Bestiary 1 - The Woods

14 Aug, 2026

Tim Vigil

I don't enjoy writing bestiaries.

An interesting bestiary evokes emotions, and I have always found the statblock to be the least interesting element of an elf game. I want to imagine. I want just enough to guess and theorize but not fully know. I want to wonder.

A poor bestiary delineates, defines, dissects, and destroys such wonder with stark clarity, or offers only inspiration with very little ready to use at the table.

It's a delicate balance to strike, but here I go trying.

Creatures in the Woods

1. Prey
2. Courser
3. Wolf
4. Spider
5. Outlaw
6. Goblin
7. Elf
8. Troll
9. Hag
10. Wood Spirit
11. Green Dragon
12. Forest God

Understanding the Block

• HD: d8, roll after the creature is hit to save time, or before to give some insight to the party about creature toughness.
• DEF: N = None | L/M/H = Light, Medium, Heavy | S = Shield
• MRL: Morale
• NA: Number Appearing. As an encounter // in a lair.

Prey

E. Nesbit

A thousand beasts call and sing, chitter, scratch, peck, and dig. The forest sings.

A warning call, then quiet. All listen. All watch.

Then chaos.

Prey: HD 1 | DEF: N | MRL: 5 | NA: 2d6 // 3d6*5

• Trample/gore/bite/etc: +0, d6
• Stampede: If the prey are spooked, a stampede is triggered. Creatures in the path take damage equal to the total number of prey present, or 1/2 on a successful save. There is a 1-in-6 chance of a predator attack whenever prey are encountered.

There are many kinds of prey, and often they intermingle.

1. Horned Bison
2. Ostriches
3. Flying Emperor Beetles
4. Deer
5. Racer Lizards
6. Giant Rodents

Courser

FF XV

Keening call of the flock, careful step and watchful eye, crimson and gold plumage flashing between the leaves.

The coursers run, the forest shakes.

Fear defends them, but departs when the eggs are lain.

Courser: 1 HD | DEF: N | MRL: 5 | NA: d6+1 // 3d6 x 5

• Pounce (d6) & Peck (d4)

Theoretically, one could use a Courser as a mount. They are well-suited to endurance sprints, and strong enough to carry a rider. The chief deterrent is their omnivorous diet—many who would ride them find themselves torn apart and gobbled.

Wolf

Saaga

Fang and howl. Songs called upon the height. The will of the wolflord goes out.

Cull the old and weak. Let the strong escape and grow. Leave that prey for the mighty one.

Slay one wolf, two more will come. Make peace then, for all our sakes.

Wolf: HD 1 | DEF: L | MRL: 7 | NA: 2D6 // 4D6

• Bite: +1, d6
• Cull: Wolves attack the weakest targets. If any wolf fails a morale in the wild, the entire pack flees and waits up to d4 days for the party to show weakness.

Spider

Amanda Peccini

Web reaches in razor thin lines across the trails, drops in hoops and forms doors for leaf-covered pit traps.

Mother teaches daughter, sisters weave death while gossiping half-truths—forming and breaking little alliances. Power will shift soon. Many will die to make room for the young.

Spider, Giant: 2 HD | DEF: L | MRL: 6 | NA: d4 // 3d6

• Web-weaver: Surprise on 3-in-6. On surprise, party members save or become caught in their web.
• Spinnaret: Target saves or becomes caught in a web.
• Bite: +2, d6, Target saves or becomes weakened by poison, -3 to all tests until cured.

Outlaw

Kennon James

Oathbreaker, blood-spiller, common folk driven to desperation.

A new bond forms, a law outside the law, a crownless king.

OUTLAW: 1 HD | DEF: L | MRL: 8 | NA: d6+1 // 3d6x2

• Attack as Weapon

Groups of 5+ outlaws are accompanied by an Outlaw Lord with 3 HD. This particular Lord...

1. Wears a red hood and collects signet rings from slain nobles.
2. Believes themself a prophetic ruler who will replace the current authority.
3. Is a werewolf who has embraced cannibalism.
4. Wears a deer-skull mask
5. Cares for their band as a dutiful and loving parent
6. Has struck a secret deal with the local regent.

Goblin

Tony Diterlizzi

Gnawing hunger, gnashing teeth, weapons stolen and rusting, noses always running.

All guard and honor the chef, who knows the secret of the soup. Every kill goes in the pot. Everything found, goes in the pot. The dead and wounded, chopped up for the pot.

Eat up, you starving. Get bellies full to bursting. Big ones break in two, halves grow to whole, and wholes are full of hunger.

GOBLIN: 1/2 HD | DEF: N | MRL: 5 | NA: 3d6 // 3d6 * 10

• Attack: +0, as weapon
• Hunger: Always attack as groups, focusing on weak targets.

Goblins tend to take on traits of their surrounding areas, an effect of the soup they eat and their reproductive cycle. Underground goblins may become more batlike, in wetlands, froglike, in forests, even bird-like. They are infinitely adaptable, and always hungry.

Elf

DeerLordHunter

Should music fill the wood, stop up your ears. Turn not to the right or left. Fix your eyes on the path lest your feet wander.

Their feasts are not for us, their only law is laughter, and the short days of our lives are nothing to immortals such as they.

Hooves, horns, forked tongue, flicking tail, feline eyes, goat-like ears.

No two are the same, but always there is a sign.

The forest reclaims their bones, regrows their flesh, restores their memory. It will not let them go.

ELF: 2 HD | DEF: L+S | MRL: 9 | NA: d6 // 3d6*5

• Spear: +2, d6

A cadre of 5+ elves is always led by a Courtier, who has 4 HD and...

1. Rides a 3 HD chimeric mix of two beasts.
2. Can charm a single target at a time, currently has a mortal charmed.
3. Is covered in d6 shifting tattoos which animate and act on its commands.
4. Has functioning dragon-fly wings in stained-glass colors.
5. Controls the local weather through its singing.
6. Carries a baby.

Elves exist in an eternal cycle, bound to the unseen aeon-long seasons of the world. Long ago they built the white-spired forest cities which now begin to crumble. When the last stone falls, the elves will begin again.

Troll

Eoghan Kerrigan

Stone and moss, unshifting, unseen.

Long fingers to snatch away flame and squash screams.

Stolen treasures decorate their dens, attract mates. Blood and meat stain their teeth, fill their bellies. Beautiful people confuse them. Why should a treasure speak so? Why should meat shine like gold?

TROLL: 5 HD | DEF: M | MRL: 7 | NA: d2 // d4

• Long Fingers x2: +3, d8 or douse a torch or grapple to silence a creature.
• Unseen: Blends in perfectly in natural environs. Surprises on 4-in-6.
• Regrow: Regain 2 HP each turn unless burned with fire or acid.

Hag

Iris Compiet

Burned, drowned, crushed, hanged. Sacrificed to fear. The wood cobbled her back together from what remained and what it found close at hand.

Hair of reed, fish-maw smile, the words of the first tongue roll from her mouth as a brook over stones.

She is only as cruel as she wishes to be. Give her no reason.

Hag: 5 HD | DEF: L | MRL: 9 | NA: d3 // 3

• Claws x2: +5, d8
• Cloud of Spores: Save vs. Sleep
• Babble: She chants in rolling fairy tongues. On 2-in-6, she casts a spell as a free action at 2 MD. [Enfeeble, Thorns, Summon Swarm, Cause Disease]

This one is patched together with ________ & ________:

1. Mushrooms
2. Fish-scales
3. Moth wings
4. Bones
5. Bark
6. Reeds
7. Beehives
8. Branches

She finds sisters. They grow strong as braided rope, knotted muscle. They will shift the world that saw fit to slay them.

Wood Spirit

Sylvia Strijk

Shifting green forms between the trees, genderless faces peering wide-eyed from the foliage. Innocent as doves, deadly as asps.

They care only for the wood, the cycles of life and death, rot and growth, stem, flower, seed.

They tease and laugh, play and pull, draw wanderers deeper and deeper, til escape is impossible, and bones and flesh become fertilizer.

WOOD SPIRIT: 3 HD | DEF: L | MRL: 7 | NA: d4 // 3d6

• Charm: save or obey on your following turn.
• Entangle: 1/day. Roots grasp the target on a failed save. Target takes d4 dmg/turn until freed, ignoring armor. Roots have 4 HP, DEF L.
• Ethereal: cannot be touched by mundane weapons.

They seek the good of the wood, and will not kill those in service to the forest.

Green Dragon

William O'Connor

Winged terror, silent death crouched atop the trees, lithe of neck and limb.

He falls as lightning and thunders as the great break beneath his talons. Always he takes the largest prize for himself.

He trumpets, exhulting in his own strength and glory. Fear is foreign to him, a thing for prey and trespassers.

He is yet young.

Green Dragon: HD: 8 | DEF: H | MRL: 8 | NA: 1 // d2

• Talons x2 (+8, d8) & Bite (+8, d12)

As all dragons, the green is intelligent and can speak the tongue of its mother.

Forest God

Carlos Dearmas

Mycelial growth bonds the thousand thousand trees, the rotting bones, the gnawing beetle.

Soul and mind awaken. Intent and purpose. Then incarnation.

Branch, vine, bark, leaf. The titan rises, lord and defender of the wood.

Forest God: HD 10 | DEF: H | MRL: 10 | NA: 1 // 1

• Consume: +8, d10, save or be caught within the titan, taking d6 dmg per turn from gnawing beetles until you escape. Two creatures may be consumed at a time.
• Crush x2: +8, d8
• Hidden: Surprises on 5-in-6
• Timber: Takes 1/2 DMG from piercing and crushing weapons, and double from fire.

Should the incarnation die, it will reform in a week's time. It cannot be quenched entire unless the forest is destroyed.

#monsters