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Have you been watching Dark City again?My vote for scariest goes to Derro. They have "shadow communities" underneath just about every major city, they sneak into your house and steal you out of your bed at night when there's nothing you can do about it, and they "experiment" on you for unknown reasons. Usually these experiments erase your memory of the abduction and then they bring you back, but on some level the mental scars are still there, along with the results of the "experiment". And then sometimes they DON'T erase your memory. And sometimes you DON'T make it back.
Mechanically, they're everything that's frightening about gnome or halfling sorcerers, plus they use their Charisma for Will saves instead of their Wisdom. Also any group of them is bound to have a guy whose weapon can trip you from 20 feet away.
NO, I've never even heard of it. Something I should look into?
I do think that on some level, derro are scary because they're a threat to you when you're in the city. Cities are supposed to be safe. In cities, the natural world and all its threats have been conquered, beaten back. Cities aren't perfect, of course, but while you're in one, you have a whole infrastructure set up to keep you safe. Even muggers are more interested in your money than in causing you harm, and you can report them to the police.
The thought of an entire species of humanoid that lives undetected in the shadow of a city and makes prey of its citizens without the authorities even noticing is pretty terrifying.
The Nehmain from "Tomb of the Iron Medusa" - con drain with no save is broken and nasty.
One of the toughest monsters I've run as a GM - the party fled it four times, and finally went all the way back to Absalom just to stock up on stuff specifically to fight it. It was "just a tomb guardian", but became the de facto BBEG.
(basic issue is it's under-CRed)
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The Nehmain from "Tomb of the Iron Medusa" - con drain with no save is broken and nasty.
One of the toughest monsters I've run as a GM - the party fled it four times, and finally went all the way back to Absalom just to stock up on stuff specifically to fight it. It was "just a tomb guardian", but became the de facto BBEG.
(basic issue is it's under-CRed)
Yeah, she's a monster to fight but she's not the worst thing in there, that honor goes to the ghost you meet early.
28D6 20 ft' range touch attacks that move you up to a thousand feet from your healer. Add on top of that a flat 50% miss chance to hit him and if you DO manage to connect he only takes 50% of that damage. Plus perfect flight and can walk through walls, ugh.THAT is a nasty fight.
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Have you been watching Dark City again?My vote for scariest goes to Derro. They have "shadow communities" underneath just about every major city, they sneak into your house and steal you out of your bed at night when there's nothing you can do about it, and they "experiment" on you for unknown reasons. Usually these experiments erase your memory of the abduction and then they bring you back, but on some level the mental scars are still there, along with the results of the "experiment". And then sometimes they DON'T erase your memory. And sometimes you DON'T make it back.
Mechanically, they're everything that's frightening about gnome or halfling sorcerers, plus they use their Charisma for Will saves instead of their Wisdom. Also any group of them is bound to have a guy whose weapon can trip you from 20 feet away.
NO, I've never even heard of it. Something I should look into?
It's a good movie, I recommend it yeah.
I do think that on some level, derro are scary because they're a threat to you when you're in the city. Cities are supposed to be safe. In cities, the natural world and all its threats have been conquered, beaten back. Cities aren't perfect, of course, but while you're in one, you have a whole infrastructure set up to keep you safe. Even muggers are more interested in your money than in causing you harm, and you can report them to the police.The thought of an entire species of humanoid that lives undetected in the shadow of a city and makes prey of its citizens without the authorities even noticing is pretty terrifying.
Those are good points... and it happens to be that I'm just starting a city campaign... *eg*
A group of goblins with levels in Fighter, Teamwork Feats, and Greater Trip
A (potentially advanced) crypt thing with traps/spheres of annihilation all around to be teleported into. Maybe strategically placed pugwumpies waiting by the traps to affect saving throws.
With some of the other suggestions, a dirty trick for the DM would be to throw an intelligent object at the party, for discussions sake, a full body mirror frame, holding a mirror of opposition.
Intelligent object casts magic aura on self and the mirror by association and waits patiently to speak the command word. Making noise as necessary, in a small frightened child's voice.
*Note to self: use on players at earliest convenience*
Ladies and gentlemen, I present the Drakainia. If you don't take real life SAN damage after reading "Invert Birth", I don't know what will phase you. Plus, the artwork in the Bestiary 4 is horrifying.To be entirely honest, this is a pretty cool monster. I think I'm going to use it as the end boss for my campaign.
A bit of thread necro, but since it's here, and someone already said it, I'm doing exactly this.
I had built my campaign with Ragnorra (from 3.5 Elder Evils) in mind as the the epic end-BBEG. But when I got my hands on B4, this one just screamed out as being better at everything I wanted to get from Ragnorra. Best of all, it's consistent with the flavor of adventures I've laid down so far. I'd been giving them special unique powers instead of magic items at certain points in the game, and adding Mythic to the campaign is consistent with what I was already trying to do. I'm going to make her a unique creature instead of one of a race of such creatures, but other than that, she's perfect.
In short, one can reasonably conclude that Paizo has been monitoring my home game for years, and prying into my personal (mostly hand-written) GM notes for at least a decade, and has been working hard on giving me exactly what I needed, and doing it better than I could have hoped.
Angry chickens.
Nothing is scarier then a properly enraged chicken.
How about a Mohrg? A reanimated corpse of a serial killer which resembles a skeleton with intestines for a tongue, which loves to torture people and can paralyze you for several minutes?
Nope!
The Mimic.
A few years back our GM had us running through a forest when a massive rainstorm hit. We took refuge in an old cabin we had spotted hours earlier, but hadn't checked out. We fixed the hole in the roof and bedded down for the night. Unfortunately the bed, chair, back door, an old foot locker and an end table were all mimics.
We had APL of 8 and had a pretty powerful wizard. We lost our rogue, my Barbarian lost his +2 Keen great sword and we barely made it out alive.
Ended up having the wizard spam the cabin with fire balls when the rain stopped.
Colour out of Space hands down. Out of all the monsters in a certain horror-themed AP, this one had the most impact not only on the background environment (those aren't mannequins, they're the colo-bleached remains) but also on the PCs themselves. Anything that psychologically changes how a PC perceives the world (color-blighted madness) is horrifying. Kill a PC? Meh. Drive one permanently insane? Now that's horror.
Dotting for interest.
Any suggestions for scariest monsters by CR?
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I'm going to go with Ghosts and other incorporeal undead. Used right, they can play on every fear and weakness a party has.
A few examples I've run into over the years-
Ghost with Summoner levels: Nothing quite like an invisible, flying monster spewer who can hide inside the walls. At first we didn't even know what we were fighting. The monsters just kept coming, summoned in outside our line of sight and rushing in from all sides. The GM described the ghost's summons as somewhat incorporeal (actually just a custom feat that gave them all a Blur effect).
Wraith Hydra: The heads come out of the ground, seemingly at random. Only one person in the group had a ghost touch weapon (a longsword). When we managed to ready actions to attack the heads we discovered that cutting them was a bad idea. We ended up running from that encounter.
Ghost Sharks: The seas had receded exposing a shipwreck that had the maguffin we were hired to recover. Inside the ship was a whole bunch of Shadow sharks just swimming around through the air. The terrain was mucky and dangerous, hampering movement. All the ship's lanterns gave of Deeper Darkness effects instead of light. The sharks could come from any direction. It was terrifying.
I don't think anyone mentioned the Rot Grub or even worse, the rot grub SWARM. Shudders and asks for warm milk.
PCs.
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I like to think that my cowardly sorcerer's panic button spell means he qualifies.
"The tall man finishes speaking the incantation, then stands up straight, trembling and tipping his head back. With a sudden shudder, numerous arms burst out of his back. They keep coming out, though, more and more segments. By now, they have six or seven joints, and are lying on the ground. Surrounding the man's head, five eyes open out of nothing, fleshy eyelids wrapping all the way around the back. As they blink, a bloody film is left behind on the eyes. The arms begin to writhe, swarming forward as they grow longer, more segments emerging from the man's back. You can see mouths on the palms, and they seem to be laughing or crying; you cannot tell which. The man speaks. 'Join us. We're so happy in here.' "
All I can say is that Minor Image is an amazing spell.
Giant Spiders. Nope nope nope nope. I mean seriously. A spider larger than you pinning you to the ground under it.Scavion! I've got a present for you! It's not even exploding runes!
(You are guaranteed not to like this present.)
((I.e., "Yo dog, I heard you like spiders, so I put some spiders in your spiders."))
That is some high quality monster-2-oh right there. o7
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The Skinwalker Dragon. Have never encountered one in a campaign, and most people I play with don't even joke about wanting to throw one at the party. A dragon that hordes bodies, not gold, and breathes SPIDERS instead of fire or cold... Most people I know are terrified of spiders, so that right there is a deal breaker. There are a few other creatures I would rather not fight, Wendigo being high on that list, but....no Skinwalkers.
The Skinwalker Dragon. Have never encountered one in a campaign, and most people I play with don't even joke about wanting to throw one at the party. A dragon that hordes bodies, not gold, and breathes SPIDERS instead of fire or cold... Most people I know are terrified of spiders, so that right there is a deal breaker. There are a few other creatures I would rather not fight, Wendigo being high on that list, but....no Skinwalkers.
What book has Skinwalker Dragons might I ask?
Swarms.
Will-o-Wisps.
Will-o-Wisps with the Swamr Creature template.
Particularly a smiling DM. Because then you know it's already too late...
I can relate. I play over skype with my DM and other players. But when we hear our DM either giggle maniacally or say "Ooooooooooo!" a good half of the time our response would be, "We're dead! We're so dead!"or "Ah...hell."
He does some of the above when we do something awesome or an enemy just misses a save too... so it's even more nerve wracking due to uncertainty.
The Skinwalker Dragon. Have never encountered one in a campaign, and most people I play with don't even joke about wanting to throw one at the party. A dragon that hordes bodies, not gold, and breathes SPIDERS instead of fire or cold... Most people I know are terrified of spiders, so that right there is a deal breaker. There are a few other creatures I would rather not fight, Wendigo being high on that list, but....no Skinwalkers.What book has Skinwalker Dragons might I ask?
I apologize, it's Skincrawler, not Skinwalker. Looking it up in the bestiary on pfsrd, it's a 3pp creature. Either way, I'd rather not deal with a dragon with a spider breath weapon.
A dread wraith can ruin the whole adventure path. By the time they destroy it, none of them qualify for the adventure path anymore.
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Gravity Elementals (3rd party)
My players had a hard time on Gelugonwith the right use of persistent image
and of course some good ol'Tucker's Kobolds.