CHAPTER 6:
BESTIARY
HIS BESTIARY PROVIDES GAME STATISTICSand lore for more than a hundred
monsterssuitable for any D&D campaign
, includingold favorites from past editions of the gameas well as original creations.
Among thosereturning to the fold
are the berbalang, theiron cobra, the
spirit troll, the meazel, andthe vampiric mist, all of
which trace their lineage backto the original Fiend Folio published in 1981.
Many of these monsters, old and new alike, are idealfor use with the earlier chapters of this book. For in-
stance,
the demons and devils presented here- lesser
varieties
as well as the greatest of the demon lords and
the archdevils -can add even more chaos and savagery
to a campaign based on the Blood War.
Similarly, you'll find a selection of specialized duergarto spice up a game that involves the characters in thestruggle described in chapter 3.
T he ranks of the drow and the shadar-kai are
swelledby the addition of special individuals that can adddepth-and danger- to adventures that take
heroes intothe Underdark or the Shadowfell.Or, if you're interested in exploring
either side of theconflict between the gith that's
portrayed in chapter 4 ,the bestiary has new versions
of githyanki and githzeraithat supplement the Monster
Manual entries for thosecreatures.This chapter is a continuation of the Monster Manualand adopts a similar presentation. If you are
unfamiliarwith the monster s tat block format, read
the introduc-tion of the Monster Manual before proceeding further. Itexplains stat block terminology and gives rules for vari-ous monster traits- information
that isn't repeated here.As with the monsters
in the Monster Manual, we'vetried to capture the essence of each creature and focuson those traits that make it unique or that encourageDMs to use it. You can do what you will with these mon-sters and change their lore to suit your game. Nothingwe
say here is meant to curtail your creativity.The creatures in this bestiary are organized alphabet-ically. A few are grouped under a banner heading; forexample, the "Demons" section contains stat blocks forvarious kinds of demons, which are presented alphabeti-cally within that section.Following this chapter is an appendix
that containslists of the creatures arranged by
type, challenge rating,and environment. DMs can use these lists, in conjunc-tion with similar information in the Dungeon Master'sGuide and other sources, to choose monsters for a par-ticular adventure
or campaign.CHAPTER 6 I BESTIARY