No real favorite, but least favorite, no question: Chaos Beast.
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hmm this is a troublesome question... most favorite anything with a good Background that Drow (with all thier creepy crawly friends thrown in) The Derro/Duergar conflict... Not big on deamons or devils but I like the built in conflict of the situation. The Gith/Ilithid conflict, all lead to great ease of storytelling since most players already know that Drow keep debased Hill giants as slaves, and have lots of spider hanging around.
Worst: OGREMAGI, they just have this lump of abilities with no thought or consistency of how they are arranged. It is just a hold over from 1st ed and they didn't get thier due with the new system. when I use a version of the ogermagi they are ogres with a level or two of sorcerer, it makes more sense and well just works nicer.
I would love to change this with a cool duergar focused adventure! I really like the dark dwarves, but I totally agree with you...they just haven't been given their coolness due!
Please, oh please!
But use the Duergar from the Expanded Psionics Handbook (3.5), not the Psionics Handbook (3.0) or Monster Manual and, realizing that they are naturally Psionic, do not limit them to non-psionic roles and make their natural psionic abilities "spell-likes"
Seriously. Anyone who doesn't like psionics based on the previous revisions should take another look at them in 3.5. I used to HATE it, but it won me over.
I acually really hate the psionics system (except for Soulknifes). I think it was cool idea but wasn't handled well.
I really love kobolds, devils, undead and mind-flayers. I have a lot of fun with kobolds. Unfortunatley none of our games have gotten to a high enough level that could use the cool devils or mind-flayers. Fortunatley we're about to start a PnP game that will hopefully go to a high enough level and, failing that there are always my PbPs where I can use devils and mind-flayers...
I really hate creatures like Rasts and Belkers that are just pointles things throw in there that nobody uses. Oozes are a pain to deal with, both from a DM's standpoint and a player's. Petals (MM III) are probably my least favorite monster. Oh great, just what we need; little flying things that look like they came out of a Disney movie that put people to sleep. They don't even put people to sleep to steal their stuff or slit theri throats, they put them to sleep so that the people can wake up, well rested in a flower bed, surrounded by beauty. Wonderful, just the element that my game always lacked.
I'm interested to see that many creatures don't become favorites until a person sees them used in a well-written adventure. I think a lot of the monsters that have been derided are derided because they look stupid (I think that's partially a fault of the artist drawing them) or have weird names that are not well-liked. I think that if there were a scarred tojanida tattooed in abyssal runes in a Styes adventure written by Richard Pett and illustrated by Wayne Reynolds they would suddenly become a 'good' monster (particularly in a well-written encounter).
I think my favorite monster is any monster that captures my imagination in an adventure and makes my players sit up and take notice. Which means just about any monster in the MM if used in the right circumstance. Of course, that doesn't always mean that the monsters are well designed. Someone has already pointed out that the ogre mage is a badly designed monster, which is one of the reasons I really like Monster Manual V. None of the monsters are bad and some are excellent.
I wonder if anyone likes a monster simply because they think they should? I wonder that sometimes when it comes to monsters like beholders and mind flayers. If the Paizo writers comes up with alternatives to these monsters will they be as well received? Remember people - beholders and mind flayers equal WotC!
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Favorite: the Flumph! it is the single most underused monster in my opinion, and it's so fun to say...flumph, flumphy, flumphtastic...so fun. and thanks to the document "Bride of the Portable Hole", they are actually a threat too.
Least Favorite: It's actually more of a love/hate relationship, though more hate, but it's the Illithid. A properly run Mind Flayer is really cool, but should be a TPK, which means I can't use it in good conscience (that's just the way I roll, I know others have no problem with this). The moment I make it fair for my players is the moment the Mind Flayer becomes less respected by my players. So now I just threaten them with it. every other monster in the book is fair game, hell, they even took out that demigod in that epic adventure a while ago. it's just the darn Illithid.
My favorite is cliche but hey...the dragon (especially chromatics). This doesn't mean I just throw them out there though like cannon fodder. They are always the noble, terrifying, majestic BBEGs they were, IMO, meant to be. They're iconic but when played properly can still excite and horrify like nothing else.
My least favorite(s) is/are faeries. I have to agree with Sebastian here, even down to the spriggin exception. Spriggin are cool and their wild-hair and cackling madness make them fun despite their size. All other faeries' diminuitive size, their most outstanding characteristic, also becomes one of their biggest headaches when trying to run an encounter. And neutral, or worse! good, alignments destroy the purpose of fey in any real gameplay (in fact, down with all "good" monsters!!). Sure, they're pranksters and often petty thieves, they've got potential but it perishes to boredom or silliness in the end. The majority of faeries have interesting or classic foundations but they just don't work for me mechanically. What's the fun in defeating a pack of Tinkerbells? Not exactly a tale to recount around the next campfire. Even the dryad - cool concept but what do you do with her? They just don't provide good game play.
My favorite is cliche but hey...the dragon (especially chromatics). They are always the noble, terrifying, majestic BBEGs they were, IMO, meant to be. My least favorite(s) is/are faeries.
Heh, heh. I gave 90% of the dragons in my homebrew campaign animal intelligence (2) and swapped out their spells for a constriction attack--nothing noble about them, but it still keeps the players guessing.
I've had great fun with a Dryad encounter ("Um, no, she seems to like him, but she took him into the tree. It might be years before you see him again..."), and I loved the satyr in "Wingclipper's Revenge." And what ever happened to the Korred? I liked those guys, too! Up with Fey! (But, yeah, the "petals" are really lame.)
I think that if there were a scarred tojanida tattooed in abyssal runes in a Styes adventure written by Richard Pett and illustrated by Wayne Reynolds they would suddenly become a 'good' monster (particularly in a well-written encounter).
That sounds like a challenge. Well, Mr. Pett? What do you think?
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Kobold Press
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Favorite = Kobolds, or possibly marrashi. Ok, there's dozens of monsters that rock. Shield guardians are cool. So are fire giants, yak folk, derro, neogi, ghouls, nimblewights, and invisible stalkers. D&D and d20 are loaded with great creatures.
Least Favorite = So... many... choices. D&D is also loaded with crappy, hacked-together lumps. The shocker lizard/magmin/digester are all pretty lame, and clearly designed to fit a slot on someone's spreadsheet ("Hm, we need a CR 6 creature, and we need more acid attackers").
But for really incredibly dumb, it's tough to beat the flump, the razor boar (woah, sharp tusks dude), and the krenshar. I just don't get the krenshar. It pulls some kind of skin off its head to scare people? Whaaa? I just don't buy it.
Shield guardians are cool. So are fire giants, yak folk, derro, neogi, ghouls, nimblewights, and invisible stalkers. D&D and d20 are loaded with great creatures. But for really incredibly dumb, it's tough to beat the the razor boar (woah, sharp tusks dude) and the krenshar. I just don't get the krenshar. It pulls some kind of skin off its head to scare people? Whaaa? I just don't buy it.
Hey... this thread is great... just goes to show there's something for everyone. I always thought the neogi were like lame villains from a particularly bad 70's "Superfriends" cartoon... but I love that razor boar! Vorpal tusks! How cool is that?! Gotta agree that the krenshar is more or less the epitome of lame, though.
Favorites:
Wyverns
Manticores, I meant Manticores.
Seriously. Anyone who doesn't like psionics based on the previous revisions should take another look at them in 3.5. I used to HATE it, but it won me over.
I think it is way overpowered. A 20th level Psion has like 18 9th level powers, makes magic users look like crap.
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Shield guardians are cool. So are fire giants, yak folk, derro, neogi, ghouls, nimblewights, and invisible stalkers. D&D and d20 are loaded with great creatures. But for really incredibly dumb, it's tough to beat the the razor boar (woah, sharp tusks dude) and the krenshar. I just don't get the krenshar. It pulls some kind of skin off its head to scare people? Whaaa? I just don't buy it.Hey... this thread is great... just goes to show there's something for everyone. I always thought the neogi were like lame villains from a particularly bad 70's "Superfriends" cartoon... but I love that razor boar! Vorpal tusks! How cool is that?! Gotta agree that the krenshar is more or less the epitome of lame, though.
(lol)there were good episodes of Superfriends?
I think Space Ghost fought the Neogi, didn't he?