Blizzard dragon, earthquake dragon, volcanic dragon (all with wyrmling, young, adult, elder, and ancient variants)
By the time of the third monster manual, 4e had already gone through chromatic and metallic dragons, so now it was time to get a bit weirder. Here we have the catastrophic dragons, which are great! Dragons as living disasters make a lot of sense, and you could easily come up with more types: thunder dragons, tsunami dragons...
The catastrophic dragons don’t have breath weapons. Instead, their catastrophe is constantly raging, with the dragon at the heart of the calamity. I think the behaviour of the dragons would vary depending on their type. A volcanic dragon would have a volcanic lair, occasionally venturing forth to ravage the land. A blizzard dragon might haunt a tundra or mountain range. An earthquake dragon would live deep beneath the earth, rising to the surface to bring destruction before descending into the depths once again.
Dread warrior
Dread protector, dread marauder, dread archer, dread guardian
These are undead soldiers who retain the martial skill they possessed in life, and are utterly loyal to their master. They are described as still being kinda stupid and unable to follow complex orders, but I think it’s more interesting if they are intelligent, at least in matters of warfare. If the dread warriors’ master is slain, they are freed and can do as they please. But what would undead creatures that only know war do with their freedom? Become mercenaries? Set out to conquer the world? Retire and un-live in peace? Each dread warrior must make a decision on how to spend their undying existence.
Drow
Drow zealot, draegloth abomination, drow shadowblade, drow archmage, drow exalted consort, drow lady of spiders
The drow described in this book are the abyssal drow, who live in the demonic Abyss at Lolth’s side. (Remember, the mortal world’s drow empire was destroyed by the chitines.) The drow make for yet another faction in the eternal war for the Abyss.
Draegloth abominations are fusions of drow, spider, and demon. Every draegloth should be unique and messed up: a drider-like creature, a spider with eight elf-legs, a humanoid with a spider head and one arm replaced by two spider legs...
Drow shadowblades are cool too. They’re assassins who can summon a shadow clone of themselves. They might team up on a target, or just send the shadow off by itself.
Elemental
Air elemental, earth elemental, fire elemental, water elemental (all with lesser, normal, and greater variants)
4e preferred elementals that combined several elements, so the regular elementals didn’t appear until this third monster manual. Multi-element elementals are more interesting for sure, but there is something to be said for the thematic resonance of “pure” elementals. I would use them sparingly, perhaps bound to magical items a la the old “brazier of fire elementals” and so on. The one who possesses the item can summon forth an elemental, but must concentrate to stay in control of it. Allows for shenanigans with stealing the item and taking control of the elemental, the elemental going wild and so on.
Forsaken
Forsaken fearwrack, forsaken infiltrator, forsaken loreseeker, forsaken slaughterer, forsaken mastermind
The forsaken are humanoids infused with the dispersed essence of slain gods. Having got a taste of divinity, they want more. They hunt angels and devils to absorb their divine essence, and scheme to kill more gods. Also, they took their own eyes out so they don’t have to look at the mortal world. Also, they’re all super-powerful, level 26 at minimum.
I kinda want to totally rewrite this. Forsaken are people who are addicted to divine essence. Long-term use makes their eyes deteriorate, as a defense mechanism against having to see the meagre truth of their mortal existence. Also, the forsaken become incredibly powerful, filled with residual god power... as long as they keep getting their fix.
I could see forsaken as a ruling class, of a society fully geared towards getting their leaders that divine essence. Devils might be the most easily accessible source. Parties of devil hunters would be sent out into the world, probably armed with some spell or item to prevent defeated devils from escaping to Hell.
Foulspawn
Foulspawn wretch, foulspawn mockery, foulspawn warpcaller
Fucked up guys from the Far Realm. Nothing really special about them, they are enemies of all that is natural, they want to kill you or drive you mad, etc. I don’t think Far Realm creatures should be out to destroy the world or whatever, they should generally be indifferent to it. Foulspawn could be less powerful entities of the Far Realm that have entered this world by accident or summoning. The physical laws of this realm are entirely different from those of their home, and so the foulspawn find themselves inhabiting new, bizarre bodies in an alien world they can barely comprehend. A horrifying experience for everyone involved.
Frog
Thornskin frog, sporeback frog, murklord frog
Frogs are neat, they can shoot their tongues out and pull enemies in. Uhh, yeah, that’s about it, the text really doesn’t tell you anything unexpected. Gotta come up with something... Okay, so sporebacks have mushrooms growing on their back. Thornskins would have thorns, then? So frogs live in direct symbiosis with plants and fungi. What about murklords? The text says they have stripes on their back that flare when enemies approach. Perhaps a colony of psychic, bioluminescent microorganisms that detect foes for the frog.
Frogs might be tamed and used by nomads as mobile gardens. A herbalist always has access to fresh ingredients of all kinds, no matter what lands they are travelling through, all thanks to their trusty frog.
Gargoyle
Ironstone gargoyle, hornstone gargoyle, obsidian gargoyle, runic gargoyle
Gargoyles are described as a type of earth elemental, spawned from rock. That makes no sense to me. Gargoyles are at their core statues: they should be crafted. The runic gargoyle is the most interesting variant here. It is described as covered in arcane runes that bond it to its master. There we go, there’s a set of runes you can use to animate and control elemental creatures. Items used to control other elementals probably carry similar runes. Non-runic gargoyles likely had their runes destroyed or worn off, letting them run wild.
Ghoul
Ghoul flesh seeker, adept of Orcus, ghast
My idea of ghouls will be forever shaped by Pickman’s Model. Humans twisted into inhumanity through cannibalism, who steal children to teach them to eat as they do. There’s nothing in this entry to counter that interpretation, so that’s all good.
Ghouls are noted to dig vast tunnel networks beneath the earth. Pulling from Lovecraft yet again, perhaps these tunnels reach between the planes? An easy way for the party to travel between worlds, if they can stomach allying with the ghouls.
Giant
Fire giant lavamaster, fire giant flamedancer, fire giant smokecaller, frost giant berserker, frost giant shield bearer, frost giant chieftain, hill giant smasher, hill giant rockthrower, hill giant avalancher
Fire, frost, and hill giants are detailed in this book. Those happen to be my favorites from among the standard giant types. Perfect!
Going by the titles given, the frost giants seem to have a Viking-esque society, with chieftains, shield bearers and berserkers. The fire giants seem more fantastical and mystical, interacting directly with lava, flame, and smoke. And the hill giants just seem brutish, neither civilized nor magical.
Perhaps the frost giants were the original giants, ruling the world in a colder age. As the climate became warmer, some giants allied themselves with fire, while others stayed loyal to frost, retreating into colder regions. And a few outcasts refused both elements, wandering the green hills by their lonesome.