Monster

Not to be confused for the role of the same name.

A creature that is not human, animal, alien, plant, or so on. A monster may resemble an animal, but it usually has features, such as bipedalism or speaking, that separate it from its more familiar counterpart. Monsters can fall into other categories like undead, mythical creature, or even robot in some genres. They can also have their own races or species that is segmented into smaller races. Like aliens, monsters can come in unlimited shapes, sizes, colors, and textures. They can live in any part of the world, from the frozen tundras of the north to the balmy tropics of the south. They can be given horns, claws, beaks, talons, tentacles, or other body parts that alter how they move, act, and fight. A monster's additional abilities can be natural, elemental, or magical. The flexibility of monsters is what allows a creator's imagination to go as far as it wants in character creation.

Monsters were originally depicted as hostile creatures dangerous to humans and domesticated animals like livestock and pets. They would frequently kill, kidnap, or eat any lone or weak victims they could get a hold of. In addition to these threats, monsters could own magical powers like hypnosis or control of fire. This understandably made them terrifying to residents of areas close to monster locations. Brave villagers would set off to kill these monsters, but they were often killed themselves. This was the Call To Action that would beckon the Hero forth. Today, less advanced franchises still spin stories like these. Though monsters normally live and act on their own, they may also be underlings the Villain deploys to wreak havoc on the Innocents. Lowlier beasts like goblins and zombies are likely to come first while stronger monsters such as dragons won't appear until later in The Hero's Journey.