What are your current favorite "Monsters" ?


Lost Omens Campaign Setting General Discussion


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I'm an undead and aberration type girl myself, but I also love the outsiders =}

Current favorites are ....
Qlippoth (Thank you Mr. Jacobs!) are so disgustingly awesome. Dropping a slaver band of Shoggti on the party last session made for some chaotic and frantic fun as they scrambled to figure out what they were up against and just how much trouble they were in =D

Aboleth ~ because well...yeah...psionic megalomaniacal elder mastermind bottom fish.

Flying polyps ~ long time running joke with the players, so I have to add them.

Umbral dragons ~ I'm having an obscene amount of fun tormenting my players with them up in Virlych.

Lich ~ the lich template is so versatile and it's fun to create various lich types from odd intelligent races and monsters.

Vampire ~ cliche's yes, but a clever and well played vampire is a beautiful thing to behold.

Sczarni RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Kytons, duergar, and mites; oh my!

Dark Archive

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Kytons! I love how Paizo has expanded them from the single oddball Devil type to an entire set of Outsiders. I very much look forward to their potentially getting a Book of the Damned that provides lots of delicious additional info on them some day.

There's lots of neat monster types out there that I'd like to see more of, but Kytons currently are on top of the heap for me.


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Qlippoth - Great concept and execution, wish I had the occasion to use these guys more.

Oni - Enjoyed the idea of evil spirits as extreme hedonists.

Cyclops - Really dug the history of Ghol Gan's collapse.

Ghorazagh - Awesome and eerie replacement for the iconic floating orb monster.

Humans - Usually end up being the most monstrous foe my parties face in my games.


Any sort of fey creature tackles my fancy. Aside from them, hydras, dragons, Psychopomp, and demons are some of my favorites.

Grand Lodge

depends how bored I am.

Hopefully I'll never need to pull out a tumbleweed of wonder ever again.


-Nightshades: Some of the best CR'd undead in the game IMO. Running Carrion Crown, so these guys are sure to get their use. I particularly like the Nightskitter (CR 12) from Undead Revisited.

-Daemons: For some reason, these guys are fun to run. Maybe its their unusual and awesome abilities or what they represent, but I've had fun with every one I've ran.

-Vampires: So many ways to run them. Also, since their gaze works on all Giants, its fun to utilize such creatures as unconventional minions; my players were horrified when they came upon an imprisoned group of Ogres (blood banks) being forced to do things they would never do, like read, add, tell jokes, and wear human clothes. The only downside is having to custom make such monsters, but I've been having fun pumping out Alchemist, Monk, and other awesome creations with the template.

Liberty's Edge

Aboleths are my favorite classic monster, but out of the other PF monsters, I'm fond of obscure mythological creatures like the nuckelavee or the wendigo; cryptids like the mothman or chupacabra; oni, because I love yokai and they remind me of Aku and his GRRRREAT FLAAAAAAAMING EYYYYEBROWS; and, of course, goblins. Everyone loves those little weirdos.


Improved Familiars of all kinds.

Oozes. Don't know why.

Colossi. The closest Pathfinder is likely to get to having Super Robots.


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Inevitables and Proteans, for one. Their eternal war just seems so much more interesting and gripping to me than that of Fiends and Celestials. Enough so that I'd love to have a pair of new races, Chaosborn and Lawborn (or a couple better names), which have ancestry tied to the Law-Chaos conflict.

And I like oozes. I'd like a playable ooze or oozelike race. I'd like ARG-style calculations for the Ooze type or Ooze Immunities.


Conceptually I really like demons and lots of fiendish outsiders, but mechanically they often have a lot of stuff I dislike (SR, teleporting, summoning fellows).

Dark Fey are often interesting flavor creatures.

Brutes are lots of fun, big bruisers who can hit, hit hard, and take a lot of punishment, but are relatively easy to hit. Dire animals, giants, and magical beasties.


Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Aranea: Creepy spider monsters who could even now be dwelling among us! Except they're not usually evil, just interested in researching more about magic...unless the magic they're studying is evil, of course. Conjuring evil outsiders? Necromancy? Enchantment spells and their effect on humanoid psychology? So, could be that they can be dealt with without fighting, even, if persuaded, helping out...or they could be behind some really horrific stuff.

Asura: The notion of asura studying and meditating upon creation so that they might end it has always appealed to me. Upasanda and asurendra in particular.

Dark Folk: I like these guys because they're creepy, not completely evil, but with evil aspects to their society (dark slayers and dark callers), so they can serve as a nemesis, or potentially be bargained with...and have a lot of neat, disturbing aspects, like the eager subservience of the dark creepers to their dark stalker masters, their affinity for darkness, the way they inexplicably explode...

Doppelgangers: Doppelgangers have always interested me...dwelling in other societies with a face not their own, capable of faking almost anything, reading people's minds...most aren't evil, but one could easily act as an antagonist, using their stolen position in society to manipulate events, or perhaps even manipulate the party for their personal benefit, but not the party's detriment...or perhaps even doppelgangers could want the party's assistance in taking down a rogue doppelganger, if there even is such a thing (do doppelgangers have a society of their own? laws they follow? who knows!)...

Drakainia: A particularly horrifying monster when it comes to body horror...though you should probably make sure your players are ready to deal with this particular flavor of body horror NOPE. More than just a monster to fight, its influence and offspring can be felt in your campaign long before you ever get to the point where you might manage to put down this horror for good.

Drakes: Sometimes you want to fight dragons...and the larger drakes are a nice low CR counterpart without making you feel silly for fighting a wyrmling when you're at lower levels. Sure, a wyrmling can be tough and nasty, but when it comes down to it, you beat up a kid.

Elohim: Less as monsters, more as plot devices, though it can be great fun to finally pit the characters against the very entity who created their world...or simply the creator other worlds or planes that have been invading theirs.

Gremlins: I like these fey for being more interesting low level encounters to me than Yet More Goblins and Yet More Kobolds and Yet More Orcs. They've got some magic to them, makes you feel like you're fighting something small, yet unmistakably supernatural. Tooth fairies and other similarly low CR small fey can work too to provide more interesting encounters at low levels. That said, pugwampis are reeeeeeally annoying.

Kami: Rarely evil, yet their protection of things that seem minor or unimportant to most humanoids, as well as the fact that they often react poorly to rudeness, and their rather inhuman mentality, means your average adventuring party can often find themselves at odds with one...ultimately leaving it up to them whether or not they get themselves into an avoidable fight that might have wide repercussions, depending on the kami.

Kytons: Lots of fun in general, I love the way how their ultimate goal is seeking perfection...somehow it just adds an extra touch of horror that all their horrific deeds and mingling of pain and pleasure are for a goal that most people would abstractly view as being a good thing...often enough, kytons are here to help...and a helpful kyton - ready to liberate you from the morality and form that binds you - is truly terrifying. Along with a healthy dollop of body horror.

Linnorms: I like linnorms a lot more than I do most regular dragons, honestly...they feel like the primal dragons of myth legend. No spellcasting, just terrifying monsters...and the delightful death curse is just icing on the cake.

Mercanes and Witchwyrds: Definitely fun when the strange and weird begins to make itself known to the players...and boy, has it got a deal for you! Possible hidden motivations and fingers in local economics/politics are an added bonus.

Oma: When aliens invade your fantasy world, they can do so in style in a fleet of omas...who are quite dangerous in their own right.

Psychopomps: The impersonal bureaucrats of death are certainly a favorite of mine...after all, adventurers are fond of treating death as a revolving door, and there are countless ways they could wind up at odds with the agents of death...or assist when they're up against a devourer of souls or some other entity disturbing the natural cycle. Or, of course, they could easily find themselves trapped unaware between the machinations of both. Though I must admit, the article in Carrion Crown about nosoi in particular is one of the reasons I find them so appealing...unlike aeons, despite their dispassion, psychopomps definitely have their own personality.

Rakshasas: Decadently evil, it's always nice to have an evil fiend who can appreciate the finer things in life in between plotting. Goes double for a maharaja.

Shae: Egotistical transhumanists (transhumanoidists? transmortalists?), I like the masks and general flavor.

Shining Children: I have a weakness for light-based entities being evil.

Soulbound Mannequin and Soulbound Shell: Have I mentioned I find transhumanism and the possible loss of humanity that might result from it over the course of time to be interesting? Because I do. The mannequin's collection of masks is also a neat touch.

Soulsliver: Their ability to travel through mirrors and assume the shape of others is just plain neat. A weak but hard to track down monster that requires some thought to deal with.

Stone Colossus: At high levels, there's nothing like when the keep you're assaulting turns into a giant construct and joins in the melee.

Thriae: The combination of insects and humanoids being both beautiful and disturbing appeals to me. They can seem almost human-like in a way formians can't, yet their hive aspect still leads to disturbing aspects, such as the queen putting down and devouring their humanoid mates once they're too old to perform their function, yet the fact that their mates do volunteer for the position, and the fact that Thriae are not actively evil, just inhuman, leads to potentially interesting encounters.

Tzitzimitl: Sometimes you just want a fifty foot tall apocalyptic skeleton...FROM SPAAAAAAACE.

Yellow Musk Creeper: I like these guys for the faceless, uncaring horror...they're not evil, they're just plants. It's just their horrifying life cycle boring its tendrils into your brain and sending forth zombies...except they're not undead, and thus lack the usual undead weaknesses...

Zomok: Nature versus civilization can be a fun theme, and when people don't listen to the Lorax, the Zomok can make a deadly second string to nature's bow...along with high level fey, fey animals, kami, and a manitou or two.

Liberty's Edge

Graeme Lewis wrote:
I'd like a playable ooze or oozelike race. I'd like ARG-style calculations for the Ooze type or Ooze Immunities.

Before I started playing, I saw a guy stat up one for a homebrew game. Kinda makes me want to pick up the ARG and see how many RPs it'd take up.


Graeme Lewis wrote:


And I like oozes. I'd like a playable ooze or oozelike race. I'd like ARG-style calculations for the Ooze type or Ooze Immunities.

Dralasites!

Also check out The Squole from Alluria Publishing.

Alluria's the one with the high quality Cerulean Seas underwater Pathfinder stuff but they originally did a set of races for pathfinder that is well done too. I've gotten good use from their race compendium book.


protean, denizen of leng, urdefhan, zomok, dark ones


I like applying the giant and half-dragon template to dinosaurs to make semi intelligent colossal dragons that sit in the range of CR 12 - 14, since I don't want to wait forever for players to fight colossal dragons.

Scarab Sages

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Humans are by far my favorite monster, followed closely by all those other Humanoids. My home CS is a heavily populated world, with much less "monsters" than your typical game world, and over the last two decades I've come to develop a love for sending humanoids at my party. In this regard, the NPC Codex and the GMG's NPC Gallery have been 2 of the absolutely most useful pieces of rules that PF has added to the Core experience for my table.

After that would be Div for the arabic flavor and froghemoths.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

The Yrthak!


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Monty Python's Flying Polyps

Liberty's Edge

I also have a soft spot for "stupid" monsters like flumphs, disenchanters, and, of course, the always-loveable thought eater (The 1E version that is) :D


yellow musk creepers/zombies
swarms
assassin vines.
pits/traps/puzzles/obstacles
goblinoids.
elves, all types.
corporeal undead, especially wights and vampires.

Edit: I forgot about "garbage" monsters like the otyugh and the gelatinous cube!


Reefclaws - a pair of them managed to kill lonely and fully healthy 7th level magus in my last session. Do not underestimate grab ability.

Silver Crusade

I love lizardfolk, sure they're territorial as hell, but that doesn't mean they're evil nor that they'll attack on sight. So in my games the players never know if they should shoot on sight or wait for the lizardfolk to strike the first blow. I milk this delicious moment of tension for all its worth.

I also like plant monsters, specially the shambling mound and the violet fungus. The latter is usually paired up with shrieker fungus, both of which look almost identical.


Vampires and war trolls.


Goblins & Dragons for sure.


Demons and devils (mostly the ones which resemble those of Christian myth and legend), fey and hags (from folklore), the underdark races (from drow to urdehfahn), dinosaurs, and aquatic races.

I don't care much for tentacled things, as they remind me too much of something tasty in a seafood salad.

Dark Archive

Currently nerding on hags and the half-fiend templates from demons revisited. I guess in an extension to all that, I'm happy with changelings too. I plan on putting a doppelganger in too, man so many shapechangers and hidden evils lol.


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Succubi.

Because... well, they're probably among the most terrifying things in existence.

All they need is to find exactly one weak-willed humanoid crafter-wizard. One. Then they might as well win Pathfinder.


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Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Tacticslion wrote:

Succubi.

Because... well, they're probably among the most terrifying things in existence.

All they need is to find exactly one weak-willed humanoid crafter-wizard. One. Then they might as well win Pathfinder.

Now that you bring it up...in Demons Revisited, there's a glabrezu that explicitly does exactly that. Except in bulk. Zibrigeth, The Mageslaver, a level 12 enchanter wizard.

Demons Revisited:
The glabrezu Zibrigeth is a striking demon, with bright sapphire armor plates along its back and what appears to be silver flesh elsewhere, this demon has made a specialty of enslaving arcane spellcasters to aid in the construction of magic items—particularly whispering amulets. Zibrigeth rules a large castle-like fortress located on the edge of Abraxas's spiral city of Diovengia. This fortress is part arcane school and part prison—a place where the demon's charmed and dominated wizards and sorcerers toil until death to craft the items he demands.


I've been making generous use of daemons in my CC campaign and they've been a great addition for foes.

Other faves:

Beholders

Intellectual Devourers

Rakshasa


RAAAAAAAAGH!!
WE'RE THE ORCS!!!
NOTHING CAN STOP THE ORCS!!!
RAAAAAAGH!!

Seriously, I like orcs. I think because of all the goblin love at Paizo they tend to be under-represented.

Some others that I think are great:

Outer Dragons, from Bestiary 4. These guys are awesome. Also I like the fact that they are mostly neutral (i.e. neither evil nor good - though they are usually lawful or chaotic).

Udaeus, also from Bestiary 4. I really wish these guys were a playable race though.

Xill make great bad guys. Dziriak while we're on the subject of weird alien insect guys.

Rock Trolls

Tzitzimitl, and Kaiju. Love gigantic destroyer-type baddies.

Peet


My hands down favorite right now is the Hekatonkheires. It's an imposing opponent and has some great art to boot. That tiny soldier just looks so defeated next to that big guy.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Maps, Rulebook, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Just love the undead. In the last AP I ran, I drooped a 20 CR Lich/cleric on top of the PCs as the last battle. Don't piss off your low level cleric NPC girlfriend, it will bite you right in the ass!


The nosferatu vampire. They took the wrong path to immortality and are stuck on it now. Something about an evil creature that doesn't want to live, but fear the judgment coming even more.

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