Monsters that have gotten more cool/less cool over the years

[D-rock]

More Cool

Gelatinous Cubes
Gnolls
Kobolds
Yuan-ti

Less Cool

Elves
Vampires
A lot of outsiders

You have to wonder if in a decade we are going to be talking about mind flayers like we do elves now. I can almost sense that they are going to get betten to death with overexposure.

 

[landdragon]

Cool monsters

Devastation vermins in Epic are cool because they are the simplest of monsters yet they are so powerful. A devastation beatle, if played properly, can kill many gods. Tarrasque would not last three rounds against one.

Asmodeus, Tiamat and Orcus have always been cool, as was Vecna. They are cool because they have unique and interesting stories behind them.

Will O Wisp, Modrons and Mindflayers were cool creatures.

In the first Deities and Demigods, the Melnibone Mytho with Elric and Stormbringer was extremely cool. Stormbringer allowed characters to kill the likes of Odin and Zeus.

 

[Goblyn]

Lessee ...


Less cool:

Gnomes. +1 INT man! C'mon! That's what made them cool!

Dragons. I won' throw in a Dragon now, because they are so needlessly complicated. Why do they cast spells and not have (Su) abilities, naturally anyway.

Tarrasque. He used to be the big phish, but so much else has beefed up so much, Big T is like the fomrer bully who didin't growth spurt with the rest of the students over summer.

More cool:

Slaad. Nothing can look like frog and be cool at the same time. It's a natural law. Good thing this was fixed. If I were a resident of limbo, I wouldn't want to be represented by someone ribbed by Kermit and Mis Piggy jokes. Speaking of which ...

Orcs. The same stands for anything resembling pigs. Would it be scary to be charged by something you can describe as 'Orcine'? Please. That and now orcs are scary.

Gnolls. No specific reason here. They just are.

Skeletons. Immune to piercing weapons? Of course they're immune to piercing weapons!

Always were cool:

Illithid.
Liches.
Yuan-Ti.
Griffons.
Manticores.
Lycanthropes.

Never were cool:

Elves(surprising from somebody named Goblyn?)
Bullywugs
Grippli(tho I think they are nonexistent now; I don't know)
Half Dragons(Maybe in concept, but not in physical manifestation beyond screwy eyes)

Anyway, cool thread idea.

 

[Nareau]

Heh. Dark elves started out being so cool. But then R.A. Salvatore made them popular, and now they're totally lame. I'll be you a dollar someone comes out with a new take on the drow that completely refreshes their coolness.

Ghosts have become much cooler now that they're a template.

Somehow, Ogres and Ettins seem much cooler to me in 3.5.

As do the big monstrous plants (treants and shambling mounds).

Golems have gotten less cool in my mind.

Spider

 

[Campbell]

You have to wonder if in a decade we are going to be talking about mind flayers like we do elves now. I can almost sense that they are going to get betten to death with overexposure.

Ultraintelligent creatures with octopus heads who eat brains ever reaching over exposure? That's silly. The computer will be with you shortly, citizen.

 

[Soel]

He originally posted it over on BoneBox Rattler, a Planescape forum, which was where I read them. They've also popped up on the Pits of Evil forums IIRC. He's also written some, well, amazing stuff on the Negative Energy plane and some of the Quasielemental planes.

Here you go

Yes! His/her stuff is fantastic and along with ol' Shemmy, and Rip, one of the most imaginative folks regarding planar material (Dicefreaks guys as well!)

 

[Soel]

I second Rycanada with the more cool Manticore, and others' post about the less cool Displacer Beast.

 

[Soel]

Erik, the Ethergaunt's look screamed out to me! Reminded me of the Invid Inorganics (semi-obscure ref. #77.) Loved the blog bits about their creation. For what its worth, you hit the mark regarding its Gith-iconic-ness!

 

[Testament]

Dragons- It's the illustrations that killed me on these. I can never use them again.

What the spork? Explain, please, I'm confused!

 

[arscott]

Heh. Dark elves started out being so cool. But then R.A. Salvatore made them popular, and now they're totally lame. I'll be you a dollar someone comes out with a new take on the drow that completely refreshes their coolness.

Someone already has

Also, I'm surprised nobody's said this yet--

More Cool: Humans