Instead of chained ifs, you can use hash keys to index into an array.

my %keys = qw( monster 0 hp 1 size 2 AC 3);
my    @data = ( [qw(troll 30 10 2)],
                [qw(dwarf 20 2 9 )],
                [qw(pixie 2 1 30 )]);

foreach my $line (@data) {
   print  "name @$line[$keys{'monster'}] \n";
   print "\thas @$line[$keys{'hp'}] hit points\n";
}
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prints something like this:

name troll
        has 30 hit points
name dwarf
        has 20 hit points
name pixie
        has 2 hit points
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Of course, by then, you're just one step away from creating objects. Which is probably a better idea in the long run.