A year and a half ago, I wrote a post reflecting on Seamus Heaney's Beowulf translation, and specifically the passage close to the start in which the author describes the emergence of the 'clan of Cain' in the aftermath of Abel's murder: 'Ogres, elves, evil phantoms and giants'. I thought these could serve as four archetypes for categories of monster in an 'everything is paladins' dark ages D&D campaign.
But yesterday while driving along the thought randomly occurred to me: wouldn't it be a fun blog post to categorise all of the monsters in the Monstrous Manual into one of these four groupings?
To set out the categories, then, as I had originally envisaged them:
- Ogres are anything that is notably and predominantly greedy, grasping, avaricious, cannibalistic or man-eating (deriving from the etymology of the Old English 'eotonas', deriving from a proto-Germanic word for eating or gluttony.
- Elves are anything that is mysterious, magical, mystical
- Evil phantoms are malevolent spirits
- Giants are anything that is truly 'gigantic', again arising from the etymology of the Old English gigantas, or stereotypically 'monstrous', like a hydra or manticore
Now, clearly these are very broad categorisations and clearly there will be much overlap between them. Reasonable people can disagree. Here, though, are the rules:
- Animals, humans, beasts, etc., are not to be categorised - they aren't 'monsters'. Nor are giant 'bog standard' animals like beetles or crabs.
- Super-taxons of monsters (dragon, giant, beholder, etc.) can be categorised together if desired in the interests of saving time and space
- Monsters cannot occupy more than one category
So, ok, here is my list:
Ogres
Aaracokra
Ankheg
Argos
Aurumvorax
Basilisk
Behir
Bugbear
Bulette
Bullywug
Carrion crawler
Cave fisher
Crabman
Dragon, firedrake
Dwarf
Derro
Duergar
Ghoul
Gibberling
Gnoll
Goblin
Gremlin
Grimlock
Grippli
Harpy
Hatori
Hobgoblin
Hook horror
Intellect devourer
Ixitxachitl
Kirre
Kobold
Kuo-toa
Leucrotta
Living wall
Lizard man
Man-scorpion
Minotaur
Muckdweller
Ogre
Ogre, half
Oozes, slimes, jellies
Orc
Otyugh
Peryton
Piercer
Pudding, deadly
Quaggoth
Remorhaz
Roper
Rust monster
Sahuagin
Sea lion
Stirge
Su-monster
Thought-eater
Thri-kreen
Troglodyte
Troll
Umber hulk
Wemic
Worm, purple
Xorn
Yeti
Elves
Aboleth
Arcane
Brain mole
Broken one
Brownie
Centaur
Cloaker
Couatl
Displacer beast
Moon dog
Dragon, faerie
Dragon, pseudodragon
Dryad
Elf
Ettercap
Galeb duhr
Giff
Gith
Githyanki
Githzerai
Gloomwing
Gnome
Gnome, spriggan
Golem
Gremlin, jermlaine
Halfling
Hippocampus
Homonculous
Imp, mephit
Jackalwere
Kenku
Leprechaun
Locathah
Lurker
Lycanthrope
Merman
Mimic
Mind flayer
Moldman
Mongrelman
Morkoth
Mudman
Myconid
Naga
Neogi
Nymph
Satyr
Selkie
Sirine
Sprite
Swanmay
Tabaxi
Tako
Tasloi
Triton
Yuan-ti
Evil phantoms
Baatezu/devils
Banshee
Beholders and beholder-kin
Crawling claw
Crypt thing
Death knight
Deepspawn
Doppelganger
Dracolich
Eyewing
Feyr
Gargoyle
Genie
Ghost
Grell
Hag
Haunt
Hell hound
Heucuva
Imp
Invisible stalker
Lich
Medusa
Mist, crimson death
Mist, vampiric
Mummy
Nightmare
Phantom
Poltergeist
Rakshasa
Revenant
Shadow
Skeleton
Slaad
Spectre
Tanar'ri/demon
Vampire
Wight
Will o'wisp
Wolfwere
Wraith
Yugoloth
Zombie
Giants
Catoblepas
Chimera
Cockatrice
Dragon
Dragon turtle
Dragonne
Elemental
Gargantua
Giant
Gorgon
Griffon
Hippogriff
Hydra
Kirin
Lamia
Lammasu
Manticore
Owlbear
Pegasus
Pheonix
Roc
Shedu
Sphinx
Tarrasque
Titan
Treant
Unicorn
Wyvern
Zaratan
So there you have it. It's official. Want to quibble? And want to hazard a guess which would win the ultimate battle royale? My money would be on the Evil Phantoms, I think....
I can't really see aboleth as elves. In my mind, classic water-monsters are under the domain of giants, even if said water-monster is mysterious.
ReplyDeleteI also think some of the evil phantom undead could arguably be ogres, but that's harder for me to argue. Maybe the zombies, at least, as they're quite similar to ghouls who are archetypical ogres.
Yes, can totally agree about zombies now you mention it.
DeleteAboleth are definitely borderline Elves/Giants. What puts them in the Elf category for me is that they aren't a traditional mythological monster. That seems to matter somehow.
Great idea! Orcs have to fall under "evil phantoms", surely - if only to reflect their etymological root in "orc-neas".
ReplyDeleteI was very interested on reading Beowulf in Old English (alongside the modern English, I hasten to add) to discover that 'orcneas' is unique to it and found nowhere else (that we know of).
DeleteYup - I think "orc" is glossed with "thyrs" somewhere (one of the Eddic poems, IIRC, has "the tribes of thurses" under the Misty Mountains ...), but orcneas is a hapax legomenon.
Delete'Hell-corpse' is I think the most direct translation although I can't remember where I read that. Do you know what word Tolkien used in his translation?
DeleteOgres, elves, evil phantoms, and giants -- the four options for a player in.a TTRPG that needs to be written.
ReplyDeleteHaha, indeed. What are their special abilities?
DeleteEvil Phantoms have some heavy hitters for sure - plus a bunch of creatures that can't be hit without special weaponry. Though I think Giants could at least give them a run for their money.
ReplyDeleteEspecially if you go with the rule that creatures with more than 4+1 HD do damage to enemies that can only be hit by magical weapons.
DeleteOgres and Giants seem tricky to differentiate. Dragons in particular, especially Fafnir-types that became dragons due to greed. Sphinxes lean a bit toward Elves.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely. The ogre/giant border is porous. I think ogrishness has to be more conceptual - more about devouring, greed, rapaciousness etc. Where as gigantism is more to do with being awe-inspiring and legendary.
DeleteThere remain those who insist on decrying the additional of elves to the game (first via the Outer Plains Games Players Newsletter, then more famously by the Sweart Hafok supplement), suggesting that the abilities of the elf are mostly things that ogres, giants, and evil phantoms can already do without resorting to what amounts to, in essence, a skill system (and the less said about the elf-aboleth sub-class that was to come the better). I mostly think they're fine, although the starting percentages are much too low. I mean, 20% for sloth? I figure any OEP&G player (or OEEP&G if you employ Supplement 1 - the extra letter they snuck in might be the root source of some animosity) can conjure sufficient quantities of that by just disengaging and being disruptive.
ReplyDeleteUnicorns should not be in the Clan of Cain at all, wtf? might as well categorize angels as elves next. (although I do love the idea of a kaiju-sized unicorn, might be tucking that image away for further use)
ReplyDeleteI would agree, but moreso because I think the Cainites should be restricted to man-shaped creatures; unicorns or dragons or basilisks are beasts, fabulous beasts, but beasts all the same. As for angels-as-elves, that is not far off from certain Irish conceptions wherein the fairies are considered to be elves banished to Earth for remaining neutral during the War in Heaven.
DeleteIt's a fair point actually. The good monsters shouldn't really be in there. Although I do quite like the idea of evil unicorns...
DeleteGoing in the opposite direction gives interesting results. Rather than stating "Aaracokra as ogres", asking "what does ogre-type Aaracokra look like?"
ReplyDeleteOgre-type Aaracokra demand shiny things in tribute. They eat your mounts. They are cheating traders. What do elf-type Aaracokra look like? They look like nothing because you can't see them camouflaged and hiding in the forest. Elf-type Aboleth are super-genius masterminds plotting to secretly control the world. Phantom-type Aboleth are plague-spreaders trying to infect all sentients to make them mindless slaves.
brilliant. pls expand for each Cainite sub-clan across all twenty-odd score Monstrous Manual entries . it will be a four-book set - except for the elf book being perpetually out of print/stock, its contents only hinted at by cross-reference
DeleteYes, I completely endorse this approach - it is excellent and you are to be congratulated for the idea.
DeleteIt looks like you've recreated the old Giant Type from OD&D as the Ogre type sans giants of of course! I'd put Goblins and Kobolds and the various Dwarves in with the elves as well. Probably depends on how you use them.
ReplyDeleteYes, there is absolutely a universe in which goblins, kobolds and dwarves are elves, so to speak. In fact the way in which you delineate the categories communicates a lot about a given campaign setting...
Delete