Monsters

Monsters
Possibly the most expansive part of many roleplaying games, with literally dozens of books in 3rd edition alone dedicated to them in their many forms, monsters are part of what everyone loves in D&D. Some like to treat the game as an MMO, just a fighting simulation, some enjoy the tactics of different monsters, some love the idea of monster hunters, and some just find the sheer variety interesting. Whatever the case, monsters have always held a special place in many a roleplayers heart.

ReD&D does not seek to change this. Instead, ReD&D offers up rules to more easily craft monsters, in the same modular point-buy format that the rest of the system is set up in. However, a number of changes have been made in even the basic designations of creatures.

Type
A creatures type has long been a source of ire for some. Why is there a different type between giants, humanoids and monstrous humanoids, but things as different as a grell and an illithid (itself a humanoid creature) are grouped together? It gets even worse when a ranger has to choose a favored enemy and can choose Aberration, but must choose between Humanoid (Elf) and Humanoid (Human)? How does that make any form of sense, outside of an attempt at game balance?

Taking such bizarre practices into deep consideration, and looking at a number of different variants, a new form of the type setup has been created for ReD&D. Drawing strongly from D&D 4th Edition, ReD&D uses an Origin-Physiotype-Subtype categorization. The assumption is, a creature is defined by more than a single word. Rather, the body structure of a creature, the source of the creatures' existence, and a number of other categories define how a creature lives and subsists.

Origin: The Origin of a creature defines where it came from, what its essence is composed of, and often how its body consumes and metabolizes various materials and energies.

Physiotype: The Physiotype of a creature is its basic body shape. This defines if it has two arms and a head, no normal anatomy, and the like.

Subtype: Even more vague than Origin, the Subtype a creature possesses defines basic qualities that a creature possesses, such as if it is aquatic or powered of a particular energy.