Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Random Animal Table - 1E DMG


I recently rediscovered these random tables found in the 1E AD&D DMG on page 138,  presumably by Gygax. They are meant for the Bag of Tricks, so are often overlooked in the magic item section but could be used in any situation calling for a random animal. They are nicely ordered by HD and have the most important stats right there. Most of the animals are found in the Monster Manual, and having stats matching that source, but about a third of them are not, including weasel, skunk, owl, goat, ram, eagle and ostrich (several of these are found in giant form in the MM, but not normal form). For other opponents with 'stealth stats' in the DMG, see this thread on the Knights & Knaves Alehouse.

Here's an earlier version of this table from the Bag of Tricks entry in Greyhawk (1975). These are some of the earliest 'normal animal' stats for specific animals. The stats for the same animals found in both tables are similar, but with many minor changes.

4 comments:

  1. Ostrich is in MM, under "flightless bird"

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  2. Heck, yeah, this is great. I remember awhile ago being perplexed that there weren't entries for a lot of these in b/x.

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