Monsters: M
148 monsters whose names start with M.
- Maedar [Medusa] The rare, stone-walking male counterpart of the medusa, devoted unto death to his mate, who turns her petrified victims back into meat for their table.
- Maelephant Elephant-headed guardians of the lower planes, bred for perfect obedience, who crush foes in their claws, impale them with a barbed trunk, and erase memories with their breath.
- Magebane An invisible, bat-winged leech that latches onto a powerful wizard, sips the strength from their spells, and savagely defends the very caster it is starving.
- Magedoom A blind, sludge-mound assassin built from a living wizard, the magedoom hunts other mages by their spells, strips away their casting power, and explodes in wild magic when slain.
- Magen Gelatin-bodied servants poured into electrum molds by ambitious wizards, magens obey without question and come in four types, from armored guards to acid-stretchers and charmers.
- Maggot Golem A shifting man-shaped mass of countless maggots, wreathed in flies, that swallows blades like water, hugs victims to smother them, and hunts living flesh to feed its swarm.
- Magic Golem A wizard fused with a zone of wild magic into a glowing yellow figure of raw sorcery, this golem drinks every spell and enchantment near it and hurls blasts that ignore magical protection.
- Magical Leech Ordinary-looking leeches that spark with violet energy, magical leeches lurk in wet grass and quietly siphon spells from casters' minds and power from enchanted gear.
- Magma Golem [Dark Sun] A walking mass of living lava, the magma golem sets anything it touches ablaze, scorches all who stand near, and can hurl its whole molten body at a foe.
- Magma Paraelemental Beast [Dark Sun] A winged, fiend-shaped hulk of living lava that hurls molten blasts, launches itself out of magma pits to crash onto foes, and melts the weapons that strike it.
- Magma Silt Horror A blood-red, eyeless horror lurking in lava pools and geysers that telepathically coaxes prey closer, then drags it down into boiling water or molten rock.
- Magman Gleeful, gnome-sized imps of living lava who set everything alight for fun, melt weapons that strike them, and see burning victims as slapstick comedy.
- Magran Invisible, fishlike reptiles of the Deep Ethereal that dangle a hypnotic glowing lure, then swallow entranced travelers whole while they visibly struggle inside.
- Mahogany Constrictor A huge, magic-touched serpent with red-brown scales whose coils squeeze harder every round and whose fangs pump out a flood of thin but plentiful venom.
- Malfera An elephant-faced horror summoned from the dimension where bad dreams are bred, it crushes victims against an acid-slimed chest of tentacles and eats only their hearts.
- Malvoren [Unique Abomination] Once a gifted young sorcerer sealed in a tomb by a jealous father, Malvoren botched a spell and became the Thing in the Shaft, a mouthless, tendriled horror that lives only to crush.
- Mammal A field guide to the furred beasts of the wild, from shy gorillas and stinking skunks to vein-opening sleeks, coconut-hurling banderlogs and the foul cattle of the lower planes.
- Man-Drake A duck that becomes a dashing, dim-witted druid around the full moon and spends those nights hopelessly courting swanmays who want nothing to do with him.
- Manes [Least Tanar'ri] The bloated, mindless souls of evil mortals, manes swarm the Abyss by the thousands, reform a day after being slain, and burst into acid fumes when they die.
- Manggus A shapeshifting, man-eating evil spirit of the steppes that rules villages in human guise, terrifying them into handing over sacrifices for its table.
- Manikin A tiny root-born servant shaped from a shrieking mandragora plant, it slips through wood and stone to aid its wizard, and its death scream can kill.
- Manni Cowardly crow-headed bird-folk who scavenge the bleak steppe, raid graves in lean times, and ambush only when they are sure of winning without a scratch.
- Manotaur A bull-bodied, horned centaur of cursed forests that lures victims into its maze of twisted paths and smashes into them with devastating charges.
- Manscorpion Cursed desert hunters with handsome human torsos atop six-legged scorpion bodies, organized into disciplined squads and swarms whose tail venom kills in minutes.
- Manscorpion Spawn A mighty manscorpion slain by the sun's curse and risen as a charred, vengeful undead whose sting kills outright, and which re-forms from its own ashes each night.
- Mantari Flying ray-like dungeon hunters that skim over their prey, whipping it with venomous tails until it can no longer move, then settle down to feed.
- Manticore A man-headed, bat-winged lion that hunts humans, opening every fight with a volley of iron tail spikes before closing in with claws and teeth.
- Mantidrake The scaly, dragon-headed child of an evil dragon and a manticore, armed with tail spikes, claws, fangs and a breath weapon as strong as its own life force.
- Mantis Noble I A towering, cultured cousin of the mantis warriors, a bookish wanderer with a ruinous bite and returning spined boomerangs who will never say where it comes from.
- Mantis Noble II The black-shelled ebon mantis and red-shelled crimson mantis, warlike psionic builders of far northern cities who send scouts south into the city-state lands.
- Mantis Noble III The green-shelled verdant mantis laborers and the flower-like blossom mantises, peaceable northern kin of the mantis nobles who fight only when cornered.
- Mantis Warbreed A towering mantis soldier remade for war, the warbreed hurls war-boomerangs, leaps 90 feet into battle, and strikes with four bladed limbs and a paralyzing bite.
- Mantis Warrior Tireless, sleepless insect hunters of the desert world who strike in coordinated packs, hurl returning crystal wedges, paralyze with their bite, and pluck arrows out of the air.
- Many-finned Sea Serpent An armored, primitive whale with a lobster-like plated back and spiky side projections that sailors mistake for a row of fins.
- Many-humped Sea Serpent A fast, ox-headed primitive whale whose back carries a long row of air-filled humps, streaking along continental shelves at up to 40 knots.
- Mara Evil spirits riding twenty-foot bodies of living stone, the 'great walkers' crash through frozen forests at night and turn to lifeless standing stones if dawn catches them.
- Marid Genie [Al-Qadim] Towering, sea-hued genies who all call themselves royalty, marids wield the strongest magic of the common genie races, lie with creative flair and punish any lesser being who dares interrupt them.
- Marikith Black-skinned hive hunters of a city's sewers that stalk lone victims through the dark, feed on their mounting terror, and drag them below to their bloated queen.
- Marilith [True Tanar'ri] A six-armed serpent-woman who plans the demons' wars, wades gleefully into melee with a different magic blade in every hand, and crushes the breath from foes.
- Marine Cat Sleek, bright-eyed ship's cats said to carry good fortune, marine cats rule the decks, hunt the holds, and have an uncanny knack for exposing anyone who is somewhere they should not be.
- Marine Saurian [Sea Serpent] A 60-foot sea crocodile, the only sea serpent that is certainly a reptile, which can swallow a swimmer whole in one bite.
- Markeen Exiled genies cursed to live as perfect look-alikes of famous humans, hiding in secret communities and swindling mortals with what little magic they kept.
- Marl A hooded, many-armed water serpent that pounds prey with a row of human fists, crushes with its coils, and flies into a killing frenzy at the sight of birds.
- Marrashi Vulture-winged, jackal-headed archers of pestilence that shoot plague arrows, and whose rarest shafts devour a victim's soul to breed a new marrashi.
- Marrella An armored, many-legged water crawler that looks like a trilobite crossed with a centipede, able to whip foes with feathery antennae or ram them headfirst.
- Marut A jointless onyx giant sent from the plane of perfect order to carry out a god's decree, patient enough to wait generations and powerful enough that spells and guards mean nothing.
- Masgai Patient, chitin-armored insect folk who fly without wings and build world-spanning empires, trading their way into power for centuries before they ever draw a spear.
- Mask Doppelganger A slimy, rubbery predator that wears flayed human skins like costumes, betrayed only by its stilted voice, a paralyzing bite and its habit of melting its disguise away.
- Maskhi Shy, six-fingered desert shapechangers who wait at oases disguised as trees or boulders, then spring ambushes that even plant and stone magic cannot detect.
- Master Lich A leathery lich empowered by pacts with dark extradimensional powers, the master lich regenerates endlessly and rules an army of undead that see and hear for him, until the bill comes due.
- Mastermind Fiend [Greater Mercenary] Faceless, opal-eyed rulers of the mercenary fiends whose hypnotic gaze, vast arsenal of spells, and air of cold mystery keep every lower-planar sellsword in line.
- Mastyrial A giant, sand-sleeping scorpion of the desert world that hunts by echo, bursts from the dunes with a venomous tail, and shrugs off clubs and maces entirely.
- Meazel A filthy, sore-covered underground hermit that strangles stragglers with a cord and picks their pockets, so hated that every other cave dweller attacks it on sight.
- Mediator Agents of the neutral powers: three near-omnipotent crystal balancers that keep the plane of perfect order in equilibrium, and the silver courier spheres that carry the gods' messages.
- Medusa A snake-haired woman whose glance turns the living to stone, luring victims close in shadow before revealing a face no one survives seeing.
- Medusa [Ravenloft] A lonely, maddened medusa trapped in an illusion-laced labyrinth at the heart of a volcanic island, who murders every castaway but the one she chooses as a mate.
- Meenlock Small, furry horrors of dark forests that stalk a chosen victim with telepathic whispers for a day, then drag him underground to become one of them.
- Megapede A furred centipede up to 150 feet long that tunnels beneath the desert dunes, rising to devour caravans with venomous jaws and a formidable arsenal of psionic powers.
- Mek A colossal metal guardian left by a vanished race of insect sorcerers, blind to anything that holds still, with fists that hit like falling masonry.
- Memedi Mischievous lesser spirits of the southern islands, from harmless funeral mourners and tomb companions to shapeshifting pranksters who spirit people away into the ether with a sweet cake.
- Memento Mori A glowing, translucent echo of a revered dead person, raised by a priest's rite to guard its own tomb with a dwindling reserve of lightning.
- Men-shen Golden-skinned celestial generals who stand invisible watch over doors and tombs, wielding red swords that weaken the longer they stay away from heaven.
- Menglis An invisible elemental spirit born where two inner planes meet, whose mere presence breaks living flesh and gear down into raw elements.
- Meorty A mummified psionic guardian from the desert world's long-lost green age, rising from its hidden crypt to execute anyone who breaks laws no living person remembers.
- Mephit I [Air/Smoke] Two petty elemental imps: the giddy, tornado-legged air mephit that abandons its masters after one errand, and the idle smoke mephit sent as an insult to one's enemies.
- Mephit II [Earth/Ooze] Two more elemental pests: the dour, gem-hungry earth mephit with its doomed money schemes, and the reeking, flattering ooze mephit that begs to become something better.
- Mephit III [Fire/Radiant] Two very different mephits of flame and light: the fire mephit is a sneering prankster with a burning touch, while the radiant mephit is a mirror-skinned dreamer lost in its own dazzle.
- Mephit IV [Water/Ice] The water mephit is a brine-dripping busybody that tags along uninvited to spit acid and insult its hosts; its cousin the ice mephit is a cold-hearted torturer of the frozen lower planes.
- Mephit Overview Mephits are spiteful, pipe-smoking errand fiends, conjured from elemental stuff by lower-planar masters to carry messages, fetch victims and spread misery wherever they are sent.
- Mephit V [Dust/Salt] Mopey, black-clad dust mephits romanticize their own doom and fill the air with itching powder, while foul-mouthed salt mephits leave stinging wounds and turn drinking water to brine.
- Mephit VI [Lightning/Mineral] Hyperactive lightning mephits zap foes and recharge one another endlessly unless someone throws water, while greedy mineral mephits guard treasure they do not own and walk through stone.
- Mephit VII [Magma/Ash] The slow, touchy magma mephit melts gear with every scratch, and the endlessly whining ash mephit chokes foes with soot while boring them half to death with its troubles.
- Mephit VIII [Mist/Steam] Born of the same quasi-plane and locked in an ancient feud, sneaky mist mephits spy and smother while pompous steam mephits ambush entire parties with boiling rain.
- Mercenary Fiend Overview Greedy, treacherous sellswords of the lower planes who fight for demons and devils alike, and switch sides the moment someone offers a better price.
- Mercurial Peaceful thinkers from a heightened layer of reality who can step out of their own skin, borrow your body, and wish themselves anywhere, mercurials are rarely hostile and nearly impossible to kill.
- Mercurial Slime A drifting blob of living quicksilver acid that hunts ships through the void by sound and light, dissolving flesh, weapons and hulls and occasionally splitting in two as it feeds.
- Mercury Dragon A mirror-scaled, fickle good dragon that talks too fast to follow, blinds foes with light focused by its wings, and is poisonous to eat.
- Merhorse A long-necked sea beast with a horse's head and a flowing red mane, the merhorse prowls dark ocean depths for squid and big fish, and sailors' tales place it in nearly every sea.
- Merman Fish-tailed descendants of transformed humans, mermen herd fish on undersea reefs, guard their territory fiercely, and in hard times drag ships down with grapples to loot the wrecks.
- Messenger Genie [Tasked] A restless courier genie, once a djinni, that races between the planes with sealed letters and treaties and would sooner die than let a stranger read them.
- Messenger Snake A small, parrot-winged courier serpent bred by a cabal of wizards, able to fly unseen, sense lies, and track down one chosen recipient up to a hundred miles away.
- Metagolem A hollow, talking metal construct with a sharp mind and no feelings, the metagolem casts fireballs, punches hard, and goads wizards into zapping it with the lightning it feeds on.
- Metalmaster A huge, saw-toothed slug that bends magnetism to its will, ripping weapons from hands, hurling armored foes aside, and wrapping itself in a whirling storm of stolen metal.
- Meteorspawn A living boulder hundreds of feet across that grazes on asteroids, ignores ships until badly hurt, and then fires its waste out as meteors that punch through hulls.
- Midgard Linnorm Possibly the only child of the World Serpent, the colossal Midgard linnorm rules the ocean floor and every other linnorm, meddling in mortal affairs from its abyssal sea cave.
- Midnight Cat A sleek black cat with blank, glowing eyes that curses anyone who offends it and, while its victims sleep, inhales their very spirit.
- Mimic The treasure chest that bites back: a wizard-made shapeshifter of stone-hard hide and sticky glue that waits as a door, chest or stair until someone touches it.
- Mind Reaver Tentacle-faced tyrants of the deep underworld, mind reavers stun prey with a blast of psychic force, enslave whole races, and feast on the brains of thinking creatures.
- Mind Reaver Vampire Botched experiments meant to make a mind reaver undead, these insane tentacled horrors crawled out of a refuse pit and now roam free, mind-blasting and draining all life they find.
- Mind Reaver Vampire [Vesk'tharu] The cleverest and last-made of the undead mind reavers, a feral, nearly unkillable brain-eater that leads savage packs along the borders of the realm it was born in.
- Mindless Devil [Least Baatezu] Faceless, blind lumps of damned soul-stuff, mindless devils are the fodder and spare rations of the Nine Hells, and they rebuild themselves from their own ashes.
- Miner Genie [Tasked] Squat, clawed, and bitter, the miner genie is a dao warped by wizards into a living drill, able to bring an entire tunnel down on anyone standing in it.
- Mineral Quasielemental Overview The gem-strewn quasi-plane of Mineral teems with crystal natives who guide, guard and punish visitors, especially those caught pocketing its gems or ioun stones.
- Minimal Mammal Magically shrunken, half-sized versions of ordinary animals that thrive in isolated valleys and make easy-to-handle pets for halflings, brownies and other small folk.
- Minion of the Forsaken [Birthright] Bred and twisted in the shadowy faerie realm by twelve exiled dark sorcerers, these slave races include tree-swinging halfling stranglers, cat-headed spies and lizard-bodied orog cavalry.
- Minion of the Serpent God Black-armored warriors who are really fanatical servants of the serpent god of evil, these minions hide monstrous animal forms until the moment they choose to strike.
- Minor Animator The weakest possessing spirit can only ride small objects, so it picks knives, razors and ropes, and waits with sly patience to strike in ways that frame the innocent.
- Minor Spirits Faint spirits born of mortal guilt, grief and fear, from harmless replaying apparitions to cat-shaped breathstealers that smother infants in the night.
- Minotaur Bull-headed, man-eating brutes who stalk the twisting passages of labyrinths, minotaurs never get lost, charge with lowered horns, and track intruders by scent.
- Minotaur [Dragonlance] A seafaring warrior empire of bull-headed people who believe they are destined to rule the world, these minotaurs settle everything, from crimes to the throne, in the arena.
- Mischta Ogre Fallen kin of the gentle high ogres, these twilight ogres still sing, shapechange and shun violence on their jungle island, ruled by a line of ancient kings.
- Misi Invisible feeders that live in dimensions beyond length, width and height, misi swarm starships to drink their magic, sabotaging spells and leaving vessels stranded in the void.
- Mist Dragon A brooding, reclusive dragon that dissolves into fog at will and breathes scalding vapor that condenses into a blinding, drowning mist.
- Mist Ferryman A skeletal, fog-wrapped undead that stalks the borders of the misty dread realm, wailing for its kin and spreading a wasting sickness that turns victims into more of its kind.
- Mist Golem [Ravenloft] Born by accident when a golem maker taps the realm's mists, this 12-foot figure of living fog howls, turns victims into mist, and serves whoever holds its focus before destroying him.
- Mist Horror The bound, envious spirit of a wicked soul, lurking in the fog of the misty dread realm and taking whatever shape its victims fear most once they stop to rest.
- Mist Sylph A sylph dragged into the misty dread realm and twisted by its dark powers, now a bitter, fog-haired spellcaster that whispers nightmares into the ears of sleepers.
- Mist Wolf Noble, fog-breathing wolves sworn to fight evil, mist wolves guard travelers through sinister woods, yet are hunted down by the very people they protect.
- Mite Tiny, twittering dungeon pests that trap and club lone adventurers, drag them into tunnels too small to fight in, poke at them for days, and then dump them robbed and dazed.
- Moat Cat A wizard-made blend of big cat and newt, the silent moat cat lurks underwater in castle moats and erupts from the surface to drag intruders down.
- Mold I Three deadly fuzzy fungi of dungeon and cave: brown mold that steals body heat, russet mold that turns its victims into mold men, and yellow mold whose spores kill outright.
- Mold II Three more cave molds that hide lethal spore clouds under harmless fuzz: strength-sapping deep mold, floor-hugging gray mold, and the creeping, semi-intelligent death mold.
- Moldling An intelligent, corrupted fungus that wears corpses like armor, coughing infectious spores at the living and turning them into energy-draining zombies under its control.
- Moldman Small, thorn-clawed fungus folk who camouflage themselves among plants and fungi, hunt anything made of meat, and reproduce through russet mold and the spores of their chiefs.
- Mole Dragon [Dragonet] A dour, gem-crusted burrowing dragonet that tunnels through solid stone, clamps its jaws onto victims, and devours veins of gold and silver to the fury of dwarves.
- Mongrelman Shy, rag-wrapped hybrids of a dozen humanoid bloodlines who survive by perfect mimicry, light fingers and uncanny camouflage, prizing patience and survival above glory.
- Monitor Incorruptible celestial patrol-officers of the void between worlds, golden winged centaurs or silver pegasi who fight evil with flaming swords and never, ever compromise.
- Monkey [Greater Spirit] An exiled trickster of the celestial court, nearly omnipotent in spellcraft and impossible to kill, who would rather humiliate a bully or strand a foe on a mountaintop than rule anything.
- Monkey Spider An inch-long, eight-limbed jungle monkey long mistaken for a spider, now a prized familiar and, some whisper, the hidden spy network behind southern thrones.
- Monolisk A big, black-and-gray water-breathing mammal that electrifies the sea around it, stunning whole schools of fish, or swimmers, before scooping them into its huge mouth.
- Monster of Legend The one true archetype behind every tale of hydras, gorgons and sphinxes: a unique planar beast, bigger and deadlier than its mortal kin, beatable only through its single hidden weakness.
- Moon Dog Dark, half-human-faced hounds from the blessed upper planes whose baying terrifies and burns evil creatures and can send fiends howling back to their own planes.
- Moon Dragon An arrogant evil dragon of lunar caverns whose strength and alignment wax and wane with its color, and whose black frost seals victims in airless ice.
- Moon-Horse Silver-white, spell-casting horses of a hidden elven isle, wise as their riders and immune to the draining touch of the undead.
- Moonstone Dragon [Neutral] A dreamlike giant among neutral dragons that drifts between faerie courts, the Ethereal, and sleepers' dreams, breathing glittering light that strips away magic and memory.
- Moor Bride The lovely, bedraggled ghost of a frontier wife who begs rescue from lonely wanderers, then dances them to death while drinking their blood through her skin.
- Moor Man Hairless, saucer-eyed savages of the dread realm's bleakest fens who paint themselves with mud-and-blood tattoos of power each night before hunting travelers in the dark.
- Morin A hairless, six-clawed burrower of the open steppe that hunts in packs, and when eight or more gather they become a single shredding swarm that drags its kill underground.
- Morkoth A cruel, inky fish-thing of the deep sea that waits at the heart of spiraling tunnels, hypnotizing swimmers into its lair and hurling any spell cast at it back at the caster.
- Morph [Lesser Dream Spawn] Gangly, faceless dream spawn that play the bit parts in other people's dreams, from cowardly gray morphs filling in crowds to shadow morphs wearing a sleeper's worst fears.
- Mortai Mile-wide living clouds of the plane of beasts, wise and playful, that answer honest questions with perfect lore and answer insults with 10d6 lightning bolts.
- Mortiss Light-eating colonial worms of the void between worlds that bore through ship hulls like termites, raise coral-like clay towers, and sting intruders into hours of poisonous delusion.
- Mother Marrow A tiny, sun-withered witch of the court of nightmares who infiltrates parties of dreamers, sows fear with lies and illusions, and rips with claws or instant spells when the dread is ripe.
- Mountain Brownies Hand-sized, teddy-bear-like ice dwellers of the high peaks who live ten times faster than humans, carve glittering ice villages, and sometimes ride along with adventurers as lucky charms.
- Mountain Giant Pot-bellied, foul-smelling cave giants who hurl boulders in the open, mountain giants can summon gangs of ogres, trolls, or hill giants to guard their caverns.
- Muckdweller Foot-tall swamp amphibians that blind passersby with jets of water, lure them into deep mud, and prize a kill on bigger prey above all else.
- Mud Zombie Skeletons clothed in slimy mud that lie dormant in wet battlefields until intruders pass, then rise to rake festering wounds and smother victims against their chests.
- Mudman Mindless guardians born where enchanted waters pool and evaporate, mudmen rise from their pool to pelt intruders with hardening mud and then hurl their own bodies to smother them.
- Mujina Faceless humanoids that wear illusory faces to live among people, waiting patiently as trusted hirelings before robbing or murdering their companions, or terrifying them with a blank stare.
- Muma Padura A barefoot forest maiden whose hair blooms and fades with the seasons; she leads travelers astray with phantom cries, then claws them into living, fully aware trees.
- Mummy An embalmed corpse driven by undying hatred, the mummy paralyzes onlookers with terror, spreads a fatal rotting disease with every blow, and shrugs off half the damage of magic weapons.
- Murdakus A 90-foot, six-legged, twin-headed war beast built by a demigod's servants, the murdakus regenerates by drinking heat, fires paired beams of searing light, and turned on its makers.
- Murderoid A living asteroid a hundred miles long that disguises itself as a paradise, then traps landing ships with stone, grease and earthquakes and devours them with mouths that open in the rock.
- Murkmaw [Unique Undead Serpent] A colossal undead lake serpent with rotting, bone-split hide, Murkmaw drags anyone who nears her shore into the black depths and drowns them among the hoard of earlier victims.
- Murska Pack-hunting beetle beasts of the plane of howling winds that molt into the shape of their last meal, borrowing its memories and voice to lure the next victim close.
- Muryan [Shadow Fey] The berserk warrior breed of the shadow fey, muryan fight with eerie grace, forcing foes to dance helplessly, go blind, slow down and lose their hearing.
- Myconid Peaceful fungus folk of the deep underworld who live for shared spore-dream melding, defend themselves with growing arsenals of spores, and are ruled by a lonely king who brews strange potions.
- Myrlochar Skeletal, glowing spider servants of the spider goddess that obey one command from a summoner, then roam free, stealing life force with every bite and hunting until something kills them.