Setting:Dungeons & Monstergirls

A Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition setting revolving around a D&D-type fantasy world populated by Monstergirls. Although it needs heavy design & development progress, it aims to provide both fully functional 5e stats for iconic MG races, like the Slimegirl, Catgirl, Lamia, Harpy or Mermaid, and reskinned fluff for monstergirls based on iconic D&D humanoids and monstrous humanoids, like elves, halflings, dwarves, orcs or gnolls.

Looking to expand with help from other anons. Will keep adding & refining fluff and crunch until it's acceptable, but always looking for new input, ideas or advice on the Discussion page.

Not to be confused with the Monster Girl Encyclopedia.

Design & Development Material

Fluff

In this world, monstergirls are the native organisms. There are "real" monsters, mostly dire beasts, giant bugs, killer plants - stuff that is basically "nature turned up a notch - but the conventional fantasy races are all MGs. So busty amazonian cowgirl Minotaurs, shortstack Dwarfesses, loli Halflings, hyena-girl Gnolls, Orcesses, all that stuff.

Humans are intruders to this world, in the form of magical colony-vessels - think "flying cities" - that have landed here in the last couple of generations. Why they're here, and if they're here on purpose, I haven't settled on yet.

• It was commented in the thread on /tg/ that this presents humans with too much of an implied advantage, so this needs to be changed to something that emphasizes humans are just part of the population, they're not conquering the entire world. At the least, even if there are humans who want to do that, they haven't succeeded yet. Portals instead of whole cities were suggested.

Humans and MGs are interfertile. The result is equally likely to be a human son or an MG daughter - there is a slight bias towards daughters in births, but we're talking 53% female to 47% male, and many species produce litters.

• This, incidentally, means that half-human type races can exist in MG format, if they can be suitably distinguished from the whole "watered-down X" approach. As noted below, the half-orc rudimentary fluff I have is that they represent orcs who've given up the raid, rape and pillage lifestyle for a more diplomatic one. The half-elves are proving harder to figure.

MGs don't need sex with men; they've survived since the dawn of creation because they have their own unique methods of asexual procreation, all based on what species they are. For example, the dwarves all have methods relating to their craftsmanship focus; Mountain Dwarves feed precious metals into "clan-kerns" (magical stone wombs) to spawn new daughters, Hill Dwarves brew a sacred mystical beer that makes them pregnant when they drink it, and Dark Dwarves literally sculpt their daughters from rare metals only found in the Underdark.

MGs and Humans fuck for one reason; it feels good. There's no driving need for either side to breed with the other, it just works out that some folks like the exotic.

Dwarf: Shortstack human-like MGs known for their mastery of craftsmanship. Found wherever the land will support them. Breeding is skill-related; see subraces.

• Mountain: Found in high mountains, they are the source of the dwarven stereotype as miners and craftsmen. Tough, loyal and hardy, they are driven and enthusiastic, prizing the motto of "work hard, play hard". Their incessant mining is vital; only precious minerals can fuel the Clan-Kerns, the mystical stone wombs carved from mountain heartstones that produce the next generation of Mountain Dwarves.
• Hill: Dwelling on gentler slopes and terrain than their Mountain Dwarf sisters, they are much more surface-bound, and typically trade food, clothing and medicine to the Mountain Dwarves for good weapons. More laidback and easy-going than Mountain Dwarves; tend more towards a strongfat sort of build. Master brewers and alchemists; they use a sacred mystical booze to impregnate themselves with daughters.
• Deep: Grim, hard-working, diligent, perfectionist dwarves. Always /fit/ in physical build. Culture is all about working your hardest, because they need to in order to survive; the Underdark is dangerous. Morever, they literally sculpt their babies from a rare mineral found in the depths, and if it isn't *perfect*, the ritual to make it into flesh & blood won't work.

Elf: Used to be the setting's major bigshots, but were slowly sinking into obscurity. Humanity's arrival has shaken things up, and ironically provided a revivifying jolt.

• Eladrin: Oldest and rarest of the races, mostly withdrawn into the feywild. Gloomy, gothic bitter snarkers; they belittle all other elves because they know that they're all screw-ups who only came into being because the eladrin fucked up in the past. Often become adventurers to make a mark on the world, to do the great feats that will make others remember them.
• High: The Asari of the setting.. at least, in their own minds. In reality, falling into a descending cycle of decadence, intrigue and stagnation that means their empire was already crumbling before humans showed up. Can be kind of arrogant pricks, but their idea of "worth" isn't inherently aligned with "you're an elf", so they're the quickest to play nice and sincerely mean it.
• Wood: Elves who fled to the wilderness after the Great War and have degenerated since, losing most of their arcane magic and descending into barbarism. Isolationist, feral and xenophobic. The unfun ones.
• Dark: Underdark-dwelling hedonistic demon-worshippers. Revere a patron goddess who is basically the bastard daughter of a drunken threesome between Lolth, Calistra and Slaanesh. Not into backstabbing and random slaughter, but big on parties and fun, so long as someone else is picking up the tab. Actually do send emissaries and the like up to the surface, though they have a deserved reputation as sleazy and dangerous to fall for.

Halfing: Loli MGs, these little scamps can be found everywhere, and were practically the world's humans before humans arrived.

• Lightfoot: The vanilla halfling, pretty much. Like open forests and prairies, living the traditional halfling lifestyle of farming, sleeping and eating. Good at hiding.
• Stout: Swamp & river-dwelling oppai loli halflings. Don't necessarily speak with a "gumbo" accent, but do have a N'awlins theme. Like eating super-spicy food. Tradition amongst Stouts is that when a gator eats one of them, her family must avenge her by catching it, cooking it and eating it. Some like to prove their "manhood" by handling poisonous snakes, spiders and creepy crawlies, which they also consider a delicacy.
• Ghostwise: Feral forest-dwelling halflings. Get along well…ish… with wood elves. Afraid of "bigfolk", so they use their telepathy to train killer beasts as guardians and labor-beasts. The stereotypical ghostwise tribe rides to battle on the backs of baying wolves.

Dragonborn: Proud, aggressive, take-charge, ambitious dragon-girls. Have long tails and tiny wings; don't point out that they can't fly, it's a sore spot. They are "true dragons", but they're the weakest of the breed, and this incenses them; their stereotypical racial obsession is with finding a way to transcend and become a true dragon. Possibly a curse-spawned variant of the original dragon-girls. Have a relationship with kobolds akin to that between a hot teenager and her annoying little sister who idolizes her.

Gnome: Buggered if I know. Never been much for gnomes. Have the Rock, Forest and Svirfneblin subraces.

"Half-Elf": Again, no idea.

"Domesticated Orc": Orcs who realised that, while humans were hot and fun to fuck & fight, they also had really, really nice stuff, and that they could get what they wanted by stopping with the raiding & slaving and just asking instead. Also descendants of orcs who decided it was more convenient to live with humans than to keep picking fights. Ladette types equally notorious for their huge appetites for fighting/drinking/eating/fucking and for their undying loyalty. Possibly a P'orc (pig-girl orc, ala MGE) body-basis? I haven't done P'orcs before.

Tiefling: The bottom of the fiendish foodchain, the sort of fiends that even imps could kick around. Fled en masse to the mortal world, where they are (comparatively) more of a big deal. Possibly subrace division based on the Feral, Devil's Tongue, Winged and Hellfire options from the SCAG? Maybe the Abyssal Tiefling variant too?

Crunch

Catgirl Crunch Development

Alright, let's try something easy to start with. Catgirls as a 5e race…

Now, from my experience, and I'm not an expert, catgirls most iconically fall the design ofthe iconic cutesy kitten girl. However, "big cat" inspired catgirls are also a thing, and these are usually depicted as strong warriors, in contrast to the ditzy cuteys. I don't think intelligent or magical catgirls are commonly a thing… but, cats do have a strong association with magic and cunning in folklore, so that a "catgirl witch" race makes sense to me.

Generally, catgirls are portrayed as agile and graceful (if prone to "cute" attacks of clumsiness), so I'd say a default of +2 Dexterity and +1 to either Charisma, Strength or Intelligence depending on sub-breed. Although… catgirls generally tend to focus less on the "feline agility" side of things, so maybe reverse that to +1 to Dex and +2 to the sub-breed ability?

Catgirls generally tend to have superior night vision and enhanced speed over humans, to my admittedly limited knowledge. So that makes for Low-light Vision and Movement 35 feet.

Cargirls have their claws, of course, so swipe that from the Aarakocra race.

Need at least one other major racial ability… hmm, cats tend to be very quick to react and/or hard to surprise, don't they?

After that, it's a matter of figuring out the sub-breed powers. I figure we want "cutesy" for the housecat, "feral" for the wildcat and "mystic" for the witchcat. These should be more fluff-inclined.

I'm open to other people sharing how they think a catgirl should be built, but heres my kneejerk first draft production, based on the thought process I just outlined:

Catgirl, 1st draft: Ability Score Modifier: +1 Dexterity Size: Medium Speed: 35 feet Vision: Low-light Cat's Claws: You are proficient with your unarmed strikes, which deal 1d4 slashing damage on a hit. Quick as a Cat: When rolling your Dexterity to make an Initiative check, roll twice and take the higher result. Best in Breed: You belong to one of the three distinct breeds of catgirl; housecat, wildcat or witchcat. The rest of your racial abilities are determined by which breed you belong to.

Housecat Breed: Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Charisma. Ne-kowaii: You have Advantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks. Kitty's Luck: You increase your AC by +1. Additionally, if you have the Lucky feat, you regain your Luck Points at the end of a short rest instead of at the end of a long rest.

Wildcat Breed: Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Strength Born to the Hunt: You have Advantage on Intelligence (Nature) checks. You also have Advantage on your passive Wisdom check to avoid being Surprised. Big Cat's Claws: Your Cat's Claws do 1d6 slashing damage instead of 1d4 slashing damage. Purrfect Ambush: Other creatures have Disadvantage on Wisdom checks made to detect you when you are using the Stealth skill or when you are attempting to Surprise them.

Witchcat Breed: Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Intelligence Cat Magic: You know 1 cantrip of your choice from either the Wizard spell list or the Warlock spell list. Wise as a Cat: You have Advantage on Intelligence (Arcana) checks.

Slimegirl Crunch Development

Tricky matter, here. As anyone who's ever looked at the Ooze entry in the Monstrous Manuals knows, it's quite obvious that D&D slimes share a lot less in common than one might think. Ignoring the Gelatinous Cube, which is a deliberate outlier, the only thing the 5e Black Pudding, Gray Ooze and Ochre Jelly have in common is the Amorphous trait and immunities to mind-altering effects, blindness, exhaustion and being knocked prone. Black Puddings are immune to acid, whilst the other two only resist it. Black Pudding and Ochre Jelly have the ability to climb, whilst the Gray Ooze doesn't.

So, a slimegirl race can't take a whole heap of encouragement from the existing 5e oozes. Which leaves the big question: should it go for a subrace approach? If yes, what might the subraces actually be? How do you distinguish them?

Lamia Crunch Development

This will be tricky because it's the first 5e race that doesn't configure to the standard bipedal body format. 5e is generally light on the racial penalties, with only the drow & duergar's sunlight sensitivity (and technically the aarakocra's "you can't fly in heavier armor") counting. So that raises the question; should lamias get some kind of penalty for their snake body, perhaps not being able to use Foot slot items, or should that be skipped - Foot magic items restyle themselves into heavy anklets that the lamia can slip onto her tail, for example?

There's a Pathfinder lamia race that has its stats on its wiki, so that might be raidable for further insight, or there's always the "make it up from scratch" approach.

Hmm... should there be a subrace approach to this race, or not? Lamias do come in a wide variety, after all; you can't say there's no difference between a cobra-girl, a rattlesnake-girl, a viper-girl and a python-girl, right?

Harpy Crunch Development

This is a trickier race to develop for 5e. We have an example of a flying race in the Aarakocra, and arguably you could just reskin those from "humanoid bird" to "cute birdgirl" and have a fully-functional harpy. On the other hand, that's ignoring the D&D harpy's traditional affinity for charm magic. That's not so hard to replicate, just give the aarakocra spell-like abilities as per the Devil's Tongue Tiefling (Vicious Mockery at-will, Charm Person 1/day at level 3, Enthrall 1/day at level 5), but there's still a problem of balance.

Namely, how do we make it so that non-magical harpies are equivalently worthy with the spellcasting ones? Or should we not bother with the subraces and presume that only magical harpies exist?

Official Material

Fluff

(None established yet)

Crunch

(None established yet)