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I know that this is an old one on RPG-message boards, but this always inspires me...:)
I'd like to know your favorite creatures to throw against players in your D&D-Campaigns.
My Top 5 are, in no particular order, these critters:
Troglodytes
These are my favorites since 1st edition.Creatures that are able to to put you down just with their disgusting smell.
Illithids
The perfect villains for higher levels.
Strange, alien and evil.
With the use of psionics they are even more unique and scary.
Were-Rats
These are my favorite lycanthropes and have been a real pain in the ass for some of my players.
But i've taken it a little to far lately, so i have to give these guys a little break.
My players were real paranoid, whenever an ugly and shadowy NPC made an appearance.
Gnolls
I don't really know why, but these are my favorite wild and barbaric humanoids.I was so glad that the Wizards brought back the flinds in MM 3.
I'd really like to see a well written ecology-article on these guys.
Ghouls
My favorite undead. I found them scary since i first read Lovecraft's 'The Dream Quest For Unknown Kadath'.
The Gravetouched Ghoul from Libris Mortis is even better.
Goblins mounted on Giant Wasps.
"I'd really like to see a well written ecology-article on these guys."
Check Dragon #173!
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Not in any particular order...
1) Troglodytes
I agree completely. It's simple but effective way to really jeapordize those low level characters.
2) Grells
A big brain with octopus tentacles? Sign me up! I have used the occasional grell as the mastermind villian to some devastating effects.
3) Derro
Deviant little buggers to the last one! There is no perversity or depravation that can't simply be explained away by saying "Well, they're Derro...what do you expect?"
4) Umber Hulks
I've always loved the big confusing bettle-guys! I don't need any other reason.
5) Ragomoffyn/Tatterdemalion
There's a pile or rags in the corner? Obviously the DM's hiding something under there... Oh, what's the worst it can be, a giant centepede or something? BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!
Well, number one is Bulettes, of course.
After that, hmm.
Anything unimposing (kobolds, goblins, hobgoblins, orcs) with class levels.
Puzzles. (I know, not really creatures)
lessor undead (Skeletons, zombies, ghouls)
other PCs.
Oh where do I begin...
trolls. I love those regenerating bastards... Plus you can carve off a bit of troll, put it in a can, wait for it to regenerate past the top, shave it off and... troll burgers! An infinte supply too!
Mind-flayers are an awesome classic.
Nimblewights: Swordfighting golems! Yes!
Aboleths are great
And... swarms. "Quick!, where's the freckin' alchemist's fire!" I love it.
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Plus you can carve off a bit of troll, put it in a can, wait for it to regenerate past the top, shave it off and... troll burgers! An infinte supply too!
This is the type of idea that my players come up with again and again.
There seems to be an endless supply on these too...:DAnd this is always the time when i'm glad, that we don't let "innocent Guest" attend to the game...
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I 2 tangental questions about creatures I like...
1) Have Swanmays made an appearence in 3/3.5 ed yet? If no, is there any real reason why not?
2) What ever happened to Obliviax... does anyone else remember the 'Memory Moss' from 1st ed Monster Manual II? I loved that stuff! That was another one of the 'recurring critters' that found its way into my campaigns.
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Haven't heard about swanmays yet.
But somehow i've got the vision of lycanthrop-like maidens transforming into swans...
Is this somehow right?
Swanmays are somewhat different than lycanthropes... they are human females who can assume a swan form (no hybrid form) with the use of some kind of token. None of their gear or clothing changes so they have to secret that away. The powers of a swanmay are more 'mechanical' (via the token) and not derived from a curse.
We've been living off of Chuul sauteed in butter kelp for a week or so game time. Mighty tasty.
There was an excellent adventure in Dungeon a while back (2nd ed) that featured obliviax pretty prominently. Maybe it was called "Bad Seeds"? The bad guys were some sort of plant based humanoids that lived in a giant turtle shell and were planning on sacrificing a dryad to some evil god or other. The details are sketchy in my mind, but it is worth playing if you can find it.
Turns out that the secret ingredient in a local hot mustard was a pinch of obliviax, and the source patch was growing near the body of a ranger (the dryad's friend) that the plant-people had murdered.
Hmm. Doesn't make any sense the way I wrote it, but it was fun to DM even though I've forgotten a lot of the details.
P.S.-Favorite monster of all time: Froghemoth!
No! Wait! I meant to say Dretch.
I'll let you guys know how the anthropomorphic hawk-man blighter I'm pitting the PCs against next month works out.
I believe the Swanmay was in the Book of Exalted Deeds as a prestige class.
1. Dragons - More than just whatsit breathing lizards with wings, if run correctly dragons add a lot of drama to a gaming experience. I tend to run mine like forces of nature or more precisely like Smaug in "the Hobbit."
2. I have recently been running a Rakshasa monk/mindspy as one of the big villains in my current campaign. I like the fact that you now have four flavors to choose from (standard, the two in MM3 and the fighter-type in the Eberron Setting book). The monk levels with the Deflect Arrows bonus feat was just sort of a sick joke on my part. Bwahahaha.
3. I like gnolls too. I think I like them because out of all the standard savage humanoid races (in any edition) they never seem to contribute anything to society. Orcs and goblins can build villages, mine ores, craft weapons develop culture. Gnolls just bully people into doing things for them. They have no apparent culture beyond their gang and if they do I have yet to come across one of any significance. In my games I allow people to play goblins, kobolds, orcs, hobgoblins and bugbears. I do not usually allow gnolls and I never allow....
4. Troglodytes. Laogzed is probably Trog for Cthulhu.
5. Giants or anything that changes the scale of play. In 3.5 with its need for maps and tokens or minis players really get a sense of scale for large giants like trolls, ogres and wang-liang (telepathic, exotic weapon-weilding shapechanging, invisble giants - they work for the rakshasa - hehe) and a real scare from huge or larger giants. Oh and then there's spriggan (Fiend Folio) who can be small sneaky bastards with Swarm Fighting and sneak attack one round and large (and In Charge) the next.
Here we go:
1. Beholders
2. Flinds
3. Xvarts
4. Qullan
5. Ettercap
Here's an idea, ask your players what baddies they like and then fashion a campaign around the top five. I tried this in the middle of a campaign and got a lot of requests for beholders, mind flayers, lichs, evil wizards and minotaurs. Apparently they are masochists.
-GGG
1. Yuan-ti (all varieties): My favorite villains for so many reasons. You can't tell if the purebloods are human or not so they are perfect spies and assassins. The halfbloods and abominations are just creepy and nicely varied in appearance. Best of all, the Expanded Psionics Handbook gives them just the right amount of "how do they do that?"
2. Dragons (chromatic ones): They are in the title of the game for a reason! Evil dragons with hoards are a staple of the genre.
3. Beholders: Yeah they're disco balls of death, but they're memorable and they make the PCs wet themselves.
4. Mind Flayers: Cthulhuian brain-eaters that nearly every race hates and mistrusts. As a DM what's not to like?!
5. Hobgoblins: What if Orcs were really skilled and well-disciplined? You'd have Hobgoblins. That was so cool about the Drazen's Horde faction in the late Chainmail miniatures game. A Hobgoblin warlord commanded an army of goblinkind, orcs, and Giant types in an all-out war of conquest. Don't think that hasn't inspired a campaign arc.
I run a Ravenloft campaign, so my mix of monsters is a little different, but nevertheless very effective:
1) Puppeteers (XPH): these guys make GREAT serial killers or 'inside men', since if the party could lock up the suspect, the puppeteer wriggles off to find a new host and the FUN CONTINUES...
2) Mind Flayers: Bruce Cordell did an amazing job with his Monstrous Arcana trilogy and sourcebook. Putting a mind flayer in powered armor was just downright mean.
3) "Templated" NPC Races: One of my party's biggest challenges was locating and fighting a Human half-fiend aristocrat during a costume ball. Since everyone else tried their darndest to arrive in spooky costumes, the villian was able to disguise his most prominent fiendish features and fit seamlessly in the crouwd.
4) Vampires: I can safely say that I have only used ONE vampire in seven years of running the campaign. It is way too easy to get carried away with undead monsters, and as a result I decided to use vampires sparingly so that the players can appreciate their true, seething horror. They won't be forgetting that adventure in a long time.
5) Lycanthropes: In absence of undead, I probably overused these fellas. Once they outgrew werewolves, I introduced them to loup-garous (lycanthropes with Worg and dire wolf base animals), werewolves with Ranger levels with Humans as favored enemies, and a particular Wereshark barbarian with a Keen bite attack.
1. Liches: its hard work to become one.
2. Vampires: The Sexiest of monsters
3. Orcs: Kinda root for these dumb bastids
4. Hobgoblins: Why are you guys not in the Players handbook as legitamate character race I don't know...its such an demihumancentric game...
5. Kenkus: Sneaky and evil. I can't wait to see ya'll on film.
Okay, here goes... I run different campaigns every few years, and am currently running a world set in Greyhawk... but like most DMs, I've always used my own flavor, mixing in stuff from old campaigns or book stuff. Here's what I love to use, without going overboard (hopefully):
1. Minotaurs; I run 'em very similar to the concept in the Dragonlance novels, like big, brutish Klingons, Lawful Evil usually, and with a very strict code of personal honor, based on "Might Makes Right." My players always flinch whenever I suggest that their objective might lie in Minotaur-held lands.
2. Ogre-Mages; Again, I use a certain degree of license here... instead of each Ogre Mage having the same powers, I mix 'em up a bit, treating them as 11th + level Sorcerers, supplemented by their intellect, cruelty, martial prowess and raw, physical power! Makes great mid-level bosses, or troops of them will have any level character cringing in their magic booties.
3. Umber Hulks; don't know why particularly, I've just always liked these guys... in any dungeons or Underdark adventures, I usually make use of their burrowing to have them come up in the middle of the party, hopefully while they're bedding down for the night.
4. Slimes/Jellies/Oozes; way back in 1st Ed, one of my favorite obstacles to throw at cocky players was a nice big juicy glob of Green Slime falling on them from the ceiling. Nowadays, there are so many different varieties that players never can keep track of which ones can be bashed or sliced or burned or frozen, or which ones make more if you hit them, or which ones dissolve any metal they touch! I say, "gooey, amorphous mass oozing toward you," and the players say, "Run!" It's even more fun if an arcane spellcaster uses them as guardians... when the party finds that the ochre jelly they've just attacked is a black pudding with a Color cantrip on him? Yikes!
5. Incorporeal Undead, specifically allips, shadows, wraiths, and spectres. The fact that these bastards can come up from the floor, or reach out of the walls to attack, while still keeping most of their bodies hidden away (Can you say "cover bonus?"). And the intelligent ones know enough to spy on adventurers to I.D. any holy men, and then take out the clerics first! And there just aren't many good ways to combat Intangible foes all that reliably (except undead turning and force spells). Nasty!
Also have always liked Manticores, Owlbears, Displacer Beasts, Rust Monsters, Mimics, and Brownies. You don't know real pleasure as a DM until you make your players run screaming from a pack of brownies out for blood!
These lists are fun. It's cool to see so many abberations and other dark slimy things.
Bahumut's nimblewright is a unique choice, but still a very good one - picturing a small concerted group of those gracefully negotiating their way through a battle would be almost beautiful, before they stick you . . .
Maverick28 - Oozes! I always remember the Gygax's Land beyond the Magic Mirror, when the black pudding is sitting at the Mad Tea Party disguised with an illusion of a big bowl of fig pudding. Then it rears up and attacks... classic. I ran that when I was 12 years old - not well, of course.
Anyway, here's my list. . .
1. Green Dragons - they have the most interesting lairs, especially with their use of plants and minions, and by far the coolest breath weapon. Remember Cyan Bloodbane from Krynn? Always a favorite for me.
2. Neogi - those little buggers are so twisted. I read that Lords of Madness will have a whole section devoted to their twisted ecology and culture. Loved 'em ever since Spelljammer came out.
3. Lizard Folk/Troglodites - both are fun to add character levels to. . . .
4. Rakshasas - so evil and so manevolent. These guys are fun to put in power positions, and have lots of little minions running aorund their lairs.
5. Trolls - an olod-fashioned choice, but they tear the PCs into such neat and tiny pieces. . . plus the regenerating of limbs is so nasty.
Has there been a list of top 5 good-aligned PC allies yet? Things like Bink Dogs, Silver Dragon mounts, Unicorns, Psuedodragons, and so on? Might be something to cook the noodle on for future posts. . .
1. Displacer Beasts - Great as an evil pet to assassins, evil rangers and drow.
2. Gnolls - something about evil dog men just seems so right. Maybe it's a werewolf thing.
3. Vampires - So many shapes, so many sizes. The universal enemy.
4. Frost giants - Big, strong and barbaric. It's a great combo.
5. Dragons - of course.
Ooooo....critters....
1. The Githyanki: Nuthin' says love like a Githyanki Raiding Party, and a red dragon.
2. The Glabrezu: Grab, grab, grab....they're so greedy!
3. Lizard Men: Actually, more specifically, the Lizard King. Shame that never made the conversion...sigh.
4. The Wyvern: Underestimated, underrated, PC killing machine.
5. Zombies: C'mon...a handful of poor Necromancers can create an indefinate amount of these babies...rockin'...
3. Lizard Men: Actually, more specifically, the Lizard King. Shame that never made the conversion...sigh.
Serpent Kingdoms has them.
--Eric
1. Lizard people. Loved em ever since Andre Norton's Quag Keep.
2. Gnolls. Selfish and savage. Grrrrl.
3. Dryads. No one knows what to do against a Dryad. (cuz killing em just makes other fey and good-aligned forest folk mad at you).
4. Whale. Want your party scared straight? Put em on a little boat and tell em Moby Dick is coming. They shape up real fast.
5. Gelatinous Cube and other oozes. Been a favorite of mine ever since I grew up watching folks get slimed on Nikelodian. Article in Arms and Equipment Guide on using Gelatinous Cube as an alternative mount is one of my favorites.
1. hobgoblins
2. yuan-ti
3. pit fiend
4. kobolds
5. halflings, monstrous ones
In no particular order...
Retrievers: I only used one of these in a campaign and it only survived for about three rounds of combat, but damn if the snarky little rogue didn't come close to becoming a crispy critter from the flaming ray, with the cleric and a fighter caught in the blast.
Kobolds: Whenever I need a swarm of squishable bad guys, either as low level adversaries or minions to tougher enemies, it's hard to go wrong with Kobolds. I'm considering making a Kobold Warlock as my next personal character, though.
Dragons: So many rolls they can fill, from allies to enemies, one shot appearances and recurring characters. Since I own the Draconomicon I easily have access to plenty of information on making them really really cool.
Mephits: I've always found mephits to be really darn cool. Due to their generally neutral alignments it is easy to write them in as troublemakers, mere distractions, potential allies, or even victims. One of my favorite characters has a tempermental Ice Mephit familiar (improved familiar feat), Valan, who doesn't say much but frequently makes rude gestures and spews ice shards at her master's party members (maybe not the best idea for a mephit to tick off a level 12 fighter, but her master is a mystic theurge who provides plenty of magical support and often threatens to withold healing spells if you don't leave her alone).
Midgets: I know that midgets aren't a "monster" but they always will be to my group after the now infamous "Midget Campaign." The whole thing started one night when I got drunk and smacked my head on a doorway. The result was an hour-long rant about a midget conspiracy against tall people (I'm 6'4") and how this conspiracy dates back to ancient times and the once feared Evil Midget Empire. I was in rare form that night; my friend Kat literally fell off of her chair laughing several times and suggested I write a campaign about the evil midgets. So I did. Their frontline (low level) warriors would charge PCs en masse, attempting to take out their kneecaps with clubs; these peons were slaughtered in droves while their more competent superiors cast spells, fire ranged weapons, or sneak in for flanking attacks. They lived on the island of Munchkinland, their capital city was Oz, and the PCs were aided by the Ke'Blar, a race of midget elves who couldn't export their yummie cookies due to midget embargos.
Flushmaster, I fell outta my chair laughing, too. Good stuff.
Well, number one is Bulettes, of course.
After that, hmm.
Anything unimposing (kobolds, goblins, hobgoblins, orcs) with class levels.
Puzzles. (I know, not really creatures)
actually, wasn't there a puzzlebox golem in some dragon article?
My players know I like (not in order):
1. Giants. Hill, Mountain, Fog, Frost, Fire...these guys are always at war with the party. (maybe its because their are 2 Gnomes in the group.) I use wyverns as mounts quite often.
2. Goblins. They always seem to be about. Again, the Gnomes in the party lead to great conflict. Worgs are usually with them.
3. Vampires. They like to use Nightmares as mounts and normally have ghouls at their disposal. Always gets the players chewing their finger nails.
4. Evil Human Wizards. Our current #1 enemy has a female drow elf as a consort. My wizards like using elementals and golems.
5. Green Dragons. The treasure and experience points are so tempting but the cunning and treachery always puts more than a little fear into the party.
My absolute favorite creature, and I can't really tell why, is the:
Minotaur--I think that is why I was always drawn to the Keep on the Borderlands.
White Dragon
Lizardman
Doppelganger
Succubus
1. Green Dragons - they have the most interesting lairs, especially with their use of plants and minions, and by far the coolest breath weapon. Remember Cyan Bloodbane from Krynn? Always a favorite for me.
My players know I like (not in order):
5. Green Dragons. The treasure and experience points are so tempting but the cunning and treachery always puts more than a little fear into the party.
Oh yeah! That's two for green dragons!
Maybe now they will finally put up an official green dragon icon. ;)
GGG
1) Drow
2) Dragons
3) Gnolls
4) Winter Wolves, Worgs, Wolves, and other Puppies
5) Lycanthropes, particularly Werewolves
1: Dragons! the games kinda named after them, and who doesnt like the occasional doom from above?
2: goblins, this is what first level characters are built on
3: bugbears, its like a goblins big brother
4: evil pc races, mostly humans
5: minotaurs (sp?) ever since bovine intervention (cleric was killed by the minoutar thinking he was a common enemy, he felt bad, and decided to help the party, of course, as a cleric)
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For beating on the PCs Ive found that I like:
Bodaks: if I even look in the 'B' section of the MM my players start to twitch.
Beholders: always a classic
Ogre Mage: add some class levels and some flair to one of these critters, and let the punishment begin.
Lich: I've only ever used one...but one was enough.
Mummy: a room full of mummies and a mummy lord is a combo thats hard to beat... no really.
All in all I ran "The Lich Queen's Beloved" out of Dungeon 100 for a party of eight PCs ranging from 21st level to 17th level... Their souls still inhabit the Lich Queens palace.
Not in any particular order:
1) Giants: I've loved these guys ever since I read Giantcraft. The Hunter's Blades Trilogy just made me love 'em more(and I usually can't stand Drizz't or the Forgotten Realms)
2) Dire Creatures: I'm not to fond of how they were handled in 3e, but the "Giant Creatures" from 2nd edition have always fascinated me.
3) Owlbear: What can you say about the most perfect pet that nature never intended?
4) Gith: The Dark Sun gith, not the whiny ex-slaves. Does anyone know if they've been updated?
5) Ankheg: Again, the 2nd ed version. I don't know why, but I always did happen to have a soft spot for these guys.
1. Kobolds
Especially after reading the adventure Dragon of Firetop Mountain. The basic gist of the adventure is half a dozen tribes of Kobolds serve a powerful Red Dragon in a massive Dawrven Fortress they conquerd (while competing with each other for wealth, area, status and favour in the Dragon's eyes). Powerful (roughly 10th level) PCs get trapped in the Dungion and are constantly ambushed and harrassed by swarms of Kobolds until such time as they can either find the rooms that control the exit mechanizm for the Dwarven Fortress and figure out how they work thus allowing them to retrace their steps and escape that way. Alternitivly they can find one of the very few and very well hidden alternate exits or finally they could kill the Red Dragon. The dungeon is loaded with all sorts of Kobold traps some of their own devising and some they adapt from teh defences of the old Dwarven Fortress.
This was a 2nd Edition adventure but I just can't wait to convert it into 3.5 as the new edition should make this adventure some much cooler with varous Kobold spell casters and higher level Kobolds. Still the main theme is constant harrassment by inferior but cunning Kobolds fighting with home turf advantage and that is essential to the feel of the adventure and should not be eliminated (so making every kobold 5th level would ruin it, while making the ocasional 5th level Kobold Ninja/Mage would be cool).
2. Chromatic Dragons
3. Demons and Devils
4. Rust Monsters
5. Trolls
1. Beholders - Big orbs of endless death. I love it!!
2. Evil Necromancers with a horde of undead minions that like to use minotaur skeletons to cut off a goodly sorcerer's head.
3. Lizardfolk - Reminds me of my first character...
4. Drow - What's not to like about evil, conniving elves?
5. Giants - They're just big. They wreak havoc among PCs.
4. Drow - What's not to like about evil, conniving elves?
Lol it seems every one likes drow, super for epic metamagic.
Mine, in no order:
1) drow-super villian of the world
2) bronze golem- kick
3) necromancer that is turned into a demi-lich- i dont know the whole mass animate is way cool
4) prismatic dragon- epic, and purrty, plus breath weapon=prismatic spray
5)death sladd- they died yet arent undead?
In order....
1) Giants (any) - lots of versatility, easy to work into a any game
2) Dragons - See above but more dangerous. :)
3) Owlbears - Yes, owlbears!, quit snickering
4) Orcs - for lower level campaigns (or even higher ones) its very easy to make these guys as threatening or as bumbling as you want.
5) Trolls - a good overall, generic, gross, bad-guy...plus the PCs have to use a little creativity to keep them down.
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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Here's mine.
1. Fiends (couldja tell?): Especially demon princes and unique "named" devils and demons. Classic villains.
2. Gnolls: The creepiest, most alien of the standard savage humanoid races. The proper way to play gnolls is to make them terrifying.
3. Dopplegangers: More for the Dave Sutherland picture in the original Monster Manual than anything else, but they've got a great gimmick.
4. Mind Flayers: Love the look. Love the mythology. Love the associated monsters. Love the weird technology. Love that they work without psionics, which I've never seen a need for.
5. Eight-way tie between the owlbear, stirge, rust monster, kuo-toa, githyanki, quaggoth, son of Kyuss, and xvart.
--Erik Mona
Editor-in-Chief
Dragon & Dungeon
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and mine...
1) ORCS - Still cool, feral and not neccesarily stupid. With 3E you never know what that Orc in front of you is capable of... As a clan unbeatable!
2) Demondands - Yeah, since the AP1
3) Sahuagin
4) Daelkyr - from Eberron. Man, they rock!!!
5) Succubus - I would kiss her ! ! ! They all look so beautiful ;)
Here's mine.
5. Eight-way tie between the owlbear, stirge, rust monster, kuo-toa, githyanki, quaggoth, son of Kyuss, and xvart.
What?!? You can't HAVE an 8 way tie! The censors have *beeped* you big-time.
You got'sta choose. . .
(my choice among those 8 would be the stirge)