d100 | Monster Category |
---|---|
1-7 |
Beast Basic body form: Mix attributes of: Optional: |
8-14 |
Construct |
15-21 |
Draconic |
22-28 |
Elemental |
29-35 |
Fey |
36-42 |
Giant |
43-49 |
Horror |
50-56 |
Humanoid |
57-63 |
Mist Creature |
64-70 |
Oozes and Macrobiotes |
71-77 |
Planar |
78-84 |
Plant |
85-91 |
Undead |
92-100 |
Verminous |
Table 2-1: Monster Categories (d100)
One of the best ways to come up with the idea for an adventure is to start with a monster, or combination of monsters, and work from there. And if you’re lucky enough to get the sudden inspiration for a brand new monster, often the adventure will write itself from there almost without further effort.
Good monsters are more than just an agglomeration of statistics and abilities thrown together. In many cases, what you need to create a monster (especially if it is supposed to inspire an adventure) is some other detail besides or in addition to the monster’s combat profile. In many cases, those additional details can define a combat profile much better than the brute-force method of generating trial-and-error combinations over and over again.
This Book is divided into two main parts: (1) generating monsters by specific type (undead, etc.), and (2) a set of general tables. The general tables can also be used as a starting point, beginning with the monster’s Combat Profile, but this method calls for slightly larger creative leaps than starting with the type. Most of the details generated from the monster type tables will refer the designer to one or more of the general tables in the second section.
Citation
Tome of Adventure Design, p. 55 (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/97423/Tome-of-Adventure-Design?affiliate_id=678287)