There are hundreds of monsters in Dungeons & Dragons. Some are epic. Some are absurd. Some barely get a second glance. But every creature in the Monster Manual — from the mighty Pit Fiend to the humble Stirge — deserves a moment to shine.
Encounter Every Enemy is my weekly series exploring how to make each monster memorable. Sometimes it’s tactical. Sometimes it’s narrative. Sometimes it’s just a little unhinged. But it’s always in service of the most important thing: giving your players an encounter they’ll never forget.
Start Here:
If you’re new to the series, these entries are a good place to begin:
- Dryads: The Guardians of the Green
- Blood and Bother: Deploying Stirges with Style
- Jackalweres: Tricksters, Thieves, and Hypnotic Hustlers
- The Ice Devil and the Death of Empathy
- Monster #50: The Mirror
- Seahorses and the Art of Creative Desperation
- The Commoner: The Most Important Stat Block in the Book
Browse All Posts:
Abberations
- The Aboleth’s Gift: Secrets, Slime, and Self-Destruction
- The Cloaker and the Terror Behind You
- One Trick, One Drop, One Kill (Maybe): The Piercer
- The Lawful Neutral Meatball: Using Spectators in Your Game
Beasts
- Danger Without Malice: Ankylosaurus
- The Camel Conundrum: Breathing Life into Beasts
- Deer: The Anchor of a Forgetful Forest
- Dire Wolves: Friend-Shaped, Not Friends
- The Elk and the Problem You Didn’t See Coming
- Ranamancy and Revolution: What Frogs Bring to Your Table
- Giant Boar: Unseen, Unstoppable, Unforgiving
- Muscle and Hunger: Giant Lizards in Your World
- Watchers in the Trees: Rethinking the Giant Owl
- Speak Not of the Deep: Adventures with the Giant Squid
- Giant Weasel: CR 1/8, Vibes 10/10
- The Spider Problem: Giant Wolf Spiders in Urban Settings
- Mammoths: Gods of Hair and Bone
- Beasts of Burden and Emotional Baggage: The Case for the Mule
- The Winter Walks: Polar Bears in D&D
- Pteranodons: When the Sky Steals Your Stuff
- More Than JAWS: Reef Sharks as Worldbuilding
- Seahorses and the Art of Creative Desperation
- Snakes. Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?
- A Hundred Tiny Problems: Swarms of Rats
- The Tiger is Always Right: Tigers in D&D
- A Stampede of Meaning: Triceratops in Dungeons & Dragons
Celestials
- Rainbow Feathers, Heavy Truths: Couatls in D&D
- Making Empyreans Matter: Beyond the Boss Fight
- The Naga Remembers: Giving Your Campaign a Soul
Constructs
- The Colossus: When the Dungeon Walks
- Spellproof, Flying, and Deadly: The Helmed Horror
- Iron Golem: The Immovable Object
- Undying Duty: Mastering the Gorgon
Dragons
- Dragon Turtles: The Landlords of the Deep
- Green Dragons: When Cunning Replaces Cruelty
- Red Dragons: The World According to Fire
- Fighting the Darkness: Shadow Dragons and Despair
- Flight, Fury, and Fangs: Adventuring With Wyverns
Elementals
- Brass and Fire: Using Azers to Ignite your D&D Campaign
- The Elemental Cataclysm and the End of All Things
- Unseen, Unheard, Unstoppable: Running Invisible Stalkers
- A Wish, a Show, a Splash of Drama: Marids at Your Table
- Not a Beach Episode: Merfolk in your D&D Campaign
- Drown Them All: Making Use of Water Elementals
Fey
- Arch-Hags: The Villain Who Already Won
- Meet the Blink Dog: Your New Favorite Fey
- Dryads: The Guardians of the Green
Fiends
- Dretch: The Stinkiest Hench Ever
- Making Empyreans Matter: Beyond the Boss Fight
- The Ice Devil and the Death of Empathy
- The Ultimate Gaslighter: The Incubus
- Jackalweres: Tricksters, Thieves, and Hypnotic Hustlers
- The Mezzoloth: Just Doing Its Job
- Nalfeshnee: Bureaucrats of Despair
- The Architect of Ruin: a Pit Fiend at the Center of All Things
- Johnny the Spined Devil Knows Things
Giants
- Ettins: Two Minds, No Masters
- Ogres: Big, Mean, and Worth a Second Look
- The Mayflys and the Mountain: Running Stone Giants
Humanoids
- Assassins and the Art of Narrative Murder
- The Commoner: The Most Important Stat Block in the Book
- Druids: The Ones Who Speak for All
- What Price is Loyalty: Knights in D&D
- You Can Kill Them, But Should You? Nobles in D&D
- The People Who See Things: The Quiet Power of Scouts
- From Grunts to Commanders: Making Use of Warriors
Monstrosities
- Chimera: Anatomy of a Conflict
- It’s Just a Chicken: The Cockatrice Ecosystem
- Death Dogs: Two Heads, No Mercy
- Webs of Madness: Making the Most of Driders
- The Impossible Beast: Hippogriffs and the Power of Contradiction
- Up From the Depths: Merrow and the Terror of the Abyss
- The Roc: A Bird So Big it Steals the Plot
- Rust Monster: The Confidence Eater
- Blood and Bother: Deploying Stirges with Style
- Moonlight and Mayhem: Making the Most of the Werewolf
Plants
Undead
- Justice Undone: Storytelling with the Banshee
- Dust and Memory: The Bone Naga
- Forever Hungry: The Power and Terror of Dracoliches
- Masters of Monsters: The Ghasts
- Dead But Not Done: Ghosts in D&D
- No Rest for the Wicked: Rethinking the Wight
- Wraiths: When Death Is Only the Beginning
- Vampires: What Lurks Behind the Fangs
Monthly Monster Mash-ups
- Monthly Monster Mashup 1: Dretch + Empyrean
- Monthly Monster Mashup 2: Warrior + Jackalwere
- Monthly Monster Mashup 3: Druid + Wyvern
- Monthly Monster Mashup 4: Iron Golem + Water Elemental
- Monthly Monster Mashup 5: Death Dogs + Bone Naga
- Monthly Monster Mashup 6: Marids + Mezzoloths
- Monthly Monster Mashup 7: Dryad + Wight
- Monthly Monster Mashup 8: Commoners + Ogres
- Monthly Monster Mashup 9: Empyreans + Seahorse
- Monthly Monster Mashup 10: Colossus + Swarm of Rats
- Monthly Monster Mashup 11: Green Dragon + Giant Weasel
Encounter Every Enemy 