month without feeding, the plants enter a state of dormancy that can last for years, until their roots detect the presence of nearby creatures via tremorsense.
* TheVirus: Should a creature succumb to a demonthorn mandrake's spores, a fully-grown plant will sprout from the corpse in a matter of hours.
* YouWillNotEvadeMe: The plants can extend their roots out to a 30 foot radius, immobilizing themselves but also potentially entangling prey. While a demonthorn mandrake's roots are extended and exposed, they emit humanlike screams.

[[folder:Derro]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_derro_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E), Natural Humanoid (4E), Humanoid (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (3E), 13 (4E), 1/4 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Small, cruel, and thoroughly mad humanoids who infest certain corners of the Underdark, where their insane paranoia serves them well.

* CainAndAbel: The derro's mythic history describes the brothers Diirinka and Diinkarazan, and how Diirinka betrayed his sibling to steal magical power from a pursuing enemy. This is not portrayed as a tragedy, but rather as a lesson on the importance of survival at any cost, and how deceitfulness and cruelty can be useful.
* HalfHumanHybrid: 2nd and 3rd Edition cast derro as dwarf-human hybrids, so that "Their features remind dwarves of humans, and vice versa."
* HaveAGayOldTime: In Australia, "Derro" (derived from "derelict") is slang for a homeless person, a tramp; a social derelict, especially an alcoholic.
* InsanityImmunity: 3rd Edition derro are immune to ''confusion'' or ''insanity'' effects because they're already quite mad, thank you very much. Only a ''wish'' or ''miracle'' spell can cure their racial insanity.
* MadeASlave: They often take slaves to help support their communities, and in 2nd Edition will regularly wage a "Uniting War" against other races of the Underdark in part to spread rumors that might draw surface civilizations to send scouts and adventurers into the Underdark -- "The derro welcome this new source of slaves."
* TheMorlocks: Their 5th Edition backstory sets them up as this to dwarves, being a degenerate splinter race of near-feral subterranean humanoids. Not that the duergar or surface dwarves recognize derro as kin.
* OurDwarvesAreDifferent: They're often classified as a dwarven subrace.
* TheParanoiac: Derro are inherently paranoid, which [[ProperlyParanoid is fully justified]] in the dangerous Underdark. However, their racial insanity [[SanityHasAdvantages makes it impossible for them to form communities]] more advanced than cults of personality centered on their spellcasting savants.
* {{Retcon}}: Their backstory varies by edition.
** 2nd Edition describes derro as having lived in the Underdark for ages, but only relatively recently have other races encountered them. 3rd Edition elaborates only slightly, saying the derro were created by "some nameless deity of darkness and madness" from dwarf and human stock.
** 4th Edition casts derro as the "warped descendants of a mad, power-hungry civilization that nearly ripped apart the planes when the world was still young," cast into the Underdark by the World Serpent in an attempt to stop them from opening portals to the Far Realm.
** In 5th Edition, the derro are instead relatives of the duergar, former slaves of the illithids who responded particularly badly to their masters' psionic experiments.
* WeakenedByTheLight: In 5th Edition, derro [[DayHurtsDarkAdjustedEyes suffer penalties on rolls made in sunlight]], while in 2nd and 3rd Edition, derro will sicken and eventually die if exposed to too much sunlight.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Desmodu]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_desmodu_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 9 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralGood

Ogre-sized, bat-like humanoids who dwell within the Underdark's largest caverns. Unlike most underground races, they aren't dangerous unless attacked.

* AttackAnimal[=/=]HorseOfADifferentColor: They breed varieties of bat for use as hunting animals or guards, or Huge specimens they can ride.
* BatPeople: They're hulking humanoids with bat faces and leathery membranes between their long arms and short legs, though while they're excellent climbers, desmodus are unable to fly or glide.
* DoubleWeapon: The desmodus' signature weapon is the notbora, a Huge quarterstaff with a crook on one end for tripping attacks, an unsheathable blade on the other, and a hinge in the middle for easy storage.
* GadgeteerGenius: Despite living fairly simply, desmodus have developed numerous clever tools and alchemical items, from breathing masks and steel cables and climbing harnesses, to a substance called "frostfire" that is essentially a cold-based variant of [[GreekFire alchemist's fire.]]
* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: Most sages assumed that the drow had wiped them out in an ancient war.
* RunningOnAllFours: Desmodus are normally bipedal, but can double their speed by galloping on all fours.
* SpeaksFluentAnimal: They can talk with bats as per ''speak with animals.''
* StarfishLanguage: Desmodu involves both ultra- and subsonic utterances, so not many other species can speak it.
* SuperScream: Desmodus can emit subsonic vibrations at will to induce despair in enemies or hope in allies, granting morale penalties or bonuses on various rolls, respectively. Once per day they can also screech to emit a ray that deals sonic damage, or stun all non-desmodu around them.
* SuperSenses: Their echolocation gives them blindsight out to 120 feet.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Destrachan]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_destrachan_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E), Aberrant Magical Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 8 (3E), 9 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil (3E), Evil (4E)

Eyeless reptilian monsters that hunt with devastating sonic attacks.

* EyelessFace: Destrachans have no eyes, and hunt with their hearing which rivals most creatures' sight. This also renders them immune to gaze attacks or illusions.
* ForTheEvulz: Destrachans feed on death and misery, and spread woe for evil's sake.
* ItCanThink: They look like beasts, but destrachans are frightfully intelligent and wholly malevolent. Though incapable of speech, they can fully understand Common, and communicate through gestures or actions.
* SuperScream: Destrachans' tubular, toothless mouths can emit destructive harmonics that can induce unconsciousness, pulp flesh, or shatter stone, as the monster sees fit. They also are resistant to other sonic attacks.
* SuperSenses: Their superior hearing gives destrachans Blindsight out to a whopping 100 feet. On the downside, a ''silence'' spell will effectively blind them.

[[folder:Deva]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_deva_4e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:4e]]
->'''Classification:''' Immortal Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 11 (4E)\\
'''Playable:''' 4E\\
'''Alignment:''' Any

Former angels of the Astral Sea who descended to the realm of mortals, reincarnating in humanoid form to defend the world from evil, though some have become corrupted by material influences.\\
For the celestials known as devas in other editions, see the [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesA "Angel" folder.]]

* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Deva skin is two-toned, being comprised of a unique pattern of dark colors (hues of blue, violet, gray or black) and pale colors (white or pale gray), with either light or dark dominating and being offset by markings from the other. Their hair is usually either one of these colors or even two-toned, but occasionally is an entirely different color.
* AngelicTransformation: For all intents and purposes, devas are angelic beings incarnated in physical, humanoid bodies.
* BornAgainImmortality: While devas are usually re-BornAsAnAdult, they are sometimes reincarnated as infants instead.
* FaceHeelTurn: Devas are usually strongly Good-aligned, but some fall into zealotry in their drive to destroy evil, while others end up embracing Evil and opposing their kin.
* ImmortalProcreationClause: Zigzagged. Devas can and do have offspring through sexual encounters with mortals. However, their own numbers are fixed; aside from redeeming rakshasas, or having other angels make the pact with the Primal Spirits, the total number of devas can never increase. The offspring of devas are instead mortals of their other parent's race with a deva heritage, granting them the power to call upon the astral splendor of their souls.
* KarmicTransformation: A deva's reincarnation parallels that of a 4th Edition rakshasa, and should a fallen deva be slain by radiant energy, it "carries its wickedness into its next life and becomes a rakshasa -- a fate that even evil devas revile."
* LightEmUp: Non-evil deva [=NPCs=] can deal radiant damage instead of normal attack damage, or [[BlindedByTheLight blind opponents to gain concealment.]]
* MonochromaticEyes: Deva eyes are always a solid pale gray or white color, completely without iris or pupil.
* PastLifeMemories: In most cases, a deva's past existences remain as vague memories in the back of their head like half-remembered dreams, but they can still draw useful insight from them, translating to a "Memory of a Thousand Lifetimes" racial power that adds a bonus to a dice roll.
* ResurrectiveImmortality: Devas can be killed, but will eventually return in a new body at certain special spots, although this can take centuries. It's implied, but not confirmed, that devas can change their physical shapes and potentially their genders as part of this process.
* RevivingEnemy: Fallen devas, if reduced to 0 hit points by non-necrotic damage, revive as an undead creature that will keep doing so until slain by radiant damage. If destroyed in this state, they're doomed to later resurrecting as a raskshasa.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: They're this to the aasimar, as Wizards of the Coast circa 4th Edition considered those planetouched lackluster, defined almost entirely by their status as the GoodCounterpart to the tieflings. Ironically, the devas' "Ecology" article in ''Magazine/{{Dragon}} #374'' brought up the theory that their ability to have partly-angelic children with other races may make them something of a counterpart to the elementally-touched genasi.
* WindsOfDestinyChange: Fallen devas are concerned with reshaping fate to suit their own plans, and exchange their racial power to add a bonus to their own rolls for a "Fate Manipulation" ability that interferes with other creatures' rolls.
* WingedHumanoid: A few devas retain angelic wings.

[[folder:Devil]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_devils_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:A barbazu, cornugon and erinyes (3e)]]
->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E), Immortal Humanoid (4E), Fiend (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' Varies by type\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

Tyrannical fiends from the Nine Hells of Baator, devils are embodiments of the LawfulEvil alignment. See [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiendsDevils the Devils subpage]] for more information about them.

[[folder:Devourer]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_devourer_5e.png]]

->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Undead (3E), Shadow Humanoid (4E), Fiend (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 11 (3E, 4E), 13 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil, Evil (4E)

Inhumanly tall, mummy-like monsters that roam the planes, capturing souls to empower themselves.

* EnemySummoner: 5th Edition devourers were explicitly created by Orcus to spread plagues of undeath across worlds, and are able to convert imprisoned souls into zombies, ghouls or wights based upon how powerful they were in life.
* HumanShield: In their 3rd Edition rules, a devourer with a trapped essence within it can avoid the effects of certain spells by having that essence take the hit. In the case of spells like ''banishment'', however, this could deprive the devourer of its power source.
* LevelDrain: 3rd Edition devourers inflict negative levels with their attacks, or to souls imprisoned within their ribcages as they use those souls to power their spell-like abilities.
* MakeThemRot: 5th Edition devourers can unleash a wave of necrotic energy to damage those within 20 feet.
* {{Retcon}}: Devourers were explicitly not undead monsters in 2nd Edition, and were instead a ghastly type of creature that ambushed travelers on the Astral or Ethereal Planes. Then 3rd Edition decided they were undead after all, with 4th Edition specifying that they're formed from murderous souls that passed into the Shadowfell. And ''then'' 5th Edition cast them as undead-looking ''fiends'' created by the demon lord Orcus.
* SoulEating: As a devourer draws upon an entrapped soul to power its spell-like abilities in 3rd Edition, that soul fades away as it gains negative levels, ultimately evaporating completely.
* YourSoulIsMine: A devourer can trap the essence of an enemy, either through a special action (in 3rd Edition) or by targeting a living creature at 0 hit points (in 5th Edition). If successful, the unlucky victim appears as a tiny figure imprisoned in the devourer's ribcage, usually for only a brief time before the monster uses it to power its other abilities. While in this state, normal resurrection magic doesn't work on the captive soul, and only destroying the devourer or powerful spells like ''wish'' or ''miracle'' can free it.

[[folder:Dharculus]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dharculus_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 9 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Alien predators that attack their victims across planar boundaries.

* CombatTentacles: Dharculi's mawed tentatcles appear something like a half-dozen, eyeless eels, which can deal damage but are mainly used to latch onto prey.
* EyeOnAStalk: Other tentacles end in eyestalks, which the creatures keep safely on the Ethereal Plane.
* {{Intangibility}}: A dharculus usually lurks on the Border Ethereal, but upon sighting prey, it phases its six mawed tentacles onto the Material Plane -- from a Material creature's perspective, it is suddenly beset by a swarm of eels protruding from a vague, menacing outline behind them. While attacking in this manner, a dharculus' body is vulnerable, but enjoys cover bonuses to Armor Class and Reflex saves, and it can retract its tentacles to the safety of the Ethereal Plane as a standard action. Should a dharculus grapple prey with enough of its mawed tentacles, the other creature is yanked onto the Border Ethereal with it and subject to its primary maw attack (in 2nd Edition), or considered ethereal enough for the dharculus to attack with its main maw (in 3rd Edition). In the former case, a victim might end up stranded on the Etheral Plane even if it defeats the monster, unless it uses the dharculus' tentacles as a lifeline, quickly slipping through the planar breaches the tentacles create before they close.
* OurMonstersAreWeird: In the rare cases a dharculus' entire body can be seen, it resembles a swarm of blind eels connected to a worm-like braid that curls forward like a question mark, ending in an even larger, toothier maw. Dharculi's origins are poorly understood, so one theory is that they're from an Alternate Material Plane, while others insist they're from the Far Realm.

[[folder:Diabolus]]
[[quoteright:244:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_diabolus_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:244:2e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Mystara}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticGood

Refugees from a Realm of Nightmares whose fiendish forms belie their good natures and love for freedom.

* AnarchyIsChaos: Averted; the diaboli have a unifying belief in the superiority of anarchy over any attempt to agree upon a form of government, but use a strong sense of traditions, social mores and taboos to hold their society together, living by the adage "Do what thou wilt but harm none."
* BewareMyStingerTail: They have a natural tail attack that can deliver a mild poison, which merely sickens opponents in 3rd Edition but deals damage and potentially [[TheParalyzer paralyzes]] victims in 2nd Edition.
* BigRedDevil: Though their alignment ultimately subverts the trope, the diaboli otherwise meet most of its criteria -- hoofed feet, [[HornedHumanoid vestigial horns]], HellishPupils in red or yellow eyes, a whip-like tail with a barbed stinger -- except that instead of red flesh, diaboli's skin tones range from mauve and lavender to a near-black violet. On the topic of their goat-like legs, there are three subtypes of diaboli based on just how hairy they are: "bare" diaboli are completely hairless (even the women), "common" diaboli have white or silver hair on their heads much like humans (with males favoring well-groomed beards), while "hirsute" diaboli additionally have goatlike fur from the waist down, giving them the classic devilish appearance.
* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: Diaboli buildings resemble ruins with leaning walls, beams and timber jutting out at odd angles, and random splashes of paint, all arranged haphazardly without any consideration for a settlement's defense or easy movement.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Despite looking like stereotypical fiends, diaboli are generally friendly, open-minded and accepting (if they can get over their prejudices towards humanoids). But their appearance does cause penalties to Diplomacy checks and bonuses to Intimidate attempts.
* DevilsPitchfork: While their technology is generally primitive, duaboli are automatically proficient with tridents, another reason other races can mistake them for fiends.
* FantasticRacism: Diaboli's fiendish appearance leads other races to view them as repulsive, and ironically diaboli find humanoids (especially humans proper) just as off-putting. It's rare for a diaboli community to interact with their neighbors, and such encounters can be marked by extreme politeness, as if both groups are fearful of insulting the other.
* InvadingRefugees: A benign example; they originate in what Mystarans call the Demiplane of Nightmares, which 3rd Edition positions on the border of both the Ethereal Plane and Region of Dreams. Unfortunately, the Far Realm's influence constantly leaks into this demiplane, leading many diaboli to resettle across the Great Wheel to both escape and spread their creed of "benevolent chaos."
* SssssnakeTalk: Diaboli have forked tongues, and their native language features harsh, guttural hissing, resulting in a "thick, snakelike accent" when they speak Common. The fact that their physiology makes it easy for diaboli to pick up Abyssal unfortunately reinforces prejudices against them.
* StarfishLanguage: The diaboli have developed a variant of sign language that uses the twirling and positioning of their tails, though it takes twice as long to communicate a concept this way than it would to speak out loud. Non-diaboli can learn to interpret this tail "language," but obviously they'll have trouble "speaking" it unless they have a tail of their own.
* SuperSenses: Like most outsiders, diaboli have darkvision. Their tongues also pick up olfactory cues just like a snake's, though this has no in-game benefit.

[[folder:Digester]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_digester_3e.jpg]]

->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Bizarre saurian predators that hunt by liquefying, then slurping up their prey.

* AcidAttack: Digesters produce an acid that can dissolve a human in just a few seconds. They have enough control over it to spray acid in a 20-foot cone for moderate damage, or unleash a concentrated stream against a single adjacent target for double damage.
* ArmlessBiped: Hence why their only other attack options are clawed kicks.
* BigEater: Every digester is "a hunting and eating machine" that is nearly perpetually hungry.
* OurMonstersAreWeird: A digester looks something like a spindly-legged ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' sans forearms, but with bony armor plates running along its spine and tail, bristly hair on its lower back, an anteater-like head over a "beard" of fleshy tendrils, bulging, forward-facing eyes, and a protruding orifice on its forehead to spray acid.

[[folder:Dinosaur]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_tyrannosaurus_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Animal (3E), Natural Beast (4E), Beast (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' Varies from 3 (''Deinonychus'') to 13 (''Spinosaurus'') (3E); 1/4 (''Velociraptor'') to 8 (''Tyrannosaurus rex'') (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Also called behemoths in some quarters, dinosaurs are distinctly less extinct on some worlds than on others.

* AcidAttack: Bloodstrikers have acidic blood, which gives them a natural defense against melee attack and which they can spray from their eyes up to thirty feet away as a defensive tactic. Their natural attacks, such as bites and charges, also do acid damage to their targets.
* BanditMook: Swindlespitters are small dinosaurs who normally feed on the eggs of bigger creatures. However, they're not especially bright and tend to confuse small to medium-sized man-made objects for strange eggs. Consequently, they're known for filching objects such as books, backpacks and the like from camps, carrying them off into the jungle, and tearing them to pieces to get to the yolk they're sure is in them somewhere.
* CallARabbitASmeerp: ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' gives individual dinosaur species shorter, pulpier-sounding names in-universe, such as calling velociraptors "clawfeet" and triceratopses "threehorns". 4th edition follows suit while collectively rebranding all dinosaurs as "behemoths" and using non-Latin names for them. 5th edition goes back to calling them dinosaurs and using their proper scientific names, although the ''Monster Manual'' notes that "behemoth" is a valid alternate term for them in-universe.
* DinosaursAreDragons: While dinosaurs are mere beasts with no magical abilities, there is some speculation that they're related to dragons, which might be the dinosaurs' more successful descendents. This "evolutionary" theory is controversial, however, since it contradicts the far more simple explanation that [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsScalykindDeities Io]] created the dragons in his own image, just as other deities created the mortal races.
* DomesticatedDinosaurs: Several settings have societies that have managed to tame dinosaurs for various uses. For instance, in ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' there are nomadic halfling tribes that ride dromaeosaurs the way Mongols ride horses.
* {{Kaiju}}: The 5E ''Glory of the Giants'' supplement includes several Gargantuan creatures that are essentially {{dire|beast}} dinosaurs infused with elemental energy. A ''Tyrannosaurus'' can swallow a human in a single bite, while a "regisaur" is so staggeringly enormous that it can swallow a ''giant'' in a single bite.
* RaptorAttack: Beyond actual raptors like ''Deinonychus'' and ''Velociraptor'', ''D&D'' has invented "fleshrakers," large, scaly-skinned raptors native to dense jungles, notable chiefly for their venomous claws and spines and for their preference for ambushing lone targets.
* SavageSpinosaurs: The 3E ''Monster Manual II'', which came out the year after ''Film/JurassicPark3'', features ''Spinosaurus'' as its apex dinosaur, a CR 13 monster (compared to a ''T. rex''[='s=] CR 8) so terrifying that its "unearthly, soul-searing bellow" acts as a SupernaturalFearInducer. True to the trope, it's described as a conventional land predator, and doesn't even have a swim speed.
* SmashMook: Dinosaurs generally have a large amount of health and a single, hard-hitting attack that they can use once per turn. They are far from the most complex monsters a DM can run, but they can prove quite dangerous in spite of that: a ''Triceratops'' or a ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' can easily ruin a low- to mid-level party's day.
* TheSpiny: Bloodstrikers are beasts resembling armor-plated ceratopsids with two notable traits: a bristling coat of bony spines and caustic blood. Characters who attack a bloodstriker in melee receive damage from both their slashing spines and the caustic fluids released from the wound, the latter also harming their weapons. To avoid harming themselves, characters must attack bloodstrikers with either weapons with exceptional reach, such as longspears, which will still be damaged by the blood, or with ranged attacks. Fleshrakers, meanwhile, are covered in spines, but don't get a similar caveat.
* SwallowedWhole: The larger carnivores like ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' can gulp down humanoids in a single bite.
* ToxicDinosaur:
** Fleshrakers are large, scaly raptorial dinosaurs whose claws and spines are coated with a deadly toxin.
** Swindlespitters are small dinosaurs, normally reliant on stealth and agility to stay out of danger, whose primary offensive power is their ability to spit out a spray of "[[PoisonIsCorrosive corrosive poison]]" every few turns. They're based directly on the ''Procompsognathus'' from ''Literature/{{The Lost World|1995}}''.
* TrampledUnderfoot: Some of the larget sauropods can make trample attacks against enemies they move over.
* ZergRush: Needletooth dinosaurs are individually only the size of cats, but hunt in large packs. Their favorite hunting tactic is to mob targets ''en masse'' and pull them to the ground by weight of numbers, a tactic that can overwhelm sizable prey in a living tide of hungry, snapping mouths.

!!Battletitan
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_battletitan_dinosaur_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 16 (3E)

Specially-bred saurian warbeasts that combine the ferocity of theropods with the defenses of sauropods.
----
* BeastOfBattle: They are literally bred to be living superweapons, able to wade into enemy formations and shatter them.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: Battletitans are trained from birth to carry a rider and wear barding. They respond only to the proper handling signals, which are treated as state secrets by the beasts' creators.
* HybridMonster: Battletitans do not occur naturally, and only arise from meticulous crossbreeding of natural dinosaurs. For the same reason, they cannot be summoned by ''summon nature's ally'' or chosen as animal companions.
* SwallowedWhole: Like the ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' they're descended from, battletitans can simply gulp down opponents.

!!Prismasaurus
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_prismasaurus_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 28 (3E)

A dinosaur-like creature with a row of prismatic crystals running down its spine. It has innate magical powers which let it manipulate light.
----
* BlindedByTheLight: The prismatic emanations given off by a prismasaurus are bright enough to strike nearby creatures blind. They also distort its outline, so that all physical attacks made against it are likely to miss.
* ContractualBossImmunity: As an epic monster, it is immune to certain attacks and status ailments that would make it easier to defeat.
* MixAndMatchCritters: It resembles a hadrosaur with the tail club of an ankylosaur.
* OneHitKill: Its bite attack can instantly kill you on a critical hit, regardless of how many hit points you have left. You can avoid dying by making a Fortitude save, thankfully.
* RandomEffectSpell: The creature's prismatic emanations duplicate the effects of the ''prismatic spray'' spell, blasting everything within a thirty-foot radius with randomized rays of magical energy.
* {{Whateversaurus}}: A rainbow-scaled, rainbow-emitting dinosaur simply named the prismasaurus.

[[folder:Diopsid]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_diopsid_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Beetle-like humanoids who dwell in the Underdark, hiring their services out to other races in exchange for metal equipment.

* ConsummateProfessional: Even though diopsids are willing to work for any employer, from deep gnomes to duergar to drow or even illithids, they never cause more havoc than is necessary, or revel in inflicting pain or suffering. Thus, they never alienate someone who might hire them for the next conflict.
* DumbMuscle: Diopsids are hardy, but clumsy and somewhat dull, resulting in a racial bonus to Constitution but penalties to Dexterity and Intelligence.
* HumansThroughAlienEyes: Part of the reason diopsids get along with other races is because they see little difference between a drow and duergar, at least when compared to the differences between a diopsid and the average humanoid. They also consider the surface world, with its ever-changing winds and unrelenting rain, to be a terrible place, inhabited by "lost souls cast out of the comforting grasp of the earth and forced to survive in a deadly, alien land" -- surface-dwellers are thus subject to both pity and endless curiosity.
* InnateNightVision: Like most Underdark races, they have darkvision.
* InsectoidAliens: They're human-sized beetle-folk whose carapace gives them natural armor, but makes it hard for them to use conventional equipment.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Diopsids have a secondary pair of limbs that are too weak to wield weapons or shields with full effectiveness, though they can also help the primary limbs manage oversized weapons, thus allowing the diopsid to {{Dual Wield|ing}} two-handed weapons.
* PhosphorEssence: Diopsids' bodies have numerous bioluminescent glands on them that can shed light in a 10-foot radius as needed.
* PrivateMilitaryContractors: They covet metal weapons and armor, but lack the expertise to make their own, leading the diopsids to work as soldiers, hunters or scouts in exchange for such goods. This puts them on friendly terms with other Underdark races, whom they view as potential clients able to provide them with valuable metals. Meanwhile, the diopsids' neighbors have learned that it's much easier to deal with them as mercenaries than it is to try and invade their cavern-cities.
* TheSleepless: Much like the thri-kreen, diopsids don't need to sleep, and are immune to magical attempts to put them to sleep.
* StarfishLanguage: While diopsids can learn to speak the likes of Common with a dry, hollow, clicking accent, their native "language" is silent, communicated through flashes of their bioluminescence. This lets diopsids send messages across great distances, and they've even learned how to "whisper" by flashing light visible only to creatures with darkvision. On the downside, this means Diopsid has no written form, something that has crippled the race's technological advancement.
* WingedHumanoid: Diopsids have stunted wings too weak for flight, but they can be used to safely slow a diopsid's fall.

[[folder:Dire Animal]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/direbear_9305.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:A dire bear, with wood elf for scale. (3e)]]
->'''Classification:''' Animal (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' Varies from 1/3 (dire rat) to 14 (dire hippopotamus) (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Larger, tougher, and all-around meaner versions of mundane animals.

* DireBeast: The TropeCodifier. Just take an ordinary animal from the appendix at the back of a ''Monster Manual'', scale it up a size category, slap on some extra horns and/or bony plates, and voila.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: If they can be tamed, dire animals make dangerous mounts. Some giants like to ride dire elephants, for example.
* MedievalPrehistory: Several types of dire animals are prehistoric creatures rather than simply meaner versions of contemporary wildlife. Smilodons, megaloceroses, glyptodons, woolly mammoths, and the like have all appeared in this capacity.

[[folder:Dire Corby]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dire_corby_4e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:4e]]
->'''Classification:''' Natural Humanoid (4E), Humanoid (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil, ChaoticEvil (4E)

Black-feathered, avian humanoids who travel the Underdark in ravenous, raucous flocks.

* BirdPeople: They look something like Medium-sized kenku, dark, wingless humanoid birds. Evidently they were able to fly in the past, but somehow lost the ability in favor of increased ferocity and strength.
* BrownNote: Their cacophonic chirps, hoots and howls have enough magic to induce vertigo in listeners -- in gameplay terms, those who fail their saving throws can't climb, dash, or cast spells more complicated than cantrips.
* ForebodingFleeingFlock: Beyond their echoing calls, one sign of an approaching dire corby flock is how other Underdark or dungeon denizens are fleeing for safer ground.
* TheHorde: Dire corbies migrate through the Underdark along pedictable routes, consuming everything in their path (normally insects, lichen and fungi, but anything that succumbs to their sonic chattering is fair game). Occasionally, blocked passages will force the dire corbies to make a detour, which can lead to them entering the lower levels of a dungeon and finding their way to the surface, where they continue to feed on anything they can, to the detriment of nearby settlements.
* PretendWereDead: A variant; someone who plugs their ears to block the dire corbies' screeching, and manages to mimic their hooting and chirping, can fool these simple-minded beings with surprising ease, allowing them to travel with a dire corby flock in relative safety.

[[folder:Disenchanter]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/disenchanter.png]]

'''Challenge Rating:''' 17 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Strange quadrupeds with a ravenous hunger for magic.

* ArtEvolution: Their early art and descriptions depict disenchanters as electric-blue, trunked, camel-like creatures, while 3rd Edition portrays them with silvery, scaly armored hides, club tails, and extended tongues instead.
* BioweaponBeast: They were bred by generals desperate for an edge against magic-wielding enemies, but predictably escaped to menace the wider world.
* ItCanThink: Their older material mentions that disenchanters are about as intelligent as the average human, have their own language, and may rarely learn Common or Elvish, but most don't bother to communicate with other creatures. 3rd Edition, in contrast, puts their Intelligence at 5 and doesn't mention any languages.
* MagicEater: Their signature ability and defining trait. Each round a disenchanter keeps its tongue attached to a magic item, it drains a magic item's property, a charge from something like a magic wand, or a point's worth of enhancement bonus from a magic weapon. This process grants a disenchanter temporary hit points.
* MooksAteMyEquipment: In addition to their magic-draining tongue attacks, any magic weapon that successfully strikes a disenchanter has to save or lose a property or point of enhancement bonus.
* OverlyLongTongue: Their tongues are 15 feet long, [[StickySituation sticky]], and [[TentacleRope capable of wrapping around and restraining victims whose magic items they're draining.]]
* ThePlotReaper: They're more or less a non-lethal example of the trope, as disenchanters tend to show up in campaigns where the player characters have gotten a little too powerful thanks to their magical swag.
* SupernaturalSensitivity: Disenchanters are under a constant ''detect magic'' effect, and can sense a strong magical aura from up to 10 miles away.

[[folder:Disir]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_disir_3e.jpg]]

->'''Origin:''' ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (disir), 4 (tyin), 11 (queen) (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil (disir), TrueNeutral (tyin)

Disgusting beings who live deep underground, preying upon all around them, though they have begun to venture onto the surface as well.

* AbsoluteXenophobe: Disir are sentient and have their own language (Dis), but have "a fanatical hatred of anything that might be their neighbor," attacking and [[ToServeMan eating]] dwarves, kobolds and other underground races, then squatting in their homes.
* CoveredInGunge: The gunk coating their bodies adds poison to their melee attacks, makes them resistant to fire damage, and lets them more easily wriggle out of bonds.
* DayHurtsDarkAdjustedEyes: True disir have the "Light Sensitivity" trait, though the tyin have had this weakness bred out of them.
* DumbMuscle: Tyin are disir mutated by their queens into Large, slightly more powerful forms that are better able to tolerate sunlight. However, they're only as smart as ogres, and understand simple verbal commands in Dis but can comprehend little else.
* InsectQueen: A disir tribe's queen is larger and far stronger than the lesser disir, and provide leadership (advised by a council of elite males) and induce mutations in disir larvae to produce the likes of tyin. However, they aren't actually "baby factories," instead it is the other disir females who reproduce.
* MixAndMatchCritters: They look like some combination of LizardFolk and SlayingMantis, though the degree of variation exhibited in things like how much their bodies are covered by their carapace suggests that they're not a natural species. "What the true disir originally were, in the distant past, can no longer be determined."
* MookCommander: Disir queens have special rules doubling the bonus disir receive from the "aid another" action, or inspiring them to grant morale bonuses on attack and damage rolls, as well as saving throws.
* TheParalyzer: The poison coating their bodies causes such intense pain that it numbs the victim's body, gradually paralyzing them (through [[NonHealthDamage Dexterity damage]] in 3rd Edition).
* ThePigPen: Disirs' slimy bodies constantly shed dead flesh and other debris, and they reek of death and decay.
* ReligionOfEvil: Disir "[[DoesNotLikeMagic do not practice or condone the use of arcane magic]]," but they do have divine spellcasters, (male) clerics of Morgion, Krynnish god of pestilence. They tend to advise their tribes' queen to follow the god's will, and it's suspected that the disir's spread is born from Morgion's desire to undermine the dwarves and other races.
* SexShifter: Disir sexes are hard to distinguish in normal circumstances, not helped by the fact that their hatchlings develop into males as they grow into adults, then around the 10-year mark, half of these will transition into breeding females or queens.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Displacer Beast]]
[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/displacer_beast.png]]
[[caption-width-right:320:4e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Fey Magical Beast (4E), Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 4 (3E), 9 (4E), 3 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

Six-legged, tentacled felines who are never quite where they seem to be.

* AnimalJingoism: Displacer beasts harbor a deep and mutual loathing of blink dogs, and the two species will attack each other on sight -- the classic cat/dog rivalry, it seems, extends even to magical canine and feline beasts.
* CatsAreMean: Displacer beasts are vicious, LawfulEvil panthers typically contrasted against the LawfulGood blink dogs. They also embody the stereotype of cats as needlessly cruel hunters, killing for sport even when not hungry and toying with and tormenting their prey before killing it. Though some sources just have them as animals with a supernatural trick.%%In-universe alignments.
* EliteMooks: Occasionally, displacer beasts give birth to freakishly large and strong offspring. Besides being much stronger and more dangerous than typical displacer beasts, these creatures often take control of displacer packs, hence their common moniker of displacer beast pack lords.
* {{Expy}}: By Gary Gygax's admission, displacer beasts were directly based on Coeurl, the titular feline monster from "[[Literature/TheVoyageOfTheSpaceBeagle Black Destroyer]]".
* GlowingEyes: Displacer beast eyes glow bright green, and continue to do so after the creature dies.
* HitboxDissonance: They invoke this via their ability, making them appear displaced from their true position in order to avoid attacks.
* VerberCreature: In this case, one named after its ability to "displace" its own image to confuse and mislead opponents.
* VertebrateWithExtraLimbs: They resemble panthers with six legs, before also counting their two shoulder-mounted tentacles.

[[folder:Divine Wrath Swarm]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_bronze_locusts_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:349:Bronze locusts (3e)]]

Swarms of magical creatures sent by the gods themselves to punish evildoers, or serve as harbingers of worse calamities to come.

* DivinePunishment: Again, they're unleashed by deities upon those who displease them, though they're used sparingly.
* TheSwarm: They can be compared to some of the [[Literature/BookOfExodus biblical plagues]], being vast hordes of insects or animals, except they're even more dangerous than mundane locust swarms.

!!Apocalypse Frog Swarm
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 4 (3E)\\

Incessantly croaking black-eyed frogs sporting golden sunburst patterns on their backs, which can be annoying to good creatures but dangerous towards evildoers.

* PoisonousPerson: Evil creatures wounded by them might contract the affliction known as eternal torpor, suffering Dexterity damage and leaving them too drowsy to charge or run.
* {{Synchronization}}: Apocalypse frogs are surrounded by a retributive aura, which means that whenever they're subjected to damage, anything in a 30-foot radius is also injured; they can save for half damage, but DamageReduction or other defenses don't apply.

!!Bronze Locust Swarm
->'''Classification:''' Construct (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 17 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Finely-crafted insectoid constructs that can chew through just about anything, or blast victims with divine flame.

* ArmorPiercingAttack: Bronze locusts' mandibles are made from adamantine, allowing them to ignore objects' hardness value and gnaw even stone fortifications as easily as they can slice flesh.
* MechanicalInsects: They look much like ordinary locusts, though their gemlike eyes and gleaming metal carapaces reveal their artificial nature.
* PlayingWithFire: Each bronze locust contains a tiny furnace of SacredFlames, which a swarm can unleash upon whatever it's overrunning. Half the damage deal is fire damage, but the other half is NonElemental divine power not subject to any damage reduction or resistances.

!!Deathraven Swarm

'''Challenge Rating:''' 20 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Silver-eyed crows dispatched at midnight to kill the vilest of foes.

* CreepyCrows: They're not actively evil, and in fact can be dispatched by good deities to destroy the most despicable beings, but deathravens are extremely dangerous. It's also noted that, unlike most other swarms, deathraven swarms can not only grapple, but carry off Medium-sized targets.
* EyeScream: Any time a deathraven swarm deals damage to something, the victim has a 1-in-5 chance of having its eyes plucked out. In this case, ''remove blindness/deafness'' is useless, and it takes ''heal'' or stronger magic to regrow the lost eyeballs.
* OneHitKill: As if that's not enough, any creature wounded by a deathraven swarm has to save or die instantly, and those who succumb to this touch of death [[DeaderThanDead can't be revived]] by anything short of a full ''wish'' or ''miracle''.

!!Sunfly Swarm
->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 10 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Dazzling golden dragonflies with rainbow-colored eyes and silvery wings, used primarily as messengers across the Upper Planes, though they're still dangerous when riled.
----
* DefendCommand: Sunflies can perform a "sundance," giving themselves and any creature in their space the benefits of a ''protection from evil'' effect.
* LightEmUp: Beyond dazzling those they attack with their glimmering bodies, sunfly swarms can also unleash a ''sunburst'' spell as if cast by a 20th-level cleric, three times per day.
* OneSteveLimit: Averted; 5th Edition also has sunflies, but they look completely different ("cutesy" flyers rather than dragonfly-like outsiders), can be found across the Outer Planes, have a poisonous sting rather than power over light, and have no history of being used as instruments of divine justice (since even a swarm of 5E sunflies amounts to just a CR 1 encounter). As such, they have their own folder elsewhere on the creature index.

[[folder:Doc cu'o'c]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_doc_cuoc_3e.jpg]]

->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/KaraTur''\\
'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Bizarre entities resembling vertically-bisected humans, who are nevertheless capable of fighting to protect a chosen estate or village.

* BerserkButton: Doc cu'o'cs keep their offered treasure in lairs on the Astral Plane, and should those homes ever be robbed, the enraged doc cu'o'c returns to the Material Plane to ransack the very manor or village they were protecting, before leaving for good.
* GuardianEntity: A particularly Neutral example. Doc cu'o'cs require regular worship and offerings of food and treasure, otherwise they'll leave their area and never return. And while doc cu'o'cs take their roles as protectors seriously, they have no allegiance to other areas, and are not above encouraging raiders to attack the next village down the road rather than the one the doc cu'o'c is sworn to defend.
* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: As mentioned, a doc cu'o'c looks like half of a person, divided vertically.
* {{Invisibility}}: Doc cu'o'cs can turn ''invisible'' at will.
* ShockAndAwe: The axes they hold in their single hands crackle with energy, and deal heavy electricity damage with each strike.
* WeatherManipulation: They can use ''control weather'' a few times each day, usually to scare off intruders, though a doc cu'o'c might answer a request for rain to bring about an ample harvest.
* WhiteMage: A doc cu'o'c can also use spells like ''remove curse'' and ''remove disease'' each once per day.

[[folder:Dohwar]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dohwar_5e.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Fey (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 0 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticNeutral (2E), Any (5E)

A race of short, flightless, arctic avians who seek to become the greatest merchants in the multiverse.

* AlienCatnip: Dohwar are unaffected by alcohol, instead they get drunk on ''sugar'' -- an apple hits as hard as a strong beer, while a few tablespoons of maple syrup or honey will get a dohwar blind stinkin' drunk.
* ArtEvolution: Their original art depicts them as crested penguins with a black-and-white coloration, while their 5th Edition art depicts dohwar without head crests, and gives them colorful plumage and generally cuter faces.
* BeakAttack: Played with; dohwar know their beaks are useless in combat, so they've developed blades called ''weega'' to fit over them, which are as effective as short swords.
* BirdPeople: As they're based on penguins, they can't fly, but have a swim speed. Their ''AD&D'' entry notes that unlike most birds, dohwar have developed fangs to help them eat the tougher plant life of Wildspace, but they don't do much damage in combat ([[InformedAbility and aren't visible in their artwork]]).
* EmergencyMultifaithPrayer: The dohwar venerate a pantheon of gods consisting of every god of commerce or wealth they come across -- Waukeen of the [[TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms Realms]], Shinare of [[TabletopGame/{{Dragonlance}} Krynn]], Zilchus of TabletopGame/{{Greyhawk}}, even Abbathor from the dwarven pantheon. They make generous donations to these gods as a "cosmic investment," a way to become the multiverse's top merchants without offending any god in particular.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: They've bred winged "space swine" to serve as beasts of burden, while armored dohwar cavalry known as Deathsquealers ride them into combat.
* InTheHood: Dohwar don hooded cloaks if they know their appearance may disconcert potential customers, and try to pass themselves off as short members of another species.
* ProudMerchantRace: Dohwar are "shameless" merchants always on the lookout for an opportunity to profit, to the extent that a group of them is called a "cartel," they undergo "mergers" with each other rather than marriages, and they refer to their eggs as "new wares." However, they're hampered by their lack of social skills -- their ''AD&D'' entry describes dohwar as "obnoxious, brash, persistent, money-grubbing merchants" whose sales pitch is to gang up on a potential customer and rapidly recite their wares and prices, while also offering to buy things off the customer. 5th Edition also notes their habit of preferring to do business in back alleys even if the things they're selling are perfectly legal. All this to say, nobody has any interest in visiting the dohwar homeworld, and the space penguins come across as PluckyComicRelief compared to more successful merchants like the neogi and mercanes. And despite their lust for wealth, the dohwar treat each other well and for the most part fairly, to compensate for a multiverse they feel is out to get them.
* TheRival: They're driven to displace the mercane ("Our Competitors") as the foremost merchants of the multiverse.
* RummageSaleReject: Dohwar often end up wearing "a garish mishmash of clashing clothes" when not in their cloaks.
* {{Telepathy}}: Two dohwar (such as merged partners) can set up a psychic bond that lets them communicate telepathically with each other, as well as a nearby third party of their choice. If one member of a merger is slain, the other goes berserk and attacks anything around them.

[[folder:Domovoi]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_domovoi_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticGood

Domestic fey appearing as two-foot-tall, hairy, soot-covered humans, who protect settlements in cold climates.

* HouseFey: Domovoi families live in humanoid villages or encampments, ensuring that "the buildings are brighter lit, the hearth fires are warmer, and creatures of cold and night are less likely to strike." They usually wear rags cast off by their hosts, and sustain themselves on rats and mice, as well as small offerings of grain and firewood. In the case of nomadic humanoids, domovoi will remain in a winter camp, maintaining it until the nomads return.
* LoyalToThePosition: The domovoi will help ''anyone'' survive in their cold homelands, whether humans or dwarves, neanderthals or orcs, or even kobolds, ogres or giants.
* ThePigPen: While domovoi are always covered in soot from the fires and forges they tend, this does mean they're particularly hard to grapple in combat.
* PlayingWithFire: These fey can use ''produce flame'' at will, or throw a ''flaming sphere'' three times per day. That said, domovoi will never do anything to set the home they're protecting on fire, and firefighting is one of the duties they perform to maintain a dwelling.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Doppelganger]]
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_doppelganger_5e_revised.png]]
[[caption-width-right:200:5e]]
[[caption-width-right:200:[[labelnote:3e]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_doppelganger_3e_revised.png[[/labelnote]] ]]
->'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E), Natural Humanoid (4E), Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (3E-5E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E-4E\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Shapeshifters who infiltrate society for their own purposes. Their talents can make them phenomenal thieves and assassins, and their activities spread fear and paranoia in their wake, but thankfully most doppelgangers are content to take over someone else's life and reap the fruits of another's labor until it's time to make their escape.

* AmbiguousSituation: In ''Eberron'', doppelgangers have some connection to the changeling race, but it's unclear whether doppelgangers are the changelings' ancestors, or the descendents of changelings mutated by the daelkyr.
* CaptureAndReplicate: During long cons, a doppelganger might keep the person they're impersonating captive in case they need more information about how to maintain the disguise.
* EatBrainForMemories: Greater doppelgangers are feared for being able to eat the brains of their victims, allowing them to perfectly take on their identity and access all their memories. This even lets greater doppelgangers use their victims' class abilities and magic, with the exception of divine spells over 2nd level and a paladin's god-given powers. The downside is that a greater doppelganger can only fully access one identity at a time, can only "store" so many at once, and should they take an action that runs against an assumed identity's alignment, the doppelganger is forced back into its natural form for a few rounds.
* TheGreys: Their artwork (particularly in 3rd Edition) often depicts them with the grey hairless skin, absent genitals, frail physique, noseless faces, slit mouths, large eyes and bulbous craniums of this trope. Like the greys of conspiracy theories, they are also adept infiltrators who frequently sneak into human society to manipulate it for their own mysterious ends, and abduct and (mentally) probe captives for information.
* LazyBum: A doppelganger's life generally revolves around tricking people into doing work for them, including caring for their own children.
* ShapeshiftersDoItForAChange: Doppelgangers reproduce by taking male form and impregnating other humanoids, then abandoning them. The resulting offspring appear normal at first, [[ChangelingFantasy but around adolescence their shapechanging abilities will manifest, at which point most leave their old lives behind to seek out more of their kind.]]
* TheSociopath: Doppelgangers aren't committed to evil, but they are wholly self-interested and view other beings as playthings to be manipulated and deceived.
* TechnicallyNakedShapeshifter: Doppelgangers can mimic clothes alongside their changes of form, down to minute details. One old ''D&D'' module has an example of a doppelganger taking the statue of an old wizard as template for his appearance, wearing identical robes, including the exact same runic writing on the hem of it.
* {{Telepathy}}: Doppelgangers can read other creatures' surface thoughts at will, picking up their names, fears and aspirations, and the odd memory or two. This naturally gives them an advantage during social interactions.
* ThisWasHisTrueForm: If slain, a doppelganger will drop its disguise and revert to its gray, rubbery default form.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: A doppelganger can take the appearance of any humanoid between four and eight feet tall, and routinely use this ability to sneak into humanoid settlements, infiltrate society, and casually walk past guard pickets.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Dracon]]
[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dracon_2e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:310:2e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}''\\
'''Playable:''' 2E\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulGood

A large race of "dragon-centaurs" who are just beginning to explore space.

* ArchEnemy: They hate spiders in general and the neogi in particular, either because of their resemblance to the Dark God of dracon religion, or because of previous encounters with the slave-taking spider-eels.
* DragonsAreDivine: Dracons hold true dragons in awe, and consider them messengers from the dracons' pantheon to be carefully watched for signs of the gods' intentions.
* FantasticRacism: Downplayed; they aren't hateful, but dracons do consider all sentients with fewer than six limbs to be "the deformed," and view them as disadvantaged. Dracons are also bad at [[DittoAliens telling humanoid races apart]], so that their racial quote in ''The Complete Spacefarer's Handbook'' has a dracon [[AssInAmbassador ambassador]] telling an elf "Oh, that's right, you're the ones who live in caves and hoard gold, I remember. Did you shave your beard?" It's mentioned this exchange happened "just before the fighting started."
* LonersAreFreaks: Their entry bluntly states that "A lone dracon is a rarity and a freak among its people." They prefer to live in familial herds led by an elder called a ''kaba'', advised by a high priest known as a ''shalla''. Dracons separated from their families are known to fall ill, and may gather a substitute family of non-dracons until they find their way back to their kin.
* NaiveNewcomer: Zig-zagged. On the one hand, dracons are recent arrivals to the fringe of the Known Spheres, and they're smart enough not to share the location of their homeworld with any outsiders. But they're still getting the measure of their fellow spacefaring races, so that not only do they have trouble telling humanoids apart, they view beholders as "comical," making joking comparisons to kickballs, rather than treating the eye tyrants as dangerous, insane aberrations. "How long this situation lasts remains to be seen."
* OurCentaursAreDifferent: They've got a {{Horned|Humanoid}}, DraconicHumanoid upper torso atop the bulky, flat-footed, whip-tailed body of a brontosaur.
* TrialByCombat: Dracons have codes to settle disputes through ritualized combat, usually taking the form of wrestling. They'll never offer these terms to non-dracons, but if an outsider challenges a dracon under those codes, they would be honor-bound to accept (within reason, such as by demanding that an illithid forgo the use of their ''mind blast'').
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Draconian]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_draconian_dreadnought_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Draconian dreadnought (5e)]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Dragonlance}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Dragon (3E), Natural Humanoid (4E), Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2-9 (3E); 2-8 (4E); 1/2 to 6 (5E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' Any Evil (3E), Evil (4E), Any (5E)

Monstrous draconic humanoids created from warped or corrupted dragon eggs, typically the result of an evil mage creating an army. They're unrelated to the dracons above.

* BioweaponBeast: They are not born naturally and initially had no ability to reproduce on their own. Instead, they are created through a magical ritual that corrupts a dragon's egg, making it hatch into a clutch of new draconians.
* BreathWeapon: Aurak draconians (and their 5th Edition successors, draconian masterminds) can exhale a cloud of poisonous gas.
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The draconians have the same colors as the chromatic and metallic dragons, but turn the significance of those colors on its head. The base draconians, which are made from the eggs of the traditionally good metallic dragons, are frequently of evil alignment. Likewise the noble draconians, who come from the eggs of the frequently evil chromatic dragons, are usually of good alignment.
* DraconicHumanoid: They look like human-sized, bipedal versions of chromatic and metallic dragons, and are capable of wielding weapons and wearing armor.
* FlawedPrototype: The sesk and traag were early experiments with creating draconians that were discarded as failures. The traag turned out emaciated and gangly, and alternately cowardly and prone to berserk rages, so they were replaced with the baaz. The sesk are hunched and twisted creatures, as if their silver dragon blood is rebelling against them, and were actually ''too'' smart, prone to questioning their superiors, leading them to be replaced by the sivak. Both types of proto-draconians now eke out a tribal existence where they can.
* GoldColoredSuperiority: As with metallic dragons, aurak draconians are traditionally the strongest subtype.
* KungFuWizard: Aurak draconians and draconian masterminds eschew weapons in favor of ripping into foes with their bare, clawed hands. They are also the most magically-adept of the draconians, able to teleport around, beguile foes, and pelt enemies with energy blasts fired from their hands.
* KillAndReplace: Sivaks (and 5E draconian dreadnoughts) can transform themselves into the likeness of a Large or smaller humanoid they just killed, and can remain in that form indefinitely until they make another kill or choose to revert to their natural form.
* NoBodyLeftBehind: When a draconian dies, a magical effect kicks in that destroys its remains, traditionally varying by the draconian's subtype. Baaz [[TakenForGranite turn to stone]] (and might [[MooksAteMyEquipment entrap the melee weapon that killed them]]), sivaks turn into the likeness of their killer for three days before dissolving into soot, feraks disintegrate into a cloud of dust, and kobaaz crystalize into an icy statue cold enough to damage those around it. But in other cases, the effect is [[DefeatEqualsExplosion more dangerous]]: auraks detonate with magical energy, bozaks have their flesh crumble to dust just before their skeletons burst into bony shrapnel, kapaks dissolve into a pool of acid, and adamaaz explode in a thunderous burst. These death throes are carried over to 5E's generic draconians, though with occasional twists -- draconian foot soldiers both turn to stone themselves and might petrify those around them as well, while draconian masterminds explode in ChainLightning that seeks out nearby foes.
* PoisonedWeapons: Kapak draconians and draconian infiltrators coat their weapons in their own venomous saliva.
* {{Retcon}}:
** As per their origins in ''TabletopGame/{{Dragonlance}}'', traditionally there are five types of standard draconian, corresponding to the five metallic dragon breeds from whose eggs they're created: baaz (brass), kapak (copper), bozak (bronze), sivak (silver) and aurak (gold), each with traits that make them suit particular battlefield roles. 4th Edition, which expanded its metallic dragon family, added the ferak (iron), kobaaz (cobalt) and adamaaz (adamantine) draconian subtypes.
** 5th Edition instead categorizes draconians by role (dreadnought, foot soldier, infiltrator, mage, and mastermind) and explains that dragon breeds of any family might generate such creatures, so a draconian dreadnought, for example, could be created from the egg of a silver, blue or sapphire dragon. The Krynnish names for draconians are kept as terminology for draconians created from metallic dragon eggs.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Aurak draconians can use a ''polymorph self'' effect three times per day.
* WingedHumanoid: Most draconians have wings just like the dragons they resemble, with aurak draconians being the one exception amongst the base dragonian types. Despite these wings, [[WingsDoNothing most draconians cannot fly,]] though some at least use them to glide or slow a fall.

[[folder:Dragon]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_red_dragon_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:A red dragon, with a hapless human for scale (3e)]]
->'''Classification:''' Dragon (3E, 5E), Natural Magical Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' Varies by dragon type and age category\\
'''Alignment:''' Varies by dragon type

Scaled, winged creatures that are majestic and mighty, intelligent and proud, famed for the magical powers at their disposal and their tendency to hoard treasure. See the [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreatureTypes Creature Types]] subpage for information about Dragons in general, and [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsDragons the Dragons subpage]] for the "true" dragons.

[[folder:Dragon Eel]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dragon_eel_4e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:4e]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:3e]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dragon_eel_3e.png[[/labelnote]]]]
->'''Classification:''' Dragon (3E), Elemental Magical Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 11 (3E), 15 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil (3E), Unaligned (4E)

Ravenous predators and bestial kin to true dragons.

* ArtEvolution: They got a drastic redesign between 3rd and 4th Edition, going from something like a draconic ''Dunkleosteus'' to a flying creature with wing-fins.
* FoodChainOfEvil: Dragon eels are known to prey on dragon turtles.
* FlyingSeafoodSpecial: 4E dragon eels outwardly resemble marine animals, but are just as comfortable flying through the air as they are swimming in the water.
* {{Retcon}}: 3rd Edition dragon eels are fearsome but mundane sea monsters with no supernatural abilities, while their 4th Edition incarnation is equally at home in the sky and the water, travels through airy and watery pockets of the Elemental Chaos, and has a breath weapon.
* SeaMonster: The dragon eel is an evil monster that can easily puncture the side of a ship and then proceed to eat the drowned crew.
* ShockAndAwe: In 4E, dragon eels can spit lightning.
* SlipperyAsAnEel: Dragon eels are infamously treacherous, and some crews that had already negotiated with them for safe passage have vanished without a trace.
* SuperSenses: 3E dragon eels can smell blood in the water up to a mile away, detect creatures by scent within 180 feet, and have blindsense out to 30 feet if both they and other creatures are in the water.
* SwallowedWhole: They're capable of gulping down any Medium or smaller creatures they catch in their jaws.

[[folder:Dragon Turtle]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dragon_turtle.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Dragon (3E), 5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 9 (3E), 4-24 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Chelonian dragons who live in the sea, generally attacking anything that enters their territory. They lack the intellect of true dragons, but dragon turtles are smart enough to accept tribute from passing ships, or form alliances with undersea races in exchange for treasure. Dragon turtles make their lairs in coral reefs and submerged caves, and their hoards are motley collections of coral and pearls gifted by aquatic races as well as treasures from the surface realm recovered from ships.

* TheArchmage: While Dragon turtles are not 'True' Dragons, they do have access to the variant Innate Spellcasting rule. While they do not get many (1 spell for normal turtles and 2 for Ancient turtles), they can cast them at 5th and 8th level, respectively.
* CraftedFromAnimals: ''AD&D'' notes that turtle dragon shells make for outstanding armor and shields, providing additional protection than normal and resisting destruction from fire effects.
* MixAndMatchCritters: Giant sea turtles with draconic heads.
* MundaneObjectAmazement: The more inquisitive dragon turtles may become fascinated by the artifacts from the surface world that end up in their hoards, and even seek out humanoids to explain the things' purposes.
* OutsideContextProblem: Not exactly a ''problem'', per se, but even the dragon gods are baffled by them -- neither Tiamat nor Bahamut made them, and they have no idea where they came from.
-->'''Fizban:''' I know I didn't make dragon turtles, and Tiamat swears she didn't, so where did they come from? More importantly, why?
* PlayingWithFire: Their breath weapon is a cone of scalding steam, which can deal fire damage even underwater, and the oldest dragon turtles can generate enough heat to set the water around them boiling, damaging everything nearby.
* SeaMonster: Dragon turtles are powerful and feared marine predators, and very fond of capsizing boats.
* ShockAndAwe: Ancient dragon turtles who are sorely pressed in combat can generate magical storms around themselves, [[CounterAttack zapping anything that dares attack.]]
* StrongerWithAge: The elder dragon turtle is far larger, far stronger and ''far'' more dangerous than the ordinary dragon turtle, which is already a CR 17 terror of the seas.
* TurtleIsland: The oldest dragon turtles can be as large as an island, and have been mistaken for land by many unwitting sailors wrecked at sea. Ancient dragon turtles might sleep for decades while floating along the surface of the ocean, letting vegetation take root on their shells.

[[folder:Dragonborn]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dragonborn_of_bahamut_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Dragonborn of Bahamut (3e)]]
->'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E, 5E), Natural Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (3E), 5 (4E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E-5E\\
'''Alignment:''' Any non-Evil (3E), Any (4E-5E)

Humanoids with draconic appearances, and some measure of their namesake's power. See [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsRaces the Playable Races subpage]] for more information about them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Dragonet]]

A family of lesser dragons with bodies only two to five feet long. Most possess breath weapons, and their intelligence ranges from animalistic to fully-sapient, but only faerie dragons are capable of speech.

* CatLikeDragons: Besides most of them sharing true dragons' vaguely feline build, some dragonets like the faerie dragon and pseudodragon in particular are very cat-like in temperament, demanding their "master"'s attention and occasionally acting out when they aren't pampered enough.
* {{Familiar}}: Dragonets (with the exception of the belligerant fire drakes) are often sought out as familiars by like-minded mages, due to their telepathic abilities. Some even become bonded to non-mages who treat them well, developing an empathic link with their partner.
* ShoulderSizedDragon: All but the fire drake and mole dragon are small enough to perch upon a Medium-sized humanoid.
* {{Telepathy}}: With the exception of fire drakes, dragonets have some degree of telepathy, ranging from transmitting what they see or hear to mentally sharing simple concepts.

!!Crow's Nest Dragon
[[quoteright:325:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_crows_nest_dragon_2e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:325:2e]]
->'''Classification:''' Dragon (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticGood

Also known as "spiretop dragons" in [[TabletopGame/{{Eberron}} the city of Sharn]], these flighty and mischevious dragonets usually dwell on coastal cliffs or atop structures in port cities, and are comfortable diving into the ocean and swimming after prey, or following passing ships and feeding on the disturbed fish in their wake.

* DeathFromAbove: Crow's nest dragons hunt by diving on prey from above, gaining an attack bonus and dealing double damage with their bite attack.
* SmokeOut: Their only breath "weapon" is the ability to exhale a ''fog cloud''.
* SuperstitiousSailors: Crow's nest dragons are considered lucky by sailors, and indeed, ships become slightly more seaworthy should a flock of such dragonets fly nearby. Should anyone aboard kill a crow's nest dragon, the flock will fly off and never return.
* TheSwarm: Their 3E rules let spiretop dragons fight as a swarm of Tiny creatures.
* {{Telepathy}}: Should they bond with a sailor or nautical spellcaster, they can transmit whatever they see to a range of 240 yards, making them excellent scouts.

!!Faerie Dragon
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/faerie_dragon_d&d.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Dragon (3E, 5E), Fey Magical Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (3E); 1 (red, orange, yellow), 2 (green, blue, indigo, violet) (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticGood (3E, 5E), Unaligned (4E)

Diminutive, mischevious dragons with ties to the fey.

* BewareMyStingerTail: Subverted; they have stingers in their 3rd and 5th Edition art, but no tail attack.
* FairyDragons: Small (about the size of a cat), mischievous relatives of true dragons with butterfly wings, who often travel in the company of small fey such as sprites and pixies.
* {{Invisibility}}: They have a superior form of invisibility that allows them to perform actions while unseen.
* NoBodyLeftBehind: A slain faerie dragon's body dissolves in a burst of light.
* PerpetualSmiler: Their mouths are set in a permanent sharp-toothed grin.
* ThePrankster: Faerie dragons are notorious for using their spell-like abilities for pranking, usually spontaneous acts, but some of these dragonets are capable of putting months of planning into a single spectacular practical joke.
* SignatureLaugh: According to their ''AD&D'' write-up, a faerie dragon's laugh sounds like the tinkling of tiny silver bells.
* StrongerWithAge: Unlike other dragonets, they pass through something like a true dragon's age categories, gaining new spell-like abilities as they grow older, while their scales cycle through the colors of the rainbow, starting with red and ending as violet.
* StupidityInducingAttack: Their breath weapon is a puff of gas that can cause an affected creature to spend a minute wandering at random or staring off into space in a euphoric state.
* SweetTooth: They love fruits, honey and cooked pastries, and will go to great lengths to acquire a freshly-baked apple pie.
* {{Telepathy}}: They have full telepathic communication, but only with other faerie dragons. Fortunately, they can speak Draconic and Sylvan.

!!Fire Drake
[[quoteright:260:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_firedrake_2e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:260:2e]]
->'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Though easily mistaken for a red dragon wyrmling, these aggressive, fire-spitting creatures are much less powerful and only semi-intelligent.

* BloodyMurder: A fire drake's blood has a high phosphorous content, and so ignites upon contact with air, dealing a bit of damage to those attacking it in melee with slashing or piercing weapons. This means that, if carefully harvested and properly stored, a fire drake's blood can be bottled and used as a firebomb, or applied to a weapon to make a temporary FlamingSword.
* OneSteveLimit: Averted; these dragonet "fire drakes" are much different beasts from the wyvern-like, (fire) elemental drakes discussed elsewhere.
* PlayingWithFire: They can send a narrow cone of fire out to 60 feet. This isn't a conventional BreathWeapon, instead the fire drake is [[SuperSpit spitting]] its flammable blood.
* UnexpectedlyRealisticGameplay: Fire drakes are just smart enough to realize that the updrafts generated from their breath weapon can be used to disrupt other creatures flying overhead. But their burning blood also requires a lot of oxygen, so fire drakes constantly beat their wings even when on the ground to fan themselves, and if their air supply is cut off will asphixiate in half the normal time.

!!Geyser Dragon
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_geyser_dragon_2e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:2e]]
->'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

These wingless dragonets are comfortable swimming through the boiling water of geothermally-heated springs, but occasionally find their way inside nearby bathhouses built by humanoids.

* BirdsOfAFeather: They're so confident in their power that they're only willing to bond with humanoids as boastfully arrogant as the geyser dragon themself.
* BloodyMurder: Like fire drakes, their blood is superheated, erupting in boiling jets that can damage their attackers.
* BoisterousWeakling: These dragonets suffer from "delusions of true dragonhood," and have grossly exaggerated notions of their own might. As such, they don't hesitate to attack even creatures much larger than them, which leads to geyser dragons' high mortality rate.
* SuperSpit: Three times each day, they can project a long line of boiling water that deals fire damage.
* {{Telepathy}}: They can communicate via empathy with a bonded companion, falling short of full telepathy.

!!Mole Dragon
[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_mole_dragon_2e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:330:2e]]
->'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Dour and solitary wingless burrowers with a sadistic streak, leading these dragonets to sometimes associate with the duergar or derro.

* DishingOutDirt: Mole dragons learn how to cast spells such as ''dig'', ''stone shape'', and ''wall of stone'' as they grow older.
* GemTissue: As a mole dragon ages, their scaly hides become encrusted with gemstones, which serve as their treasure -- the older the dragonet, the more gems that can be harvested from its carcass.
* MetalMuncher: They eat precious metals such as gold and silver, making mole dragons loathed by dwarves and other mining races.
* {{Sadist}}: The only humanoids they're willing to bond with are those that enjoy inflicting pain as much as mole dragons do.
* {{Telepathy}}: They can transmit what they hear to a bonded companion within 300 yards.

!!Pavilion Dragon
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_pavilion_dragon_2e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:2e]]
->'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Much like tropical birds, these brilliantly-colorful dragonets dwell within the highest branches of the rainforest canopy. Their intelligence, agreeable natures and array of powers make them prized familiars, though pavilion dragons do not willingly leave their forest homes.

* PsychicPowers: As they age, pavilion dragons gain various psychoportation, clairsentience and telepathic powers such as ''dimensional door'', ''clairvoyance'' and ''invisibility''.
* StatusInflictionAttack: Their breath weapon, usable three times per day, stuns those who fail their saves, leaving them unable to act for up to eight rounds.
* {{Telepathy}}: Pavilion dragons are the only dragonet species that boasts full telepathy with their bondmates, and can transmit not only what they see or hear out to 100 yards, but also share complete thoughts.

!!Pseudodragon
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pseudodragon_d&d.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Dragon (3E, 5E), Natural Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (3E), 3 (4E), 1/4 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralGood (1E-3E, 5E), Unaligned (4E)

Intelligent lesser dragons that look almost identical to a red dragon, but are no larger than a cat.

* ArtifactName: Back in 1E, when it was the only creature besides the real dragons that ''looked'' like a proper dragon -- four legs, wings, single dragon head -- the name "pseudodragon" actually made sense. However, with the addition of many other draconic creatures to the game, as well other dragonets like the faerie dragon, the logic of calling ''this particular'' reptilian monster a "false dragon" evaporated. And its status, from 3E onward, as a member of the Dragon creature type makes the name technically inaccurate, to boot.
* BewareMyStingerTail: A pseudodragon's tail ends in a venomous stinger that can put victims into a ForcedSleep.
* ChameleonCamouflage: In earlier editions, pseudodragons could alter the coloration of their scales to help blend in with their surroundings.
* HeadPet: They're fond of riding on a humanoid's [[ShoulderTeammate shoulders]] or head.
* {{Telepathy}}: They're capable of conveying basic ideas such as affection, curiosity or hunger, or transmitting what they see or hear with a bonded companion.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Dragonflesh Grafter]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dragonflesh_grafter.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Dragonflesh grafter (5e)]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Dragonflesh abomination (5e)]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dragonflesh_abomination_5e.png[[/labelnote]]]]
->'''Classification:''' Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (grafter), 6 (abomination) (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Dragon-obsessed fleshcrafters who ingest, implant or stitch on dragon body parts in order to become more like the wyrms they revere. Those who survive their self-experimentation may ultimately turn into a dragon-like monster only barely recognizable as having once been humanoid.

* AcidAttack: A dragonflesh grafter or abomination can retch or belch a gout of caustic acid.
* ArtificialHybrid: Dragonflesh grafters collect dragon parts and incorporate them into their own bodies to emulate dragons.
* DragonHoard: As a universal effect of their experimentation, grafters become obsessed with treasure and compelled to gather any gold or gems they can, then gaze for hours on end at their hoards.
* HealingFactor: Since its body is constantly growing and changing, a dragonflesh abomination can quickly heal from its wounds.
* PoisonousPerson: Dragonflesh abominations' bodies are surrounded by a noxious miasma that can poison adjacent creatures.
* WasOnceAMan: These creatures' minds are but a shadow of their former selves, twisted by magical malevolence.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Dragonfly Turtle]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dragonfly_turtle_2e.png]]

->'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Also called "hovershells," these bizarre creatures are used as transportation by the wizards who create them.

* DefendCommand: Like conventional turtles, they can pull their limbs into their shells for extra protection, and in fact dragonfly turtles usually fly like this.
* GiantFlyer: Against all reason, dragonfly turtles can not only zip through the air as fast as a giant dragonfly, they can even hover in place with such stability that their riders can fight from their shell without penalty. The wizards who breed such creatures usually use ''sovereign glue'' to stick some furniture onto their steeds' 10-foot-long shells to make for a more comfortable ride. However, dragonfly turtles aren't agile enough to [[DodgeTheBullet dodge incoming missile fire]] like "normal" giant dragonflies, and if a [[ClipItsWings called shot to a wing]] deals as little as four points of damage, they're sent crashing to the ground.
* MixAndMatchCritters: They're giant turtles with dragonfly wings and heads. Like dragonfly nymphs, their hatchlings spend the first years of their lives in the water, until their wings fully grow in and they take to the air. Unlike dragonflies, they don't spend the majority of their lives in nymph stage, and can live for about twenty years instead of mere weeks or days after fully maturing.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Dragonkin]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dragonkin_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Ogre-sized brutes distantly related to true dragons, and known for their love of magic items.

* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Tribal dragonkin are easily distracted by magic items, and if they detect one will prioritize snatching it from its owner and then flying off with their prize. Cult-trained dragonkin are more focused, and will steal a magic item mid-battle if they can get away with it, but continue fighting afterward.
* BarbarianTribe: Most dragonkin live in primitive, tribal societies, taking what they want from anyone weaker than them. That said, the Cult of the Dragon is known to have taken control of some dragonkin tribes (often through gifts of enchanted trinkets), teaching them discipline and tactics that make them even more dangerous.
* DeathFromAbove: When attacking from the air, they can make raking attacks with their front and rear claws at the same time.
* DraconicHumanoid: ''[[WingedHumanoid Winged]]'' draconic humanoids, no less.
* SupernaturalSensitivity: They can ''detect magic'' at will, which they use to identify enchanted items to steal.
* TooAwesomeToUse: Tribal dragonkin have this impression of the magic items they acquire, and never use them in battle for fear of having them stolen away from them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Dragonnel]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dragonnel_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:3e]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dragonnel_3e.png[[/labelnote]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:2e]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dragonnel_2e.png[[/labelnote]]]]
->'''Classification:''' Dragon (3E, 5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 4 (3E), 2 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil (2E), TrueNeutral (3E, 5E)

Intelligent but animalistic dragons sometimes trained as mounts for humanoids.

* ArtEvolution: Their 2E art and description sets them up as hybrids between dragons and pteranodons, while their 3E depiction made them look more like draconic pegasi, only for their 5E art to make them more generically dragon-like.
* HitAndRunTactics: They are adept at making flyby attacks.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: Some knightly orders breed dragonnels as steeds, though the creatures are intelligent enough to require some degree of diplomacy during their training process. But if successful, dragonnels can prove to be fiercely loyal to and protective of their riders.
* HorsingAround: Part of what makes wild dragonnels so dangerous to train is their tendency to feign compliance, take their riders well off the ground, and then suddenly throw them.
* SapientSteed: Varies by edition; 2E dragonnels are only semi-intelligent, 3E dragonnels are just slightly smarter than ogres but capable of speaking Draconic, while 5E dragonnels come closer to human-level intelligence but can only understand speech.
* SupernaturalFearInducer: 3E dragonnels can let out a MightyRoar once per day that can cause other creatures to become shaken.
* TerrorDactyl: Their ''AD&D'' incarnation resembles a monstrous, scaly, toothy pterosaur.

[[folder:Dragonspawn]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dragonspawn_abomination_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Dragonspawn abomination (3e)]]
->'''Origin:''' ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Dragon (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' Varies by base creature and dragon type (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Same as creator

Dragon-like creatures made by fusing a subject's essence with that of a draconian. The most stable dragonspawn are made from the likes of humans and elves, while other creatures subjected to the same hideous transformation result in misshapen mutants known as dragonspawn abominations.\\\
For other creatures sometimes called "dragonspawn," see the "Spawn of Tiamat."

* BreathWeapon: Dragonspawn gain a breath weapon based on the species of their creator dragon.
* DefeatEqualsExplosion: When slain, dragonspawn release a small burst of elemental energy that depends upon their creator dragon's type.
* DraconicHumanoid: Most dragonspawn are, since the template can be applied to any Humanoid, Giant or Monstrous Humanoid, though since the lastmost category includes centaurs in 3rd Edition, sometimes the result can be something like the abomination pictured instead.
* {{Mutants}}: No two dragonspawn abominations look alike, as they're prone to having missing or misshapen limbs and other physical deformities. That said, they also gain useful abilities based on those mutations. Some depend upon the abomination's base stock, so a dragonspawn abomination made from a dwarf or gnome can burrow through the ground or wreck foes' weapons, while one made from a minotaur or ogre can fly into a murderous rage or trample enemies. Dragonspawn abominations also roll twice on a [[GameplayRandomization table of additional mutations]], which can be as simple as stat or skill bonuses, or grant abilities such as a HealingFactor or WeaponizedStench.
* ReforgedIntoAMinion: Dragonspawn are essentially artificial half-dragons made by the Dragon Overlords in a process involving a skull totem, an alchemical brew that includes the blood of a draconian, and something from their draconic creator -- their own blood, a drop of acidic spittle, a coal ignited by their breath weapon, etc. Most dragonspawn are [[UndyingLoyalty loyal servitors]] of their creators who forget their past lives, but a rare few retain their free will and memories.
* {{Synchronization}}: Dragonspawn's existence is intimately tied to that of the Dragon Overlord that created them. When their creator dies, dragonspawn risk being killed or going insane from the resulting backlash.

[[folder:Drakkensteed]]
[[quoteright:340:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_drakkensteed_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:340:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Animal (3E), Natural Magical Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (3E), 16 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Dragon-descended creatures that normally live in small herds far from civilization, but may rarely be tamed as mounts.

* DragonAncestry: They're "drakken," creatures with a clear draconic ancestry, but whose dragon blood has diluted to the point that they lack any of their ancestor's supernatural abilities. As such, 3rd Edition drakkensteeds are classified as animals rather than lesser dragons, though 4th Edition goes the other way and gives them some magical attacks.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: It's quite possible to tame and ride these dragonblooded equines, but drakkensteeds are notoriously skittish creatures that fly away from any humanoids, so domesticated drakkensteeds are exceedingly rare (and expensive, to the order of 15,000 gp). But some paladins do end up summoning a drakkensteed to serve as their special mount, gaining a robust and steadfastly loyal steed.
* MakeThemRot: 4th Edition introduced a "grave-born" drakkensteed variant, featuring a necrotic DeadlyGaze and BreathWeapon.
* MightyRoar: 4E drakkensteeds can daze nearby foes with a fearsome roar.
* TrampledUnderfoot: As a special attack, 3rd Edition's drakkensteeds can move at double their land speed and deal trample damage to those they move over.

[[folder:Drakkoth]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_drakkoth_4e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:4e]]
->'''Classification:''' Dragon (3E), Natural Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (3E), 13 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil (3E), Unaligned (4E)

Also known as "dracotaurs," these nomadic, tribal beings aggressively defend the jungles and forests they claim as territory.

* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: Dracotaurs respect nothing but strength and power, and their tribes are invariably led by their strongest warriors or magic-users.
* BewareMyStingerTail: A dracotaur's tail is lined with strong, sharp spikes that allow it to be swung as an effective weapon.
* FantasticRacism: Dracotaurs and centaurs despise each other, and dracotaurs cherish few foods as much as centaur flesh.
* HappinessInSlavery: They venerate and serve true dragons, and willingly give their lives for them.
* LackOfEmpathy: Dracotaurs are utterly incapable of compassion towards other beings.
* OurCentaursAreDifferent: As their nickname indicates, drakkoths have the upper body of lizardfolk and the lower body of a wingless dragon. Notably, they despise true centaurs and have this hatred fully reciprocated.
* SuperSpit: In 3E, they don't really breathe fire so much as they expectorate a glob of sticky spittle that ignites when exposed to air and deals splash damage around the impact site, though unlike alchemist's fire it doesn't continue to burn. 4E instead gives drakkoths a [[PoisonousPerson blast of venom]] for a special attack.

[[folder:Dray]]
[[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dray_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:180:2e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/DarkSun''\\
'''Classification:''' Natural Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 16 (4E)\\
'''Playable:''' 2E, 4E\\
'''Alignment:''' Any

The creations of Dregoth, the Dread King of Giustenal, who remade his servants and subjects in his own image.

* BeneathTheEarth: The first-generation dray eke out a primitive existence in the fiery cavern of Kragmorta, while the second-generation dray live in the UndergroundCity of New Giustenal, beneath the blasted ruins of Dregoth's original domain.
* DraconicHumanoid: They have dragon-like heads, scales, claws and tails, though not wings. This let 4th Edition easily justify using dragonborn to represent the dray in its ''Dark Sun'' update.
* FantasticRacism: The first-generation dray consider themselves superior to their successors, whom they distrust, while second-generation dray outright hate their predecessors as living failures. Second-generation dray have also been indoctrinated by Dregoth to view demihumans as worthy only of extermination, while humans are to pitied until they're transformed into dray and achieve perfection.
* FlawedPrototype: Dregoth's first attempt at making dray didn't go so well, as the results were bent from mutation, with uneven and mottled scales and jagged claws. He promptly banished these first-generation dray, who survive as best they can, hating their creator for abandoning them while also worshipping Dregoth as a god who may someday bring them back into the fold.
* ForcedTransformation: Dregoth didn't give any of his people a choice in becoming dray, while any humans who make the trip to New Giustenal will be offered the privilege of undergoing the transformation, whether they want to or not.

[[folder:Dread Blossom]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dread_blossom_swarm_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Plant (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Beautiful red-and-black flowers from the Wilderness of the Beastlands, foolishly transplanted to the Material Plane by elves unaware of their bloodthirsty nature.

* FoulFlower: Dread blossoms are beautiful but predatory flowers that are capable of flight, and drink the blood of their victims.
* TheParalyzer: Their pollen is poisonous, forcing those within a 15-foot radius to save or become paralyzed, at which point the dread blossoms plant themselves in their victim to feed.
* TheSwarm: An individual dread blossom isn't too dangerous, but they're usually found in swarms of hundreds of flowers, wheeling about like flocks of birds when they aren't resting on their latest meal. All those razor-sharp stems are more than capable of bringing down prey that resists their paralytic pollen.
* VampiricDraining: Their stems are really six-inch-long hollow thorns, which they use to drain blood from victims, [[NonHealthDamage dealing Constitution damage.]]

[[folder:Dread Guard]]
[[quoteright:245:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dread_guard_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:245:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Construct (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (3E)\\

Armored guardian constructs that loyally and tirelessly follow their creator's simple commands.

* AnimatedArmor: A dread guard is more or less a magically-animated suit of masterwork armor.
* HeavilyArmoredMook: They have a high Armor Class and hit point total for their Challenge Rating, which combined with their cold and fire resistance, and construct immunities to various status effects, can make them very tanky opponents for low-level parties. However, dread guards are slow-moving and unsophisticated in combat, making a single attack with whatever weapon they've been armed with.
* MistakenForUndead: Dread guards' GlowingEyesOfDoom inside their dark helmets make them easy to mistake for a form of WarriorUndead, though they're actually constructs little different from {{Golem}}s.

[[folder:Dream Eater]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dream_eater_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:5e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Dragonlance}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Aberration (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 7 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil (5E)

Living nightmares that haunt the elven realm of Silvanesti, which became a warped dreamscape when its ruler unwisely tampered with a magical artifact.

* AppearanceIsInTheEyeOfTheBeholder: A dream eater twists its appearance into surreal illusions of enemies' worst fears, though one constant is an oversized, smiling mouth. Those who behold it have to save against fear.
* LivingDream: Dream eaters are manifestations of nightmares and subconscious terrors.
* NightmareWeaver: Dream eaters envelop their prey in a miasma of its greatest fears, dealing psychic damage and rendering them blinded and restrained. The victim may free themselves with a Wisdom check, or someone else can attempt a Charisma check to convince their friend that their nightmare isn't real, though succeed or fail, that helper will take psychic damage as well.

[[folder:Dream Serpent]]
[[quoteright:324:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dream_serpent_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:324:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Usually TrueNeutral

15-foot-long snakes with a mesmerizing gaze and hallucinogenic venom.

* CraftedFromAnimals: Both the drow and yuan-ti of Xen'drik hold dream serpents sacred, and while the latter refuse to harm such aspects of the Devourer, the drow not only hunt the creatures for food, they use the dream serpents' skin for armor, their fangs for weapons, the venom as a poison, and their bones, eyes and a diluted form of their venom in religious ceremonies. Unfortunately, foreign explorers have taken to hunting the dream serpents for their shimmering scales and pearly fangs, leading Xen'drik's natives to attack those who "indulge in what they see as wasteful slaughter of these noble creatures."
* ForcedSleep: Their HypnoticGaze can put other creatures to sleep for up to six minutes. It's not uncommon for a dream serpent to put a camp sentry to sleep, leading the rest of the camp to rise the next morning and find that one of their number has been dragged off in the night.
* ItCanThink: At Intelligence 4, dream serpents are smarter than mere animals, enough to avoid antagonizing more powerful creatures, and for some specimens to develop a non-Neutral alignment.
* PoisonousPerson: Their bite delivers a [[NonHealthDamage Wisdom-damaging]] poison that has the side effect of causing the victim to have vivid and disturbing dreams of jungles filled with thousands of angry serpents the next time they sleep.

[[folder:Dromite]]
[[quoteright:315:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dromite_3e.jpg]]

->'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Sometimes called "bug men" by the ignorant, these small, genderless humanoids possess both insectoid features and latent psionic powers.

* BeePeople: For the most part subverted, despite their appearance. Dromite castes are based on personality, not biology, and while the Grand Queen and Elected Consort are considered leaders, they're chosen on a yearly basis from a pool of prominent residents, and their main job is to produce eggs.
* FantasticCasteSystem: Dromites are divided into four castes, based on both their temperament and [[PersonalityPowers its associated energy type.]] The Fire Caste are quick to anger as well as laughter, the Glimmer Caste are always zipping around somethere, the Ice Caste are analytical and rational, and the Voice Caste are artists who revel in song. Aside from a tendency for those of the Voice Caste to become performers, the dromite castes don't seem locked into specific societal roles, and are free to mix and mingle with one another.
* HiddenElfVillage: Dromite city-hives are built underground and kept secret from outsiders, with only a few well-hidden entrances -- and some cities are completely inaccessible without the use of psionic powers. Despite favoring hidden settlements, dromites seem driven to spend at least some time on the surface, and will often take up residence in other races' cities who accept them.
* InsectoidAliens: They have patches of chitin on their skin, a pair of small atennae, and compound eyes, though only four limbs.
* NoBiologicalSex: The vast majority of dromites are genderless beings with no sexual characteristics, with the exception of a city-hive's Grand Queen and Elected Consort.
* {{Polyamory}}: Just because they're sexless doesn't mean dromites don't form emotional attachments. Dromites who develop deep relationships with one another can join together in "life-bonds," which can be likened to marriages, except they commonly contain more than two dromites, and new members are brought into the life-bond as older ones die off.
* PsychicPowers: Dromites are latent psionicists, and can produce an ''energy ray'' at least once per day that deals cold, fire, electricity or sonic damage, as appropriate for the dromite's caste.
* SuperSenses: Their antennae give them the benefit of the Scent ability and Blind-Fight as a bonus feat.

[[folder:Drow]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_drow_group_3e.jpg]]

->'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E), Fey Humanoid (4E), Humanoid (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (3E), 11 (4E), 1/4 (5E)\\
'''Playable:''' 2E-5E\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil, Evil (4E)

An estranged elven subrace that has settled the Underdark, infamous for their cruel matriarchal society, dedication to their evil spider-goddess Lolth, and their burning hatred for surface-dwelling elves. See [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsRaces the Playable Races subpage]] for more information about them.

!Drow Transformations
The spider-goddes Lolth is fickle and cruel, prone to suddenly "testing" her faithful and punishing those who fall short of her expectations. Such unfortunate drow can be transformed into monstrous blends of elf and arachnid.

* TheExile: Drow who are transformed for displeasing their goddess are kicked out of their community and forbidden from returning. Most survive in the wilds of the Underdark as best they can, though some haunt the fringes of drow society to pursue past vendettas.
* MakeAnExampleOfThem: While drow shun these creatures as failures, they also tolerate their presence (from a distance) as living examples of the price of failing the Spider Queen.
* WasOnceAMan: Every one of these creatures was once a normal drow, but now they're horrid hybrid creatures, some of them barely intelligent.

!!Chwidencha
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_chwidencha_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E), Fey (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 9 (3E), 13 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral (3E), ChaoticEvil (4E)

Also known as "spider leg horrors," these monsters are little more than skittering predators.

* AchillesHeel: Chwidenchas are vulnerable to sonic damage, and will flee from loud, high-pitched noises.
* AnArmAndALeg: A chwidencha's legs can be targeted and severed while they're grappling a victim, but the lost limbs will regenerate within a day.
* DigAttack: Chwidenchas typically hunt by burrowing beneath a layer of earth, then attacking foes they detect with their tremorsense.
* GiantSpider: They're basically a Large mass of writhing spider legs that makes it hard to see the creature's central body until it's dead.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Anything struck by one of their spider limbs is in danger of being grappled and impaled.
* SupernaturalFearInducer: Other creatures who see a chwidencha charging or attacking have to save or become shaken.
* WallCrawl: As expected, they have a climb speed to scale sheer surfaces. That said, some Underdark denizens keep chwidenchas at the bottom of metal-lined pits for use as living garbage disposals, or to [[FedToTheBeast get rid of prisoners.]]

!!Drider
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_drider_transparent_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E), Fey Humanoid (4E), Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 7 (3E), 14 (4E), 6 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil, Evil (4E)

Dark elf from the waist up and giant spider from the waist down, driders are wretched creatures who owe their miserable existence to Lolth's displeasure.

* PoisonousPerson: Their bite attacks deal [[NonHealthDamage Strength damage]] in 3rd Edition, or additional poison damage in 5th Edition.
* ReforgedIntoAMinion: Some free-thinking younger drow have broken from tradition by reasoning that a drider's transformation might be a way of castigating an individual but granting a boon to drow society as a whole -- yes, they failed one of Lolth's tests, but they gained some useful physical and magical abilities from her curse. Such drow have thus taken on driders as minions, putting them beneath true drow but above other non-drow servants. Since this is a step up from exile in the Underdark, these open-minded drow have no shortage of driders willing to work for them.
* SpiderPeople: Dark elves fused centaur-style with spiders. Why Lolth considers it a punishment to transform her people into a shape similar to her own has never been explained -- indeed, 4th Edition portrays the transformation into a drider as a sign of Lolth's ''favor'' rather than displeasure.
* WallCrawl: They unsurprisingly can imitate the ''spider climb'' spell, and also ignore any movement penalties imposed by spiderwebs.
* WeakenedByTheLight: Like normal drow, driders take penalties on rolls made in sunlight.

!!Fithrichen
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_fithrichen_4e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:4e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E), Fey Magical Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 7 (3E), 12 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Also known simply as "shunned," these miserable creatures survive as they can in the Underdark, holding vain hope of regaining Lolth's favor.

* CastingAShadow: They can generate a cloud of magical ''darkness''.
* {{Cephalothorax}}: They're little more than tumorous, pallid heads on spider legs.
* CruelMercy: While drow will defend themselves if one of the shunned attacks them, they never actively hunt fithrichen, believing that they shouldn't interfere with Lolth's punishment.
* EnemySummoner: They can disgorge a SpiderSwarm mid-combat that then follows their orders.
* EvenTheRatsWontTouchIt: Shunned have no natural predators, since animals and vermin can sense an inherent "wrongness" to their meat.
* SuperScream: Their 3rd Edition rules let them loose a horrid wail that can sicken creatures.

!!Mithrenda
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_mithrenda_4e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:4e]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey Magical Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 11 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

These mutated arachnids are cautious ambush predators, lurking in the shadows before reeling prey into range of their maws.

* ItCanThink: While mithrenda may beat chwidencha in terms of monstrous appearance, unlike the latter, mithrenda retain most of their intelligence, and can even speak.
* ProjectileWebbing: They can hurl webs to immobilize targets, and if that's not enough...
* WhatADrag: Once a target has been immobilized by a mithrenda's web, the creature can spend an action reeling them in, dealing damage in the process even before taking a bite out of them if they get close enough.

!!Scorrow
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_scorrow_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:349:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 7 (3E)\\

The drow of Eberron revere scorpions rather than spiders, and as such their drider analogues are chimeric blends of drow and giant scorpion. Unlike driders, the scorrow are a true-breeding race, and are respected by drow.

* BewareMyStingerTail: Being scorpion from the waist down, scorrow have a venomous stinger tail.
* BornAsAnAdult: Scorrow young hatch fully formed and are expected to travel with the colony from birth.
* ForcedTransformation: The scorrow claim that they were once the most skilled tribe of hunters among the drow of Xen'Drik, so the god Vulkoor sent a giant scorpion to their village that stung every member of it, triggering a painful transformation into the first scorrow. While they had no choice in the matter, the scorrow consider their current state a great honor, and their drow kin agree.
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: Scorrow society revolves around the hunt, and they're only interested in {{Worthy Opponent}}s, to the extent they'll let "lesser" prey pass by and instead search for a greater challenge.
* ScorpionPeople: A scorrow has the upper body of a drow and the lower body of a giant scorpion.

[[folder:Dryad]]
[[quoteright:229:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dryad_5e_4.png]]
[[caption-width-right:229:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey (3E, 5E), Fey Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (3E), 9 (4E), 1 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticGood (3E), Unaligned (4E), TrueNeutral (2E, 5E)

Beautiful but shy feminine nature spirits, magically bound to specific oak trees.

* CharmPerson: While there are plenty of stories about dryads growing enamored of handsome travelers, charming them, and bringing them back to their trees, dryads are just as likely to "recruit" interlopers to deal with threats like loggers.
* DepartureMeansDeath: Dryads in 3rd Edition will sicken and die in a matter of hours if taken more than 300 yards from their home oaks.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: 3rd Edition dryads share a druid's "Wild Empathy" class feature, while in 5th Edition they can speak with plants and animals.
* GenderEqualsBreed: If a dryad conceives with a satyr, there's an even chance of the child being either a dryad or a satyr, depending on their sex.
* OurNymphsAreDifferent: Dryads resemble beautiful elven women, whose hair and skin change color with the seasons -- they both turn red and white in the fall and winter, respectively; in the spring and summer, their skin turns tan and their hair green. Since all dryads are female, they rely on other species for reproduction -- generally, a dryad will have children with either a magically enthralled human or elf, in which case the child will always be a dryad, or with a [[FaunsAndSatyrs satyr]], in which case there's an even chance of the child being either a dryad girl or a satyr boy. A young dryad will live with her mother until she reaches adulthood, at which point she will seek a tree of her own to bond to.
* {{Synchronization}}: 5th Edition notes that dryads suffer as their bound oaks take damage, and will descend into madness should their trees be destroyed.
* {{Teleportation}}: 5th Edition dryads have the ''tree stride'' ability, allowing them to step into one living tree and step out of another up to sixty feet away from the first.

!!Hamadryad
[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_hamadryad_4e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:330:4e]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Playable:''' 4E\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Cousins of dryads who are able to roam further from their oaks, allowing them to patrol and protect their home woodlands, or venture into the wider world.