This page has specific notes in regard to Skip Williams' article "How to Create a Monster" and the ranges of monster Hit Dice asserted there, in comparison to the actual monsters in the Monster Manual.
Certain monster types are more egregious in failing to comply with the numbers in the "official" article than others. As noted before, Dragons have been removed from this discussion because their Hit Dice ranges quadruple or more any of the other types' averages (111 of 120 dragons, or 92.5%, fall above even my increased "smooth" Hit Dice progression).
The Giants from the Monster Manual do not comply with the HD ranges in Mr. Williams' article at all. All true giants have HD above the range indicated for the Giant type (hill, stone, frost, and fire all have at least triple the listed HD range); so do ettins, ogre mages, and trolls. Ogres are the only giant-type to comply with the Giant HD ranges from the article (and they have the absolute maximum). Note that if one (a) used the suggested "smooth" HD progression, and (b) returned giants to the HD they had in 1st Ed. AD&D (prior to a +50% increase), then they would in fact, in the majority of cases, fall into the proper ranges.
Constructs also have many abnormalities. Although animated objects and the retriever demon comply with the "standard" ranges, falling above the range are the shield guardian (over x3 HD), the homunculus (x4), and all four golems (over x2 to x4 each). The "smooth" progression is closer to matching all these monster types.
Elementals have an increased Hit Dice range according to the article, and yet all of the "greater" and "elder" true elementals exceed even this HD range -- and all the others are right at the maximum.
Outsiders are another habitual rule-breaking type. All 10 of the mephits exceed the listed Small HD range by +50% maximum. Only one of the celestials falls inside the stipulated "Outsider" range (and it's at the maximum); the other 7 celestials all exceed it by a multiple of x3 to x6. All 7 demons up to the critical Large size exceed the ranges (usually by x2 or x3 factors). Another 10 out of the 11 devils exceed the Outsider ranges (again, all in categories up to Large, by a factor of around x3 average). All 3 genies have excessive Hit Dice; so do all 3 salamanders and all 5 slaad, all 3 xorn, titans, night hags, rakshasa, chaos beasts, hell hounds, yeth hounds, howlers, and so forth.
There are a number of Medium-size creatures in the Monster Manual who in fact have a base 1 HD (minimum for the size in the Williams article), and therefore would fall under the proposed "smooth" progression. But in fact, 15 of the 18 (83%) are races all having the special quality of advancing by character class, and therefore they have access to effectively unlimited advancement in Hit Dice on the upper end.
Finally, only two creatures of the hundreds in the Core Rules -- baleen and cachalot whales -- have Hit Dice falling to the low side of Mr. Williams' ranges (Gargantuan Animals, they have a base 12 HD when the article stipulates a proper range of 16-32 HD). Even this would not be the case had their HD not been oddly halved from what they were in AD&D -- respectively 20+ and 29+ HD according to the 1st Ed. AD&D DMG, p. 214.
This last observation, compared to all the creatures with excessive Hit Dice by the same measurement, highlights that the listed Hit Dice in the Williams article do not properly reflect the standard ranges for actual Core Rules monsters.
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