User:Tussock/Sandbox

Creatures in Dungeons & Dragons are much like those in other Role-playing games: animals, people, and mythological or fantasy creatures, along with things unique to the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, are represented in standard formats allowing them to be used for playing them as specific characters within the game (PCs), or as opponents, allies, and even as background scenery for those characters to interact with (NPCs and Monsters).

Player Character races
The Player's Handbook presents humans and a few human-like creatures (PC races) in a format ready to make a fully described character. The D&D races were originally taken from the Middle-earth setting of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy novels, Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and Hobbits. Hobbits became Halflings after a legal challenge from Tolkien's estate in the 1970's, and over time Half-Elves and Half-Orcs have been added.

Previous Editions of Dungeons & Dragons have detailed different sets of PC races.

The various Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings add further detailed PC races, often helping give a particular flavour to the world.

Most other creatures detailed in the game can be readily used as PC races too, with the current edition rules allowing simple conversions of the different statistics.

Monster races
The Monster Manual and similar expansion books collectively detail thousands of additional creatures in a format suited to being combated by anyone playing the game; primarily detailing their physical appearance, typical organisation, combat capabilities, and occasional notes on effective tactics for them to use in a fight. Some earlier editions of the game gave more detail about the off-screen life of these creatures, but that is now left to world books and more detailed game supplements. etc.

Original Dungeons & Dragons creatures
Obscure children's toys of the 1970's and other contemporary insiprations were given game statistics, from classic creatures such as the Rust Monster, Beholder, or H. P. Lovecraft inspired Mind Flayers and Kuo-toa, to the Ixitxachitl. Many of these creatures have been given particularly detailed treatments in expansion books. etc.

Mythological creatures in Dungeons & Dragons
A great many mythological and legendary creatures are represented in the Dungeons & Dragons game, particularly those from ancient Greece, though a few bear only a trivial resemblance to their classical namesake. etc.

Dragons
Iconic to the game. etc. etc. etc.

Modern Myth
Relatively modern myths in the form of monster movies with their vampires, acidic oozes, mummies, and werewolves are included in the game. etc.

Angels and Fiends
Becoming somewhat controversial in the 1980's was the description of Christian biblical creatures, the existance of Devils, Demons, and Daemons in the game, often with biblical names, lead to it being described as an instruction manual for satanic worship. etc.

See also Dungeons & Dragons controversies.

Other fantasy creatures in Dungeons & Dragons
Other sources of inspiration include Trolls styled on Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions, Treants renamed from the Ents of J.R.R. Tolkien, and a great many other creatures from literary works that were popular in the early 1970's when Dungeons & Dragons was first designed. etc.

Other human-like creatures
Orcs, Goblinoids, Kobolds, and all the furries. etc.