Typical Monster Dexterity Scores

INITIATIVE in the Holmes Basic rules is determined by dexterity; the "character with the highest dexterity strikes first" (page 20). This leads to the question of how the DM determines a monster's dexterity score. The Monster List does not include any information on dexterity, and the Sample dungeon does not include any dexterity scores when it describes monsters' other stats like hit dice and hit points. Thus, Holmes suggests that if a monster's dexterity score is not known, the the DM should roll it "on the spot". However, the original version of the module B2 Keep in the Borderlands, by Gary Gygax, takes a different tack by providing a dexterity score for most monsters in their stat block. These can be used to extrapolate some typical monster dexterity scores as envisioned by Gyga:

NON-HUMANOID (fastest to slowest):

Puma - DX 18

Adder - DX 15

Medusa - DX 14

Giant Centipede - DX 13

Spider, Large - DX 12

Gray Ooze - DX 11

Skeleton - DX 11

Owl Bear - DX 10

Stirge - DX 10

Huge Dog - DX 9

Fire Beetle - DX 9

Giant Rat - DX 8, 12 (l)

Wight - DX 7

Zombie - DX 6

Gelatinous Cube DX 5

HUMANOID (smallest to largest):

Kobold - DX 13 (m), 10 (f), 12 (l)

Goblin - DX 11 (m), 10 (f), 13 (l)

Orc - DX 10 (m), 12 (f), 12 (l)

Hobgoblin - DX 10 (m), 12 (f), 15 (l)

Gnoll - DX 9 (m), 8 (f), 11 (l)

Lizardman - DX 10 (m), 9 (f)

Bugbear - DX 8 (m), 8 (f), 8 (l)

Ogre - DX 8

Minotaur - DX 12

Notes: (m) male, (f) female, (l) leader. Numbers represent the most common dexterity, rather than an average.

This topic originally posted here.