The monster section in the Moldvay Basic rulebook has 70 entries, while the Cook/Marsh Expert rulebook has 67, so a Companion supplement should include a comparable number.
The AD&D 1e Monster Manual introduced the concept of magic resistance, similar to spell immunity as described in the Companion Set rules/anti-magic effects in the Master Set rules.
The Master Set rules also included guidelines for changing monsters, intelligence of creatures, spell casters (non-human), and undead lieges and pawns.
Illustration by Erol Otus, from the AD&D 1e Fiend Folio
OD&D:
All of the monsters in Monsters & Treasure are listed in B/X.
Greyhawk:
Monsters not included in B/X include druids, tritons, ogre magi, titans, will o'wisps, liches, the metallic dragons (brass, copper, bronze, silver), the platinum "king" and chromatic "queen" dragons, lammasu, beholders, umber hulks, phase spiders, giant tics, giant slugs, homunculi, and golems (flesh, stone, iron).
I would include most of these in a Companion supplement, except the druid (available in other sources), the metallic dragons (the brass dragon was included in Holmes), platinum "king" and chromatic "queen" dragon rulers (those in BECMI are different), giant tic (included in Holmes), and golems (B/X has its own versions).
Blackmoor:
Monsters not included in B/X include giant frogs, giant beavers, giant otters, giant wasps, fire lizards, minotaur ("monitor"?) lizards, elasmosaurus, mososaurus, giant eels, lamphrey, sea horse, and the Portugese man-of-war.
Those attributed to Steve Marsh include dolphins, aquatic elves, pungi ray, manta ray, water spiders, weed eels, sahuagin, floating eyes, ixitxachitl, locathah, morkoth, and mashers.
Eldritch Wizardry:
I would include demons, which appear in the Immortals rules. I would also include couatl, ki-rin, shedu, and su-monsters, as well as mind flayers (from The Strategic Review #1), but not brain moles, cerebral parasites, intellect devourers, or thought eaters (created to counter psionics).
AD&D 1e Monster Manual:
The AD&D 1e Monster Manual collected all of the creatures in OD&D + supplements, most appearing in The Strategic Review + early editions of The Dragon, and included some new monsters, as well.
Among these, possible candidates for a Companion supplement include the aerial servant, catoblepas (from The Strategic Review #7), gas spore, hippocampus, lamia, naga (from The Strategic Review #3), nightmare, rakshasa (from The Strategic Review #5), roper (from The Strategic Review #2), shambling mound (from The Strategic Review #3), slithering tracker (from The Strategic Review #5), sphinx, wind walker (from The Strategic Review #3), and xorn.
D&D Companion Set:
The Companion Set rules included some original monsters (mostly those from other planes), but also many creatures who appeared previously in the new monster section of various modules.
D&D Master Set:
The D&D Master Set rules included many original monsters, in addition to some reskinned from OD&D (ie. the ixitxachitl as "devilfish"; and catoblepas as "nekrozon").
Maybe you can solve a mystery for me: I was recently reviewing the wilderness section in B2 and when I went to compare what made the "black widow spiders" in the module different from Basic's "giant spider," I was surprised to discover that there was no official entry for giant spiders in Basic, Expert, or OD&D (other than the phase spider and later the aquatic(?) spider).
ReplyDeleteThere are examples in the sample dungeons, but not in the bestiaries. Is this correct? I feel like they should be there, genre-wise, so I'm curious about their omission. Am I missing an earlier entry for giant spiders somewhere??
Moldvay and Mentzer include different types of spiders (including the Black Widow) under the entry "Spiders, Giant" instead of "Giant Spiders" which makes the entry hard to find!
DeleteI should have been more specific...there aren't giant spiders in OD&D or *Holmes'* Basic (not counting the vicious one in the sample dungeon). I realize now there aren't any under Cook's Expert rules because they are covered in Moldvay's Basic. I'm still surprised giant spiders don't show up in a D&D bestiary until the Monster Manual is published. Thanks for the reply!
DeleteAha! You're absolutely correct - the 1st and 2nd editions of Holmes Basic didn't have a section for Giant Spiders - but after the AD&D 1e Monster Manual came out, Giant Spiders were added in the 3rd edition of the Holmes rulebook (borrowed from the entry in the Monster Manual).
DeleteYou can read more about the changes made in the Holmes Basic rulebook between the 1st and 3rd edition on this Dragonsfoot thread by Zenopus77:
https://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18178