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So you have gnolls, but you don't have the gnoll's best friend. Honestly I just like the idea of partymembers being torn appart by these scavengers. Seriously, people love the gelatinous cube as a dungeon clearer, but I have a softspot for the humble hyena. Probably because I love gnoll, keep an eye out, the dwarf gnoll will probably make an appearance here soon.

Hyena

Neutral Medium Beast

AC: 12

HP: 11

Str: 14 (+2) Dex: 15 (+2) Con: 15 (+2)

Int: 3 (-4) Wis: 13 (+1) Cha: 6 (-2)

Space/Reach: 5’/5’

Speed: 50 feet

Melee Attack: bite +4 melee (1d6+2)

Special Traits: trip (on a successful bit the hyena makes a strength check opposed by the targets strength or dexterity check, if the hyena succeeds the target is knocked prone), low-light vision, scent

XP: 100

Another dweller of the swamps south-east of the keep, lizardmen are, in my opinion one of the more glaring omissions of playtest monsters.

Lizardman

Neutral medium humanoid

(reptilian)

AC: 12 (14 with shield)

HP: 11

Str: 13 (+1) Dex: 10 (+0) Con: 13 (+1)

Int: 9 (-1) Wis: 10 (+0) Cha: 10 (+0)

Space/Reach: 5’/5’

Speed: 30 feet (swim)

Melee Attack: 2 claws +3 melee (1d4+1) and bite +3 melee (1d4+1) or

                Club +3 melee (1d6+1) and bite +3 melee (1d4+1)

Ranged Attack: Javelin +2 ranged (1d6+1)

Special Traits: hold breath (hold breath for four times as long), tail (+3 bonus to jump, swim, and balance checks)

Equipment: none or club, heavy shield, and 3 spears

XP: 100 (125 with equipment)

Another day another monster, I'm thinking I'm going to try to schedule these as a monster a day thing, maybe, we'll see how long I can keep it up for, but I have a fairly large backlog already. Early editions of D&D really don't expect the party to go into a dungeon unsupported: mounts, hirelings, allies, pack mules, and other various hangers on keep a party from dieing too quickly. The war dog is supposed to serve as a sort of auxiliary to the party, taking down lightly armoured foes and chasing down those who flee. They can also serve as mounts for small characters.

I also consider this creature a way for the party to get a measure of revenge on certain enemies, if golbins have wolf riders should you get a chance to release wolfhounds on them.

Dog, War

Neutral Medium Beast

AC: 12

HP: 11

Str: 15 (+2) Dex: 15 (+2) Con: 15 (+2)

Int: 3 (-4) Wis: 12 (+1) Cha: 6 (-2)

Space/Reach: 5’/5’

Speed: 40 feet

Melee Attack: bite +2 melee (1d8+2 piercing)

Special Traits: Low-light vision, scent

XP: 125

Notes: As a DM I would peg the cost of buying one of these beauties relatively low but limit the total number for sale. Say 25 gp each but not allow a party to get more than one per party member, even if one member handles them all, also I would not allow a party to directly control them in battle, instead allow them to make handle animal checks to give general instruction and run them yourself. You might want to consider looking at the 3.5 tricks rules for animal training for suggestions.

No adventure from the village of Homlet on would be complete without these hopping, surprisingly dangerous critters. Therefore, I present to you, an inhabitant of the southern swamps, the giant frog:

Giant Frog:

AC: 13

HP: 16

Str: 10 (+0) Dex: 16 (+3) Con: 11 (+0)

Int: 1 (-5) Wis: 12 (+1) Cha: 6 (-2)

Space/Reach: 5’/5’ (15’ feet with tongue)

Speed: 40 feet (swim, jump)

Melee Attack: bite +2 melee (2d3) or

Tongue +5 melee (pulls enemy into adjacent square, Str save DC 15 negates)

Special Traits: Swallow whole (if a giant frod rolls a natural twenty on its bite attack against a small or smaller target that target is swallowed whole, they may take no actions and must make a DC 10 con check each round or suffer 1d6 point of acid damage), tongue

XP: 125

So I've run Keep on the Borderlands twice, once in the original Basic, once in my own 3.5 convertion. Right now I'm running two D&D next playtests one of them I doing more or less the same adventure as my 3.5 run but with updated monsters. As for the other, well it's more or less a hybrid of the playtest module, the orignal KotB, and the admittedly not very good 1999 TSR release of Return to the Keep on the Borderlands.

Mostly I'll just be posting my adventure convertion notes for my own reference, but I'll be statting a fair number of monsters not included in those modules and thought they might be useful for people looking to add a little more variety.