List of random Monster properties or characteristics

[Astovidas]

Hi Playground

When I'm DMing a Game I try to make the different NPCs different. To help me with this, you can find a lot of Random NPC Traits lists and generators online. However, i would like to do the same with monsters and I can't find a list for them.

To be more clear: it's boring to say; "you get attacked by 5 Goblins" - "ok, I'll attack goblin #3"
However I would rather say; "A goblin with a horned helm charges towards you. He's followed by another goblin with an infested wound on his arm and one with a round potbelly. From another side a goblin with a wooden legs closes in with a surprising speed, next to one who wears a blue dress." (or something weird like that..) :smallbiggrin:

But unfortunately I can't find a list with random monster properties. Has anybody a link or an idea where I could find something like that?

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks in advance.

[Ninja_Prawn]

I can't find what you're looking for, but you have inspired me to write my own monster trait generator, which I'll be happy to share when it's finished.

What sort of traits would you like to see? So far I'm thinking physical appearance, mood, equipment and gender. Anything else you can think of?

[Shining Wrath]

There are tables in the DMG for NPC traits, you can leverage those.

[Ninja_Prawn]

There are tables in the DMG for NPC traits, you can leverage those.

That might work alright for goblins, vampires or fiends, but can you use the same table for grell or oozes... or elementals?

Related question: do elementals have emotions?

[pwykersotz]

I can't find what you're looking for, but you have inspired me to write my own monster trait generator, which I'll be happy to share when it's finished.

What sort of traits would you like to see? So far I'm thinking physical appearance, mood, equipment and gender. Anything else you can think of?

Categories such as Silly/Casual/Epic would be nice. For some games, you might want a potbellied wart-faced dirty-armored, rusty-sworded mouth breather as the BBEG. Other times you might want the carved-from-marble, dragonhide armored, shining black knight. Ability to dictate or randomize the basic tone of the random generation would be cool.

[Shining Wrath]

That might work alright for goblins, vampires or fiends, but can you use the same table for grell or oozes... or elementals?

Related question: do elementals have emotions?

I wouldn't use the same tables, but you might draw some inspiration.

Creatures without minds and equipment (oozes), you're basically working with color and texture. "The black pudding with the purple highlights moves left, while the ochre jelly with the mottled surface slithers straight at you".

[Ninja_Prawn]

*adds "mottled" to the list of ooze descriptors*

Thank you!

[Shining Wrath]

*adds "mottled" to the list of ooze descriptors*

Thank you!

Dappled, variegated, striated, and piebald!

[Cloverdung]

Do not forget the mental aspect as well:

I had my party run into a slightly insane Pirate Captain. He built a "ship" amongst the rolling hills and had a crew of two out in a "dingy" (small wagon) patrolling around the ship on lookout. A pirate crew member had a 10' pole he used to push the wagon along, in a circular path, around the big ship.

Needless to say, the people at my table were quite amused and confused as to what they had found out in the middle of nowhere. The Pirate Captain was not a main NPC or anything, just a random encounter, with a twist.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Needless to say, the people at my table were quite amused

Only "quite amused"? Must be a tough crowd...

I am incorporating non-physical descriptions in my generator where I can. I'm starting with a 'default' set of descriptors, then I'll expand to whimsical and humourous ones.

Any suggestions y'all have are welcome!

Update: I've filled in almost all of the 'default' descriptors (between 70 and 30,000 possible combinations for every creature in the MM!). I'll work on a user interface tomorrow. It'll have to be excel-VBA due to my limited skills, but that's better than nothing, right?

[Ninja_Prawn]

Alright, my first attempt is ready :smallsmile:. Anyone who wants it may download it from this dropbox link (deprecated - see below). Note that it's a macro-enabled workbook. I promise it won't harm your computer (though I make no promises regarding your sanity :smallamused:).

Astovidas, I hope this helps solve your problems.


You'll have to enable it when you first open it, and it'll probably crash. Just close it all down and reopen. It should work after that.
Some creatures may be described in ways that conflict with the canon, e.g. Planetars with hair or male Lolth priestesses. Frankly, it's too much effort to put a load of exceptions in for things like that, so you'll just have to re-roll those results. Or say it's wearing a wig...
The number of unique descriptors for some creatures (especially oozes and elementals) is quite small. On 'horde' mode, you are likely to encounter duplicates.
The number of emotions that can be experienced by aberrations is currently quite small. Again, this increases the likelihood of duplicates.
'Lighthearted, humourous mode' has not been implemented. I feel there is enough comedy in the current version as to render this unnecessary.
The interaction between gender-neutral pronouns and singular/plural verbs is a bit wonky. I'm not sure why - it's probably my lack of programming skill.
Genies have a pretty raw deal. I might reclassify them as fiends in the next update.
If you try to generate results without selecting a creature, the program will pick a random creature. This is intentional.
I apologise in advance for spelling errors. I do not apologise for British English.
If you want the source code (so you can edit the descriptors or something), feel free to ask. This file is kind of tricky to edit. I do not care about copyright.


Update: v1.2 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/lzi67kmm7qafx24/Monster%20Describer%20v1.2.xlsm?dl=0) has been released. The celestial mood issue is fixed and non-corporeal undead no longer crash the program.

[Astovidas]

Thank you Ninja Prawn!! that looks really amazing! :smallbiggrin:
I really love the "Generate a Ravening Horde" button! that is exactly what I was looking for! :smallsmile:

Since I don't work with a laptop at my table, I'll have to generate all the monsters beforehand, but I think it is worth the work!

Thank you very much!

[Ninja_Prawn]

Thank you Ninja Prawn!! that looks really amazing! :smallbiggrin:
I really love the "Generate a Ravening Horde" button! that is exactly what I was looking for! :smallsmile:


Glad to hear it works for you!

I've done a couple of updates (v1.3 v1.4 v1.5 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/cg8ofe3a4qzm55c/Monster%20Describer%20v1.5.xlsm?dl=0)) that include the following improvements:


Genies (and some other 'elementals') have been variously reclassified so that they have actual personalities.
Creatures with canonically-fixed genders will not be generated incorrectly. Let me know if I've missed any. It also drops the gender descriptor, so you won't see any more "This male incubus" etc.
Additional 'random horde' function added, because it was easy to build from existing code.
Minor grammar fixes.
Additional flavour for hordes: origin story and either a strength or a weakness.
Pronoun/plural wonkiness fixed.
Additional descriptors added.
Variable horde size (2-10).


Have fun!