nrtrandahl |
Hey there, I havent seen a topic in awhile about people's favorite monsters, particularly those that gms love to use in their adventures.
Me personally:
#1/ Giant Spiders of all types. Ive been obsessed with giant spiders ever since i first got into fantasy when i read the Hobbit as a child.
#2/ Skeletons. I love using just plain ol' skeletons to attack my players. Theyre so fun to have players bust bunches of them apart.
#3/ Trolls. Not DnD Trolls but trolls in the other systems i play. I love the trolls that turn to stone or are damaged by the sunlight.
What are yours?
Adam Daigle Director of Narrative |
Tukadian |
Kobolds, they are so underestimated constantly. But you have a group of PC's make their way through a horribly trapped lair, populated by well-prepared, professional and savagely amoral kobolds and you may change your outlook.
The new paizo goblins are a whole different bundle of fun that I can't wait to unleash on my players. They're just like a little squirming bomb of chaos you can drop in anywhere.
And on behalf of my friend Caleb, Oozes. I have not played a single game of Caleb's that has not included an Ooze which has horribly done over the players. Nothing worse than having your armor melted away trying to retrieve something from a "puddle".
Kevin Andrew Murphy Contributor |
Curaigh |
Dragons. bite, claw, claw, wing, wing, breath
Golems.
Walls (walls cannot not attack.. oh wait.)
Treants and other vegi-critters.
Multi-headed and 'tauric' templates (like to make my own worglins, basilidusas, etc.).
Though I have to admit the evil gnome has me giggling.
Mayr |
1). Githyanki - I adore githyanki, drow are cool but completely exhausted for me, I think githyanki are the best badguy race.
2). Aboleth - As a huge Lovecraft/Mythos fan I think aboleths rock!
3). Illithids - See #2.
4). Demons/Devils/Daemons, etc.
5). Death Giants - these are one of the coolest 'new monsters' ever. Adding a template to these guys is pure Dming gamer-gasm for me.
6). Sons of Kyuss - always been a fan of these critters, they would've ranked higher for me but I just finished running AoW and I'm burnt out on Kyuss-related critters.
Harden Sull |
Undead kobolds. From the Paizo module. A pain to kill for the level.
mutated creatures- from monte cook's chaositech. "it looks like a goblin, but it has blue hair, 3 arms and a tail!"
Anything that grapples as it currently teaches the dwarf warblade he is NOT invincible.
Mindflayers. Especially using the crazy one's of Thoon.
Yeah, I like making my players go "what the heck is THAT?"
Thoth-Amon the Mindflayerian |
Favorite beasties:
1) Carrien Crawlers(my 1st character death, ever!)
2) Rot Grubs(my 2nd character death, ever!)
3) Rust Monsters
4) Goblins, orcs, ogres, oh my.
5) Large and giant insects, like spiders. Eeek!
6) Lurkers
7) Gelatinous Cube: Yep, i said it.
8) Drow
9) Githyanki
10) Drow
11) Mindflayers
12) Dragons
13) Undead of all kinds
Thoth's trivia question for the day: My first and second character deaths in dnd were from the same module. Can anyone guess the module name? Hint: it's an oldie, but goodie.
Enjoying the thread, btw.
Thoth-Amon
Once you know what the magician knows, it's not magick. It's a 'tool of Creation'. -Archmagus H.H.
nrtrandahl |
Oh! Add all manner of oozes and slimes to my list at the top! It never fails, whenever I throw an ooze at my players they are pretty much lost in the sauce. They can never figure out how to defeat them. They've pretty much learned to just run from them whenever they show up in my campaigns (which happens alot ;)
Leo_Negri |
Any and all aberrations, but especially Illithids and the Yuan-ti Anathemae (Anathemas?), though I've only used the latter twice (same one, two different parties, two near TPK's ending in a retreat.
What can I say, I'm a big Robert E. Howard and H. P. Lovecraft fan.
After the aberrations I have to go with the second D of D&D. I love Dragons what else can make a player freak out like seing a 14.5" tall mini being put on the table followed by the phrase "and, yes, that is to scale."?
Curaigh |
Thoth's trivia question for the day: My first and second character deaths in dnd were from the same module. Can anyone guess the module name? Hint: it's an oldie, but goodie.Enjoying the thread, btw.
hmmm... Temple of Elemental Evil has the first, not sure about the second. The first in the slavelords path had the second not sure of the first. Hmmm... was that the second? The slavelords was my favorite 'path' back then but can I remember their names?
Hierophantasm |
I have tons of monsters I love using, but recently I've been a fan of werewolves. I've been running a campaign set in the Darkmoon Vale, and debuted my campaign with a savage fight with a werewolf at the entrance to town, amidst a thunderstorm at night. Very brutal fight for a 1st-level encounter, but not out of reach for a smart party.
Another favorite monster are the colossal vermin in the Monster Manual. Back in Savage Tide, I set up a sidequest against a colossal scorpion. For a CR 12, those things make for a memorable--if deadly--fight.
One of my personal favorites are the shadar-kai, from the Fiend Folio. Interestingly evil, shadow-bound fey. One of the players in my campaign is playing a gnome shadowcaster, so I intend on tying his powers to that of the shadar-kai, coupled with his fey (first-world) origins.
One creature I've always wanted to put to use is the centaur. Maybe I'm just a Shining Force fan, but I've always wanted to give them a greater sense of identity in the D&D world.
Saern |
There are a lot of really nice monsters listed in this thread, many of which are personal favorites for me, too. However, just to contribute something different, I'll go with humanoids. I like using members of the "common races" for a variety of roles, including lots of bad guys. They make for both good mooks and good BBEGs, plus they keep fighters more relevant as the game moves into the higher levels (i.e., monsters tend to use claws and bites which cannot be sundered or disarmed, and tend to get bigger and can't be tripped so easily; humanoid NPCs don't present those problems).
It also helps me with my character ADD. I have a bazillion different character ideas, far too many to ever actually play. Some of them are more along the lines of mechanical gimmicks which won't hold up for a whole campaign (see: orc bard specializing in throwing axes who takes Leadership and uses the cohort to gain an exotic and powerful mount; inspired by the kodo riders from WarCraft III). I used to switch characters around alot, which screwed with campaign stories because I couldn't offer much consistency. Now I channel all those character ideas into NPCs. Those with compelling and well-developed stories, I make friendly to the party or try to work in as long-term, recurring villains. Those which are more "Oh, wouldn't this be a cool way to fight?" get used once or twice, satisfy my urge to play around with those mechanics, and then typically exit the game forever via the PCs.
Adam Daigle Director of Narrative |