20 Cute D&D Monsters We Wouldn't Mind Encountering

Dungeons & Dragons is well-known for its robust list of monsters and creatures a person might encounter while playing the game. Some are large and scary, while others are remarkably cute! If you want to feature a few adorable creatures in your campaign or you're running a game for children, these cute critters will delight players of all ages. Of course, we won't include normal-world animals or their dire counterparts, using baby versions of monsters to make them cuter or featuring playable humanoid races. As you'll see, plenty of cute D&D monsters remain to include in your next game!

1. Almiraj

[Source: Leesha Hannigan/Wizards of the Coast/Forgotten Realms Wiki]

It's a unicorn, but make it a bunny! The Almiraj is a fey beast with the body of a large rabbit and a spiral horn protruding from its head. You'll be glad to know that, while timid, they can be tamed and make great familiars for spellcasters. We'll take 10.

2. Aurumvorax

[Source: Brian ValezaWizards of the Coast/Forgotten Realms Wiki]

The fact that the aurumvorax will eat your gold isn't cute, but it looks like a golden little rodent creature with a few too many legs. It's a little weird, but we still want one! Their coats are highly valued, and some have used these creatures to delve for gold.

3. Campestri

[Source: Claudio Pozas/Wizards of the Coast/Forgotten Realms Wiki]

Who could say no to an adorable little mushroom creature? While they are somewhat myconid-like, they lack arms and look like little spot-capped mushrooms. They also love music and will dance and sing if they can hear someone playing a tune.

4. Faerie Dragon

[Source: Eva Widermann/Wizards of the Coast/Forgotten Realms Wiki]

Take a dragon and shrink it to the size of a cat, then give it butterfly wings and pretty colors. These naughty little dragons are known pranksters and intelligent enough to communicate through limited telepathy and a speech that sounds like tinkling bells. They come equipped with natural spellcasting abilities, which often mature with age. They're also considered exotic pets and are usually in the charge of a rich caretaker.

5. Firenewt

[Source: Artist Unknown/Wizards of the Coast/Forgotten Realms Wiki]

These reptilian humanoids evolved from lizardfolk and live in volcanic regions. They're generally considered evil humanoid creatures and stand roughly as tall as most humans. Still, if they're this cute, are they all bad?

6. Flumph

[Source: Conceptropolis/Wizards of the Coast/Forgotten Realms Wiki]

Anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting flumps knows how adorable they can be! They float around and can change colors depending on their mood. These good-aligned creatures are known to glow red when in the presence of evil, making them incredibly helpful as well!

7. Flying Snake

[Source: Tyler Jacobson/Wizards of the Coast/Forgotten Realms Wiki]

Now, while cute snakes might depend more on personal taste, we're suckers for these adorable flying snakes. They come in all sorts of colors, much like their real-world counterparts, but are also domesticated and trained to deliver scrolls. Move over, Hedwig!

8. Grung

[Source: Shawn Wood/Wizards of the Coast/Forgotten Realms Wiki]

In another case of dangerous but make it adorable, we present the Grung. These poisonous humanoid amphibians are ambush predators due to their diminutive size. They live in swamps and marshy forests, preferring to live in the trees. If your adventurers ever venture into these regions, look up!

9. Hollyphant

[Source: Mark Behm/Wizards of the Coast/Forgotten Realms Wiki]

Picture a tiny elephant with golden fur and wings, and you get a hollyphant! They're innately magical and psionic, with several spells and abilities at their disposal. While generally depicted as small, they can also change into a winged mastodon-like form. They often help good-aligned creatures and even aid several good deities. It's too bad that hollyphants are rare on the Material Plane as they're generally from the Upper Planes.

10. Ki-rin

[Source: Artist Unknown/Wizards of the Coast/Forgotten Realms Wiki]

The ki-rin is another celestial creature who works with good-aligned deities or otherwise protects portions of the world. Based on the qilin from Asian mythology, these golden-scaled creatures have deer-like bodies, with a single horn protruding from their heads. They appear to float or fly, rarely touching the ground. These magical creatures have innate magical abilities and have been used as spell components—although we wouldn't dare disturb such a majestic creature!

11. Giant Space Hamster

[Source: Zoltan Boros/Wizards of the Coast/Forgotten Realms Wiki]

We know that we said no dire animals, but we're making an exception for giant space hamsters because of their mention in popular media. (You also need to check out the miniature giant space hamster!) These bear-sized hamsters were bred by gnomes to run in wheels that powered their spelljammers, magical flying ships. We don't need one to power any vessel, but we'd love to have one as an adorable companion.

12. Modron

[Source: Julie Dillon/Wizards of the Coast/Forgotten Realms Wiki]

Modrons are strange little creatures with tons of variety, often looking geometric in nature. Adorably quirky in looks and nature, they believe in a structured society perfectly ruled by law and order. Their relation to absolute order is a lot like angels and their relation to good or what demons are to evil. Their society is ordered by shape, with the most advanced shapes as the ruling body and simpler shapes at a lower rank. While they're technically intelligent beings with their own language and society, can you blame us for wanting to have one?

13. Owlbear

[Source: Brynn Metheney/Wizards of the Coast/Forgotten Realms Wiki]

While the cubs are far cuter than a fully-grown owlbear, we still love their grumpy little owl faces on a big, feathery bear body. These dangerously cute creatures are well-known for their aggression and bad tempers. Running across one generally means fighting for your life, but that's not to say that people haven't tried to tame them. In the few cases where the hard work of training has persevered, owlbears have been used sparingly as guardians and mounts. Would you risk it all to have an owlbear companion?

14. Pegasus

[Source: Dave Dorman/Wizards of the Coast/Forgotten Realms Wiki]

As part of a fantasy game with fantasy monsters, several famous mythological creatures have made their way into D&D lore. Pegasi in D&D share many traits with their legendary cousins, including their winged horse bodies and ability to fly. In Dungeons & Dragons, they also can detect good and evil, allowing them to determine the alignment of potential riders. Pegasi can also understand Common and several other languages, although they can't speak. Having one as a companion would make you feel just like Disney's Hercules!

15. Pseudodragon

[Source: Tom Babbey/Wizards of the Coast/Forgotten Realm Wiki]

Being small is often associated with cuteness, and peseudodragons are some of the smallest dragon-like beings in DnD. They're pretty much cute by default, roughly the size of a house cat. They are, however, more intelligent than other similarly-sized creatures, and they can communicate telepathically in both Common and Draconic. They are commonly seen as familiars and pets, making them the perfect creature to have as your next character's companion.

16. Sprite

[Source: Carmen Sinek/Wizards of the Coast/Forgotten Realms Wiki]

Sprites, like many other humanoid fey creatures, can be considered cute. They have innate magical abilities, including invisibility. (We guess that's why you never see them in folklore either!) They generally live in forests and are very protective of their homes. Should you get the chance to encounter one, you better be on your best behavior because they despise evil.

17. Tressym

[Source: Laurent Beauvallet/Wizards of the Coast/Forgotten Realms Wiki]

Once again, we're back to putting wings on animals to make them even cuter. (And we're not mad about it.) Tressyms are cats with wings and are often considered good luck charms. They make great familiars for wizards if you're looking for something more exotic! While they mostly share cat and owl-like traits like seeing in the dark and flight, they can also detect poisons.

18. Unicorn

[Source: Toma Feizo Gas/Wizards of the Coast/Forgotten Realms Wiki]

Did you really think we'd skip unicorns after featuring almiraj and ki-rin? These magical creatures appear as pure white horses with horns on their foreheads. They have several innate magical abilities, including resistance to certain spells, healing, and teleportation. They tend to serve as guardians of their forests, although several have aided deities. While parts of unicorns could serve as spell components, what monster would dare to harm a beautiful unicorn?

19. Zaratan

[Source: Brynn Metheney/Wizards of the Coast/Forgotten Realms Wiki]

Undeniably the largest creature in this list of cute D&D creatures, a zaratan is part of the gargantuan size category of monsters. They generally live in the sea, and the backs of their shells protruding from the water's surface are often mistaken for small islands. They're incredibly long-lived and docile in nature, being too big for much of anything to honestly bother them and interrupt their way of life. We'd love to take a zaratan ride!

20. Zorbo

[Source: Richard Whitters/Wizards of the Coast/Forgotten Realms Wiki]

These small, furry creatures look a bit like sloth koalas, and we'd love nothing more than to pick one up and give it a hug. Unfortunately, zorbos are carnivores and would love nothing more than to eat a human, dwarf, elf, gnome, or any other adventurer who gets too close. They also can absorb the traits of anything they touch, from gaining toughness from rocks to the benefits of magical items. (And they will also destroy your magical items.) We guess we'll just have to admire them from a distance!

As you can see, there are so many fantastical creatures in Dungeons & Dragons to love. Do you have a favorite fantasy creature? Have you encountered any of these cute monsters in any of your D&D adventures? We'd love to hear some of your favorite stories in the comments! Don't forget to pick up some Dungeons & Dragons merch so you're fully equipped with your favorite fandom.