īecause of their broad, inclusive background, D&D monsters have been called a pastiche of sources, freely combining qualities of classical works as well as modern or wholly original creations. The mimic disguises itself as a chest, thwarting players expecting to find treasure. The rust monster and owlbear, for instance, were based on toys purchased at a discount store. Monsters such as the gelatinous cube have been described as "uniquely weird," inspired by unusual sources or designed to suit the particular needs of a role-playing game. Original monsters have also been included in Dungeons & Dragons, and these are among the game's most memorable. Monsters are adapted to fit the needs of the game's writers and publishers, such as by describing combat abilities that may have been absent or only implied by an original source. In game books, monsters are typically presented with illustrations, fictional elements, and game statistics. Mauricio Rangel Jiménez goes so far to say that a basic knowledge of mythology, religion and fantasy is required to keep pace with the game. The sources of Dungeons & Dragons monsters are diverse, including mythology, medieval bestiaries, science-fiction and fantasy literature, and film. įor publication history, see Monster Manual. The term monster in Dungeons & Dragons can refer to a variety of creatures, including traditional monsters such as dragons, supernatural creatures such as ghosts, and mundane or fantastic animals-in short, "an enormous heterogeneous collection of natural and monstrous foes." While many monsters are adapted from pre-existing myths and legends, others have been invented specifically for the game, sometimes having characteristics specifically suited to the mechanics of the game. Described as an "essential" part of Dungeons & Dragons, the game's monsters have become notable in their own right, influencing fields such as video games and fiction, as well as popular culture. Since the game's first edition in 1974, a bestiary was included along other game manuals, first called Monsters & Treasure and now commonly called the Monster Manual.
#Dnd 5e all creatures manual#
JC: When you cast animate dead, use the skeleton/zombie stat block from the Monster Manual or appendix D in the PH.In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, "monsters" are generally the antagonists which players must fight and defeat to progress in the game. Q: When animate dead is cast on a corpse/skeleton, do you use the Monster manual statistics, or add a template? Jeremy Crawford has unofficially clarified the intent on Twitter though: 2 Your DM might provide you with slightly different statistics based on that, but the base will always be those standard stat blocks. One thing that might be different from creature to creature is equipment as discussed in this Q&A. It is worth noting that the "the DM has the creature’s game statistics" language appears in all Conjure X spells (plus some others). Really the only interpretation we are left with then is that the spell wants you to use the standard statistics for those creatures.
And there is no zombie or skeleton monster template, so there is no way for a DM to create individual stats for a monster-turned-undead. It would not be in line with any other spell effect, for example, to interpret this to meant that the DM comes up with the statistics from scratch each time for every creature that is raised. It isn't clear why they felt the need to add the part about the DM having the creature's statistics however, but there really isn't any other reasonable way to interpret the effect. When the spells say that a creature becomes a zombie or a skeleton they are referring to the respective creatures with those names in the rules.
Yes, each creature will either have the statistics for the standard skeleton or zombie