Current Monster Manual (v3.5)

The Monster Manual (or Monstrous Compedium) is the primary sourcebook for monsters in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It includes monsters derived from both mythology and folklore, and creations invented for D&D specifically, describing each with game-specific statistics (such as number of hit dice), a brief description of its habits and habitats, and an image. With the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide, it is one of the three "core rulebooks" in all editions of the (Advanced) Dungeons & Dragons game. Image File history File links Monster_Manual_3. ... Image File history File links Monster_Manual_3. ... Monster is a term for any number of legendary creatures that frequently appear in mythology, legend, and horror fiction. ... For other uses, see Dungeons & Dragons (disambiguation). ... For other meanings see Fantasy (disambiguation) Fantasy is a genre of art, literature, film, television, and music that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of either plot, theme, setting, or all three. ... A role-playing game (RPG) is a type of game in which players assume the roles of characters and collaboratively create narratives. ... The word mythology (Greek: μυθολογία, from μυθος mythos, a story or legend, and λογος logos, an account or speech) literally means the (oral) retelling of myths – stories that a particular culture believes to be true and that use supernatural events or characters to explain the nature of the universe and humanity. ... Folklore is the body of verbal expressive culture, including tales, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs current among a particular population, comprising the oral tradition of that culture, subculture, or group. ... In many wargames, role-playing games, and combat-oriented video games, hit points are an abstraction for the amount of damage an object or player in the game can take before becoming ineffective. ... Players Handbook for D&D version 3. ... Dungeon Masters Guide for D&D version 3. ...

Current Monster Manual (3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons)

The current version of the Monster Manual (July 2003), subtitled Core Rulebook v3.5, is a revision of the Monster Manual (2000) for Third Edition Dungeons & Dragons. 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year 2000. ...

The v3.5 revision has a slightly different entry on each monster, particularly the division of the attack into Attack and Full Attack entries. Also, most of the monsters now have an enhanced version of them near the original one as an example of advancement (usually either with a template or with class levels). Many monsters now have instructions on how to use them as player characters.

These volumes are not major variations from the earlier concepts of the Monster Manual; they update older monsters to Third Edition rules. In 2001, Monster Manual won the Origins Award for Best Graphic Design of a Roleplaying Game, Adventure, or Supplement 2000. 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... The Origins Awards, presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design, are presented at the Origins International Game Expo for outstanding work in the game industry. ...

Monster Manual II (2002) and Fiend Folio (2003) are new monster-specific rulebooks, though some of the specific monsters featured therein have almost no overlap with those of their first edition namesakes. There have been no new versions of Monster Manual II and Fiend Folio for v3.5, however update errata are available for both volumes and the original third edition Monster Manual are available for download from the publishers website [1]. Fiend Folio was a source book of monsters intended for use with the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. ...

Monster Manual III (2004) contains more monsters and was originally published in the v3.5 format.

Earlier Monster Manuals

The cover of the first edition of the Monster Manual (1977 - 1982) features some of the most amateurish artwork of the early game.

Original Monster Manual cover, scanned by User:Stan Shebs for Wikipedia, 200px across This image is a book cover. ... Original Monster Manual cover, scanned by User:Stan Shebs for Wikipedia, 200px across This image is a book cover. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Early Dungeons & Dragons

The earliest Dungeons and Dragons box games did not have separate Monster Manuals but contained the monsters in the manuals in the boxed set. The original boxed set included a Book 2: Monsters and Treasure.

After the publication of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, the game was still published in level-based boxes. Monsters of the appropriate levels were included in the rulebooks in Basic/Expert/Companion/Master/Immortals Sets and D&D Rules Cyclopedia book.

AC9 Creature Catalogue (1986) and its expanded revised namesake DMR2 Creature Catalogue (1993) were the only major new monster specific accessory for Dungeons & Dragons (pre-third edition). 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ...

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1st Edition)

The original Monster Manual (1977) was written by Gary Gygax. It was the first hardcover book for any Dungeons & Dragons game, and the first of the Core Manuals for the new Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Except for a cover art change in 1983 to match a new logo and house style, and some minor corrections introduced in the 1978 printings, it went through very little change in its fifteen printings up to 1989. For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... Ernest Gary Gygax, 2004 Ernest Gary Gygax (born July 27, 1938 in Chicago, Illinois, son of a Swiss immigrant father and an American mother whose family came to North America circa 1642) is best known as the author of the well known fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D... A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) book is bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth or heavy paper) and a stitched spine. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A publishing companys or periodicals house style is the collection of conventions in its manual of style. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The pen and ink illustrations within the first volume of the Monster Manual are uneven—some artwork is amateurish (as in many early D&D publications), while some shows skillful use of lines and media. Many illustrations even evoke a feeling of medieval woodcuts. The cover for the first Monster Manual is one the most notable uses of non-orthodox fantasy artwork (c.f. Boris Vallejo) by TSR, and is often jokingly disparaged by fans, although this two-dimensional "Bic pen and school notebook" style vividly captures and expresses the quaint, adolescent nature of 1970s fantasy roleplay. Despite their uneven quality, the illustrations within the tome are some of the best in the series. The credited artists of the first manual, in order, are David C. Sutherland III (DCS), David A. Trampier (DAT), Tom Wham (TW), and Jean Wells. It is a common misperception that Erol Otus contributed to the first Monster Manual; he did not. Pen and ink refers to a technique of drawing or writing, in which colored (this includes black) ink is applied to paper using a pen or other stylus. ... Vallejo work from the box art of the video game Ecco the Dolphin. ... David C. Sutherland III was an early Dungeons & Dragons artist. ... Dave A. Trampier is an early Dungeons & Dragons artist and writer. ... Tom Wham is a designer of board games. ... Erol Otus is an American artist. ...

The first edition Monster Manual is also famous for the topless portrayals of its female monsters, such as the succubus and Type V demons, the lamia, the sylph, among others. The casual depiction of female nudity is a hallmark of first edition Dungeons and Dragons art.

The cover of the first edition Monster Manual II

Fiend Folio (1981) was produced by TSR UK and originally scheduled for 1979. Many of the Fiend Folio's contents were taken from the Fiend Factory feature of White Dwarf, others were taken from modules, and some were original creations for this volume. It introduced several popular monsters to the D&D game including drow, githyanki, githzerai, slaad, and death knights. It also featured monsters that were infamously ridiculous such as the sheet phantom (a bad caricature of a ghost) and the flumph (one of the only non-evil creatures presented). Fiend Folio featured more consistent artwork than the original Monster Manual, though of the same general style but darker, making more use of light and shadow. Cover of D & D Monster Manual, covered under fair use, original from The Acaeum (http://www. ... Cover of D & D Monster Manual, covered under fair use, original from The Acaeum (http://www. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This page refers to the year 1979. ... Cover of White Dwarf issue 90, June 1987. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Drizzt DoUrden, one of the more notable drow in Dungeons & Dragons Drow are a species of elf in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. ... The githyanki are a fictional race, first created by George R. R. Martin in his science fiction novel Dying of the Light. ... The githzerai are a fictional species of sentient humanoids created for the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game. ... In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the slaad (sometimes pluralized as slaadi) are a fictional race of chaotic neutral creatures native to the Outer Plane of Limbo. ... In fantasy literature and role-playing games, a death knight (sometimes referred to as a shadow knight or dread knight) is an undead corruption of a righteous warrior who broke his or her code of honor and embraced evil. ... Phantom could refer to any of the following. ... Phil Silvers TV Guide cover A caricature is a humorous illustration that exaggerates or distorts the basic essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness. ... A manufactured image of a ghostly woman ascending a staircase A ghost is an alleged non-corporeal manifestation of a dead person (or, rarely, an animal). ... The flumph is a monster found in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. ...

Monster Manual II (1983) was also credited to Gygax, though some of its contents was taken from modules. It introduced the new logo and art style on the cover that was used on latter reprintings of the other manuals. While the Monster Manual II added many popular monsters to the D&D mythos, there were also some ridiculed monsters such as the modron. 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, modrons are creatures native to Mechanus, the Outer Plane of Law. ...

2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

The cover of Monstrous Compedium Volume One

Monstrous Compendium (1989) replaced the Monster Manual when Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Second Edition was released. The Compendium was a binder of looseleaf sheets rather than a hardback book. The first two volumes contained the "core" monsters of the game. These were followed by a large number of appendix volumes that contained extra monsters for particular campaign settings. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (572x620, 94 KB) Summary Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition Monstrous Compedium Volume One (1989) Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (572x620, 94 KB) Summary Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition Monstrous Compedium Volume One (1989) Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A campaign setting is a fictional fantasy world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame, such as Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer and various d20 System games. ...

The format was intended to help Dungeon Masters keep all of their monster statistics in one place and in alphabetical order. It would also mean they would only need to purchase core volumes and appendix volumes for the campaigns they wanted, rather than getting a mix of monsters in books. However, the binder format ultimately proved impractical for two main reasons: A Gamemaster or Game Master (often abbreviated as GM) is a player in a multiplayer game who acts as organizer, arbitrator, and officiant in rules situations. ...

• The looseleaf pages had a tendency to tear along the holes for the binder; it was simply not as durable as the hardcover book format for a frequently used reference manual;
• Also almost every looseleaf page in the series featured a different monster on each side, making it impossible for DM's to keep monsters in strict alphabetical order.

The artwork in the looseleaf volume of the manual is generally considered the absolute worst of the game, especially when one considers that the art budget available for the Monstrous Compendium series was much higher than that for the original Monster Manuals. In particular, the art in the first two volumes of the Compendium were almost entirely illustrated by a single artist in a style that seemed to many to be rushed and careless. However, later Monstrous Compendiums made a return to form with full-color art on quality paper that was up to professional standards.

In 1993 the Monstrous Manual was released, compiling all monsters from the first two volumes of the Monstrous Compendium plus a large number of monsters from other sources into a large 384 page hardcover book. More Monstrous Compedium Appendices were released as a supplement to the Monstrous Manual in the form of paperback books, mostly 128 pages. They included updated reprints of loose leaf Monstrous Compendium Appendices and new volumes. 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Paperback may refer to a kind of book binding by which papers are simply folded without cloth or leather and bound - usually with glue rather than stitches or staples - into a thick paper cover; or to a book with this type of binding. ...

Monstrous Compendium volumes issued

The cover of the Monstrous Compedium Ravenloft Appendix II

The MC series was the loose leaf version. These included: Image File history File links Download high resolution version (508x640, 92 KB) Summary MC15 Monstrous Compendium II: Children of the Night Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (508x640, 92 KB) Summary MC15 Monstrous Compendium II: Children of the Night Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...

• MC1 Monstrous Compendium Volume One (1989) - 144 pages, 12 dividers and 3-ring D-binder
• MC2 Monstrous Compendium Volume Two (1989)
• MC3 Monstrous Compendium Volume Three Forgotten Realms Appendix
• MC4 Monstrous Compendium Dragonlance Appendix (1989) - 96 pages, 4 dividers and 3-ring D-binder
• MC5 Monstrous Compendium Greyhawk Adventures Appendix (1990) - 32 pages, 4 dividers
• MC6 Monstrous Compendium Kara-Tur Appendix
• MC7 Monstrous Compendium Spelljammer Appendix (1990) - 64 pages, 4 dividers
• MC8 Monstrous Compendium Outer Planes Appendix (1991) - 48 pages, 4 dividers
• MC9 Monstrous Compendium Spelljammer Appendix (1991)
• MC10 Monstrous Compendium Ravenloft Appendix (1991) - 32 pages, 4 dividers
• MC11 Monstrous Compendium Forgotten Realms Appendix (1991) - 32 pages, 4 dividers
• MC12 Monstrous Compendium Dark Sun Appendix: Terrors of the Desert (1992) - 96 pages
• MC13 Monstrous Compendium Al-Qadim Appendix (1992) - 32 pages, 4 dividers
• MC14 Monstrous Compendium Fiend Folio Appendix (1992) - 32 pages, 4 dividers
• MC15 Monstrous Compendium Ravenloft Appendix II: Children of the Night (1993) - 32 pages, 4 dividers

After the loose leaf version was abandoned, Monstrous Compedium Appendices were published in book form. Except where noted, are 128 page paperbacks with mostly new material. They included: The The Forgotten Realms third edition logo. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Dragonlance Dragonlance Logo Dragonlance is a large series of fantasy books, and a Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting. ... The cover of the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, published in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast. ... 3rd edition D&D manual for Oriental Adventures. ... Spelljammer (1989) is a campaign setting for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (2nd edition) role playing game, which features a fantastical (as opposed to scientific) outer space environment. ... The Outer Planes are the outermost planes of existence in the standard cosmology of the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game. ... Ravenloft is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. ... // It has been suggested that Athas be merged into this article or section. ... Al-Qadim: Arabian Adventures sourcebook cover Al-Qadim: Land of Fate campaign setting box set cover Al-Qadim is an Arabian Nights-themed campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. ... Paperback may refer to a kind of book binding by which papers are simply folded without cloth or leather and bound - usually with glue rather than stitches or staples - into a thick paper cover; or to a book with this type of binding. ...

• Monstrous Manual (1993) - 384 page hardcover reprinting MC1 & MC2 plus others
• Dark Sun Monstrous Compendium Appendix II: Terrors Beyond Tyr (1995)
• Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium Appendices I & II (1996) - reprinting MC10 & MC15
• Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium Appendix III: Creatures of Darkness (1994)
• Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix (1994)
• Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix II (1995)
• Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix III (1998)
• Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix (1994)
• Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume One (1994) - reprints from modules and magazines of 1993
• Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Two (1995) - reprints from modules and magazines of 1994
• Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Three (1996)- reprints from modules and magazines of 1995
• Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Four (1998) - 96 pages - reprints from modules and magazines of 1996/7

A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) book is bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth or heavy paper) and a stitched spine. ...

See also

First edition Fiend Folio

• List of species in fantasy fiction
• Category:Dungeons & Dragons creatures

Cover of D & D Fiend Folio, covered under fair use, original from The Acaeum (http://www. ... Cover of D & D Fiend Folio, covered under fair use, original from The Acaeum (http://www. ... Fantasy fiction tends to draw upon a common set of creatures that are easily recognizable to fans of the fantastic genre and have some pre-determined traits. ...

External links

• Current Monster Manual at Wizards of the Coast website.
• Detailed information on the 1st Monster Manual and differences between printings
• Help turn the D&D Monster Manual into a Wikibook!