parent nodes: Monsters | Species | stat blocks
Name:
The first thing given for each monster is its name (or its most common name, if the monster is known by more than one). If an asterisk appears after the monster's name, it indicates that the monster is only able to be hit by special weapons (such as silver or magical weapons, or creatures affected only by fire, etc.) which makes the monster harder to defeat.
Armor Class:
This line lists the creature’s Armor Class. If the monster customarily wears armor, the first listed AC value is with that armor, and the second, in parentheses, is unarmored. Some monsters are only able to be hit (damaged) by silver or magical weapons; these are indicated with (s); some monsters may only be hit with magical weapons, indicated by (m).
Hit Dice:
This is the creature’s number of hit dice, including any bonus hit points. Monsters always roll eight-sided dice (d8) for hit points, unless otherwise noted. So for example, a creature with 3+2 hit dice rolls 3d8 and adds 2 points to the total. A few monsters may be marked as having ½ hit dice; this means 1d4 points, and the creature has "less than one hit die" for attack bonus purposes. One or two asterisks (*) may appear after the hit dice figure; where present, they indicate a Special Ability Bonus to experience points (XP) awarded for the monster. See Character Advancement in the Adventure section for more details. If the monster's Attack Bonus is different than its number of Hit Dice, for convenience the Attack Bonus will be listed in parentheses after the Hit Dice figure.
Movement:
This is the monster's movement rate, or rates for those monsters able to move in more than one fashion. For example, bugbears have a normal walking movement of 30', and this is all that is listed for them. Mermaids can only move about in the water, and so their movement is given as Swim 40'. Pegasi can both walk and fly, so their movement is listed as 80' Fly 160'. In addition, a distance may appear in parentheses after a movement figure; this is the creature's turning distance (as explained in the Encounter section). If a turning distance is not listed, assume 5'.
Attacks:
This is the number (and sometimes type or types) of attacks the monster can perform. For example, goblins may attack once with a weapon, so they are marked 1 weapon. Ghouls are marked 2 claws, 1 bite as they can attack with both claws and also bite in one round. Some monsters have alternate attacks, such as the triceratops with an attack of 1 gore or 1 trample which means that the creature can do a gore attack or a trample attack, but not both in the same round.
Damage:
The damage figures caused by successful attacks by the monster. Generally, this will be defined in terms of one or more die rolls.
No. Appearing:
This is given in terms of one or more die rolls. Monsters that only appear underground and have no lairs will have a single die roll; those that have lairs and/or those that can be found in the wilderness will be noted appropriately. For example, a monster noted as "1d6, Wild 2d6, Lair 3d6" is encountered in groups of 1d6 individuals in a dungeon setting, 2d6 individuals in the wilderness, or 3d6 individuals in a lair. Note that number appearing applies to combatants. Non-combatant monsters (juveniles, and sometimes females) do not count in this number. The text of the monster description should explain this in detail where it matters, but the GM is always the final arbiter.
Save As:
This is the character class and level the monster uses for saving throws. Most monsters save as Fighters of a level equal to their hit dice, but this is not always the case.
Morale:
The number that must be rolled equal to or less than on 2d6 for the monster to pass a Morale Check. Monsters having a Morale of 12 never fail morale checks, and fight until destroyed (or until they have no enemies left).
Treasure Type:
This describes any valuables the monster is likely to have. See the Treasure section for more details about interpreting the letter codes which usually appear here. A monster's treasure is normally found in its lair unless described otherwise; sometimes for monsters who live in towns or other large groups, this line will describe both the lair treasure as well as treasure carried by random individuals.
XP:
This is the number of experience points awarded for defeating this monster. In some cases, the figure will vary; for instance, Dragons of different age categories will have different XP values. Review the Experience Points awards table in the Adventure section to calculate the correct figure in these cases.