Real-World Mythical Creatures That Aren't In MMI

[Fax Celestis]

I've asked a similar question before, but damned if I know where the thread's gotten to.

I'm looking for your favorite mythological beasts that don't appear in MMI: creatures like tanuki, kitsune, phoenices, thunderbirds, cyclopes, or wendigos.

Why? For the glory of satan, of course! So I can stat them up myself.

Why MMI? For the glory of satan, of course! Because of that pesky little thing called "the OGL".

Also potentially interested in your favorite monsters from prior editions that never made it into 3.x.

[(Un)Inspired]

The Loch Ness monster, Elvis, Sasquatch, Big Foot, uhhh.... The jackalope?

That's all I got.

[Phelix-Mu]

Vashta narada.

More seriously, I'd like a template to use for Native American totem animals beyond, I dunno, vivacious template or...wasn't there a spirit animal template? Anyway, I'd like a two tier thing; one to represent the basic totem animal for a vision, the other to represent the iconic Brother Raven or Coyote from the myths. This could also work for certain African traditions, like Ananzi the Spider. Incorporeality isn't really a big part of the thing, but they should be able to appear/disappear from view in some fashion, to help with dramatic entrances and omen-like episodes.

Thunderbird is a good call. I wasn't a huge fan of the version from Sandstorm in the first place; it was an interesting monster, but I'm not sure it represented the creature from myth very well.

Certain fairies. Is there a brownie (house fairy) from the MM1? Can't recall, but it was in the monster books in several earlier editions. I'd also like a more interesting atomie.

High-level fey. In myths, there is often a special realm where the Fair Folk reside, and occasionally one of them comes over and claims/charms a human mate, taking them back to their homeland, never to be seen again (one of the many mythical ways to explain "disappearances"). Such a fey never really shows up in D&D; nymphs are close, but more of a Greek thing. I'm looking for something more similar to the Celtic Fair Folk.

Selkie. It got a treatment in another book, ofc, but wasn't particularly inspiring. Similarly, sirines.

A giant of the kind from Jack and the Beanstalk. They are very big, but also seem fairly simple and rather evil. Most of the biggest giants in D&D are more neutral, and have much more of the Norse jotun flavor than the more British "ogre" concept.

EDIT: Oh, right, other editions. Ahem.

Undead beast. Was from Dragonlance stuff, but a really cool idea.

Thessalmonster. Came in several flavors, and was essentially that monster that bred with all the other monsters and produced bizzare hybrids. There was a thessalhydra, thessalamera, thessaltrice.

[Fax Celestis]

Jackalopes! Excellent call.

Also a good call on totemic beasts.

[Phelix-Mu]

Also, tabaxi. I think they were in the 2e Monster Manual hardcover.

Grippli, though I think they were reprinted in one of the Faerun books.

I wouldn't mind a basic "place-kami" template, for non-Divine Ranks versions of gods of a specific location, a la Eastern mythology about animism/pantheism/etc. Maybe a special HD progression for the scope of landmark/place they represent, culminating in a "dragon" form of some kind that would have status equal to the normal oriental-style dragons in the Celestial Bureaucracy. I used stuff like this homebrewed for an Eastern-flavored subcontinent in one of my campaigns. Cool stuff.

[Twilightwyrm]

Scylla would be interesting. I mean, I tend to use it as a term for describing aquatic hydras in my games, but this is more a relic of playing Age of Mythology than anything else. Having the original giant sea monster with the heads of barking dogs around its waist would be interesting.

[bekeleven]

Certain fairies. Is there a brownie (house fairy) from the MM1? Can't recall, but it was in the monster books in several earlier editions. I'd also like a more interesting atomie.

There was a brownie on the web article here, which unfortunately, seems to have been erased along with all the other web stuff due to 5th ed.

Phelix mentioned oriental dragons, so I'll second that. Similarly, the leviathan. For treatments on these themes, see the Sea Drake from FF and a handful of others.

[Nousos]

THere was an obscure greeck myth goat monster thing that crapped out exploding poop.

Pretty much every culture has evil shapeshifting animal spirits.

In japanese mythology, the Basan is a giant fire breathing chicken that lives in mountains, its caw is a very ill omen. The wanyudo is a spirit in the form of a flaming wheel with the head of a man in the center that wanders and steals souls for hell. komainu are the lion dog guardian spirits that statues were built of in front of japanese temples; and if you could stat Orochi that'd be nice, as his abilities are always up to interpretation and the official versions are odd.

[sakuuya]

I'd love to see some more American folk stuff--somebody already mentioned bigfoot and jackalopes, and I'd add hodags, hidebehinds, sidehill gougers, the Jersey devil, the mothman, and wampus cats.

[Gemini476]

Being a Swede, having a few more nordic-style trolls and such would be nice. Also, tomtar. There's also a whole bunch of rationalisations-turned-myths in the real world, like some spirit of the mine that causes cave-ins and such if you are too loud and disturb it. (It was a ghostly white woman, IIRC.) Or things like näcken, the naked man who lures people to drown via fiddling, or vattnahästen (lit. Water Horse) who let's people ride him and then jumps into the water so they all drown.
Far too few things in D&D go with the old style of scaring 'em straight. Are you a naughty child? Too bad, Santa's jolly helper is going to kidnap you and send you to Spain. Or eat you. It depends on which one you're talking about. Walk into a forest and get lost? Whoops, you got so lost that once you return from Faerie a hundred years have passed and you age that much in an instant. Seduce a beautiful stranger? Jokes on you, it was a horrible monster that wanted to eat your soul.

The old Viking zombie things are also pretty cool; the Draugr, I think they're called?

Also, cyclopes. Of the Greek "master smith" kind.

Really, most of the stuff in the MM is either home brand or from Greek/English myths. I'm not really sure what is in there that's from outside there - there's a bit of Romanian and Germanic stuff, like vampires and whatnot, and a few "modern" pop culture thingummits like zombies (who, admittedly, are pretty Voodoo-ish in some ways).

...I don't remember, are there any limbless dragons in the MM, or at least flightless ones?

There's a whole bunch of stuff that isn't in the MMI, but a lot of it can be excused due to space constraints. Mostly. Who knows why they invented so many weird and forgettable monsters for 3E. You'd have figured that Cerberus would have gotten a place.

[AmberVael]

I agree on Draugr. They're way more than the boring zombies you see in Skyrim- they're attributed with everything from shapechanging to foresight to altering the weather.

Also, how about a good old sea serpent? I don't recall any from the Monster Manual, and that seems like a serious lack. Krakens are nice and all, but sea serpent.

Rakshasa that aren't tiger-people might be nice. I'm still not sure where the tiger thing came from but it has always kind of annoyed me. In fact, a lot of the creatures from that mythology are done pretty oddly in D&D.

Since you've already mentioned things like Kitsune and Tanuki, you might also consider something along the lines of one of the various cat creatures from the same sources- there are a few.

[...]

I'd love to see some more American folk stuff--somebody already mentioned bigfoot and jackalopes, and I'd add hodags, hidebehinds, sidehill gougers, the Jersey devil, the mothman, and wampus cats.

We have to have Mothmen. I personally prefer the "living caution signs" way of doing them, but your call.

[Thurbane]

Here's a great database of user made conversion of pre 3.X monsters that didn't get official updates: Creature Catalogue

[Flickerdart]

None of the good monsters from Slavic mythology are available. Some highlights:
Zmei Gorynych: A three-headed dragon with wings of flame, who brings drought and is in the habit of kidnapping princesses for food, marriage, or general terror.
Viy: A demon with a gaze that kills people and levels buildings. His deadly eyes are concealed by massive brows that two lesser demons lift with iron pitchforks.
Gamayun, Sirin and Alkonost: Conceptually similar creatures with the bodies of birds and heads of women. Alkonosts also have human arms. Men become lost in their beautiful songs - the Sirin sings sad songs, and the Alkonost sings happy ones. The Gamayun knows all and can see the future, which it sometimes shares with those who know how to listen. It is also the bringer of storms.
Domovoy: A house spirit that can be benevolent or belligerent depending on how the residing family treats him. Possesses minor telekinetic powers to do things like braid horses' manes or pinch people, also has limited future sight and some pyrokinesis.
Kikimora: Dead or rejected children, as well as children from a union with a demon, become kikimora - malignant shapeshifters who delight in tricking humans.
Leshiy: A shapeshifting forest spirit that tries to protect its home from human influence by scaring away people or causing them to become lost. However, it also helps those who treat with it respectfully, aiding in hunts.
Vodyanoy: A water spirit that typically appears as an old man covered in seaweed. He is basically ugly Aquaman, but sometimes tries to drown people so they can entertain him in his underwater home (he also has dominion over drowned souls).
Chudo-yudo: A hydra-type, possessing many heads and many tails (which it uses to strike its foes).
Letun: A fiery snake-demon that shares vampiric traits - it seeks out recent widows and transforms into their man, fooling them into thinking he never died. At the earliest opportunity, it lures them into his bed and then drains their blood. If he spares the woman, the union sometimes bears monstrous children that result in Kikimora (see above).
Rusalka: Spirits taking the form of women who try to drown people or tickle them to death (if water is not available nearby). Sometimes said to be the souls of dead people (but most often drowned women).
Solovey: A specific character rather than a variety of monster, this is a humanoid that can level buildings and forests with the power of his whistling.

[Chronos]

Quoth Nousos:

THere was an obscure greeck myth goat monster thing that crapped out exploding poop.

Dangit, I thought I was going to be the first to mention the bonnacon. Ah, well, at least I remembered the name.

[Nousos]

Dangit, I thought I was going to be the first to mention the bonnacon. Ah, well, at least I remembered the name.

Yea I tried remembering the name for about 10 minutes and drew a blank, thanks.

One that I would really like to see is the tengu, but it would depend on which version of the myths you want to use. They were originaly birdlike demons of destruction and wrath, but changed over time to become humanlike like protectors of mountains and forests. Either way they had many powers like telepathy with humans, shapeshifting, a strange form of teleportation, and a myriad of things they could accomplish through sorcery such as entering dreams, along with being masters of martial arts that would probably be best represented by ToB manuevers. While in later stories they would be considered evil tricksters by human standards, they would aid and even mentor those they found worthy, and were said to have trained a few legendary samurai.

Its actually something I might attempt to stat soon.

[(Un)Inspired]

I'd love to see some more American folk stuff--somebody already mentioned bigfoot and jackalopes, and I'd add hodags, hidebehinds, sidehill gougers, the Jersey devil, the mothman, and wampus cats.

Whoa there buddy. Don't forget the hoop-snake.

Also, that Bolivian devil from that naughty boy song lalala that rules the underworld and haunts mines.

F*** me what is that guy called?...

[Thurbane]

I'd love to see 3.X stats for Baby Yaga...maybe an advanced Annis or Night hag with 20th level Sorcerer casting?

[Psyren]

Jabberwocky.

By the way, many of these creatures were reprinted under Pathfinder and are OGL now (if you start from their version rather than WotC's.)

[sakuuya]

Whoa there buddy. Don't forget the hoop-snake.

Also, that Bolivian devil from that naughty boy song lalala that rules the underworld and haunts mines.

F*** me what is that guy called?...

El Tio! Yeah, that dude rocks.

[Chronos]

Quoth Thurbane:

I'd love to see 3.X stats for Baby Yaga...

Now, that is an epic typo.

[Thurbane]

Now, that is an epic typo.

Oopsie...lol

[KillianHawkeye]

Am I the only one who can't believe that after all of the Monster Manuals and other supplements that included monster stats--from nearly eight years of 3rd and 3.5 Edition D&D--that we NEVER got stats for a leprechaun?

I'd also like to see how the chupacabra would turn out as a D&D monster.

[Psyren]

In Golarion, Baba Yaga is one of the most powerful entities that isn't a deity around so stats will be hard to come by. She could probably take on Cthulhu.

(For comparison, one of her daughters is a Witch 20 with Mythic ranks IIRC.)

Am I the only one who can't believe that after all of the Monster Manuals and other supplements that included monster stats--from nearly eight years of 3rd and 3.5 Edition D&D--that we NEVER got stats for a leprechaun?

I'd also like to see how the chupacabra would turn out as a D&D monster.

Leprechaun
Chupacabra

[toapat]

Elvis

That's all I got.

you forgot the rest of the thread for winning it

[KillianHawkeye]

Leprechaun
Chupacabra

That's nice, but I thought we were talking about D&D, not Pathfinder.

[iTreeby]

Selkie. It got a treatment in another book, ofc, but wasn't particularly inspiring. Similarly, sirines.

Selkies are so cool! they need more love.

[Psyren]

That's nice, but I thought we were talking about D&D, not Pathfinder.

What we're actually talking about here is homebrew if you want to get technical, so seeing how somebody else statted something can at least give ideas.

[KillianHawkeye]

Well I DID say it was nice, didn't I?

[Shieldbunny]

Selkie. It got a treatment in another book, ofc, but wasn't particularly inspiring.

Looking at then on google, Selkies seem like wereseals.