Deep Dive - The Girallon
This ape-trocity is a lesser-known monster, but as the king of the jungle, perhaps more adventurers should learn about them. With four arms, white fur, and the appetite of an elephant, the Girallon is a dangerous foe that doesn’t take kindly to intruders in its territory. It walks the forest on its legs and bottom arms, using its top arms to rip up small trees and strike at anyone who dares to enter its territory.
3e - Girallon
Large Beast
Hit Dice: 7d10 + 14 (52 hp)
Initiative: +3 (Dex)
Speed: 40 ft., climb 40 ft.
AC: 16 (-2 size, +3 Dex, +4 natural)
Attacks: 4 claws +12 melee, bite +7 melee
Damage: Claw 1d4+8, bite 1d8+4
Face/Reach: 5ft. by 5ft./10ft.
Special Attacks: Rend 2d4+12
Special Qualities: Scent
Saves: Fort +7, Ref +8, Will +3
Abilities: Str 26, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 3, Wis 12, Cha 7
Skills: Climb +16, Move Silently +8, Spot +7
Climate/Terrain: Warm forest, mountains, and underground
Organization: Solitary or company (5-8)
Challenge Rating: 5
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always chaotic evil
Advancement: 8-10 HD (Large); 11-21 HD (Huge)
Monster Manual, 2000 Wizards of the Coast / Anthony Waters
First introduced in the Monster Manual (2000/2003), the Girallon are described as the savage cousins of gorillas. They look much like an albino gorilla, but bigger, meaner, and they have an extra set of arms they can use to pummel you into the ground. They have thick muscles, dense white fur, and razor-sharp teeth and claws that are probably stained red from all the creatures they’ve killed and eaten.
The Girallon puts the beef in beefcake. With a 26 Strength, but only an Intelligence of 3, the Girallon’s first solution to solving a problem is to hit it. If that doesn’t work, it’s going to hit it again. It has no backup plan; it just swings. For most people who run across the Girallon, that will be their one and only encounter. For seasoned adventurers, it could be a dangerous encounter, but at a Challenge Rating of 5, they’re likely to survive so long as their party doesn’t abandon them.
But why are Girallons so violent? Well, beyond being highly territorial, there isn’t another reason given. They just don’t like people intruding on their home, which we understand, especially when family invites itself over. So how do you know what is and isn’t the Girallon’s territory? Well, that’s more difficult to answer.
There is no information about them marking their territory; rather, they like to conceal themselves in the branches of a tree or under a pile of leaves. When the Girallon spots prey, or just anyone that isn’t itself, it charges. If the creature is small, the Girallon grabs it and then runs back into its hiding spot so it can kill and eat the creature. If the creature is larger, like the Large-sized Girallon, it just charges forward and attempts to use its four arms to rip them apart into smaller chunks so it can then run off with those smaller chunks and eat them.
If you think that large numbers will save you, it won’t. The Girallon is going to attack regardless, which is probably why the species hasn’t taken over the planet. They are just too aggressive for their species’ own good.
An interesting note about the Girallon appears in Arms and Equipment Guide (2003) with information about making this carnivorous ape your mount. These people, typically tribespeople, will capture very young Girallons and train them. The only difficulty stems from the fact that you can not train away their aggression or territorial nature, so you have to be constantly on guard around them and ensure that they always listen to you.
Another fun fact comes from Savage Species (2003). Found in this book is the spell Girallon’s Blessing. This transmutation spell, available to clerics, sorcerers, and wizards, gives the target an extra pair of arms. In fact, you get an extra set of arms for every four caster levels, and the number of arms you can have is only limited by your size. No one (ok, most people) wants a pair of arms sprouting from the side of their head, right?
The last bit of Girallon trivia comes from the 2006 adventure The Twilight Tomb. While the Girallon doesn’t have a big role in this adventure, it does play an interesting role, even though it is dead for the entire adventure. The final boss of the adventure is basically a brain in a jar, and this brain in a jar is carefully placed in the re-animated chest cavity of a Girallon. To better explain it, a zombie Girallon carries the brain of its master in its chest cavity.
It’s a weird final boss.
The Twilight Tomb, 2006 Wizards of the Coast / Marvin Mariano
4e - Girallon Marauder
Level 12 Brute
Large natural beast XP 700
HP 145; Bloodied 72
Initiative +11
AC 24, Fortitude 24, Reflex 23, Will 22
Perception +10
Speed 8, climb 6
Threatening Claws ✦ Aura 1 Enemies within the aura grant combat advantage. Combat Climber The marauder does not provoke opportunity attacks by climbing.
Claw ✦ At-Will Attack: Melee 2 (one creature); +16 vs. AC; Hit: 2d12 + 10 damage.
Claw Flurry ✦ Recharge 5-6 Effect: The marauder makes the following attack four times. Attack: Melee 2 (one creature); +16 vs. AC; Hit: 1d12 + 6 damage. Skills Acrobatics +16, Athletics +18
Str 24 (+13) Dex 20 (+11) Wis 18 (+10) Con 15 (+8) Int 3 (+2) Cha 10 (+6)
Alignment chaotic evil
Languages —
Demoted to the third Monster Manual, the Girallon doesn’t poke its head up from the brush until Monster Manual 3 (2010). Luckily, the Girallon is not alone as there are now three of them, and all three are hyper-aggressive four-armed apes with an appetite for adventurer meat. Not only do the murderous apes kill creatures to eat them, but they also get pleasure from the slaughtering.
Monster Manual 3, 2010 Wizards of the Coast / Eric Williams
This book does actually give some important information about our favorite ape-adjacent murder-hobos. If you were left wondering from the past edition about whether you happened to stumble into a Girallon lair, now it is clearly spelled out. If you happen to stumble into a section of the forest that is strangely quiet, where no other creature happens to be, and there is a convenient game trail to follow… You are in a Girallon’s lair, and you should probably run (and maybe sacrifice the wizard by outrunning them).
You see, a Girallon kills any creature, no matter how big or how small, in its territory. It will set up ‘gametrails’ that it makes itself, leading any wandering animals (or adventurers) into an ambush. It’ll leap down from the top of trees, grab you with all four of its arms, and then start ripping you apart. Some guides are smart enough to know where to avoid Girallon lairs; other guides are dead.
Of course, while Girallons prefer living in forests, they are too big to sleep in the trees from which they launch their ambushes. Instead, they hunker down in caves and ruins at night. Many an adventurer has died when they accidentally walked into a sleeping Girallon’s lair who awoke to find themselves breakfast.
As we mentioned before, there are three types of Girallon in this book. The Girallon Marauder is the weakest of the three and is typically a wayward Girallon that has left its pack and wanders the world, which makes them very dangerous as they are unpredictable. Most Girallon keep to their territories, and if you know where those territories are, you can avoid them; not so for the Girallon Marauder, which just wanders around the place, slaughtering every creature it runs into until it finds a suitable spot for its territory or it dies.
Up next is the Girallon Alpha, who are typically the leaders of their packs. They are incredibly strong and are seen as the spiritual gatekeepers for hunters. In fact, hunters who are nearing the end of their life, and don’t wish to waste away into old age, will go out for one last hunt in search of a Girallon Alpha. This final battle grants the hunter a worthy death and the Girallon Alpha a snack.
The last type of Girallon is the most powerful, but luckily for us, they stick to the planes, like the Elemental Chaos and the Abyss. Known as the Infernal Girallon, they are infused with the power of demons and hellfire. These Girallon are surrounded by flames that burn their enemies as they smash their enemies into pulp. It’s kind of like they can cook their food as they're tenderizing it, which means we have a fantastic idea for an awakened Infernal Girallon chef.
Bestiary 3, 2021 Paizo Publishing
5e - Girallon
Large Monstrosity, Unaligned
Armor Class 13
Hit Points 59 (7d10 + 21)
Speed 40 ft., climb 40 ft.
STR 18 (+4) DEX 16 (+3) CON 16 (+3) INT 5 (-3) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 7 (-2)
Skills Perception +3, Stealth +5
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 13
Languages --
Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +2
Aggressive. As a bonus action, the girallon can move up to its speed toward a hostile creature that it can see.
Keen Smell. The girallon has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
Multiattack. The girallon makes five attacks: one with its bite and four with its claws.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 7 (1d6 + 4) piercing damage.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6 + 4) slashing damage.
Volo’s Guide to Monsters, 2016 Wizards of the Coast / Brynn Metheney
First found in Volo’s Guide to Monsters (2016) and later reprinted in Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse (2022), the Girallon is back and ready to tear you limb from limb. While it is the Girallon we all know and love, it comes with a bit of new, surprising information on the origins of this cruel beast. That’s right, it is no longer just a normal creature that evolved alongside the ape; rather, they were created with magic to be guardians for a lost empire. When that empire fell, the Girallons turned feral and have been slaughtering trade caravans ever since.
Whether or not you believe that the Girallons were once guardians of antiquity, they are here and in the forests, hunting down any creature foolish enough to intrude on their territory. While the previous editions talked a little about Girallon packs, we never got a ton of information on them. In this book, we learn that they like to form loose bands of several individuals and offspring, led by a single, powerful Girallon. That said, most Girallon hunt alone. It is only when the group leader wants to make a big kill, like a wyvern or a kobold, that they will work as a pack and take down the imposing kill.
Now, why do some believe that Girallons were once guardians? It’s because they inhabit so many ruins. They seem to love all the crumbling stone structures to climb atop of, lurking behind a pile of rubble, or behind a trap they learned about. They utilize the ruins to their advantage and work ahead to let everyone know that the ruins are their territory and no one else is allowed in. Whether it is because they are still ‘guarding’ the ruins because they were created to do so, or just simply because they like their homes to have some history in them, no one is likely to ever find out, since Girallons keep eating all their visitors.
Of course, that won’t stop people from trying to visit the Girallon. Many creatures, such as Yuan-Ti, will attempt to subjugate our not-so-friendly murder apes. Even thieves’ guilds have been known to capture young Girallons and train them to protect their sewer entrances from outsiders who aren’t part of the guild. Of course, one must always be careful with Girallons as they can turn into feral and wild predators at any time.
And just when you thought you were safe, everyone’s favorite undead creature, the Zombie Girallon, makes its glorious return in Tomb of Annihilation (2017). Sadly, it lacks the whole “brain in a jar stuck in its chest” motif, but that’s ok, cause we’re just happy it’s back! While the Zombie Girallon is less dangerous than its living counterparts, it has a greater craving for living flesh, and not even death is going to stop it from munching on your bones.
The Girallon shows up in multiple Adventurers’ League one-shots, appearing in Putting the Dead to Rest (2017), which debuted at that year’s Gamehole Con (where Dump Stat will be this year!), Chaos in the City of Splendors (2018), and In The Garden of Evil (2020). None of them has a starring role, but in Putting the Dead to Rest, there’s a new Girallon known as the Awakened Girallon. It only differs from its regular four-armed brother in one rather disturbing way; it speaks Common! That means it can keep asking you ‘Does that hurt?” as it rips your arm off and beats you to death with it.
Tomb of Annihilation, 2017 Wizards of the Coast / Eric Belisle
Sadly, the Girallon does not make the cut for the newest Monster Manual released in 2025. Nevertheless, the Girallon is a creature that should not be overlooked. A powerful, carnivorous ape that realized that it was easier to slaughter prey with four arms, instead of just two, they are creatures you don’t want to mistakenly bump into. They prowl the forests and jungles, seeking out any living creature to rip apart, feasting on the meat. While these gluttinus predators are powerful foes, they can be powerful allies too if you are willing to train them and never leave yourself off guard around them.
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