OSR: The Monster Overhaul Update - Main Text Complete

All 20 monster chapters of the Monster Overhaul are complete!

Iguanamouth

In their revised order:

1	2	3	4	5
People	Dungeon	Dragon	Thinking Beasts	Heraldic Beasts
Lucas Roussel	Robin Carpenter	Iguanamouth	Lucas Roussel	Iguanamouth
Adventurer	Giant Spider	Ancient Dragon	Harpy	Basilisk
Barbarian	Goblin	Dracospawn	Kappa	Catoblepas
Cultist	Lich	Drake	Lamia	Chimera
Knight	Mimic	Droggin	Lammasu	Cockatrice
Mercenary	Monstrous Vermin	Ethereal Dragon	Manticore	Griffon
Peasant	Mummy	Kobold	Medusa	Hydra
Pilgrim	Myconid	Pseudodragon	Minotaur	Owlbear
Merchant	Ooze	Wyvern	Naga	Questing Beast
Townsfolk	Orc	Young Dragon	Peryton	Strong Toad
Wizard	Skeleton	Zombie Dragon	Sphinx	Wurm
6	7	8	9	10
Primeval	Elemental	Divine	Dark and Malign	A Wizard Did It
Logan	Ashlyn Rudolph			Robin Carpenter
Flying Lizard	Elemental	Angel	Ghost	Aboleth
Herd Lizard	Elemental Spirit	Beast of Creation	Ghoul	Animated Item
Swift Lizard	Elemental Tyrant	Cherub	Necromancer	Elsewhere Creature
Thunder Lizard	Firebat	Demigod	Night Hag	Eye Tyrant
Tyrant Lizard	Gargoyle	Devil	Nightmare Beast	Golem
Cave People	Grue	Dybuk	Ogre	Homunculus
Collossal Ape	Living Gem	Hell Hound	Vampire	Mind Eater
Ground Sloth	Sandwalker	Imp	Werewolf	Mutant
Predatory Plant	Spitling	Scapegoat	Wight	Rust Monster
Troglodyte	Will-o-the-Wisp	Visionary	Zombie	Shivered Beast
11	12	13	14	15
Spring	Summer	Fall	Winter	Hostile Forests
Ashlyn Rudolph	Naf	Luka Rejec		Nadhir
Centaur	Chaos Frog	Dark Fair	Biscuit Golem	Bear
Druid	Firebird	Dullahan	Blizzard Eel	Boar
Flower Nymph	Froghemoth	Harvest Avatar	Grey Horse	Dryad
Hatchling	Mandrake	Iron Fulmination	Ice Hag	Fairy
Hateful Goose	Pyromancer	Leafling	Kamaitachi	Giant Snake
Raincloud	Raijū	Murderous Crows	Nuckelavee	Tiger
Saty	Skeeter	Polevik	Remorhaz	Treeant
Shambler	Sun Dog	Scarecrow	Snow Fungus	Troll
Sigbin	Thriae	Shofar Ram	Snow Golem	Unicorn
Wicker Walker	Tunnel Hulk	Tempest Hag	Tortoise Tsar	Wolf
16	17	18	19	20
Hot Plains	Mysterious Mountains	Stormy Seas	Strange Water	Sci-Fi
Logan			Naf	Frenden
Baboon	Alicanto	Giant Crab	Abyssal Fish	Alien Invader
Crocodile	Alpine Specter	Kraken	Ancient Arthropod	Alien Visitor
Elephant	Ape	Merfolk	Leech of Paradise	Alpha Brain
Flightless Bird	Couatl	Pirate	Mantis Shrimp	Doppelganger
Hive Insect	Giant	Remora	Marine Worm	Giant Insect
Hippopotamus	Noble Giant	Sea Hag	Predatory Snail	Perfect Predator
Hyena	Kirin	Sea Serpent	Rotifer	Robot Hound
Jinnī	Panther	Seal	Sea Slug	Robot Servant
Lion	Roperite	Shark	Sea Star	Robot Titan
Rhinoceros	Telluric Goat	Whale	Tardigrade	Veggie-Mite

With additional art by Dyson Logos and Scott Wegener.

All completed chapters are available on Patreon. 300 A4 pages of content (so far!). I sometimes post WIP tables and tools on twitter, mostly to instantly locate spelling errors. It's funny how hitting the "publish" button does that.

Robin Carpenter

The plan from the last update post hasn't changed.

• Do an editing pass, focusing on numerical consistency. Some of the values (particularly treasure values) are placeholders.
• Sort out the Phylogenetic Tree (the HD(NA) bit), the tactics section, and the alternative sorting methods.
• More editing and testing.
  
• Even more editing and testing.
  
• [???]
• Crowdfunding?
  

Tabulation

Back in 2014, SBLaxman created an extremely useful spreadsheet listing all monsters (including really obscure ones) for AD&D (1E and 2E), 0E, and Basic. It's got everything a collator might need. (Note: the AD&D tab starts with 2E selected and 1E hidden by default. Check the "edition" column).

The problem is that D&D writers never really had a consistent idea of what a HD meant, or how to format statblocks. Sure, the basic framework stayed the same, but some authors list HD as a range (3-10), some as a flat number (4), some as a number plus a fixed value (5+2), some as a number minus a fixed value (1-1), some as a fraction (1/2), some as a dice substitution (4 HD, but using d6s instead of d8s), and some as a HP value only (128 HP).

Yes, there are reasons for all these variations. It doesn't necessarily mean they're good reasons. At low HD, a flat fixed value addition or subtraction is a significant change, but at higher HD it stops meaning much. Is 8+3 HD really different from 8 HD? This issue extends to virtually every aspect of the statblock.

For the Monster Overhaul, I've mostly stuck to a a single listed HD value followed by an average HP value (HDx4. Yes, 4.5 is more accurate, but that requires extra math and, in testing, it's rarely if ever relevant). Creatures with 0 or 1 HD may have non-average HP values listed instead.

The chaotic nature of AD&D stat writing makes any sort of trend analysis difficult. Noisy garbage in, noisy garbage out. 

Still, it's an extremely handy list. If I can't assign a matching Monster Overhaul monster to something on the list, I'll need to consider if a) I need to revise a chapter or b) if that monster is worth including. Some monsters are too specific or too boring to include. I did one pass while writing the chapters; this second pass will help write the indices.

I'll also be indexing results against relevant creatures that have never received D&D stats. A Book of Creatures will be helpful.
 

Revised HD(NA) Section

Page 1 of 6 of the Monster Overhaul HD(NA) chart.

In a book of monsters, indexing is critical. Listing monsters by HD is one practical method, but what if, instead of a simple list, we used a phylogenetic tree? You can read about the original HD(NA) concept in this post, as well as looking at the sprawling chart for the AD&D MM, MMII, and Fiend Folio.

The HD(NA) chart for the Monster Overhaul is more compact. Part of the pruning process is eliminating low HD entries that aren't interesting (Squirrel - Ordinary, etc.) and condensing other entries into general types (Mammoth, Mastodon, etc. -> Elephant). Still, it's an... interesting chart. Did you know that Druids go through a Baboon stage? It's true!

The pages are designed to bleed into the gutter of the book, so it might look a bit odd on your screens. 

Duplicate entries in the same column are creatures with variable or tiered HD.

Final Notes

Thanks to everyone who suggested monsters to round out each chapter, found issues with draft content, or provided other kinds of useful feedback. 

If you spot any creatures that should be listed and aren't, let me know in the comments. Chances are it's covered by one entry or another, but it can't hurt to check.