Monster Characteristics

[ComXDude]

In Volo's Guide to Monsters, one of my favorite features is the inclusion of extra physical traits and personality characteristics for the monsters. However, VGTM only focuses on beholders, giants, gnolls, goblinoids, hags, illithids, kobolds, orcs, and yaun-ti.

There is very little offered in any of the other manuals or supplements, at least the ones that I own, that does the same to other creatures. Is there any source (official, homebrew, etc.) that offers similar options for monster customization?

As of now, dragons are my biggest concern, but anything that also builds on other monsters is greatly appreciated.

[Ninja_Prawn]

I made a thing (https://www.dropbox.com/s/cg8ofe3a4qzm55c/Monster%20Describer%20v1.5.xlsm?dl=0) a couple of years back that kind of does that... It's kinda buggy and I never finished it properly, but maybe you can get it to work? (You'll need to download it and enable editing; it won't do its thing when you view it in dropbox. It should hide the sheet and open an applet when you open the file.)

Hmm. There's definitely something wrong here. It works when I run the original from my computer, but not when I download it... :smallannoyed: But then, if I close it and re-open it, it works? Dang I suck at programming. But hey, it's fun once it's working!

[ComXDude]

Thanks for the recommendation, but I was more thinking something like how VGtM let you build the physical appearances of creatures, and their individual personalities.

To give an example, here are the tables that it offers for beholders' physical appearances:
Body Diameter, Skin Color, Skin Texture, Eye Color, Iris Shape, Eye Size, Eyestalk Texture, Eyestalk Shape, Mouth Shape & Size, & Teeth Shape.

Each has a variety of options beneath (too many for me to put here), and it allows for a lot of individualization of their appearances. For their personalities, it gives the same options as given in character backgrounds; personality traits, ideals, bonds, & flaws, as well as a list of sample names.

I'm looking for something that can do that for creatures that were not included in Volo's, like dragons, aboleths, liches, various fiends and celestials, and the like.

[Xeko]

Mordekainen's Tome of Foes has a few additional ones.

Demons and Devils, Elves and Drow, Dwarves and Draugr, Gith and Ilithids (mostly just Gith, though), and Halflings and Gnomes (including Svirfneblin).

Nothing on dragons or giants or vampires, though. I feel like Dragons in particular are rare enough that each individual dragon is treated as a unique NPC, with their own descriptions within the campaign they appear in. Either that or they are saving them for another enemy-focused book later on. But if you're running a campaign that takes place in the Underdark or the Nine Hells, then Mardekainen's Tome of Foes seems like a must have.