Your Favorite Powerful Monster and Why?

[Lincoln Hills]

Hmmmmm... most favorite... Am I allowed to nominate an individual instead of a species? Because I have a real soft spot for Dragotha. I like liches. I like dragons. I like making the players weep in terror. He's got it all!

[Larkos]

I like the Hag because of the synergy with the Changeling, my favorite non-core races. They're spellcasters, they're creepy, they reside in a dark, atmospheric place that ins't a cave or dungeon, they are intelligent, they have minions, and they're organized by nature (covens.)

Since I'm a fan of the underdog, I prefer Daemons over Demons and Devils. They're underused and therefore less played-out. I even feel more pathos towards them because, by necessity, they died a tragic death and the pain, suffering, and agony of it followed them into their afterlife.

[scrmwrtr42]

BltzKrg242 wrote:

Humans.

Nothing worse or scarier than a well thought out and devious minded Human.
They blend, they breed, they plot.
So many ways to create and use one that they never grow tired.

In gaming...and in real life, my friend.

:-(

[Potato disciple]

the Marilith, in my humble opinion, is one of the scariest monsters out there. I mean think about it - a CR 17 serpentine abomination with 10 attacks, one of which requires a DC 25 fort save or you just pass out from the sheer strength of its tail! I just love the concept of a six handed snake-y control freak leading the armies of the abyss. Mariliths, yo.

[Ancient Dragon Master]

Potato disciple wrote:

the Marilith, in my humble opinion, is one of the scariest monsters out there. I mean think about it - a CR 17 serpentine abomination with 10 attacks, one of which requires a DC 25 fort save or you just pass out from the sheer strength of its tail! I just love the concept of a six handed snake-y control freak leading the armies of the abyss. Mariliths, yo.

Just give her a couple of levels of gunslinger a host of double barrelled pistols and you're all set however it does work better with HaketonKheires having 100 hands and all

[also...3 years of divine healing is pretty impressive]
[as well as thank you lady J? And ?? For suggesting this]

[Ravingdork]

The Whisperer. Effectively tapping and killing explorers in haunted woods for as long as there have been woods.

When played well, its presence will certainly be felt, but it will never be seen by the PCs.

[FormerFiend]

Hellfire Wyrm.

What got me into tabletop gaming was I stumbled across an online art gallery of all the monsters from various monster manuals and of course some of them were silly and goofy, but when I saw the Hellfire Wyrm from Monster Manual 2, I looked at that and thought to myself, that is the single coolest thing I have ever seen in my life.

[Kerrandrax]

Depends on your definition of powerful.

I tend to run campaigns that include a great deal of intrigue and deception. The one that had me fall in love with the (vanilla) rakshasa began in Bloodcove. The pc's uncovered a plot by the local Aspis Consortium boss, and over the campaign pursued him across the length of Garund, uncovering and exposing his machinations along the way.

But the Aspis boss had been dumped to the crocs back in Bloodcove; a rakshasa had stolen his identity and used the organisation, dozens of agents, the ruling powers of four different nations, the Pathfinders, and even the PC's in pursuit of resurrecting his former lover, a far more powerful rakshasa and devotee of the undead Osirion Pharaoh who's name I can't remember.

Between shapeshifting and mind-reading, the rakshasa turned the pc's friends, families, alllies, acquaintances and a vast array of innocent, irrelevant npc bystanders against them. Towards the end of the campaign, they tortured a (relatively innocent) pick-pocket for hours, just because of the layered paranoia induced by this big bad.

For the showdown, in a Petra style temple in Osirion, I set the big-bad (Marius, by the way) at max hp + fudge. He dropped in three rounds. As I described his death, I was so scared that it'd be an anticlimax. The players' whooping annoyed my neighbours into banging on the walls of my apartment.

IRL five years later, the pc's these guys play vary between habitually mistrustful and outright delusionarily paranoid.

CR 10.

Edit: avatar relevant.

[marcryser]

The best villains are those that the PCs make for themselves.

My most satisfying was in a Dragonlance campaign (2 Knights, a white robe mage, a LG Dwarf fighter, a LN Minotaur, a Kender, and a Druid).

They group was on the front lines of a draconic invasion of the elven homelands. While they eventually won out against the forces of evil, one of the Knights was killed. During the celebrations around the city and in the camps, the Druid found the dead knight and used a scroll or reincarnation on him. He comes back as a Hobgoblin... in the middle of an elven city... that had just been attacked by an army composed mostly of Hobgoblins.

The player had no interest in playing his character as a hobgoblin and so he passed to me as an NPC. I had him sneak into the inn where the party was staying and into the room of the other Knight. He begged for help in returning to his true form and returning home. I thought that I made his plight obvious and immediate. The funny thing is that the party simply forgot all about him. they didn't smuggle him out as a prisoner or in the back of a wagon, they didn't tell his father, nothing.

I decided that he eventually left his hiding place and got out on his own. Starving and with every hand turned against him, he eventually turned to the only place where he could be accepted. He fell in with a band of refugee Hobgoblins retreating from the war. Since so many of the Hobgoblin units had been nearly wiped out, new groups were forming out of the old. He took charge of a group through his superior military skills and tried to move them away from evil.

The party ran across him six times through the course of the campaign, every time they interfered with his plans and caused him more trouble than they should have and each time they apologized and went their merry way. It drove him crazy, drove him evil, and eventually it drove him to his death trying to stop a rampant demon from breaking out of the abyss.

Finally the party decided to bury him with full Solamnic honors where he had fallen and take word of his death to his family. Unfortunately, they buried him right where he had fallen in a doorway to the abyss. As they left the area they saw the mountain explode like a volcano of black necromantic energy. Emerging from the center of the crater they saw their once boon companion rise again as a DeathKnight astride a Nightmare.

He was the campaign's recurring nemesis for the better part of 10 levels. I loved it.

[Lady-J]

of already made creatures it would have to be this lots of slas lots of actual spells good in melee, good defenses, otherwise my favorite monsters are things i make myself

[roguerouge]

Some of my most memorable opponents...

Nobles. I love them. The unearned privilege that goes against the entire philosophy of the game's leveling up structure. The hordes of legal, martial, magic, and material support. The frustration when the villain uses the system against them: cops, zoning laws, evidentiary rights of the accused against divination, enchantments, and illegally obtained documents... Nothing forces players to interact with the world more than a problem that they can't solve through murder-hoboing.

Low level opponents who use tactics that take into account their superior numbers and how the game system works... by doing things like not letting the party sleep through hit and run attacks, banging pots and pans, suicide runs into the heart of camp, setting traps to disable and hobble as healing spells dwindle, using ordinary items to defeat spells. Nothing inspires dread in the caster like watching his spell slots dwindle. I can second the effectiveness of Tucker's Kobolds.

Goblin rogues are a nightmarish twist on Tucker's Kobolds, especially if they're led by someone organized who they fear. A goblin rogue at first level has a stealth score of 12+Dex modifer. (Even the warriors start life with a +10). By 4th or 5th level, they have nigh-invisibility for infiltration purposes if they have cover. Now add darkvision, and sleeping at night becomes very foolish for the PCs. Add to that the insanity of their tactics--I had a goblin strike team infiltrate camp and open combat by tossing clay jugs each filled with a swarm of biting insects at various targets--and group start to properly fear guerrilla warfare against a foe too crazy to predict.

[Isonaroc]

The Chromatic Dragons, the black dragon was always a particular favorite. I also like the Eremites, I'll second FF with the hellfire wyrm, I like liches...um...give me a bit, I'm tired.

[Set]

I love some dragons, as big bad end-game adversaries.

Dragons don't belong on random encounter tables, IMO. Don't just fight the red dragon, fight first the hordes of displaced goblinoids from the mountain ranges he is uniting. Then the first wave of disciplined hobgoblins who have sworn to his banner. Then the 'diplomats' from the 'Empire of Flame' who show up to negotiate a border treaty, and end up trying to assassinate local leaders and / or Wormtongue their way into positions of giving terrible advice to anyone who borders the 'Empire of Flame.' Then the azer-equipped fire giant overlords of this 'Empire of Flame,' the nastiest of which will be half-dragons. Finally, when the party is big enough to handle it, they'll learn that the Flame Emperor is a red dragon, with an efreeti noble as his vizier...

Other favorites include shapeshifters, who might serve as allies or rivals in their human(ish) forms, and unleash their hidden monstrous form when finally caught red-handed in their perfidy. Aranea are my choice, for this (although dopplegangers, etc. can also work). Gaming with veteran players, that sort of thing doesn't work much anymore, since pretty much everyone's had the 'treacherous NPC' stunt pulled on them to the point that they instinctively distrust anyone who seems too helpful (although it can be cathartic to the experienced player if the treacherous NPC they get to kill is also the overpowered DMPC tag-along that shows up in bad adventures, 'cause everyone hates that guy!).

[Isonaroc]

Set wrote:

Dragons don't belong on random encounter tables, IMO.

This. I mean, different strokes and all that, but as far as I'm concerned dragons are a Big Deal™ and should be treated and played with respect.

[Klorox]

depends, there are also younger dragons who have to move and find a territory of their own... of course, this gets old fast as the characters rise in levels and stumble, or are stumbled on by, juvenile dragons of increasing age and who should be settled already...

[Scott Wilhelm]

Chairman Mao from Munchkin Fu. The bad stuff is something like: Everyone insults you, and you must agree with them. Then each other player takes a card from your hand in the order you choose, then you lose a level, then you die.

[Scott Wilhelm]

Isonaroc wrote:

Set wrote:

Dragons don't belong on random encounter tables, IMO.

This. I mean, different strokes and all that, but as far as I'm concerned dragons are a Big Deal™ and should be treated and played with respect.

I was thinking I wanted to get inside a dragon's head and come up with motivations. Tolkein hinted at it with the Battle of the 5 Armies, that the death of Smaug had a tremendous political and economic impact on the surrounding people. Smaug could have been seen as a metaphor for a conservative monetary policy.

That seems like a simple way to begin: what does dragon treasure look like? Black and Green Dragons dabbling in unethical alchemal experiments releasing bizarre creatures into the universe, red and blue dragons operating banks with predatory lending practices, coming to foreclose on the farmer's first born son. A little old lady running a public library who helps the party find just the book they need, but woe to those who miss the return date!

[Scott Wilhelm]

ParagonDireRaccoon wrote:

Dragons, liches, demons, devils, vampires, anything you have to fight in its lair (where it has traps and uses the customized environment to its advantage) are old favorites.

Liches have been capturing my imagination lately, but I don't get the motivations of liches as interpreted in most gaming scenarios I've seen. Liches all seem to be gathering up armies of undead monsters in preparation for a campaign of global domination. Why? What does a lich want political power for? They don't have any use for money: they need no comforts; they don't eat; they dont' breathe! Personal security? They best way for them to have that is to just stay hidden.

My liches are more sad memories of great wizards than wizards themselves, locked away devising new technologies that were already invented and superseded generations ago, teaching classes in universities because they still have tenure, but you here the elven wizards whisper about him, "You know he hasn't produced any meaningful research in nearly a thousand years. He really should retire.... You know whom I really feel sorry for are his grad students. They'll be liches themselves by the time they earn their Ph.Ds!"

[Scott Wilhelm]

The Froghemoth!

[Scott Wilhelm]

Pure, distilled, evil

[Isonaroc]

Klorox wrote:

depends, there are also younger dragons who have to move and find a territory of their own... of course, this gets old fast as the characters rise in levels and stumble, or are stumbled on by, juvenile dragons of increasing age and who should be settled already...

I'm not a fan. Yeah, younger dragons are a thing, but putting your party up against them just lessens the impact and menace of dragons. I want my players' sphincters to involuntarily clench when they think a dragon is around.

[Tim Emrick]

Currently, the Tarrasque and green dragons rate high on my faves list.

My homebrew campaign, "Time of the Tarrasque," prominently features that beast and its cyclical depredations in the world's history. The PCs have only reached 3rd level so far, but out of character, the players know they will face it at or around 20th level.

This world also has a kingdom of kobolds ruled by a very old and ambitious green dragon. When the Tarrasque destroyed the high elf capital and devoured its king, the kobolds quickly took advantage of resulting chaos to take over most of the elven homeland.

[Tacticslion]

Klorox wrote:

depends, there are also younger dragons who have to move and find a territory of their own... of course, this gets old fast as the characters rise in levels and stumble, or are stumbled on by, juvenile dragons of increasing age and who should be settled already...

Isonaroc wrote:

I'm not a fan. Yeah, younger dragons are a thing, but putting your party up against them just lessens the impact and menace of dragons. I want my players' sphincters to involuntarily clench when they think a dragon is around.

As you noted, different strokes, but I super-am. Not just of the young dragons, either.

Several times, now, our campaigns have been vastly enriched by a simple random roll, in which a chance encounter has created a much richer and more fleshed out world simply because someone rolled up a dragon of some kind.

Far too much so to agree with the sentiment that they should be missing from such. :)

[Scrapper]

a Goblin Alchemist in bone armor riding a rust monster?

[Klorox]

Isonaroc wrote:

Klorox wrote:

depends, there are also younger dragons who have to move and find a territory of their own... of course, this gets old fast as the characters rise in levels and stumble, or are stumbled on by, juvenile dragons of increasing age and who should be settled already...

I'm not a fan. Yeah, younger dragons are a thing, but putting your party up against them just lessens the impact and menace of dragons. I want my players' sphincters to involuntarily clench when they think a dragon is around.

Actually, I want to do the reverse... start them believing that dragons are just as tacklable as orcs or anything else (except Tucker's kobolds)... until I have them meet a really big one, probably with added class levels, and they realize what young dragons evolve into...

[Isonaroc]

Klorox wrote:

Isonaroc wrote:

Klorox wrote:

depends, there are also younger dragons who have to move and find a territory of their own... of course, this gets old fast as the characters rise in levels and stumble, or are stumbled on by, juvenile dragons of increasing age and who should be settled already...

I'm not a fan. Yeah, younger dragons are a thing, but putting your party up against them just lessens the impact and menace of dragons. I want my players' sphincters to involuntarily clench when they think a dragon is around.

Actually, I want to do the reverse... start them believing that dragons are just as tacklable as orcs or anything else (except Tucker's kobolds)... until I have them meet a really big one, probably with added class levels, and they realize what young dragons evolve into...

A dragon with added class levels is just mean, they're already sorcerers. Still, it'll certainly give them pause. And by pause I mean death.

[Vidmaster7]

Isonaroc wrote:

Klorox wrote:

Isonaroc wrote:

Klorox wrote:

depends, there are also younger dragons who have to move and find a territory of their own... of course, this gets old fast as the characters rise in levels and stumble, or are stumbled on by, juvenile dragons of increasing age and who should be settled already...

I'm not a fan. Yeah, younger dragons are a thing, but putting your party up against them just lessens the impact and menace of dragons. I want my players' sphincters to involuntarily clench when they think a dragon is around.

Actually, I want to do the reverse... start them believing that dragons are just as tacklable as orcs or anything else (except Tucker's kobolds)... until I have them meet a really big one, probably with added class levels, and they realize what young dragons evolve into...

A dragon with added class levels is just mean, they're already sorcerers. Still, it'll certainly give them pause. And by pause I mean death.

The draconomicon dragon prestige classes was where it was at. talk about some power class abilities.

[Klorox]

well, when I speak of adding class levels, just what classes do you think I mean?

I could make them better sorcerers, or clerics/oracles, or give them barbarian levels for the PrC of righteous fury from the Draconomicon, or just get them any other class from there... I bought the book back then, I'm gonna use it even if that means an unholy mix between 3.xx and PF

[Darigaaz the Igniter]

Klorox wrote:

well, when I speak of adding class levels, just what classes do you think I mean?

I could make them better sorcerers, or clerics/oracles, or give them barbarian levels for the PrC of righteous fury from the Draconomicon, or just get them any other class from there... I bought the book back then, I'm gonna use it even if that means an unholy mix between 3.xx and PF

Cleric/oracle levels then go into mystic theurge.

[Klorox]

Actually, I often give them one ot 3 cleric levels, and substitute cleric levels for their usual sorcerer ones... but yeah, you've got a point.

[Sauce987654321]

I don't really have too much about it, but I do really like this big guy over here

[Set]

Sauce987654321 wrote:

I don't really have too much about it, but I do really like this big guy over here

Combine one of those with the Lovecraft story, Call of Cthulhu (all about a city rising from the depths, periodically) and you've got fun* for the whole family.

*And by 'fun' I mean mind-wrenching horror, obvs.

Aspidochrl'yeh, yo.

[FormerFiend]

I used an aspidochelone recently. Soon as the party figured out what the captain of the ship they were on was sailing them towards they nope'd right the hell out of there.

Which was a shame for them because I had placed the treasure for their last encounter on said whaleisland.

[SmiloDan]

I like Dread Wraiths. They're extremely mobile, incorporeal, do Constitution drain, and can create spawn. They can Spring Attack between stone walls, or floors and ceilings!

One kills one of the 4 PCs, and now it's 2 against 3. Then 3 against 2. Then 4 against 1, and then 5 against none.

For zest, let the players control the wraith they've become, and make it player versus player!

***evil grin***

[Dohnut King]

One of the two copyrighted monsters I miss the most, the Beholder.

They are iconic, on the cover of the Greyhawk supplement.

They are well supported, with one of the best splat books ever, I Tyrant, plus all of the variant Beholders.

They are incredibly versatile. Highly intelligent with charm person and charm monster at will, a Beholder is a great mastermind at the center of a city-wide or nation-wide conspiracy. The Beholder is also a great monster for combat, casting rays behind a horde of charmed chaff. You can also easily change the challenge level or frustrate meta gamers by adding/subtracting/swapping out eye stalks.

And, while they can interact with the PCs, they remain very alien.

[Chromantic Durgon <3]

The Olipaunt of Jandelay

[Plausible Pseudonym]

I like the Vilderavn. It's a nasty melee bruiser (unusual for a fey) with some rare immunities and some pretty good hex and SLA support, plus flyby attack bleed effect that's hard to stop if you want it to play skirmisher role. At the same time, other than SR it doesn't have practical defenses against elemental attacks and no fast healing or regeneration means you can drive it off or kill it if you use the right tactics.

[necromental]

Plausible Pseudonym wrote:

I like the Vilderavn. It's a nasty melee bruiser (unusual for a fey) with some rare immunities and some pretty good hex and SLA support, plus flyby attack bleed effect that's hard to stop if you want it to play skirmisher role. At the same time, other than SR it doesn't have practical defenses against elemental attacks and no fast healing or regeneration means you can drive it off or kill it if you use the right tactics.

ooh, we just encountered 4 of them in Akuvskaya monastery. Nasty pieces of work, fortunately we didn't fight them. They are the main reason I got bestiary 5.

[justaworm]

Red and Black Dragons
The sheer power, evilness, and magical ability combined with the iconic aura and nostalgia hold dragons in a special place for me. I love it when a dragon fight makes it into a session.

[Rosc]

Going to go with the Drakainia fron Bestiary 4.

The body horror aspect gives you an angle for creeping out the players. The spawning ability means that it can be an antagonist to any party at any level. In fact, you could spend the entirety of a campaign just dealing with its disposable children.

I can also see it as a great setpiece moment, as the living goddess of some dark, secretive fertility cult. There's also the fact that a creature so evil and so alien is so strongly connected to the aspect of life. She is a surprisingly capable healer. That's pretty interesting to me.

I'd love to run it as a social encounter at some point.

Plot Twist!:

The party are all abandoned spawn that have been subconsciously following an instinct to return to their "home" the whole time.

[Chromantic Durgon <3]

She is pretty kewl.

[Isonaroc]

Rosc wrote:

Going to go with the Drakainia fron Bestiary 4.

The body horror aspect gives you an angle for creeping out the players. The spawning ability means that it can be an antagonist to any party at any level. In fact, you could spend the entirety of a campaign just dealing with its disposable children.

I can also see it as a great setpiece moment, as the living goddess of some dark, secretive fertility cult. There's also the fact that a creature so evil and so alien is so strongly connected to the aspect of life. She is a surprisingly capable healer. That's pretty interesting to me.

I'd love to run it as a social encounter at some point.

** spoiler omitted **

Ooo...never saw her before. She's pretty badass.

[Sandal Fury]

Rosc wrote:

Going to go with the Drakainia fron Bestiary 4.

The body horror aspect gives you an angle for creeping out the players. The spawning ability means that it can be an antagonist to any party at any level. In fact, you could spend the entirety of a campaign just dealing with its disposable children.

I can also see it as a great setpiece moment, as the living goddess of some dark, secretive fertility cult. There's also the fact that a creature so evil and so alien is so strongly connected to the aspect of life. She is a surprisingly capable healer. That's pretty interesting to me.

I'd love to run it as a social encounter at some point.

** spoiler omitted **

Just wanna quote for emphasis. The drakainia's my absolute favorite.

[Potato disciple]

Ancient Dragon Master wrote:

Potato disciple wrote:

the Marilith, in my humble opinion, is one of the scariest monsters out there. I mean think about it - a CR 17 serpentine abomination with 10 attacks, one of which requires a DC 25 fort save or you just pass out from the sheer strength of its tail! I just love the concept of a six handed snake-y control freak leading the armies of the abyss. Mariliths, yo.

Just give her a couple of levels of gunslinger a host of double barrelled pistols and you're all set however it does work better with HaketonKheires having 100 hands and all

[also...3 years of divine healing is pretty impressive]
[as well as thank you lady J? And ?? For suggesting this]

Oh man, I don't even wat to think about it...

on a second thought, how would a Hekatonkheires attack with a gun? just fire and hit everyone in his reach? Screw CR 30 monsters, dude.

[Chromantic Durgon <3]

I don't particularly like it but I think the Apostate devil is weirdly powerful.
46 AC and DC28 will save speech based powers with wisdom drain attacks

On a CR 17 just seems unusually strong.

[dharkus]

yeh, it must have pretty weak other stuff - AC 46 by table in B4 is avg for CR 28 and DC 28 is avg for CR22 - his dmg is quite low for CR (don't know how much the wis drain would count as)

[Chromantic Durgon <3]

it also have some janky one hundred ft reach stuff.

[Isonaroc]

Chromantic Durgon <3 wrote:

I don't particularly like it but I think the Apostate devil is weirdly powerful.

46 AC and DC28 will save speech based powers with wisdom drain attacks

On a CR 17 just seems unusually strong.

Crap on a crutch, that's pretty dang nasty. I have no idea why it's that low a CR. I guess they're assuming a party of level 15+ Should be able to shut down the extraplanar attack shenanigans, and earplugs will shut down the wis drain. Still, though, that's a pretty beefy ability set for a CR 17.

EDUT: also it can permanently shut down Paladins with that ability that ability that forces an alignment shift (Will 28) that can't be changed without a modify memory, wish, or miracle. Yuck.

[Chromantic Durgon <3]

I know right!
these guys are much scarier than pit fiends.