History Characters / DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesS

''[[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]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesIToL I to L]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesM M]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesNtoQ N to Q]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesR R]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesSPartOne Sa-Sl]], [[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/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]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesIToL I to L]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesM M]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesNtoQ N to Q]] | [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesR R]] | '''S''' | [[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]] \\

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, assume that the other alignment holds true for all other game editions. Finally, the "Always Neutral" alignment listed in previous editions for nonsapient creatures has been equated with the "Unaligned" alignment of recent editions.
[[/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]]

!!S

[[folder:Sahuagin]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sahuagin_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E), Natural Humanoid (4E), Humanoid (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (3E), 6 (4E), 1/2 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil, ChaoticEvil (4E)

Piscine humanoids known as "sea devils" for their bloodthirst and savagery. They war with every other race in the ocean, and launch regular raids against coastal settlements.
----
* AbsoluteXenophobe: Sahuagin society is orderly, ritualized, and dedicated to the eradication of everything not sahuagin.
* TheBeastmaster: All sahuagin can communicate telepathically with sharks. They use this power to command sharks in battle.
* TheBerserker: Like sharks, sahuagin can fly into a blood frenzy after scenting blood in the water or in response to taking damage.
* FantasticRacism: They loathe sea elves, and the two people are incapable of coexisting without hatred and violence. They loathe tritons only slightly less.
* FishPeople: Sahuagin resemble humanoid fish, with long tails, fins and webbed hands and feet. They're not fully amphibious like the kuo-toa, but unlike the locathah can survive outside the water for a couple of hours.
* HumanSacrifice: Sahuagin priestesses regularly sacrifice humanoids to their god Sekolah, drawing said sacrifices from prisoners of war, slaves, and even their own hatchlings.
* LargeAndInCharge: Sahuagin barons tower over their underlings (and most other humanoids, for that matter).
* LightEmUp: Sahuagin deep divers have anglerfish-like lures growing out of their heads. The magical light produced by these lures can put creatures into a hypnotic stupor.
* MakingASplash: Sahuagin wave shapers, true to their name, are mages which focus on manipulating water. In combat they can whip up destructive whirlpools.
* {{Mutants}}: Most sahuagin mutants are simply born with extra arms, but if a sahuagin settlement is close to some sea elves, there is a rare chance for a sahuagin to be born that looks indistinguishable from a sea elf. These malenti are used as spies and infiltrators by their sahuagin kin, and their birth typically heralds a new wave of bloodshed between the two races, even if their existence hints at a deeper connection that neither wants to acknowledge.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Some sahuagins are born mutants, with an extra set of arms. Such individuals often rise to power as a community's barons and baronesses.
* ThreateningShark: Sahuagin are closely associated with sharks. Their god, Sekolah, is a ravenous and oversized great white shark. The sahuagin themselves can communicate telepathically with sharks and will fly into a vicious frenzy at the smell of blood.

!!Shell Shark
->'''Classification:''' Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Sharks which have been modified through sahuagin magic, making them tougher and more dangerous.
----
* BeastOfBattle: Shell sharks are chosen by priestesses of Sekolah to serve as protectors and messengers.
* HeavilyArmoredMook: A shell shark is covered in magically affixed plates of coral, giving it an Armor Class on par with a suit of plate.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Salamander]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/salamander_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E), Elemental Humanoid (4E), Elemental (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (3E, 4E), 5 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil (1E-2E), Evil (3E-4E), NeutralEvil (5E)

Serpentine beings native to the Elemental Plane of Fire, usually found in the service of stronger beings.
----
* BizarreAlienBiology: Salamanders don't need to eat, but still produce waste... [[NoConservationOfEnergy for some reason]]. This waste comes out through the salamander's spikes as a liquid that immediately combusts, creating the salamander's fiery aura.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Salamanders do not need to eat, they reproduce asexually, and they are not hurt by any natural phenomena on the elemental plane of fire. With no hunger, sex drive or need for shelter, they instead turn to religion to give life meaning, but Efreet and nobles stop them from worshipping gods. Instead, salamanders turn to fire as their god, and their entire society is built around it. Metal bends to fire but does not break, and gems reflect the beauty of fire, so salamanders prize both highly, but wood, liquid and anything else that is consumed or evaporated by fire is discarded as worthless.
* FantasticRacism: Salamanders hate ''Azer'', because they feel that if the azer had just stayed enslaved to the efreet, then salamanders wouldn't have been enslaved. They apparently haven't considered that the efreet is the root cause of this problem, which the efreet delight in.
* FierySalamander: Fiery humanoids from the plane of elemental fire, which prefer to live in sweltering temperatures and can create and control fire themselves.
* ImmuneToFire: Salamanders, as beings of elemental flame, cannot themselves be harmed by fire.
* NoSell: Inverted. Salamander nobles can cast a unique version of Dispell Magic that dispells fire immunity on creatures not native to the elemental planes.
* PlayingWithFire: Salamanders are creatures of the Elemental Plane of Fire, and by nature can create fireballs and walls of fire, heat themselves enough to burn other beings, and summon fire elementals.
* PoweredByAForsakenChild: As salamanders naturally generate intense heat from their bodies, some summoners bind them to forges and ovens to use as endless heat sources.
* SlaveRace: The efreet enslaved the salamanders in the distant past, to make up for their failure to bind the azers in the same way. Most modern salamanders serve the efreet as slave laborers and soldiers, and the efreet despise the idea of salamanders serving any other master, including gods.
* SnakePeople: They have demonic humanoid torsos and heads mounted on long, serpentine bodies.
* StrongerWithAge: Salamander Nobles continue growing for their entire lives, and never die by natural means. This means that a truly ancient noble can be the size of a mountain, with power to match.

!!Frost Salamander
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/frost_salamander_35e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Elemental (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 7 (3E), 9 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil (2E-3E), Unaligned (5E)

Blue-scaled creatures native to the Paralemental Plane of Ice, but also found in the colder reaches of mortal worlds.
----
* BlueMeansCold: Unlike their red-and-orange coloration of common salamanders, frost salamanders have bright blue scales.
* BreathWeapon: The frost salamander's breath exhales chill wind in a sixty-foot cone.
* FantasticRacism: True salamanders and frost salamanders hate each other, and will fight to the death when they meet. It's not especially clear why this is, although there's speculation that this is a result of their opposing elemental natures or of a really bad first meeting.
* AnIcePerson: Frost salamanders can exhale chilling wind, and produce a freezing aura around themselves.
* NonIndicativeName: In-universe. True and frost salamanders aren't actually related to one another in any meaningful sense, but share a name because early explorers named the icy kind after the fiery one based on some superficial similarities.
* VertebrateWithExtraLimbs: They resemble reptiles with six legs.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sand Bride]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sand_bride_4e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:4e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/DarkSun''\\
'''Classification:''' Fey Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 10 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Malevolent desert spirits who weave illusions to lure in victims, then drain their lives away.
----
* EliteMook: A "sand mother" or "mother of the bride" is an older, more powerful version of a sand bride, better at weaving illusions and able to ''destroy water'' once per day. They also prefer to disguise themselves as a matronly figure rather than a young woman, and like to weave their "oasis" traps around natural sinkholes they push victims into.
* LevelDrain: In 2nd Edition, their slam attacks drain levels from victims, until they're unrecognizable husks that [[ReducedToDust crumble into dust]] in two days. ''Remove curse'' combined with ''raise dead'' can revive a husk, but the victim will come back with no memory of their past life without an added ''wish'' spell. A ''wish'' spell is also the only way to revive someone whose body has crumbled away.
* MasterOfIllusion: Sand brides are talented illusionists, using magic to appear as beautiful women (or more rarely, men) and spells like ''hallucinatory terrain'' and ''seeming'' to create an illusory oasis, bazaar or sheltering ruin to entice travelers. They usually encourage their victims to have a drink of cool, refreshing "water," then attack while they're choking on the mouthful of sand they just tried to swallow.
* PerfectDisguiseTerribleActing: For all their talent at illusion, sand brides aren't great at interacting with those who fall for their charms. They're bad at making polite conversation, in that "most of their information is out of date or just plain wrong," so those interacting with them are entitled to a saving throw to notice something's off. For this reason, sand brides usually encourage their "guests" to "have a drink, then we'll talk." Another way sand mothers stand out from their kin is their improved conversational skills, feigning concern for the "dear young ones" they're planning to murder.
* {{Retcon}}: 2nd Edition describes the sand bride as a "negative material plane creature trapped on Athas," while 4th instead casts them as fey beings from the Lands Within the Wind who have become corrupted by the defilement of Athas, driving them to murder.
* SandBlaster: 4th Edition sand brides can make "sand blast" attacks to damage and KnockBack enemies, or a "sand drown" blast that immobilizes them.
* SentientSands: Their natural form is a roughly humanoid shape of sand with a pair of glowing red eyes. This makes mundane weapons ineffective against them, and sand brides can simply flow around difficult terrain, or disappear into the sands when a battle turns against them. However, sand brides move at half speed across silt, and won't enter other types of terrain.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sand Howler]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sand_howler_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/DarkSun''\\
'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Tusked reptilian pack hunters that can freeze prey in place with their multi-eyed stare.
----
* AttackAnimal: Sand howler pups can be trained as guards or bloodhounds, valued for their keen sense of smell. This and the fear towards wild sand howler packs have led to the beasts being hunted to near-extinction in the Tablelands.
* DescriptivelyNamedSpecies: They live in deserts, and their packs are known for the terrible howls they use to signal each other while stalking prey. Though the sand howler's 3rd Edition entry notes that "If more of its victims survived, they'd probably rename it for its paralytic gaze and massive jaws."
* TheParalyzer: Anything that meets their [[ExtraEyes eight-eyed]] stare has to save or be paralyzed for several rounds.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sand Hunter]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sand_hunter_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralGood

Scaly, wolf-like creatures that share a pack consciousness.
----
* HiveMind: Their limited empathic links with one another, combined with their ultrasonic communication, results in a "pack mind" that allows a group of sand hunters to move and attack like a single, coordinated being, so that if one is aware of a threat, all of them are, and they get better results when assisting each other in combat.
* ItCanThink: An individual sand hunter only has an Intelligence score of 3, and is little more than a maddened animal that won't survive long. But a pack's collective Intelligence score is 12, making them smarter than the average humanoid and more than sapient enough to have an alignment. This allows them to have a good relationship with the asherati, who refer to sand hunters as the "spirit of the sands." However, they can only communicate with other creatures empathically rather than through spoken words or telepathy.
* MixAndMatchCritters: Sand hunters have canine bodies but scaly flesh and snake-like heads, making them [[{{Expy}} look unnervingly like]] the nightstalkers of ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas''.
* SuperScream: By lowering the frequency of their communicative sounds, a group of sand hunters can produce a sonic howl that may stun other creatures.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Saqualminoi]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_saqualminoi_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:2e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Giant (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 4 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Hulking mountain-dwelling humanoids covered in fur, thought to be a distant cousin to ogres.
----
* BarbarianTribe: Saqualminoi are sapient beings intelligent enough to learn Common and other languages, but for the most part exist as loose communities of families who hunt mountain sheep or goats, only venturing out of the highlands when game is scarce. However, over the past few decades, agents of Hiddukel have convinced a younger generation of saqualminoi to raid humanoid villages for food and metal items.
* BigfootSasquatchAndYeti: They're the Krynnish equivalent to yetis, primitive humanoids standing twice the height of a man, covered in shaggy white fur. Saqualminoi are sometimes known as "snow demons" for their habit of appearing in the lowlands in search of food, often during the fierce winter storms that drive away their normal game. Not helping their reputation is some young, curious saqualminoi's habit of abducting humanoids for study, which can lead to the abductee's death while trying to escape captivity.
* NoSell: They're so acclimated to cold that they're immune to damage from it, but are consequently WeakToFire in 3rd Edition. Their broad feet also let them cross snow and ice without issue.
* PrimitiveClubs: Some saqualminoi wield bone or wooden clubs in combat, but others are content to wade into the fray with their bare fists. "Subtlety is not a characteristic of the saqualaminoi. They are strong, and they know it."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sarkrith]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sarkrith_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 11 (thane), 13 (spelleater) (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

A race of nine-foot-tall, subterranean humanoids who despise magic and have the innate ability to combat it.
----
* AdaptiveAbility: Anytime a sarkrith thane takes energy damage from a spell or effect, they gain resistance to that form of energy for the next 24 hours.
* AntiMagicalFaction: Sarkriths are cold-bloodedly logical creatures who hate magic's unpredictability -- "To the sarkrith, peace means control, and magic in the hands of anyone is a symbol that the sarkrith do not have control." They'd love to destroy the magic-wielding races, but the sarkrith aren't stupid and know they don't yet have the numbers for such a campaign.
* DispelMagic: Sarkrith spelleaters can generate dispelling rays that act like a targeted ''greater dispel magic'' effect. Meanwhile, sarkrith thanes can generate an ''{{antimagic}} field'' once per day.
* FeedItWithFire: A sarkrith spelleater heals damage equal to the level of any spell that fails to overcome their spell resistance.
* LanguageEqualsThought: Sarkrith thanes "understand nothing but orders," and always use imperative language when interacting with those less power, while speaking only of obedience when dealing with spelleaters. For their part, spelleaters have difficulty grasping the concept of an exchange of equals, which makes it next to impossible to negotiate with them.
* LizardFolk: They look like Large saurian humanoids, though unlike basic lizardfolk they're advanced enough to make use of masterwork (but never enchanted) metal equipment. Oddly enough, sarkriths don't have the actual "reptilian" subtype, but are specified as counting as a "scalykind" species for the purposes of certain spells and abilities.
* TheNoseKnows: Sarkrith have the Scent ability, and can actually counter this trope by using an action to mask their own scent for an hour.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sarrukh]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sarrukh_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''\\
'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E), Natural Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 21 (3E), 25 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil, Evil (4E)

An ancient and powerful reptilian race responsible for creating many other scaled folk, but is now in a terminal state of decline.
----
* BioManipulation: Their 3rd edition ability "Manipulate Form" lets them touch a non-sarrukh reptilian creature and modify it in practically any way they see fit, including (but not limited to) boosting its ability scores, giving it extra limbs or a radically different body structure, or granting it supernatural powers. These become hereditary changes that might be passed on if the modified creature breeds with even a normal member of its species.
* CreatingLife: In their home setting, the sarrukh are one of the five "progenitor races," and created the nagas, yuan-ti and lizardfolk through breeding and experiments.
* DyingRace: The sarrukh are nearly extinct in the present day, with the few that remain prioritizing their continued survival above all else. This leads them to avoid combat at all costs, surround themselves with scaly bodyguards, and [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere prioritize escaping a fight more than winning it.]]
* GameBreaker: The sheer open-endedness of the 3e sarrukh's "Manipulate Form" ability lead to [[https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Pun-Pun_(3.5e_Optimized_Character_Build) the infamous "Pun-Pun" build]]: a [[LethalJokeCharacter kobold]] who uses high-level spells like ''shapechange'' to transform into a sarrukh, then uses Manipulate Form on their {{Familiar}} to grant ''it'' Manipulate Form; from there the pair proceed to grant each other [[AllYourPowersCombined the powers of many other monsters]] and indulge in a sequence of complicated AbilityMixing until they've become MoreThanInfinite beings which can only be defeated by [[RocksFallEveryoneDies DM fiat]]. Later refinements of the build can achieve this as early as 4th level, by combining the Divine Minion template's {{Animorphism}} with the Master of Many Forms PrestigeClass.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: It's said that the "gleaming red eyes of a sarrukh strike fear in the hearts of all other Scaled Ones."
* MakeMyMonsterGrow: They can ''enlarge'' other reptilian beings just by touching them.
* MakerOfMonsters: They created most of the sentient reptilian monsters in the Forgotten Realms by uplifting pre-existing creatures through magic.
* NoSelfBuffs: The touch of a sarrukh can transform another reptilian being in any way that the sarrukh sees fit, but it has no effect on the sarrukh itself or others of its kind.
* PoisonousPerson: Their bite attacks carry a nasty poison.
* {{Precursors}}: The sarrukh were the overlords of some of Toril's oldest civilisations, and once ruled the continent of Faerûn before a variety of factors led to their decline. Thousands of years after the fall of their empires, the sarrukh are all but extinct.
* SnakePeople: An individual sarrukh's body may be either bipedal or snakelike. A snakelike sarrukh has a serpentine body and head, plus two powerful arms. A bipedal sarrukh has a humanoid upper body and limbs with a snake-like lower torso.
* SupernaturalFearInducer: Sarrukh can generate a short-ranged ''fear'' aura.
* YourMagicsNoGoodHere: They have the power to reshape any "Scaled One" as they see fit just by touching them, but it only works on beings native to Toril.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Satyr]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_satyr_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey (3E, 5E), Fey Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 4 (3E), 7 (4E), 1/2 (5E)\\
'''Playable:''' 2E-5E\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral (1E-2E), ChaoticNeutral (3E, 5E), Unaligned (4E)

Horned and hoofed humanoids who live in the wilderness and love to party. See [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsRaces the Playable Races subpage]] for more information about them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Saurial]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_saurials_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Clockwise from top: a saurial hornhead, bladeback, flyer, and finhead (3e)]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''\\
'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralGood

Several distinct species of dinosaur-like humanoids, who live together in a common society.
----
* AchillesHeel: Saurials' metabolism and reliance upon scent gives them a racial penalty on saving throws against gas-based attacks such as ''cloudkill''.
* FantasticCasteSystem: Downplayed; the saurial subraces don't have explicit castes, but all tend to gravitate towards certain roles in a community, due to their physical abilities and psychology.
** Bladebacks are bipedal stegosaurs, and are social creatures who try to understand the motives of others, and often serve as village leaders or advisors. They're slow to anger, but also slow to forgive, and passionate once pushed to aggression.
** Finheads are, DependingOnTheArtist, anything from hadrosaurids to generic carnosaurus with pronounced fin-crests on their heads. They're bright, skilled with their hands, as well as emotional and prone to seeing things in black and white; they thus serve as soldiers when they aren't doing physical labor.
** Flyers are Small, pterodactyl-like humanoids that are flighty, nervous and irritable, but enjoy gossip. They usually serve their communities as scouts and messengers.
** Hornheads are Large, bipedal ceratopians, contemplative and slow to take action. They prefer intellectual pursuits such as philosophy, wizardry, and alchemy, as well as applied sciences such as engineering and metalworking.
* LizardFolk: Of the "dinosaur-folk" variant. Unlike lizardfolk, saurials are noted to be warm-blooded, but they don't handle cold very well. In 3rd Edition this translates to a penalty on Fortitude saves to endure cold environments and increased subdual damage on a failure, while in their 2nd Edition rules, saurials are in danger of entering a death-like torpor upon prolonged exposure to freezing temperatures, which will soon lead to their actual demise unless they're warmed up.
* LostWorld: The saurials of Faerûn were brought there as slaves by the evil god Moander, who took them from their home Material Plane to an isolated part of the Dalelands known as the Lost Vale. Since the god's defeat, the saurials have settled there, and neighboring communities have heard rumors of strangely-civilized "dragonmen" who live and farm in villages just like humanoids do.
* NoSell: Downplayed; saurials' well-protected earholes give them a bonus on saving throws against sonic effects, though not full immunity.
* TheNoseKnows: They have the Scent special ability.
* StarfishLanguage: Saurials naturally speak at a higher frequency than most other creatures (other than dragons and fey) can hear. They can hear human speech just fine, though the "deep tongues" sound dull and tired to their ears. Saurials also supplement their spoken words with scents to indicate emotional states -- the smell of lemons indicates happiness, baked bread indicates anger, brimstone indicates confusion, violets indicates fear, and so forth. These odors are strong enough that even humans can pick up on them.
* TailSlap: All saurials except flyers can make a natural attack with their tails, though it doesn't do much damage (even for bladebacks, suggesting they lack a proper stegosaur's thagomizer).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Scarecrow]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_scarecrow_5e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey Animate (4E), Construct (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 10 (4E), 1 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral (2E), Unaligned (4E), ChaoticEvil (5E)

Distinctly spooky constructs created to serve spellcasters such as hags or witches.
----
* PumpkinPerson: Early scarecrows were noted to have carved gourds for heads, which [[ExorcistHead revolve unsettlingly]] as the construct lurches after enemies.
* ScaryScarecrows: Scarecrows are evil constructs that obey their master's command, eager to terrify prey with their sackcloth face and rend victims with razor-sharp claws.
* SoulPoweredEngine: A scarecrow is controlled by the bound spirit of a dead evil creature. Sometimes this results in [[AmnesiacResonance aspects of the spirit's personality resurfacing]], but the scarecrow remains focused on serving its creator.
* SupernaturalFearInducer: A scarecrow's mere gaze can paralyze other creatures with fear.
* WeakToFire: As creations of wood and straw, scarecrows are pretty flammable.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Scavver]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_brown_scavver_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Brown scavver (5e)]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/4 (gray), 4 (brown). 5 (night), 11 (void) (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

One-eyed, shark-like animals that swim through Wildspace, trailing behind larger creatures or starships. The smaller scavvers are content to feed on scraps and organic debris, but the larger breeds are actively predatory.
----
* PoisonousPerson: 2nd Edition lets brown scavvers, once per day, burp out some of their stomach poison to attack an adjacent creature that's proving hard to swallow.
* SuperSenses: Their 2nd Edition entry states that void scavvers' sense of smell is so acute that they can attack invisible enemies without penalty.
* SupernaturalFearInducer: Void scavvers, in their 5th Edition rules, can fire a ''ray of fear'' from their baleful red eye.
* SwallowedWhole: Brown and larger scavvers are capable of swallowing prey smaller than themselves. Brown scavvers are known for their poisonous gullets that can rapidly subdue prey, while night scavvers in their ''AD&D'' rules have a habit of transferring unruly food to their mouths for more chewing before swallowing them again.
* ThreateningShark: They're space sharks, more or less. Gray scavvers are Medium-sized scavengers that travel in packs, but have no stomach for resistance. Brown scavvers are Large, but mainly dangerous for their poisonous gullets, and similarly retreat from prey that poses a challenge, at least for a time. But the Huge night scavvers are willing to attack sailors on their deck, with the void scavvers are known to strip a vessel clean of edible prey.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Scile]]
[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_scile_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:280:2e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}''\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral (standard scile) or ChaoticEvil (Ravagers of Color)

Also known as incandescents, these glowing motes of light inhabit the Quasielemental Plane of Radiance, and will drain the color of any visitors they come across.
----
* AbstractEater: The scile eat colors, and while their home plane provides enough for them to thrive, they'll eagerly swarm visitors for a change in "flavor." A cloud of standard scile can render a creature transparent in one to four rounds, while the so-called "Ravagers of Color" are more picky, and will consume specific colors from creatures, leading to various side-effects.
* BlessedWithSuck: Someone rendered transparent by the scile cannot be seen, but unlike with the ''{{invisibility}}'' spell, the victim can't see themself either, or any of the equipment they were carrying. As a result of not being able to see where they are or what they're doing, a transparent creature takes a minor penalty to all dice rolls involving physical action, and has a chance to botch the somatic components of spells. Fortunately, a ''remove curse'' spell or use of some ''dust of appearance'' cures the effect; alternatively, [[SeeTheInvisible paint can be used.]]
* EmotionEater: Somehow, the Ravagers of Color consuming specific shades from their victims can affect their mental state. Those who lose the color blue also lose their serenity, and have a chance to fly into a rage each day. Those who lose their red/passion become so listless they have to succeed at a saving throw just to attempt an action. Those who lose their yellow/hope fall into a depression and have a penalty on all dice rolls. Like with regular sciles, ''remove curse'' or ''dust of appearance'' can curee these effects, or a victim can let normal sciles consume the rest of their colors, exchanging the lost emotion for total transparency.
* NoSell: The scile are immune to any magic that affects physical matter, and can only be hit with magical weapons. [[AchillesHeel But they'll retreat from]] a ''[[CastingAShadow darkness]]'' spell.
* NonHealthDamage: If the Ravagers of Color eat someone's violet or orange, it translates into lost Intelligence and vitality/Strength, respectively.
* {{Telepathy}}: The scile are in fact intelligent, and communicate with one another via telepathy.
* TruthSerum: Those who have their color green consumed by the Ravagers of Color also lose their ability to keep secrets, so they not only become unable to lie, they constantly divulge information to everyone around them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Scyllan]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_scyllan_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 13 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

These tentacled scions of the infamous Scylla can be found in the frozen oceans of Stygia, as well as more hospitable waters on the Material Plane.
----
* CombatTentacles: Scyllans have four tentacle attacks, which can also [[TentacleRope grapple and constrict]] victims.
* MakingASplash: They can cast ''control water'' once per hour, lowering or raising the water level around them.
* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: Though their monster entry art is ambiguous, a sketch of a scyllan's full body at the start of the chapter reveals that they fit the "squidfolk" variant, with a humanoid head and torso over a tentacled lower body.
* SeaMonster: They exist as such, lurking around rocks and reefs to snatch sailors from passing ships, stuffing their maws with as many victims as possible.
* SupernaturalFearInducer: Scyllans can produce a terrible wailing by blowing air through the comb-like growths on their heads, a sound that can cause creatures that fail their saving throws to become panicked or shaken.
* SwallowedWhole: These Huge monsters are capable of swallowing anything smaller than them, dealing constant crushing and acid damage until the victim cuts their way out.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sea Drake]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sea_drake_d&d.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Dragon (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 15 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Serpentine creatures who live in the oceans, sea drakes demand tribute from any ship passing through their waters, but in return, keep their territories meticulously free of monsters and pirates.
----
* HealingFactor: Sea drakes automatically regain health and regenerate body parts while in the water.
* SeaSerpents: They're enormous, limbless, wingless, aquatic dragons that dominate vast areas of the sea and use their strength to extort passing ships for vast sums of treasure, destroying any that fail to comply. In battle, they prefer to wrap their coils around ships to either crush them or drag them into the depths. Sea drakes are distinct from the sea serpents listed below for lacking breath weapons or age categories.
* SmokeOut: The underwater variant; sea drakes can release a cloud of ink that replicates a ''darkness'' spell, but only in water.
* SwallowedWhole: Sea drakes can swallow any creature smaller than themselves if they can get their jaws around it. This forces the victim out of combat as it tries not to drown in the serpent's gastric acids, but if it can avoid this it's free to attack the sea drake's insides or attempt to climb out of its mouth.
* TailSlap: When fighting smaller ships, sea drakes prefer to smash them to splinters by beating them with their tail flukes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sea Lion]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sea_cat_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:2e]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sea_lion_d&d.png[[/labelnote]] ]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 4 (3E), 5 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Also known as sea cats, these aquatic predators blend the forms of felines and cetaceans, and aggressively hunt anything that enters their pride's territory.
----
* ArtEvolution: In 1st and 2nd edition, they're depicted as very chimeric beings with a fully fishlike tails and fully leonine front, meeting at a sharp line. In and after 3rd, their body parts' designs are more smoothly integrated into each other, they're green, and their feline parts lack and a mane and are less specifically leonine.
* AttackAttackAttack: They attack other creatures on sight, either considering them prey or a rival to be driven off, and simply won't back down even against creatures that outsize them, fighting to the death.
* MixAndMatchCritters: Sea cats have the head and forelimbs of a lion, and the body of a small cetacean.
* PunBasedCreature: Their original incarnations were quite literally sea-lions, with maned, furred feline fronts and the back ends of fish, mermaid-style.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sea Serpent]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sea_serpent_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Dragon (3E, 5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 8 (young), 14 (ancient) (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Sinuous draconic creatures adapted to the sea, possessing breath weapons and growing stronger with age, but lacking a true dragon's frightful presence. Though intelligent, they are fiercely territorial and attack passing ships as sources of both food and treasure.
----
* ArtEvolution: The sea serpents of 3rd Edition resemble enormous sea snakes with a draconic head and clawed hands on varioius parts of their bodies. Their 5th Edition counterparts resemble long-bodied fish with multiple fins, including a large dorsal one, and no articulated limbs.
* DragonHoard: Rather than lairing with their hoards, sea serpents bury their treasure in undersea caves or coral reefs and visit it between hunts.
* FantasticRacism: They're clearly related to true dragons, but neither group is willing to comment on their common heritage, and anytime a sea serpent and coast-dwelling dragon's territory overlaps, the result is a vicious and bloody battle.
* AnIcePerson: In 5th Edition, sea serpents can exhale cones of supernaturally cold air.
* SeaSerpents: Sea serpents are long and sinuous dragons who dwell in the oceans, resemble enormous sea snakes with a draconic head and fins, and often attack ships to claim their treasures.
* TailSlap: In 5th Edition, as sea serpents lack limbs, lashing blows of their powerful tails serve as one of their primary combat tools.

!!Crested Sea Serpent
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_crested_sea_serpent.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 3-24 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

The most intelligent of the sea serpent breeds, crested sea serpents are also the most aggressive, using their power and abilities to dominate other sea creatures. Older crested sea serpents will set themselves up as the rulers of undersea kingdoms, making their lairs in palaces on the ocean floor.
----
* CharmPerson: They learn various enchantment spells like ''charm person'' and ''charm monster''.
* CompellingVoice: Crested sea serpents of any age can use ''hypnotism'' at will, enrapturing other creatures with a hypnotic song enhanced by the tubes and resonating chambers in their bony frills.
* LuredIntoATrap: Unusually for sea serpents, the crested breed prefers this to direct combat, such as by using ''suggestion'' on a ship's helmsman to steer it into submerged rocks.
* MoodSwinger: Crested sea serpents are capricious overlords, at one moment a BadBoss asking for more than their minions are capable of delivering, then acting as a BenevolentBoss handsomely rewarding loyal servants.
* SuperScream: The crested sea serpent's breath weapon is a line of sonic energy.

!!Lantern Sea Serpent
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_lantern_sea_serpent_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 4-25 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

The mightiest of the sea serpent breeds, lantern sea serpents are obsessed with power and exerting their dominion over other creatures, whether their lesser kin or passing ships. They lurk in ancient temple complexes on the ocean floor, with architecture unlike anything seen on the surface.
----
* CraftedFromAnimals: A lantern sea serpent's outer flesh is translucent but tough, and can be worked into armor just like a true dragon's hide. Some humanoid nobles are therefore willing to pay handsomely for a lantern sea serpent's hide, as much as ten times the normal amount for dragonhide armor.
* HiddenAgendaVillain: The exact motives and desires of lantern sea serpents are unknown to the surface world. Some sages speculate that they seek some kind of aquatic apocalypse, but there's little evidence that supports this opinion.
* LuringInPrey: They sport a glowing lure on a stalk protruding from their heads, which implicitly helps them with their ''color spray'' and ''hypnotic pattern'' spell-like abilities.
* MonsterLord: Lantern sea serpents are the undisputed overlords of all sea serpents, and occasionally summon other sea serpents down to the depths for a moot. What exactly the creatures discuss is another mystery, since none but a sea serpent has survived attending such gatherings.
* ShockAndAwe: The lantern sea serpent's breath weapon is a line of red lightning.

!!Spiked Sea Serpent
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_spiked_sea_serpent_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 2-23 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

The weakest of the sea serpent breeds is also the most territorial, engaging any perceived rivals in furious, thrashing combat. Spiked sea serpents don't make proper lairs, and at most bury themselves in the mud of the ocean floor to sleep.
----
* DamageOverTime: As they age, spiked sea serpents are able to deal terrible bleeding wounds with their constriction attacks.
* DrivenToMadness: The spikes of old spiked sea serpents are laced with a toxin that incites madness.
* MayDecemberRomance: Spiked sea serpents' extreme territoriality extends to their own subspecies, so the only suitors they'll tolerate are those that are much younger and weaker than them. As such, any mated pair of spiked sea serpents will consist of two creatures at least three age categories apart from one another.
* SpikeShooter: Spiked sea serpents are covered in vicious barbs, which they launch at enemies before closing the distance to make a constriction attack.
* SpikesOfVillainy: They're so spiky that they deal constriction damage disproportionate to their actual age category, which is part bludgeoning, part piercing damage. It's noted that they lose and regrow spines constantly as their spikes are torn off in combat.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sea Spawn]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sea_spawn_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:5e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Humanoid (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Humanoids who were lost at sea, only to be claimed by sea hags, storm giants, dragon turtles, morkoths, or some other aquatic power. Whether offered a terrible bargain or cursed by their creators, these sea spawn are transformed both physically and mentally into amphibious minions.
----
* CombatTentacles: Some sea spawn have tentacles which they can use to bludgeon and grapple their foes.
* FishPeople: They have one or more traits from undersea creatures -- a shark's jaws, sea urchin's spines, octopus tentacles -- which can have applications in combat. They're faster in the water than on land, and though amphibious, need to spend at least one minute each day submerged in seawater to avoid suffocation.
* HappinessInSlavery: Elminster implies as such.
-->'''Elminster:''' They are transformed by the sea and enslaved by powers of the deeps. And the transformation is more than mere fins and tentacles, they come to love their slavery. Poor souls.
* PoisonousPerson: Some sea spawn have venomous quills like a pufferfish, and can use them to prick nearby creatures.
* {{Retcon}}: The sea spawn's 2nd Edition incarnation is of a tiny, lamprey-like PuppeteerParasite that burrows into the skulls of sleeping or paralyzed humanoids in coastal communities, then wraps around their host's brain to control it and help their brethren take over the town. On rare occasions, one of these sea spawn minions might escape back into the sea to evolve into a sea spawn master that greatly resembles the look of the 5E sea spawn, coordinating the next infiltration.
* WasOnceAMan: They're the product of a magical ritual widely known by evil sea creatures.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Seawolf]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_seawolf_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Murderous shapeshifters who can infiltrate coastal towns or ship crews in human guise, attack landbound foes in a wolf-human hybrid form, or hunt in the water as a wolf-headed seal.
----
* ArchEnemy: They hate selkies as allies of humanity, and attack them on sight.
* {{Curse}}: Anyone bitten by a seawolf has to save or be cursed to transform into one during the next new moon, their personality similarly changing to become savage and twisted. Should a seawolf and a human produce offspring, the results are good swimmers who feel strangely drawn to the sea, but only a quarter of them develop the seawolf curse at adolescence.
* OurWerebeastsAreDifferent: Seawolves can shift between human, bestial and hybrid forms, though unlike proper ''D&D'' lycanthropes, they don't [[ThisWasHisTrueForm revert to a "true" form when slain]], have no resistance to mundane weapons, and involuntary transformations are triggered by the ''new'' moon, not the full moon. As such, while ''AD&D'' classifies seawolves as lycanthropes, 3rd Edition does not.
* ParentalAbandonment: Despite their pack-based society, seawolves are poor parents, abandoning their cubs, who often drown attempting to keep up. Only one-in-twenty seawolf youngsters survive to reach adulthood.
* PlayingPossum: If encountered sleeping in human form during the daytime, a pack of seawolves might be mistaken for shipwreck victims on a beach, or a group of drowned bodies if floating out at sea. The shapeshifters are happy to play along with this misconception to gain a chance to ambush someone.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Secret of Vecna]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_secret_of_vecna_4e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:4e]]
->'''Classification:''' Natural Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Former disciples of Vecna who have been punished by their god, leaving them broken, insane shells of what they were.
----
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: An enigma of Vecna can make a "Memory Ripper" attack, a ranged psychic assault that deals damage and prevents its target from using encounter powers until they make a save, at which point they're dazed -- having those memories torn out of the victim's mind is agonizing, and having them suddenly return is shocking.
* PerceptionFilter: The most powerful secrets of Vecna can blast nearby foes with psychic damage that leaves victims unable to perceive the creature until they make a saving throw.
* SetAMookToKillAMook: Spell howlers of Vecna can use a "Word of Madness" to force one opponent to move and attack another.
* TalkativeLoon: Spell howlers in particular constantly whisper or gibber broken fragments of Vecna's secrets to themselves. While this is potentially a security risk, and Vecna's enemies have tried to capture the god's minions and try to reconstruct their minds in order to learn Vecna's secrets, to date none have succeeded. If a ritual to rebuild the shattered mind of a secret of Vecna exists, it is closely guarded by the god's cult.
* TurnsRed: When bloodied, a secret of Vecna's [[FlayingAlive skin sloughs off]] and its hands transform into twisted claws, which it uses to [[FacialHorror tear off its own face.]] While the shock of witnessing this can cause enemies to recoil for a moment, this change does restrict the secret of Vecna to making clawed melee attacks.
* YouHaveFailedMe: Being reduced to a secret of Vecna is a punishment reserved for the Maimed God's cultists who tried to sell the cult's secrets, withheld information from their deity, read the wrong forbidden tome, or allowed nonbelievers to abscond with the cult's knowledge. The result leaves the offender a wreck capable only of combat and following its superiors' orders.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Selkie]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_selkie_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Shapechangers who can transition between humanoid and seal form, and feel a deep curiosity for land-dwellers that often ends in tragedy.
----
* CantHoldHisLiquor: ''AD&D'' notes that selkies are "particularly susceptible to fine wine," since after all you don't find many vinyards in the ocean.
* OneGenderRace: Averted, despite their origin in myths about "seal wives" -- selkie communities contain both males and females, though the latter outnumber the former due to the males serving as hunter/gatherers and consequently being exposed to more danger.
* SelkiesAndWereseals: They follow the source myth more or less, though their shapeshifting doesn't rely on shedding or donning their seal skins, preventing ShapeshifterModeLock.
* ShapeshiftingLover: Selkies are known for falling in love with humanoids and living happily among them for a time, until the selkie's longing for the ocean leads them to abandon their family, including any web-footed children.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Selkies' is limited, as they can only transition between forms on "in-between places" such as the beach (in 3rd Edition), or can only take human form for a week out of each month (in 2nd Edition).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Senmurv]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_senmurv_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Senmurv (3e)]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Simurgh (2e)]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_simurgh_2e.jpg[[/labelnote]] ]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/AlQadim''\\
'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulGood

Majestic and intelligent winged creatures that are allies to all good beings.
----
* ActualPacifist: 2nd Edition simurghs are pacifistic creatures who rarely enter combat, even to save another's life, and prefer to instead distract would-be opponents with their tail feathers.
* ArtEvolution: 3rd Edition senmurvs have the heads and clawed hind legs of a Large canine with brilliantly-colored wings instead of forelegs, while 2nd Edition simurghs look like birds with two sets of 20-foot-wide wings, [[BeastWithAHumanFace a humanoid head]], and long, glorious golden tail feathers.
* HolyHandGrenade: Senmurvs can make a "smite evil" attack once per day.
* HypnoticCreature: A simurgh can unfold its golden tail, which then glows with all the colors of the rainbow, forcing all within 50 feet to save or be hypnotized for several rounds, able to do nothing but stare at the display. A freely given simurgh tail feather retains this power, though even the feather's bearer might succumb to the hypnosis effect unless they're careful.
* InconsistentSpelling: This creature's name is spelt ''simurgh'' in 2nd Edition and ''senmurv'' in 3rd Edition.
* RazorWings: In an absolute emergency, a simurgh can attack with wing buffets, in which case its metallic, razor-sharp feathers slice at opponents.
* SupernaturalSensitivity: Senmurvs can ''detect good'' and ''evil'' at will, which they use to screen who they assist. If someone does manage to deceive a helpful senmurv, it'll become enraged.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Shadar-Kai]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shadar_kai_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey (3E), Shadow Humanoid (4E), Humanoid (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (3E), 6 (4E), 7 (5E)\\
'''Playable:''' 4E-5E\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil (3E), Unaligned (4E), TrueNeutral (5E)

A race of humanoids innately bound to the Shadowfell. See [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsRaces the Playable Races subpage]] for more information about them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Shadow Asp]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shadow_asp_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Dark serpents thought to have originated on the Plane of Shadow, but have found a use as tomb guardians.
----
* {{Intangibility}}: Shadow asps can become incorporeal for up to an hour each day, and often ambush intruders after emerging from the walls, floor or ceiling.
* MacGuffinGuardian: The first known use of shadow asps as guardians was by the priesthood of Har'Akir, who use them to protect pharaohs' tombs from grave robbers.
* SpawnBroodling: A shadow asp's poison can turn its victim into an undead [[LivingShadow shadow]], either after a mere five rounds (in 2nd Edition), or if the victim succumbs to the poison's [[NonHealthDamage Strength damage]] (in 3rd Edition). The shadows created by the poison aren't considered controlled, but are bound to the area they died, unable to travel more than 100 feet from where they were spawned, effectively making them another layer of defense.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Shadow Mastiff]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shadow_mastiff_5e.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E), Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (3E), 2 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Great hounds from the Plane of Shadow, making them most dangerous in darkness.
----
* {{Invisibility}}: Shadow mastiffs can blend in with patches of shadow, giving them the effect of total concealment (in 3rd Edition) or proper invisibility (in 5th Edition).
* SeeTheInvisible: Their keen senses allow them to see normally-invisible things on the Ethereal Plane.
* SupernaturalFearInducer: The howling of their pack alphas can frighten other creatures, and is often the signal for the rest of the pack to attack. In 3rd Edition, all shadow mastiffs could use this ability, but their baying only affected non-evil creatures.
* WeakenedByTheLight: Being creatures of the Shadowfell, shadow mastiffs can tolerate bright light, but not sunlight.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Shadowperson]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shadowperson_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralGood

Mysterious humanoids whose clans dwell underground, keeping themselves hidden from the surface world.
----
* DayHurtsDarkAdjustedEyes: They're dazzled in natural or magical areas of bright light.
* HiddenElfVillage: Though one of the oldest races on Krynn, the shadowpeople have been forgotten by outsiders, and prefer to be thought of as mere creatures of myth. They dwell far away from other races' settlements, and any explorers who blunder into shadowperson territory are captured, telepathically interrogated, and either sworn to secrecy or fed a memory-erasing potion. In the rare event shadowpeople visit the surface, they use [[InTheHood hooded cloaks]] to conceal their identities.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Shadowpeople's signature weapon is the "shadowstaff," which can be used to make disarm or trip attacks, but is most notable for being able to impale opponents on its hooked blade, dealing DamageOverTime and imposing penalties on rolls until the victim frees themself.
* NotQuiteFlight: Their patagia aren't enough to let shadowpeople fly, but allow them to glide and negate any falling damage.
* PsychicLink: By conducting an hour-long ritual in which participants link hands and chant in unison, shadowpeople can establish a psychic connection in which participants share a "collective awareness," granting a bonus on attack rolls, initiative checks and saving throws. Non-shadowpeople can join in on this, but only by succeeding a tough Intelligence (2nd Edition) or Concentration (3E) check.
* PsychicPowers: Shadowpeople are natural telepaths, and can communicate mentally with any intelligent being with a language. They can also ''detect thoughts'' at will, and their mental awareness of other creatures grants them an Armor Class bonus as well.
* TheSacredDarkness: The deepest cavern of a shadowperson clan's caves is considered scared, and kept in permanent darkness. This is where their Revered Ancient One dwells, a "manifestation of the mindweave of the shadowpeople" who can provide guidance and healing magic for their clan.
* SuperSenses: Beyond their telepathic abilities, enjoy both darkvision and blindsense.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Shaedling]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shaedling_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Wicked winged fey whose spinnerets exude shapeable shadow-stuff.
----
* CastingAShadow: A shaedling holds command over shadow, in the same way as spiders weave webs. Once per day they can generate a wall of darkness up to 30 feet long, which only creatures with darkvision can see through.
* EvilCounterpart: Shaedlings are such to pixies, as their ancestors followed the drow into the Underdark following the elven schism. Through unlike drow and surface elves, shaedlings cannot breed with normal pixies.
* ExplosiveBreeder: They're quite prolific, coupling "wantonly" to produce eggs that hatch within a month, and newborns grow to adulthood in a year. As a trade-off, shaedlings only live about 20 years or so.
* ForcedSleep: Shaedlings can use a javelin made of shadow gossamer to put a creature to sleep, as well as potentially all who touch that creature.
* SpontaneousWeaponCreation: They can swiftly create weapons or shields out of shadow gossamer, most commonly javelins and spiked chains. The catch is that such items dissipate one round after leaving a shaedling's hands.
* WingedHumanoid: Shaedlings resemble drow of short stature with solid black eyes and dark dragonfly wings.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Shalarin]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shalarin_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''\\
'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Deep-dwelling aquatic humanoids with distinct dorsal fins running along their bodies.
----
* DayHurtsDarkAdjustedEyes: There aren't any game effects, but shalarin usually live in the deeper parts of the ocean (they're comfortable even 730 meters below the surface), and as such find the light of even an overcast day unpleasant. Sometimes they'll wear protective goggles when forced to travel to the ocean's surface.
* FantasticCasteSystem: Shalarin society is divided into four castes, the Protectors, Providers, Scholars and Seekers. All but the Protectors can be divided into sub-castes, so the Providers caste emcompasses working-class laborers, simple servants, ''and'' the shalarin rulers. In most cases [[ColorCodedCastes a shalarin egg's coloration indicates which greater caste the child will belong to, and the specifics of a shalarin's body coloration may indicate their sub-caste]] -- sages have a red stripe along the edge of their fins, while arcanists have red stripes along the base of their fins, for example -- but the Protectors caste can be made up of shalarin of any skin tone or color pattern. All this to say, shalarin usually try to work out what caste other races belong to in order to understand how to deal with them, which can lead to confusion if a shalarin is confronted by a warrior who also cooks and sings.
* FantasticRacism: Shalarin remain aloof towards sea elves due to past persecutions by that race (or in the Realms, specifically an attempted shalarin genocide by Dagon-aligned sea elves and merfolk). On the other hand, shalarin are the only race the locathah don't fear since they never tried to enslave the locathah at any point.
* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: They lack the traditional "fishy lower half," for starters, and instead swim with the help of their signature dorsal fins and webbed hands and feet. Shalarin also have gills on their ribs, and can't breathe air.
* OurNudityIsDifferent: While their warriors are known for wearing armor made from pearls or a material called silverweave, most shalarin only wear a belt or harness to carry items, while their nobles might wear sheer or silky garments as a mark of status. Some art suggests [[NonHumansLackAttributes they don't need to cover anything.]]
* UnscaledMerfolk: Shalarin's sleek skin is similar to a dolphin's in texture, but comes in a variety of vivid colors, from silvery to ivory, red, orange or midnight blue.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Shambling Mound]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shambling_mound_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Plant (3E, 5E), Natural Animate (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (3E), 9 (4E), 5 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Vaguely anthropomorphic plants which wander constantly in search of food.
----
* FeedItWithFire: Shambling mounds are in fact spawned when lightning or fey magic invigorates a swamp plant. As such, electricity attacks heal them.
* HeWasRightThereAllAlong: Shambling mounds are slow, and thus rely on ambushing prey, lying still and trying to appear as just another pile of rotting vegetation.
* ManEatingPlant: They devour any organic matter in their path, whether it's plants or animals. Humans are very much on the menu if they don't get out of the way.
* PlayingPossum: Shambling mounds are smart enough to feign death in the face of overwhelming opposition. So long as the root-stem that animates them survives an encounter, the creature can slowly regrow its body and go back to the hunt.
* SwallowedWhole: They can simply engulf grappled enemies, dealing bludgeoning damage each round and [[SinisterSuffocation preventing their victim from breathing.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sharakim]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sharakim_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulGood

Horned, tusked humanoids believed to have been created by an ancient sin, and thus compensate by being as friendly and law-abiding as possible while around other races.
----
* CreationMyth: Theirs is tied to the legend of Desh, said to have been humanity's first settlement. One day some hunters spotted a [[TheMarvelousDeer magnificent white deer]], and a man named Sharak ignored his companions' warnings and killed and cooked the beast. Soon after, a god cursed those who ate the deer's meat with gray or coal-black skin and twisted features, leading the unaffected humans to flee the cursed village. The sharakim, or "tainted ones," consider themselves descendents of Sharak and his fellow cursed humans.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Sharakim are dedicated to illustrating this trope, and welcome chances to interact with other people and display how generous, helpful, educated, well-groomed, etc. they are. This leads humans to compare sharakim to puppies eager for company and any sort of attention.
* DayHurtsDarkAdjustedEyes: Like 3E orcs, sharakim have both darkvision and the "Light Sensitivity" trait.
* GeniusBruiser: They get racial bonuses to both Strength and Intelligence, at the cost of penalties to Dexterity and Charisma.
* HornedHumanoid: In addition to orc-like tusks, sharakim have a set of small, curved horns protruding from their temples.
* InternalizedCategorism: Sharakim are taught from childhood that they were born from sin and their very existence is a curse upon the world, and are sullen when left to themselves.
* OurOrcsAreDifferent: Subverted; sharakim look rather orc-like (and are [[FantasticRacism mistrusted as such]] by most other races), but they're actually a HumanSubspecies with the human subtype, and have no relation to Gruumsh's children. Sharakim still despise orcs (to the extent of getting a racial bonus on attack rolls against them) as an example of what they could become, and sharakim consciously differentiate themselves from orcs by being law-abiding, fastidious, and erudite, learning to properly enunciate words despite their tusks.
* StealthExpert: Despite their claims to the contrary, sharakim function best in the shadows, gaining a racial bonus to stealth skills while in low-light conditions.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Shardmind]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shardmind_4e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:4e]]
->'''Classification:''' Immortal Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (4E)\\
'''Playable:''' 4E\\
'''Alignment:''' Any

Psionic entities with crystalline bodies, the shardminds are the sapient fragments of the Living Gate that once protected the mortal world from Far Realm incursions, and seek to rebuild that bulwark, though the shardminds disagree on how to accomplish this.
----
* AncientOrderOfProtectors: The shardminds in general are this, with the "Thought Builder" sect in particular being dedicated to building a new Living Gate to protect reality from the Far Realm.
* CrystallineCreature: Shardminds' bodies are made up of hundreds of crystal fragments that are arranged in a humanoid shape, though they are constantly in motion, moving like blood through a fleshy body. A stunned or otherwise incapacitated shardmind might end up with some of their shards orbiting their body until they literally pull themselves together.
* AGodAmI: Shardminds of the "God Shard" philosophy hold that each shardmind is a fragment of divine power, with a responsibility to nurture that power to keep the Far Realm at bay.
* HunterOfHisOwnKind: Shardminds of the "Shard Slayer" philosophy believe that the death of each shardmind causes their energy to return to the Living Gate, strengthening the world's resistance to the Far Realm. Thus, they hunt down and kill shardminds of rival philosophies, and seek out nascent fragments of the Living Gate to prevent them from awakening into shardminds. Unsurprisingly, such Shard Slayers are Evil.
* TheNeedless: As living constructs, shardminds don't need to eat, drink, breathe or sleep (though they still need six hours of rest each day).
* NoBiologicalSex: While a shardmind's crystal body might appear masculine or feminine, they don't have a notion of gender, nor do they reproduce in a conventional sense. Instead, whenever a shardmind dies, another fragment of the Living Gate awakens into sentience.
* OneToMillionToOne: Both variants play this straight.
** Traumatic: All shardminds are born from the pieces of the Living Gate.
** At-will: While shardminds usually hold humanoid form, they don't have to, and their racial power lets them loosen their mental grip on their shards to reform themselves elsewhere. The so-called shard disciples take this even further, and learn to create a whirlwind of crystal shards to [[GemstoneAssault damage enemies]] before reforming.
* TheSpock: As beings of thought controlling crystal forms, shardminds are logical, emotionally distant, and somewhat naive to how the world works. They're not completely stoic, however -- if a shardmind loses their cool, they don't become annoyed, they go straight to enraged.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Shardsoul]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shardsoul_slayer_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Construct (3E), Elemental Animate (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (3E), 8 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Deranged combat constructs that infect other creatures with their madness. They have no relation to the shardminds above.
----
* InfectiousInsanity: Shardsoul constructs exist on the brink of madness, and are surrounded by a disorienting aura that affects adjacent creatures as per ''lesser confusion.''
* KillOneOthersGetStronger: When a shardsoul slayer is destroyed, its essence reunites with that of another shardsoul within 120 feet, granting the recipient a temporary buff to attack rolls or Armor Class, or a ''haste'' effect.
* MergerOfSouls: Inverted; the first shardsoul constructs were created by the derro, who splinter a single elemental spirit in order to animate several construct bodies. This gives the constructs a rudimentary intelligence, but also a deranged imperative to spread their suffering to others, yet they also see their own destruction as a means of reuniting their sundered elemental essence.
* {{Retcon}}: 3rd Edition shardsoul slayers are created by the derro out of mutilated elemental spirits, while in 4E they're instead crafted from extraplanar iron carved from the body of Telos, a slumbering primordial.
* TakingYouWithMe: As these constructs are more or less {{Death Seeker}}s, they have no sense of self-preservation, and are perfectly willing to chrage into a hopeless fight for a chance to kill an enemy, or bull rush a foe over the edge of a cliff.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sharn]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sharn_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''\\
'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E), Aberrant Magical Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 8 (3E), 12 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticNeutral, ChaoticEvil (4E)

Large multi-headed, multi-armed beings thought to have been spawned from the essence of chaos.
----
* ArchEnemy: Sharns absolutely despise the phaerimm, and ancient wars between the two have literally shaped the face of Toril.
* DeadlyDecadentCourt: The sharn's society is described as "a bedlam of political argument and social intrigue," constantly embroiled in ideological conflict. This doesn't prevent some sharn from getting involved in other race's affairs, but their agenda in those cases is rarely obvious.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Sharn have three arms that split to end in three hands apiece, allowing them to wield nine weapons at once.
* NoSell: They cannot be ''polymorphed'' against their will, nor can they change their own shape beyond shifting between their solid and liquid forms. Even stranger, no ''other'' creature is capable of shapeshifting into a sharn form. Sharns' peculiar minds also render them immune to any mind-influencing effects, and in 2nd Edition they're noted to see through illusions as well.
* MindHive: Each sharn is an amalgamation of multiple personalities, and they speak with different voices from their three mouths.
* AMindIsATerribleThingToRead: In 2nd Edition, anyone who attempts to make mental contact with a sharn runs the risk of having their brain scrambled for a ''feeblemind'' effect.
* OurMonstersAreWeird: Sharns are 3000-pound masses of black and silver matter that naturally exists as a pool of pseudo-fluid, but they can freely assume a 12- to 15-foot teardrop-shaped, legless body, wreathed in magical flames, featuring three eyeless heads and three [[EyesDonotBelongThere eye-studded]] arms with three humanoid hands apiece. Their internal anatomy is even stranger (i.e. they don't have any), allowing sharns to survive in airless environments.
* TheRedMage: They cast spells as both sorcerers and clerics, without requiring material components or divine foci.
* ThinkingUpPortals: Sharns can generate "hex portals," translucent, hexagon-shaped panels of purple light, as a full-round action, which afterward can be shifted as a free action. A sharn can see and attack through these portals, other creatures cannot.
* WasOnceAMan: In their home setting, the first sharns were the survivors of the ancient elven empire of Miyeritar, who transformed themselves to survive a magical cataclysm (it is unknown whether they intended to become such creatures, or if a ritual went wrong). Since then, other members of fallen civilizations have opted to become sharns to survive.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Shedu]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shedu_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 10 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulGood

Creatures resembling winged bulls with a third foreleg and a bearded humanoid head, who travel the planes extolling virtue and helping those in need of guidance or protection.
----
* ArtEvolution: 2nd Edition shedu had specifically equine bodies, but 3rd Edition gave them the winged bodies of bovines instead.
* CoolCrown: 3rd Edition shedim are always seen wearing ornate gilded crowns worthy of kings, but never speak of their crowns to anyone. 2nd Edition shedu instead wear headbands with a single gem or metal emblem on them, the more valuable the ornament, the more powerful the shedu.
* DimensionalTraveler: Shedim can shift to and from the Ethereal Plane as a free action, and can use ''{{astral projection}}'' once per week.
* TheGoodChancellor: Shedim are excellent advisors, thanks to both their ability to focus and their immunity to mind-control, and are often sought out by good clerics hoping for their council.
* NoSell: A shedu's fifth leg grants them uncanny stability, rendering them immune to being moved against their will, from bull rush attempts to ''Bigby's forceful hand''. Similarly, their superior rational brain renders them immune to any mind-affecting effects.
* PsychicPowers: ''AD&D'' specifies that shedu are natural psionicists, with each specializing in a psionic discipline. Greater shedu are noted to be such talented {{telepath|y}}s that they can make rudimentary psychic contact with plants.
* {{Seers}}: They can use ''clairaudience/clairvoyance'' at will.
* SheduAndLammasu: Shedim are noted to be close cousins of the lammasu, but are somewhat more proactive than their kin, serving as advisors or guards for good folk rather than contemplative hermits.
* TrampledUnderfoot: That fifth leg also serves well when a shedu runs over opponents.
* WhiteMagic: They're constantly surrounded by a ''magic circle against evil.''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Shield Guardian]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shield_guardian_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Construct (3E, 5E), Natural Animate (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 8 (3E), 14 (4E), 7 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Magical constructs that protect and serve whoever bears a specified amulet.
----
* HealingFactor: They recover a fixed number of hit points on each of their turns.
* TheKidWithTheRemoteControl: A shield guardian obeys and protects whoever currently possesses its corresponding amulet. As such, people have been known to attack a shield guardian's ward specifically to steal that amulet and gain possession of the guardian itself.
* PowersAsPrograms: A shield guardian can "store" a spell of up to 4th level, which it can then expend on command or if a certain condition is met.
* {{Synchronization}}: Shield guardians are magically linked to their owners, and if the owner is within 60 feet of their guardian, any damage that the owner takes will be split between the two of them.
* TakingTheBullet: If an attack threatens to injure its owner, a shield guardian can magically absorb the blow into its own body, even at a distance.
* {{Telepathy}}: Whoever bears a shield guardian's amulet can communicate telepathically with it no matter the distance, so long as they're on the same plane of existence. The shield guardian in turn always knows the direction to its master.

!!Runic Guardian
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_runic_guardian_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Construct (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 10 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Rune-inscribed constructs that share many abilities with shield guardians, but can be considered a direct upgrade over them, albeit more expensive and difficult to construct.
----
* CycleOfHurting: Their fists are filled with lead and hit like a truck, so anyone struck by the runic guardian's slam attacks has to succeed at a high Fortitude save or be stunned for a round. In a one-on-one fight, this can lead to a fatal case of stunlocking.
* MagicKnight: Rather than storing one particular spell, a runic guardian has six spells built into its arms, legs, torso and head during the creation process. It can use each of these spells once per day, either on command or when a certain condition is met, and the spells' level is determined by which part of the body they're inscribed upon.
* MurderousMalfunctioningMachine: Runic guardians have a ''slight'' downside compared to shield guardians in that they can't be "reset" to serve another master. A runic guardian knows the instant its master dies no matter the distance, and will immediately go berserk, attacking everything in sight until destroyed. Retrieving its amulet does nothing to prevent this.
* ObviousRulePatch: While runic guardians are keyed to a magic amulet like shield guardians, all the item does is allow the construct to ''teleport without error'' to the amulet when called, once per day. A runic guardian is bound to a specific individual as its master upon creation, and if some thief steals the amulet and summons the construct, the runic guardian's first act is going to be to try to kill the pretender.
* RunicMagic: As indicated by their name, runic guardians' bodies are covered in runes crafted from precious metals, which glow when they use their inscribed spell-like abilities. This makes the constructs especially popular with dwarves and giants.
* SuperiorSuccessor: Anything a shield guardian can do, a runic guardian can do better. Their Fast Healing is better and comes with sturdy DamageReduction (which offsets their slightly lower health), their armor is better and their physical attacks hit harder, their "guard" ability imparts a better armor bonus to their master, their ''shield other'' ability works at a greater range and absorbs 75% of an attack's damage instead of splitting it 50-50, and so forth.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Shifter]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/636678092611992260.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}''\\
'''Classificaiton:''' Humanoid (3E, 5E), Natural Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (3E, 5E), 6 (4E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E-5E\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral (3E), Any (4E, 5E)

Sometimes called "weretouched," these humanoids can "shift" into a more bestial state, gaining animalistic traits that vary by their subspecies. See [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsRaces the Playable Races subpage]] for more information about them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Shimmerling]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shimmerling_swarm_fix_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 8 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticNeutral

Inches-high fey that are normally harmless, but can form dangerous swarms when under stress.
----
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Their skin and hair can be any color of the rainbow.
* HypnoticCreature: A shimmerling swarm's light and movement can hypnotize onlookers, and any who fail their saves will stand and watch the display in fascination.
* OurFairiesAreDifferent: Shimmerlings look like four-inch-tall, naked elves with butterfly wings.
* PhosphorEssence: Shimmerlings glow the same color as their bodies, and when they form a swarm, the combined light can replicate a ''daylight'' effect and dazzle any creatures within a 60-foot radius.
* TheSwarm: An individual shimmerling is a near-mindless pollen-feeder about as deadly as a sparrow, but when their food supply or habitat is threatened, or in response to predation, these fey gather in swarms that develop [[HiveMind a group consciousness]] and are capable of overwhelming much larger creatures. In some cases these swarms are simply a way to relocate a shimmerling population, but other times the fey may go after what they think is causing their problems.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Shirokinukatsukami]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shirokinukatsukami_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/KaraTur''\\
'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 14 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulGood

Also known as "Eaters of Dreams," these bizarre-looking but benign spirits protect slumbering humans.
----
* {{Baku}}: These things are quite clearly meant to be the trunked dream-eaters of legend, but unfortunately there were already "baku" in a 1st Edition ''Monster Manual'' that were carried on to ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'' -- aside from having trunks, these "baku" had [[CallAPegasusAHippogriff little to do with their source creature]], and had PsychicPowers rather than any association with dreams. Thus we have a separate entry dubbed a "shirokinukatsukami," which the Forgotten Realms Wiki speculates is an attempt at "white silk spirit" or "bedsheets spirit."
* DontMakeMeDestroyYou: Shirokinukatsukami are both courteous and dangerous opponents, who will never initiate combat, but instead warn an enemy of the foolishness of their actions, and suggest they cease their evil ways and withdraw. Foes who persist, or who threaten a shirokinukatsukami's charge, are then attacked without mercy.
* DreamWalker: They can freely enter a sleeper's dreams, but only to deliver a message or protect the sleeper from a malign influence. If someone has a dream that features a shirokinukatsukami relaxing somewhere by dancing or gardening, it simply means they have some divine protection.
* {{Invisibility}}: They can turn invisible at will, and usually remain as such while standing guard at the head of a sleeper's bed.
* MixAndMatchCritters: They have the body of a horse, the paws and hind legs of a tiger, the arms of an ape, the tail of a cow, the face and mane of a lion, the eyes of a human, and the trunk and tusks of an elephant.
* SignatureLaugh: They laugh often, even during conversation, which sounds like the cawing of a crow.
* WhiteMagic: They wield spells such as ''magic circle against evil'', ''dispel evil'', ''heal'' and even ''raise dead''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Shivad]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shivhad_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 21 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

These 40-foot-tall arctic horrors normally sleep beneath glaciers, but when they awaken they subjugate surrounding settlements.
----
* CunningLinguist: Shivads are surprisingly good at picking up and speaking local languages, without any trace of an accent. Though since they talk with six booming mouths at once, they can be quite intimidating when they communicate.
* GiantSpider: They're ''roughly'' spiderlike, but have three claws in addition to their eight legs, six slavering maws on tentacles, and bodies dotted with eyes.
* HomeFieldAdvantage: Shivads have a mystical bond with their home glacier, and while in the area enjoy a bonus to their Armor Class and saving throws. Furthermore, the monster knows the exact location of any creature in contact with the glacier, out to 10 miles.
* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: Shivads browbeat nearby communities into providing them with weekly {{Human Sacrifice}}s the monsters can hunt, torment and consume.
* AnIcePerson: They're surrounded by a 60-foot aura of cold intense enough to deal damage and extinguish nonmagical flames. Shivads also [[FeedItWithFire heal damage]] when cold-based magic fails to overcome their spell resistance.
* NonHealthDamage: Their bite attacks drain points from ''all'' of a victim's ability scores, healing the shivad in the process.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Shocker Lizard]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shocker_lizard_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Little blue reptiles that can blast would-be predators with electricity.
----
* AttackAnimal: Some of the fashionably rich host colonies of shocker lizards in their gardens or courtyards as a deterrent against thieves, though the creatures may require special training not to attack servants or playing children.
* RoarBeforeBeating: A realistic take on the trope; when a potential threat approachs, a shocker lizard tries to warn them away with a low-powered electrical discharge, audible as a series of rapid clicks, and just strong enough for the other creature to feel on their skin and scalp. If the interloper persists, they get a stronger zap.
* ShockAndAwe: The body of shocker lizards can generate intense electrical shocks. An individual creature can only deal nonlethal damage to a single foe within five feet, but two or more shocker lizards can [[CombinationAttack combine their voltage]] in a 20-foot-radius burst of lethal electricity, centered on one lizard, that grows more powerful the more shocker lizards contribute to it. If six shocker lizards act in concert, the combined damage outperforms a ''fireball'' spell.
* SuperSenses: Due to their affinity for electricity, shocker lizards can detect any electrical discharges within 100 feet.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Shrieker]]
[[quoteright:185:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shrieker_fungus_2e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:185:2e]]
->'''Classification:''' Plant (3E, 5E), Natural Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (3E), 4 (4E), 0 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Human-sized mushrooms that dwell underground and respond to stimulus with a piercing scream.
----
* EnemySummoner: A non-magical example; shriekers emit a horrible racket for several rounds if they sense light or movement within 10 feet or so, which can attract other creatures in the cavern or dungeon the fungus is growing in. Even non-sapient monsters can come to treat a shrieker's shrieking as a dinner bell, while intelligent creatures may cultivate shriekers as organic alarm systems.
* FungusHumongous: They can grow between four and seven feet tall.
* NoSell: Shriekers are immune to the poison of violet fungi, and have a symbiotic relationship with their fellow fungus -- the shriekers attract curious creatures with their noise, which the violet fungi kill with their tentacles and poison, allowing both fungi to feed on the decomposing remains.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Shrieking Terror]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shrieking_terror_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 10 (five-headed), 13 (ten-headed) (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Winged, multi-headed horrors that attack anything not native to the Tarterian Depths of Carceri, paralyzing enemies with their screams and dooming them to a monstrous transformation with a "kiss."
----
* AntiRegeneration: Shrieking terrors' bite attacks carry a poison that renders victims unable to heal the damage from said bites, naturally or magically, until they're treated with a ''neutralize poison'' or ''heal'' spell (''delay poison'' will allow for magical, but not natural, healing).
* AttackAnimal: These monsters have been known to serve as advance troops for the demodands in Carceri's many internal conflicts.
* BeastWithAHumanFace: They have five to ten slightly-oversized humanoid heads on the end of each tentacle, and shrieking terrors can attack with all of them at once on a successful charge attack.
* HybridMonster: They're magical crossbreeds of hydras and vargouilles.
* HydraProblem: Like hydras, if a shrieking terror loses a head to a sunder attack, it sprouts two more in a few rounds, unless some fire and acid damage is applied to the stump. The monsters can only support ten heads at a time, and any extra gained will wither and die within a day. While enemies can choose to attack a shrieking terror's body, its HealingFactor means that carefully severing all of its heads can be a faster way to kill it.
* MonsterLord: Zig-zagged; some vargouilles revere shrieking terrors to the point of worship, others attack them as abominations.
* TheParalyzer: These monsters are named for their terrible, multi-mouthed [[SuperScream shrieking]], a full-round action that affects everyone within 60 feet, forcing them to save or be [[SupernaturalFearInducer frozen in fear]].
* TheVirus: A shrieking terror can "kiss" a paralyzed opponent, forcing them to save or begin transforming into a vargouille over the next 24 hours.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Siege Crab]]
[[quoteright:341:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_siege_crab_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:341:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Vermin (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 14 (standard), 18 (greater) (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Gargantuan crabs converted into living war machines by undersea races such as the kuo-toa and sahuagin.
----
* BioweaponBeast: Siege crabs are created in a decades-long process involving both magic and surgery, the most drastic of which is the removal of much of the crab's interior tissue, allowing for the creation of an air- and water-tight compartment in its carapace, accessed through a hatch on the crab's belly. While this compartment provides considerable protection to up to 4 Medium-sized passengers, should the crab die, it will most likely collapse onto its belly, forcing the occupants to cut their way through the carapace to escape.
* DeflectorShields: A siege crab's carapace is inscribed with runes that project a field of force around it, granting bonuses to the monster's Armor Class and saving throws, as well as an immunity to ''magic missile'' attacks. This protective field returns a few rounds after being hit with ''dispel magic'', and only spells like ''Mordenkainen's disjunction'' can permanently nullify it.
* GiantEnemyCrab: The standard siege crab is a Gargantuan creature, 15 feet tall and 20 feet wide, while the greater variant is Colossal in size, standing 20 feet tall and 30 feet in diameter, with a corresponding increase in the number of creatures that can fit inside its compartment.
* RemoteBody: Each siege crab is keyed to a specially-created coral circlet, which allows the wearer to command the monster, see through its eyes, and cast spells through the creature. Unlike constructs, however, siege crabs can't be given conditional instructions, and thus require constant direction, simply standing still if the circlet's wearer moves out of range.
* TrampledUnderfoot: They're large enough to damage anything they skitter over.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Silk Wyrm]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_silk_wyrm_4e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:4e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/DarkSun''\\
'''Classification:''' Natural Magical Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (hatchling), 3 (adult), 14 (elder) (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Giant flying serpents that can reach lengths of 50 feet, known for dragging off helpless victims to feed upon at their leisure.
----
* AllWebbedUp: After paralyzing prey, if it doesn't consume them in the field, a silk wyrm will drag the unfortunate back to its lair to be wrapped up in a silken cocoon. "Bound creatures can look forward to several days of slow feeding, until the silk wyrms kill them or they die of thirst."
* {{Flight}}: Though wingless, silk wyrms can still fly through undisclosed means.
* ItCanThink: Fully-grown silk wyrms have near-human level intelligence, but they're TheSpeechless and regard other creatures as threats or prey. However, psionic creatures such as braxats and psurlons sometimes bribe silk wyrms to serve as trackers or guards in exchange for food.
* LivingShadow: They can assume a ''shadow form'' to aid in stealth and slip past obstacles.
* LuringInPrey: 4th Edition silk wyrms can make a "mesmerizing dread" attack, dealing psychic damage and enticing victims closer.
* TheParalyzer: Their bites carry a paralytic venom, which can render victims helpless for days at a time in their 2nd Edition rules.
* VampiricDraining: They drain blood from their victims, reducing their Constitution by 1 point per feeding (in 2nd Edition), or taking away a healing surge along with a LifeDrain effect (in 4th Edition).
* YouHaveToBurnTheWeb: Averted; silk wyrm thread is both very tough and fire resistant, another reason it's so valuable.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Silt Horror]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_silt_horror_4e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:4e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/DarkSun''\\
'''Classification:''' Aberrant Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 12 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

The krakens of Athas' Sea of Silt, these monsters grab prey in their tentacles and drag them beneath the sandy surface to be devoured.
----
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: 2nd Edition has several varieties of silt horror defined by their coloration, from the small black variety to the huge, sickly-gray horrors.
* GiantSquid: Their bodies look something like eyeless, shell-less nautiluses, and several silt horror varieties can use air jets to rapidly escape and kick up an [[SmokeOut obscuring cloud of dust]], similar to a sea squid's ink.
* ItCanThink: Most silt horrors are at best semi-intelligent, but magma horrors are smarter than the average human, and capable of making psychic contact with other creatures using ''mind link'' and ''send thoughts'', but only to convince this victim to come into its lair to be devoured.
* LivingLava: Magma horrors look as such, and are immune to fire but weak to cold effects. They live in areas of geothermal or volcanic activity, and drag prey into boiling water or outright lava pools.
* LuringInPrey: Gray horrors use their ''control sound'' and ''create sound'' psionic powers to coax prey close by creating whimpering or the sound of nearby running water. Red horrors instead make psychic contact with a creature and use ''false sensory input'' to create an illusion of what it desires most. Brown horrors just use ''[[MindControl domination]]'' to force their victims to move towards them.
* TheParalyzer: Black silt horrors have spined tentacles carrying a paralytic poison, while red silt horrors deliver a similar venom their bite attacks.
* SuperSenses: Silt horrors are blind, but can sense the movement of creatures on the silt from three miles away.
* TentacledTerror: In most cases, all victims see of these creatures are their tentacles erupting from the silt's surface, [[TentacleRope grabbing]] and [[CombatTentacles constricting]] prey. Fortunately, these tentacles can be targeted and severed to free victims.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Silt Runner]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_silt_runner_4e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:4e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/DarkSun''\\
'''Classification:''' Natural Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Small but speedy reptilian humanoids who raid their neighbors.
----
* BattleTrophy: About the only thing silt runners will wear are the clothes, treasure or body parts of their victims.
* FantasticRacism: Silt runners hate elves, to the extent that they'll break off an attack on a caravan for an opportunity to go after a lone elf (it helps that silt runners find elves [[ToServeMan delicious]]). Meanwile, the giants who make their homes on the same Sea of Silt islands as the silt runners, consider the much smaller creatures to be pests or vermin that are "just too fast to swat properly."
* LizardFolk: A Small, speedy example thought to be related to Athas' ssurrans.
* SuperSpeed: While the trait is ''greatly'' downplayed in 4th Edition, whose silt runners are only 1 movement point faster than the average humanoid, in 2nd Edition their movement value is an astonishing 48, twice as fast as a light horse. This allows silt runners to zip across the surface of sand or silt without sinking, hence their name.
* ZergRush: They'll only attack if they enjoy a 3-to-1 numerical advantage, and employ wave tactics to prevail in field battles.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Silthilar]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_silthilar_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 7 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticGood

The remnants of a race of fleshcrafters that escaped a magical plague by transforming themselves into countless motes of flesh, which can freely recombine into their original shapes.
----
* {{Biomanipulation}}: When they aren't flat-out changing creatures' shapes entirely, silthilar are adept at applying specialized grafts to subjects -- flexible spines, improved muscles or bones, chitinous plating, regenerative blood, and so forth.
* DarkIsNotEvil: The silthilar have utterly alien bodies (when they even ''have'' solid bodies) and can effortlessly reshape other creatures as they see fit, but apart from the odd rogue swarms, the silthilar's skill at reshaping life is balanced by their respect for it, and they'll only work on voluntary test subjects or paying customers.
* ForcedTransformation: They can spend a full-round action by swarming a creature and subjecting it to a ''polymorph any object'' effect, transforming it into another living creature.
* HiveMind: Each mote of flesh that constitutes a silthilar is the physical embodiment of a piece of their race's lore, so a swarm of them creates a hive mind that can function as a single entity.
* KukrisAreKool: They favor kukris as melee weapons, and store them in dimensional pockets when in their swarm form.
* OneToMillionToOne: Silthilar can freely switch between their "swarm" form, a cloud of fleshy motes, and their "coalesced" forms, which are approximations of their original bodies.
* StarfishAliens: An individual silthilar mote is a half-inch mass of fleshy tendrils and bony hooks, but a cloud of such motes can coalesce into a human-sized shape with four arms and hands around its lower body, four hooked limbs around its upper body, and a mass of little tendrils for a "head" at the top.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sink Worm]]
[[quoteright:298:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sink_worm_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:298:2e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/DarkSun''\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

50-foot-long, maggot-like creatures that burst from sand or silt to swallow prey.
----
* DigAttack: They like to attack by bursting out of the sand from beneath their prey.
* {{Expy}}: Of all of ''D&D''[='s=] Sand Worm creatures, this one follows the TropeCodifier the closest, and even has the FlowerMouth and inward-facing teeth of the original ''Film/{{Dune|1984}}'' film design (though with more "petals").
* {{Intangibility}}: Aiding their movements through the sand is these worms' ability to "phase" through sand or rocky outcroppings, so long as this takes them less than 90 feet in one move. This ability also makes sink worms [[StealthyColossus oddly quiet for their gargantuan size.]]
* SandWorm: They're giant worms that rapidly burrow beneath the desert sands, showing a distinct sign of their passage, until they detect the vibrations of prey running across the sand and surface to try and swallow their victims.
* SwallowedWhole: They can swallow a man-sized target in a single attack if they roll well enough, after which the victim is subjected to ongoing damage in the worm's gullet until they either fight their way free or perish. "Two rounds after the victim reaches zero hit points, he is unrecoverable, except as small pieces."
* {{Wormsign}}: Sink worms get their name for how they leave a sunken depression in the sand behind them as they move, a byproduct of how they filter sand and silt through their gills to breathe beneath the surface. "In spite of this clear warning sign, few prey escape once a sink worm begins hunting them."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sirine]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sirine_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticNeutral

Ocean-dwelling female fey infamous for their bewitching songs.
----
* CantLiveWithoutYou: Sirines love the sea, and will wither away and die if confined away from the water. Somehow depriving them of their voices has a similar effect.
* CompellingVoice: Any creature who hears a sirine's singing has to save or succumb to a ''charm person'' effect that lasts for 11 hours.
* OneGenderRace: Much like dryads and nymphs, sirines are all female, and reproduce by mating with male humans, elves, tritons or merfolk to produce daughters with physical features indicative of their fathers' race.
* OurSirensAreDifferent: Sirines are fully-female creatures who indeed lure in passersby with their magical singing, but unlike their mythological source, most sirines aren't malicious, and will merely have some fun with their visitors for a few hours before going home. Unless defending their homes, sirines usually deal with aggressors by slipping away into the water, or using their Intelligence-draining attack and other magic to incapacitate their foe, before dumping them somewhere far away.
* ProtectThisHouse: While sirines are normally open to fun with strangers they meet out on the water, they keep cagey about the location of their actual homes, and about the only thing that can make a sirine violent is if someone gets close to their home, either by accident or by following the sirine.
* SkinnyDipping: Sirines commonly go without clothing while swimming.
* {{Stripperiffic}}: Sirines aren't known for wearing much when out of the water.
* StupidityInducingAttack: The touch of a sirine can deal [[NonHealthDamage Intelligence damage]] (in 3rd Edition) or reduce a creature's Int score to 2 (in 2nd Edition). A sirine can undo this effect, even if it was caused by another sirine, with another touch.
* UngratefulBitch: Sirines are notoriously untrusting of other creatures, and even if they accept someone's offer of aid, the sirine does not feel obligated to reward them for their service, and will treat them no differently than anyone else.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sirrush]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sirrush_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 24 (standard), 28 (three-headed) (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticNeutral

Large apex predators that stalk potential prey for up to a day before attacking with unrelenting fury. Some sirrushes are born with three heads, and often come to dominate packs of their kin.
----
* FoodChainOfEvil: Sirrushes hunt anything, but specialize in taking down dragons, which can feed a pack for a week (though this won't stop them from hunting other creatures for sport).
* LosingYourHead: Their armored bony plates do their best to avert this, and give sirrushes a saving throw against attacks from things like ''vorpal'' weapons that might otherwise cost them a head.
* PantheraAwesome: Unlike the Mušḫuššu, their chimeric inspiration from Myth/MesopotamianMythology, these sirrushes resemble 650-pound cats covered in dragon-like scales rather than fur.
* SuperScream: Every few rounds they can loose a stunning roar affecting all creatures in a 60-foot cone.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sisiutl]]
[[quoteright:249:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sisiutl_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:249:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 8 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulNeutral

Bizarre aquatic creatures often found guarding planar portals.
----
* BeastWithAHumanFace: They have a humanoid face, at the junction between its two additional, serpentine heads and necks.
* GiantAnimalWorship: These Huge creatures are occasionally revered as servants of ocean gods by coastal peoples, who give them offerings of seal meat and fish.
* OrganDrops: A sisiutl's blood can be rubbed on someone's skin to grant them the benefit of a 10th-level ''stoneskin'' spell. The problem is, this effect only lasts for ten minutes, the blood has to be fresh, and it washes off underwater.
* TakenForGranite: Sisiutls' DeadlyGaze petrifies victims.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: A sisiutl can transform itself into a self-propelled war canoe with a grinning humanoid face in its middle, usually to assist a worthy mortal.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Siv]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_siv_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''\\
'''Classificaton:''' Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

A race of batrachian humanoids known for their egotism, monastic traditions and manipulative natures.
----
* BareFistedMonk: Their favored class, though they favor the siangham, sling and net over their fists.
* FrogMen: Sivs are a descendent or creation of the Realms' batrachi [[{{Precursors}} creator race]], the same as the bullywugs. However, while powerful swimmers, sivs can't breathe underwater, and prefer to stay above the surface.
* TheManBehindTheMan: They prefer to operate like this -- for example, in the Realms, the Marsh of Chelimber is nominally ruled by Kront the Lizard King, but the sivs' Order of the Frog serves as the true power behind his throne.
* SmallNameBigEgo: As their entry puts it, "It's hard to be a race of self-assured elitist bigots in the Realms, a world full of magical races and mighty heroes, but the sivs try." The sivs' organization and intelligence lets them dominate the likes of bullywugs and lizardfolk in their home swamps, but they're constantly stymied whenever they try to expand into lands held by humanoids or goblinoids, and are honestly surprised by the difficulty they're having making inroads elsewhere.
* UnknownRival: In the Realms, the bullywugs consider the sivs their mortal foes, and constantly struggle against them for control of the swamps. "That's what the bullywugs think, anyway. The sivs know better: the war is over, and the bullywugs lost." The sivs only keep the bullywugs around as a buffer between them and the outside world, and because [[MonstrousCannibalism they find the bullywugs tasty.]]
* WalkOnWater: Sivs can move across the surface of still water as easily as they move across open ground by passing a simple Dexterity check. Water disturbed by small waves comes with a much higher Dexterity check, and they can't move this way if there are waves of six inches or higher, hence why the sivs prefer to stick to still bodies of water.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Skarn]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_skarn_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' Usually Lawful

Proud and sophisticated humanoids with reptilian spines on their forearms, calves and upper backs.
----
* BladeBelowTheShoulder: Their spines, which can grow to be a foot long but can flatten against their bodies for ease of movement, are natural weapons that deal as much damage as a short sword, and are empowered if the skarn has a soulmeld bound to their arms chakra. Skarns even have a PrestigeClass to focus on their spine-fighting, and a related martial organization, the Hierarchy of Spinemeld Warriors. Their spines are also useful as climbing aids, or to help with an Intimidation check.
* CantArgueWithElves: Skarns are proud going on arrogant, an insular people who are obsessed with pursuing their own perfection and are mainly indifferent towards other races, but "expect lesser folk to be awed in their magnificent presence." However, for all their potential arrogance, the skarns consider rude or insulting behavior to be in very poor taste, whether by the "inferior races" or themselves.
-->'''Ogava Basa:''' Nothing's perfect. But a skarn is close.
* GladiatorGames: Skarn society has a martial bent, and the aforementioned Hierarchy of Spinemeld Warriors holds ritualized fighting tournaments to hone their skills. Such bouts are not necessarily to the death, but can still be lethal, and while ''raise dead'' spells are available in case of mishaps, some combatants are fine with a death in the arena, and there are even special events where elderly skarns can [[DeathSeeker seek an honorable end in battle.]] Successful spine-fighters are second only to the skarn nobility in esteem, but must endure heightened scrutiny as well as the attentions of those nobles, which can lead to subsequent duels over wandering eyes and illicit liaisons.
* NayTheist: Downplayed; skarns believe they have attained near-"perfection of form" without divine help, and so venerate incarnum before any god. That said, they're not irreligious, and temples to Wee Jas are common in their communities.
* {{Precursors}}: Like their rilkan brothers, the skarns are the creation of the now-vanished mishtai, who infused themselves with incarnum in their pursuit of "perfection of form." As the skarns tell it, the mishtai were close to achieving a perfect body combined with a perfect mind, until a faction of libertines gave up on the project to pursue their own goals, becoming the rilkans. The skarns have never forgiven the rilkans for ruining the mishtai's grand experiment, and consider themselves the heirs to the mishtai's quest.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Skiurid]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_skiurid_3e.png]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Malicious creatures from the Plane of Shadow that can conjure pools of unnatural darkness to drain the life from their victims... okay, they're basically shadow squirrels.
----
* CastingAShadow: Skiurids can cast a variant of the ''darkness'' spell that also deals damage and potentially lowers the Strength of any non-shadow creatures caught in it.
* EyeOfNewt: If their "Chill Darkness" attack deals damage, it creates a nugget of coalesced shadow, which the skiurids use for food (and hoard like acorns). Spellcasters can use those shadow-nuggets as optional material components that have a 50% chance of improving a necromancy spell's effective caster level by two, so the things can sell for 1,000 gp apiece.
* HitAndRunTactics: These critters prefer to blanket their victims with damaging darkness, snatch the resulting nuggets of shadow, and then do a short-ranged teleport to make their escape.
* KillerRabbit: Yes, they're Shadowfell squirrels, but they tend to work in colonies, they're evasive little buggers, and there's no saving throw against the damage of that "Chill Darkness" attack. If they're run right, they can threaten even mid-level characters.
-->'''Gruthark:''' Go ahead. Laugh. I did, once. Once.
* ShadowWalker: They can teleport up to 30 feet per day so long as their entry and exit points are in shadowy places, and their "Chill Darkness" attack counts in this regard.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Skorenoi]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_skorenoi_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid or Fey (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' As base creature +1 (or +2 if Fey) (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Bestial beings corrupted by the fell god Chaos into misshapen brutes.
----
* BeastMan: All skorenoi were "bestial" races to begin with -- centaurs, satyrs, minotaurs, kyrie, and so forth -- while their transformation further blurs their humanoid and animalistic traits. The skorenoi pictured was originally a satyr, for example.
* BodyHorror: Along with their muddled features, skorenoi sport bluging muscles and veins, and red lumps on their bodies.
* DefeatEqualsExplosion: Skorenoi explode into a fireball when slain, dealing damage to all within 5 feet of them, as well as [[MooksAteMyEquipment the weapon used to deal the killing blow.]]
* ReforgedIntoAMinion: The first skorenoi were centaurs and later satyrs abducted by their rogue centaur chieftain Chrethon and corrupted by the evil treant Grimbough, turning them into loyal followers. However, other skorenoi have been spotted across Ansalon, suggesting that other disciples of Chaos know how to make them.
* UnholyNuke: As creations of Chaos, once day skorenoi can make a "Smite Law" attack.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Skrit]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_skrit_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:2e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Vermin (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

7-foot-long, carnivorous, desert-dwelling beetles, well-protected by their armored shells.
----
* BigCreepyCrawlies: They resemble Large, heavily-armored fleas.
* CraftedFromAnimals: Skilled smiths can convert a skrit's shell into armor the equal of banded mail. It's noted that other desert creatures similarly use dead skrits' shells as shelter, which in most cases is no danger to adventurers, unless [[AntAssault an enormous swarm of ants]] comes boiling out of a skrit shell.
* MatingSeasonMayhem: Skrits mate in the early spring, during which time their males become particularly aggressive as they compete for females, attacking anything that draws near.
* PoisonousPerson: Skrits' bites carry a nasty enzyme -- first it [[TheParalyzer paralyzes]] a victim for up to 18 ''hours'', then it dissolves the victim's flesh, dealing ongoing hit point (in 2E) or Constitution damage (in 3E) every hour until they're reduced to a "soupy, gelatinous mess" the skrit will then slurp up.
* ThatsNoMoon: They typically hunt by parking themselves among rocky outcroppings, passing themselves off as another stone formation until prey wanders close.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Skulk]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_skulk_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Greyhawk}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E, 5E), Natural Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (3E), 3 (4E), 1/2 (5E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil (2E-4E), ChaoticNeutral (5E)

Extremely stealthy humanoids who use their talents for murder.
----
* AntiTrueSight: 3rd Edition skulks are under a constant ''nondetection'' effect.
* AxeCrazy: Regardless of edition, skulks revel in bloodshed. Their 2nd Edition write-up mentions that they enjoy framing groups for their murders to sow violent discord in a society, in 3rd Edition they take particular pleasure in gruesomely slaying wealthy elites, and in 5th Edition they carry out the orders of their summoners in the most violent ways possible.
* BackStab: Their 2nd Edition write-up gives them the backstab ability of 5th-level thieves.
* ChameleonCamouflage: Traditionally, skulks can alter their skin tone to blend in with their surroundings. They can also adopt a "natural" skin color to try to pass for a human, but can be given away by their blue, pupil-less eyes.
* InvisibleMonsters: 5th Edition skulks are so devoid of identity that they're naturally invisible. Besides magic, there are [[SeeTheInvisible a few ways to spot them]]: skulks are visible in the reflections of mirrors or polished surfaces, they're revealed by the light of a candle made from the fat of an annonymous corpse... and humanoid children of ten years or under can see them just fine.
-->'''Mordenkainen:''' Some children have imaginary friends that their parents can't see. [[NotSoImaginaryFriend Sometimes these invisible friends aren't imaginary.]]
* {{Retcon}}: Their 3rd Edition lore was that skulks were the descendents of an ancient society's "untouchable" caste, who went through a ritual to make them trully beyond notice, allowing them to get their bloody revenge on their oppressors. In 5th Edition, skulks are instead the shells of those who became lost in the Shadowfell, to be summoned as invisible servants by a ritual.
* StealthExpert: Skulks leave no tracks, blend in with their surroundings, have natural bonuses to stealth rolls, can be hard to detect magically, and in 5th Edition are just plain invisible.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Skyfisher]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_skyfisher_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Aberration (standard) or Outsider (pernicious) (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (standard) or 7 (pernicious) (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral (standard), NeutralEvil (pernicious)

Hideous avian predators who snatch up victims in their claws, only to drop them to their deaths.
----
* FeatheredFiend: Even "normal" skyfishers are aberrant creatures who seem to enjoy despoiling the lands of Solamnia, and are known to attack humanoid children and adults. The so-called "pernicious skyfishers" are properly fiendish, surrounded by "a stench of brimstone and malice." Many cultures thus consider skyfishers to be omens of war and death.
* ItCanThink: Even an ordinary skyfisher is smarter than the average human, more than enough to understand Common, though they are TheSpeechless. The larger, fiendish skyfishers are positively brilliant.
* KidnappingBirdOfPrey: They're freakishly good at this. A Small, 150-pound skyfisher with a four-foot wingspan is somehow capable of carrying off a Medium-sized creature that weighs up to 200 pounds, while a Medium-sized "pernicious" skyfisher can fly while carrying a Large creature weighing up to 800 pounds. After a few rounds of carrying a victim skyward, the skyfisher will let their prey drop, letting FallingDamage do the work of killing them.
* MixAndMatchCritters: Skyfishers look something like [[BatOutOfHell bat]]-[[VileVulture vultures]], inheriting the worst traits of both species.
* WasOnceAMan: One folk legend is that the first skyfisher was a Knight of Solamnia who was cursed after "a moment of passion led to an act of betrayal and murder, transforming the knight into a dark reflection of the Order's kingfisher symbol."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Slaad]]
->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E), Elemental Humanoid (4E), Aberration (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/8 (slaad tadpole) to 10 (death slaad) (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticNeutral, ChaoticEvil (4E)

Toad-like humanoids native to the Ever-Changing Chaos of Limbo, who live to spread anarchy.
----
* BizarreAlienReproduction: Slaad reproduction centers on the activity of red and blue slaadi. Red slaadi implant small eggs into creatures when attacking with their claws, which after a week or so hatch into infant blue slaadi that eat their way out. Blue slaadi instead spread a disease called slaad fever through their bites, which causes victims to turn into red slaadi. If either method infects an arcane spellcaster, it instead produces a green slaad. Green slaadi can then transform into progressively stronger types of slaad.
* FrogMen: They are living embodiments of elemental chaos that just so happen to look like anthropomorphic frogs.
* GoneHorriblyWrong: The 5th Edition ''Monster Manual'' recounts that Primus, lord of the modrons, attempted to tame the chaos of Limbo by throwing a gigantic stone infused with the power of law into the rival plane's heart. While this did stabilize Limbo enough for modrons (and later githzerai) to shape some of its chaos into sustainable enclaves, the interaction between law and chaos spawned the slaadi, which proceeded to wipe out every modron in Limbo, while what came to be known as the Spawning Stone continued to create new slaadi to menace the power of law. For his part, Primus stands by his actions and chooses to ignore the slaadi.
* KidWithTheLeash: Slaadi that emerge from the Spawning Stone or come into contact with it develop a gem-like fragment of the thing in their brain. Should someone manage to extract this control gem from an incapacitated slaad, it is compelled to obey their commands, and cannot be charmed by anyone else.
* {{Metamorphosis}}: With the exception of the eternally low-ranked reds and blue, slaadi progress through a series of successive metamorphoses as they age, transforming into the next strongest type of slaad every hundred years -- green slaadi become grey slaadi, then death slaadi, then white slaadi, and finally black slaadi.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Green, grey and death slaadi can change into humanoid shape. They typically take on the form of whatever person they were spawned from, and they use this power to infiltrate humanoid societies and sow chaos.

!!Mud Slaad
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mud_slaad.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (3E)

The weakest of all slaad variants, mud slaadi exist outside of their kind's normal reproductive cycle and are viewed with derision and contempt by stronger slaadi.
----
* CowerPower: They can cringe in combat, a supernatural mind-affecting ability that can make opponents who fail a Will save balk at attacking the mud slaad.
* HealingFactor: Mud slaadi regenerate three hit points of health per round, although this doesn't allow them to recover health lost through privation, such as starvation, thirst or suffocation, or to regrow severed appendages.
* PlayingPossum: If critically injured, a mud slaad can collapse and feign death during their opponent's turn. It takes a high-level Sense Motive or Heal check to detect that the slaad is still alive.
* SuperScream: Mud slaadi can emit a loud screech that can deal sonic damage to creatures within thirty feet of them.
* ViralTransformation: When a mud slaad bites someone, it transmits a magical disease that, over the course of a week, transforms the victim into a new mud slaad.

!!Red Slaad
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/red_slaad.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 7 (3E), 5 (5E)

Red slaadi are simple, violent brutes, mostly used by their stronger kin as thugs.
----
* DumbMuscle: Red slaadi are very strong and aggressive, but also fairly stupid. Greater slaadi mostly use them as guards, bruisers and frontline brawlers; they aren't really good for much else.
* FaceFullOfAlienWingWong: A red slaad's claws are ovipositors. They can inject their eggs into the wounds of any humanoid creature they slash, and if the egg is not removed within three months, it will hatch into a slaad tadpole that tears its way out of the host in a messy and fatal fashion.
* FantasticRacism: They loathe blue slaadi, despite depending on the chaos phage they spread to reproduce.
* SuperScream: Red slaadi can emit loud, resounding croaks that leave non-slaad creatures stunned.
* WasOnceAMan: Red slaadi all began life as humanoids infected by the chaos phage that blue slaadi transmit, which over time cause them to mentally and physically transform into a new slaad.

!!Blue Slaad
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blue_slaad.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 8 (3E), 7 (5E)

Blue slaadi are big, strong, stupid bruisers only marginally smarter than red slaadi, with whom they share their foul tempers.
----
* ChestBurster: Blue slaadi are born when a red slaad's claw attack plants an egg pellet into another creature. About a week later, this hatches into an infant blue slaad that eats its way out of its host, killing it.
* DumbMuscle: Blue slaadi are technically smarter than reds, but only marginally so; their brute strength remains far and away their greatest asset.
* FantasticRacism: They detest red slaadi, but depend on them to infect humanoids with blue slaad tadpoles.
* ViralTransformation: When a blue slaad claws someone, it transmits a magical disease called chaos phage. If the victim is not able to fight off the phage and succumbs to it, they immediately transform into a slaad.

!!Green Slaad
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/green_slaad.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 9 (3E), 8 (5E)

When a spellcaster is infected by chaos phage or a red slaad's egg pellets, it becomes or produces a green slaad instead, who inherits greater intelligence, an even temper and magical abilities from its former self. Unlike their blue and red kin, who are perpetually confined to their low ranks and talents, green slaadi eventually mature into stronger slaad variants.
----
* EvilGloating: Green slaadi are very arrogant and haughty, and tend to waste time boasting, gloating and blustering during combat when they should be paying more attention to what their foes are doing.
* PlayingWithFire: Beyond being able to cast ''fireball'' once per day, in 5th Edition, green slaadi can hurl flames as a ranged attack at will.
* WasOnceAMan: Green slaadi often begin life as humanoid spellacasters who became infected by the chaos phage that blue slaadi transmit, which over time cause them to mentally and physically transform into a new slaad.

!!Gray Slaad
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_gray_slaad_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 10 (3E), 9 (5E)

A green slaad who reaches its first century retreats into isolation, returning as a smaller but more potent gray slaad. They serve the death slaadi, and may be dispatched by their masters to the Material Plane on dark errands.
----
* {{BFS}}: They master the greatsword at some point during their transformation, imbued with their magic.
* CannibalismSuperpower: What's one of the quickest ways for a gray slaad to promote itself? Eat a death slaad.
* ImmortalitySeeker: Their loyalty to the death slaadi is explained by the gray slaadi being fascinated with their superiors' power and near-immortality.

!!Death Slaad
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_death_slaad_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 13 (3E), 10 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticNeutral (2E), ChaoticEvil (3E, 5E)

Gray slaadi who undergo a mysterious ritual transform themselves into death slaadi. While physically they are little different from their previous form, their outlook is corrupted by evil, driving them to conscript lesser slaadi into campaigns to invade other planes.
----
* DeadlyGas: Death slaadi pick up the ability to cast ''cloudkill'' once per day.
* IndustrializedEvil: It is the death slaadi that most aggressively propagate new slaadi, by leading their kin to overrun small villages on other planes and turning them into prison/breeding camps, where the entire population is implanted with slaad tadpoles or chaos phage. Once the locals are dead and the next generation of slaadi is born, the death slaadi lead their army on to repeat the process.
* MakeThemRot: Their natural and greatsword attacks are infused with negative energy, dealing necrotic damage.

!!White Slaad
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/white_slaad.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 21 (3E)

If a death slaad survives for more than a century, it retreats into solitude to transform into a white slaad, a process that refocuses its mind away from evil and back to their purity of chaos.
----
* DoppelgangerAttack: White slaadi can summon up to six instances of themselves from their immediate past and future to attack a foe all at once.
* PowerGlows: White slaadi, the second most powerful variety of their kind, are marked by a soft white glow that emanates from every part of their bodies.
* SuperSpit: White slaadi can spit globs of chaos-stuff at foes up to sixty feet from them, which damages them over several rounds as the chaos attempts to break their bodies down.

!!Black Slaad
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/black_slaad.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 25 (3E)

Black slaadi are the final stage in the slaad life cycle, maturing from white slaadi whose light is exchanged for impenetrable shadows. Black slaadi are beings of chaos incarnate and immensely dangerous creatures, eclipsing even the might of most ancient dragons.
----
* LivingShadow: Black slaadi appear as masses of pure darkness, toad-shaped voids in creation broken only by a wide fanged grin and two eyes that gleam like stars.
* ShadowedFaceGlowingEyes: A black slaad's face, like the rest of its body, is a featureless mass of shadow from which two points of light peer out.
* SuperSpit: Like white slaadi, black slaadi can spit globs of raw chaos at foes, but their attack does twice as much damage.

!!Gormeel
[[quoteright:135:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_gormeel_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:135:3e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 10 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulNeutral

These slaadi are a fluke breed that are naturally Lawful, making them enemies of the rest of their kin and allies of the githzerai that have colonized parts of Limbo.
----
* HorseOfADifferentColor: They often carry githzerai into battle, either on their backs or in basket-like howdahs.
* HumanShifting: Of a sort; gormeel can freely ''polymorph'' between their true form and that of a githzerai.
* LizardFolk: While normal slaadi resemble humanoid frogs, gormeel are more reptilian, with lizard-like heads and a tendency to walk on their knuckles like apes.
* NoSell: Each round, a gormeel can freely alter its elemental affinity to give themselves immunity to spells with the air, earth, fire or water descriptors, as well as the corresponding energy type (electricity, acid, fire or cold).
* TheNoseKnows: They have the Scent ability.
* OxymoronicBeing: They embody one of the most paradoxical traits of chaos -- total randomness' ability to spontaneously create order and structure. As such, unlike other slaadi, gormeel are strictly LawfulNeutral.%%In-universe alignment.
* RandomEffectSpell: Gormeel's BreathWeapon is a 30-foot cone of raw Limbo material, which deals either acid, cold, electricity or fire damage based on a dice roll, and which can cause spellcasters subjected to the effect to roll on the Wild Magic table if they try to work magic the next turn.
* TrampledUnderfoot: They can deal a decent bit of bludgeoning damage to smaller foes they overrun.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Slasrath]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_slasrath_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 7 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Wormlike flying horrors with razor-sharp wings, often used as mounts by yugoloth cavalry or commanders.
----
* BioweaponBeast: The slasraths were created by an enslaved sorcerer from wormlike creatures for his yugoloth masters. Unfortunately for him, some of these first-generation slasraths escaped captivity and now menace the Bleak Eternity of Gehenna, leading that sorcerer-slave to become known as "Jehanu the [[FlayingAlive Flayed."]]
* HorseOfADifferentColor: Most slasraths serve as mounts for the yugoloths, controlled by magic rather than training, since the beasts are nearly mindless.
* PoisonousPerson: Their [[BewareMyStingerTail barbed stinger tails]] carry a virulent poison -- in 2nd Edition, this causes extreme disorientation that results in cumulative penalties on the victim's rolls until they expire six rounds later, while in 3rd Edition, the poison deals a dose of [[NonHealthDamage Strength and Dexterity damage as an initial effect, followed by a heavy amount of Constitution damage as a secondary effect.]]
* RazorWings: Slasraths can slash at anyone around them during a charge, dealing nasty damage and [[MooksAteMyEquipment potentially shredding their victim's armor.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Slithering Tracker]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_slithering_tracker_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Ooze (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Neutral (2E), ChaoticEvil (5E)

Watery slime monsters that can flow under doors and up walls after their quarry, then drain the life from them.
----
* AndIMustScream: While a 5th Edition slithering tracker maintains their intelligence and sentience after their transformation, most end up going mad from being trapped in a mute, bloodthirsty blob form, and after killing their original target go on a murderous rampage.
* HeWasRightThereAllAlong: When motionless, a slithering tracker is very hard to distinguish from a pool of non-murderous water.
* TheParalyzer: 2nd Edition slithering trackers can paralyze their victims for 12 hours, while it only takes them one hour to drain the plasma from a man-sized victim.
* RevengeBeforeReason: 5th Edition casts slithering trackers as the result of a ritual in which someone, whose thirst for revenge matters more than their own life, voluntarily transforms themselves into an ooze by magically draining their body of moisture. The subject's mind lives on in the new ooze, which goes off to murder the target of their ire.
* VampiricDraining: Once a slithering tracker grapples an enemy, it leaches plasma from their body (in 2nd Edition) or [[SinisterSuffocation starts to drown them]] while dealing [[MakeThemRot necrotic damage]] each turn (in 5th Edition).
* WallCrawl: These oozes can run up walls and even across ceilings without difficulty.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Slyth]]
[[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_slyth_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:150:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''\\
'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' Any Neutral

Beings who can assume an amorphous form, and consider themselves the caretakers of the Underdark.
----
* BlobMonster: Slyths have soft, round features in their humanoid form, and their signature ability is assuming a semisolid, amorphous form that gives them many ooze immunities and lets them squeeze through tight spaces. Any gear the slyth was wearing is transformed too, but they can't fight in blob form and their magic items don't function. They can only assume their alternate form for ten minutes per level, and have to spend as much time in humanoid form as they spent in ooze form before they can assume it again.
* LovedByAll: Their helpfulness and refusal to get involved in other races' wars means that the slyths have amicable relations with just about everyone in the Underdark. The exceptions are the mind flayers and aboleths, whom the slyths go out of their way to avoid.
* MultipleChoicePast: No one's sure where the slyth came from, whether they're descended from earth or water genasi, the result of aboleth experiments on humans or derro, or if a deity like Shar or Chauntea was involved in their creation.
* NatureHero: Slyths live in harmony with the natural world of the deep caverns, and consider it their duty to help others live the same way. They often become druids or rangers, looking after stretches of the Underdark, but also undertake missions to other subterranean races to give advice on animal husbandry, food cultivation or foraging underground.
* NoSell: They're immune to polymorphing and poison, can breathe underwater just fine, and resist sonic damage.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Soarwhale]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_soarwhale_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 15 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Creatures resembling colossal baleen whales that drift through the skies rather than the ocean. They're docile enough to be domesticated and used for transporting passengers and cargo.
----
* LivingGasbag: They're basically organic blimps 40 feet wide and 80 feet long, and can be outfitted with gondolas or howdahs to carry over 130,000 pounds.
* TheParalyzer: When threatened, a soarwhale can empty its air bladders as a defense mechanism. This causes the soarwhale to plummet a hundred feet before stabilizing, but leaves a cloud of gas in its prior position that can paralyze anything around it, which is very much a ''bad'' thing to have happen a mile above the ground.
* SpaceWhale: Of the "Air Whale" variant. Sages agree that the odds of such a thing occuring naturally are slim to none, but if some mage had a hand in soarwhales' creation, there are no records of it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sorrowsworn]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_the_angry_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The Angry (5e)]]
->'''Classification:''' Shadow Humanoid (4E), Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 25 (4E); 1/4 (the Wretched), 7 (the Lost), 9 (the Lonely), 11 (the Hungry), 13 (the Angry) (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned (4E), NeutralEvil (5E)

Creatures native to the Shadowfell, formed of congealed negative emotions felt by people who travel there.
----
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Each sorrowsworn personifies a different aspect of despair or distress.
* ExtremeOmnivore: These Hungry consume all life and energy they encounter, eating flesh and drinking screams.
* MultipleHeadCase: Each of the Angry has two heads, which constantly bicker with one another until they find something else to vent their wrath on.
* SupernaturalFearInducer: The Lost try to embrace any creatures they can reach, attempting to find solace in the contact. Aside from the horror of being embraced by such a thing, the victim experiences a flood of fear and panic.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Sorrowsworn are ''dangerous'' monsters, each being a powerful mid-game boss or late-game EliteMook. But they are also so utterly miserable that you have to feel sorry for them.
* YouWillNotEvadeMe: The Lonely launch their harpoon-like arms to drag their victims close.
* ZergRush: The Wretched are individually very weak, but gather in large packs to scour the Shadowfell for prey. When they find a creature, they surge forward to sink their fangs into their victims.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Souleater]]
[[quoteright:289:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_souleater_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:289:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 7 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Large, mist-shrouded fiends from the Gray Waste of Hades, feared for consuming the very essence of their victims.
----
* AchillesHeel: Their connection to negative energy makes them vulnerable to TurnUndead attempts, which can daze a souleater.
* LevelDrain: Souleaters emanate an aura of negative energy, which other creatures can feel as if a cold wind is swirling towards the monster. This automatically inflicts a negative level on all creatures within 30 feet, and also interferes with incarnum-using classes attempting to shape and bind soulmelds or allocate essentia.
* MonsterMouth: Their main features (and most dangerous weapons) are huge maws filled with MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily.
* SoulEating: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Unsurprisingly]], these fiends consume the souls of any creature that dies within their negative energy aura, gaining hit points as well as a long-lasting bonus on attack rolls and saving throws for every soul consumed. Anyone who becomes a souleater's prey cannot be revived until the fiend is destroyed, and even then it takes magic like ''true resurrection'', ''wish'' or ''miracle'' to bring them back.
* {{Telepathy}}: They are TheSpeechless, but can telepathically communicate with anyone who has a language.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Soulspark]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_soulspark_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (least) to 7 (greater) (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticNeutral, LawfulNeutral, NeutralGood, or NeutralEvil

Sentient embodiments of incarnum, which can form spontaneously or at the behest of a meldshaper.
----
* DivertingPower: Soulsparks have an essentia reserve, which they can invest into a HealingFactor, or bonuses to attacks or defense, as needed on a round-by-round basis.
* {{Familiar}}: They can be created to serve as such by a meldshaper, growing more powerful based on which chakra they're bound to.
* NonElemental: They attack with "soul blast"s that deal undefined damage.
* OurSoulsAreDifferent: Soulsparks are made of incarnum, the magical essence of souls in the multiverse, though not any singular soul in particular, and fortunately a soulspark's destruction doesn't have any negative effect on the souls involved.
* WillOTheWisp: They're a spin on the trope, being free-floating balls of light that can be as dim as a candle or as bright as a sunrod, though they're considered native outsiders rather than aberrations, as 3rd Edition will-o-wisps were classified. Soulsparks tend to act according to their alignments, so evil ones will look for opportunities to harm other creatures when they least suspect it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Space Clown]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_space_clowns_5e.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:349:5e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Fiend (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Fiend-tainted clowns who prowl Wildspace in garish starships, or set up carnival tents on worlds to lure in victims.
----
* DefeatEqualsExplosion: When slain, space clowns pop like balloons, splashing adjacent creatures with acid.
* ElectricJoybuzzer: Not explicit, but they do have a "Shock" melee attack that deals a good bit of lightning damage.
* HelplessWithLaughter: Their colorful ray guns deal psychic damage, and can also cause victims to be incapacitated with laughter as they find everything they see or hear to be hilariously funny.
* ImAHumanitarian: They feed upon humanoid flesh.
* LieToTheBeholder: Three times per day they can take on a phantasmal form, cloaking themselves in an illusion to appear to be something like a child or floating balloon, though one that won't hold up to close physical inspection.
* MonsterClown: [[RecycledInSpace In SPACE!]] Once mortal worshippers of a god of revelry, they were transformed into fiends after becoming addicted to the elixir "Thrill Joy," distilled from demon ichor and the nectar of the bozo flower. An encounter with the dohwar led to the space clowns acquiring ''spelljammer helms'' and spreading across the multiverse, bringing the "love and fear of clowns" with them.
* ShoutOut: You could call them [[Film/KillerKlownsFromOuterSpace killer clowns from Wildspace.]]
* WithCatlikeTread: Subverted; their squeaky shoes can be heard up to 30 feet away, and interfere with any attempts at stealth, except this squeaking is silenced when a space clown dons an illusory disguise.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Space Hamster]]
[[quoteright:235:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_giant_space_hamster_5e.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:235:Giant space hamster (5e)]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Beast (giant), Monstrosity (miniature) (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/4 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned (giant), NeutralGood (miniature)

Bear-sized rodents introduced to Wildspace by gnomes, to serve as pack animals, livestock and even power sources. Wizards have also used magic to miniaturize giant space hamsters, which are sometimes introduced to Material Plane worlds and come to be known as "hamsters."
----
* AlienAnimals: 5th Edition asserts that when a giant space hamster is magically miniaturized, the resulting creature becomes smarter and telepathic. Sure enough, space hamsters have a slightly higher Intelligence than ogres and are sapient enough to have an alignment, but they usually keep their telepathic abilities hidden from other creatures.
* ExplosiveBreeder: Giant space hamsters grow to maturity in two years, can have several litters per year, and remain fertile for half their 18-year lifespan. Fortunately, they're easy prey for carnivores, which can keep a wild population in check.
* FantasticLivestock: Gnomes find giant space hamster meat, or "spaham," quite tasty. So do githyanki.
* GoForTheEye: Tiny space hamsters can make a [[VideoGame/BaldursGate "Go for the Eyes"]] attack, potentially blinding an opponent for a round.
* HamsterWheelPower: Gnomish spelljammer ships sometimes use giant space hamster wheels as a power source.
* OxymoronicBeing: The miniature giant space hamster.
* UndergroundMonkey: Taken to the point of self-parody. The 2E ''Monstrous Compendium -- Spelljammer Appendix I'' explains that the "worst aspect of the giant space hamster (aside from its ludicrous existence)" is how easily new variants of it can be created by gnomish breeders. Mentioned but not statted are the woolly, mottled, ochre, Oriental, Occidental, chartreuse, spotted, not-quite-so-spotted, only-a-little-spotted, plaid, cave-dwelling, three-toed, lesser, greater, greater lesser, lesser greater, albino and flightless giant space hamster subspecies. And then there are the ''really'' weird ones: subterranean, sabre-toothed, rather wild, [[{{Invisibility}} invisible]], sylvan/jungle, armor-plated, [[PoisonousPerson yellow musk]], ethereal (a misnomer: only their flesh is, giving them the disturbing appearance of a giant skeletal hamster), carnivorous flying, [[MultipleHeadCase two-headed]] [[HealingFactor Lernaen]] [[GassHole bombardier]], [[BreathWeapon fire-breathing]] [[{{Intangibility}} phase]] [[VoluntaryShapeshifting doppelganger]], great horned, and [[BigfootSasquatchAndYeti abominable]] giant space hamsters, and of course the [[PaperTiger huge but harmless]] ''Tyrannohamsterus rex''. There are also legends of a "giant space hamster of ill omen," also known as Woolly Rupert, said to be colossal, intelligent, a powerful spellcaster, and prone to squashing any gnomes he comes across beneath his fearsome paws.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Spawn of Juiblex]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_spawn_of_jubilex_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Elemental (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (lesser), 10 (greater), 14 (elder) (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Revolting masses of infernal slime spawned from the Demon Lord of Ooze.
----
* CombatTentacles: A spawn of Juiblex can cover foes with a thick coat of slime and subsequently animate it, causing the slime to sprout tentacles and attack nearby creatures.
* ExtraEyes: About the only features these fetid oozes have are lots of red eyes dotting their surface, glaring hatefully and hungrily at any creatures around them.
* GiantWallOfWateryDoom: Elder spawns of Juiblex are Gargantuan slime monsters, so they're capable of doing this on their own. Stories speak of them blotting out the sun like a tidal wave before crashing over a town, leaving only ruins and bones behind.
* GoneHorriblyWrong: These monsters were created when Zuggtmoy, Demon Queen of Fungi, attempted to banish her rival demon lord to another plane. Instead she succeeded in sending part of Juiblex's essence to the Elemental Plane of Water, where it polluted the elemental matter around it until the natives evicted the source of corruption. This inadvertantly created a "Demiplane of Filth" inhabited by the rogue shard of Juiblex's essence, while scattering the spawn of Juiblex across the Material Plane at the same time.
* MuckMonster: A spawn of Juiblex is a nauseating mass of toxic sludge, capable of flowing over even difficult terrain faster than a man can run. Anything engulfed by it takes damage and may be sickened, or even suffer [[NonHealthDamage Constitution damage]] from the larger specimens.
* NonElemental: The damage dealt by this demonic sludge's corrupting touch is undefined, so there are few defenses against it.
* SupernaturalFearInducer: Spawn of Juiblex are so horrific in appearance that other creatures have to save or be forced to retreat from the monsters.
* TrulySingleParent: Once it has consumed enough food, a spawn of any size splits off a new lesser spawn.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Spawn of Tiamat]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_spawn_of_tiamat_3e.jpg]]
->''Yes. I am blessed. I have borne Tiamat's child in Her stead. Holy be Her plans, and may those that use this godslayer come to fruition... swiftly.''
-->-- '''Kazeranthamus, blue dragon'''

Tiamat, Goddess of Evil Dragonkind, has struggled against her brother Bahamut in an eons-long conflict known as the Dragonfall War. In an effort to tip the balance decisively in her favor, Tiamat has exerted her influence on the eggs of chromatic dragons, causing them to hatch into a wide variety of dragonblooded creatures that have since bred true. Individually, each of these dragonspawn is a dangerous predator or soldier, but together they form a terrible army meant to conquer the world for the the Chromatic Dragon Queen. Dragonspawn usually congregate in packs with their own kind, but willingly work with chromatic dragons, or even other evil creatures such as hobgoblins -- but those allies should remember that the spawn of Tiamat are ultimately loyal only to their creator.
----
* BeastOfBattle: All of the non-humanoid spawn of Tiamat can serve effectively as war-beasts or mounts.
* DraconicHumanoid: Some spawn of Tiamat are bipedal, and classified as Monstrous Humanoids in 3rd Edition.
* DragonKnight: Their (dragonblood) subtype qualifies them for various feats and {{Prestige Class}}es with this theme, meaning that an above-average spawn can easily pick up additional powers like wings or attacks which channel the element of their parent's BreathWeapon.
* ElementalPowers: All spawn of Tiamat are immune to the energy type associated with their "parent" dragon breed, and many have attacks that deal the same energy damage as well.
* FriendlyFireproof: Conferred by the "Tiamat's Blessing" ability certain dragonspawn share. For example, bluespawn stormlizards will grant any other spawn within 5 feet (this includes their riders) immunity to electricity, even if they have a non-blue dragon heritage.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: All dragonspawn have an obvious draconic heritage, but they fall short of being classified as true Dragons, and instead have the (dragonblood) subtype. This means that they are classified as either Magical Beasts or Monstrous Humanoids, but certain spells and magic items affect them as if they were true Dragons.

!!Blackspawn Raider
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_blackspawn_raider_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid\\
'''Challenger Rating:''' 4 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Cunning and vicious hunters that only put aside their competition for kills when faced with the prospect of slaying a metallic dragon.
----
* BreathWeapon: They can breathe a line of acid.
* GlorySeeker: Blackspawn raiders constantly compete for the glory of killing the biggest and most dangerous targets.
* {{Matriarchy}}: Their leaders are "spawnmothers" who have at least five living adult children. Since blackspawn raiders are Chaotic Evil, this leads to vicious politics where spawnmothers try to get each others' children killed in dangerous assignments, or steal eggs from fertile mothers to increase their own standing.
* {{Ninja}}: Their best ambushers train to become "exterminators," taking ranks in the ninja class.
* ReligiousBruiser: They're vicious killers, but blackspawn raiders take their role as "the Children of Tiamat" seriously, and when they slay and ritualistically devour metallic dragons, they consider it an act of worship.

!!Blackspawn Stalker
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_blackspawn_stalker_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 9 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Horrible combinations of dragon and spider, and expert hunters and trappers.
----
* BreedingCult: Blackspawn stalkers believe that the best way to serve Tiamat is by breeding her the ultimate servant. As such, they try to reproduce as much as possible, forming mated pairs and distributing their eggs among a half-dozen nests each year.
* GiantSpider: They're Large-sized, spider-like creatures with a 10-foot legspan and weigh 5,000 pounds.
* ProjectileWebbing: They can throw webs like nets to entangle creatures.
* SuperSpit: Rather than an official breath weapon, blackspawn stalkers can spit globs of acid at a single target up to 60 feet away.

!!Bluespawn Ambusher
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_bluespawn_ambusher_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classifiaction:''' Magical Beast\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 4 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

These pack hunters bury themselves underground before bursting out to attack prey with their claws, horns and electricity bursts.
----
* DigAttack: Bluespawn ambushers can burrow through earth and stone as fast as they can walk, and will either lie in wait beneath the surface until prey approaches, or burrow towards prey before erupting to the attack.
* HornAttack: They can make gore attacks with their facial horns, unlike proper blue dragons with which they share a skull structure.
* ShockAndAwe: They can periodically blast anything within 10 feet with electrcity, and in protracted combats usually duck back underground while this ability recharges.

!!Bluespawn Burrower
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_bluespawn_burrower_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 9 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

Other dragonspawn use these creatures to erect earthworks or glass monuments to their queen, but they're just as capable in combat thanks to their massive claws and electrified tails.
----
* BewareMyStingerTail: Their tails are not just spiked like the heads of maces, they also constantly crackle with electricity for additional damage.
* ElementalBarrier: Bluespawn burrowers carry a potent electrical charge that lashes out at anything that grapples or makes a melee attack aginst them, and enemies wearing metal armor take a penalty on the resulting saving throw.
* ShockAndAwe: They can make a conical "lightning sweep" attack three times per day.

!!Bluespawn Godslayer
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_bluespawn_godslayer_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classifiaction:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E), Natural Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 10 (3E), 22 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil (3E), Evil (4E)

Giant draconic humanoids that excel at killing dragons and extraplanar creatures.
----
* CraftedFromAnimals: Their huge, heavy shields are crafted from dragon skulls.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Between their arrogance and [[HunterOfHisOwnKind talent at killing fellow dragonblooded creatures]], other spawn of Tiamat, and even dragons who aren't wholly devoted to Tiamat, tend to hate and fear godslayers.
* HunterOfMonsters: Godslayers get damage bonuses when fighting dragons or outsiders.
* PunchedAcrossTheRoom: They make liberal use of their Awesome Blow feat to send enemies flying, while keeping close enough to hit them again when their victim tries to get off the ground.
* ShockAndAwe: Their enormous swords don't have enchantments on them to deal lightning damage, all the electricity crackling around them is coming from their wielders.
* SterilityPlague: Unlike most spawn of Tiamat, bluespawn godslayers are sterile and can only be born to blue dragon parents who have earned Tiamat's favor, or are lairing near an enemy the Dragon Queen wants dead. This just makes bluespawn godslayers consider themselves Tiamat's favorites.

!!Bluespawn Stormlizard
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_bluespawn_stormlizard_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

These draconic quadrupeds serve ably as war mounts, crashing into the enemy like rhinos and electrifying foes caught between them.
----
* AngstySurvivingTwin: Any bluespawn stormlizard that survives the loss of its sibling will fly into a berserk rage until it too is slain. Even simple separation can be dangerous, with the stormlizard refusing to eat until its sibling returns.
* CombinationAttack: Bluespawn stormlizards don't just generate electricity, it arcs between them and others of their kind. As a swift action they can cause a line of electricity to fire from their horn to another stormlizard within 100 feet, dealing damage to anything in a line between the two spawn.
* HereditaryTwinhood: All bluespawn stormlizards are born same-sex twins hatched from the same eggs. They spend their lives together, take another pair of twins as mates, and use the same lair for egg laying. Once the resulting sets of twins are born, the pairs break up, taking the twins of the same sex with them to raise them.
* HornAttack: They can make devastating gore attacks with their horn on a charge.
* ShockAndAwe: Aside from arcing electricity between their horns, bluespawn stormlizards can fire a 100-foot line of electricity every few rounds.

!!Greenspawn Leaper
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_greenspawn_leaper_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:349:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

These agile creatures are swift climbers, allowing them to serve as arboreal predators or mounts for smaller spawn of Tiamat.
----
* CombatPragmatist: Greenspawn leapers compete by challenging each other to races through the forest canopy, with the loser being the first to slip up and fall or balk at attempting a jump or risky climb. They're cunning enough creatures to deliberately fall behind in an attempt to bait an opponent into being the first to reach what they know is a dangerously weak tree branch.
* CompeteForTheMaidensHand: During their triannual mating season, male greenspawn leapers invade a female's territory, racing against each other for the right to breed with her. This means that the lucky winner faces a long trip home once the female tires of him, and they may cross several rival males' territory only to find that their home stretch of forest has been claimed by a neighbor.
* PoisonousPerson: Once per day, a greenspawn leaper can release a cloud of poison that affects everything within 5 feet of them. The poison is absorbed through the skin, at which point it converts to acid and damages victims.
* WallCrawl: They have an impressive climb speed, which is usually employed to scramble through the forest canopy of their preferred territory, but can be applied elsewhere if the leapers join an army of other spawn of Tiamat.

!!Greenspawn Razorfiend
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_greenspawn_razorfiend.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 7 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

These voracious predators use their modified wings as weapons, and are equally dangerous in forests and swamps.
----
* BreathWeapon: They can spray a cone of acid every few rounds (since 3rd Edition's green dragons dealt acid damage with their breath weapons rather than poison damage).
* DragonHoard: Unlike most spawn of Tiamat, greenspawn razorfiends have inherited a proper draconic instinct for hoarding treature, and will collect coins and other shiny valuables in their lairs.
* InASingleBound: Greenspawn razorfiends can't quite fly with their wings, but they can use them to assist with jumping, resulting in a whopping +22 bonus on such skill checks.
* RazorWings: Their claw-tipped wings hit as hard as greatswords and have the Augmented Critical trait, so they're more likely to deal a CriticalHit.

!!Greenspawn Sneak
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_greenspawn_sneak_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

These small draconic humanoids serve the armies of Tiamat as scouts and skulkers.
----
* BackStab: They can deal Sneak Attack damage like Rogues against flanked or flat-footed foes.
* InHarmonyWithNature: Greenspawn sneaks are an interesting variant. Their outposts, positioned in woods or marshland bordering what they consider to be enemy territory, have a surprisingly small impact on the local ecosystem, since the sneaks have slow metabolisms and don't need to hunt much, and supplement their diets with wild plants they tend. But this isn't out of any love or respect for nature so much as a desire to evade detection by their victims.
* StealthExpert: Greenspawn sneaks have respectable bonuses on Hide and Move Silently checks, and are wholly dedicated to their roles as the reconnaissance arm of Tiamat's forces.

!!Greenspawn Zealot
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_greenspawn_zealot_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classifiaction:''' Monstrous Humanoid\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

Draconic humanoids who serve as the religious leaders of Tiamat's forces, and support other dragonspawn on the field of battle.
----
* LifeDrain: Their "Touch of Tiamat" ability deals damage to enemies they touch and simultaneously heals a dragon or dragonblooded creature (potentially the greenspawn zealot making the attack), up to a certain number of points of damage per day.
* ThePoliticalOfficer: Greenspawn zealots are essentially commissars, ensuring that other spawn of Tiamat are properly decidated to the Dragon Queen's cause. While this earns them the resentment of the more chaotic dragonspawn, few dare oppose Tiamat's faithful. This trait may make the greenspawn zealots the most dangerous spawn of Tiamat, as while they aren't the most powerful of her children, they are often the motivational force that marshalls their fellow dragonspawn into effective armies.
* WarriorMonk: They live in monasteries and temples dedicated to Tiamat, where they train in warcraft and commune with their goddess.

!!Redspawn Arcaniss
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_redspawn_arcaniss_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classifiaction:''' Monstrous Humanoid\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

These draconic sorcerers provide magical support to Tiamat's armies, with a predictable affinity for destructive fire magic.
----
* BornAsAnAdult: While most spawn of Tiamat age rapidly, redspawn arcanisses are hatched fully-grown and adult-sized, with an instinctive grasp of their spells. After a week of instruction on the lay of the land and their place in the world, they're ready to go off and form a new warband.
* FeedItWithFire: They're not just immune to fire effects, they're healed by them. This includes their own fire spells, so redspawn arcanisses will happilly drop a ''fireball'' on themselves to recover health and damage foes in the same stirke.
* MageSpecies: All Redspawn Arcaniss are natural sorcerers.
* PlayingWithFire: Redspawn arcanisses cast fire spells at a boosted level. That said, they're not so obsessed with fire [[PoorPredictableRock that they use it exclusively]], so they also know spells like ''Melf's acid arrow'' or ''magic missile'' to bring against fire-resistant targets.
* ReligiousBruiser: They consider themselves "the Burning Ones of Tiamat," her favored children who will purge the world of nondragons and rule over what remains, and study a holy text called the ''Scrolls of Fire'' that was purportedly written by Tiamat herself.

!!Redspawn Berserker
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_redspawn_berserker_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 8 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Ogre-sized draconic humanoids that fight as brutal shock infantry.
----
* TheBerserker: Subverted; despite their name, redspawn berserkers never go out of control during combat, and their entry notes that while they are innately chaotic creatures, they're unfailingly obedient to Tiamat or her representatives.
* CounterAttack: Redspawn berserkers prioritize attacking opponents who injured them with a melee strike in the previous round of combat, and gain a damage bonus against such foes.
* CraftedFromAnimals: They're depicted with dragon-skull shields and boney morningstars, suggesting they've converted their conquests into wargear.

!!Redspawn Firebelcher
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_redspawn_firebelcher_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Natural Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (3E), 12 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil (3E), Unaligned (4E)

These lumbering creatures can serve other dragonspawn as mounts, or as living artillery pieces.
----
* DumbMuscle: Redspawn firebelchers are rock stupid, with an Intelligence score of 1, dumber than some mundane animals. But they're just smart enough to be trained to work with other dragonspawn, after eating only a few of their kin.
* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: They're compared to crocodiles in general appearance and behavior, only they lounge around lava pools rather than in water.
* SuperSpit: They can "belch" fire up to 60 feet away, dealing heavy damage to targets directly hit by the attack, and lesser damage to those adjacent to that target.

!!Whitespawn Hordeling
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_whitespawn_hordelings_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

The weakest dragonspawn, these small draconic humanoids are nomadic predators barely more intelligent than animals.
----
* BreathWeapon: They can breathe a 30-foot cone of ice every few rounds for a bit of cold damage.
* TheHorde: Their only "organization," until other spawn of Tiamat rope them into a proper army, is as wandering bands of up to 150 hordelings.
* ZergRush: Their sole strategy in combat.

!!Whitespawn Hunter
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_whitespawn_hunter_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 4 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Brutish but crafty, these draconic humanoids are adept stalkers.
----
* TheBerserker: They derive status from strength and displays of aggression, so any who can fly into a battle rage become the tribe's leaders.
* ChainPain: Their berserkers carry spiked chains into battle.
* MadeASlave: Whitespawn hunters aren't smart, but can see the value of slave labor, whether captive humanoids or the smaller, weaker whitespawn hordelings. Such slaves tend not to last long, and are unceremoniously eaten once they succumb to their poor conditions.
* TheSocialDarwinist: Whitespawn hunter society, such as it is, is all about the strong persevering over the weak. Their eggs are abandoned with the expectation that the hatchlings will fight and devour their weaker siblings, their coming-of-age ritual involves two hunters bringing down prey but only one returning to the tribe with it, and they'll even turn on white dragons in desperate times. As a result, they view other whitespawn hunter tribes as rivals to be driven off, enslaved or eaten.

!!Whitespawn Iceskidder
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_whitespawn_iceskidder_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

These draconic creatures are uniquely adapted for rapid movement across ice.
----
* BreathWeapon: They cna breate a 30-foot cone of ice that deals damage and can partially freeze victims in place, with effects similar to that of a ''tanglefoot bag''.
* MyRulesAreNotYourRules: Their clawed feet are apparently organic ice skates, allowing whitespawn iceskidders to ignore all terrain penalties related to snow or icy ground, and succeed on Balance checks caused by ice or cold magic.
* WingsDoNothing: They're depicted with wings, but have no flight speed or wing attacks.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Spectral Lurker]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_spectral_lurker_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 17 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Huge, tentacled predators who haunt dungeons, emerging from solid surfaces to ambush their prey.
----
* {{Intangibility}}: They're naturally incorporeal, and prone to lurking within solid objects until victims come within reach of their tentacles.
* MistakenIdentity: Spectral lurkers' tentacles and mouth give off a faint white glow, sometimes causing them to be mistaken for odd ghosts.
* TentacleRope: They can grab and constrict foes with their tentacles for additional damage.
* TeleFrag: Spectral lurkers have the power to "incorporealize" victims held by their tentacles, an effect that lasts until the monster lets go. They thus like to hunt by grabbing prey, yanking them into a material object, and then releasing their victim -- the re-corporealizing creature gets shunted out of the object, taking unavoidable, nonspecific damage in the process, a tactic the spectral lurker repeats until their victim is dead.
* TouchTheIntangible: A spectral lurker's teeth and tentacles are treated as having the ''ghost touch'' property, allowing them to affect corporeal and ethereal targets alike.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Spelleater]]
[[quoteright:325:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_spelleater_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:325:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Dragon (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 14 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticNeutral

Saurian monsters with the intelligence of dragons and the power to absorb magic.
----
* BioweaponBeast: Spelleaters were created by dragons in ancient times to combat the rise of humanoid wizards, but turned out to be nearly as dangerous to their creators as they were to their intended prey. The dragons attempted to purge their creations, which is why the descendants of the spelleaters who survived continue to avoid true dragons.
* FeedItWithFire: Any time an attacker fails to overcome a spelleater's spell resistance, the monster converts the energy into a beneficial effect that lasts for a few rounds -- a bonus on attack and damage rolls, {{damage reduction}}, [[HealingFactor fast healing]], or a [[AntiMagic magic-dampening field]] that reduces nearby spellcasters' effective caster level.
* MageHuntingMonster: Spelleaters were bred to be this, and their burning, instinctive urge to target spellcasters can lead them to ignore more dangerous threats in favor of hounding a mage. Spelleaters are fully aware of this proclivity, which is part of the reason they try to make their lairs far from civilization.
* SupernaturalSensitivity: They can ''detect magic'' at will, allowing the spelleater to identify any mages and try and provoke them into casting a spell they can devour.
* WaddlingHead: They're more or less a Huge, quadrupedal example.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Spellgaunt]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_spellgaunt_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 12 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Oversized arachnids that destroy magical items with their jaws, feeding on the arcane energy released.
----
* GiantSpider: They look like gold-furred spiders ten feet long, though spellgaunts have fanged mouths rather than mandibles.
* MagicEater: They consume the energy released when their disjunctive bites destroy a magic item. This can backfire horribly should a spellgaunt attempt to feed on a magical artfiact, which forces them to make a saving throw or [[PhlebotinumOverdose die instantly from the overwhelming energy.]] Spellgaunts can also be dumb about how they go after magical auras -- in one case, a monster detected a swarm of magical blades conjured by a spellcaster, ran headlong into them, and got sliced to pieces.
* MooksAteMyEquipment: Spellgaunts' "disjunctive bite" attacks go even further than a DispelMagic effect, which merely suppresses magical effects for a few rounds, by instead forcing magic items they chomp on to save or ''permanently'' lose their enchantment. Significantly, this has a 1-in-3 chance of applying even to magical artifacts, which normally require extreme measures to destroy.
* ProjectileWebbing: Spellgaunts can throw webs, but theirs are made of [[PureEnergy invisible force]] and thus can affect even ethereal creatures. These webs hang around for up to four hours, and can only be destroyed by spells like ''disintegrate'' or items like a ''rod of cancellation.''
* SupernaturalSensitivity: Spellgaunts can see magic auras in their direct line-of-sight, out to 120 feet.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Spellscale]]
[[quoteright:271:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_spellscale_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:271:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' Any

A vivacious race of humanoids easily identified by their fine, lustrous scales, and infamous for their mercurial temperament and whimsical nature.
----
* DraconicHumanoid: Downplayed. Spellscales are humanoids with draconic heritage, but in terms of appearance look more like elves with scaly skin and tiny claws -- possibly an adaptation of the original appearance of the half-dragon.
* DragonAncestry: They have the dragonblooded subtype, and more significantly, spellscales can undertake a daily "blood-quickening meditation" to attune themselves to a draconic deity, gaining different bonuses based on the deity in question. For example, to honor Astilabor the Hoardmistress, a spellscale might tabulate the net worth of their gear, gaining a bonus on Appraise checks and unlimited use of the Eschew Materials feat, while another day that spellscale might honor Bahamut by reflecting on the differences between metallic dragon breeds, gaining the ability to smite evil creatures with magic a few times that day.
* InLoveWithLove: Spellscales throw themselves wholeheartedly into romantic relationships of any kind -- falling helplessly in love with a total stranger, enjoying an illicit tryst, pining for someone unattainable, or suffering through a MayflyDecemberRomance or an unfaithful spouse -- before growing bored and finding love again. Other races describe spellscales as eternal adolescents, but it should be noted that they ''do'' care for their partners and their relationships, though melodramatic and often short-lived, are genuine.
* MageSpecies: Spellscales are all born to powerful sorcerers, however distantly, and in return have a very strong racial proclivity for the sorcerer's arts.
* RacialTransformation: There is a magical rite by which a spellscale can permanently transform a willing humanoid into another spellscale. Unfounded conspiracy theories hold that the transformation can also be forced.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Spell Weaver]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_spell_weaver_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Monstrous Humanoid (3E), Immortal Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 10 (3E), 28 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral (3E), Unaligned (4E)

Multi-armed beings from an alternate Material Plane, known for their adept spellcasting and for coveting magic items.
----
* ArtEvolution: Spell weavers' 2nd Edition art had them eschewing clothing, and mixed humanoid, reptilian and insectoid features. In 3rd Edition, they wear robes and have avian faces instead.
* TheCaper: These creatures are normally solitary, but sometimes several spell weavers will organize into a raiding party to go after a specific magic item, usually after months of magical and mundane investigation and preparation.
* InscrutableAliens: Spell weavers sometimes leave written notes behind after they commit a theft. On the rare occasion they're in a legible language, they're so rambling and bizarre that they don't explain anything about what's going on.
* {{Invisibility}}: Spell weavers can cast the spell at will, and frequently use it to steal a magic item before escaping via ''plane shift''.
* ManaPotion: Each spell weaver carries a six-inch-wide chromatic disc that constantly shifts color through the visible spectrum, which can "recharge" up to six spell levels per day. These discs are indestructible, unless a non-spell weaver should attempt to use them, in which case they [[UnusableEnemyEquipment detonate for up to 40 damage in a 30-foot radius.]]
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: But not in direct combat -- despite their six arms, spell weavers only have two slam attacks for pathetic damage in 3rd Edition. Instead, spell weavers can use their arms to cast multiple spells at once, so long as the spells' total levels don't exceed their number of arms. So they could cast one 6th-level spell per turn, a 4th-level and a 2nd-level spell, three 2nd-level spells, and so forth.
* NoSell: Spell weavers' alien thought patterns render them immune to any mind-affecting spells or abilities. Similarly, anyone attempting to make mental contact with them [[AMindIsATerribleThingToRead has to save or go temporarily insane,]] suffering the effects of a ''confusion'' spell for up to six days.
* OminousOwl: Their heads are decidedly owl-like, if devoid of feathers, and they can twist their long necks to look in any direction.
* {{Telepathy}}: Spell weavers don't speak, but can communicate telepathically with one another to a range of a thousand miles. The most they try to interact with other creatures is by leaving rambling and confusing notes for humanoids to find.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sphinx]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_gynosphinx_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Gynosphinx (5e)]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Immortal Magical Beast (4E), Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (hieracosphinx), 7 (criosphinx), 8 (gynosphinx), 9 (androsphinx) (3E); 16 (4E); 11 (gynosphinx), 17 (androsphinx) (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticGood (androsphinx), TrueNeutral (criosphinx, gynosphinx) (3E), ChaoticEvil (hieracosphinx); LawfulNeutral (androsphinx, gynosphinx) (5E)

Winged, leonine beasts with the heads of various other creatures and rather peculiar reproductive behavior.
----
* BizarreSexualDimorphism: Up until 5th Edition, sphinxes were infamous for this and their mating habits. Of the classic four varieties, the only female sphinxes are gynosphinxes, who want to breed with androsphinxes, but the males have no interest in sex and need to be bribed or coerced into it, to the point that gynosphinxes will pay adventurers handsomely for leads on an androsphinx. These are the only couplings that produce andro- and gynosphinxes, sometimes in the form of fraternal twins. The ram-headed criosphinxes lust after gynosphinxes, but the latter find them repulsive, resulting in the criosphinxes trying to either bribe the females, or entrap them in their lairs, resulting in a vicious competition among other criosphinxes over their "prize" (who often escapes out a back passage in the ensuing chaos). If a criosphinx does mate with a gynosphinx, the result is another male criosphinx. And then there are the evil, brutish, falcon-headed hieracosphinxes, who simply hunt down and rape gynosphinxes, producing more male hieracosphinxes. The good news for gynosphinxes is that they're smarter than all the males of their odd species, which helps them avoid the ones they dislike and track down androsphinxes. The bad news for gynosphinxes is that they're also ''slower'' than all the males of their species, and hieracosphinxes and criosphinxes aren't known for giving up once they catch sight of a female.
* DistractedByTheSexy: Some evil warlords ride hieracosphinxes as an intelligent, bloodthirsty alternative to griffons, but clever illusionists can make the brutes go haring off after an illusory gynosphinx.
* TheFarmerAndTheViper: Androsphinxes and hieracosphinxes often come to blows, fights the stronger androsphinxes usually win, but they also tend to let the evil sphinx go instead of finishing him off. This can lead hierarcosphinxes to use treachery or the advantage of numbers to kill the androsphinx, and then take up residence in his lair, waiting for a gynosphinx to come along in search of a mate.
* FeatheredFiend: Hieracosphinxes have the heads of falcons, and are evil at heart.
* HornAttack: The ram-headed criosphinxes can attack with their horns.
* MightyRoar: An androsphinx can let out a magical roar up to three times a day. The first roar frightens its enemies, the second roar deafens and paralyzes them, and the third roar knocks them flat on their asses with a blast of sonic damage strong enough to crack stone.
* OurSphinxesAreDifferent: Sphinxes have been present in ''D&D'' for most of its history. They're immortal, magical and extremely intelligent beings who resemble winged lions with the heads of various other creatures, and a fondness for riddles. The four varieties discussed above are the most commonly-occurring across the game's editions, but there are others:
** Astrosphinxes (ChaoticEvil) from the ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}'' setting have skull-like goat heads, and more to the point are completely insane, asking "riddles" such as "what's the speed of down?" or "how loud is blue?" Anything who can't answer is slain in a blast of ChainLightning, and the sphinxes are crazy enough to demand answers from wild animals and plants, resulting in some astrosphinxes completely depopulating planets. But there is a 1% chance that an astrosphinx will perceive a similarly nonsensical answer to be the correct response to its "riddle," [[DefeatEqualsExplosion causing the monster to explode in a massive burst of electricity.]] %%in-universe
** Canisphinxes (NeutralEvil) are jackal-headed predators that chase prey across the desert for hours, until their quarry collapses from exhaustion. %%in-universe
** Crocosphinxes (ChaoticEvil) have the heads of crocodiles, and they frequently ambush prey from beneath the water, before dragging them in to drown them. %%in-universe
** Dracosphinxes (ChaoticEvil) have the heads and forelegs of red dragons, as well as a mane of multicolored feathers. They possess a fiery BreathWeapon, and while they'll engage in games of riddles with other creatures, these are ruses to get them to lower their guard so the dracosphinx can launch a sudden attack. But dracosphinxes can be warded off with a sufficient show of strength, and the monsters have a strange compulsion to give up an object in their possession, should the item be minutely described by someone certain in the knowledge that it is in the dracosphinx's hoard. %%in-universe
** Loquasphinxes (TrueNeutral) have human faces, and are unique in coming in both sexes. Their interest is in [[LanguageOfMagic truename magic]], and they can use their mastery of Truespeech to bombard opponents with riddles that leave them reeling in confusion. %%in-universe
** Saurosphinxes (TrueNeutral) have lizard-like faces, and aren't the smartest sphinxes, but are the most civilized, and avoid conflict. Unfortunately, the evil varieties of sphinx "often see saurosphinxes as little more than educated food." %%in-universe
** Threskisphinxes (NeutralGood) have the heads of ibises and are fairly reclusive, occasionally creating magical items as academic exercises. %%in-universe
* PsychicBlockDefense: In 5th edition, it is impossible to read a sphinx's mind. They are immune to any magical effect that would read their thoughts or sense their emotions, and divination spells only affect them if they allow it.
* RiddlingSphinx: Gynosphinxes in particular are fascinated by riddles and games of wit, and enjoy testing themselves against others in this manner. Androsphinxes traditionally dislike riddles, both because they're antisocial, and because they're jealous of the gynosphinxes' superior intellect; androsphinxes in 5th Edition are more concerned with testing supplicants' courage than playing word games. And other subspecies, specifically the astro- and dracosphinxes, end up subverting the classic game of riddles, as described above.
* TimeMaster: 5th edition sphinxes can control the flow of time within their lairs. They can inflict RapidAging on their enemies or make them younger, can shunt the entire lair ten years into the past or future, or force everyone to reroll their initiative.
* UnreliableIllustrator: Androsphinxes and gynosphinxes are described as resembling winged lions with the heads of humanoids, but their 3rd Edition artwork gives said heads strong feline features, and by 5th Edition sphinxes are invariably depicted with fully leonine heads.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Spider]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_spider.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Vermin (3E), Natural Beast (4E), Beast (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' Varies\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Eight-legged arachnids, usually either web-spinners who wait for prey to come to them, or active pursuit hunters. While mundane spiders are barely more than annoyances in worlds with ''neutralize poison'' spells, there is a worrying number of oversized arachnids to threaten adventurers, including some with magical powers of their own.
----
* BladeBelowTheShoulder: Sword spiders have legs that end in sharp, chitinous blades that resemble metallic weapons.
* BrainFood: The aptly-named brain spider uses PsychicPowers to subdue prey, then injects a venom that allows the spider to slurp up their liquified brains and nerves.
* GiantSpider: Giant versions of common spiders are an old and recurring enemy type, and can range from the size of a dog to the size of a house.
* StaircaseTumble: Shadow spiders get their name from their ability to use ''{{shadow walk|er}}'' at will, but they actually hunt by lurking in the shadows at the bottom of a staircase or slope, then when prey tries to traverse it, the spider sprays a layer of slick shadow-silk onto the surface, so that their meal tumbles down into the shadow spider's waiting foreclaws.
* UndergroundMonkey: Numerous variant spider types have appeared, such as woolly snow spiders found in frozen lands.
* WallCrawl: Most spiders can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, as if they were flat.

!!Asteroid Spider
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_asteroid_spider_5e.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 15 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Ten-legged arachnoids that live in Wildspace, lurking in asteroid belts to ambush passing prey.
----
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: When an ''AD&D'' asteroid spider detects something caught in its webs, it tries to skewer them with enough of its legs to transfer its impaled prey to the mouth on its underside, which can deliver a [[TheParalyzer paralytic poison]] allowing the spider to eat its meal at its leisure.
* NoWarpingZone: 5th Edition asteroid spiders spin webs large enough to ensnare passing spaceships, and any such ship's ''spelljammer helm'' is disabled while it's entangled.
* ProjectileWebbing: 5E asteroids spiders can fling lengths of webbing to entangle and then reel in prey, and can entangle up to six creatures at a time in this manner.
* ThatsNoMoon: When it wraps its legs tightly around its body and closes its eyes, a 5E asteroid spider resembles nothing more than a mundane asteroid.
* {{Retcon}}: In 2nd Edition, asteroid spiders are five-foot-wide creatures with black bodies that blend in with the void of space, named for their habit of stringing their webs across asteroid belts. In 5th Edition, they're instead Gargantuan monsters that can disguise themselves as asteroids, and despite being mute [[ItCanThink are highly intelligent]].

!!Bloodsilk Spider
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_bloodsilk_spider_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:33]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Wolf-sized, bloated red spiders that use their webs to drain the blood of their prey.
----
* LifeDrain: A bloodsilk spider can make its webbing drill into entrapped victims, siphoning out blood to damage the target and give the spider some temporary hit points. The spiders will take advantage of this, bolstering itself by feeding on weaker prey before going after something tougher.
* ProjectileWebbing: Like other monstrous spiders, bloodsilk spiders can throw their sticky blood-red webbing similarly to nets, in order to entangle victims that evade what they string up as traps.
* YouHaveToBurnTheWeb: Averted; their dripping, bloody nets are immune to fire damage, unlike conventional spider webbing.

!!Inferno Spider
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_inferno_spider_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Elemental (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 8 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Spider-shaped elementals of magma and flame, standing eight feet across and weighing as much as 600 pounds.
----
* DeathByChildbirth: At the end of their mating ritual, two inferno spiders charge one another, collide and explode, giving birth to hundreds of young.
* LivingLava: Inferno spiders' bodies are covered in transparent plating revealing their molten cores, and randomly break out in flames that dance along their legs and abdomen.
* PlayingWithFire: Their [[ProjectileWebbing thrown web]] attacks are naturally on fire, dealing damage each round a creature is entangled in them. Fortunately, a moderate amount of cold damage extinguishes their webs' flames and makes them brittle and easier to break.
* PoisonousPerson: The bite of an inferno spider delivers a caustic venom that burns a victim from within, dealing additional fire damage.
* WreathedInFlames: Their flaming, superheated bodies [[TheSpiny damage any creature that grapples or attacks them with non-reach melee weapons.]]

!!Phase Spider
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_phase_spider_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Fey Beast (4E), Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (3E), 8 (4E), 3 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Large arachnids which can slip in and out of the Ethereal Plane at will.
----
* ArtEvolution: Phase spiders have actually gotten ''more'' spidery over the editions, as they originally had humanoid faces that made them easy to confuse for neogi or driders. 3rd Edition scaled things back by simply giving them a pair of large eyes to set them apart from other giant spiders, while their 5th Edition art has them looking mostly normal apart from their size and coloration.
* {{Intangibility}}: Thanks to its ability to shift between the Ethereal and Material Planes, a phase spider can use HitAndRunTactics against its unsuspecting victims largely without fear of reprisal.
* ItCanThink: Phase spiders are far more intelligent than any normal spider. The average phase spider is at least as smart as the average ogre or hill giant.

!!Tentacle Spider
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_tentacle_spider_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Human-sized, tentacled, web-spinning creatures with some resemblance to spiders.
----
* CombatTentacles: Instead of fangs, the tentacle spider has four slimy, pink tentacles, whose venom renders foes clumsy and helpless.
* ItCanThink: They've got a "rudimentary intelligence," not enough to let them speak, but enough to have an alignment.
* NonIndicativeName: Tentacle spiders are not actually spiders at all, but the initial moniker given by explorers has stuck.
* ProjectileWebbing: Tentacle spiders can throw a writhing web, which holds its targets fast and prevents movement. More disturbingly, exposure to the air causes the web to coil and twist like tentacles, which helps it entrap prey.
* SpiderSwarm: Unlike natural spiders, tentacle spiders are pack hunters, and may even form colonies high in the trees.

!!Tomb Spider
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_tomb_spider_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Shadow Beast (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (broodswarm), 4 (web mummy), 6 (tomb spider) (3E); 11 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Withered, horse-sized spiders suffused with negative energy, and which seek out humanoid corpses to infest with their young.
----
* AnimateDead: Any human-shaped corpse wrapped in a tomb spider's webbing becomes animated as a web mummy, which shambles along to serve as its creator's minion even as a brood of tiny tomb spiders grow within it.
* GraveRobbing: As per their name, tomb spiders seek out crypts and burial grounds to provide corpses for their young. Only after they have a good number of web mummies on their side do tomb spiders begin hunting on the surface.
* MonstrousCannibalism: If nothing destroys a web mummy, the young spiders within it feed upon the decaying internal organs of their host, then hunt and eat each other until the single survivor emerges as a fully-grown tomb spider several weeks later.
* ProjectileWebbing: Like other monstrous spiders, tomb spiders can throw their webbing like nets.
* ReviveKillsZombie: Their tomb-tainted souls render tomb spiders vulnerable to positive energy and makes negative energy heal them, as if they were undead. Their poisonous bites cause their victims to be the same for a minute.
* SpiderSwarm: If a tomb mummy is destroyed, a tomb spider broodswarm boils out of the corpse, ready to attack.
* StickySituation: Weapons that strike at a web mummy are in danger of getting stuck, while creatures using natural weapons run the risk of being grappled by it.
* TurnsRed: Should the tomb spider that made it be slain, a tomb mummy flies into a rage, gaining a bonus on attack rolls.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Spider Eater]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_spider_eater_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Giant flying insects that mostly feed on other oversized arthropods.
----
* ChestBurster: Spider eaters reproduce by paralyzing Large-sized or larger creatures and laying eggs in their bodies, which after six weeks hatch into young that proceed to eat their way out of their host.
* FoodChainOfEvil: As the name implies, these things mostly eat giant spiders.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: Provided sufficient training, spider eaters can serve as exotic flying mounts.
* NoSell: They're under a constant ''freedom of movement'' effect, which allows them to ignore the webs of their favored prey.
* TheParalyzer: Their stings inject a poison that can leave a victim paralyzed and helpless for six to thirteen ''weeks'', more than enough time for a spider eater's young to hatch from a host.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Spiker]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_spiker_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil or LawfulNeutral

Humanoids covered in metallic spines, making them relatives of the bladelings who similarly live on the Infernal Battlefield of Acheron.
----
* AlienBlood: Like the bladelings', spikers' is black and oily.
* BloodKnight: Fittingly for creatures of Acheron, spikers love fighting and think the best way to test one's skill and courage is through no-holds-barred combat.
* ChromeChampion: Subverted; despite the metallic hue of their flesh, spikers aren't actually metallic in nature, and thus resist acid damage and don't suffer ill effects from rusting attacks.
* DarkAgeOfSupernames: Spiker first and second names, regardless of gender, "tend toward visceral or combat-oriented words," so they'll go by things like "Dirk Gutrender," "Spike Demonbane" or "Thrust Bloodletter."
* NecessaryDrawback: The metal spines covering spikers' bodies lets them deal extra damage with unarmed attacks or grapples, and helps them resist damage from bludgeoning weapons, but it interferes with spikers' attempts to wear armor, increasing their gear's armor check penalty and decreasing its maximum Dexterity bonus.
* SpikesOfVillainy: Spikers are naturally spiny, love waging war, and tend towards Lawful Neutral or Lawful Evil, making Good spikers a misfit minority that usually ends up leaving Acheron.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Spinewyrm]]
[[quoteright:241:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_spinewyrm_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:241:2e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/DarkSun''\\
'''Classification:''' Dragon (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2-22 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral (2E), NeutralEvil (3E)

Relatives of the silk wyrm, these 30-foot-long flying serpents can be seen during daytime but usually start their hunts at dusk, constricting prey against their spined chitinous shells before swallowing them whole.
----
* {{Flight}}: These wingless serpents can fly thanks to "a special organ unique to the wyrms of Athas."
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: In 3rd Edition, those who take damage from the creature's spine attacks have to save or have a spine detach and get lodged in their body, inflicting a cumulative penalty to attacks, saves and checks until the spines are removed, which will deal additional damage without a high Heal check.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Their 3rd Edition entry describes spinewyrms as "the closest thing Athas has to a traditional ''D&D'' dragon," and gives them an immunity to paralysis or ''sleep'' effects, [[StrongerWithAge age categories]], a [[SupernaturalFearInducer frightful presence]], and [[AdaptationalIntelligence boosted Intelligence]], though they still lack a true dragon's BreathWeapon and body plan. 2nd Edition doesn't make any attempt to link them to dragons, but does note spinewyrms' tendency to [[DragonHoard hoard shiny objects in their lairs.]]
* SpikeShooter: They can launch volleys of spines from their bodies at foes, which grow back over six weeks in 2nd Edition, but regenerate in a matter of rounds in 3rd Edition.
* StealthExpert: 2nd Edition spinewyrms combine their ''[[ChameleonCamouflage chameleon power]]'' and ''[[{{Intangibility}} ectoplasmic form]]'' abilities to become 90% undetectable.
* SwallowedWhole: They eat by unhinging their jaw to swallow prey, but only do this after carrying a helpless victim to their lair, since spinewyrms are grounded for several hours as they digest their meal.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Spirit Centipede]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_spirit_centipede_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/KaraTur''\\
'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (least), 1 (lesser), 2 (greater) (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Spirits appearing as human-headed centipedes, sent by the Celestial Bureaucracy to punish the unjust.
----
* BeastWithAHumanFace: In their base forms, they appear as centipedes six inches to four feet long, with vaguely human heads featuring bald pates, bushy mustaches, and nine eyes encircling their skulls.
* PoisonousPerson: Spirit centipedes can cough up a poisonous black cloud, the size of which varies upon the power of the creature. The effects of the poison range from inducing [[TheParalyzer paralysis]] or [[ForcedSleep unconsciousness]], to dealing [[NonHealthDamage Constitution or Dexterity damage]], or simply obscuring vision, based on what form the spirit centipede is in when it releases the cloud.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Spirit centipedes can transform into other venomous animals; least spirit centipedes can also take the shape of a toad, lesser specimens can additionally shift into a snake, and greater spirit centipedes can additionally become scorpions or spiders.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Spirit Folk]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_spirit_folk_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/KaraTur''\\
'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 1E, 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralGood

The descendents of humans and the spirits of the forests, mountains or water, giving them a deep connection to the natural world.
----
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: 2nd Edition describes spirit folk as fitting human ideals of beauty but having unusual skin tones, pale yellow or gold for bamboo spirit folk, dark green-brown or gray for sea spirit folk, and so forth.
* ApparentlyHumanMerfolk: River and sea spirit folk have natural swim speeds and can breathe underwater, but lack fins or any other piscine features.
* ChildOfTwoWorlds: Spirit folk often live in human settlements, and have fully-human relatives, but are never quite at home there since they're also beings of the sprit world.
* NoSell: As they have the spirit subtype in the [[TabletopGame/LegendOfTheFiveRings Rokugon setting]], spirit folk are immune to spells like ''hold person'' or ''charm person'', at the cost of being susceptible to magic like ''invisibility to spirits''.
* PlaceOfPower: In their 2nd Edition rules, bamboo and river spirit folk have a connection to a specific natural feature -- a particular bamboo grove or section of river -- that allows them to heal themselves by returning to it, but they'll [[{{Synchronization}} suffer and potentially die]] if this natural feature is despoiled or destroyed.
* SpeaksFluentAnimal: Once per day, spirit folk can speak with fish, birds, or any animal, depending on whether they're river, mountain or bamboo spirit folk.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Spirit of the Air]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_spirit_of_the_air_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:349:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 11 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Simian beings with bat-like wings, who whimsically fly for the joy of it, but are bound to serve powers of the wind and sky.
----
* BlowYouAway: They can use magic like ''control winds'' and ''call lightning'' at will, as well as more potent spells like ''control weather'' and ''whirlwind'' once per day.
* ElementalShapeshifting: In 3rd Edition, spirits of the air can transform into a damaging whirlwind for up to 10 rounds, once per day.
* HappyPlace: Their ''AD&D'' entry explains that in "the small space between the drawing and releasing of a single breath," spirits of the air rage and plot against the powers that control them, and imagine a truly free existence in which they build cities, court and marry, and wage glorious wars, to the point that they feel like those lives are their true existence and their time as servants is a dream. "Each life is as rich and detailed as the other, so who can say which is the lie?"
* PrehensileTail: Their tails are strong and dexterous enough to wield heavy maces in combat.
* ServantRace: Spirits of the air live free and aren't bound to any specific power, but any entity related to the winds can demand their service.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Spirit of the Land]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_spirit_of_the_land_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Earth manifestation (3e)]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/DarkSun''\\
'''Classification:''' Fey (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 23 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

A mighty nature spirit that defends a specific geographic region from despoilers.
----
* ElementalPowers: They can use powerful magic like ''chain lightning'', ''incendiary cloud'', ''earthquake'', and ''create water'' at will, which is usually sufficient to deal with threats to their domains. When it wishes, a spirit of the land can physically manifest in the shape of a Huge [[ElementalEmbodiment elemental]] composed of one particular element, gaining the ability to control this element.
* FightingAShadow: The destruction of a spirit of the land's elemental manifestation at most renders the fey dormant for a day.
* GeniusLoci: They embody either a specific, bounded landform - a valley, a desert, a lake - or one aspect of such terrain, in which case multiple spirits of the land can coexist in the same region. They're aware of everything that happens in their domain, and while usually dormant, will awaken and punish anyone that would ravage the land under their protection.
* {{Intangibility}}[=/=]InvisibleMonsters: In its natural form, a spirit of the land is an invisible, shapeless mist.
* MouthOfSauron: Their ''AD&D'' write-up mentions that spirits of the land prefer to work through a druid living in their region.
* WeatherManipulation: Much of their spell-like abilities pertain to changing the weather -- ''control water'', ''control winds'', ''sleet storm'', ''fog cloud'', and of course ''control weather''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Spirrax]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_spirrax_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 18 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

Gargantuan, floating, tentacled terrors that methodically consume living matter in an ever-widening spiral pattern of destruction.
----
* BioweaponBeast: Spirraxes were created by the inhabitants of an ancient demiplane that fell victim to a magical catastrophe, dooming their civilization to decay. Out of desperation, the demiplane's inhabitants sent the spirraxes to other planes to consume living matter, convert it to energy, and transfer that energy back to their home demiplane in an attempt to halt its destruction.
* DefeatEqualsExplosion: When slain, a spirrax tears open a planar rift that lasts for a few rounds, sucking its body and potentially others within 150 feet to a random other plane.
* EldritchAbomination: Spirraxes are sickening masses of tentacles and putrescent alien organs, arranged around a single bulging eye. Their mindset is little better, and entertains no other thoughts than a drive to collect biomatter in a precise and orderly pattern.
* EmotionBomb: They're surrounded by an indifference aura that can cause other creatures within 180 feet to become affected by ''calm emotions'', unable to fight or even run.
* HordeOfAlienLocusts: Spirraxes exist only to consume anything living, leaving behind barren earth, stone and metal marred by strange spiral patterns.
* OrganDrops: Their shells are laced with over 150 pounds of adamantine, which can be repurposed should the monster be defeated or driven off.
* PowerOfTheVoid: They can make "void blast" attacks, dealing horrendous NonElemental damage in a 120-foot line or 30-foot radius, leaving behind [[ReducedToDust a fine powder]] and [[EmptyPilesOfClothing discarded equipment.]]
* TheSpeechless: Spirraxes are quite intelligent, but never speak, and don't show any hint of communicating with others of their kind should multiple spirraxes work to consume the same area.
* SubsystemDamage: If a spirrax is reduced to a quarter of its hit points, its shell collapses, exposing its putrid form to the world (and sickening those who get within 10 feet of it), but also reducing its Armor Class by half, and negating its DamageReduction and ability to fly. If the spirrax takes damage again after that point, [[KnowWhenToFoldEm it'll try to]] ''[[KnowWhenToFoldEm plane shift]]'' [[KnowWhenToFoldEm back to its home demiplane to recover and rebuild its shell.]]
* TentacleRope: They can grab foes they strike with their tentacles, dealing [[NonHealthDamage Constiution drain]] as the spirrax consumes their life force.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Splinterwaif]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_splinterwaif_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (standard), 6 (knave) (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Murderous fey that dwell within cities, lurking around wooden shacks, lumber piles and decommissioned ships to snipe at targets with deadly splinters.
----
* BackStab: They can deal sneak attack damage like a rogue, and the "knaves" that lead them are particularly good at it.
* ChameleonCamouflage: They can change their skin coloration to blend in with their surroundings.
* ChildEater: Splinterwaifs relish the taste of children they kill and convert into shrubs for consumption. They never eat adults converted in this way, the fey find them dry and unpalatable.
* GaiasVengeance: One theory about splinterwaifs is that they're the warped remnants of a dryad who somehow survived her oak being cut down and converted into a city structure. However, the creatures show no attachment to a specific part of the environment, and might end up transported to entirely new cities after stowing away on a ship.
* GreenThumb: These fey can cause a thorny branch to sprout from any nomagical wooden structure around them, which the splinterwaif can command to attack or grab opponents. They can also [[DisposingOfABody convert a dead humanoid's body into a thorny brush]] over the course of a minute -- such plants don't radiate magic, but a body so converted can only be restored to life by magic like ''true resurrection'' or ''miracle''. A bunch of small, thorny shrubs in an empty lot or lumberyard is a clue that a splinterwaif is behind some local disappearances.
* SpikesOfVillainy: Splinterwaifs' bark-like bodies are covered in patches of thorns, they have wooden spines for "hair," and even their tongues are studded with wooden barbs and splinters.
* SpikeShooter: They can spit a splinter of wood as a ranged attack, and can apply sneak attack damage if the target is close enough.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sporebat]]
[[quoteright:282:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sporebat_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:282:2e]]
->'''Classification:''' Plant (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 10 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Flying fungoid predators with eight-foot wingspans and dangerous, one-eyed gazes.
----
* EyeBeams: In ''AD&D'', the eye of a sporebat can fire a ray of damaging poison, while in 3rd Edition it is instead an ''enervation'' effect, inflicting [[LevelDrain negative levels]].
* ItCanThink: Sporebats display clear intelligence in their hunting tactics, have some way of communicating with one another, and grow enraged if a clutchmate is killed. However, they lead strictly predatory existences, whatever language they have [[StarfishLanguage cannot be understood by other creatures]], and any attempt at mental contact with a sporebat yields [[AMindIsATerribleThingToRead "a series of strange and disturbing images, none comprehensible."]]
* {{Planimal}}: They're flying, carnivorous fungi who reproduce by pairing up and shedding spores over a fresh kill, yielding a clutch of up to six young sporebats within a day.
* StealthExpert: Sporebats are extraordinarily (but not supernaturally) stealthy, able to fly in total silence and blend into shadows for concealment. Even infravision is useless against them, since their body temperature is the same as their surroundings.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Spriggan]]
[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_spriggan_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:270:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey (3E), Fey Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (3E), 8 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil (2E), Any Chaotic (3E), Evil (4E)

Ugly, malicious gnome-kin who rob and terrorize other creatures, aided by their ability to change size at will.
----
* BackStab: 3rd Edition spriggans can deal sneak attack damage like rogues.
* BarbarianTribe: Fortunately for everyone else, spriggans are too disorganized to exist as anything other than roving packs of brigands, who cause trouble in an area until they're driven out.
* OurGnomesAreWeirder: In some settings or editions they're the descendents of ordinary gnomes warped by magic, either by the [[TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms Netherese]] or fomorians. Despite (or because of) this relationship, spriggans hate gnomes above all others, though in extreme circumstances, a lone spriggan will try to pass themselves off as a more civilized gnome to gain entry into a settlement.
* ThePigPen: They are disgustingly filthy creatures who never bathe or clean their equipment, and thus reek of earth, sweat and rancid flesh.
* SizeShifter: Among other spell-like abilities, spriggans can replicate an ''enlarge'' effect at will, growing from Small to Large size and gaining a corresponding boost to Strength and Constitution, at the expense of their Armor Class and attack bonus.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sprite]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sprite_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/4 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralGood

Tiny winged fey who militantly defend their sylvan glades and groves.
----
* TheEmpath: Sprites can put their hands upon another creature and sense their emotional state by the beating of their heart, or even [[DetectEvil discern the creature's alignment]] or [[MySensorsIndicateYouWantToTapThat know if they're in love.]]
* GoodIsNotNice: Though good defenders of the forest and sworn enemies of evil fey and goblinoids, sprites are noted to lack warmth or compassion, and are much more serious about their duties than the flighty pixies.
* OurFairiesAreDifferent: "Sprite" traditionally has encapsulated an entire subgroup of little winged fey folk, including "standard" sprites, pixies, nixies, sea sprites, grigs, and atomies. They all have insect features, usually just dragonfly or moth wings, but the grigs look to be half-cricket. They're generally inoffensive, if prone to mischief, but dislike other creatures intruding on their homes.
* ForcedSleep: Their arrows deal little damage, but are coated in a poison that puts targets to sleep.
* {{Invisibility}}: They can turn invisible at will.
* TreetopTown: Sprites build little villages high in trees, or even in willing treants.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Squamous Spewer]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_squamous_spewer_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 7 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Ravening blobs of eyes, teeth and scales from both chromatic and metallic dragons.
----
* BlobMonster: They're amorphous masses of scales, ExtraEyes and TooManyMouths, leading to speculation that they're related to gibbering beasts. In practical terms, squamous spewers' fluid anatomy means they can't be flanked and aren't subject to {{Critical Hit}}s.
* DragonAncestry: They have some draconic qualities, such as superior vision and an immunity to paralysis and magical sleep effects, but squamous spewers display no loyalty to true dragons, and the two generally despise each other.
* ItCanThink: Despite their freakish appearance, and in contrast to gibbering mouthers, they're fully intelligent and capable of speaking Draconic.
* RandomEffectSpell: The shape and effect of their BreathWeapon (which can come from three of a spewer's mouths at the same time) is randomized, either a cone or line of acid, cold, electricity or fire damage.
* SuperSenses: Their keen sense of smell and echolocation give them the benefit of blindsight out to 60 feet.
* SupernaturalFearInducer: Three times per day they can let loose a MightyRoar that can cause those within 60 feet to become panicked or shaken.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Squealer]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_squealer_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:2e]]
->'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Ogre-sized, three-armed, porcine predators adept at moving through their forest habitats.
----
* AttackAnimal: If raised from infancy, squealers can be trained as guard animals capable of learning several commands, and known for being loyal to their masters.
* ItCanThink: Squealers aren't brilliant, but their Intelligence score can be higher than an ogre's, and they're smart enough to knock prey unconscious and tie it up with vines if they aren't hungry enough to eat it right away. Squealers are even known to feed captive prey for days until the creature is ready to kill and eat it.
* KillerBearHug: Squealers are known to hang from a branch by their third arm, grab a victim with their other two arms, and then simultaneously squeeze, bite, and claw the victim with their feet.
* MisterSeahorse: A mundane example; male squealers have pouches, which females place newly-delivered squealer infants into. Several months later, the young squealers emerge from their father's pouch to loiter in the highest tree branches, until they're fully grown in about a year.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Perhaps their signature trait is having a third arm extending from their backs, slightly longer than the other two, which a squealer uses to attack, grab prey, and climb.
* VoiceChangeling: While squealers get their name from their shrill cries, they can also imitate a range of other sounds, from the wails of a humanoid baby to screams of terror.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ssurran]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_ssurran_5e.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:4e]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_ssurran_4e.png[[/labelnote]]]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/DarkSun''\\
'''Classification:''' Natural Humanoid (4E), Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 4 (4E), 1/2 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulNeutral or LawfulEvil (2E), Any (5E)

Sometimes known as "sandscale lizardfolk," these reptilian humanoids are nomadic desert-dwellers who do whatever it takes to survive their harsh homeland.
----
* ArtEvolution: In 2nd and 4th Edition, ssurrans are somewhat sturdier, sand-colored lizardfolk, but 5th Edition redesigns them with elongated, snakelike bodies, thin limbs, and almost avian, beaked faces.
* DesertBandits: In their home setting, some ssurran tribes survive by raiding other humanoid settlements, looting and eating the corpses of those they kill, stripping the village of valuables, and then moving on.
* LizardFolk: They've been described as "lizard men of the desert," and are considered lizardfolk for all intents and purposes.
* MadeASlave: On Athas, many young ssurrans are captured by slavers to be raised as gladiators. Those "civilized" ssurrans who earn their freedom can often make a good living as bodyguards, mercenaries, or desert trackers.
* PsychicPowers: Oddly enough averted in most editions, despite the ssurrans' debut in the psionics-heavy ''Dark Sun'' setting, and it's only in 5E that ssurran "defilers" are given some psionic abilities. Athasian ssurrans usually have shamans casting divine magic instead.
* ToServeMan: Ssurrans are dedicated carnivores who are perfectly happy to eat those they slay in battle, or feast on captives. They particularly enjoy the taste of halfling flesh.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Star Lancer]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_star_lancer_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:5e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Celestial (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Also known as ''vah'k'rel'' in Gith, these creatures reside within the husk of a dead god drifting on the Astral Plane, and are used as mounts by the githyanki.
----
* FlyingSeafoodSpecial: A star lancer resembles a shark with four wings and a long serpentine tail.
* HornAttack: Rather than biting foes, a star lancer rams with its horn, which [[DashAttack deals extra damage during a charge.]]
* HorseOfADifferentColor: Githyanki employ star lancers as mounts, especially for stealth actions in which dragons or astral skiffs would attract too much attention.
* {{Invisibility}}: They and their riders can turn ''invisible'' three times per day.
* {{Reincarnation}}: Star lancers are reincarnations of the most ardent followers of a nameless dead god whose corpse lies floating in the Astral Sea.
* RespawnPoint: When a star lancer dies, its soul instantly returns to the hollow heart of its god. There, a fully grown star lancer rises magically from the cavern floor and becomes the soul's new host.
* SapientSteed: Star lancers are about as smart as the average human, and capable of conversing in Celestial or via {{telepathy}}.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Star Spawn]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberrant Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

The servitors of malevolent stars, descended to the world of mortals to spread madness and destruction.

For the creatures 5th Edition dubs "star spawn," see the [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsCreaturesF "foulspawn" folder]].
----
* FightingAShadow: Each star spawn is the avatar of a star, sent to wreak havoc. Some stars only have a single avatar, others are served by entire swarms of horrors.
* SentientStars: The star spawn are sent by baleful stars of the night sky, who gaze upon the world with a mixture of hatred, anger and hunger.
* WhenThePlanetsAlign: Star spawn can only reach the world when their host star is in a certain position, and its light shines down at just the right angle. This has allowed some arcane astrologers such as the warlock Thulzar to chart past star spawn incursions and find a pattern that can predict future attacks, "but he, his tower, and all his works simply vanished one starless night, leaving behind only a smooth, glass-coated crater.

!!Herald of Hadar
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_herald_of_hadar_4e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:4e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 15 (4E)

Avatars of the dying red star Hadar, which was infamously once the brightest star in the night sky, until it flared and faded during the fall of Bael Turath.
----
* AntiRegeneration: Their "Breath of a Dying Star" attack prevents victims from recovering hit points until they save to shake off the effect.
* HungryMenace: A herald of Hadar feeds upon living creatures' LifeEnergy, which it channels back to its flickering ember of a creator in an attempt to sustain it.
* IncreasinglyLethalEnemy: They can make additional "Hungry Claw" attacks each round a combat encounter continues.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: A herald of Hadar looks like a crazed human, save for its eyes, which have Hadar's dim red glow to them.
* TurnsRed: Whenever a nearby creature spends a healing surge, a herald of Hadar can react by moving closer to the creature, make an immediate attack against it, recharge an encounter power, or gain an attack roll bonus.

!!Maw of Acamar
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_maw_of_acamar_4e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:4e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 15 (4E)

Avatars of the corpse-star Acamar, which devours other stars that draw too close, just as its maws consume everything in their path as they wander the world.
----
* CelestialBody: They look like humanoid starscapes clad in tattered robes.
* DamageOverTime: Many of their attacks deal ongoing damage (making maws of Acamar deadly in numbers), and their "Destroyer of Life" ability means that adjacent enemies don't end such effects on a successful save, they only reduce the ongoing damage.
* UnrealisticBlackHole: Maws of Acamar basically are walking, fantastic black holes, surrounded by a howling vortex of wind that pulls nearby creatures towards them, and rending victims with their devouring touch.
* YouShallNotEvadeMe: They can pull victims closer with their "Corpse Star's Grip" ability, and are surrounded by an aura that makes moving away from them cost extra movement.

!!Scion of Gibbeth
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_scion_of_gibbeth_4e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:4e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 17 (4E)

Creations of the cursed green star Gibbeth, which is prophesized to plunge the world into insanity during the end times.
----
* ApocalypseCult: Unlike other star spawn, scions of Gibbeth are willing to tolerate certain mortals drawn to them, mainly prophets, lunatics and cultists.
* AppearanceIsInTheEyeOfTheBeholder: Nobody can agree what a scion of Gibbeth looks like -- "Some see a green-skinned, horned giant, while others report a red, spiderlike creature with a child's face or a serpentine monstrosity with dozens of gibbering mouths along its body." Instead, it's theorized that each scion of Gibbeth has a shard of that eldritch star-being at its core, which forces observers to [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm visualize something horrible but explicable to avoid going insane.]]
* DeadlyGaze: Their "Mind-Splintering Gaze" and "Gibbeth's Baleful Glare" attacks deal psychic damage.
* EmotionBomb: Scions of Gibbeth are surrounded by an "Aura of Revulsion" that prevents foes from attacking unless the scion is the closest available target (which is probably why these star spawn tolerate mortal groupies).
* SetAMookToKillAMook: When reduced to 0 hit points, this star spawn inflicts the "Revelation of Gibbeth" upon nearby creatures, forcing those who succumb to attack their allies until they snap out of it.
* SpeakOfTheDevil: The ''Revelations of Melech'', a scroll about hostile stars, has little to say about Gibbeth, only that "Better not to write or think overlong on this greenish point in the sky."

!!Spawn of Ulban
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_spawn_of_ulban_4e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:4e]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 26 (4E)

Heralded by blue comets, the spawn of Ulban foment rebellion and infighting wherever they crawl.
----
* ColdFlames: They can hurl "[[TechnicolorFire Bluefire]]" at foes that is considered both cold and fire damage.
* ImmuneToMindControl: Anything that attempts to ''dominate'' a spawn of Ulban [[AttackReflector falls under its control instead.]]
* MindControl: Their "Ripple of Betrayal" burst attack can ''dominate'' foes.
* PowerNullifier: The blue-white light of Ulban interferes with seers' attempts to provide guidance or see the future.
* SetAMookToKillAMook: Their "Touch of Strife" deals psychic damage to a victim, and forces that victim to attack an ally.
* TentacledTerror: Though their upper torsos are humanoid, their lower bodies resemble the tentacles of starfish or cephalopods.

!!Emissary of Caiphon
[[quoteright:249:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_emissary_of_caiphon_and_serpent_of_nihal_4e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:249:An Emissary of Caiphon with a Serpent of Nihal (4e)]]
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 28 (4E)

The avatars of the purple star Caiphon take humanoid guise and infiltrate a society, posing as a benefactor while steering those who trust them to ruin.
----
* AttackReflector: Any attempt to blind an emissary of Caiphon with an effect instead blinds its attacker.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: The star Caiphon sits near the horizon, acting as a year-round guide star, and seems to grow brighter during disasters. This can lead the desperate to plead to the star for assistance, and when such prayers grow strong enough, an emissary of Caiphon is sent to make things worse.
* {{Invisibility}}: An odd variant; an emissary of Caiphon can use its "Blinded by Need" ability to render itself and every ally ''except'' a particular one invisible to a specific enemy.
* LieToTheBeholder: They can disguise themselves as a Medium or Small humanoid, though a high Insight check will pierce the illusion.
* TreacherousAdvisor: An emissary of Caiphon makes suggestions that sound reasonable -- perhaps the lord of a town gripped by a plague has a cure he isn't sharing -- that end up getting their followers killed.
* WindsOfDestinyChange: An emissary of Caiphon is surrounded by an aura that imposes penalties on enemies' saving throws, and can hit a target with an "Invocation of Calamity" that causes them to automatically fail their saves for a turn.

!!Serpent of Nihal
->'''Challenge Rating:''' 29 (4E)

The reddish Nihal is known as the Serpent Star for its writhing path through the heavens, and is served by snake-like creatures that similarly slither through reality in search of prey.
----
* DimensionalTraveler: Serpents of Nihal wind in and out of the cosmos, and can blink out of existence if an attack against them misses, or at the start of a combat, only to suddenly reappear next to a choice victim. A serpent isn't shifting to or from the Ethereal Plane during this, instead it's simply "removed from play" until it's time to come back.
* GoneHorriblyWrong: The ancient jungle realm of Az-Kiral was originally devoted to Zehir the Great Serpent, but turned to Nihal for greater power. When its people opened a portal to the star itself, the serpents of Nihal burst forth, consuming everything in Az-Kiral until its cities were empty tombs, then spreading into the surrounding jungles.
* SituationalDamageAttack: Their "Mindbite" psychic attack deals extra damage if a serpent of Nihal has nearby allies, and in such circumstances will prevent a victim from using action or power points.
* SnakesAreSinister: They're serpentine creatures composed of starstuff, which swallow any prey they find to feed Nihal's hunger.

!!Allabar, the Opener of the Way
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_allabar_4e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:4e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberrant Animate (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 30 (4E)

Unlike other celestial bodies, Allabar has no fixed path or location in the heavens, but moves as it wills. Whenever the Opener of the Way draws near a baleful star, that star's spawn manifest on a world below.
----
* CreateYourOwnVillain: At the dawn of creation, Allabar was made by the primordials, in imitation of the planets of the Material Plane. The gods noticed the primordials' work and experimented on it, granting the world a spark of life, but grew afraid of its new power, and cast it into the Far Realm. This unsurprisingly warped Allabar in body and mind, so when it eventually returned to reality, it was dedicated to destroying the world of mortals, or perhaps perverting it into something like itself.
* CombatTentacles: Allabar's surface seems to be covered in them, and it lashes foes with its tentacles in combat. Worse, its "Wrath of the Forsaken World" attack causes enemies to sprout tentacles as well, which attack the victim's allies.
* CoupDeGrace: Should any nearby enemies drop to 0 hit point, Allabar quickly absorbs them into its fleshy bulk, devouring the bodies and preventing revival.
* CounterAttack: Any attacker that damages Allabar has to save to avoid being dazed by the resulting psychic feedback.
* DamageOverTime: Its "Unravel Essence" is a nasty example, dealing ongoing damage after one failed saving throw, then after a second failed save, said damage increases while the victim is both weakened and insubstantial, dealing and receiving halved damage. With three failed saves, a victim [[HPTo1 drops to 0 hit points]], potentially putting it in danger of being absorbed by Allabar.
* GeniusLoci: It's a malevolent RoguePlanet moving through the cosmos, half-insane but still brilliant, enacting an eons-long plan to bring ruin to the world of mortals. This means that any heroes who end up fighting Allabar are likely battling a Gargantuan avatar, or the living planet has reduced its size somehow.
* GravityMaster: As a hostile planet, Allabar can pull in opponents using its gravity well.
* GreaterScopeVillain: Allabar is sometimes characterized as a trickster entity that incites other stars to war, or in other accounts, the greatest of such hostile stars and the creator of various star spawn. Whatever the case, it is frequently the motive force behind a star spawn incursion.
* TurnsRed: When bloodied, Allabar retaliates by sprouting more tentacles to attack in a flurry.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Star Spawn Emissary]]
[[quoteright:194:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_star_spawn_emissary_5e.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:194:5e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Aberration (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 19 (lesser), 21 (greater) (5E)

Shapeshifting agents of hostile and alien dimensions, who infiltrate mortal societies to set the stage for an apocalypse.
----
* EldritchAbomination: In its "lesser" form, a star spawn emissary is "a roughly bipedal mas of agitated organs, self-cannibalizing alien orifices, and appendages suggestive of forms it has previously devoured." They're even worse in their "greater" form, which "sheds all pretense of being part of a plane's reality and openly mocks it."
* EnemySummoner: As a byproduct of a "greater" emissary's "unearthly bile" AcidAttack, gibbering mouthers spawn around affected creatures that fail their saving throws.
* HopeCrusher: It's mentioned that a star spawn emissary only reveal their true forms when they're seriously threatened, or when their opponents have lost all hope.
* MindRape: A "lesser" emissary can make a "psychic lash" legendary action, dealing heavy psychic damage to a target and stunning them, while a "greater" emissary can unleash a "mind cloud" psychic attack against everything in 30 feet that damages them and ends any ongoing spell effects.
* OneWingedAngel: If a star spawn emissary is reduced to 0 hit points in its "lesser" form, [[SequentialBoss it immediately assumes its "greater" form at full hit points]], becoming a 25-foot-tall "pillar of violent flesh [[ShapeshifterMashup amalgamating the meat and voices of every form the emissary has ever mimicked."]] If it isn't slain in its "greater" form and killed for good, the emissary can assume its "lesser" form after a long rest.
* TooManyMouths: The "greater" emissary is depicted with multiple maws, and can take a legendary action to warp the ground around them into a landscape of gnashing teeth and maws, difficult terrain that damages anything moving across it.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: A "lesser" emissary can freely take the form of any Small or Medium creature, and are perfectly willing to appear as a harmless animal to serve their purposes.
* WeaponizedTeleportation: A "lesser" emissary can take a legendary action to teleport 30 feet and immediately attack a target with a lashing maw.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Starfly]]
[[quoteright:297:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_starfly_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:297:2e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}''\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Two-foot-long, mobile plants that fly through Wildspace.
----
* FantasticFruitsAndVegetables: Starflies are fruit that fly through space on butterfly wings, which trap sunlight to convert into sugary food for the seed within it. They taste delicious, and are considered by spelljammers to be an omen of good luck that ends hunger and symbolizes wealth and happiness.
* OrganicTechnology: This humble flying fruit has been cultivated by starfaring elves into gadabout space suits, or enlarged into living ships for the elven armada.
* {{Terraform}}: The winged starfly fruit is the mobile stage of a much larger plant form. Should a starfly encounter a comet, it lands and takes root, growing into a sapling that digests the comet's water and minerals, then develops reflective leaves it uses to focus sunlight on the comet, and eventually grows a waterspout to propel the comet closer to the nearest sun. By the time the comet has melted, the new mother-tree has grown big enough to generate its own gravity plane, which attracts space debris so the tree's planetoid grows larger, while an air envelope allows plants and animals to join the burgeoning ecosystem. There are even rumors that it's possible to mount a ''spelljammer helm'' on a fully-grown mother-tree to fly it through space as a mobile BabyPlanet.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Starlight Apparition]]
[[quoteright:215:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_starlight_apparition_5e.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:215:5e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Celestial (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralGood

Luminous, ghostly beings found in Wildspace or the Astral Sea, seeking to help someone accomplish a daunting task.
----
* LightEmUp: With a touch or a gesture, a starlight apparition can cause an eruption of radiant energy that damages and potentially [[BlindedByTheLight blinds]] foes.
* OurGhostsAreDifferent: They're not classified as undead, for one thing. Starlight apparitions aren't a soul trapped in the mortal world until some UnfinishedBusiness is done, they died in Wildspace or on the Astral Plane, then moved on to the afterlife. But with the help of a god or powerful celestial, they managed to project a glowing copy of their spirit across the planes in order to help someone. Once their objective is achieved, a starlight apparition fades away. They do, however, share ghostly traits such as {{intangibility}} and being able to [[DemonicPossession possess]] mortals.
* PhosphorEssence: They glow enough to shed bright light out to 20 feet, and dim light for an additional 20 feet.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Starsnake]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_starsnake_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:349:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''\\
'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticNeutral

Ten-foot-long, intelligent winged serpents who sleep through most of the day and night, but can be seen flying at twilight.
----
* CounterAttack: When sleeping, a starsnake builds up electrical energy that damages anyone who touches them or tries to attack with a metal weapon. They also generate a "Dream Shield" that converts any incoming magic into a lightning bolt fired right back at the caster, dealing damage based on the spell-level of the blocked effect.
* {{Familiar}}: High-level spellcasters with the Improved Familiar feat can acquire a starsnake as a familiar.
* TheParalyzer: Their bites carry a Dexterity-damaging poison that can leave victims paralyzed.
* ThePrankster: They're usually content to hunt rodents and only retaliate against those who attack them, but starsnakes are also known to be pranksters who use their ''{{charm person}}'' and ''suggestion'' spell-like abilities to implant ludicrous, but harmless, suggestions in intelligent beings.
* TrulySingleParent: Starsnakes are hermaphrodites who can reproduce without others of their kind, and in fact detest each other's company.
* WiseSerpent: Starsnakes are not only smart enough to speak Sylvan and learn other languages, their Intelligence and Wisdom scores are an impressive 16, while their Charisma comes in at a whopping 26.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Steel Predator]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/steel_predator_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E), Immortal Animate (4E), Construct (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 13 (3E), 20 (4E), 16 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral (3E), Evil (4E), LawfulEvil (5E)

Metallic feline hunters that would be formidable in battle even without their sonic roars.
----
* AdaptationalVillainy: In 3rd Edition, steel predators were simply animalistic beings that killed only to feed themselves, but 5th Edition cast them as assassins that occasionally go rogue and begin to kill indiscriminately.
* DeadlyLunge: Like other "big cat"-type creatures, 3rd Edition steel predators can make a pounce and rake attack on a charge.
* KillerRobot: A 5th Edition steel predator is a merciless machine with one purpose: kill its target regardless of distance and obstacles.
* MetalMuncher: In 3E, steel predators feed on metal, and especially prize metallic magical items. Their natural home, the Outer Plane of Acheron, is littered with endless weapons-strewn battlefields and broken heaps of war machines, giving them a rich supply of food.
* MooksAteMyEquipment: Acheron-native steel predators are adept at sundering enemies' weapons, shields or other held items with their bites.
* {{Retcon}}: In 3rd Edition, steel predators are outsiders native to the Infernal Battlefield of Acheron, prowling its warzones for fresh metal morsels. In 5th Edition, they're artificial killers created by a rogue modron to hunt down and slay targets across the planes.
* SuperScream: One feature that has remained constant is the steel predator's devastating roar, which deals heavy sonic/thunder damage as well as extra damage to brittle or crystalline items (in 3rd Edition), or may [[TheParalyzer stun victims for a minute]] (in 5th Edition).
* SuperSenses: They enjoy blindsight out to 30 feet, which is especially significant for the deaf 3E steel predators.
* SupernaturalSensitivity: 3rd Edition steel predators can sense the presence of any metallic magic item from up to 120 feet away.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Steelwing]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_steelwing_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 14 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Intelligent raptors from the Infernal Battlefield of Acheron, notable for their adamantine feathers and 30-foot wingspan.
----
* CraftedFromAnimals: Steelwing feathers can be used to make masterwork ''keen'' adamantine arrows or crossbow bolts. Each feather is worth 50 gp, and a single adult steelwing can produce 350 of them.
* CrusadingWidower: These creatures mate for life, and if one is slain its mate will track down the killers to enact vengeance.
* FeatherFlechettes: Steelwings' "razorfeathers" can be fired as a ranged attack, veering toward their targets to negate their cover, or the steelwing can spend a full-round action firing a FlechetteStorm in a 60-foot cone that deals a massive amount of slashing damage.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: Hextor and his followers have tamed a great many steelwings for an aerie in his Scourgehold, though the birds require exotic saddles to protect their riders from their feathers.
* ItCanThink: Steelwings are capable of speech and a little smarter than ogres. They still live as predators, hunting both Acheron's petitioners and visitors to the plane.
* RazorWings: Their razor-sharp wings are not only effective in combat, they have a 1-in-5 chance of landing a CriticalHit.
* TheSpiny: Steelwings are perpetually surrounded by a [[PerpetualMolt cloud of feathers]] that deals a moderate amount of damage to adjacent creatures, and provides the steelwings with concealment.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Stirge]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_stirge_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:4e]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_stirge_4e.png[[/labelnote]]]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Natural Beast (4E), Beast (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (3E); 1, 7 (dire strige), 12 (swarm) (4E) ; 1/8 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Bat-winged, needle-mouthed creatures that feed on larger animals' blood.
----
* AmbushingEnemy: Desert stirges are flightless, and hunt by burying themselves in the desert sand to ambush creatures passing by. Jungle stirges are also poor flyers, and instead rely on hiding in thick canopies and falling prey passing beneath them.
* ArtEvolution: Depictions of stirges are somewhat inconstant. They gained a second pair of wings between 2nd and 3rd Edition, and in addition some depictions give them greater proportions of birdlike traits or depict their probosces as rigid beaks or hooked noses.
* FantasticFaunaCounterpart: In most regards, they act as a fantastical counterpart to mosquitoes and vampire bats.
* MixAndMatchCritters: While their specific appearance and proportions change between editions, stirges usually resemble mixes of vultures, bats and mosquitoes.
* TheSwarm: Individual stirges are fairly weak and pose little threat to all but the weakest humanoids, so they usually attack in large swarms.
* VampiricDraining: Stirges feed on the blood of living creatures, attaching and draining them slowly.

!!Stirgoi
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_stirgoi_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Monstrosity\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 4 (5E)

Human-sized creatures with stirge features, born from arcane experiments or a stirge drinking the blood of a well-fed vampire.
----
* EnemySummoner: Once per day, a stirgoi can summon a swarm of stirges that follow its commands.
* LifeDrain: Their proboscis attack deals extra necrotic damage that heals the stirgoi by the same amount. Those slain by the attack are reduced to EmptyPilesOfClothing and a husk of a corpse, which might reanimate as a boneless undead horror.
* VampireVannabe: Some stirgoi embrace their monstrous forms and diets, and start mimicking vampires. "These would-be bloodsucker aristocrats create stirge courts amid scabrous husk-decorated villas and drain the life from any who balk at their grotesque gentility."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Stone Cursed]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_stone_cursed_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Construct (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulEvil

With a bit of basilisk blood and the ashes of a cockatrice feather, a petrified humanoid can be animated as a stony servitor, murderous but obedient to its creators.
----
* HeWasRightThereAllAlong: Stone cursed are predictably good at disguising themselves as ordinary statues.
* LivingStatue: The stone cursed are spawned through a foul alchemical ritual performed on a petrified humanoid. A dim echo of the victim's spirit is awakened, animating the statue and turning it into a useful guardian.
* OrganDrops: A side effect of their creation ritual is the formation of an obsidian skull-shaped stone within the stone cursed. If extracted from a slain stone cursed, a skilled arcanist can use the skull to try and extract a memory from the stone cursed's mortal life. Whether the attempt is successful or not, it can only be made once.
* TakenForGranite: Not only was the stone cursed a victim of such an attack, their claws drip with a transformative sludge that can in turn petrify their enemies.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Stone Flyer]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_stone_flyer_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:3e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''\\
'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 3 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Winged wolves of living stone, whose packs hunt prey in the Underdark.
----
* DungeonBypass: They have the "Earth Glide" ability, and can pass through solid rock with the ease of a fish moving through water, without leaving a tunnel behind.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: Stone flyers confer the above ability on anyone riding them, so the creatures are highly sought-after as mounts by Underdark races. This requires both a special saddle and special training, as well as a Diplomacy check to win the creature over.
* ItCanThink: They're no smarter than the average ogre, but stone flyers are sapient and speak Terran.
* SiliconBasedLife: Stone flyers look to be carved from mottled granite, but are magical beasts rather than elementals, as well as fierce carnivores.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Stonechild]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_stonechild_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 4 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralGood

Half-elemental humanoids blessed with the great strength and fortitude of the earth as well as a keen intellect.
----
* ChallengeSeeker: Stonechildren relish challenges and opportunities to prove their (considerable) strength, and tend to go off on adventures at least once or twice over their lifetimes.
* HappilyAdopted: Stonechildren are rarely raised among others of their kind, and typically grow up in dwarf or human communities. Since the dwarven mindset and reverence for the earth meshes well with stonechildren's values, and both dwarves and humans greatly admire the stonechildren's strength and silence, stonechildren don't face the sort of stigma half-orcs or tieflings have to deal with. But they still have a tendency to leave their homes to go adventuring, and in old age try and find their way to the Elemental Plane of Earth to live among others of their kind.
* NoSell: They're immune to acid or poisons.
* SiliconBasedLife: They look like powerful humanoids carved from stone, so are more this trope than {{Rock Monster}}s (especially since they're classified as Outsiders, not Elementals, despite having an ElementalEmbodiment for a parent). Stonechildren are naturally hairless, and their eyes are gray or black, or a gemlike hue like green or a muted blue.
* TheStoic: They tend to "keep their feelings hidden behind a slow practicality," and are stalwart in the face of adversity.
* SufferTheSlings: Stonechildren can cast ''magic stone'' three times per day, turning ordinary pebbles into magical projectiles that deal better damage when hurled or slung, [[HolyHandGrenade and deal additional damage to undead.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Stonesinger]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_stonesinger_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 7 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralEvil

Strange creatures of living stone, named for their haunting songs.
----
* CaptiveAudience: Stonesingers have been known to raid towns simply to kidnap victims they then [[SandNecktie bury up to their necks]], forcing them to listen to the monster's music, "haunting, booming songs that are often mistaken for the wind blowing over hollows in the desolate bandlands." Afterward, the audience is typically petrified and eaten.
* DishingOutDirt: They can use spells like ''meld into stone'', ''stone shape'' and ''wall of stone'', but only while singing.
* EatDirtCheap: While these creatures can subsist upon "natural" fossils, they get more nutrition out of eating creatures they've petrified themselves.
* LargeHam: They're prone to making grandiose moves in combat, and using Power Attack more than is strictly necessary, just to make their attacks more impressive (and painful).
* MusicSoothesTheSavageBeast: Stonesingers also appreciate other creatures' singing, and it's possible to impress them with a high enough Perform check, potentially placating an angry monster.
* SiliconBasedLife: Stonesingers look something like 12-foot-long scorpions with scales comprised of plates of stone and crystal claw-tips, but are classified as aberrations with the earth subtype rather than elemental creatures.
* StarfishLanguage: These creatures are quite intelligent, but speak their own language rather than any known tongue.
* SuperScream: Once every few rounds, a stonesinger can shriek, potentially dealing heavy sonic damage to and stunning a single target within 60 feet. Unusually, this is treated as a touch attack in which the monster makes a Perform check rather than a conventional attack roll.
* TakenForGranite: A stonesinger's bite attack carries a poison that deals [[NonHealthDamage Dexterity damage]], and any creature whose Dexterity hits 0 instantly fossilizes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Storm Drake]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/storm_drake_d&d.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Dragon (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 17 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Reclusive, serpentine dragons who lair in fog-shrouded mountain peaks, storm drakes chiefly wish to be left alone to enjoy the vastness of weather and the sky.
----
* BlowYouAway: A storm drake's breath weapon is a gust of tornado-strong winds.
* ColourCodedEmotions: A storm drake's scales shimmer gold when it's happy and turn dark gray when it's angry.
* ElementalShapeshifting: Storm drakes can turn into a cloud of living gas and back at will.
* LivingMoodRing: A storm drake's scales change in color based on its emotional state, gaining a pearlescent sheen when the creature is calm, shimmering gold when it's happy and turning a dark, leaden gray when it's angry.
* WeatherManipulation: Storm drakes' innate magic mostly focuses on controlling weather phenomena, allowing them to create fog and clouds, manipulate wind, create blizzards and sleet storms, or call down lightning.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Su-monster]]
[[quoteright:230:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_su_monster_2e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:230:2e]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey Beast (4E), Monstrosity (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 10 (4E), 1 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil, Unaligned (4E)

Intelligent but malevolent monkeys with psionic powers.
----
* BioweaponBeast: Legend has is that the first su-monsters were created by some evil spellcaster who wanted guardians to defend his forest against psionic enemies, and some sages believe su-monsters to be magical humanoid-ape hybrids.
* TheFamilyThatSlaysTogether: Part of what makes su-monsters dangerous is that they hunt as a family group. And should anything threaten their young or their mates, the su-monsters will fly into a rage and benefit from a ''haste'' effect.
* ManiacMonkeys: Su-monsters are a species of evil and aggressive monkeys.
* PrehensileTail: One of the su-monsters' favorite ambush methods is to sit atop a branch overlooking a path, then when prey passes below, grip the branch with their tails and then swing down to attack.
* PsychicPowers: Su-monsters are naturally psionic, and know powers such as ''psionic crush'' and ''mind thrust''.
* SlasherSmile: It's noted that su-monsters often grin, "but this is usually a sharp-toothed threat rather than a gesture of friendliness."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Succubus/Incubus]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_succubi_incubi_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E), Fiend (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 7 (3E), 9 (4E), 4 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil (1E-3E), Evil (4E), NeutralEvil (5E)

Fiends specializing in seduction and sexual temptation, able to assume whatever form and gender they believe appeals to their victims.

See Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsFiendsDemons for tropes related to the 3.5e depiction of incubi as a separate creature.
----
* CharmPerson: Succubi and incubi can charm other creatures at will, but normally do so only in emergencies, such as confrontations with adventurers. Evil acts committed under mind-control don't properly corrupt the victim's soul, after all.
* TheCorrupter: These fiends first take ethereal form to visit their sleeping targets and whisper in their ears, encouraging them to give in to their darkest desires and filling their mind with debauchery. Then they will assume a physical form that appeals to their target to befriend or seduce them, encouraging further depravity and evil acts. Once their victim has fully embraced evil, the fiend kills them and claims their soul.
* {{Humanshifting}}: Succubi and incubi can take the form of any Small or Medium humanoid to aid in their seductions.
* {{Intangibility}}: Succubi and incubi can shift to or from the Ethereal Plane with an action.
* KissOfDeath: A literal example; a succubus or incubus can [[VampiricDraining drain the life force]] of a charmed or willing recipient with a mere kiss, or other "act of passion." In most editions this resulted in LevelDrain, while 5th Edition makes the effect some heavy psychic damage that can't be recovered until the victim has a long rest.
* {{Retcon}}: Succubi have consistently been fiends, but which type varies by edition. Through 3rd Edition they were considered demons, but 4th edition reclassified them as devils, until 5th Edition declared they were fiendish free agents found across the Lower Planes. Succubi and incubi were also considered separate creatures until 5th Edition clarified that these fiendish seducers can change sex as easily as they change shape.
* SexShifter: They can change from male incubi to female succubi as they please, though most of them prefer one form or the other.
* SpiderSense: Their 2nd Edition rules state that succubi can never be surprised in combat; alu-fiends' entry explains that this is an "innate intuition" that warns of danger, but said half-fiends' equivalent is only 75% as effective.
* SuccubiAndIncubi: They're evil outsiders who use sex and seduction to damn mortal souls. Sometimes this results in the birth of a cambion.

!!Alu-Fiend
[[quoteright:248:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_alu_fiend_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:248:2e]]
->'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil, or rarely ChaoticNeutral or TrueNeutral

The offspring of succubi and humans, who inherit their mothers' supernatural beauty, charm and shapeshifting abilities, and often their evil temperament.
----
* ChildOfTwoWorlds: They tend to be hateful beings, "even for tanar'ri standards," as they're neither fully human nor demon, leaving them outcasts. Full tanar'ri consider alu-fiends "lowly and without purpose."
* LifeDrain: While full succubi can inflict negative levels, alu-fiends can heal themselves for half the damage they inflict with a melee attack.
* WingedHumanoid: In their natural forms, alu-fiends look like attractive winged women, though their ''shapechange'' ability can help disguise the latter.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sunfly]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}''\\
'''Classification:''' Celestial (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 0 (individual), 1 (swarm) (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticGood
----
* BewareMyStingerTail: Sunflies have stingers that inject a venom whose effect varies depending on the Outer Plane the sunfly is on.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sunwyrm]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sunwyrm_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Dragon (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 14 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticNeutral

Eight-legged, winged dragons with great power over light and radiance, sunwyrms spend their lives soaring above deserts and savannahs in an endless search for fresh prey.
----
* BlindedByTheLight: Anything that looks at a sunwyrm has to save or be blinded for several rounds.
* ElementalShapeshifter: Sunwyrms can transform into PureEnergy, either converting their claws or teeth into ''brilliant energy'' weapons that ignore armor, or turning their entire body into glowing energy, [[{{Intangibility}} becoming incorporeal.]]
* GlowingEyes: A sunwyrm's eyes seep with seemingly liquid light.
* LightEmUp: Sunwyrms constantly radiate golden light from their eyes, wing membranes and tail bulbs, and can transform their claws and fangs into structures of searing radiance, breathe out laser-like light beams, and constantly emit blinding light.
* LightIsNotGood: Sunwyrms are beautiful, golden dragons constantly glowing with steady golden light. They're also rapacious predators with little interest in anything beyond hoarding treasure and sating their hunger.
* NonElemental: Their breath weapon is a line of burning yellow energy that deals untyped damage, with the catch that as with ''brilliant energy'' weapons, it's completely harmless to nonliving matter, including constructs or the undead.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Susurrus]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_susurrus_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:2e]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sussurus_2e.jpg[[/labelnote]]]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 7 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Headless figures whose porous bodies produce a strange droning with a curious effect on the undead.
----
* BerserkButton: Aside from attacking undead on sight, susurri attack anyone carrying a torch or wielding flames, as the smoke taints the air the creatures survive on. Otherwise, the creatures keep to themselves unless aggravated.
* BrownNote: The "dronesong" produced by air moving through the hollows of a susurrus' body generates a soothing drone that echoes through dungeons to be heard up to a quarter-mile away. While it's harmless to most creatures, undead find it strangely calming, and may enter a state of torpor identical to a ''hold undead'' spell, refusing to move for up to ten rounds.
* {{Retcon}}: The susurrus of 2nd Edition is actually a ''bamboo'' monster related to the shambling mound, and the dronesong it produces can put both living and undead creatures into a ForcedSleep for several hours.
* TheSpiny: Anyone striking a susurrus in melee with a non-reach weapon will take damage from the glass barbs covering its body.
* TorsoWithAView: Susurri have several holes in their bodies, which don't impede them in any way, but instead produce their signature dronesong. This is also why [[StarfishLanguage other creatures have no luck reproducing the susurri language.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Swordwing]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_swordwing_4e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:4e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberrant Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 23 (slasher) to 30 (queen) (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Evil (4E)

Intelligent insectoids of the Underdark, known for their armblades and habit of collecting items for their nests.
----
* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: "Crownwings" are elite swordwings, selected when members of a hive travel to the Buzzing Vaults to wage frenzied battle -- surviving crownwings are considered to have defended their status, while lesser swordwings metamorphosize into new crownwings.
* BizarreAlienReproduction: Swordwings reproduce asexually, and get the urge to do so once in their lives. After receiving pheromones from their hive's queen in exchange for a proper offering, the swordwing hunts down and kills a humanoid, then implants an egg in the corpse's abdomen. The body is hung on the outside of the swordwing's home while the egg hatches and the resulting grub devours its host from the inside, converting the humanoid corpse into an aberrant insectoid over a year-long metamorphosis. New swordwings immediately begin collecting items, and are suspected to prefer objects that were significant to their hosts.
* BladeBelowTheShoulder: Swordwings get their name from the fact that one of their arms ends in a chitinous blade as hard as adamantine. Legend has it that those blades get sharper should someone rob a swordwing's hoard.
* CollectorOfTheStrange: They have an obsessive need to hoard objects, whether worthless trinkets, books the swordwing can't read, weapons or armor, gems and jewelry, or bloody body parts from their victims. The most successful swordwings in a hive will build themed collections, and crownwings will construct proper galleries to display their treasures (or what they consider treasure), but woe to anyone who trespasses in or steals from a swordwing's collection. While sometimes swordwings will trade with one another or other races to get desired items for their collections, in other cases the competition is vicious and violent -- or a swordwing will agree to a deal, then immediately kill their trading partner to get their payment back.
* CraftedFromAnimals: Other Underdark races sometimes harvest swordwing chitin and armblades to make into magic items, though any living swordwing who encounters someone using their kind's remains in this manner will fly into a murderous rage.
* HiveCasteSystem: Like most insect-folk, swordwings live in hive cities with distinct biological castes.
** Mature swordwings (also called drones) and immature swordwings (cutters) serve the higher ranks, until they're given the opportunity to become a crownwing at the Buzzing Vaults.
** Shapers are a higher rank of drone, valued for their ability to construct the species' nesting spires.
** Crownwings are a hive's upper class, given tasks by the queen and drones to command to fulfil them (failure results in death, while success is no guarantee of advancement). They have their own complicated internal hierarchy in which status is derived from the value of a crownwing's collection, and the only way to advance is by killing one's superior and then demonstrating the merits of one's collection -- a weeks-long process in which other crownwings scrutinize and debate the worthiness of a hoard, complete with sabotage by political rivals and bribery by ambitious swordwings.
** At the top of the hierarchy is a hive's queen, who generates the pheromones necessary for swordwing reproduction, leads the hive's worship of the Far Realm entity Dhogostho-Attu, and violently adjudicates any disputes lesser swordwings are unable to work out themselves. Any crownwing powerful enough to defeat their hive's queen becomes the new ruler.
* TruceZone: The Market Grottos are a stretch of caverns not far from the King's Highway in the Underdark, where swordwings from different hives meet to swap items for their collections. Uniquely, they do this without killing anyone but those who violate the "no violence" rule of the area, so brave (and well-armed) merchants from other races sometimes travel to the Market Grottos to do business.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sylph]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sylph_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E), Fey Humanoid (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (3E), 3 (4E)\\
'''Alignment:''' NeutralGood (2E), TrueNeutral (3E), Unaligned (4E)

These beautiful winged women are air elemental-kin, rumored to be a crossbreed between nymphs and air spirits. They have a liking for the scenery of the Material Plane, and make their homes on mountaintops, but can be found almost anywhere due to their love of travel.
----
* AlchemicElementals: They're the sylphs representing air, obviously.
* CuriosityIsACrapshoot: Their response to strangers is to turn invisible and observe from hiding, but even if they detect a potential threat, sylphs' curiosity can lead them to linger in dangerous situations just to watch what happens.
* EnemySummoner: Once per day, a sylph can summon a Large elemental of any variety.
* {{Invisibility}}: They can use ''improved invisibility'' at will.
* OneGenderRace: Sylphs are all-female and, according to their ''AD&D'' write-up, [[MarsNeedsWomen reproduce with male humanoids]], most commonly elves but sometimes humans or halflings. This results in an egg three months later, which hatches into an infant sylph in another six months.
* {{Retcon}}: Their size varies by edition, starting Medium-sized, getting downgraded to Small in 3rd Edition, then becoming Medium again for 4th.
* SquishyWizard: Sylphs are natural sorcerers, but are ''very'' squishy in direct combat -- their 3rd Edition stats only give them 10 hit points despite being CR 5.
* WingedHumanoid: Their 2nd Edition write-up states that sylphs can naturally levitate, and their wings simply provide thrust.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Synad]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_synad_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' Any

A naturally psionic race whose members are literally in three minds about everything.
----
* CombatClairvoyance: Their "oracle" mind can give synads a precognitive edge in combat, translating to a once-per-day bonus on an initiative check, attack roll or saving throw.
* DimensionalTraveler: The synads used the Plane of Shadow to escape their homeworld, which most synads prefer to forget, claiming that "monstrosities of the mind roam there unhindered."
* GhostMemory: Their "collective" mind lets synads tap into their racial memory, letting them spend a power point to gain a bonus on Knowledge or Psicraft checks.
* HumanoidAbomination: They look like tall, hairless humans, but their unique minds give them the Aberration type.
* MageSpecies: Synads are latent psionicists, giving them a starting pool of power points they can use to fuel their racial abilities, though they need to advance in psionic character classes to learn proper PsychicPowers.
* MindHive: Each synad has three fully independent minds fused into a functional whole, an "overmind" that controls the synad's actions while their subminds, the "collective" and the "oracle," offer insight as needed, or even take over. This ensures that a synad is never truly alone, and always enjoys multiple viewpoints and cooperative planning during decision-making. Their threefold mind lets synads more easily resist mental effects, and they can spend a power point to "multitask" once per day, having a submind perform a purely mental action as a free action.
* MultipleHeadCase: In sunlight, synads can pass for tall, slim humans, but in dim lighting, and if a synad has exhausted all of their power points for the day, two ghostly heads appear around their physical head, representing their multiple minds.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Slaad]]
->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E), Elemental Humanoid (4E), Aberration (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/8 (slaad tadpole) to 10 (death slaad) (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticNeutral, ChaoticEvil (4E)

Toad-like humanoids native to the Ever-Changing Chaos of Limbo, who live to spread anarchy.

* OneToMillionToOne: While shardminds usually hold humanoid form, they don't have to, and their racial power lets them loosen their mental grip on their shards to reform themselves elsewhere. The so-called shard disciples take this even further, and learn to create a whirlwind of crystal shards to [[GemstoneAssault damage enemies]] before reforming.

* HiddenElfVillage: Though one of the oldest races on Krynn, the shadowpeople have been forgotten by outsiders, and prefer to be thought of as mere creatures of myth. They dwell far away from other races' settlements, and any explorers who blunder into shadowperson territory are captured, telepathically interrogated, and either sworn to secrecy or fed a memory-erasing potion.

[[folder:Shaedling]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shaedling_3e.png]]

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

'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Wicked winged fey whose spinnerets exude shapeable shadow-stuff.

* CastingAShadow: A shaedling holds command over shadow, in the same way as spiders weave webs. Once per day they can generate a wall of darkness up to 30 feet long, which only creatures with darkvision can see through.
* EvilCounterpart: Shaedlings are such to pixies, as their ancestors followed the drow into the Underdark following the elven schism. Through unlike drow and surface elves, shaedlings cannot breed with normal pixies.
* ExplosiveBreeder: They're quite prolific, coupling "wantonly" to produce eggs that hatch within a month, and newborns grow to adulthood in a year. As a trade-off, shaedlings only live about 20 years or so.
* ForcedSleep: Shaedlings can use a javelin made of shadow gossamer to put a creature to sleep, as well as potentially all who touch that creature.
* SpontaneousWeaponCreation: They can swiftly create weapons or shields out of shadow gossamer, most commonly javelins and spiked chains. The catch is that such items dissipate one round after leaving a shaedling's hands.
* WingedHumanoid: Shaedlings resemble drow of short stature with solid black eyes and dark dragonfly wings.

[[folder:Shalarin]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shalarin_3e.jpg]]

->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''\\
'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Deep-dwelling aquatic humanoids with distinct dorsal fins running along their bodies.

* DayHurtsDarkAdjustedEyes: There aren't any game effects, but shalarin usually live in the deeper parts of the ocean (they're comfortable even 730 meters below the surface), and as such find the light of even an overcast day unpleasant. Sometimes they'll wear protective goggles when forced to travel to the ocean's surface.
* FantasticCasteSystem: Shalarin society is divided into four castes, the Protectors, Providers, Scholars and Seekers. All but the Protectors can be divided into sub-castes, so the Providers caste emcompasses working-class laborers, simple servants, ''and'' the shalarin rulers. In most cases [[ColorCodedCastes a shalarin egg's coloration indicates which greater caste the child will belong to, and the specifics of a shalarin's body coloration may indicate their sub-caste]] -- sages have a red stripe along the edge of their fins, while arcanists have red stripes along the base of their fins, for example -- but the Protectors caste can be made up of shalarin of any skin tone or color pattern. All this to say, shalarin usually try to work out what caste other races belong to in order to understand how to deal with them, which can lead to confusion if a shalarin is confronted by a warrior who also cooks and sings.
* FantasticRacism: Shalarin remain aloof towards sea elves due to past persecutions by that race (or in the Realms, specifically an attempted shalarin genocide by Dagon-aligned sea elves and merfolk). On the other hand, shalarin are the only race the locathah don't fear since they never tried to enslave the locathah at any point.
* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: They lack the traditional "fishy lower half," for starters, and instead swim with the help of their signature dorsal fins and webbed hands and feet. Shalarin also have gills on their ribs, and can't breathe air.
* OurNudityIsDifferent: While their warriors are known for wearing armor made from pearls or a material called silverweave, most shalarin only wear a belt or harness to carry items, while their nobles might wear sheer or silky garments as a mark of status. Some art suggests [[NonHumansLackAttributes they don't need to cover anything.]]
* UnscaledMerfolk: Shalarin's sleek skin is similar to a dolphin's in texture, but comes in a variety of vivid colors, from silvery to ivory, red, orange or midnight blue.

[[folder:Shambling Mound]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shambling_mound_3e.jpg]]

->'''Classification:''' Plant (3E, 5E), Natural Animate (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (3E), 9 (4E), 5 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Vaguely anthropomorphic plants which wander constantly in search of food.

* FeedItWithFire: Shambling mounds are in fact spawned when lightning or fey magic invigorates a swamp plant. As such, electricity attacks heal them.
* HeWasRightThereAllAlong: Shambling mounds are slow, and thus rely on ambushing prey, lying still and trying to appear as just another pile of rotting vegetation.
* ManEatingPlant: They devour any organic matter in their path, whether it's plants or animals. Humans are very much on the menu if they don't get out of the way.
* PlayingPossum: Shambling mounds are smart enough to feign death in the face of overwhelming opposition. So long as the root-stem that animates them survives an encounter, the creature can slowly regrow its body and go back to the hunt.
* SwallowedWhole: They can simply engulf grappled enemies, dealing bludgeoning damage each round and [[SinisterSuffocation preventing their victim from breathing.]]

* CreationMyth: Theirs is tied to the legend of Desh, said to have been humanity's first settlement. One day some hunters spotted a [[TheMarvelousDeer magnificent white deer]], and a man named Sharak ignored his companion's warnings and killed and ate the beast. Soon after, a god cursed those who ate the deer's meat with gray or coal-black skin and twisted features, leading the unaffected humans to flee the cursed village. The sharakim, or "tainted ones," consider themselves descendents of Sharak and his fellow cursed humans.

->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\

[[folder:Steel Predator]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/steel_predator_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E), Immortal Animate (4E), Construct (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 13 (3E), 20 (4E), 16 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral (3E), Evil (4E), LawfulEvil (5E)

Metallic feline hunters that would be formidable in battle even without their sonic roars.

* AdaptationalVillainy: In 3rd Edition, steel predators were simply animalistic beings that killed only to feed themselves, but 5th Edition cast them as assassins that occasionally go rogue and begin to kill indiscriminately.
* DeadlyLunge: Like other "big cat"-type creatures, 3rd Edition steel predators can make a pounce and rake attack on a charge.
* KillerRobot: A 5th Edition steel predator is a merciless machine with one purpose: kill its target regardless of distance and obstacles.
* MetalMuncher: In 3E, steel predators feed on metal, and especially prize metallic magical items. Their natural home, the Outer Plane of Acheron, is littered with endless weapons-strewn battlefields and broken heaps of war machines, giving them a rich supply of food.
* MooksAteMyEquipment: Acheron-native steel predators are adept at sundering enemies' weapons, shields or other held items with their bites.
* {{Retcon}}: In 3rd Edition, steel predators are outsiders native to the Infernal Battlefield of Acheron, prowling its warzones for fresh metal morsels. In 5th Edition, they're artificial killers created by a rogue modron to hunt down and slay targets across the planes.
* SuperScream: One feature that has remained constant is the steel predator's devastating roar, which deals heavy sonic/thunder damage as well as extra damage to brittle or crystalline items (in 3rd Edition), or may [[TheParalyzer stun victims for a minute]] (in 5th Edition).
* SuperSenses: They enjoy blindsight out to 30 feet, which is especially significant for the deaf 3E steel predators.
* SupernaturalSensitivity: 3rd Edition steel predators can sense the presence of any metallic magic item from up to 120 feet away.

[[folder:Steelwing]]
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_steelwing_3e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 14 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Intelligent raptors from the Infernal Battlefield of Acheron, notable for their adamantine feathers and 30-foot wingspan.

* CraftedFromAnimals: Steelwing feathers can be used to make masterwork ''keen'' adamantine arrows or crossbow bolts. Each feather is worth 50 gp, and a single adult steelwing can produce 350 of them.
* CrusadingWidower: These creatures mate for life, and if one is slain its mate will track down the killers to enact vengeance.
* FeatherFlechettes: Steelwings' "razorfeathers" can be fired as a ranged attack, veering toward their targets to negate their cover, or the steelwing can spend a full-round action firing a FlechetteStorm in a 60-foot cone that deals a massive amount of slashing damage.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: Hextor and his followers have tamed a great many steelwings for an aerie in his Scourgehold, though the birds require exotic saddles to protect their riders from their feathers.
* ItCanThink: Steelwings are capable of speech and a little smarter than ogres. They still live as predators, hunting both Acheron's petitioners and visitors to the plane.
* RazorWings: Their razor-sharp wings are not only effective in combat, they have a 1-in-5 chance of landing a CriticalHit.
* TheSpiny: Steelwings are perpetually surrounded by a [[PerpetualMolt cloud of feathers]] that deals a moderate amount of damage to adjacent creatures, and provides the steelwings with concealment.

[[folder:Stirge]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_stirge_5e.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:5e]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:4e]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_stirge_4e.png[[/labelnote]]]]
->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E), Natural Beast (4E), Beast (5E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (3E); 1, 7 (dire strige), 12 (swarm) (4E) ; 1/8 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Bat-winged, needle-mouthed creatures that feed on larger animals' blood.

[[folder:Shadowswyft]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shadowswyft_3e.jpg]]

->'''Classification:''' Outsider (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1 (3E)\\
'''Playable:''' 3E\\
'''Alignment:''' Any Chaotic

Lanky, dark-hued humanoids from the Plane of Shadow, quick to take action and naturally adventurous.

* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: They generally have short attention spans, and even their associations with other creatures rarely last long before the shadowswyft moves on.
* DayHurtsDarkAdjustedEyes: Shadowswyfts are blinded for a round upon being exposed to bright light, and dazzled so long as they stay in it.
* FragileSpeedster: Their base speed is an impressive 40 feet (compared to standard races' 30 feet), and they have a racial bonus to Dexterity and initiative checks, but shadowswyfts also take a penalty to their Constitution.
* InnateNightVision: They have both low-light vision and superior darkvision, and can see twice as far in total darkness as the likes of dwarves and tieflings.
* LeeroyJenkins: Shadowswyfts tend to be mercurial in temperament and prone to acting with little regard for consequences -- "In the amount of time it takes to formulate and evaluate a plan, worlds could be won or lost."
* StarfishLanguage: Downplayed; the shadowswyft language utilizes both sound and kinesics such as body language and [[FacialDialogue facial expressions]]. This means that Shadowswyft's written form includes multiple symbols to show the connotations for each word, while their names tend to be accompanied by a signifying gesture: Brot (''point right index finger''), Gheer (''headshake''), T'Har (''wink''), Phaer (''touch chin''), etc.
* SneakySpySpecies: Shadowswyfts have racial bonuses to Hide and Move Silently checks, and favor the rogue class.

[[folder:Shaedling]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shaedling_3e.png]]

->'''Classification:''' Fey (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 2 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticEvil

Wicked winged fey whose spinnerets exude shapeable shadow-stuff.

* CastingAShadow: A shaedling holds command over shadow, in the same way as spiders weave webs. Once per day they can generate a wall of darkness up to 30 feet long, which only creatures with darkvision can see through.
* EvilCounterpart: Shaedlings are such to pixies, as their ancestors followed the drow into the Underdark following the elven schism. Through unlike drow and surface elves, shaedlings cannot breed with normal pixies.
* ExplosiveBreeder: They're quite prolific, coupling "wantonly" to produce eggs that hatch within a month, and newborns grow to adulthood in a year. As a trade-off, shaedlings only live about 20 years or so.
* ForcedSleep: Shaedlings can use a javelin made of shadow gossamer to put a creature to sleep, as well as potentially all who touch that creature.
* SpontaneousWeaponCreation: They can swiftly create weapons or shields out of shadow gossamer, most commonly javelins and spiked chains. The catch is that such items dissipate one round after leaving a shaedling's hands.
* WingedHumanoid: Shaedlings resemble drow of short stature with solid black eyes and dark dragonfly wings.

[[folder:Shalarin]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shalarin_3e.jpg]]

->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''\\
'''Classification:''' Humanoid (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 1/2 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' TrueNeutral

Deep-dwelling aquatic humanoids with distinct dorsal fins running along their bodies.

* DayHurtsDarkAdjustedEyes: There aren't any game effects, but shalarin usually live in the deeper parts of the ocean (they're comfortable even 730 meters below the surface), and as such find the light of even an overcast day unpleasant. Sometimes they'll wear protective goggles when forced to travel to the ocean's surface.
* FantasticCasteSystem: Shalarin society is divided into four castes, the Protectors, Providers, Scholars and Seekers. All but the Protectors can be divided into sub-castes, so the Providers caste emcompasses working-class laborers, simple servants, ''and'' the shalarin rulers. In most cases [[ColorCodedCastes a shalarin egg's coloration indicates which greater caste the child will belong to, and the specifics of a shalarin's body coloration may indicate their sub-caste]] -- sages have a red stripe along the edge of their fins, while arcanists have red stripes along the base of their fins, for example -- but the Protectors caste can be made up of shalarin of any skin tone or color pattern. All this to say, shalarin usually try to work out what caste other races belong to in order to understand how to deal with them, which can lead to confusion if a shalarin is confronted by a warrior who also cooks and sings.
* FantasticRacism: Shalarin remain aloof towards sea elves due to past persecutions by that race (or in the Realms, specifically an attempted shalarin genocide by Dagon-aligned sea elves and merfolk). On the other hand, shalarin are the only race the locathah don't fear since they never tried to enslave the locathah at any point.
* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: They lack the traditional "fishy lower half," for starters, and instead swim with the help of their signature dorsal fins and webbed hands and feet. Shalarin also have gills on their ribs, and can't breathe air.
* OurNudityIsDifferent: While their warriors are known for wearing armor made from pearls or a material called silverweave, most shalarin only wear a belt or harness to carry items, while their nobles might wear sheer or silky garments as a mark of status. Some art suggests [[NonHumansLackAttributes they don't need to cover anything.]]
* UnscaledMerfolk: Shalarin's sleek skin is similar to a dolphin's in texture, but comes in a variety of vivid colors, from silvery to ivory, red, orange or midnight blue.

[[folder:Shambling Mound]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_shambling_mound_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Plant (3E, 5E), Natural Animate (4E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 6 (3E), 9 (4E), 5 (5E)\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

Vaguely anthropomorphic plants which wander constantly in search of food.
----
* FeedItWithFire: Shambling mounds are in fact spawned when lightning or fey magic invigorates a swamp plant. As such, electricity attacks heal them.
* HeWasRightThereAllAlong: Shambling mounds are slow, and thus rely on ambushing prey, lying still and trying to appear as just another pile of rotting vegetation.
* ManEatingPlant: They devour any organic matter in their path, whether it's plants or animals. Humans are very much on the menu if they don't get out of the way.
* PlayingPossum: Shambling mounds are smart enough to feign death in the face of overwhelming opposition. So long as the root-stem that animates them survives an encounter, the creature can slowly regrow its body and go back to the hunt.
* SwallowedWhole: They can simply engulf grappled enemies, dealing bludgeoning damage each round and [[SinisterSuffocation preventing their victim from breathing.]]
[[/folder]]

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: All dragonspawn have an obvious draconic heritage, but they fall short of being classified as true Dragons, and instead have the (Dragonblood) subtype. This means that they are classified as either Magical Beasts or Monstrous Humanoids, but certain spells and magic items affect them as if they were true Dragons.

* BlobMonster: Slyths have soft, round features in their humanoid form, and their signature ability is assuming a semisolid, amorphous form that gives them many ooze immunities and lets them squeeze through tight spaces. Any gear the slyth was wearing is transformed too, but they can't fight in blob form and their magic items don't function, and they can only assume it for ten minutes per level, and have to spend as much time in humanoid form as they spent in ooze form before they can assume it again.
* LovedByAll: Their helpfulness and peaceful nature means that slyths have amicable relations with just about everyone in the Underdark. The exceptions are the mind flayers and aboleths, whom the slyths go out of their way to avoid.

* AllWebbedUp: After paralyzing prey, if it doesn't consume them in the field, a silk wyrm will drag the unfortunate back to its lair to be wrapped up in a silken cocoon. "Bound creatures can look forward to several days of slow feeding. until the silk wyrms kill them or they die of thirst."

* FantasticRacism: Silt runners hate elves, to the extent that they'll break off an attack on a caravan for an opportunity to go after a lone elf (it helps that silt runners find elves [[ToServeMan delicious]]). Giants, who make their homes on the same Sea of Silt islands as the silt runners, consider the much smaller creatures to be pests or vermin that are "just too fast to swat properly."

* WormSign: Sink worms get their name for how they leave a sunken depression in the sand behind them as they move, a byproduct of how they filter sand and silt through their gills to breathe beneath the surface. "In spite of this clear warning sign, few prey escape once a sink worm begins hunting them."

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Their 3rd Edition entry describes spinewyrms as "the closest thing Athas has to a traditional ''D&D'' dragon," and gives them an immunity to paralysis or ''sleep'' effects, [[StrongerWithAge age categories]], a [[SupernaturalFearInducer frightful presence]], and [[AdaptationalIntelligence boosted Intelligence]], though they still lack a true dragon's BreathWeapon and body plan. 2nd Edition doesn't make any attempt to link them to dragons, but does note spinewyrms tendency to [[DragonHoard hoard shiny objects in their lairs.]]

* GiantSquid: Their bodies look something like shell-less nautiluses, and several silt horror varieties can use air jets to rapidly escape and kick up an [[SmokeOut obscuring cloud of dust]], similar to a sea squid's ink.

* TentacledTerror: In most cases, all victims see of these creatures are their tentacles erupting from the silt's surface, [[TentacleRope grabbing]] and [[CombatTentacles constricting]] prey.

[[folder:Silthilar]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_silthilar_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Aberration (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 7 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticGood

The remnants of a race of fleshcrafters that escaped a magical plague by transforming themselves into countless motes of flesh, which can freely recombine into their original shapes.

* {{Biomanipulation}}: When they aren't flat-out changing creatures' shapes entirely, silthilar are adept at applying specialized grafts to subjects -- flexible spines, improved muscles or bones, chitinous plating, regenerative blood, and so forth.
* DarkIsNotEvil: The silthilar have utterly alien bodies (when they even ''have'' solid bodies) and can effortlessly reshape other creatures as they see fit, but apart from the odd rogue swarms, the silthilar's skill at reshaping life is balanced by their respect for it, and they'll only work on voluntary test subjects or paying customers.
* ForcedTransformation: They can spend a full-round action by swarming a creature and subjecting it to a ''polymorph any object'' effect, transforming it into another living creature.
* HiveMind: Each mote of flesh that constitutes a silthilar is the physical embodiment of a piece of their race's lore, so a swarm of them creates a hive mind that can function as a single entity.
* KukrisAreKool: They favor kukris as melee weapons, and store them in dimensional pockets when in their swarm form.
* OneToMillionToOne: Silthilar can freely switch between their "swarm" form, a cloud of fleshy motes, and their "coalesced" forms, which are approximations of their original bodies.
* StarfishAliens: An individual silthilar mote is a half-inch mass of fleshy tendrils and bony hooks, but a cloud of such motes can coalesce into a human-sized shape with four arms and hands around its lower body, four hooked limbs around its upper body, and a mass of little tendrils for a "head" at the top.

[[folder:Sink Worm]]
[[quoteright:298:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sink_worm_2e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:298:2e]]
->'''Origin:''' ''TabletopGame/DarkSun''\\
'''Alignment:''' Unaligned

50-foot-long, maggot-like creatures that burst from sand or silt to swallow prey.

* DigAttack: They like to attack by bursting out of the sand from beneath their prey.
* {{Expy}}: Of all of ''D&D''[='s=] Sand Worm creatures, this one follows the TropeCodifier the closest, and even has the FlowerMouth and inward-facing teeth of the original ''Film/{{Dune|1984}}'' film design (though with more "petals").
* {{Intangibility}}: Aiding their movements through the sand is these worms' ability to "phase" through sand or rocky outcroppings, so long as this takes them less than 90 feet in one move. This ability also makes sink worms [[StealthyColossus oddly quiet for their gargantuan size.]]
* SandWorm: They're giant worms that rapidly burrow beneath the desert sands, showing a distinct sign of their passage, until they detect the vibrations of prey running across the sand and surface to try and swallow their victims.
* SwallowedWhole: They can swallow a man-sized target in a single attack if they roll well enough, after which the victim is subjected to ongoing damage in the worm's gullet until they either fight their way free or perish. "Two rounds after the victim reaches zero hit points, he is unrecoverable, except as small pieces."
* WormSign: Sink worms get their name for how they leave a sunken depression in the sand behind them as they move, a byproduct of how they filter sand and silt through their gills to breathe beneath the surface. "In spite of this clear warning sign, few prey escape once a sink worm begins hunting them."

[[folder:Sirine]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sirine_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:3e]]
->'''Classification:''' Fey (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 5 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' ChaoticNeutral

Ocean-dwelling female fey infamous for their bewitching songs.

* CantLiveWithoutYou: Sirines love the sea, and will wither away and die if confined away from the water. Somehow depriving them of their voices has a similar effect.
* CompellingVoice: Any creature who hears a sirine's singing has to save or succumb to a ''charm person'' effect that lasts for 11 hours.
* OneGenderRace: Much like dryads and nymphs, sirines are all female, and reproduce by mating with male humans, elves, tritons or merfolk to produce daughters with physical features indicative of their fathers' race.
* OurSirensAreDifferent: Sirines are fully-female creatures who indeed lure in passersby with their magical singing, but unlike their mythological source, most sirines aren't malicious, and will merely have some fun with their visitors for a few hours before going home. Unless defending their homes, sirines usually deal with aggressors by slipping away into the water, or using their Intelligence-draining attack and other magic to incapacitate their foe, before dumping them somewhere far away.
* ProtectThisHouse: While sirines are normally open to fun with strangers they meet out on the water, they keep cagey about the location of their actual homes, and about the only thing that can make a sirine violent is if someone gets close to their home, either by accident or by following the sirine.
* SkinnyDipping: Sirines commonly go without clothing while swimming.
* {{Stripperiffic}}: Sirines aren't known for wearing much when out of the water.
* StupidityInducingAttack: The touch of a sirine can deal [[NonHealthDamage Intelligence damage]] (in 3rd Edition) or reduce a creature's Int score to 2 (in 2nd Edition). A sirine can undo this effect, even if it was caused by another sirine, with another touch.
* UngratefulBitch: Sirines are notoriously untrusting of other creatures, and even if they accept someone's offer of aid, the sirine does not feel obligated to reward them for their service, and will treat them no differently than anyone else.

[[folder:Sirrush]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sirrush_3e.jpg]]

->'''Classification:''' Magical Beast (3E)\\
'''Challenge Rating:''' 24 (standard), 28 (three-headed) (3E)\\

Large apex predators that stalk potential prey for up to a day before attacking with unrelenting fury. Some sirrushes are born with three heads, and often come to dominate packs of their kin.

* FoodChainOfEvil: Sirrushes hunt anything, but specialize in taking down dragons, which can feed a pack for a week (though this won't stop them from hunting other creatures for sport).
* LosingYourHead: Their armored bony plates do their best to avert this, and give sirrushes a saving throw against attacks from things like ''vorpal'' weapons that might otherwise cost them a head.
* PantheraAwesome: Unlike the Mušḫuššu, their chimeric inspiration from Myth/MesopotamianMythology, these sirrushes resemble 650-pound cats covered in dragon-like scales rather than fur.
* SuperScream: Every few rounds they can loose a stunning roar affecting all creatures in a 60-foot cone.

[[folder:Sisiutl]]
[[quoteright:249:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d&d_sisiutl_3e.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:249:3e]]

'''Challenge Rating:''' 8 (3E)\\
'''Alignment:''' LawfulNeutral

Bizarre aquatic creatures often found guarding planar portals.

* BeastWithAHumanFace: They have a humanoid face, at the junction between its two additional, serpentine heads and necks.
* GiantAnimalWorship: These Huge creatures are occasionally revered as servants of ocean gods by coastal peoples, who give them offerings of seal meat and fish.
* OrganDrops: A sisiutl's blood can be rubbed on someone's skin to grant them the benefit of a 10th-level ''stoneskin'' spell. The problem is, this effect only lasts for ten minutes, the blood has to be fresh, and it washes off underwater.
* TakenForGranite: Sisiutls' DeadlyGaze petrifies victims.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: A sisiutl can transform itself into a self-propelled war canoe with a grinning humanoid face in its middle, usually to assist a worthy mortal.