D&D General Creatures Obscure & Underused

[R_J_K75]

In AD&D they were very deadly for their save or die area wail.

I know that no one wants to lose a character that theyve invested alot of time and thought into and that theyve grown attached to from 1 bad roll but I gotta say once they removed the save or die mechanic the game just hasnt been the same for me.

 

[Voadam]

I know that no one wants to lose a character that theyve invested alot of time and thought into and that theyve grown attached to from 1 bad roll but I gotta say once they removed the save or die mechanic the game just hasnt been the same for me.

3e on moved away from save or die by changing mechanics for poison and such but it was still there. 3e and 3.5 had stuff like a bodak's save or die death gaze and 5e has the core MM intellect devourer which is basically save or die:

Devour Intellect. The intellect devourer targets one creature it can see within 10 feet of it that has a brain. The target must succeed on a DC 12 Intelligence saving throw against this magic or take 11 (2d10) psychic damage. Also on a failure, roll3d6: If the total equals or exceeds the target's Intelligence score, that score is reduced to 0. The target is stunned until it regains at least one point of Intelligence.
Body Thief. The intellect devourer initiates an Intelligence contest with an incapacitated humanoid within 5 feet of it. If it wins the contest, the intellect devourer magically consumes the target's brain, teleports into the target's skull, and takes control of the target's body.

I remember a Monte Cook 3e high level module with an untelegraphed room where eight bodaks jump out at the party with their death stares. I thought it would be a really unfun encounter in many ways so I swapped in equal CR other undead instead when I ran it. I eventually came up with a house rule to turn save or die into save or dying status to create interesting choices for the party about stabilization versus fighting the monsters and not have things immediately go to raising the dead magic.

 

[R_J_K75]

3e on moved away from save or die by changing mechanics for poison and such but it was still there. 3e and 3.5 had stuff like a bodak's save or die death gaze and 5e has the core MM intellect devourer which is basically save or die:

Devour Intellect. The intellect devourer targets one creature it can see within 10 feet of it that has a brain. The target must succeed on a DC 12 Intelligence saving throw against this magic or take 11 (2d10) psychic damage. Also on a failure, roll3d6: If the total equals or exceeds the target's Intelligence score, that score is reduced to 0. The target is stunned until it regains at least one point of Intelligence.
Body Thief. The intellect devourer initiates an Intelligence contest with an incapacitated humanoid within 5 feet of it. If it wins the contest, the intellect devourer magically consumes the target's brain, teleports into the target's skull, and takes control of the target's body.

I remember a Monte Cook 3e high level module with an untelegraphed room where eight bodaks jump out at the party with their death stares. I thought it would be a really unfun encounter in many ways so I swapped in equal CR other undead instead when I ran it. I eventually came up with a house rule to turn save or die into save or dying status to create interesting choices for the party about stabilization versus fighting the monsters and not have things immediately go to raising the dead magic.

I never used the Bodaks and the intellect devour sounds pretty mean. Seems as theres more tiered saves before you die now though. Maybe I need to re-read a few things. As you said somethings are still there but just more subtly

 

[Wishbone]

Tsochar! They got lost in the shift to 5E but I always liked them as singularly focused body snatchers.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I never used the Bodaks and the intellect devour sounds pretty mean. Seems as theres more tiered saves before you die now though. Maybe I need to re-read a few things. As you said somethings are still there but just more subtly

I've used both Bodaks and Intellect Devourers. Both are very fun, super deadly, and very scary for players.

 

[Azzy]

Ooh... sea serpents, living statues (I've actually used these—many, many years ago), kopru, nuckalavee, thouls, malfera, mujina, gem (psionic) dragons, lung (Asian) dragons, yuki-onna, eyes of fear and flame, crypt things, norkers, scarecrows, hounds of ill omen, yeth hounds, shadow mastiffs, penaggalins, ustilagor, huecuva, , flail snails, dire corbies, yak men, sussuruss, sword wraiths, abishai, formorians, hordlings, su monsters, muckdwellers, spriggans, thought eater, luecrotta, perytons, remorhaz, jiangshi (hopping vampire), kappa, oni, tengu, howlers, quicklings, rokuro-kubi, wang-liang, gaki, neothelids, cerebrilith, caller in darkness, blue (psionic goblin)... I'm sure there's a lot more.

 

[Mercurius]

Dire wolf, anyone?

 

[R_J_K75]

Dire wolf, anyone?

View attachment 124061

What is that? Looks like a pcture taken at a weird angle?

 

[Mercurius]

What is that? Looks like a pcture taken at a weird angle?

Dunno. It has showed up on my Facebook feed a couple times. The angle probably accentuates it, but that's a big pooch no matter what. A wolf, presumably.

 

[R_J_K75]

Dunno. It has showed up on my Facebook feed a couple times. The angle probably accentuates it, but that's a big pooch no matter what. A wolf, presumably.

That explains it. I dont believe anything on FB, I havent been on it in about 10 years when I realized it was nothing more than the worlds washing line. I deactivated my account and they updated their security so many times that I cant even get back into mine anymore.