History Characters / DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesIToL

''[[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreatures Creatures]]'': [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreatureTypes Creature Types]] ([[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesA A]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesB B]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesC C]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesD D]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesE E]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesF F]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesG G]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesH H]] | '''I to 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]] \\

Monsters from the myriad worlds of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''.

[[folder:Notes on the Entries]]
* A creature's '''Origin''' denotes the specific campaign setting it debuted in, if any. This is not to say that setting is the only place that creature can be found -- ''D&D'' has a long history of repackaging creatures from sub-settings for general use, and ultimately the DM decides what appears in a game.
* A creature's listed '''Challenge Rating''' may be for "baseline" examples of the monster, rather than listing every advanced variant presented in ''Monster Manual''s. Also remember that 3rd and 5th Edition use a 1-20 scale for "standard" Challenge Ratings, while 4th Edition uses 1-30.
* Not all '''Playable''' creatures are created equal, especially in 3rd Edition, in which MonsterAdventurers can have significant Level Adjustments for the sake of party balance.
* A creature's listed '''Alignment''' is typical for the race as a whole, not an absolute for every individual in it -- even supposed embodiments of Good and Evil can change their alignment. Also, if there are two alignments listed, and one is for 4th Edition (in which Good encompasses Neutral Good and Chaotic Good, Unaligned encompasses the morally neutral alignments, and Evil encompasses Neutral Evil and Lawful Evil from other game editions), assume that the other alignment holds true for all other editions. Finally, the "Always Neutral" alignment listed in the first three editions for nonsapient creatures has been equated with the "Unaligned" alignment of 5th Edition.
[[/folder]]

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.

[[foldercontrol]]

!!I

[[folder:Ibrandlin]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_ibrandlin_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''\\
'''Classification:''' Dragon (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulNeutral

Also known as "lurkers in darkness," these draconic creatures were bred to protect subterranean holy sites and the followers of the god of caverns.
----
* BioweaponBeast: In their home setting, ibrandlins were created by the faithful of Ibrandul, Lord of the Dry Depths... or more accurately, [[Characters/ForgottenRealmsGods Shar]]. Ibrandul was actually inattentive towards his clerics and never gave them sufficient support to succeed with their efforts, but after he was slain by and had his portfolio usurped by Shar during the Time of Troubles, she lent her power to Ibrandul's clerics to help realize the ibrandlins. The disciples of Ibrandul haven't realized any of this, they're just pleased that the ibrandlins instinctively follow the orders of those wearing the dark purple robes of Ibrandul.
* BreathWeapon: Ibrandlins can breathe a 30-foot cone of flame, though it doesn't deal nearly as much damage as proper dragonfire.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Ibrandlins look something like red dragons, but with predominantly grey scales and wingless, elongated bodies. 3E classifies them as lesser dragons, though ibrandlins are actually derived from fire lizards, oversized, flame-spitting animals of uncertain relation to true dragons.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ice Serpent]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_ice_serpent_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:349:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''\\
'''Classification:''' Elemental (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

A variant of air elemental that feeds upon the heat of creatures they wrap in their freezing coils.
----
* {{Flight}}: They're a noted aversion among air elemental creatures, instead ice serpents move by pushing themselves against the ground like mundane serpents.
* AnIcePerson: Ice serpents are Large masses of freezing air whose only attack is constricting around living creatures. This deals subdual damage from the numbing cold each round the grapple is maintained, until the victim loses consciousness, at which point the ongoing damage becomes lethal.
* SeeTheInvisible: They're naturally invisible, but an ice serpent's position can be discerned by the snow particles, loose ice and small stones stirred up by its passage. Thus, they lack any improved defenses based on their invisibility.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ice Toad]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_ice_toad_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (3E), 1 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

8-foot-long amphibians with an uncharacteristic affinity for cold.
----
* AmphibianAtLarge: This toad is the size of a horse.
* AnIcePerson: An ice toad is immune to cold, and can exude a sphere of numbing cold from its body, dealing damage to all who draw close. On the flipside, this leaves them WeakToFire.
* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: Unlike normal toads, the ice toad has a mouth filled with small, sharp teeth.
* OverlyLongTongue: They can use their 10-foot tongus to reel in creatures of Medium size or smaller, and potentially [[SwallowedWhole swallow whole]] Small-sized creatures.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Id Fiend]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_id_fiend_4e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:4e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/DarkSun''\\
'''Classification:''' Aberrant Magical Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Large intelligent reptiles who use their psionic abilities to debilitate their prey with fear before striking.
----
* EyeOfNewt: Dried id fiend blood is used in potions that allegedly give brief boosts to the imbiber's psychic ability, while 4th Edition mentions that instructors at Draj's House of the Mind pay top coin for id fiend corpses for use in a dubious concoction meant to awaken psionic potential.
* IKnowWhatYouFear: Id fiends' signature ability is psychically drawing out their victims' greatest fears, "magnifying anxieties until the line between fantasy and reality is shattered." In 2nd Edition, this means those who fail their saving throws will suffer combat penalties and struggle to cast spells, while in 4th Edition, an id fiend's "manifest fear" action leaves those who succumb dazed and slowed, and vulnerable to a "fearful torment" attack that [[MindRape deals damage]] and immobilizes them.
* ItCanThink: They look something like 10-foot-long gila monsters, but id fiends are smarter than the average human and fully sapient. In 2nd Edition they can psychically communicate using ''mind link'', while 4th Edition mentions that id fiends are smart enough to ally with other creatures, or manipulate one group into attacking another by overlaying the first group's fears upon the second.
* PsychicPowers: In 2E, they know additional psionics such as ''biofeedback'', ''mind thrust'' and ''ego whip''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Illumian]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_illumian_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' Usually Lawful

A seemingly-human race easily recognized by the glowing sigils that orbit their heads like a halo, granting them various powers.
----
* ArchEnemy: In 3rd Edition, illumians despise the githyanki for sacking their Library of the Sublime. Illumian "vengeance cabals" exist purely to hunt down and slaughter any githyanki they can find and will ally themselves with githzerai (or even with mind flayers) to achieve that end.
* DeathCryEcho: When an illumian dies, they release a "final utterance" of ululating syllables which lasts for a number of rounds equal to their total hit dice. This utterance takes place even if the illumian was torn apart or disintegrated, so a high-level illumian's final utterance will last for several minutes with no way to silence it.
* DeityOfHumanOrigin: Their pantheon consists of formerly mortal illumians who ascended to demigodhood.
* FantasticRacism: Their World Axis incarnation fought a bloody civil war of near-total mutual annihilation over which of their subraces was superior; those attuned to the Word of Soul, or those attuned to the Word of Mind.
* GenocideFromTheInside:
** For unknown reasons, the illumian god Wathaku wants to eradicate his own race: the illumian people, their gods, and even their language itself.
** The World Axis illumians slaughtered each other halfway to extinction, then nearly finished the job when they got the maruts to intervene and pushed for the maximum possible penalties.
* HumanSubspecies: They are descended from humans who performed the Ritual of Words Made Flesh and have the human subtype for gameplay purposes. Physically they look no different from their human ancestors, apart from the ring of magical sigils which orbit their heads.
* JackOfAllStats: They're a versatile race and designed to excel at multiclassing. Their favored class can be whatever they want, their power sigils give them a bonus to all checks related to one or more ability scores of their choice, and the words formed by these sigils allow them to combine unrelated class features in unique and interesting ways. Want to use your Strength score to determine how many bonus spells you get, or convert a TurnUndead attempt into extra damage with a melee weapon? An illumian can do that.
* LanguageOfMagic: They are the physical embodiment of such a language, and have several traits reflecting this. Every illumian has a halo of arcane sigils floating around their head: two of these are power sigils, which grant passive benefits on their own and combine to produce words of power with unique effects. Illumian sigils interact strangely with glyph-based spells like ''explosive runes'', either making the illumian more vulnerable to such magic or allowing them to NoSell it.
* {{Retcon}}:
** In 3rd Edition, illumians are a relatively young race, born when a scholar, monk and wizard named Tarmuid devised a new language based on other tongues' methods of expressing magic, then used it to develop the Ritual of Words Made Flesh, infusing his followers with the power of this Illumian language. After creating the first generation of illumians, Tarmuid and his followers began to worry about the Ritual being used for nefarious purposes, and so the illumians split up into a number of hidden cabals, each guarding a single part of the Ritual of Words Made Flesh. Tarmuid and his closest disciples eventually elevated themselves to godhood, while the illumians became a self-sustaining race.
** In the [[TabletopGame/NentirVale World Axis]], illumians are descendants of mortals who served a god who perished during the Dawn War, and were entrusted by that god with two of the [[LanguageOfMagic Supernal Words of Creation]]; the Word of Soul and the Word of Mind. They inhabited their former patron's celestial realm of Shom for a time, but eventually they fell into civil war over which of the two Words of Creation was superior. This devastated their population, but the final blow was when they demanded the intervention of the maruts to end their war, with both sides demanding ridiculously high punishments for the guilty party. The maruts [[HoistByHisOwnPetard found both sides guilty,]] and massacred the survivors, scattering the few remnants across the multiverse and leaving Shom an empty wasteland.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Immoth]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_immoth_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Elemental (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 9 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Eight-foot-tall beings from the Paraelemental Plane of Ice, who are obsessed with magic and the power of words.
----
* {{Curse}}: The story goes that immoths were once ordinary ice paraelementals who refused to obey the commands of a wizard or witch. Said mage then cursed then with the immoths' current forms, and tasked them with finding the literally-frozen words of their ignored commands and bringing them to the Mountain of Ultimate Winter.
* AnIcePerson: Immoths are elementals with the cold subtype, and favor ice magic when casting spells. Their ''AD&D'' rules also let them tweak spells to fit a frozen theme, turning ''stone shape'' to ''ice shape'', for example.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: While in 3rd Edition their poison, delivered by their tail slaps, merely deals [[NonHealthDamage Intelligence drain]], 2nd Edition elaborates that victims will start babbling nonsense, each word they speak vanishing from their vocabulary, until they're cured or expire.
* RunicMagic: Immoths' bodies are studded with nuggets of ice containing runes, which the creatures can break to trigger prepared spells.
* TheUnfettered: Immoths are relentless in their pursuit of knowledge, and while they'll barter for information if necessary, they're just as willing to kill to get what they want.
* WallCrawl: They have the Icewalking ability, which functions like the ''spider climb'' spell so long as the immoth is moving across an icy surface.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Imp of Ill-Humor]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sanguine_imp_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Sanguine imp (3e)]]
->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Small, winged fiends representing imbalanced emotions. They can be found across the Lower Planes, usually in the service of stronger beings, or as evil mages' familiars.
----
* AffablyEvil: Sanguine imps are jovial, genial and happy to engage in conversation with interesting company, and show equal glee when attacking those who fail to entertain them.
* TheBerserker: Choleric imps are angry at the world and relentlessly pick fights, with little regard for their own safety.
* BewareMyStingerTail: Each has a scorpion-like stinger to attack with.
* TheEeyore: Melancholic imps are fatalistic pessimists who don't see the point in fighting, and try to talk their way out of conflicts by expressing their bleak viewpoint. Though they'll also try to stab someone in the back, given the opportunity.
* EmotionBomb: Anyone stung by an imp of ill-humor has to save or become afflicted with a humor imbalance, a condition that is permanent unless cured by magic such as ''remove disease'' or ''heal''. Those afflicted by a choleric imp fly into a ''rage'' and [[SetAMookToKillAMook attack the nearest creature, friend or foe,]] until everything around them is dead. Melancholic imps cause creatures to fall into a deep depression, imposing a penalty on rolls. Phlegmatic imps make their victims ''slow'' and unresponsive, while the poison of a sanguine imp makes someone unnaturally cheerful as per ''[[HelplessWithLaughter Tasha's hideous laughter]]''.
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Each kind of imp of ill-humor possesses the negative qualities of one of the four humors, and fights differently depending on their temperament.
* FrozenFace: These imps' faces are set in the emotion they embody, so sanguine imps are {{Perpetual Smiler}}s, melancholic imps are {{Perpetual Frowner}}s, etc.
* LazyBum: Phlegmatic imps are more forward-thinking than their kin, but focused only on getting other creatures to work on their behalf. In combat, they'll hang back and only engage when there's minimal risk to themselves.
* OurImpsAreDifferent: They're little fiendish humanoids, and distinguished from "standard" ''D&D'' imps for being Neutral Evil free agents rather than Lawful Evil devils from Baator.
* {{Plaguemaster}}: Imps of ill-humor can cast ''contagion'' once per day, spreading a disease that varies by the type of imp in question. Sanguine Imps can only use it to inflict a disease called "Red Ache", but the other types can manifest either of two diseases; "Cackle Fever" or "The Shakes" for Choleric Imps, "Blinding Sickness" or "Filth Fever" for Melancholic Imps, and "Mindfire" or "Slimy Doom" for Phlegmatic Imps.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ineffable Horror]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_ineffable_horror_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''\\
'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Ogre-sized monsters with wings and a mass of tentacles on their stomachs, who lurk in the mid- to lowest reaches of the Underdark.
----
* CombatTentacles: Theirs are actually their intestines, protruding from their bellies, which they use to grab prey and feed.
* DescriptivelyNamedSpecies: They're horrific monsters about which little can be said -- ineffable horrors are intelligent, sapient and speak Undercommon, but rarely bother to communicate, so next to nothing is known about them. Instead they regularly attack other creatures, and murders of the horrors are capable of depopulating entire villages, either killing the inhabitants or driving the survivors to flee elsewhere.
* VampiricDraining: Victims grappled by a horror's intestines take up to five points of Constitution damage per round as their blood is drained, and the creatures don't stop drinking until their prey is dead.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Inevitable]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_inevitables_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:349:From left to right, a zelekhut, kolyarut and marut (3e)]]
->'''Classification:''' Construct (3E, 5E), Immortal Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulNeutral

Constructs from the Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus, created by Primus to enforce specific principles of cosmic order such as "lawbreakers should be punished," "bargains should be kept" and "everyone dies eventually."
----
* ClockworkCreature: Most inevitables resemble humanoids made out of complex clockwork mechanisms.
* GrewBeyondTheirProgramming: Inevitables newly-emerged from Mechanus' forges have little knowledge beyond how their powers work and their first target to bring to justice. After arriving on another plane, they absorb information to aid them in future missions, pick up basic conversation skills from interacting with the locals, and will eventually develop a rudimentary personality shaped by these interactions, enough to "evince basic empathy or hostility toward allies or enemies." Inevitables that have been away from Mechanus for a while will even take on an individual name (or adopt one given by others), and may show initiative like keeping track of transgressions they witness while pursuing their current missions that they can go after next. But the longer they stay away from Mechanus, the stronger their drive to return grows, after which all of this mental development is then wiped away.
* ImplacableMan: Inevitables are obsessive and single-minded in their pursuit of transgressors. They never rest, give up or compromise, and even if a foe escapes them in the short term they will simply keep following them, never stopping, until -- even if years down the line -- they finally catch up and resume combat. Inevitables who need to cross oceans have been known to simply walk into the waves and [[WalkDontSwim traverse the ocean floor on foot,]] or, if they know that their target is part of an EternalRecurrance, they're willing to wait patiently for centuries until the next opportunity to enact justice arrives.
* JudgeJuryAndExecutioner: Inevitables pass judgement on transgressors, determine appropriate punishment (often death) and carry it out themselves.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Inevitables periodically return to the "crèche-forges" that constructed them, into which they disappear for weeks before emerging with no memory of their previous existence. "Whether the crèche-forge wipes away those memories, stores them, or transfers them to another entity is unknown."
* {{Precursors}}: Inevitables are actually young by planar standards, and were preceded by angelic "aphanacts" that ruled Mechanus and crusaded to spread the principles of Law across the planes. Sources disagree on whether the deities intervened to remove the aphanacts, or if their aggression prompted an alliance between celestials and fiends. At any rate, the aphanacts were wiped out ten thousand years ago, only for massive crèche-forges to appear in Mechanus that eventually produced the maruts and later other inevitables.
* PrinciplesZealot: Each inevitable is absolutely dedicated to enforcing one specific principle of law on an individual basis, but has "no interest in matters beyond the next target brought to justice." They thus have no larger society, nor any ambition to spread the general principles of law across the cosmos -- which planar scholars speculate is a deliberate choice on behalf of whoever made the inevitables to replace the aphanacts. "Without broad ambition or the inclination to organize in groups, the inevitables remain individually powerful, but collectively dormant."

!!Anhydrut
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_anhydrut_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 9 (3E)

Crawling, insectoid constructions that defend deserts and the inevitability of the wasteland. They will usually overlook small communities of desert nomads, but those who try to change the wastes through irrigation and farming may find themselves targeted for termination.
----
* BewareMyStingerTail: Their tail attacks also deal fire damage.
* GlobalWarming: Once per century, a anhydrut can use the ''global warming'' epic-level spell to increase the temperature within a 100-mile radius, presumably to preserve a desert biome.
* ScaryScorpions: They're built to resemble mechanical scorpions on tank treads.

!!Kolyarut
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kolyarut_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:5e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 12 (3E), 20 (5E)

These mechanical humanoids consider themselves part of the enforcement clause of contracts. They are among the most talkative of inevitables, and can attempt to pass themselves as a mortal when their missions call for subtlety, but when they reach their quarry they are ruthlessly efficient in forcing compliance.
----
* AlwaysAccurateAttack: If a 5E kolyarut is within sword range of a target, it ''will'' hit it.
* {{Glamour}}: They can use ''disguise self'' at will.
* InspectorJavert: These inevitables are described as simultaneously the easiest and hardest to deal with, since on the one hand, getting a kolyarut off your back can be as simple as returning to compliance with a contract (or proving that the other party violated it too, at which point the kolyarut will walk away from the situation). On the other hand, kolyaruts are utterly unsympathetic about the reasons for breaking a contract -- "The circumstances are indeed extenuating, but they aren't part of the contract. You are thus in breach."
* LevelDrain: Kolyaruts can fire black beams that replicate the ''enervation'' spell.
* LifeDrain: They make liberal use of their ''vampiric touch'' ability.
* MindControl: Kolyaruts rarely kill except in self-defense (or if someone made the mistake of swearing upon their life to do something), instead they prefer to use spells like ''suggestion'', ''mark of justice'' or ''geas/quest'' to force targets into compliance.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Their 5E incarnation is as four-armed, quad-wielding constructs, which they use on offense and to parry attacks.
* {{Retcon}}: In 5th edition, [[SpellMyNameWithAThe the Kolyarut]] is reimagined as a singular entity who oversees the signing of contracts made within Sigil's Hall of Concordance. It no longer hunts down people who break said contracts, leaving that duty to its marut enforcers instead. But ''Morte's Planar Parade'' elaborates that the Kolyarut might send aspects of itself (known simply as kolyaruts) out onto the planes as fact-finders so the Kolyarut can render accurate judgments.
* WeHaveReserves: Kolyaruts are willing to work with other creatures to complete their mission, and just as willing to use ''vampiric touch'' on those allies if they need the hit points.

!!Marut
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_marut_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 15 (3E), 21 (4E), 25 (5E)

Maruts are hulking humanoids who can deal terrible damage to transgressors with their bare fists.
----
* AlwaysAccurateAttack: In 5th edition, a marut always hits with its unerring slam attack, and its Blazing Edict ability does not allow a saving throw to reduce its damage.
* ArtEvolution: Their design has changed significantly over the years. In 2nd edition, they resemble [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/a/a7/Marut-2e.jpg muscular, lantern-jawed men in weird armor]]. In 3rd and 4th edition, they instead look like [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/7/73/Maruts-4e.jpg hulking obsidian statues dressed in Greco-Roman armor]]. 5th edition turns maruts into vaguely humanoid but utterly inhuman-looking robots with no heads, and a giant eyeball in the center of their torso.
* BadBoss: In 4e, maruts are described as making brutally horrible taskmasters; as inhuman beings forged of soul-stuff, stone and steel, they have little understanding of mortal fragilities, they feel no compassion or empathy for others, and they cannot understand the concept of compromise or renegotion. They're not ''purposefully'' cruel, but life for many of those under the control of a marut can be quite short, unless they can truly embrace the marut maxim: Obedience or Death.
* {{Cyclops}}: In 5th Edition, a marut's face consists of nothing but a single gigantic eye.
* ElementalPunch: In 3E, a marut's fists are infused with thunder and lightning. A punch with the left hand will blow out your eardrums, while a punch with the right hand will shock and blind you.
* FixedDamageAttack: In 5th edition, a marut's attacks inflict fixed amounts of damage. Unerring Slam inflicts 60 force damage with every hit, and Blazing Edict inflicts 45 radiant damage to everything within its area-of-effect.
* GoneHorriblyRight: The World Axis maruts of 4th edition were an attempt to create the ultimate unbiased arbitrator. The gods got what they want, and then abandoned them because they didn't like ''themselves'' being held to the same standards as everyone else. Now the maruts basically want to conquer reality and forcibly reshape it to make everything "more orderly".
* NoSocialSkills: All inevitables suffer from this to various extents, but maruts have it the worst, as 3E explains that since their targets, typically liches and master necromancers, live apart from society, maruts get few opportunities to interact with normal creatures, and are thus slower to develop interpersonal skills and distinct personalities.
* OrderIsNotGood: The 4e incarnation of maruts are literally made of inflexible order and uncompromising law; their very nature is to bring order to reality. But this makes them a race of tyrants in the making, and as beings literally incapable of feeling pity, mercy or compromise, their rule is called out as brutal and cruel in a way many mortal tyrants would shudder at.
* PunchClockVillain: 4e maruts don't really ''want'' to rule over anything. They have no inherent desire for power, adulation, or any of the emotions that compel mortals to take command. But they are '''compelled''' to enact and enforce order, and in the face of an inherently chaotic and random multiverse, they find that only assuming direct control over '''everything''' will bring them peace.
* {{Retcon}}: Maruts have been around since 1st Edition, and actually predate the concept of inevitables. Their lore can also be completely different from one edition to another.
** ''AD&D'' 1st Edition introduced the maruts as golems created by [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsRealWorldDeitiesGtoZ Rudra, the Hindu god of plagues, death and destruction,]] sent to fulfill various tasks he assigns them.
** ''AD&D'' 2nd Edition built upon the 1E lore, mainly by noting that maruts can also be found in the service of other deities, usually having been traded to them by Rudra as payment for favors.
** 3rd Edition introduced the inevitables and placed the maruts among them as enforcers of mortality, hunting down and killing the undead and those who unnaturally extended their lives.
** 4th Edition removed the inevitables and made maruts their own individual faction in the Astral Sea. They were created by the gods collectively to serve as the ultimate arbiters of law, order and judgment, especially in terms of divine conflict. They worked ''too'' well, and were largely abandoned after the gods realized they truly could not be swayed to favor any one god. Now the maruts seek to enforce law and order, especially in the form of contracts or oaths, with a long-term goal of conquering TheMultiverse to bring about "true order."
** 5th Edition keeps the idea of maruts as enforcers of contracts and oaths, making them celestial golems that are created in the Hall of Concordance. There they serve as witnesses to (and enforcers of) forged agreements, which they carry with them as engraved circular sheets of gold inset into their chests.

!!Quarut
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_varakhut_and_quarut_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:A quarut (right) and varakhut (left) (3e)]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 17 (3E)

Quaruts enforce the laws of time and space, hunting down those whose meddling poses a threat to reality.
----
* ClockRoaches: The quaruts' task of enforcing the laws of physics mostly involves hunting down and neutralizing time travelers and people who cause temporal paradoxes.
* ClocksOfControl: They have hourglasses for heads and wield powers over time. Sometimes the sand in said hourglasses can be observed flowing upwards, but the quaruts have no comment on the significance of this.
* CosmicRetcon: The best way to reach a nonviolent solution with a quarat is not to revert whatever dramatic reality-altering magic attracted its attention, but to rework time so that the change never happened in the first place.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Quaruts are highly disapproving of mortals who use spells such as ''miracle'', ''temporal stasis'', ''time stop'', and ''wish'', as they consider these dangerously disruptive to the balance of reality. This does not prevent them from using these same spells with impunity.
* TimeStandsStill: Quaruts prefer to deal with their foes by trapping them in bubbles of stopped time.

!!Varakhut
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 19 (3E)

Varakhuts enforce the laws of Divinity. Any being attempting to ascend to godhood will find themselves relentlessly pursued by these mighty enforcers of law.
----
* EnemiesEqualsGreatness: Some would-be divinities actually try to antagonize varakhuts, in order to legitimize their bid for godhood.
* GodhoodSeeker: Not them, but their prey -- varakhuts hunt down those who would make themselves gods. Mere egomaniacs aren't worth their attention, varakhuts are only sent after powerful beings who have a credible chance at a divine apotheosis.
* KillTheGod: Subverted. By their nature, they don't kill gods. The being they do kill, however, are usually close enough to godhood that the difference is semantics.
* MyMasterRightOrWrong: Of a kind. If a being manages to evade the varakhuts and truly ascend to godhood, the varakhut will call off the pursuit, since the being now is part of the divinity they seek to protect.

!!Zelekhut
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 9 (3E)

Zelekhuts enforce the rule of law, hunting down those who would escape lawful punishment for their crimes.
----
* BladeBelowTheShoulder: A zelekhut can extend and retract [[WhipSword bladed whips]] from its forearms at will.
* IWantThemAlive: Since zelekhuts exist to help enforce mortal laws, they typically just carry transgressors back for punishment unless they were already sentenced to a penalty like death or corporal punishment, in which case the zelekhut carries out the sentence itself.
* OurCentaursAreDifferent: They resemble mechanical centaurs with retractable wings.
* RetractableAppendages: A zelekhut's wings can be extended from and retracted into its body at will.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Infinity Vine]]
[[quoteright:301:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_infinity_vine_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:301:2e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}''\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Leafless green flowering vines that thrive in Wildspace, growing impossibly fast around asteroids or spelljamming ships.
----
* AlienKudzu: This vine's signature ability is its absurd growth rate -- once it enters the air envelope of a starship or planetary body smaller than 100 miles across, infinity vine starts growing at a rate of 10 cubic feet ''per round'', until whatever it's landed on is buried in 10 feet of vines. This quadruples a ship's original tonnage, potentially immobilizing it, with the only solace being that infinity vine is edible (if not tasty) and will refresh the ship's air supply. Infinity vine is easily destroyed by fire and sharp weapons and the like, but will instantly regrow unless moved underwater, plunged into darkness, or moved to the phlogiston, and will vanish entirely after an hour on a large planet.
* FromASingleCell: Even a small bit of infinity vine, drifting through Wildspace after being cut from a larger mass, will end its dormancy and explode into growth once it enters an air envelope.
* WeakToFire: As mentioned, contact with flame will instantly destroy infinity vine, the problem is that it's not always a practical solution on a wooden ship.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Inix]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_inix_4e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:4e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/DarkSun''\\
'''Classification:''' Animal (3E), Natural Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (3E), 9 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Huge lizards often domesticated as mounts and beasts of burden. Not to be confused with Imix, the evil Archomental of Fire.
----
* BigEater: The main problems with inixes is how much vegetation, carrion or small animals they need to consume every few hours to keep up their strength, and how if they can't get enough to eat, inixes become impossible to handle. For this reason, inixes are never taken into lands where foraging is scarce.
* CraftedFromAnimals: The shell-like carapace on their backs can be made into excellent armor as good as mail, or the more flexible scales on their undersides can be woven into a fine leather mesh as effective as studded leather armor.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: These 16-foot-long, two-ton reptiles can carry passengers or cargo in a howdah at a steady pace for a full day or night before needing rest, and in short bursts can move as fast as a kank.
* TrulySingleParent: Part of the inixes' success as a species comes from females' ability to produce viable eggs without a male.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Insectare]]
[[quoteright:265:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_insectare_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:265:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

Humanoids blending elven and insect traits, who seek to covertly gather information and magical power in their bid to rule the spaceways.
----
* TheChessmaster: The insectares' ultimate goal is to dominate all other lifeforms, and since they aren't (yet) powerful enough do to that through raw force, the insectares stay in the shadows, manipulating other races and playing them against each other.
* CombatTentacles: Insectares' antennae are fully eight feet long when fully uncoiled, and can be used in combat like whips, or to entangle a foe's weapon hand.
* FantasticRacism: Insectares aren't popular, since others have noticed their deviousness and secrecy -- "Few races trust the insectare, and if they knew half of what these insectoid schemers planned, they would trust them even less." Elves in particular despise insectare, denying any relation to them, while orcs and goblinoids, especially scro, hate insectare as another type of elf to exterminate.
* GodEmperor: The insectare's god Klikral lives among them on their homeworld, and is viewed as the head of a great household that encompasses their entire race. While nearly every insectare priest remains on their homeworld to be close to their deity, only ten high priests, who are fully [[LargeAndInCharge twice the size as normal insectare]], are allowed to communicate directly with Klikral. Despite this devotion, insectares infiltrating other races often pretend to worship other deities, something Klikral seems to approve of.
* HiddenElfVillage: Subverted; insectares obsessively keep their homeworld's location a secret from other races, and any outsiders who trespass there are harshly interrogated and publicly executed, but insectares are ''very'' interested in the wider universe.
* HumanResources: Or Human''oid'' Resources, in this case; an insectare's exoskeleton can be worked into a ''+1 shield'', while their antennae can be harvested for use as whips. Naturally, "insectare consider this practice abominable, and anyone who uses such a weapon or shield earns every insectare's instant hatred."
* InTheHood: They habitually hide their unusual features beneath hooded cloaks or robes, and keep their distance from others so they don't notice the insectare's eyes.
* InsectoidAliens: They look like taller, muscular, green-skinned elves with antennae protruding from behind their ears. Most also have compound eyes (which aren't noticeable unless someone comes within five feet of an insectare), though for an unexplained reason, insectare priests have ordinary humanoid eyes. They also have tough exoskeletons that grant them a minor (in 3E) or exceptional (in 2E) natural armor bonus.
* NoNeedForNames: Whatever name an insectare uses among other races is an alias for their current infiltration. Among their own kind, their ability to communicate empathically means they have no need for individual designations.
* StarfishLanguage: Their spoken language is "a clicking, lilting tongue that is a mixture of the common tongue and the insects' original language" -- someone who speaks Common has a 30% chance of getting the gist of a conversation in Insectare, but won't be able to provide a full translation. Insectare much prefer to communicate directly with one another by touching their antennae together.
* TheStoic: They seem icy and insular to other races, though this is a byproduct of insectare physiology -- they're used to expressing emotions directly by touching antennae.
* UndergroundCity: Insectare cities are made from hollowed-out mountains and can extend deep underground. For this reason, they feel most comfortable infiltrating dwarven territory.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Intellect Snare]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_intellect_snare_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 8 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Far Realm entities that rip thoughts from those they wrap in their tentacles. Not to be confused with intellect devourers, an [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsMindFlayers illithid]] creation.
----
* BrownNoteBeing: These creatures echo with "the cacophonous sounds of every thought the snare has consumed," a passive psychic assault that is so overwhelming that it can incapacitate those who simply come within 30 feet of the creature.
* CombatTentacles: They lash at and grapple prey with their tentacles.
* ItCanThink: Though intellect snares look like floating masses of writhing tentacles, they're veritable geniuses and are capable of communicating using telepathy and Dark Speech.
* MindHive: A variant; they're spawned from other Far Realm creatures' psychic attacks, which can leave "shreds of thought" behind that may coalesce into an intellect snare.
* MindRape: An intellect snare can make a "Siphon Thoughts" attack against a grappled victim, dealing psychic damage and "leaving a tattered mind in its wake."
* ScavengersAreScum: These evil creatures are described as aberrant scavengers, often found feasting on the weakened survivors of mind flayer attacks.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Invisible Stalker]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_invisible_stalker_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Elemental (3E, 5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 7 (3E), 6 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Creatures of elemental air summoned to the Material Plane for a specific task, typically to retrieve an item or assassinate a target.
----
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Though they dislike servitude, invisible stalkers might regard a quick, uncomplicated task as a pleasant diversion, and will view a summoner who gives them such a mission more positively. "Anyone who has befriended an invisible stalker in the past will find that voyages through the plane of elemental Air are far less hazardous than they might otherwise have been."
* BlowYouAway: Their slam attacks are actually sudden, intense blasts of air that deal bludgeoning damage.
* ExactWords: They're resentful servants at best, and don't like complex missions or protracted duties. In such cases, an invisible stalker will attempt to pervert the intent of their summoner's command unless it's worded carefully -- an order of "keep me safe from all harm" might cause the stalker to carry its summoner back to a secure location on the Elemental Plane of Air.
* InvisibleMonsters: Invisible stalkers are composed of air and are naturally invisible, even when attacking. A spell that allows someone to see the invisible reveals only the invisible stalker's vague outline.
* PaintingTheMedium: Some of their older ''Monster Manual'' entries use [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1544814351000.png an empty frame for the picture of the stalker.]] It ''is'' invisible, after all.
* ScarilyCompetentTracker: Invisible stalkers are expert hunters, and have the Improved Tracking ability in 3rd Edition.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Irda]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_irda_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:As they appear on ''[[Literature/{{Dragonlance}} The Irda: The Lost Histories Volume II]]'']]
->'''Origin:''' ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E), Giant (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (3E), 1 (5E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulGood or NeutralGood

Also known as "high ogres," the irda are a fair and gentle people who have withdrawn from the world, due to the superstitions that linger from their dark past.
----
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Their skin tones range from midnight blue to deep sea green, with black, white or silver hair.
* ArtEvolution: 5th Edition gives the irda small horns on their foreheads and cheekbones.
* DefectorFromDecadence: The irda are descended from a faction of ancient ogres who had a HeelFaceTurn, urged their kin to change their evil ways, and were driven into hiding in the ensuing civil war.
* FantasticRacism: On Krynn, people still tell stories about evil, slave-taking ogres, and the irda are considered harbingers of those ogres' return -- as such, the irda prefer to move among other races in disguise, lest they be hunted down and killed. For their part, despite their Good alignments, the irda can't help but hold themselves superior to other races, though the well-traveled among them have learned to respect other peoples for their strengths and resilience.
* HiddenElfVillage: In their home setting, most of the remaining irda live in isolation on the island of Anaiatha. They don't trade goods with outsiders, and at most will offer their knowledge of plants and animals in exchange for tips about irda stuck on the mainland.
* HumanShifting: They're natural shapeshifters, able to assume any Small to Large humanoid form. Their 2E lore notes that this takes years of practice, and most irda have a single disguise they prefer to use.
* InhumanlyBeautifulRace: Irda are considered extraordinarily beautiful by the likes of humans and elves, they "move with a fluid motion so graceful that it is a joy to watch," their voices are "rich, melodic tones that are among the most beautiful sounds heard on Krynn," and so forth.
* MageSpecies: In 3rd Edition, irda can cast magic like ''dancing lights'', ''flare'' and ''mage hand'' as spell-like abilities each once per day, while 2nd Edition notes that due to their enhanced understanding of magic, irda spellcasters gain one additional spell of the highest level they can cast.
* OurOgresAreHungrier: On Krynn, they're actually the closest to the original incarnation of ogres, who were as beautiful as they were tyrannical before being cursed with forms that better reflected their evil nature. Their ogre heritage gives the irda superior strength (in their 2nd Edition rules), but they dislike fighting in general and melee combat in particular, and so rarely take advantage of this. The irda have also lost their ogre hardiness, resulting in a susceptibility to poison and a racial Constitution penalty.
* {{Veganopia}}: The irda are strict vegetarians as a way to further distance themselves from their savage ogre kin, and beyond that refuse to drink milk or use any animal products. They wear simple linen smocks or silken gowns, and never utilize wool or leather, though they will wear modest jewelry.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ironclad Mauler]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_ironclad_mauler_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 9 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Magically-enhanced ursine warbeasts that can dominate the battlefield, though some have escaped to menace the wilderness.
----
* AxeCrazy: As a result of their training and magical conditioning, ironclad maulers will fearlessly charge into masses of foes, and enjoy fighting, whether dueling a dangerous opponent or crushing formations of wealkings. They never flee, always fight to the death, and if one escapes to take over a pack of mundane dire bears, it will lead its kin "into crueler and more violent activities."
* BioweaponBeast: Ironclad maulers are {{dire|Beast}} {{bears|AreBadNews}} given enough magical augmentation that they can no longer interbreed with their parent species. Designed to destroy entire infantry formations on the battlefield, they're such valuable weapons that ironically, their owners may come to consider them TooAwesomeToUse in open warfare.
* ClingyCostume: Their armor is grafted onto them, offering them substantial protection without impeding their movement. But since each set of armor is customized to an individual warbeast, not enough another ironclad mauler can wear one's armor.
* MakeThemRot: Ironclad maulers are surrounded by a "sickening aura," a field of negative energy that doesn't deal outright damage, but can sicken those within ten feet for a full hour.
* TrampledUnderfoot: They're large and heavy enough to trample smaller foes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ironmaw]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_ironmaw_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Plant (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 11 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Carnivorous tree-shaped monsters that originated in the Abyss before spreading across the Lower Planes.
----
* CombatTentacles: An ironmaw has four tendrils that can reach up to 60 feet in length, which it can use to [[TentacleRope grab and reel in prey to be swallowed]], or lash at opponents, dealing persistant [[DamageOverTime bleeding damage]] and potentially infecting them with a [[NonHealthDamage Constitution-damaging]] illness.
* HeWasRightThereAllAlong: When not attacking, an ironmaw's tendrils are wrapped around its upper trunk, or contorted to hide their true length and resemble gnarled branches, while its mouth remains closed to look like another crevice in its bark-like hide. By the time other creatures get close enough to notice the ironmaw's leaves and their distinct coloration resembling blood splotches, those creatures are usually within the monster's reach. A better warning sign might be that no wildlife ventures near the "tree," and the ground around it is often littered with the remains of past victims.
* SuperToughness: Ironmaws' bark is, as their name suggests, as hard as iron. This grants them an impressively high Armor Class and DamageReduction in 3rd Edition, and 2nd Edition ironmaws are immune to bludgeoning weapons.
* SwallowedWhole: Any Large or smaller creature that ends up adjacent to an ironmaw is in danger of being engulfed, taking bludgeoning damage each round it spends in its trunk, on top of suffocating from lack of air.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: In their ''Planescape'' rules, ironmaws can camouflage themselves as other types of tree by slowly growing leaves and changing the texture of their bark to match the flora around them.
* WeakToFire: 2nd Edition ironmaws don't take additional damage from fire attacks, but fire will make them drop a victim held in their tendrils or mouth, and they won't try to grab someone carrying a torch, instead swatting them away.
* WhenTreesAttack: Ironmaws look like gnarled old oak trees, can shamble around when necessary, and attack anything that comes within reach of their tendrils, even when they've recently fed.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ironthorn]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_ironthorn_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Plant (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Carnivorous desert trees that grab passing prey with their thorny tendrils, impale them upon poisoned thorns, and feed on the body as it decomposes.
----
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Anything grabbed by an ironthorn will be pulled deep into its mass of thorns to be impaled.
* PoisonousPerson: The tree's thorns are poisonous, with [[TheParalyzer paralysis]] as the initial effect and hefty Constitution damage as a secondary effect. Worse, an impaled victim has to save against the secondary effect again each minute they're trapped in the tree.
* SolidGoldPoop: An ironthorn's sap is a valuable natural hardening agent used to make armor and such, but harvesting it is obviously dangerous.
* WhenTreesAttack: They're thorny plants the size of apple trees, and aren't particularly fast, but have a surprising 15-foot reach with their main tendrils.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Istarian Drone]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_istarian_drone_5e.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Dragonlance}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Construct (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Relics of a fallen civilization, which can still be found defending and maintaining its ruins.
----
* ImprovisedWeapon: Their viscous gel, which hardens into crystalline mortar, can also be used in battle to restrain attackers.
* MechanicalInsects: Istarian drones resemble short, stout mantises made from marble and metal, with four scuttling insectile legs and barbed, scythe-shaped arms.
* RagnarokProofing: Not only did some of these constructs survivor Istar's destruction in the apocalyptic Cataclysm, they're still kicking 300 years later.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ixitxachitl]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_ixitxachitl_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E, 5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (standard), 3 (vampiric) (3E); 1/4 (standard), 2 (cleric, vampiric) (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Intelligent and malevolent stingrays that dwell within tropical reefs, menacing all around them.
----
* MadeASlave: The ixitxachitl routinely take slaves, usually other aquatic creatures such as merfolk and nixies, though even surface-dwellers might become captives if they're wearing magic items that provide water breathing. These slaves are usually forced to excavate the ixitxachitls' dwellings, or end up sacrificed to the monsters' vampiric leaders.
* SinisterStingrays: They're sentient, rapacious rays that enslave other intelligent creatures and tend to over-hunt their territories until the ixitxachitls are forced to relocate.
* VampiricDraining: The "vampiric" ixitxachitl leader caste can inflict LevelDrain upon victims, healing damage in the process. Despite this trait, they're not actually undead.

!!Ixzan
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_ixzan_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 4 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

A larger, freshwater variant of ixitxachitl that look more like manta rays.
----
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Explicilty averted; ixzan are born Neutral, but are subjected to "a gruelling process designed to make them as strong and ruthless as possible," so that they either develop their Chaotic Evil alignment or perish.
* BeneathTheEarth: Most ixzan dwell in bodies of water within the Underdark.
* EatsBabies: Kuo-toa sometimes use ixzan in a brutal RiteOfPassage to weed out weakness, by throwing juvenile kuo-toa into an underwater maze in which the ixzan gorge themselves on any youngsters unable to escape. Those who survive are considered full-fledged adults.
* MageSpecies: While ''AD&D'' states that only 1 in 20 ixzan are wizards, 3rd Edition lets the entire species use spell-like abilities such as ''levitate'', ''fly'', ''magic missile'' or ''invisibility''. It's noted the ixzan spellcasters are fond of ''levitating'' up to cling to a cavern ceiling, similar to a lurker/trapper.
* PoisonousPerson: Some mutant ixzan in 2nd Edition, and all ixzan in 3rd Edition, have a poisonous bite.
* VillainTeamUp: Ixzan have a natural affinity for their fellow evil aquatic Underdark neighbors, the aboleths and kuo-toa. Ixzan end up subordinate to the former, and use the latter as DumbMuscle. Since the ixzan and kuo-toa's divine patrons, Ilxenden and Blibdoolpoolp, are on good terms with each other, it's not uncommon to find the two races living in mixed communities.
[[/folder]]

!!J

[[folder:Jabberwock]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_jabberwock_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Dragon (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 13 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral (2E), ChaoticEvil (5E)

Little-known and solitary beasts, these manxome dragons dwell within ancient ruins and tulgey woodland, and their attacks leave few survivors to go galumphing back home.
----
* EyeBeams: In lieu of a conventional breath weapon, a jabberwock in 5th Edition can shoot a long line of fire from its bulging eyes, unless it has been blinded by something.
* AKindOfOne: The original jabberwock was, by what information [[Literature/{{Jabberwocky}} the poem]] provides, a singular monster, and most adaptations follow suit. 2nd Edition posits that there is only ever a single jabberwock, which might be generated as a GeniusLoci to protect a woodland from intruders, while 5th Edition assumes there is an entire species of such monsters.
* TheParalyzer: A 2nd Edition jabberwock's searchlight-like eye beams can replicate the effects of a ''wand of paralysis''.
* ResurrectiveImmortality: Should a jabberwock be slain, a new one appears a few years later anywhere within a thousand miles of where the last one died. It's noted that no immature jabberwock has ever been sighted, and the creature(s?) do not appear to age, so it's possible that all jabberwock sightings are of the same resurrecting beast.
* StupidityInducingAttack: The burbling of a jabberwock can confuse other creatures, causing them to stand in place, wander at random, or attack a nearby creature, friend or foe.
* SuperPersistentPredator: Once a jabberwock has chosen a target, it pursues them until either one of them dies, or the target escapes via teleportation magic.
* TrackingSpell: A jabberwock can unerringly track any creature it has wounded within 24 hours as long as they're on the same plane.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Jackal Lord]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_jackal_lord_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 8 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

Jackal-headed humanoids who work to undermine governments and priesthoods on behalf of their dark and sinister deity, while indulging their own vanity and gluttony.
----
* TheBeastmaster: They can [[EnemySummoner summon]] a pack of jackals three times per day, and can ''dominate'' canines at will (including victims of their "curse of the jackal" ability).
* DiabolicalMastermind: Jackal lords usually start out in isolated settlements as sponsors for bandits, then the successful ones can move into the city, posing as respectable businessmen while using blackmail, bribery, scheming and terrorism to expand their influence.
* DirtyCoward: They prefer leaving the fighting to their minions, and when pressed, will take the form of jackals and try to blend in with a pack of the creatures to escape from combat.
* EvilVersusEvil: Many of a jackal lord's Machiavellian schemes are dedicated to defeating a rival jackal lord and absorbing their territory. On rare occasions two jackal lords will team up, usually to defeat a good-aligned group or establish a temple dedicated to their deity, but they'll betray each other as soon as that objective is accomplished.
* ForcedTransformation: Once per day, a jackal lord can make a [[DeadlyGaze gaze attack]] that, if successful, turns the victim into a jackal, a curse that can only be broken by a jackal lord or with magic such as ''limited wish'' or ''miracle''
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: They can use ''change self'' at will, as well as shapeshift into the form of a large jackal.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Jackalwere]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_jackalwere_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Natural Humanoid (4E), Humanoid (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (3E), 3 (4E), 1/2 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil, Evil (4E)

A shapeshifting jackal that can take humanoid form in order to lure in victims.
----
* ForcedSleep: Their gaze can put other creatures into a magical sleep.
* PinocchioNose: Inverted; attentive onlookers might notice that a jackalwere winces in pain whenever it tells the truth.
* ShapeshiftingExcludesClothing: Varies by edition. 3rd Edition jackalweres have their equipment fuse with them when they take jackal form, which prevents them from using it until they shift to their hybrid or humanoid forms and their gear returns. In 4th and 5th Edition, a jackalwere's equipment explicitly isn't transformed along with them.
* ThisWasHisTrueForm: They revert to their true jackal forms when slain.
* UpliftedAnimal: Their 5th Edition lore paints them as once-ordinary jackals given the gift of speech and magical power by the demon lord Graz'zt, so they could better serve his lamia minions.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: A jackalwere has three physical forms that it shifts between: a true form, indistinguishable from a normal jackal; a human form, which often appears gaunt and wretched in order to attract sympathy from well-meaning passersby; and a human-sized hybrid form, a biped with the fur and head of a jackal, allowing the creature to make both bite attacks and strikes with held weapons.
* WoundedGazelleGambit: A lone jackalwere might try to lure in victims by assuming human shape and acting wounded or otherwise debilitated, until someone comes close enough to be affected by its sleep-inducing gaze. In other cases, adventurers sent to investigate a frontier massacre might find another supposed "search party" already on the case, who will work with them until nightfall, at which point the other party tries to tear out the heroes' throats while they sleep.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Jaculi]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_jaculi_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Beast (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (3E), 1/2 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil (3E), Unaligned (5E)

Large, arboreal snakes infamous for their tactic of launching themselves at prey.
----
* ChameleonCamouflage: They can change the color and texture of their scales to blend in with their surroundings.
* CraftedFromAnimals: The shed skin of jaculis is prized as an ingredient in ''boots of striding and springing'' and ''cloaks of invisibility''.
* DeadlyLunge: Their trademark ability is to hurl themselves at targets like a javelin -- sometimes from as far as 30 feet away, or from [[DeathFromAbove 50 feet above the ground]] -- taking prey by surprise and dealing extra damage from the impact. Some species of jaculis have even developed broad, flat heads and/or spines and barbs to enhance the damage dealt from this attack.
* HypnoticEyes: [[TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms Faerûnian]] jaculis are known to hypnotize prey by flashing their eyes and swaying in a certain manner, replicating an ''animal trance'' effect.
* ItCanThink: While "jaculi" can be a collective term for tree-dwelling serpents, the Faerûnian variant is a very particular creature with human-level intelligence, allowing them to learn from past experiences, avoid stupid mistakes like launching themselves at sharp objects, and target sleeping victims for easy meals. Unfortunately, with this intelligence comes an evil alignment.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Jaebrin]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_jaebrin_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticNeutral

Former fey jesters who went into self-imposed exile after a species-wide scandal, and now live on the Material Plane as entertainers, swindlers, and/or adventurers.
----
* AcquiredPoisonImmunity: A supernatural variant; jaebrins used to serve as {{Court Jester}}s among their fellow fey, reveling in their role as their superiors enchanted the jaebrins to perform various silly or weird acts. But as the centuries passed, the jaebrins built up a tolerance to enchantment magic, so that they were forced to feign falling under such spells. When the fey nobility eventually discovered the ruse, they lost interest in the jaebrins, who went into exile out of shame.
* BigEater: They have hedonistic appetites and fey metabolisms, allowing jaebrins to indulge their gluttony whenever they want without gaining weight.
* FaceOfAThug: Jaebrins' oversized mouths filled with needlelike teeth, and their large eyes can be unsettling depending on the lighting and the fey's mood, but while they're decadent, egotistical jokers, they're not malevolent or cruel.
* ManBitesMan: They have a natural bite attack that deals only minor damage, but forces victims to save or suffer a penalty on Will saves for the next minute.
* {{Pluralses}}: A good number of jaebrins both lisp and pronounce words as plurals, even when unnecessary ("I hears the femaleses in this town are all beautieses"), solely to enjoy others' laughter at their strange speech.
* NoSell: They're immune to enchantment spells and effects.
* PretendToBeBrainwashed: Jaebrins absorb the magic of enchantment spells, and instinctively know the intended effect of them. They thus can feign being enchanted so well that they can fool even spells like ''detect magic'' (since the energy from the spell is still displayed on the jaebrin's magical aura). It takes a caster succeeding at a Sense Motive check opposed by the jaebrin's Bluff for them to realize the fey is only playing along.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Jammer Leech]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_jammer_leech_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Plant (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Space-dwelling barnacles that attach themselves to the hulls of spelljamming ships.
----
* BrownNote: In 5th Edition, killing a jammer leech while it's attached to a ship's hull causes a spelljammer overload, hitting the vessel's spelljammer with psychic damage.
* CombatTentacles: They can defend themselves with their spiked tentacles, but they're only about as effective as daggers.
* CounterAttack: Jammer leeches can respond to physical damage by retaliating with the spells they've stolen (in 2nd Edition), or zapping foes with a magical discharge (in 5th). For this reason, spelljammer crews prefer to scrape these barnacles off the hull without directly attacking them.
* MagicEater: These leeches survive by siphoning magic. In 2nd Edition, they drain prepared spells from their host ship's spelljammer, while in 5th, they instead absorb magical energy from the ship's ''spelljamming helm''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Jermlaine]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_jermlaine_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey (3E, 5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (3E), 1/8 (5E)\\
'''Playable:''' 2E\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Tiny but malicious fey also known as jinxkin or bane-midges. They're sneaky subterranean brigands reviled for their foul dispositions and evil treatment of their victims.
----
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Some jermlaine tribes will allow themselves to be bribed into allying (or pretending to ally) with members of the bigger races, but will almost always turn on them at some point.
* FreudianExcuse: 5th Edition attributes part of jermlaine's anger towards other creatures from a history of being hunted for food as well as their hides, which other races have (unsuccessfully) tried to turn into magic items bestowing jermlaine's invisibility to darkvision.
* GripingAboutGremlins: 2nd Edition classifies jermlaine as a type of gremlin, and notes their habit of stealthily cutting at the straps of a passersby's equipment so that it all comes apart after the jermlaine have scampered back into hiding. They also like to sneak into other creatures' camps to vandalize whatever they can't carry back to their lairs.
* GulliverTieDown: Should jermlaine come across a sleeping victim, or if someone succumbs to one of their traps, the little fey tie them up and proceed to strip them of clothes and valuables, shave off their body hair to make ropes, urinate in their water flasks, summon rodents to eat their food, and do other nasty things to them. When the jermlaine are finished, their victim is left naked and helpless for whatever happens upon them next.
* MolotovCocktail: They've caught on that would-be victims in heavy armor are hard to subdue, so jermlaine tend to attack such targets with firebombs, or dump acid on them.
* OurGnomesAreWeirder: Beyond classifying them as a type of gremlin, 2E also claims jermlaine are an "extremely" distant relative of gnomes.
* PromotedToPlayable: There are rules for playing jermlaine in 2nd edition in the pages of ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}''.
* SpeaksFluentAnimal: All jermlaine have the spell-like ability to speak with any form of rat.
* StealthExpert: Their stone-textured hides help them blend in with their surroundings, and they're extraordinarily sneaky in general, so that they're 75% undetectable in 2E even when someone is on the lookout for them, while 5th Edition notes that jermlaine are also completely invisible to darkvision.
* TrapMaster: They're fond of using traps like tripwires, nets or pits to incapacitate victims, then the jermlaine mob them, batter them unconscious, and tie them up.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Jerren]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_jerren.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' Any Evil

Once a halfling tribe facing extinction at the hands of goblinoids, the jerren resorted to dark magic and vile acts to defeat their foes, becoming something even worse than the goblins.
----
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Like vasharans, jerren are vile, sadistic and evil beings to the last, and seek to capture, kill or corrupt anyone who trespasses on their stretch of the prairie. Unlike vasharans, the jerren's evil is societal, as any among them who show a hint of weakness or mercy are killed and devoured by their kin.
* EvilCounterpart: Jerren are to halflings what vasharans are to humans, drow are to elves, and duergar are to dwarves.
* HorrifyingTheHorror: By the time the jerren turned the war around, they were performing atrocities that horrified even their goblinoid foes.
* ImAHumanitarian: Jerren are as willing to eat each other as they are to devour outsiders.
* ItGetsEasier: Using poison and underhanded tactics was only the jerren's StartOfDarkness. Resorting to those tactics made it easier to take the next step, and then the next, and so on until the goblinoids' heads decorated the boundaries of jerren territory.
* MasterPoisoner: One of the jerren's deadliest tools, their poisons are legendary for the amount of pain and suffering they inflict. Jerren probably could make a poison that ensures a quick death. They just don't want to.
* ThatManIsDead: Applied to the entire race. Jerren dislike being called halflings, as they see their halfling kin as weak and ineffectual.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Jhakar]]
[[quoteright:324:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_jhakar_4e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:324:4e]]
[[caption-width-right:324:[[labelnote:2e]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_jhakar_2e.jpg[[/labelnote]] ]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/DarkSun''\\
'''Classification:''' Natural Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Vicious reptilian pack hunters that can be tamed and domesticated, provided their handlers keep their guards up.
----
* ArtEvolution: In 2nd and 3rd Edition, jhakar are depicted with upright postures, colorful sails on their backs, and very toothy mouths, but 4th Edition makes them blunter, thicker and lower to the ground, downplaying their sailed back.
* AttackAnimal: While jhakar are commonly used as {{Angry Guard Dog}}s or [[TheyHaveTheScent tracking hounds]] in their home setting, they're notably stupid creatures that have trouble recognizing their handlers from one day to the next. 4th Edition elaborates that while jhakar "respect pain and strength," they also carry grudges, and will turn on their leaders should they ever show weakness.
* BullyBulldog: They're explicitly described as scaled bulldogs, "small, squat and pugnacious."
* PersonalSpaceInvader: Jhakar that hit with their bite attack latch onto their victim, hoping to work with their packmates to pull their prey to the ground. Or in gameplay terms, they automatically deal bite damage in subsequent rounds and can try to overbear their target (in 2nd Edition) or grapple and shift their target (in 4th Edition).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Joystealer]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_joystealer_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

The insoril, as they call themselves, are fey who haunt humanoid settlements, draining the emotions from their victims.
----
* ArchEnemy: Joystealers despise the ethergaunts for their long enslavement, and for "poisoning their purity."
* EmotionEater: A joystealer's intangible touch attack [[NonHealthDamage deals Charisma damage]], and once a victim hits 0 Charisma, the fey can take an action to drain all emotion from them. This renders the victim incapble of being affected by fear or rage effects, or get any sort of penalty or bonus from morale effects, until the joystealer who stole their emotions is slain, or the victim receives a ''remove curse'' spell in a ''hallowed'' area.
* GemTissue: Their eyes look like glittering gemstones, ruby red when the joystealer is hungry, and glowing golden once their appetite for emotion is sated.
* {{Intangibility}}: Their long imprisonment on the Ethereal Plane has given these fey the incorporeal subtype.
* MadeASlave: The entire insoril race was captured by the ethergaunts, who valued them as tools in their quest to purge themselves of emotion. While the joystealers have since escaped, the ethergaunts continue to hunt for them.
* NecessarilyEvil: The insoril used to be proud of their role of draining "excess" emotions from other creatures, a "refined culling" that they deemed necessary to reduce conflict and pain, so part of the reason they despise the ethergaunts is because the latter turned the joystealers into mere hunters, scrambling to drain a victim of emotion for life just so the fey can experience the momentary joy of stolen passion. Of course, to everyone else, the joystealers are just as cruel and selfish as they ever were.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Juggernaut]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_juggernaut_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Construct (3E, 5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 11 (3E), 12 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Ponderous animated constructions of stone that won't stop until their creator's foes are crushed beneath their rollers.
----
* HorseOfADifferentColor: Some juggernauts have an interior hiding space large enough for two Medium-sized creatures.
* TheJuggernaut: They are slow - in some editions their speed is a paltry 10 feet per round, while in others it takes them several turns to build up any decent momentum - and sometimes juggernauts are also subject to rules about maneuverability. But with their high Armor Class, DamageReduction and [[HealingFactor Fast Healing]], as well as their construct immunities to conditions like ''sleep'', stunning or paralysis, juggernauts are very difficult to stop.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Juggernauts have six limbs, three on each side, which they use to grab opponents and thrust them under the construct's rollers. In some juggernauts that are hybrid mimics, these limbs are grown as needed, while in others they are carved during the construct's creation and are always present.
* SquashedFlat: The fate of anything subjected to their Squash attack. It deals a ton of damage, and victims may have to save to avoid a OneHitKill.
* YouShallNotEvadeMe: Some juggernauts can use spell-like abilities such as ''forcecage'', ''slow'' or ''wall of force'' to ensure that their enemies can't escape their rollers. Said ''wall of force'' is also a useful way to navigate obstacles like cliffs and chasms.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Julajimus]]
[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_julajimus_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:320:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 12 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

These giant, man-eating monsters can take the forms of innocuous creatures to surprise their victims.
----
* CreepilyLongArms: A julajimus' limbs are abnormally long, with four articulated joints on each.
* CuteIsEvil: Certain villages tell stories about a disobedient child who adopts a cute animal as a pet despite their parents' warnings that there isn't enough food or space for it, only for said critter to become a julajimus who eats the kid.
* KillerGorilla: They're 18-foot-tall killer simians, though they resemble baboons more than gorillas.
* KillerRabbit: They can disguise themselves as far more harmless wildlife. They are ''far'' from harmless...
* MeaningfulName: Their name derives from ''julaji molus'', or [[ChildEater "eater of children."]]
* MightyRoar: Three times per day, julajimuses can loose an ear-splitting roar that can be heard for miles, which is intense enough to deal subdual damage and potentially deafen neary creatures for hours.
* SupernaturalFearInducer: Anything within 20 feet of them has to save or become frightened.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Julajimuses can ''polymorph'' themselves at will, but can only take the forms of small, cuddly animals like kittens, rabbits or chipmunks.
* WeakenedByTheLight: A julajimus has to save against paralysis each round it's exposed to sunlight.
[[/folder]]

!!K

[[folder:Kalothagh]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kalothagh_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Animal (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Large, spiny fish also known as "pricklebacks," known to occasionally hunt swimming humanoids.
----
* AdaptationalDumbass: Kalothagh are actually given a Low (5-7) Intelligence score in 2nd Edition, enough to give them a habit of collecting shiny gems from shipwrecks to hoard in their lairs, but 3E downgrades them to a nonsapient animal Intelligence of 2.
* ArtEvolution: They look like oversized pufferfish in 2E, but are given trout-like bodies with fewer spines in 3E.
* TheParalyzer: In 3rd Edition, their spines deliver a poison that can potentially deal 3d6 points of Dexterity damage.
* PlayingPossum: If a fight is going poorly for the fish, a kalothagh can inflate a special air bladder within its body that makes it rapidly rise towards the surface, at which point it floats belly-up until the danger has passed.
* SpikeShooter: They can fire volleys of spines at nearby creatures.
* TheSpiny: Anyone who simply spends a round adjacent to a kalothagh has to save or get stuck by one of its poisonous spines, which detaches and is stuck in the victim's body to deal additional damage when removed. 2nd Edition notes that for this reason, mating is fatal for male kalothagh.
* WeirdWorldWeirdFood: Averted; kalothagh flesh is poisonous. SuperstitiousSailors thus take an encounter with a belly-up kalothagh as an omen of economic woe.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kamadan]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kamadan_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 8 (3E), 4 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil (kamatlan, 2E), Unaligned

Large predatory felines with biting serpents protruding from their shoulders.
----
* AmbiguouslyRelated: Some sages argue that kamadans are related to displacer beasts, but others disagree, and the monsters' entry can take a different side of the argument depending on the game edition. For their part, it's noted that kamadans seem to despise displacer beasts, attacking them on sight, laying complex traps for them, and using their [[TheNoseKnows scent]] ability to foil their foe's light-bending glamer.
* EyeOfNewt: Kamadan tongues can be used to brew ''sleep'' potions, while Maztican priests of Zaltac know how to make use of nearly every part of a kamatlan's body.
* ForcedSleep: Kamadans' BreathWeapon is a cone of ''sleep'' gas, which they use at the start of combat, allowing them to focus on downing conscious foes before finishing off the sleepers.
* MultipleHeadCase: 3rd Edition notes that a kamadan's six snake heads each has its own brain, allowing them to attack as a free action.
* PoisonousPerson: The serpents growing from their shoulders have poisonous bites.
* UndergroundMonkey: 2nd Edition distinguishes between kama'''tl'''an and kama'''d'''ans. The former, found in Maztica, resembles a jaguar with four venomous snakes growing from its shoulders, and has a rattlesnake's tail. The latter, found elsewhere on Toril, resembles a leopard with six non-venomous snakes growing from its shoulders, sports a normal tail, but has a sleep-inducing breath weapon. Kamatlan are a little larger, evil, but dumber, while kamadans are more inelligent but neutral. Other than the poison bites and ''sleep'' breath, there isn't much practical difference between the two, and they're worth the same amount of XP.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kani Doll]]
[[quoteright:314:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kani_doll_3e_fix.png]]
[[caption-width-right:314:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Construct (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Dolls of humans or animals meant to be good-luck charms, though they have a worrying tendency to be corrupted by evil, becoming animate and murderous.
----
* AdaptationalIntelligence: 2nd Edition evil kani dolls are mindless, but in 3E they're not only intelligent but capable of speech.
* AnimalisticAbilities: The shape of a kani doll defines what powers and ability scores they're associated with -- bulls or tigers with Strength; cats, rabbits or raccoons with Dexterity, speed or stealth; bears or turtles with Constitution or defense; foxes or humans with Intelligence or luck; elephants or owls with Wisdom; eagles or lions with Charisma or courage; hawks with sight; and doves with love. Most kani dolls don't actually offer their owners any tangible benefit, but some are enchanted by hedge mages to give children a +2 enhancement bonus to the associated ability score. Evil kani dolls, in contrast, [[NonHealthDamage drain their associated ability score]] with their bite attacks, as they "literally chew away at the spirit and life-force of their victims."
* CreepyDoll: Kani dolls are made from cheap materials but can be quite detailed, making some collectors pay good coin for a specific type of doll, but once possessed by an evil spirit, they become twisted-looking things, with sharp teeth and evil grins.
* NitroBoost: 3rd Edition gives kami dolls a "scamper" action, letting them double their movement speed to 40 feet, three times per day.
* PersonalSpaceInvader: Evil, animate kani dolls are known to latch on after biting a victim, dealing ongoing ability score damage until they're pulled off.
* PerversePuppet: About one-in-ten kani dolls ends up possessed by an evil spirit, which has unsurprisingly led to a decline in their construction since the start of the Age of Might, though some rural communities and simple tribes across Ansalon still make them. Most people will try to dispose of an evil kani doll as soon as its nature becomes clear, but dolls that are buried or thrown into the sea remain animate and dangerous, ready to attack those who stumble upon them. More worryingly, evil mages are known to make possessed dolls on purpose, sometimes enchanted to animate several days after being gifted to a would-be victim.
* ProtectiveCharm: Non-corrupted, enchanted kani dolls also grant their young bearers a ''protection from evil'' effect while the child sleeps.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kank]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kank_4e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:4e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/DarkSun''\\
'''Classification:''' Animal (3E), Natural Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (3E), 4 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Large hive-dwelling insects that are hardy but docile, and easy to domesticate.
----
* CraftedFromAnimals: Kank chitin can be used to make armor, but it's brittle and has a 1-in-5 chance of shattering into uselessness with every blow it absorbs.
* FantasticLivestock: Some Athasians, the elves especially, keep herds of kanks. While kank meat is so sickeningly foul that only the desperate will eat it, kanks who become a hive's food-producers regularly secrete green nectar stored in melon-sized globules in the creature's abdomen, which can be easily harvested without harming the kank. This honey fetches a high price, and humanoids can live on it for up to three weeks before their bodies require some other form of sustenance.
* HiveCasteSystem: Kank hives consist of the aforementioned food-producing drones, soldiers who also collect food and raw materials for nests, and a helpless queen who produces eggs. 4th Edition also adds specialized "spitters" that are Small compared to the Large soldiers, but have a ranged AcidAttack. Any other creature that regularly feeds the hive will come to be considered part of it, making the creatures easy to tame.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: Kanks are primarily used as mounts -- they can carry 400 pounds while moving at their top speed for a full day before needing rest, they can survive off just about any organic matter, and they don't require any special care.
* TheParalyzer: Kank soldiers' mandibles also deliver a paralytic poison.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kaorti]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kaorti_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Aberrant humanoids who were corrupted by the madness of the Far Realm, and now strive to subject the Material Plane to that dismal dimension's influence.
----
* AlienBlood: The kaorti's blood is a green fluid.
* HolyBurnsEvil: Kaortis have been so fully corrupted by the Far Realm that exposure to the Material Plane actually harms them, dealing subdual damage and fatiguing them for every hour they spend on it unprotected, until they pass out and start taking lethal damage. For this reason, they have to coat their hideouts in a resin they secrete from their palms, which shields them from the Material Plane's harmful effects.
* HumanoidAbomination: The kaorti is a completely alien creature, inherently wrong and evil, that is humanoid in shape only. Their features are like that of a melting spider, their fingers are boneless tendrils, even their translucent flesh seems to slither and run over their visible entrails.
* KryptoniteProofSuit: When leaving their cysts, kaortis don armor made of strips of alchemically-treated resin, which they wrap around themselves like a mummy's wrappings. They're time-consuming to make, though, so only exceptional kaortis are allowed to wear them.
* MageSpecies: Kaorti have the innate ability to use spells like ''alter self'' or ''spider climb'', and generally respect and admire arcane magic, so that most of their leaders are mages. Kaorti sorcerers are common, while their wizards record their spells on long strips of resin.
* TheVirus: Kaortis can infuse humanoids with essence from the Far Realm, turning them into kaortis themselves. Sometimes the [[ViralTransformation subjects resist the psychological transformation,]] becoming rogue kaortis forced to struggle to survive in world that harms them.
* WasOnceAMan: The first kaortis were wizards who travelled to the Far Realm, fully expecting that their preparations would protect them from its influence. Instead they succumbed almost immediately, sensed their entry portal as a disturbance, and traveled back through to destroy it. Stranded on a now-hostile Material Plane, the kaorti resolved to feed the world around them into the Far Realm, by converting individual creatures one at a time if necessary.

!Kaorti Creations

As part of their campaign to corrupt the Material Plane, the kaorti have created several breeds of servitor creatures they use as living war machines.

!!Rukanyr
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_rukanyr_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 9 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

These warped monstrous scorpions can smash or blast apart anything they encounter, and were created by the kaorti to destroy regions they themselves fear to enter.
----
* BewareMyStingerTail: Instead of a conventional scorpion's stinger, rukanyrs have a massive, mace-like club that hits hard enough to stun victims.
* GoneHorriblyRight: Rukanyrs are awesome war beasts, but are so destructive that the kaorti don't allow them within their enclaves, instead leaving them to wander the periphery of a cyst.
* MooksAteMyEquipment: Their armor plating constantly shifts and scrapes against itself as the rukanyr moves in combat, which can potentially trap and crush the weapons of those who strike at it with a slashing or piercing weapon.
* TheParalyzer: Their bite attacks deal [[NonHealthDamage Dexterity damage]], potentially paralyzing victims whose Dexterity hits 0.
* ScaryScorpions: They have the general shape of one (assuming the scorpion is 15 feet long), but rukanyrs boast additional armor plating, a club-like tail rather than a stinger, several sets of claws around their tail, three toothy maws on their front, and a single staring eye.
* SuperScream: Every few rounds, a rukanyr can let loose a devastating roar from one of its mouths, potentially deafening everything within 60 feet and dealing heavy sonic damage to the creature or object the monster is focusing this blast of sound upon.

!!Skybleeder
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_skybleeder_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:349:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 12 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Huge masses of tentacles, claws and eyes normally hidden behind an unnautral mist, and which rain acidic red slime upon their victims.
----
* AcidAttack: Skybleeders' signature attack is the slimy red acid their tentacles constantly weep. This deals damage to anything beneath a skybleeder, though fortunately the acid goes inert quickly, so creatures who move out from under them stop taking damage.
* BeastOfBattle: Kaortis occasionally ride upon skybleeders by roping simple wooden platforms to the top of their amorphous bodies. Since skybleeders are fully intelligent, any rider who fails to show them the proper respect is likely to be attacked several miles above the ground.
* FogOfDoom: Skybleeders are constantly surrounded by a 60-foot radius of unnatural white mist. Not only does this grant the creatures concealment against outside attacks and help it hide, it grants the skybleeder and anything else within the mist Spell Resistance against druidic magic.
* NoSell: These monsters don't have anything resembling a conventional anatomy, so they aren't subject to flanking, {{Critical Hit}}s or BackStab attempts.
* TentacleRope: Anything grappled by their tentacles will take both constriction and acid damage.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kaortic Hulk]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kaortic_hulk_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 8 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Giant quadrupedal predators clad in resin armor, usually found hunting Material Plane creatures on the fringes of a Far Realm incursion.
----
* ArtificialInsolence: Kaortic hulks can be summoned with the appropriate spell, but they are reluctant servants at best, and have a cumulative 1% chance each round to turn on their summoner.
* BigEater: Kaortic hulks are hungry predators that devastate populations if they spend too much time in one place.
* ExtremeOmnivore: A kaortic hulk eats everything, including oozes, constructs and undead.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: The best theory concerning these huge monsters' origin is that they're descended from the feline familiar of a wizard who attempted to explore the Far Realm in ages past.
* ItCanThink: Downplayed. Kaortic hulks have animalistic intellects (Intelligence scores of 2), but are still smart enough to use their spell-like abilities -- ''gaseous form'', ''spider climb'', ''invisbility'', ''silence'' -- during their hunts.
* SuperSenses: They have no obvious eyes or ears, but enjoy blindsight out to 120 feet.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kappa]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kappa_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/KaraTur''\\
'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil (2E), ChaoticNeutral (3E)

Small, aquatic, turtle-like humanoids whose behavior can be unpredictable and dangerous.
----
* AchillesHeel: Kappa's heads have bowl-like indentations that contain some of the water from their home pond or river. Should the bowl be emptied -- usually by an opposed grapple check, as not even the rigors of combat are enough to spill the water -- a kappa's Strength and Constitution score drop significantly, and they lose their [[HealingFactor fast healing]], until the bowl is refilled. A would-be victim can also try the "trick the kappa into bowing" strategy, though most kappa are wise to it.
* AffablyEvil: Kappa delight in the discomfort of others, but they are usually polite even to potential victims, at least initially. Should said victims compliment the kappa's good manners, appeal to their vanity, or offer gifts, the kappa might be pleased enough to spare them. [[FauxAffablyEvil "But a hungry, insulted, or simply ornery kappa shows no mercy."]]
* DyingCurse: In their ''AD&D'' rules, about one in twenty kappa know enough magic to curse those who defeated them, and if the victors fail their saves, they'll take permanent penalties on their attack rolls and saving throws -- and [[TheJinx inflict lesser penalties on those around them]] -- until they're subject to a ''remove curse''.
* EliteMook: Kappa-ti are bigger (i.e. Medium-sized), stronger kappa that have natural camouflage to aid in ambushes. Normal kappa consider them repulsive.
* ItsAllAboutMe: According to their 2nd Edition write-up, kappa are so self-interested that they won't intervene even to save their own kin, unless their personal safety is assured and the kappa is confident they'll get some food or treasure for their efforts.
* {{Kappa}}: They hit most of the beats of the source myth, but there's no mention of them [[AnalProbing extracting]] victims' ''shirikodama''.
* NoSell: They're immune to any water-based magic.
* PintSizedPowerhouse: Kappa are typically only two feet tall, but have Strength scores comparable to orcs'.
* SinisterSuffocation: They prefer to drag their victims into the water to drown them.
* SumoWrestling: Kappa love wrestling, and will often challenge a potential victim to a match to save their life, sometimes conventional wrestling, other times a round of "finger-wrestling" where the kappa and their opponent hook a single finger around the other's and see who can win a tug-of-war. Despite their Chaotic bent, kappa have developed several martial arts techniques, involving grapples, holds and throws. In rare cases, a kappa who develops a deep respect for a human (whether because they're helpful, deferential, or intimidating) will teach them some kappa martial arts techniques.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Beyond cucumbers and melons, kappa have a taste for horseflesh, leading them to try to drag such animals into the water whenever possible.
* VampiricDraining: Some "vampiric" kappa can bite victims and [[NonHealthDamage drain Strength]] from them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Karsite]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_karsite_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Scions of an ancient sorcerer-king, whose blood randomly asserts itself among the human population. Marked by their ancestor's failed attempt to seize the position of God of Magic, they repel magical energy, and are driven by a racial goal to complete their ancestor's mission and raise him to the divine throne he should have claimed.
----
* AntiMagicalFaction: Karsites consider it their purpose to rid humanity of spellcasters and establish Karsus as mankind's only god. As such, organized groups of karsites work to prevent the founding of mage guilds, discredit the good works of heroic spellcasters, and steal magic items while ruining their makers. They also relish the chance to harm spellcasters.
* DispelMagic: A karsite's melee attacks can temporarily suppress the magic of enchanted equipment.
* DivineParentage: Of a sort; Karsus died attempting to steal and harness the power of a god of magic, and now exists as a vestige. During his experiments leading up to that fatal endeavor, he fathered many children among his slaves and supplicants, the descendents of which retain a measure of his power.
* FeedItWithFire: If a karsite's Spell Resistance nullifies a magical effect, they heal some damage based on the spell's level.
* HumanSubspecies: They have the human subtype, and are treated as humans for the purposes of certain spells or effects.
* PragmaticVillainy: Karsites aspire to set themselves up as the rulers of human civilization, and have evil natures, but they actually loathe killing other humans since it robs them of future servants.
* PubertySuperpower: In many cases, a karsite's special powers make themselves clear by the time they reach puberty. Other times, a nascent karsite only realizes there's something different about them when they try and fail to learn magic, or an attack leaves them less harmed than it should.
* SharedUnusualTrait: All karsites have mismatched eyes, one of which is always pale blue, as well as a skunk stripe in their hair. If karsites are able to form communities of their own and breed true, other shared traits reassert themselves, namely straight dark hair, a sharp widow's peak, and a small nose and mouth.
* SuperToughness: Karsites are exceptionally resilient, and enjoy DamageReduction against non-magical attacks.
* UnSorcerer: Downplayed; a karsite's Spell Resistance comes at the cost that they cannot cast any arcane or divine spell themselves. However, spell-like abilities -- such as those granted by karsites' favored binder class -- are fair game, as are magic items, PsychicPowers, and other esoteric abilities like incarnum magic.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Keeper]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_keeper_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E), Shadow Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (3E), 17 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

A race of strange creatures obsessed with gathering the secrets of other beings, and then ensuring that no one else can discover that information.
----
* AbnormalLimbRotationRange: All of a keeper's joints can bend in either direction.
* CyanidePill: A variant; if a keeper finds itself captured, pinned, or held helpless, it has 10 rounds to free itself before it automatically dissolves into a puddle of poison.
* DittoAliens: Keepers all look remarkably similar, and wear the same style of dark leather coat.
* EyelessFace: Keepers wear black goggles to hide their shallow, empty eye sockets, but can still see normally despite their lack of eyes.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: Keepers are known to murder those who know secrets they desire or wish to erase. Fortunately, they can be bought off with offers of additional knowledge, deals that the keepers will honor.
* GoneHorriblyWrong: It's speculated that keepers were an attempt to create a race of spy-constructs, or guards for some secret knowledge. Instead the keepers began to be born free-willed, and now roam the planes looking for information to hoard.
* KnowledgeBroker: Averted; a keeper will never willingly divulge its secrets, they only accept offers of information, never trading knowledge for knowledge.
* HiveMind: Each keeper group shares a hive mind, which each individual functioning akin to a limb or extension.
* TheMenInBlack: They serve as a fantastic example, being uncanny, unnerving humanoids in black clothes and glasses who show up to secure secrets and silence others who know them.
* NoSell: They share a lot of traits with constructs (and would probably have been classified as extraplanar living constructs if their rules had come out after ''Eberron'''s release), and as such are immune to things like critical hits, poison, sleep, paralysis, necromantic effects, etc.
* PoisonousPerson: Keepers can vomit gouts of a nauseating poison to incapacitate enemies, and [[NoBodyLeftBehind dissolve into a puddle of that same poison when slain]].
* ShapeshifterWeapon: A keeper can form the malleable flesh and bone of its arms into any melee weapon.
* SuperSenses: They can track enemies via scent, and also boast an impressive 200-foot blindsight.
* SwapTeleportation: A keeper can use a standard action to ''teleport without error'' to another keeper's location within 500 feet, exchanging places with it. They frequently use this when attacking in groups, switching out with one another when an individual becomes too damaged to keep fighting.
* UncannyValley: Keepers tend to unnerve other creatures thanks to their appearance, single-mindedness and abrupt manner. They're also bad at blending in with other beings, so a keeper might walk into a bar, observe patrons drinking liquor, then try to imitate them by guzzling a nearby bottle of lamp oil.
* YouAreNumberSix: Keepers do not have names, referring to themselves with a numerical designation within their own groups, plus a title referring to the type of secrets they were originally tasked to discover if necessary (an example being Third of the Colorless Pool).
* ZerothLawRebellion: One story about the keepers' genesis holds that a member of the [[Characters/PlanescapeFactions Fraternity of Order]] discovered a way to find/invent entirely new universes just by thinking about them, and one of those universes contained the keepers. After bringing in hundreds or thousands of keepers to serve as his agents, this Guvner gave the careless order "Make sure no one ever discovers how you got to be here." The keepers promptly killed him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kelp Angler]]
[[quoteright:281:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kelp_angler_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:281:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Plant (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 9 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Mobile, magical and predatory sea plants that lurk in shallows and kelp forests, or terrorize shipping lanes.
----
* ChameleonCamouflage: Kelp anglers can change their coloration to blend in with their surroundings, for a bonus to Hide checks.
* DispelMagic: Among other spells, kelp anglers can cast ''dispel magic'' three times per day, which is particularly dangerous if their victims are under ''water breathing'' and other enchantments to help them fight in the water.
* ItCanThink: Kelp anglers are actually a little smarter than the average ogre, enough that they can wait patiently for days in a reef or kelp forest, ignoring smaller prey to help sell the illusion of safety until a larger morsel presents itself. They also "know something of magic," enough to cast ''entangle'', ''confusion'' and ''displacement''. They don't seem able to communicate, however.
* NoSell: These sea plants are immune to bludgeoning weapons and cold damage, and take only half damage from fire.
* SuperSenses: Their sight is supplemented by sonar, which grants kelp anglers 100-foot blindsight so long as they're not in a ''silence'' effect.
* TentacleRope: They try to grapple those they hit with their leafy tendrils.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kelpie]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kelpie_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Humanoid guise (2e)]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Horse guise (3e)]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kelpie_3e.png[[/labelnote]] ]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey (3E), Plant (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 10 (3E), 4 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil (2E, 5E), ChaoticEvil (3E)

Murderous aquatic nature spirits who lure victims into ponds or rivers to drown them.
----
* CharmPerson: Kelpies can cast the spell to encourage victims to come closer, or defend them against other enemies.
* EmotionControl: 3rd Edition kelpies can cast ''emotion'' as well, typically to [[SupernaturalFearInducer paralyze victims in fear.]]
* HellishHorse: Their natural form in 3rd Edition is that of a warhorse with coal-black eyes, covered in rotted vegetation and constantly dripping with water.
* HumanShifting: Kelpies can take humanoid form, but aren't great at it. In 2nd Edition, their efforts are a "grotesque mockery" that doesn't hold up to inspection in daylight, requiring further magic to disguise themselves. In 3rd Edition, kelpies' human shapes have a "feral and disturbing aura" due to their long stringy hair, gruff voices, tattered clothing and darting eyes. In 5th Edition, the seams between the strands of seaweed are visible in bright light or if the viewer closes to 30 feet.
* OneGenderRace: 2nd Edition kelpies always appear female in humanoid form, and their ''charm'' only affects males.
* OurKelpiesAreDifferent: In a departure from the base myth, in most editions, ''D&D'' kelpies are intelligent, magical, saltwater ''plants'' rather than fey (''kelp''-ies, you see), created by some vengeful ocean deity to punish sailors for not paying proper homage before voyages, or perhaps by the evil water archomental Olhydra. A later 2nd Edition sourcebook introduced an evil "water-horse" more in line with the original kelpie myths, and in 3rd Edition kelpies were properly fey horselike creatures, but 5th Edition went back to the "shapeshifting bundle of seaweed" interpretation.
* SinisterSuffocation: Kelpies typically take humanoid form to attempt to lure victims into their watery lairs, either taking the guise of a fisher or lost traveler, or pretending to drown in the water. Once a victim is close enough, the kelpie reverts to its natural form, makes a trip attack, and pins them underwater until they drown.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kenku]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kenku_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E, 5E), Natural Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (3E), 3 (4E), 1/4 (5E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E-5E\\
'''Alignment:''' Neutral (2E), NeutralEvil (3E), Unaligned (4E), ChaoticNeutral (5E)

A race of small, sneaky avian humanoids, flightless but able to perfectly mimic any sounds they hear. See [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsRaces the Playable Races subpage]] for more information about them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kes'trekel]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kestrekel_4e.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:4e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/DarkSun''\\
'''Classification:''' Animal (3E), Natural Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/3 (3E), 1 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Croaking, cowardly carrion-eaters, which prefer to feast on the dead and dying, though their flocks can be bold enough to overwhelm healthy prey.
----
* CannibalismSuperpower: Some inhabitants of the Ringing Mountains eat fresh kes'trekel eyes in hopes of gaining the birds' keen vision. "Such rituals are ineffective, but sometimes myth and tradition are stronger than logic."
* CombinationAttack: In groups of 20 or more, kes'trekel's "minuscule brains" can link together to generate psionic effects, an ''aversion'' ability in 2nd Edition and a "loathsome feast" attack in 4th Edition that deals psychic damage and drives foes away.
* CorneredRattlesnake: Kes'trekel's cowardice disappears when dealing with intruders in their home territory, at which point they'll cooperate in flocks that swarm the opposition. This makes kes'trekel that are hatched and raised by humanoids excellent watch birds, which will raise squawking alarms if they detect intruders.
* TheSwarm: An individual kes'trekel is hardly a threat, but their flocks can put up a fight, swarming over and raking opponents with their talons.
* VileVulture: They're the Athasian equivalent, ugly avians with the unpleasant habit of following creatures around until they become too weak to fend off the scavengers.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Khaasta]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_khaasta_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Barbarous reptilian humanoids who wander the Outlands and the chaotic parts of the Great Wheel, living as raiders, sellswords, slavers and smugglers.
----
* ArchEnemy: The khaasta spent centuries fighting the sarrukh, after the reptilian creator race tried to enslave them following the collapse of the sarrukh empire. Even though they eventually repelled the sarrukh, the khaasta have come to hate them to the point that they won't rest until every last sarrukh is exterminated, and will launch incursions onto the Material Plane to continue the war.
* BarbarianTribe: They exist as such, wandering the planes in bands that are alternately traders and raiders, or hiring themselves out as soldiers to more powerful creatures.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Khaasta derive status from both wealth and prestige, the latter according to "a convoluted and twisted set of rules of conduct that rewards backstabbing, conniving, and deceit." This can make dealing with them dangerous, as a khaasta who thinks themself unable to defeat a foe in a straight fight will resort to treachery to advance themself.
* DirtyCoward: Khaasta of both genders consider themselves warriors, but they also have a strong cowardly streak and will turn and flee if a fight goes against them.
* HenchmenRace: The khaasta were created by the demon lord Demogorgon as foot soldiers, and spent millennia loyally serving him in battle. But as more tanar'ri joined his ranks, Demogorgon's demonic generals began complaining about the khaasta's unruliness and subpar performance compared to the fiends. Demogorgon, "in a rare moment of generosity," released the khaasta from his service rather than purge them, letting them seek out a new patron. Many khaasta have since fallen in with Sess'innek, the demon prince who seeks to lead Material Plane lizardfolk away from Semuanya.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: They prefer to fight from atop a giant lizard mount.
* LizardFolk: They bear a resemblance to the lizardfolk of the Material Plane, but khaasta are larger, have intricately patterned scales, and flaring crests. Most significantly, and unlike their primitive kin, khaasta can always be found wielding metal wargear.
* MightMakesRight: The guiding principle of what passes for khaasta society is that the strong rule. Their leaders must endure constant challenges and ritualistic, nonlethal combat, because in ancient times the khaasta nearly dueled themselves to extinction. While this does means that khaasta who think themselves in a position of strength will simply try and take what they want, an outsider who proves their toughness can find khaasta to be good sources of information, illicit goods, or muscle.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Khargra]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_khargra_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:2e]]
->'''Classification:''' Elemental (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/8 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Small creatures from the Elemental Plane of Earth with an appetite for metal.
----
* AchillesHeel: Khargra are deathly susceptible to certain spells -- casting ''phase door'' on rock they're moving through, or ''stone to flesh'' or ''transmute metal to wood'' on the creature directly, is an instant kill. ''Move earth'' stuns a khargra for several rounds, while ''heat metal'' always deals maximum damage to one.
* AmbiguouslyRelated: There's speculation that khargra are the "larval" forms of xorn and xarren, and transform into the latter on the Quasiplane of Mineral before returning to the Elemental Plane of Earth, but "the theory seems to rely on a significant leap in logic that is -- at least with the information possessed currently -- unwarranted."
* FantasticFaunaCounterpart: The way their schools "swim" through geological "currents" on their home plane leads some observers to dub khargra "earth fish." "But the name's really not any more accurate than calling birds 'air fish.'"
* InstantMessengerPigeon: 5E mentions that some dwarf, duergar or azer clans have picked up the trick of using khargra as carrier pigeons, by sprinkling a scroll with iron dust to entice the creature to eat it. The missive gets stuck in the khargra's digestive system, then it's sent off to its destination to cough up the scroll.
* ItCanThink: They're semi-intelligent, just enough to speak Terran in 5th Edition.
* MetalMuncher: They feed on metals, preferring copper, iron or tin, while considering gold to be bland and mushy. In fact, they can't even digest organic material (or gemstones), and so will only attack living creatures out of desperation for the metal they're holding. Khargra seem to end up on the Quasiplane of Mineral toward the end of their life cycle -- some think the creatures' metal-infused bodies become part of the plane's mineral deposits, others say the khargra gorge themselves to death.
* MooksAteMyEquipment: Their terrible, rock-chewing maws are more than capable of ruining the metal equipment of their opponents. In 5E, they can even make an "Opportunistic Hunger" CounterAttack whenever someone hits them with a metal weapon.
* {{Retcon}}: 2E khargra "swim" through solid earth and stone a la xorn, but are slow and ungainly outside of their element. 5E gives them a more limited "Earth Phasing" ability and lets them fly through the air.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kholiathra]]
[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kholiathra_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:280:2e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralGood

Often-invisible spirits who watch over elven lands, bringing good luck to the locals and misfortune to intruders.
----
* EatingOptional: As enchanted beings, kholiathra don't need to eat or drink, and instead gain sustenance from cavorting in the sunlight.
* {{Flight}}: They can move through the air as easily as they walk over the ground.
* GuardianEntity: Some say that kholiathra are the spirits of departed elves, returned to serve their communities as unseen protectors, or sent by the Seladrine to bring good fortune to the elves before a battle. They rarely intervene directly, however, preferring to manipulate fortune in favor of their wards and against their adversaries.
* InvisibleMonsters: Kholiathra can turn ''invisible'' at will, and usually remain unseen.
* WindsOfDestinyChange: The mere presence of a kholiathra brings good or bad luck to those around them, allowing the spirit to add or subtract 4 from any dice rolled by creatures within 20 feet. This makes kholiathra largely responsible for the good luck and happy existence of elven communities.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Killmoulis]]
[[quoteright:301:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_killmoulis_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:301:2e]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 0 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticGood or TrueNeutral

Big-headed humanoids no more than a foot tall, known for providing useful services, with a side of mischief.
----
* AnimalsHateHim: Unlike their brownie kin, killmoulis don't get along with animals like rats, dogs and cats. The rats are snared and stabbed with needles, while if dogs and cats prove a danger to killmoulis, the fey will poison them.
* BigEater: They devour "prodigious" amounts of grain, meal and flour, though the labor killmoulis perform will always outweigh their cost in food.
* GagNose: These fey's faces are dominated by their enormous noses, and since they lack mouths, they inhale food to eat.
* HouseFey: Killmoulis are considered distant relatives to brownies, and like those creatures will coexist with humans, living out of sight beneath floors, within walls, or in a building's rafters. They're tireless workers who want to be useful, and are adept at performing simple labor once human workers leave the area, but they also have a mischievous streak. Their relationship with their "landlords" determines the severity of killmoulis' antics -- if left alone or given gifts of warm food and garments sized to them, killmoulis will be satisfied with annoying pranks, while if their landlord tries to capture or harm them, killmoulis can be destructive, though not fatally so.
* {{Retcon}}: 5th Edition recasts killmoulis as fey spawned from acts of chairty towards travelers, and rather than settling to help a home, the fey instead seek out bands of travelers and shadow them, eating a day's worth of rations each night. If left alone, a killmoulis will bestow a blessing that improves the quality of the travelers' rest, but if they interfere with the fey's snacking, it will instead curse them to not receive any curative benefit from sleeping.
* ShrinkingViolet: Killmoulis are extremely shy, and when confronted with one of the "giants" face-to-face will flee in a mindless panic, or even die of fright. They do like to watch their benefactors from hiding, however, and when approached with telepathy, or by a shapeshifting character, killmoulis can prove to be quite the source of gossip or even serve as a spy network, with the caveat that their interest lies in labor and domestic matters.
* {{Telepathy}}: Their lack of mouths requires that they use ESP to communicate. If treated well, killmoulis may send barely-noticeable telepathic messages of thankfulness, which recepients perceive as "warm feelings."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kindori]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kindori_5e.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Celestial (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 7 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

80-foot-long, starfaring whales who are among the largest creatures found in Wildspace.
----
* BlindedByTheLight: When threatened by a foe they can't defeat by bludgeoning with their tails, kindori can blast them with light from their multiple eyes, blinding the threat so the space whale can escape.
* GiantCorpseWorld: A kindori's bones and cartilage don't deteriorate after death, allowing the creature's skeleton to be converted into a macabre spaceship with a ''spelljamming helm''.
* SapientCetaceans: Downplayed; at Intelligence 6, they're smarter than ogres, but they don't have a language and live as animals.
* SpaceWhale: They're also known as such, though they're distinct from terrestrial cetaceans for having [[ExtraEyes six eyes]] and [[NoMouth lacking mouths]] (they sustain themselves by absorbing starlight). Kindori are hunted by the likes of star dragons and krajen, as well as humanoids seeking their meat for consumption or to be rendered into oil. Some "savage" starfaring races domesticate kindori as mounts, even establishing farms or livestock herds on their backs, but the creatures are maddened by efforts to install a ''spelljammer helm'' upon them.
* TurtleIsland: Kindori are large enough to create their own air envelopes, allowing mosses and molds to develop on their hides. The creatures take care to keep their light-absorbing bellies clean by scraping them against one another, but their lack of concern about their backs can cause small ecosystems to develop around kindori, attracting smaller space life like scavvers, which the kindori might tolerate so long as the creatures don't go after their young. Some kindori may even have ruined structures or howdahs left on their backs after a time spent domesticated, while old or sickly kindori can be identified by the overgrowth of vegetation on them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ki-rin]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_ki_rin_5e.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"I was awed to tears at the mere sight of my first ki-rin, and I've met gods." -- Volothamp Geddarm]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Celestial (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 29 (3E), 12 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulGood

Wise and noble creatures that share their wisdom and blessings with mortals, roaming the world in search of good-hearted people to reward and evildoers to punish.
----
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: They are as majestic as they are virtuous.
* FertileFeet: A ki-rin's very presence has numerous positive effects on the region surrounding its lair. These include such things as purifying nearby water sources, supressing the effects of poisons and diseases, and stimulating the growth of non-evil plants and animals.
* HermitGuru: Some ki-rin settle down in a difficult-to-reach spot like a forbidding mountain, offering their wisdom to those with the gumption to reach them. A few ki-rin end up attracting a following of monks this way.
* {{Kirin}}: Ki-rins are intelligent, celestial beasts with golden scales and manes, and coppery hooves and horns, though their exact appearance can vary -- some resemble huge stags or horses, others have draconic features, some have one or two horns, others have a full set of antlers. All can fly by simply galloping on the air, and spend most of their lives high in the sky.
* KnightErrant: Other ki-rin spend their lives traveling the world in search of wrongs to right.
* MadeOfGood: They are living embodiments of the concept of good.
* {{Omniglot}}: Like most celestials, ki-rin can speak every language.
* {{Telepathy}}: They can also communicate telepathically.
* WhiteMage: A 5th edition ki-rin has the spellcasting abilities of an 18th-level cleric, allowing it to cast powerful healing spells like ''mass cure wounds'' and ''[[BackFromTheDead true resurrection]]''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kir-lanan]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kir_ianan_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''\\
'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E), Shadow Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (3E), 4 (4E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil (3E), Evil (4E)

Also called black gargoyles, the godless or stalkers, these murderous winged humanoids despise the gods and any who would worship them.
----
* CreatingLifeIsUnforeseen: During Faerûn's Time of Troubles, the divine, negative energy released by the deaths of the deities Bane, Bhaal and Myrkul spawned several hundred kir-lanan, creating a new, self-sustaining race outside of normal divine influence.
* ExplosiveBreeder: Kir-lanan are born only three months after conception, and are fully mature in just a year. Presumably the only things keeping their numbers down are attrition and the fact that they only breed according to a schedule.
* GenderIsNoObject: Their society is an egalitarian form of MightMakesRight -- even childrearing is done by the weaker of a kir-lanan's parents.
* MakeThemRot: Kir-lanan can channel negative energy to add a LifeDrain effect to a melee touch attack or use ''ray of enfeeblement'', each a few times per day. They can also rebuke undead like an evil cleric.
* MortalityGreyArea: Though living creatures, kir-lanan are infused with negative energy, which means they're [[ReviveKillsZombie harmed by positive energy,]] ''blessed'' weapons and holy water, but healed by negative energy effects, just as if they were undead.
* OurGargoylesRock: Kir-lanan are sometimes deemed a gargoyle variant, though this is inaccurate, and they have no relation to gargoyles other than a superficial resemblance as {{Winged Humanoid}}s with fearsome visages.
* ThePoliticalOfficer: The ''kivars'', or "voices," are the kir-lanan leader caste, who guide their people's campaign against the gods, extolling death and destruction, and indoctrinating young kir-lanan to hate deities as fervently as they do. Though by 4th Edition, the ''kivars'' have become more of a Sharran priestly caste.
* RageAgainstTheHeavens: They despise the "feckless and fickle deities," and seek to destroy them by [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly killing all who worship them.]] Which, on as devout a world as Toril, basically means the kir-lanan want to kill everyone else on the planet.
* ScaryDogmaticAliens: As their entry explains, kir-lanan "exist only to kill, to breed, and to learn how to become better at killing." They have no reverence for life, even their own, and are either actively slaughtering the hated "godslaves" or learning how to be better at slaughter.
* TheSoulless: Kir-lanan explicitly don't have souls. This means that they can never wield positive energy or advance as a cleric, druid or paladin, and it takes more powerful magic like ''wish'' or ''miracle'' to bring them back from the dead, as if they were Outsiders.
* TheSneakyGuy: The ''valraks'', meaning "eyes," are kir-lanan scouts who go about covertly observing other races, learning everything about them so that the rest of the kir-lanan can get better at killing them. They occasionally do assassinations as well.
* YouAreWhatYouHate: Ironically, by 4th Edition the kir-lanan have aligned themselves with the church of Shar due to her doctrine of "ultimate dissolution," so that now this misotheist race is entirely dedicated to the goddess of darkness.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kirre]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kirre_4e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:4e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/DarkSun''\\
'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 13 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Large feline predators who lurk in Athas' rare forests and jungles, using their superior minds and formidable physical attacks to bring down prey.
----
* BewareMyStingerTail: Kirre's barbed tails can deal more damage than their claws.
* CraftedFromAnimals: Their horns make for natural spearheads or can be carved into ornate daggers, while the spikes on their tails make for good arrowheads or darts.
* ItCanThink: Kirre can be smarter than ogres, and 4th Edition elaborates that they're intelligent enough to identify potential prey's weapons, equipment and health, and adjust their hunting tactics accordingly. Sometimes they stalk and spook prey into acting rashly, other times kirre patitently wait until victims are weakened from exposure and dehydration. They're even willing to adopt other intelligent creatures as packmates, hunting alongside the likes of halflings, half-giants and gith.
* PsychicPowers: 2nd Edition kirre have an array of psionic abilities, such as ''levitation'', ''psionic crush'' and ''life detection''.
* TheSpeechless: Despite their intelligence, kirre can't speak, and lack any psychic power of communication.
* VertebrateWithExtraLimbs: They resemble green-furred, eight-legged, horned tigers or lions, and use those many claws to rake foes in combat.
* WeirdWorldWeirdFood: Kirre meat is "some of the finest on all of Athas," much sought after by hunters.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Knell Beetle]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_knell_beetle_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Vermin (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating :''' 5 (lesser), 10 (standard) (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Giant instects that have been mutated by exposure to magic, allowing them to both weaponize and be healed by sonic energy.
----
* BigCreepyCrawlies: They have wingless, beetle-like bodies that are four to nine feet long.
* FeedItWithFire: They're healed by sonic damage, and are just smart enough to aim their sonic chimes at each other when fighting in groups.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: Hobgoblins, some orc tribes, and various Underdark races have domesticated knell beetles, forming cavalry units that can knock opposing soldiers off their feet.
* MakeSomeNoise: The oversized, bell-like protrusion on a knell beetle's head can chime once per day to emit a cone of damaging sonic energy.
* PowerPincers: They attack with their wicked claws in melee, and should both hit a single target, knell beetles automatically rend their foe for additional damage.
* ShockwaveStomp: Knell beetles can channel sonic energy through their legs as they rhythmically pound the ground beneath them, which can knock adjacent creatures off their feet. If multiple knell beetles [[CombinationAttack work together]], the effected radius around each beetle grows proportionally larger.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kobold]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kobold_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E, 5E), Natural Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/4 (3E, 5E), 1 (4E)\\
'''Playable:''' 2E-5E\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

Small draconic humanoids often found in the service of dragons, or in warrens protected by clever traps. See [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsRaces the Playable Races subpage]] for more information about them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kopru]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kopru_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Mystara}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Degenerate aquatic humanoids feared for their ability to mentally dominate others.
----
* {{Cthulhumanoid}}: Koprus have four tentacles on their faces, leading some sages to suggest that they might be an amphibious relative of the dreaded illithids. Fortunately, koprus lack "extract brain" or ''Mind Blast'' attacks.
* FantasticRacism: They despise all intelligent air-breathing races, and view humans as little more than brutes to be toyed with and dominated, but koprus hate elves in particular with a passion, since they innately resist the koprus' attempts to dominate them.
* MindControl: They can innately cast ''dominate person'' once per day in 3rd Edition, while their 2nd Edition power is even more insidious, allowing the kopru to see through its victim's senses and read their thoughts, compel them to follow the kopru's commands when necessary but otherwise act naturally, and lasting until dispelled.
* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: They look something like merfolk, just with eel-like bodies that end in [[MultipleTailedBeast multiple barbed tails]], and the torsos of FishPeople with squid-like heads.
* PrehensileTail: Koprus can grapple and constrict foes with their tails.
* VestigialEmpire: Evidence suggests that the koprus once ruled a great civilization beneath the sea, but for the past generations they've fallen into a terminal downward spiral into barbarism. The koprus' ancient cities lie in ruins, still containing exotic treasures but also twisted marine life. Koprus often live in caves near their cities, but the reminders of how far they've fallen only make them embittered.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Korred]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_korred_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey Humanoid (4E), Fey (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 8 (4E), 7 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticNeutral

Shy, satyr-like underground fey with an affinity for stone and truly fantastic hair.
----
* DishingOutDirt: Korreds can hurl boulders far larger than it seems they should be able to, shape stone as though it were clay, swim through rock, and summon earth elementals and other creatures.
* HeWasRightThereAllAlong: Korreds can blend in with stony surroundings, gaining advantage on Stealth checks in rocky terrain.
* InvoluntaryDance: Korreds hold weekly holidays in which they play flutes, harps and drums while dancing merrily. While other fey such as satyrs and dryads are welcome to join the festivities, others who interrupt the korreds' dance have to make a saving throw or be swept up in it themselves, taking a bit of damage every round until the korreds flee or restrain them, otherwise the interloper will literally dance themself to death.
* MagicHair: When a korred's hair is cut, it transforms itself into the same material as the cutting tool. Korreds traditionally cut their own hair with iron shears, weave their cut hair into iron wire, and craft it into snares. This trait has unfortunately led dwarves or treasure-hunters to seek out korreds to take advantage of their mutable hair.
-->'''Volo:''' There's a legend about a merchant who tried to cut a korred's hair with golden shears. The korred fed him those shears, from his swallow to his sitter.
* PrehensileHair: A variant; korreds can animate a rope of their hair and make it grapple and restrain a target.
* SuperSenses: Beyond boasting darkvision and tremorsense out to an impressive 120-foot range, korreds are said to be able to sniff out veins of metals or gems, and easily spot any secret doors in a dungeon.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Krajen]]
[[quoteright:305:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_krajen_2e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:305:2e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}''\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

40-foot-long squidlike space monsters, which prey upon the likes of dragons, kindori, and starships.
----
* BizarreAlienReproduction: They reproduce via clouds of spores, which a spelljamming ship and its crew can sail through without noticing, only for the spores to take root in the hull and grow into something that looks like a barnacle, albeit one that can defend itself with a retractable tentacle. After spending two months feeding upon a ship's hull, space rock, or a large space creature, a juvenile krajen detaches, grows its secondary tentacles, and starts hunting, growing ever larger.
* GiantSquid: InSpace Though unlike a conventional squid, a krajen's body is dominated by a thick central tentacle, supplemented by secondary tentacles.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: Rumor has it that a group of barbarous humans have found some alchemical means of taming krajen, using them to raid the spacelanes with the help of lifejammers purchased from the arcane/mercane.
* MonstrousCannibalism: Adult krajens show no hesitation in consuming a spaceship that has young krajen barnacles attached to it, while mobs of juvenile krajens will cooperate to attack their fully-grown kin, but only one member of such groups will survive to grow to adulthood.
* TheParalyzer: Their sentries, or secondary tentacles, are tipped with a paralytic poison that can leave victims helpless for up to 30 rounds, allowing a krajen to focus on enwrapping and crushing a starship with impunity before finishing off its crew.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kraken]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kraken_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:3e]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kraken_3e.jpg[[/labelnote]] ]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Aberrant Magical Beast (4E) Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 12 (3E); 10 (sea), 25 (astral) (4E); 14 (juvenile), 23 (adult) (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Immense, tentacled terrors of the deep.
----
* ArtEvolution: Krakens got a major makeover in 5th edition, where they go from being GiantSquid to finned, scaly vertebrates with tentacled hindquarters.
* GiantAnimalWorship: Krakens occasionally accrete cults of humanoids awestruck by the monsters' immense power and anxious not to find that power directed at themselves. Krakens pleased with their worshippers reward their flocks with clam seas and plentiful fish harvests, although they do not ultimately except them from their schemes to ruin all things.
* GiantSquid: For most of their history, krakens have tended to resemble colossal squids with tentacles thirty feet long. 5th edition bucks this trend, portraying them as vertebrate monsters with hind ends ending in tangles of tentacles.
* KrakenAndLeviathan: Immense, tentacled monsters that slumber in the deep, emerging only to ruin civilizations.
* OurTitansAreDifferent: In 5th edition, krakens have the titan tag. This edition reimagines them as creatures created by the gods themselves to fight their wars, only for the krakens to desert their divine masters once those wars ended.
* ShockAndAwe: 5th edition krakens can call down lightning bolts whenever they please, striking up to three creatures at a time. A kraken can also electrify the water of its lair to shock any creatures swimming in it. Even in death, a kraken's electrifying powers persist: tendrils of electricity will lash out at anything which disturbs the creature's final resting place.
* SupernaturallyMarkedGrave: The 5th edition sourcebook ''Ghosts of Saltmarsh'' states that dead krakens leave behind a supernatural stain on the seafloor called a kraken's grave. Anyone or anything which swims too close to a kraken's grave risks disturbing it and getting shocked by the kraken's residual magic.
* TentacledTerror: Evil, scheming cephalopods who rule over populations of enslaved humanoids trapped beneath the sea.
* TouchedByVorlons: 5th edition krakens can imbue people with supernatural powers, turning the recipients into loyal kraken priests. Krakens can also serve as warlock patrons.
* UndergroundMonkey: 4th Edition includes astral krakens, a stronger variant found in the Astral Sea.
* WeaksauceWeakness: 5th edition Krakens are notably one of the highest CR monsters not to have either the Legendary Resistance[[note]]can choose to auto-succeed on a failed saving throw[[/note]] or Magic Resistance[[note]]Advantage on saving throws against spells and similar magic effects[[/note]] traits. Because of this, despite their impressive base stats, it's a lot easier than you might expect to impose negative status effects on them.
* WeirdBeard: Their 5th edition art shows them with a "beard" made out tentacles.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Krathbairn]]
[[quoteright:311:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_krathbairn_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:311:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''\\
'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 7 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Malicious humanoids that blend draconic and fiendish traits.
----
* BewareMyStingerTail: Theirs does additional acid damage.
* BioweaponBeast: In their home setting, these creatures were created by the priests at the Altar of Scales as part of a bargain with the brown dragon Slavin'krath'magaal, in which they agreed to infuse her with fiendish power in exchange for eggs they could use to create a draconic army (hence the creatures' name, krathbairn, or "Krath's babies").
* EnemySummoner: Like extraplanar fiends, they have a chance to be able to summon another of their kind.
* FastTunnelling: Rather than wings, krathbairn have aerodynamic scaled bodies that let them burrow through sand and earth as fast as a human can run.
* HybridMonster: They're {{Draconic Humanoid}}s infused with fiendish power, giving them an immunity to fire and poison, resistance to acid and cold, DamageReduction that can only be overcome by good- or law-aligned weapons, and the ability to see in even magical darkness. However, all that concentrated evil makes them vulnerable to HolyWater.
* MagicKnight: Krathbairn are dangerous in close combat, but also have an array of potent spell-like abilities they can use at will -- ''{{animate dead}}'', ''{{charm person}}'', ''[[LieToTheBeholder disguise self]]'', ''[[SupernaturalFearInducer scare]]'', and more. They actually prefer to use these powers to disrupt and distract opponents, and only engage in melee combat if given no other choice.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Krenshar]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_krenshar_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Natural Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (3E), 4 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Carnivores that use their unnatural control over their faces to spook their prey.
----
* AttackAnimal: Krenshars can be domesticated to serve as guard beasts and companions, though as social animals, they'll grow depressed in isolation to the point where their facial skin tightens, preventing them from pulling it back to scare opponents. Even if kept healthy and happy, krenshars like to playfully jump out and surprise their masters as often as possible; said masters attribute numerous gray hairs to this behavior.
* MixAndMatchCritters: Krenshars physically combine the worst features of a wolf and hyena, while their behavior is that of a big cat.
* SkullForAHead: The skin on the krenshar's head is so flexible that they can pull it back as a standard action, revealing the skull and musculature underneath. Mechanically this is treated as an attempt to Bluff during combat in order to scare an opponent, and normally a krenshar uses this ability to flush prey into an ambush.
* SupernaturalFearInducer: If a krenshar combines its skull-revealing face with a loud screech, the result is a supernatural effect replicating the ''scare'' spell.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kruthik]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kruthik_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Other creatures that abide in hives serve a purpose in the natural world. Bees pollinate flowers. Termites make earth out of wood. Kruthiks, by contrast, slay societies. Perhaps that function is just as necessary."'' -- Mordenkainen]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Natural Beast (4E), Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (hatchling), 4 (adult), 6 (greater) (3E); 2 (hatchling, young), 4 (adult), 6 (hive lord) (4E); 1/8 (young), 2 (adult), 5 (hive lord) (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil (3E), Unaligned (4E-5E)

Insectoid-reptilian creatures that live in large, dangerous swarms.
----
* AcidAttack: A kruthik hive lord can spray digestive acid from its maw.
* BioweaponBeast: In ''TabletopGame/NentirVale'', they were created by the tiefling empire of Bael Turath to be living siege engines. They proved impossible to control, however, and escaped into the Underdark when Bael Turath fell.
* CraftedFromAnimals: Kruthik chitin, when properly treated, can be used to make strong and lightweight shields and armor.
* ItCanThink: Kruthiks are driven by instinct, but at least some hive mothers are capable of planing and strategy. In the [[ComicBook/DungeonsAndDragons 4e comic]], one asks Tisha (a tiefling, whom she recognizes as her creators) to take care of her spawn, as the mother is dying.
* MixAndMatchCritters: In-universe, they are hybrids of insect and drake.
* NonMaliciousMonster: They are Unaligned starting in 4th Edition, reflecting that they act on instinct alone with no true malice intended. Mordenkainen ponders if maybe their purpose in the natural order is to end civilizations.
* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: When two swarms meet, their leading hive lords battle to the death while the rest watch. The winner devours the loser's corpse and then takes control of its swarm.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kuo-toa]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kuo_toa_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E), Natural Humanoid (4E), Humanoid (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (3E), 12 (4E), 1/4 (5E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Insane fish-men who live in the Underdark and obsessively worship whatever catches their eye.
----
* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: In 5th edition, the kuo-toa are constantly inventing new gods. If enough of them believe in a given god, that god becomes real, manifesting then and there as a PhysicalGod.
* EvilSmellsBad: The air around a kuo-toa always stinks of rotten fish.
* {{Expy}}: Kuo-toas are fish-like humanoids that lurk in half-sunken settlements and keep great knowledge of ancient, forgotten evils slumbering beneath the sea. It's not difficult to see how these guys were inspired by Creator/HPLovecraft's own Deep Ones.
* FishPerson: They resemble a humanoid cross between a frog and a particularly ugly fish, are naturally amphibious and live in settlements straddling the shores of underground seas.
* InfectiousInsanity: Centuries of inbreeding and the cruel regime of their patron deity has given kuo-toa a racial tendency towards madness, which can spread through their communities like a disease. A kuo-toa who suddenly snaps during a religious rite or the stress of everyday life can inspire homicidal outbursts in its neighbors, so a special caste called Monitors closely watches a settlement's population for any signs of madness, and exiles those whose sanity begins to break. These crazed kuo-toa fend for themselves on the settlement's periphery and act as the first line of defense adventurers will encounter. In other cases, kuo-toa clerics, called Whips, will imprison insane kuo-toa in dungeons beneath the temples of Blibdoolpoolp, ready to unleash them upon any trespassers. The maddened howls of these prisoners add a unique flavor to religious services.
* SeeTheInvisible: Kuo-toa have otherworldly senses which let them detect the presence of nearby invisible-slash-ethereal creatures.
* ShockAndAwe: A pair of kuo-toa priests can work together to create powerful electric shocks.
* StickySituation: Kuo-toa coat their shields with their own alchemically-treated secretions, allowing them to catch any blows with the glue-covered shields and potentially disarm opponents.
* TouchedByVorlons: In their 5th Edition backstory, they were initially captured by illithids and tortured to insanity with psionic energy. This is why they are able to literally create their own gods through sheer force of belief.
* WeakenedByTheLight: The kuo-toa have spent ages living in the lightless depths of the Underdark, so sunlight -- or any bright light, really -- bothers them a great deal.

!!Kuo-Toa Leviathan
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kuo_toa_leviathan_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E), Natural Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 15 (3E, 4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil (3E), Evil (4E)

Kuo-toa blessed by Blibdoolpoolp may grow into 20-foot-tall titans, lording over entourages of their smaller kin.
----
* AdaptationalDumbass: 3E kuo-toa leviathans are in fact highly intelligent, while 4E turns them into DumbMuscle.
* CombatClairvoyance: The blessing of the sea mother gives leviathans a sixth sense that allows them to evade blows, even when caught flatfooted -- only physically immobilizing them negates it.
* KingMook: They're giant-sized versions of standard kuo-toa, venerated for enjoying their goddess' favor, and they have some combat abilities their smaller kin lack.
* {{Retcon}}: 4th Edition presents kuo-toa leviathans as those who have grown "overwhelmed by crippling madness," which somehow causes them to mutate into giant, feral monsters. Rather than being revered by other kuo-toa, such leviathans are used as beasts of burden or warbeasts.
* SuperScream: In 4th Edition, a bloodied kuo-toa leviathan can let out a scream that deals both thunder and psychic damage.
* SwallowedWhole: They can swallow anything smaller than them in a single bite.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kyrie]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kyrie_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Reclusive birdfolk who venerate nature and distrust outsiders.
----
* ArchEnemy: In their home setting, the kyrie are embroiled in a HopelessWar with the minotaurs of Mithas and Kothas -- the kyrie raid minotaur caravans and mining villages, killing ruthlessly and stealing food (especially wine) and weapons, while the minotaurs retaliate by assaulting kyrie aeries and [[EatsBabies making soup of their eggs.]]
* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: They fight to the death rather than let themselves be taken prisoner.
* BirdPeople: Kyrie have humanoid faces and torsos, but plumage covering their bodies, birdlike legs ending in taloned feet, and arms that double as wings. Their movements are quick and jerky, and they have birdlike habits like immediately turning their heads towards noise or cocking their heads when confused. According to legend, they were once bird-adoring humans [[{{Animorphism}} transformed into a partially-avian race by the goddess Chislev]].
* HiddenElfVillage: The kyrie live in small communities atop high mountain peaks or in the side of sheer cliffs, inaccessible to non-flyers. When not at war they pursue a "delicate and poetic lifestyle," passing the time by musing on philosophy, communing with nature, and composing "avian-inspired melodies." But they're deeply suspicious of outsiders and quick to assume the worst about them, and will fight furiously should anyone trespass in their territory.
* WanderingCulture: On Krynn, the kyrie used to live a nomadic existence, making decades-long circuits of their home islands, but were reliant upon a magical navigation aid called the Northstone. Then the minotaurs stole that Northstone, stranding the kyrie on Mithas for a time until it was recovered, and now the birdfolk are claiming the Blood Sea Isles as their own.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kython]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_kython_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Adult kython (3e)]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (broodling), 3 (juvenile), 5 (adult), 8 (impaler), 11 (slaymaster), 13 (slaughterking) (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Eyeless horrors that combine fiendish, reptilian and insectoid features, kythons are wholly evil creatures that exist only to propogate themselves and prey upon everything else. The result of Fiends trapped on the Material Plane trying to make more of themselves, they now spread like wildfire... or a particularly lethal bug infestation.
----
* ArmlessBiped: Kython broodlings have no arms, and scurry about looking something like a two-legged, eyeless crocodile.
* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: Kythons only defer to more powerful creatures, so their current rulers are their slaughterkings, who are also among the [[LargeAndInCharge largest]] of their kind.
* BioweaponBeast: An unintentional case; kythons arose when a group of fiends stranded on the Material Plane attempted to magically create more of their kind. The results weren't loyal to their creators, but were just as evil as the fiends, and so are sometimes known as earth-bound demons.
* DashAttack: Kython impalers have retractable spikes of hardened bone they can extend from their palms, and like to charge at foes with those bone-spikes lowered to deal heavy damage.
* DivertingPower: An organic example; a kython slaymaster or slaughterking can generate enhanced defenses for itself, boosting its Armor Class and spell resistance, or [[StatusInflictionAttack inflict penalties to attacks, saves and checks]] on all non-kythons around it. The catch is that using either of these abilities cuts the kython's blindsight by 30 feet, so if it activates both at the same time, it's effectively blind.
* EvilEvolves: The original kythons were mere broodlings, which proceeded to mature into more varied forms. Previously the slaymasters ruled kython nests until the slaughterkings began to appear, and given time, a more powerful and specialized kython form is likely to develop.
* {{Expy}}: The result of Monte Cook wishing to use ''Warhammer 40,000''[='s=] Tyranids in ''D&D''.
* HordeOfAlienLocusts: Kythons exist only to eat and increase their numbers, which combined with their general appearance, habit of evolving into more powerful forms, and penchant for organic weaponry, makes them resemble [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 the Tyranids.]]
* ItCanThink: Kythons are no mere beasts, and even their broodlings are about as intelligent as the average human. They make good use of their organic weaponry, and speak a pidgin of Abyssal and Infernal, but only to each other -- they have no interest in conversing with prey.
* MetamorphosisMonster: As a kython ages, it starts as an armless broodling, grows forelimbs as a juvenile, then loses its tail, grows an extra set of limbs, and fully develops an exoskelton as an adult. Most kythons remain in that form, but some continue to mature into more specialized shapes.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Upon reaching adulthood, kythons grow an additional set of arms, and are capable of using all of them in combat, either slashing with them or utilizing their organic weaponry.
* NoSell: Kythons are immune to acid and cold damage, and resist fire and electricity.
* OrganicTechnology: Kythons can lay eggs that develop into biological weaponry rather than broodlings, ranging from additional armor plating, or swords and crossbows made from bone and cartilage, to more esoteric things like [[AcidAttack acid-]] or [[StickySituation mucus]]-sprayers.
* PoisonousPerson: Kythons have poisonous bites and, in their youngest stages, tail sting attacks. Through their juvenile stage the attacks deal Constitution damage, but from adulthood on it's [[NonHealthDamage Strength damage]] instead. This poison grows more virulent with age, and slaughterkings are unique in being able to spray it as a ranged touch attack.
* SnakePeople: Kython slaymasters seem to regress back to their juvenile stage in a sense, as they become Large aberrations with snakelike lower bodies rather than legs. They're also fully capable of enwrapping and constricting smaller creatures with their tails.
* SuperSenses: Though eyeless, kythons have blindsight out to 60 feet.
* XenomorphXerox: Aside from being based on ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'''s Tyranids who are themselves Xenomorph copies, they also default to following and protecting the biggest, baddest Kython around, just like Xenomorphs and their Queen.
[[/folder]]

!!L

[[folder:Lamia]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_lamia_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Lamia, 3e]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_lamia_3e.jpg[[/labelnote]] ]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Lamia noble, 3e]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_lamia_noble_3e.png[[/labelnote]] ]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:2e]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_lamia_2e.png[[/labelnote]] ]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (3E), 4 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Half-bestial hedonists who use their powers of illusion and seduction to enslave and corrupt humanoids.
----
* ArtEvolution: The earliest lamias could have the lower bodies of goats, antelopes or deer in addition to leonine forms, and were a OneGenderRace of seductresses, but eventually they settled on being only either lion-taurs or snake-people, and male lamias were introduced.
* BizarreAlienReproduction: In 2nd edition, the article "Ecology of the Lamia" in ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' #192 introduced the idea that lamia nobles were the "base" form of their race, being divided into males and females, and could only successfully procreate by mating with humans of the appropriate gender; if a lamia noble breeds with another lamia (noble or base), then they will produce only a base lamia. Base lamias are hermaphrodites, with the upper torso of a human woman and a lower body of a lion, goat, antelope or deer with fully functional male ''and'' female genitalia. Base lamias can only produce base lamia children by mating with humans or lamia nobles; if they mate with each other, then the pregnant lamia will give birth to a new monster called a ''"sa'ir"'', which is genderless (and thus sterile), looks like a lion with the horns and hind-quarters of a goat, and is little smarter than a beast. Lamias and lamia nobles have a week-long breeding season in summer, during which they go wild with lust, but the sight of a particularly attractive human may induce an out-of-season fertile period (with accompanying heat/rut). All of this lore was subsequently ignored in 3rd and 5th edition.
* TheCorruptor: Lamias love seducing pure-hearted heroes into evil, and try to lure such potential victims to their lairs.
* GladiatorGames: They might amuse themselves by using ''geas'' spells to have their thralls fight to the death in front of them.
* InterspeciesRomance: Lamias have a well-established proclivity for mating with humans. Whilst sometimes this does turn into their being a LiteralManEater, a lot of the time, lamias mate with humans because they genuinely enjoy the act. 2nd edition even introduced the idea that lamias ''depend'' on human partners to procreate, because their cursed heritage makes it impossible for them to breed with their own species.
* MasterOfIllusion: They're potent illusionists, able to hide their bestial form with ''disguise self'', or make a desert ruin appear as a luxurious pleasure palace with ''major image''.
* OurCentaursAreDifferent: Lamias have the upper bodies of humans mounted on the torsos and legs of lions.
* ReligionOfEvil: Lamias have an affinity for the demon lord Graz'zt, who in some tellings actually creates lamias from mortal worshipers, and frequently lead cults dedicated to him on the Material Plane.
* SnakePeople: Lamia nobles have the lower bodies of serpents, rather than lions.
* StupidityInducingAttack: A lamia's touch intoxicates other creatures, giving them disadvantage on Wisdom checks (or inflicting [[NonHealthDamage Wisdom drain]], in previous editions) and thus making them more susceptible to a lamia's charms, magical and non-magical.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lamia (Fey)]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_lamia_4e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:4e]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 12 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Shapeshifting fey who lure victims in close before devouring them as a swarm of insects.
----
* OneSteveLimit: 4th Edition, as was its wont, uses the name ''lamia'' for fey that could shift between humanoid form and a swarm of beetles--a completely different creature from the lamia in previous editions (which resembles monstrous lion-taurs). 5th Edition has since reverted to the previous model.
* TheWormThatWalks: They're a swarm of intelligent, magical insects occupying a hollowed-out humanoid corpse. Each time they kill a humanoid, another beetle appears in the swarm, until it grows large enough to split into two lamias.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lammasu]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_lammasu_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 8 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulGood

These noble creatures appear as human-headed, winged lions, and are concerned with the well-being of all good people, but attack evil on sight.
----
* ArchEnemy: Lammasu despise other human-lion hybrid creatures such as lamias and especially manticores, the latter of which are sometimes confused with lammasu by the ignorant.
* BreathWeapon: Lammasus can breathe a cone of fire.
* DeadlyLunge: Like a lion, a lammasu can pounce on foes during a charge to rake them with their claws.
* HermitGuru: They often live in ruins and abandoned temples in the desert, where they spend much of their time contemplating how to promote goodness and combat evil. They are often sought out for their wisdom, magic and power; they receive good-hearted people gladly, but tolerate no evil visitors.
* SheduAndLammasu: They fit the classical myth pretty closely, being noble, compassionate, AlwaysLawfulGood beings with human heads and winged leonine bodies. They're potent forces of good who can cast spells as if they were clerics, breathe fire, and are surrounded by a constant ''magic circle against evil''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Landwyrm]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_landwyrms_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Mountain, jungle and plains landwyrms (3e)]]
->'''Classification:''' Dragon (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' Ranges from 6 (plains landwyrm) to 22 (mountain landwyrm) (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulNeutral (forest), TrueNeutral (tundra), ChaoticNeutral (plains), LawfulEvil (mountain, Underdark), NeutralEvil (desert), ChaoticEvil (hill, jungle, swamp) (3E)

Intelligent dragons that lack wings or breath weapons, thought by some to be the ancestral form of true dragons. They are divided into a large number of environmentally adapted subspecies that vary greatly in size and power, from the scrawny, Medium-sized plains landwyrm to the Colossal mountain landwyrm.

Not to be confused with the lindworms and linnorms below.
----
* AHandfulForAnEye: Desert landwyrms can kick up a storm of sand and dust to potentially blind all within a large radius for several rounds.
* DamageOverTime: Underdark landwyrms' claw attacks deal bleeding damage as per ''wounding'' weapons, as well as [[NonHealthDamage Constitution damage]].
* EatDirtCheap: Mountain landwyrms subsist on diets of mountain rock, spiced with the occasional giant or dire bear.
* FoodChainOfEvil: Mountain landwyrms mostly feed on rock, but when they wish to vary their diet they mostly scratch the itch for meat by preying on a few giants or dire bears. Tundra landwyrms in turn prey upon polar bears and occasionally fight frost worms, or even white dragons.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: When a swamp landwyrm is angry, its eyes glow like yellow lanterns.
* ILied: It's noted that in the rare instances a jungle landwyrm opts to negotiate with opponents, it always betrays and attacks them a short time later. Similarly, some lizardfolk attempt to offer tribute to swamp landwyrms in exchange for protection, which always ends badly for them.
* InHarmonyWithNature: Forest landwyrms are considered the noblest of their kind, acting as protectors of their woodland homes, eating only what they need to survive, and are able to cast ''commune with nature'' once each day.
* ItCanThink: Jungle landwyrms are sometimes mistaken for particularly large dinosaurs, while in fact the dragons are highly intelligent and worse, the most sinister and evil of the landwyrms.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: Like true dragons, landwyrms make excellent mounts, assuming a would-be rider can convince their sapient, strong-willed steed to cooperate.
* HypnoticEyes: Swamp landwyrms can hypnotize anyone who looks into their glowing yellow eyes.
* LazyDragon:
** Mountain landwyrms spend most of their time sleeping within their lairs or curled up on some mountain peak.
** Tundra landwyrms pass the majority of their hibernating beneath the permafrost.
* PoisonousPerson: Jungle landwyrms' claws carry the disease known as red ache, which deals [[NonHealthDamage Strength damage,]] while plains landwyrms' bites inject a similar Strength-damaging poison.
* RaptorAttack: Plains landwyrms often stand upright, allowing them to be confused for a large dromaeosaur.
* SmokeOut: Underdark landwyrms can use ''obscuring mist'' three times per day.
* SupernaturalFearInducer: They have a frightful presence similar to that of a true dragon.
* SuperPersistentPredator: An angered mountain landwyrm doesn't rest until its foes have been destroyed, and will pursue fleeing targets for days.
* SuperScream: Once per day, a mountain landwyrm can let out a thundering roar that recreates a ''shout'' spell.
* ThatsNoMoon: Mountain landwyrms have craggy, rock-like scales that blend in very well with their mountainous homes, and it's entirely possible for someone to walk past a sleeping or otherwise still specimen and never realize that the barn-sized dragons is anything other than a rocky outcrop.
* ThinSkinnedBully: Hill landwyrms, though dangerous, only attack creatures clearly weaker than themselves, and can be cowed by a sufficiently intimidating display, without a single blow being struck.
* UndergroundMonkey: There's a tremendous variety of landwyrms, each physically and thematically adapted to a specific environment such as plains, hills, mountains, forests, jungles, the Underdark, the tundra, or deserts.
* VampiricDraining: Tundra landwyrms feed exclusively on blood, which they can drain from their prey in mid-combat.

!!Glacierdrak
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 28 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Thought to be a variation of the tundra landwyrm, glacierdraks are even more primeval than the rest of their kin, little more than bestial forces of destruction.
----
* AnIcePerson: A glacierdrak's DeadlyGaze can freeze opponents solid, first by dealing a large amount of [[NonHealthDamage Dexterity damage]], then Constitution damage once the victim is paralyzed. Those frozen like this cannot be brought back to life with a simple ''raise dead'' spell.
* StatusInflictionAttack: Critical hits with their bite or claw attacks can stun victims for up to a dozen rounds.
* StealthyColossus: Glacierdraks are surprisingly stealthy for their size, and can easily be [[ThatsNoMoon mistaken for glaciers when motionless.]] They're also dangerously mobile when it comes to ambushing prey, able to burrow or climb as quickly as they move across open ground, and they can even pass through solid sheets of ice like a fish moving through water, without leaving a tunnel behind them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Laraken]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_laraken_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''\\
'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 14 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Hateful extraplanar creatures resembling large tentacled spheres, also known as "magic-drainers." They're thought to be distant relatives of nishruu.
----
* BizarreAlienReproduction: According to their 2nd Edition entry, laraken reproduce by absorbing a ''regenerate'' spell, which allows them to create a new laraken from a severed tentacle. "It is thought that they had other means of reproducing on their own plane, but those conditions do not exist here."
* ChaseStopsAtWater: Inverted; according to their 2E lore, laraken won't follow prey onto dry land.
* DimensionalTraveler: Laraken were brought to Toril by the conjurer Akhlaur, who summoned them from an alternate Material Plane -- evidently a very wet world, as the creatures are uncomfortable in anything less than 95% humidity. The laraken are not pleased with the situation, and attack anything humanoid out of their hatred for those who summoned them.
* MagicEater: They feed on magic, and need to absorb the equivalent of three spell levels per day to survive.
* ManaDrain: Spellcasters struck by a laraken's CombatTentacles lose their highest-level spell slot or prepared spell, while magical items that come into contact with them [[MooksAteMyEquipment permanently lose]] a charge, enchantment bonus or special power.
* PowerCopying: Should a spellcaster fail to overcome a laraken's impressive Spell Resistance, the creature can cast the blocked spell on its next turn. Similarly, a laraken can temporarily apply the enchantment bonus and special effects of the magic items it drains to its tentacle attacks.
* SupernaturalSensitivity: Laraken can see the magical auras of spellcasters and enchanted items, and sense their presence within 60 feet even without line of sight.
* {{Teleportation}}: They can use ''dimension door'' at will.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lava Child]]
[[quoteright:275:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_lava_child_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:275:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Humanoid (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Smiling, child-like humanoids with an affinity for magma and a strange immunity to metal.
----
* DittoAliens: All lava children look identical to one another.
* MagmaMan: Downplayed; 1st Edition describes them as "the unnatural offspring of a union between spirits of earth and fire," but while lava children love swimming in magma, they don't have any innate control over it without spellcasting classes.
* NoSell: Beyond ignoring fire damage, lava children's signature ability is their "immunity" to metal. Weapons made of metal simply pass through them without harming them, and likewise, a lava child's melee attacks pass through a foe's metal armor. They can even move through metal obstacles as if they didn't exist.
* PerpetualSmiler: They have a permanent smile on their faces, which has led to the deaths of intruders who thought they were welcome in the lava children's caves.
* PlayingWithFire: In 1st Edition, lava children magic-users unsurprisingly learn spells like ''burning hands'', ''fireball'' and ''pyrotechnics''.
* UncannyValley: They have the muscular stature of adult men but also curiously childish builds and faces, as well as sunken eyes and frozen grins that remain in place even when tearing apart intruders.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:[=LeShay=]]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_leshay_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 28 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Any

Ageless and powerful beings resembling albino elves with utterly black eyes, who are trapped in a foreign timeline.
----
* TheAgeless: [=LeShay=] are immortal unless killed by violence.
* CharmPerson: Any creature within 30 feet who meets a [=leShay=]'s gaze has to make an epic-level saving throw or become ''charmed'' by them.
* IdealIllnessImmunity: [=LeShay=] are immune to poison or disease.
* LivingRelic: The [=leShay=] are the remnants of a once-great people who supposedly predate the current multiverse, but fell victim to some catastrophe that not only drove them to near-extinction, but [[RetGone changed history so that their era never existed.]] Trying to undo this disaster would only result in something worse happening, so the surviving [=leShay=] simply try to stave off ennui as best they can.
* MageSpecies: They have a host of powerful, at-will spell-like abilities -- ''greater {{invisibility}}'', ''[[AttackReflector spell turning]]'', ''{{teleport|ation}} without error'', ''[[WhiteMagic heal]]'', ''[[DispelMagic greater dispelling]]'', and more.
* {{Omniglot}}: A [=leShay=] can master a language within seconds of hearing it spoken for the first time, "right down to the most courtly or impressive accent thereof."
* OurElvesAreDifferent: [=LeShay=] are described as being to normal elves what normal elves are to humans. Beyond their physical appearance, [=leShay=] share elf traits such as an immunity to magical ''sleep'' effects, low-light vision, weapon proficiencies, and the ability to notice hidden doors. It should be noted that their PointyEars resemble half-elves' more than full-blooded elves'.
* RetGone: Once, the [=leShay=] ruled an age and civilization of their own. Then... something... happened which destroyed it so thoroughly that, from the point of view of modern people, the [=leShay's=] age never existed at all, not even in the remotest past. The few [=leShay=] to survive this catastrophe endure as living paradoxes, fragments of an age that never was whose histories begin in a past that never happened.
* SeriousBusiness: Whatever their alignment, [=leShay=] take etiquette ''very'' seriously, and failing to meet their standards of politeness or show them due respect can be a fatal mistake.
* SpontaneousWeaponCreation: [=LeShay=] can "draw" weapons created from their own life essence as a free action, typically a pair of bastard swords they can {{Dual Wield|ing}} without any attack or damage penalties.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Leprechaun]]
[[quoteright:239:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_leprechaun_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:239:2e]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Small fey pranksters known for their love of mischief, wine and gold.
----
* {{Invisibility}}: Leprechauns can turn ''invisible'' at will.
* {{Leprechaun}}: They follow the myth for the most part, being small fey tricksters dressed in green who keep hoards of gold, though there's no mention of rainbows in their creature entries. Where this puts them in relation to other ''D&D'' races depends on edition -- 2nd Edition speculates that leprechauns are a cross between [[{{Hobbits}} halflings]] and pixies, while 4E classifies them as a type of [[OurGnomesAreWeirder gnome]].
* LiminalTime: Leprechauns are rarely seen except around "borderlines" between one state and another, such as shorelines, dawn and dusk, or equinoxes and solstices.
* MakeAWish: In ''AD&D'', a leprechaun whose treasure has been taken by an intruder will offer three ''limited wishes'' in exchange for it. After the third wish, the leprechaun will flatter the intruder and declare that those wishes were so well-phrased that the intruder is obligated a fourth wish. If the intruder takes him up on this offer, the leprechaun will cackle with glee, reverse the effects of the previous three wishes, and teleport the intruder away to a random location within 40 miles.
* MasterOfIllusion: ''AD&D'' Leprechauns can create illusions with full auditory and olfactory effects and use ''ventriloquism'' at will. In 4th Edition, they can create an illusory double while invisible, and if a foe attacks it, they'll take immediate psychic damage if the attack hits, and ongoing psychic damage if the attack misses.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Leskylor]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_leskylor_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 7 (standard), 10 (three-headed) (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralGood

Intelligent beasts usually found prowling Eronia, the rugged second layer of the Blessed Fields of Elysium, but they sometimes ally themselves with crusaders for good, serving as companions or mounts. Some leskylors have multiple heads, and are correspondingly more dangerous.
----
* BreathWeapon: They can blast foes with a [[AnIcePerson cone-shapd burst of frost]]. This is made worse in the case of three-headed leskylors, as they all breathe frost simulatenously, either hitting multiple targets at once or focusing on a single foe.
* DeadlyLunge: Like less-fantastic lions, leskylors can pounce during a charge to rake a target with their claws.
* GreatWhiteFeline: The leskylor is an intelligent snow-white, winged tiger, 10 feet long with a 30-foot wingspan, that protects mountainous regions and forests from evil.
* SapientSteed: Leskylors sometimes agree to serve as mounts for crusaders for good.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Leucrotta]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_leucrotta_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 4 (3E), 3 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Loathsome predators that are as cruelly intelligent as they are foul.
----
* CraftedFromAnimals: According to their 2nd Edition write-up, a standard leucrotta's hide can be made into ''boots of striding and springing'', while a shapeshifting greater leucrotta's hide can duplicate a ''cloak of elvenkind'', or their hooves used for ''boots of varied tracks''. "There are rumors that leucrotta saliva is an effective antidote to love philters, but so far there have been no volunteers to test this theory."
* TheCreon: 5th Edition leucrottas feel a strong bond with Yeenoghu, and are a welcome addition to a gnoll pack. They're also tougher, smarter and faster than a typical gnoll, but almost never try to usurp gnoll chieftains or lead the pack directly -- instead, they are content to serve the chieftain as a pet and steed, and to offer them tactical advice during battle.
* EliteMook: The rare greater leucrottas are also known as changesteeds for being able to [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshift into any quadrupedal creature they have seen]], potentially taking even the fantastic forms of griffons, owlbears and pegasi. The catch is that [[MorphicResonance their teeth remain the same no matter what form they take.]] Changesteeds are feared for using this power to KillAndReplace a humanoid's mount, only to turn on their rider once they're alone. Unlike lesser leucrottas, changesteeds don't have a tell-tale stench that gives them away, but [[EvilDetectingCat cats can instinctively sense their presence and won't come near them.]]
* EvilSmellsBad: A leucrotta emits a stench so foul that only gnolls can tolerate their presence. The only smell worse is the thing's breath.
* FooledByTheSound: A leucrotta can imitate noises such as the voices of human beings or the sound of domestic animals which are in pain. It does this from concealment in order to lure other creatures close enough to be attacked.
* MixAndMatchCritters: A leucrotta has the head of a giant badger, the legs (and tracks) of a deer, the body of a stag or hyena, and the tufted tail of a lion. In theory this combination of parts could be, if not handsome, then at least not hideous, but no such luck for the leucrotta.
* MooksAteMyEquipment: In past editions, leucrottas could apply their bone-breaking bites to heroes' armor or shields, potentially destroying them on a CriticalHit.
* PersonAsVerb: In [[TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms parts of the Realms]], "leucrotta!" has become a swear word indicating a situation where bad luck has turned a good plan into a bad idea.
* PragmaticVillainy: Leucrottas are happy to eat humanoids, but too smart to make a habit of it, preferring to go after prey that won't send vengeful relatives after them.
* {{Retcon}}: While in past editions leucrottas were simply nasty magical creatures, 5th Edition closely linked them with the gnolls and the demon lord Yeenoghu, even tweaking their bodies to give them hyena characteristics.
* {{Sadist}}: Whenever possible, a leucrotta will meticulously plan its kills in order to draw as much suffering from the victim as possible before their death. They also hunt for the joy of killing even when their bellies are full, depopulating the wildlife in a region and leaving behind carrion that only the foulest of scavengers will touch. As a result, [[EvenEvilHasStandards even the evilest of druids and rangers despise leucrottas as blights upon nature.]]
* VoiceChangeling: In addition to speaking normally, leucrottas can mimic the sounds of other animals or even humanoids, in order to lure victims into ambushes. They can also "replay" the sounds of their victims, particularly the ones they managed to keep alive for a long time.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Leviathan]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_leviathan_fix_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 25 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Truly immense whales that dominate stretches of ocean, and are capable of sinking entire fleets by themselves.

For their 5th Edition incarnation, see the "Elder Elementals" entry in the "Elementals" folder.
----
* HeavySleeper: Leviathans are known for hibernating for years at a time upon the ocean floor.
* KrakenAndLeviathan: They are apocalyptically huge sea creatures that can smash or capsize ships with ease -- it is said that "Some have seen its head, others have seen its tail, but those who have seen enough of the monster to determine its actual size and appearance are dead." Leviathans are generally inoffensive in 2nd Edition, though in 3rd Edition they're known for attacking passing ships more or less at random.
* MonsterLord: Their ''AD&D'' entry paints leviathans as "the lord of all whales and the intermediary between cetaceans and the gods." There is usually one leviathan for each of a world's oceans, but once every century, they and their retinues of lesser whales convene in the arctic to confer and reproduce. And anyone who actually kills a leviathan will immediately become the enemy of every whale in that ocean, who will converge on its killers and try to avenge it.
* SapientCetaceans: ''AD&D'' leviathans have an "Exceptional" Intelligence score of 15-16.
* SwallowedWhole: Leviathans can easily swallow even giants, and anything gulped by one has to make a Swim check every round or start drowning.
* TookALevelInDumbass: Leviathans' 3rd Edition incarnation is simply an unnaturally large whale that terrorizes shipping lanes, with an Intelligence of only 4.
* UseYourHead: As a special attack, leviathans can ram an opponent for heavy damage, or to attempt and breach a ship's hull.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lichling]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_lichling_2e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:2e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Bizarre, animalistic horrors spawned from the body of a demilich.
----
* CreepyCockroach: They look something like a spindly-legged roach with a SkullForAHead. Most lichlings are just six inches tall, but if they manage to fully mature after anywhere between a century and a millennium, [[BigCreepyCrawlies they grow to be 80 feet long.]]
* EmotionEater: They don't actually need to consume organic material, instead lichlings are sustained by the fear and trauma of other creatures. Some will haunt battlefields for an easy source of nourishment.
* FlechetteStorm: Fully-grown lichlings can fire a stream of damaging bone shards every other round.
* NoSell: They're immune to non-magical weapons, cold or electricity damage, as well as charm, death, enfeeblement, fear, insanity, polymorph, or sleep effects.
* OurMonstersAreWeird: Everything about lichlings is weird, from their appearance to how they're created. Some demiliches, through "arcane and complex magical procedures," are able to convert their own corpses into gigantic monster factories -- their heart extracts magic from spellcasters, the kidneys produce a foul black liquid, the stomach extracts fear from living creatures, while the demilich's own dead brain cells are converted into young lichlings that are nourished by the rest of the organs for 10 to 40 years, until they end their dormacy. Said monsters are unwaveringly loyal to the demilich who spawned them, though if said lich is destroyed, they might join some other evil spellcaster, or roam about in hordes up to a hundred strong. Oh, and for all their bizarre origins and habits, lichling corpses make for good fertilizer.
* PersonalSpaceInvader: In combat, a lichling goes for the throat, latching on with jaws strong enough to chew through a tree trunk. This deals ongoing damage until the lichling lets go or is killed, though even in the latter case, the victim will continue to take minor damage due to the jaws stuck in their flesh and the anticoagulant around them until the lichling corpse is pried off.
* TheVoiceless: The only sounds they make are to hiss and clack their teeth when attacking.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Light Devourer]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/light_devourer.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''WebVideo/CriticalRole''\\
'''Classification:''' Aberration (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Man-sized, aberrant fish that lurk in the dark depths of the ocean, using what light reaches them as a weapon.
----
* FiendishFish: Light devourers look like even nastier anglerfish, and are dangerous and unnatural predators.
* LightEmUp: Their signature ability is to absorb bright light (or [[FeedItWithFire radiant damage]]), which they can use to convert the piercing damage of their bites to radiant damage, or unleash that light in a spherical burst of damaging energy.
* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: A light devourer's mouth is filled with numerous needle-like teeth, which is reflected in the damage dealt by their bites.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lillend]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_lillend_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 7 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticGood

Winged, serpentine celestials from the Heroic Domains of Ysgard, the patrons of art and defenders of the unspoiled wilderness.
----
* BigEater: When a lillend indulges its desires for physical sustenance, it tends to gorge itself into a [[BalloonBelly bloated]] torpor and then lounge around savoring the feeling of digesting in ecstasy.
* ExtremeOmnivore: Lillendi can live off of the magical energies of nature itself, off of beauty and moonbeams, but they ''enjoy'' eating physical food, and they will eat almost literally anything -- from fruits, vegetables, grains, herbage, fish, fowl and meat to hay and spell components. Meat is a particularly
* TheGadfly: Lillendi are notorious pranksters and love to make mischief. Those who anger a lillend in particular are likely to be tormented with all the creative havoc that the lillend can come up with.
* ItsPersonal: Lillendi are infamous for holding grudges and violently punishing those who go after their favorite arts or landscapes.
* MagicMusic: They have the bardic music and spellcasting abilities of a 6th-level bard.
* MysteryCult: Lillendi culture is divided into a number of secret socities centered around a piece of wisdom passed down through the generations, each associated with certain music, instruments and weapons. The more societies a lillend moves through, the greater their status. They also pick up {{Cool Mask}}s that are tangentially related to each society, bearing designs associated with particular lillend families.
* NoSell: They're immune to poison and, in their older rules, positive and negative energy, as well as any music-based magic like a harpy's singing or a satyr's pipes.
* OneGenderRace: Played with; lillendi are all biologically female and reproduce via parthenogenesis, but some are born with male torsos, and follow male dress patterns and customs. So one sex, multiple genders.
* PersonalSpaceInvader: They can use their snake halves to wrap around and constrict enemies, holding them in place while the lillend's upper body is free to fight. In their older rules this let lillendi dispose of troublesome foes by flying up into the sky and dropping them, though 3rd Edition forbids them from moving while constricting someone.
* SnakePeople: A lillend manages to combined WingedHumanoid and FeatheredSerpent into one whole, having the body of an angel-winged elf from the waist up and the body of a giant snake (which may have either scales, feathers, or both) from the waist down.
* TamerAndChaster: Their 2nd Edition entry notes that lillendi eschew clothing and only wear jewelry, and depicts one with GodivaHair to preserve her modesty. Their 3rd Edition art instead gives the sample lillend a gold bra.
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Lillendi who tire of their service can choose to die, which they refer to as the Silent Hour -- it is unclear whether this ability is a gift from the gods they serve or punishment from the powers of Law for a past betrayal. This allows a lillend to wrap up their business and make farewells before passing on, but it also means lillendi who die through accident or violence do so in despair, as according to legend only lillendi who pass through the Silent Hour join their gods.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Limbo Stalker]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_limbo_stalker_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 8 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticNeutral

Apelike creatures that primarily hunt the slaadi of the Ever-Changing Chaos of Limbo.
----
* DeadlyLunge: Limbo stalkers are ambush predators that lunge on foes from concealment, trying to pin them against a solid bit of Limbo (often the very ground a traveler shaped to stand on).
* FoodChainOfEvil: Limbo stalkers' favored prey are slaadi, the larger the better -- besides eating them, the creatures plant their eggs in the corpses of slaadi, so their young hatch with a meal around them. They'll go after githzerai for want of better prey, but the gangly humanoids just aren't much of a meal.
* {{Invisibility}}: A variant; rather than simply casting the ''invisibility'' spell, limbo stalkers can exert their will over the roiling chaos of their home plane, wrapping themselves in a thin layer of controlled Limbo to camouflage themselves.
* KillerGorilla: They have the body shape of a great ape, just with serpentine scales and features.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lindworm]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_lindworm_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:2e]]
->'''Alignment:''' As parent dragon

The result of chromatic dragons' breeding failures, lindworms are less dangerous than true dragons, but remain vicious and rapacious predators. Not to be confused with the linnorms below.
----
* AbandonTheDisabled: Lindworms are kicked out of their nests by their parents shortly after hatching, while any other dragon will kill them out of hand and leave their body to rot. This has made them bitter, selfish creatures lashing out at the world.
* AngstySurvivingTwin: Rarely, lindworms hatch as twins, who become steadfast companions after their exile. If one lindworm twin is injured or killed, the other will keep fighting without any thought of self-preservation.
* ArmlessBiped: They're born without forelegs or wings due to some birth defect -- "This may be due to a curse of the gods or simply nature's way of insuring that the population of true dragons doesn't grow too large." This leaves lindworms with much fewer physical attack options than proper dragons, as they can only bite, claw with one of their legs, or lash with their tail.
* BreathWeapon: Lindworms have the same breath attack as their dragon parents (and are [[RequiredSecondaryPowers immune to the associated energy type]]), but said breath can only be used three times per day, its dimensions are halved, and it does moderate damage rather than scaling with the creature's age.
* EyeOfNewt: Averted; wizards have yet to find any use for a lindworm's body parts.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Linnorm]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_linnorms_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Dragon (3E)

Primeval offshoots of true dragons, linnorms are defined by their lack of wings and rear legs, leaving them to move with a combination of walking on their forelegs and slithering their serpentine bodies. Though there are several varieties of linnorm, all are thoroughly evil creatures, treacherous, spiteful and cruel.
----
* BreathWeapon: In 3rd Edition, linnorms stand out from "true" dragons for being able to choose whether their breath attack emerges as a cone or line.
* DamnedByFaintPraise: As their 3rd Edition entry explains, "About the best that can be said of linnorms is that not all of them are avaricious."
* DyingRace: No young linnorms have been sighted for centuries, leading to the possibility that the species is dying out. Unfortunately, that just means that all the extant linnorms are ancient, and since dragons grow StrongerWithAge...
* NonMammalianHair: Many linnorms have shaggy manes, another way of differentiating them from their cousins.

!!Corpse Tearer
[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_corpse_tearer_linnorm_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:280:2e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 28 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

The most powerful and worst of the linnorms, corpse tearers are also the most loathsome, with scaled bodies covered in slime, moss, fungus and cilia, so that at rest they resemble a fallen, rotting tree. They make their homes beneath ancient burial grounds, which they loot for both treasure and corpses to reanimate.
----
* EvilSmellsBad: A corpse tearer exudes a revolting stench of death that is almost impossible to ignore.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Those lucky enough to encounter a corpse tearer in one of its rare agreeable moods discover that it is knowledgeable about many ancient, magical mysteries. However, no meeting with a corpse tearer is likely to end without bloodshed unless the intruders pay a staggering duty.
* AKindOfOne: 2nd Edition describes Corpse Tearer as an individual, while 3rd Edition treats corpse tearers as a type of linnorm.
* LevelDrain: Their claws inflict negative levels, [[LifeDrain healing the corpse tearer in the process.]]
* {{Necromancer}}: Corpse tearer lairs are usually guarded by their undead servants, everything from skeletons to banshees. When not on guard duty, these servitors scour the graves above their master's lair in search of treasure, but when intruders are detected, the linnorm will send these minions in first to delay the interlopers while the dragon studies them for weaknesses.
* TheParalyzer: One of their breath weapons is a line or cone that paralyzes victims, at which point the corpse tearer likes to crush or claw its victims while they're helpless.
* PoisonousPerson: Their other breath weapon carries a disease called linnorm fever, which [[NonHealthDamage damages victims' Strength and Constitution.]]

!!Dread Linnorm
[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dread_linnorm_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:280:2e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 25 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

The largest linnorms are also characterized by their two heads, and their surly and uncommunicative nature. They dwell within labyrinthine cave networks that can run for miles once the linnorm is done expanding them, making it entirely possible for intruders to wander for weeks without encountering the dragon, but woe to those who take anything from a dread linnorm's lair.
----
* DisproportionateRetribution: Dread linnorms collect treasure like other dragons, but leave their plunder carelessly strewn about after a cursory examination. But should anyone actually steal from a dread linnorm -- even if the stolen item is something as mundane as a bucket of rocks -- the dragon flies into rage and tries to severely punish the thief. If it fails to recover the lost item, a dread linnorm vents its rage on the surrounding countryside, leveling villages, burning crops, and devouring livestock.
* LevelDrain: Their bite attacks inflict negative levels upon victims.
* MultipleHeadCase: A dread linnorm has two long, serpentine necks, each ending in a shaggy, draconic head. One head breathes fire, and the other ice, in either a line or a cone, and it can use both heads' breath attacks in the same turn.
* NoSell: In addition to 3E dragons' immunities to sleep and paralysis effects, dread linnorms are immune to any enchantments.

!!Flame Linnorm
[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_flame_linnorm_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:280:2e]]
->'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

The rarest and most beautiful of their kind, flame linnorms are still evil creatures who seek to enslave other beings.
----
* {{Greed}}: These linnorms are obsessed with treasure, to the extent that they live in isolation to reduce the risk of theft, keep a mental tally of their hoard's worth, and prefer to attack with spells that don't run the risk of damaging their target's goods. They particularly prize magic items, especially those that let flame linnorms bend other creatures to their will, and will use their new slaves to amass more treasure.
* PlayingWithFire: They can breathe a stream of flame or a cloud of superheated ash, and as they age they learn magic like ''fireball'', ''flamestrike'' and ''firestorm''.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: While flame linnorms can survive off anything from animals to trees to [[EatDirtCheap dirt]], their favorite food is something that's on fire, to the extent that they'll start forest fires just to have a meal.

!!Forest Linnorm
[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_forest_linnorm_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:280:2e]]
->'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Serpentine linnorms who lurk in overgrown woodlands, and have a particular enmity for "beautiful" creatures.
----
* AcidAttack: Their breath weapon is a line of acid that can also ''wither'' a random limb of creatures hit by it.
* AttractivenessDiscrimination: They hate every creature with more than an animal's intelligence, but particularly despise (and feast upon) majestic or beautiful creatures such as stags, eagles, swans, and similarly target humanoids considered attractive by others of their kind. The same logic leads forest linnorms to prize jewelry and gemstones, only so they can destroy such items.
* SnakesAreSinister: Forest linnorms are born with four limbs, which atrophy away by young adulthood. They're also noted as possessing "a great ego, a natural cunning, and unending cruelty," and tend to fight to the death.
* SpeaksFluentAnimal: Forest linnorms can speak the "languages" of any animals in their territory, but can't converse with the likes of humans.
* ThatsNoMoon: When in their lairs, they wrap their bodies around tree trunks and roots, becoming almost indistinguishable from them.

!!Frost Linnorm
[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_frost_linnorm_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:280:2e]]
->'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Among the most territorial of their kind, frost linnorms attack any intelligent creatures near their lairs. During winter months, they launch well-planned raids on settlements for treasure.
----
* AnIcePerson: Unsurprisingly, their breath weapon is a cloud of chilling ice particles, and they learn magic like ''meld into ice'' and ''ice shape'' as they age, which they use to reshape their surroundings into "elaborate, reflective lairs."
* RunicMagic: They supplement their natural spellcasting with magical runes, and are always successful when attempting to cast such spells.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Since frost linnorms never eat what they kill, sages speculate they derive sustenance from "inhaling frigid winds."

!!Gray Linnorm
[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_gray_linnorm_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:280:2e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 20 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

The smallest of linnorms, grey linnorms are still huge beasts, as well as the most aggressive of their kind. They lay claim to everything they see, and attack anything that intrudes upon their territory.
----
* AcidAttack: A gray linnorm can breathe caustic slime, dealing damage and [[MooksAteMyEquipment potentially destroying victims' nonmagical equipment.]]
* AttackAttackAttack: They don't bother with traps or try to study their foes before a battle, gray linnorms simply attack other creatures on sight.
* BewareMyStingerTail: The tip of a gray linnorm's tail carries a venomous stinger.

!!Land Linnorm
[[quoteright:281:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_land_linnorm_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:281:2e]]
->'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Four-legged linnorms driven by greed, so that they prefer to lair on hills near humanoid settlements to keep watch for passing treasure. They're cautious and crafty, and jealous of wealthy humanoids.
----
* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: As much as they despise humanoids as "lesser beings," land linnorms are willing to take prisoners who have knowledge of magic or the location of treasure. Sometimes this can develop into a long-term relationship with the prisoner bartering magical training for continued life.
* ChameleonCamouflage: Downplayed; hatchling land linnorms' scales are small and green, but grow larger and duller as the creature ages, and are able to change color to shades of green, brown and gray.
* PlayingWithFire: Downplayed; their breath weapon is a line of searing heat that instantly fatigues those who survive it.
* RunicMagic: They know a random assortment of runes, which they always cast successfully.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Mature adults learn to ''polymorph'', and commonly trail potential targets in humanoid or animal form for days to study their strengths and weaknesses.

!!Midgard Linnorm
[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_midgard_linnorm_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:280:2e]]
->'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

The Midgard linnorm -- hopefully there is only one -- is the largest and greatest of its kind, though fortunately it considers combat beneath it. It normally lurks in its deep ocean lair, but every four or five decades will surface to feast upon sea foam, and anything floating in it.
----
* BreathWeapon: It has three: a long spray of [[MakingASplash boiling water]] that can [[SupernaturalSuffocation drown weak creatures]], a cloud of [[SandBlaster damaging dust]] that can also incapacitate victims with choking and sneezing, or a [[BlowYouAway cone of wind]] that can send targets [[KnockBack flying backwards 200 feet.]]
* DivineParentage: It's possibly the only offspring of the Midgard Serpent, which is in turn the child of Loki. The Midgard linnorm may in fact be immortal.
* KrakenAndLeviathan: It's fully 500 feet long and spends most of its time in a vast cavern beneath the ocean floor, filled with magical treasure, prows of ships, and other trinkets.
* MonsterLord: "All other linnorms bow to the Midgard," and it's always attended by four venerable sea linnorms.

!!Rain Linnorm
[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_rain_linnorm_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:280:2e]]
->'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Impossibly avaricious, rain linnorms are also egomaniacs who demand full credit for the atrocities they commit. They lair beneath hills, and emerge to enjoy the wind and rain.
----
* MakingASplash: Their breath weapon is a line of boiling water.
* NoSell: They're immune to electricity, and in fact feed upon lightning bolts.
* WeatherManipulation: They learn magic like ''call lightning'' and ''control winds'' as they grow, and if there's no inclement weather for them to [[HappyRain revel in]], older rain linnorms use ''control weather'' to make some.

!!Sea Linnorm
[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sea_linnorm_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:280:2e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 21 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

Cold and vicious sea-adapted dragons that view land-dwelling humanoids as a threat to all ocean life, attacking them whenever they can.
----
* AcidAttack: The sea linnorm's breath weapon is made up of caustic acid droplets.
* EvilVegetarian: Oddly enough, sea linnorms are strict vegetarians, and will even dry seaweed in the sun to improve its flavor.
* SeaSerpents: Sea linnorms are large marine dragons with no limbs, are the basis of maritime tales about sea serpents big enough to capsize ships, and will even attack coastal settlements.
* WeatherManipulation: Sea linnorms have a limited degree of innate control over the weather, mostly focusing on creating and manipulating fog.

!!Swamp Linnorm
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 24 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Looking something like oversized crocodiles with bulging orange eyes, shaggy hair, and too many teeth, swamp linnorms rapidly deplete their territory of any creatures larger then turtles or birds. Anything that isn't consumed by a swamp linnorm is likely to be infected by its bite and turned into a swamp mummy under its control.
----
* AcidAttack: A swamp linnorm's breath weapon is a cone or line of boiling acid, which deals half acid, half fire damage.
* DrivenToMadness: Any creature that meets a swamp linnorm's smoking orange eyes must save or go permanently insane.
* MookMaker: Anything bitten by a swamp linnorm must save or contract the disease known as dread decay, dealing [[NonHealthDamage Constiution and Charisma damage]] until healed with ''dispell evil'' and other magic to cure disease. Those who succumb turn into mummies, which the swamp linnorm can command as a high-level evil cleric.
* TailSlap: Swamp linnorms can make a tail sweep attack against anything in a 20-foot semicircle behind it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Liondrake]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/liondrake_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:3e]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_dragonne.png[[/labelnote]]]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Natural Magical Beast (4E), Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 7 (3E, 5E), 12 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Liondrakes, also known as dragonnes, are wild predators with the features of both lions and brass dragons.
----
* ArtEvolution: Their design tends to fluctuate significantly from edition to edition. 1st Edition's dragonnes are essentially dragons with leonine heads. 2nd Edition goes in the other direction, and depicts them as lions with scaly cheeks and dragon wings. 3rd goes for a more even blend, with fully scaly bodies that nonetheless have feline proportions; 4th uses a stockier version of this design. 5th Edition returns to a primarily feline appearance with a very long neck and tail, with the only truly draconic part being the wings -- which, instead of the previous versions' batlike wings, are the finlike limbs of brass dragons.
* CatlikeDragons: Liondrakes are chimeric creatures with features of lions and brass dragons. Depending on the edition, their appearance can vary between that of a dragon with a leonine head to that of a scaly lion with dragon wings.
* UndergroundMonkey: Uncommonly, dragonnes may have the features of other dragons besides brasses -- Mystaran ones are part-gold dragon, while Krynnian dragonnes may have the traits of any type of metallic dragon. Krynnian dragonnes may additionally be part-tiger or -puma instead of leonine.
* SupernaturalFearInducer: A liondrake's roar induces fear intense enough to paralyze those who hear it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lirr]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_lirr_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/DarkSun''\\
'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 4 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Lion-like reptiles known for the colorful frills on their necks and tails, which they use to silently signal their packmates.
----
* DeadlyLunge: Lirr are excellent jumpers, and make "pounce" and "rake" attacks in combat.
* SuperScream: Lirr can loose a MightyRoar capable of stunning other creatures, and are cunning enough to cooperate with their packmates to [[CombinationAttack combine their efforts]] (while also taking care not to hit each other with the effect). 2nd Edition notes that putting wax in one's ears confers a bonus on the saving throw against a lirr roar, though a ''silence'' effect works even better.
* UndergroundMonkey: "Mountain lirr" prefer rocky terrain to tablelands, and are distinguished from their kin by the muted coloring of their frills, allowing them to better blend in with their surroundings.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lith]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_lith_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:349:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''\\
'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Misshapen creatures of stone with psionic powers, sometimes employed by more powerful Underdark beings as agents or guards.
----
* DishingOutDirt: Liths' PsychicPowers run along these lines -- they can ''meld into stone'' at will, and use ''passwall'', ''wall of stone'', ''[[TakenForGranite flesh to stone]]'' and ''stone sphere'' as well. They prefer to use their powers to entomb their victims in solid rock, dead or [[BuriedAlive alive]].
* {{Gonk}}: Their bodies are described as "lumpy and sometimes twisted," while their faces are "indescribably ugly."
* NobodyHereButUsStatues: Between their rocky hides and ability to hold themselves completely still for extended periods, liths can easily pass themselves off as (ugly) stone statues.
* RockMonster: Downplayed; they're "psionically awakened creature[s] of stone" that resemble horned, malformed statues, but while they don't need food, water or air, liths are classified as Magical Beasts rather than true {{Elemental|Embodiment}}s.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Living Doll]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_living_doll_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Construct (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Dolls or stuffed animals inhabited by a malevolent spirit that delights in spreading misery.
----
* TheCorruptor: The mean spirit inside a living doll encourages others to behave badly, and takes pleasure in tormenting the guilt-ridden and despondent. Living dolls prefer this sort of corruption to more direct evildoing because they fear discovery and destruction.
* CreepyDoll: They're creepy in deed and ability, but not outwardly spooky-looking -- that way they can pass themselves off as ordinary toys by lying perfectly still.
* EvilLaugh: In battle, a living doll torments foes with a maniacal cackle that can [[MindRape deal psychic damage]] and incapacitate creatures with [[LaughingMad a fit of laughter.]]
* HealingFactor: They'll recover health each turn, unless they take fire or psychic damage.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Living Portent]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_living_portent_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Celestial or Aberration (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulNeutral or ChaoticEvil

Otherworldly beings sent to the Material Plane to ensure a prophecy comes to fruition.
----
* BecauseDestinySaysSo: These "embodiments of prophecy" are sent by gods or other cosmic powers to seek out figures of destiny, whom they can bless so they may better fulfil those prophecies. They also tend to share bits of their prophecy with other people they meet.
* CameFromTheSky: Living portents usually arrive in the world of mortals like falling stars, blasting out great impact craters but [[NoEndorHolocaust miraculously leaving everyone around the site unharmed.]]
* EvilCounterpart: Some living portents are in the service of sinister living stars like Acamar, Caiphon and Hadar.
* HumanShifting: They can freely assume the form of any humanoid.
* LightEmUp: They attack with beams of radiant energy, and can CounterAttack with an even heavier attack when damaged.
* PhosphorEssence: Their natural form is that of a being of light, which illuminates the area around them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Living Spell]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_living_spell_burning_hands_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Living ''burning hands'' (5e)]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Ooze (3E), Construct (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' Varies (3E), 1 (living ''burning hands'') to 7 (living ''cloudkill'') (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Varies by spell (3E), Unaligned (5E)

These magical anomalies are spells that, rather than resolving normally, linger and continue to affect their surroundings, indiscriminately attacking other creatures.
----
* BlobMonster: Their 3rd Edition stats lean into this, giving living spells an "engulf" attack and treating them like oozes.
* FusionDance: Some of the more dangerous living spells combine multiple spells, for example "glitterfire," a combination of ''glitterdust'' and ''fireball'', a spell combo often used on the battlefields of the Last War.
* PureMagicBeing: Living spells are spell effects that become living beings and subsist on ambient magical energy.

!!Apocalypse Spell
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_apocalypse_spell_4e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:A prison of Mual-Tar and herald of colorless fire (4e)]]
->'''Classification:''' Various types of animate (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 26 (prison of Mual-Tar) to 30 (light of Amoth) (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Epic-level magic can also produce living spells, of correspondingly greater potency. These apocalyptic spells can be controlled with the right artifacts or rituals, though some are also intelligent enough to be convinced to join a cause.
----
* AsteroidsMonster: Many apocalypse spells have the "Unfettered Apocalypse" triggered action, letting them spawn a duplicate of themselves under certain conditions that persists until the end of their next turn.
* BornOfHeavenAndHell: A light of Amoth is the remnant of magic that resulted in the death of both a god and demon prince, mixing their essences together. They've thus been seen fighting alongside both demons and angels in their wars against each other.
* ChainPain: A prison of Mual-Tar, as shards of the magic Moradin crafted to bind a primordial, appear as rocky figures that lash foes with their chain-arms.
* CreatingLifeIsUnforeseen: Apocalypse spells aren't created on purpose, but are fragments of mighty magic that have gone on to become free-roving and self-perpetuating.
* DeathSeeker: Shards of Uralinda are remnants of icy magic an archfey used to destroy an eladrin city in order to spite a failed paramour. The spirits of the slain eladrin combined with the icy shards, and have just enough control over their frozen prisons to direct them against foes who might destroy them.
* KillTheGod: Godslayer infernos, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin as might be guessed]], were created by the primordials to slay deities in the Dawn War. They continue to target divine agents, and may band together to assault a deity's astral domain.
* PersonOfMassDestruction: A single apocalypse spell is capable of destroying entire empires -- one escaping an attempt to control it is thought to have been responsible for the fall of Bael Turath, and rampaged through Arkhosia for good measure.
* TakingYouWithMe: The lights of Amoth were born from the god's self-sacrificing attempt to destroy the demon princes Orcus, Demogorgon and Rimmon when they assaulted Amoth's domain. Instead, Orcus and Demogorgon used Rimmon as a demonic shield, allowing them to survive at his expense.
* TechnicolorFire: A herald of [[TabletopGame/{{Greyhawk}} colorless fire]] looks like a vaguely-humanoid mass of white flame.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lizardfolk]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_lizardfolk_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E, 5E), Natural Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (3E), 4 (4E), 1/2 (5E)\\
'''Playable:''' 2E-3E, 5E\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Primitive, swamp-dwelling, reptillian humanoids with a cold-bloodedly pragmatic approach to survival. See [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsRaces the Playable Races subpage]] for more information about them.

!!Blackscale Lizardfolk
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_blackscale_lizardfolk_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:349:3e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (3E), 6 (4E)\\

A breed of lizardfolk that stands up to nine-and-a-half feet tall, and is also distinguished by their dark coloration.
----
* DumbMuscle: Subverted; even though they look like the lizardfolk equivalent to orgres, the blackscales aren't noticably dumber than average Medium-sized lizardfolk.
* LargeAndInCharge: On the world of TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}, the blackscale lizardfolk of Q'barra have used their size to dominate their smaller kin, living off the tribute they extract in the name of the dragon Rhashaak. They'll still follow the orders of the dragon priests of Haka'torvhak, but the blackscales see no shame in this.
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: Unlike most lizardfolk, who are concerned chiefly with survival, blackscales are more interested with "heroic action and personal glory," and consider traps and other trickery the methods of "lesser" lizardfolk.
* SkullForAHead: Their flat nasal openings and deepset eyes give blackscales this impression; on Eberron, this and their coloration leads those Q'barra blackscales to claim descent from the black dragon Rhashaak.

!!Lizard King/Queen
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_lizard_king_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E), Humanoid (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (3E), 4 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Lizardfolk touched by the demon prince Sess'innek, who use their fiendish power to rule over their tribes and lead them into evil.
----
* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: Since lizardfolk in general are comfortable with "follow the strongest," it's easy for a lizard king to take over their tribes, since even the weakest of them is stronger than an ordinary lizardfolk.
* TheCaligula: Due to their demonic ancestry, they're sadistic, ruthless, and arbitrarily cruel. That said, lizard kings ''do'' feel responsible for their tribes, and use their fiendish intellects to lift their kin up from barbarism (if not savagery) and forge (relatively) stable civilizations.
* CastingAShadow: 3rd Edition lizard kings can cast ''darkness'' three times per day.
* DevilsPitchfork: Their traditional weapon, dating back to 1st Edition, is a trident that can deal extra damage by skewering opponents.
* NonHumanHumanoidHybrid: They're lizardfolk with the 3E "half-fiend" template applied to them, giving them boosted stats, {{wing|edHumanoid}}s and a host of resistances. They're now a self-sustaining race, as a lizard king/queen who mates with a standard lizardfolk produces offspring that have a 50-50 chance of being another lizard king.
* PragmaticVillainy: Despite their voracious hunger for sapient flesh, the lizard kings are smart enough to direct their tribes to target caravans and travelers well away from civilization, to avoid attracting retaliation.
* ReligionOfEvil: Unsurprisingly, these demon-blooded lizardfolk enforce the worship of their forebear Sess'innek in the tribes they rule. Since this just amounts to regular sacrifices that are little different from the worship of traditional lizardfolk deities, it's easy for standard lizardfolk to convert to demon worship.
* RuleOfTwo: Beyond "MightMakesRight," the only rule governing the lizard kings is that there can only ever be one ruler of a tribe, and one designated heir. Young lizard kings compete with one another for battlefield glory, with the survivors growing stronger and more skilled. When they reach maturity, the one deemed strongest and worthiest is named the heir, while the rest are sacrificed to Sess'innek and consumed by the tribe. A young lizard king can OptOut of all this by becoming a priest of Sess'innek, but few take this path due to their natural ambition and arrogance.
* ToServeMan: While all lizardfolk will eat sapient beings without any qualms, lizard kings have a fiendish compulsion to do so -- if they don't eat an intelligent humanoid once per week, they'll start taking Constitution damage as a sign of Sess'innek's disfavor, which can't be healed without magic on the level of ''limited wish''. These meals take the form of a HumanSacrifice that culminates with the victim's still-beating heart being torn out and devoured by the lizard king, after which the rest of the corpse is carved up for dinner, with the largest portion going to the tribe's ruler.

!!Poison Dusk Lizardfolk
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_poison_dusk_lizardfolk_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E

Small, stealthy lizardfolk who use cunning to compensate for their lack of physical power.
----
* ChameleonCamouflage: Their scales can change color to blend in with their surroundings, giving them a racial bonus to Hide checks.
* CombatPragmatist: Poison dusk lizardfolk prefer to avoid direct combat, and would rather [[WaterSourceTampering poison a human village's water supply]] or [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink food stores]] than fight a field battle. If they have to fight, these lizardfolk will use ambushes, traps and weapons like [[BattleBolas bolas]] and [[InescapableNet nets]] to hamper foes while the lizardfolks' poisoned arrows do their work.
* PoisonedWeapons: They're quite comfortable with such, giving poison dusk lizardfolk the racial ability to apply poison to weapons without fear of poisoning themselves.
* ShorterMeansSmarter: They're described as such compared to other lizardfolk, and the poison dusk variety are notable for making use of swords and bows instead of the clubs and javelins favored by other lizardfolk. [[GameplayAndStorySegregation That said,]] their ''Monster Manual III'' entry gives poison dusk lizardfolk the same 8 Intelligence as the blackscales, which is still inferior to the baseline lizardfolk's 9 Intelligence.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Locathah]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_locathah_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:[=3e=]]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_locathah_3e.jpg[[/labelnote]]]]
->'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E, 5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (3E, 5E)\\
'''Playable:''' 5E\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Nomadic fish folk who favor warm waters where they hunt crustaceans. Though not deranged like the kuo-toa nor vicious like the sahuagin, locathahs are wary of surface-dwellers due to the number of their kin who end up caught in fishing nets. See [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsRaces the Playable Races subpage]] for more information about them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lodestone Marauder]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_lodestone_marauder_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 9 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Monsters whose metallic hides are studded with rusty spikes, and possess the power of magnetism.
----
* BioweaponBeast: Lodestone marauders are not natural creatures and were originally bred as guardians, although most have since escaped into the wild.
* MagnetismManipulation: Their powers over magnetism grant lodestone marauders a passive Armor Class bonus against attacks with metal weapons, and they can also unleash a thirty-foot-radius pulse of magnetic force. If used to attract, this can yank metal objects out of other creatures' hands and make them stick to the lodestone marauder's body, or if used to repel, the pulse can disarm enemies and knock down those wearing metal armor.
* MetalMuncher: While lodestone marauders are carnivores, they also need to eat metal to fortify their hides and grow spikes. They can live on both ore and pure metal, but find the former less nutritious. Consequently, they are strongly attracted to concentrations of worked metal and are a dangerous pest for civilized races whose armories they like to raid.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lost]]
[[quoteright:338:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_the_lost_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:338:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' As base creature (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' As base creature +1 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Any Evil

Miserable beings who, in a moment of anger or sorrow, were struck by a passing strand of incarnum that permanently bound that emotion to their souls, amplifying that negativity until it overwhelmed them.

Not to be confused with a variety of sorrowsworn from the Shadowfell.
----
* AcidAttack: Lost ruled by hatred can spew a cone of acidic bile from their mouths every few rounds.
* TheBerserker: Lost embodying wrath automatically fly into a rage when they enter combat.
* TheHeartless: The lost were ordinary intelligent beings who were unlucky enough to attract a stray wisp of incarnum that matched their emotional state at their worst moment -- someone furious with a merchant for fleecing them, a teamster who watched his fiancee get beaten to death by thugs the day before their wedding, a nymph mourning a dryad who was a dear friend -- which transformed the creatures into embodiments of that dark emotion. Some lost are reduced to drooling savages by the experience, while smarter lost become "deviously insane" and work out how to masquerade as ordinary humanoids even as they are obsessed with their negative emotion. No lost has been successfully restored to normal, though their entry suggests a DM could come up with a quest to do so.
* InsanityImmunity: Their "Twisted Mind" rule lets the lost make another saving throw against a mind-affecting spell or effect if they fail the first try.
* PowerBornOfMadness: The lost template confers a hefty penalty to Intelligence, which can potentially reduce the creature to an animalistic state, but also grants bonuses to Strength and Constitution, the creature's Armor Class and land speed, and lets it make slam attacks.
* RedRightHand: Even those lost who try to hide their condition can be given away by their heartbeats, which are so loud that those within five feet of them can hear the sound by succeeding at a high Listen check.
* SirenSong: Lost fused with misery can sing a droning "Song of Misery" that fascinates those who succumb to it.
* SupernaturalFearInducer: Lost filled with despair have such unsettling gazes that those who meet them have to save or become shaken for several rounds.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Loxo]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_loxo_2e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:2e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''\\
'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Hulking humanoids resembling two-trunked elephants, who dwell in seminomadic herds on the warm plains. Not be confused with the similarly elephantine [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsRaces Loxodons]] of [[TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering Ravnica]].
----
* BeastMan: They're bipedal elephants, just with an additional trunk.
* CruelElephant[=/=]HonorableElephant: As Neutral beings, they share traits of both tropes. Loxos are peaceful and generally insular, engaging their neighbors in trade and staying out of conflicts that don't involve them. But when provoked, they can be extremely dangerous.
* LostColony: One account of the loxos' origins in their home setting has them arriving on Toril in spelljamming ships, only to end up stranded and reverting to barbarism.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Loxos have a pair of humanoid hands that are strong and clumsy, though still capable of wielding weapons, while their trunks serve as weaker secondary limbs for fine manipulation work. This means that loxo metalwork is either very crude or very fine, with nothing in between.
* TrampledUnderfoot: 3rd Edition loxos can make a trample attack.
* UnstoppableRage: Loxos can fly into a rage in certain circumstances. In 3rd Edition, this triggers when they see a clanmate get downed or slain, and translates into a bonus on attacks and damage with a penalty on defense. In 2nd Edition, loxoth might gain an additional attack if their family comes under threat, while if a male loxo sees a family member get killed, they'll go completely berserk, attacking any non-loxo they see and threatening any fellow loxoth, a state that persists until the male dies of exhaustion.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lucent Worm]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_lucent_worm_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 17 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Hundred-foot-long worms with completely translucent flesh and insatiable appetites.
----
* TheParalyzer: Anything bitten or crushed by the worm has to save or be paralyzed for four rounds.
* SandWorm: An amphibious example, as lucent worms can swim as fast as they can burrow.
* StealthyColossus: Despite being Gargantuan creatures, lucent worms get a hefty racial bonus to Hide checks to offset their size penalty, which combined with their transparent flesh means "those who encounter a lucent worm often do so before they know the creature is near."
* SwallowedWhole: They can swallow anything ogre-sized or smaller, though since lucent worms can only digest living matter, their gizzards tend to accumulate small objects, and larger items are excreted as waste.
* TrampledUnderfoot: Rather than swallowing opponents, lucent worms can crush Medium-sized or smaller creatures, dealing damage and pinning them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lukhorn Worm]]
[[quoteright:285:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_lukhorn_worm_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:285:2e]]
->'''Alignment:''' Neutral

Relatives of the purple worm, these burrowing monsters mimic tunnel openings so that prey walks right into their mouths.
----
* MooksAteMyEquipment: Anything swallowed by a lukhorn worm takes acid damage, including equipment, which is at risk of being ruined in a mere four rounds.
* OrganDrops: Lukhorn worms secrete a viscous liquid that keeps their skin supple and masks their body heat from infravision, which is in high demand by alchemists and wizards (to the effect of 100 gold per vial) since it extends the duration of potions of ''invisibility'' and ''polymorph''. Unfortunately, this liquid dries up rapidly upon the death of the monster, making it difficult to harvest more than one or two vials from a given lukhorn worm.
* SandWorm: They're Huge, burrowing monsters that swallow victims whole, and a hungry lukhorn worm might not bother using camouflage to get a meal.
* SuperScream: If attacked while digesting prey, a lukhorn worm emits a sonic screech that can leave all within 60 feet on the ground, writhing in agony for several rounds. Worse, the noise echoes for miles through the Underdark's tunnels, potentially attracting the attention of other creatures.
* SwallowedWhole: Entire drow patrols have walked right into a lukhorn worm's maw to be swallowed and digested alive. A victim can try and cut their way free, but the worm's malleable bodies ignore bludgeoning damage and take reduced damage from other weapons.
* ThatsNoMoon: They have malleable bodies and can [[ChameleonCamouflage alter their skin coloration]], allowing the worms to mold themselves to the shape of a tunnel. Only natives of the Underdark are entitled to a Wisdom check to notice the creature without the benefit of magic or illumination as bright as daylight.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lumi]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_lumi_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulNeutral

Humanoids from the Positive Energy Plane, distinguished by their floating heads and hatred of falsehood.
----
* FloatingLimbs: Their heads hover a few inches above their shoulders, able to rotate freely, but not move any further from their bodies -- an invisible force resists even others' attempts to shift the head around. This means lumi can easily spot enemies trying to sneak up on or flank them, cannot be strangled or suffocated, and have nothing to fear from a ''[[OffWithHisHead vorpal]]'' weapon.
* HonorBeforeReason: The lumi's hatred of deception extends to warfare, so they'll never use ambush tactics, preferring open combat on a clear battlefield.
* NoSell: As they're from the Positive Energy Plane, lumi aren't in danger of gaining temporary hit points from positive-dominant planes and [[ExplosiveOverclocking exploding from absorbing too much energy]] (but they still benefit from the fast healing offered by positive energy areas). They also cannot be blinded or dazzled, and are immune to light-based magic like ''color spray'' and ''sunbeam''.
* PhosphorEssence: Lumi's bodies constantly radiate light in a five-foot radius, an ability that cannot be suppressed without the benefit of spells like ''darkness''.
* ScaryDogmaticAliens: The lumi worship Light as a symbol of purity and truth, revering how it uncovers that which is hidden. More to the point, lumi despise falsehood, from spoken lies to illusion magic -- even a basic illusion cantrip is a capital crime in a lumi settlement. Evidence suggests that they're mustering an army for a crusade to destroy liars and deceivers, and within the next twenty years will have assembled a force capable of invading the Material Plane.
* TheTheocracy: Lumi society is ordered according to their theology, and their cities are run by High Ecclesiastics who sometimes hold conclaves in a hidden cathedral on the Positive Energy Plane.
* TurnUndead: They can use ''disrupt undead'' at will.
* WillNotTellALie: Lumi are honest to a fault, sometimes [[BrutalHonesty unpleasantly so]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lunar Ravager]]
[[quoteright:315:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_lunar_ravager_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:315:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 7 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Pale, nine-foot-tall fey who reside in cloudtop hunting lodges, but descend to the surface on beams of moonlight to raid, plunder and hunt intelligent prey.
----
* BarbarianTribe: Lunar ravagers are only interested in hunting, and at most will forge their own wargear and craft macabre jewelry from their victims. Everything else they steal, and they regularly sack farms and villages for food and drink. Their interactions with other ravager clans are little better, and they may decide to attack, trade, steal from their rivals, exchange clan members, or host a debauched revel -- and sometimes all of the above, in no particular order.
* {{Expy}}: They're more or less a fey take on the Franchise/{{Predator}}, a bunch of tall, muscular, often-invisible hunters who descend to earth and make trophies of men.
* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: Lunar ravager society revolves around battle prowess, bluster, strength and wealth, and the best way to increase their standing is to bring back trophies from dangerous foes.
* {{Invisibility}}: They can cast the spell on themselves three times per day.
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: While lunar ravager society frowns upon cowardice, they're not stupid, and know to retreat when they face unexpectedly fierce opposition, as well as not to tangle with superior threats. "A lunar ravager's belt is much more likely to carry the skulls of dire animals, magical beasts and common folk than those of dragons, fiends or heroes."
* NotQuiteFlight: They can ''air walk'' at will, hovering in mid-air or climbing skyward as though ascending a steep hill.
* SolidClouds: Their lodges are built in the clouds, and usually the ravagers let the wind carry them where it will while they pillage the lands they pass over.
* {{Teleportation}}: Lunar ravagers can use their "moon rider" ability to teleport either from their lodge to any point within 10 miles of it, or back to their lodge, but only in moonlight. This process requires a full minute of concentration, over which time the lunar ravager becomes misty and insubstantial. Sometimes a lunar ravager ends up marooned (either by accident or as the result of a rival's scheming) after straying too far from their lodge, or staying out too late, only to find that their lodge has moved on the next night. These ravagers are among the most dangerous of their kind, as they'll seek out and take command of like-minded creatures such as orcs and ogres.
* TheWildHunt: They have shades of this, being a bunch of fey hunters who pursue humanoids by moonlight. When hunting as a group, lunar ravagers form a loose line with up to half a mile between each hunter, driving other creatures before them, and sounding their bronze horns to summon the rest of the hunting party when they spot worthy prey.
-->'''Ostler the Barkeep:''' I've heard the horns that come with the full moon. I've helped bury the headless bodies of those who've ventured into the forest on such nights. Unless you wish to end up as a ravager's trophy, I suggest you spend the night here.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lupin]]
[[quoteright:272:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_lupin_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:272:2e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Mystara}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 2E, 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulGood or LawfulNeutral

Canine humanoids known for their pack mentality, keen sense of smell, and hatred of lycanthropes.
----
* ArchEnemy: Lupins despise werewolves, and as soon as they're old enough to eat solid foods, they begin instruction on how to combat lycanthropes. Each tribe has dedicated werewolf hunters, who band together during full moons to seek out lycanthropes. In 3rd Edition this translates into a racial bonus on attacks against lycanthropes.
* BornInTheSaddle: 2nd Edition casts the lupins of Mystara as a now-settled, feudal society, though the "beast riders" of the upper class are still expert riders, preferring a [[HorseOfADifferentColor dire wolf or lupasus (winged wolf) over horses.]] In 3rd Edition, lupins are a semi-nomadic culture and have the Experter Rider racial trait, which means that they get a +2 bonus to their Ride skill checks and Ride is always a class skill for them, so they can place points in it relatively cheaply.
* HumansAreSmelly: Lupins seem to think so, as the "musky scent" of humans (and gnomes) agitates their noses, though not enough to make the lupins avoid them -- and at least humans don't smell as bad as dwarves and half-orcs.
* MultipleChoicePast: There's in-universe debate over the lupins' origins. One group holds that they're a crossbreed between humans and gnolls, and took up werewolf hunting to win over wary human neighbors, while others think lupins are offshoots of full werewolves who rejected their kin's murderous, chaotic nature.
* TheNoseKnows: They have exceptional senses of smell, enough to let lupins easily recognize lycanthropes in humanoid form, penetrate disguises, track prey, and even detect invisible enemies. The downside is that lupins suffer a penalty on saving throws against smell-related effects such as a ''stinking cloud'' spell or a ghast's unholy stench.
* WolfMan: They have canine heads, though with silkier, human-like hair on the top, and their original 2nd Edition write-up notes that lupins eyes are like humans rather than wolves or dogs. Their hands and feet are humanoid, if hairy, with leathery palms/soles. Their 2E entry also notes that lupins are particularly vulnerable to wolfsbane.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lycanthrope]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_werewolf_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:Werewolf (5e)]]
->'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E, 5E), Natural Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' Varies by type\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' Varies by type and edition

Accursed humanoids who transform into monstrous animals by the light of the full moon. Some lycanthropes try to resist the evil impulses of their animal forms, while others embrace them instead.
----
* TheBeastmaster: Lycanthropes can communicate with regular and dire variants of their base animals and, while they cannot truly command them, the regular beasts tend to be fairly well-disposed towards their lycanthropic counterparts.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: When in animal form, the main thing setting lycanthropes apart from regular animals is the fact that their eyes glow red.
* GoodAnimalsEvilAnimals: You can generally tell whether a lycanthrope is good or evil by what kind of animal it turns into. If it turns into something imposing, majestic or with generally positive cultural associations, like a bear or a tiger, it's good or at least neutral. If it turns into something despised like a wolf or rat, it's evil.
* NonIndicativeName: "Lycanthrope" is strictly synonymous with "werewolf," being a construct of the Greek ''lykos'' ("wolf") and ''anthropos'' ("human"). Despite this, a lycanthrope in ''D&D'' terms can belong to any humanoid or giant species and transform into any sort of animal.
* NoSell: Lycanthropes are highly resistant (and in some editions, outright immune) to the damage inflicted by any nonmagical weapon that is not made of [[SilverBullet silver]].
* OurWerebeastsAreDifferent: Werebeasts are collectively (and inaccurately) dubbed lycanthropes. They can take three shapes, a human with a few tell-tale animalistic traits such as thick hair or claw-like nails, an animal with glowing eyes, and a humanoid animal. Lycanthropy can be spread by a lycanthrope biting a non-lycanthrope humanoid, or it can be inherited from a parent. As of 5th Edition, the "core" werecreatures appearing in the basic ''Monster Manual'' are the werebear, -boar, -rat, -tiger and -wolf, but there have been many, ''many'' more over ''D&D''[='s=] history -- the wereape, -badger, -bat, -bison, -cat, -cougar, -crocodile, -dog, -dolphin, -fox, -hyena, -jackal, -jaguar, -leopard, -lion, -mole, -owl, -panther, -raven, -seal, -serpent, -shark, -spider, -weasel, -wolverine, and more. There are even variants exclusive to giantkin, the hill giant "dire wereboar" and the voadkyn "shadkyn," or giant werebat. The 3.5 edition ''Monster Manual'' has rules for the use of ''any'' type of animal as template for a werebeast.
* PartialTransformation: A lycanthrope's "hybrid" form is that of a BeastMan with the features of the shapeshifter's fully animal form, appearing as a [[CatFolk Cat Man]], PigMan, [[RatMen Rat Man]], WolfMan, etc.
* RodentsOfUnusualSize: A wererat's animal form is a giant rat rather than a normal-sized one.
* SavageWolves:
** Werewolves are Chaotic Evil, making them the only main-list lycanthropes to be evil by default.
** ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'' has a variant of werewolf known as loup-garou, which is much stronger (CR 13 compared to CR 3 in 5th Edition), even more savage, and shapeshifts into a ''[[DireBeast dire]]'' wolf. Worse, loup-garous spread a more virulent form of lycanthropy that's harder to resist, and any victims so cursed cannot be cured while the loup-garou lives.
* SuperSenses: Many lycanthropes have sharper senses than those of ordinary humanoids.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Lycanthropes who choose to embrace their curse gain a measure of control over it, allowing them to assume hybrid or animal form at will.
* YouDirtyRat: Wererats are almost always evil, and clans of them operate like thieves' guilds.
[[/folder]]

* BioweaponBeast: In their home setting, ibrandlins were created by the faithful of Ibrandul, Lord of the Dry Depths... or more accurately, [[Characters/ForgottenRealmsGods Shar]]. Ibrandul was actually inattentive towards his clerics and never gave them sufficient support to succeed with their efforts, but after he was slain by and had his portfolio usurped by Shar during the Time of Troubles, she lended her power to Ibrandul's clerics to help realize the ibrandlins. The disciples of Ibrandul haven't realized any of this, they're just pleased that the ibrandlins instinctively follow the orders of those wearing the dark purple robes of Ibrandul.

[[folder:Ironmaw]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_ironmaw_3e.jpg]]

->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Plant (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 11 (3E)\\

Carnivorous tree-shaped monsters that originated in the Abyss before spreading across the Lower Planes.

* CombatTentacles: An ironmaw has four tendrils that can reach up to 60 feet in length, which it can use to [[TentacleRope grab and reel in prey to be swallowed]], or lash at opponents, dealing persistant [[DamageOverTime bleeding damage]] and potentially infecting them with a [[NonHealthDamage Constitution-damaging]] illness.
* HeWasRightThereAllAlong: When not attacking, an ironmaw's tendrils are wrapped around its upper trunk, or contorted to hide their true length and resemble gnarled branches, while its mouth remains closed to look like another crevice in its bark-like hide. By the time other creatures get close enough to notice the ironmaw's leaves and their distinct coloration resembling blood splotches, those creatures are usually within the monster's reach. A better warning sign might be that no wildlife ventures near the "tree," and the ground around it is often littered with the remains of past victims.
* SuperToughness: Ironmaws' bark is, as their name suggests, as hard as iron. This grants them an impressively high Armor Class and DamageReduction in 3rd Edition, and 2nd Edition ironmaws are immune to bludgeoning weapons.
* SwallowedWhole: Any Large or smaller creature that ends up adjacent to an ironmaw is in danger of being engulfed, taking bludgeoning damage each round it spends in its trunk, on top of suffocating from lack of air.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: In their ''Planescape'' rules, ironmaws can camouflage themselves as other types of tree by slowly growing leaves and changing the texture of their bark to match the flora around them.
* WeakToFire: 2nd Edition ironmaws don't take additional damage from fire attacks, but fire will make them drop a victim held in their tendrils or mouth, and they won't try to grab someone carrying a torch, instead swatting them away.
* WhenTreesAttack: Ironmaws look like gnarled old oak trees, can shamble around when necessary, and attack anything that comes within reach of their tendrils, even when they've recently fed.

[[folder:Ironthorn]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_ironthorn_3e.jpg]]

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

Carnivorous desert trees that grab passing prey with their thorny tendrils, impale them upon poisoned thorns, and feed on the body as it decomposes.

* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Anything grabbed by an ironthorn will be pulled deep into its mass of thorns to be impaled.
* PoisonousPerson: The tree's thorns are poisonous, with [[TheParalyzer paralysis]] as the initial effect and hefty Constitution damage as a secondary effect. Worse, an impaled victim has to save against the secondary effect again each minute they're trapped in the tree.
* SolidGoldPoop: An ironthorn's sap is a valuable natural hardening agent used to make armor and such, but harvesting it is obviously dangerous.
* WhenTreesAttack: They're thorny plants the size of apple trees, and aren't particularly fast, but have a surprising 15-foot reach with their main tendrils.

[[folder:Istarian Drone]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_istarian_drone_5e.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Dragonlance}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Construct (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (5E)\\

Relics of a fallen civilization, which can still be found defending and maintaining its ruins.

* ImprovisedWeapon: Their viscous gel, which hardens into crystalline mortar, can also be used in battle to restrain attackers.
* MechanicalInsects: Istarian drones resemble short, stout mantises made from marble and metal, with four scuttling insectile legs and barbed, scythe-shaped arms.
* RagnarokProofing: Not only did some of these constructs survivor Istar's destruction in the apocalyptic Cataclysm, they're still kicking 300 years later.

[[folder:Ixitxachitl]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_ixitxachitl_5e.png]]

->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E, 5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (standard), 3 (vampiric) (3E); 1/4 (standard), 2 (cleric, vampiric) (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Intelligent and malevolent stingrays that dwell within tropical reefs, menacing all around them.

[[folder:Ice Serpent]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_ice_serpent_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:349:3e]]

'''Classification:''' Elemental (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

A variant of air elemental that feeds upon the heat of creatures they wrap in their freezing coils.

* {{Flight}}: They're a noted aversion among air elemental creatures, instead ice serpents move by pushing themselves against the ground like mundane serpents.
* AnIcePerson: Ice serpents are Large masses of freezing air whose only attack is constricting around living creatures. This deals subdual damage from the numbing cold each round the grapple is maintained, until the victim loses consciousness, at which point the ongoing damage becomes lethal.
* SeeTheInvisible: They're naturally invisible, but an ice serpent's position can be discerned by the snow particles, loose ice and small stones stirred up by its passage. Thus, they lack any improved defenses based on their invisibility.

[[folder:Ice Toad]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_ice_toad_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (3E), 1 (5E)\\

8-foot-long amphibians with an uncharacteristic affinity for cold.

* AmphibianAtLarge: This toad is the size of a horse.
* AnIcePerson: An ice toad is immune to cold, and can exude a sphere of numbing cold from its body, dealing damage to all who draw close. On the flipside, this leaves them WeakToFire.
* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: Unlike normal toads, the ice toad has a mouth filled with small, sharp teeth.
* OverlyLongTongue: They can use their 10-foot tongus to reel in creatures of Medium size or smaller, and potentially [[SwallowedWhole swallow whole]] Small-sized creatures.

[[folder:Id Fiend]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_id_fiend_4e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:4e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/DarkSun''\\
'''Classification:''' Aberrant Magical Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (4E)\\

Large intelligent reptiles who use their psionic abilities to debilitate their prey with fear before striking.

* EyeOfNewt: Dried id fiend blood is used in potions that allegedly give brief boosts to the imbiber's psychic ability, while 4th Edition mentions that instructors at Draj's House of the Mind pay top coin for id fiend corpses for use in a dubious concoction meant to awaken psionic potential.
* IKnowWhatYouFear: Id fiends' signature ability is psychically drawing out their victims' greatest fears, "magnifying anxieties until the line between fantasy and reality is shattered." In 2nd Edition, this means those who fail their saving throws will suffer combat penalties and struggle to cast spells, while in 4th Edition, an id fiend's "manifest fear" action leaves those who succumb dazed and slowed, and vulnerable to a "fearful torment" attack that [[MindRape deals damage]] and immobilizes them.
* ItCanThink: They look something like 10-foot-long gila monsters, but id fiends are smarter than the average human and fully sapient. In 2nd Edition they can psychically communicate using ''mind link'', while 4th Edition mentions that id fiends are smart enough to ally with other creatures, or manipulate one group into attacking another by overlaying the first group's fears upon the second.
* PsychicPowers: In 2E, they know additional psionics such as ''biofeedback'', ''mind thrust'' and ''ego whip''.

* JudgeJuryAndExecutioner: Inevitables pass judgement on transgressors, determine appropriate punishment (often death) and carry it out themselves. The primary exception are the zelekhuts -- because they exists to help enforce mortal laws, they typically just carry transgressors back for punishment unless they were already sentenced to a penalty like death or corporal punishment, in which case the zelekhut carries it out itself.

* GodhoodSeeker: Not them, but their prey -- varakhuts hunt down those who would make themselves gods, and have a credible chance at success.

These mechanical humanoids punish those who knowingly and maliciously break contracts. They are among the most talkative of inevitables, and can attempt to pass themselves as a mortal when their missions call for subtlety, but when they reach their quarry they are ruthlessly efficient.

* GodhoodSeeker: Not them, but their prey -- varakhuts hunt down those who would make themselves gods.

[[folder:Ice Toad]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_ice_toad_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (3E), 1 (5E)\\

8-foot-long amphibians with an uncharacteristic affinity for cold.

* AmphibianAtLarge: This toad is the size of a horse.
* AnIcePerson: An ice toad is immune to cold, and can exude a sphere of numbing cold from its body, dealing damage to all who draw close. On the flipside, this leaves them WeakToFire.
* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: Unlike normal toads, the ice toad has a mouth filled with small, sharp teeth.
* OverlyLongTongue: They can use their 10-foot tongus to reel in creatures of Medium size or smaller, and potentially [[SwallowedWhole swallow whole]] Small-sized creatures.

[[folder:Id Fiend]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_id_fiend_4e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:4e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/DarkSun''\\
'''Classification:''' Aberrant Magical Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (4E)\\

Large intelligent reptiles who use their psionic abilities to debilitate their prey with fear before striking.

* EyeOfNewt: Dried id fiend blood is used in potions that allegedly give brief boosts to the imbiber's psychic ability, while 4th Edition mentions that instructors at Draj's House of the Mind pay top coin for id fiend corpses for use in a dubious concoction meant to awaken psionic potential.
* IKnowWhatYouFear: Id fiends' signature ability is psychically drawing out their victims' greatest fears, "magnifying anxieties until the line between fantasy and reality is shattered." In 2nd Edition, this means those who fail their saving throws will suffer combat penalties and struggle to cast spells, while in 4th Edition, an id fiend's "manifest fear" action leaves those who succumb dazed and slowed, and vulnerable to a "fearful torment" attack that [[MindRape deals damage]] and immobilizes them.
* ItCanThink: They look something like 10-foot-long gila monsters, but id fiends are smarter than the average human and fully sapient. In 2nd Edition they can psychically communicate using ''mind link'', while 4th Edition mentions that id fiends are smart enough to ally with other creatures, or manipulate one group into attacking another by overlaying the first group's fears upon the second.
* PsychicPowers: In 2E, they know additional psionics such as ''biofeedback'', ''mind thrust'' and ''ego whip''.

* JudgeJuryAndExecutioner: Inevitables pass judgement on transgressors, determine appropriate punishment -- often death -- and carry it out themselves. The primary exception are the zelekhuts -- because they exists to help enforce mortal laws, they typically just carry transgressors back for punishment unless they were already sentenced to a penalty like death or corporal punishment, in which case the zelekhut carries it out itself.
* {{Precursors}}: Inevitables are actually young by planar standards, and were preceded by angelic "aphanacts" that ruled Mechanus and crusaded to spread the principles of Law across the planes. Sources disagree on whether the deities intervened to remove the aphanacts, or if their aggression prompted an alliance between celestials and fiends. At any rate, the aphanacts were wiped out ten thousand years ago, only for massive "crèche-forges" to appear in Mechanus that eventually produced the maruts and later other inevitables.

* ImplacableMan: Inevitables are obsessive and single-minded in their pursuit of transgressors. They never rest, give up or compromise, and even if a foe escapes them in the short term they will simply keep following them, never stopping, until -- even if years down the line -- they finally catch up and resume combat. Inevitables who need to cross oceans have been known to simply walk into the waves and cross the ocean floor on foot.

* GoodAnimalsEvilAnimals: You can generally tell whether a lycanthrope is good or evil by what kind of animal it turns into. If it turns into something imposing, majestic or with generally positive cultural associations, like a bear or a tiger, it's good. If it turns into something ugly or despised like a boar, a wolf or a rat, it's evil.
* NonIndicativeName: "Lycanthrope" is strictly synonymous with "werewolf", being a construct of "lykos", "wolf", and "anthropos", "human". Despite this, a lycanthrope in ''D&D'' terms can belong to any humanoid or giant species and transform into any sort of animal.

* OurWerebeastsAreDifferent: Werebeasts are collectively (and inaccurately) lycanthropes. They can take three shapes -- human with a few odd traits (such as thick hair or claw-like nails), animal with glowing eyes, and humanoid animal. Lycanthropy can be spread by a lycanthrope biting a non-lycanthrope humanoid, and can also be something one is born with if at least one parent has it. In addition to werewolves, there werebears, werecats, wererats, wearboars, ''dire'' wereboars (hill giants that turn into dire boars), weretigers, and jackleweres, just to name a few. The 3.5 edition ''Monster Manual'' has rules for the use of any type of animal as template for a werebeast.

->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Maztica}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Monstrosity (5E)\\

->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Elemental (5E)\\

* TheCaligula: Due to their demonic ancestry, they're sadistic, ruthless, and arbitrarily cruel.

* TheCaligula: The Lizard Kings and Queens, due to their demonic ancestry, are sadistic, ruthless, and arbitrarily cruel. They're also voracious eaters with a hankering for the flesh of sapient creatures; if not fed with humanoid victims, they will devour their own people, up to the point they will eat their own tribes to extinction if not sated.
* RuleOfTwo: Beyond "MightMakesRight," the only rule governing the lizard kings is that there can only ever be one ruler of a tribe, and one designated heir. Young lizard kings compete with one another for battlefield glory, with the survivors growing stronger and more skilled. When the survivors reach maturity, the one deemed strongest and worthiest is named the heir, while the rest are sacrificed to Sess'innek and consumed by the tribe. A young lizard king can OptOut of all this by becoming a priest of Sess'innek, but few take this path due to their natural ambition and arrogance.
* ToServeMan: While all lizardfolk will eat sapient beings without any qualms, lizard kings have a fiendish compulsion to do so -- if they don't eat an intelligent humanoid once per week, they'll start taking Constitution damage as a sign of Sess'innek's disfavor, which can't be healed without magic on the level of ''limited wish''.