What's the best creature for a Halloween themed encounter?

[fnork de sporg]

Vampires seem to obvious. I'm not aware of there being any pumpkin based monsters.

It seems a shame not to involve the holiday in some way.

 

[Pinotage]

Vampires seem to obvious. I'm not aware of there being any pumpkin based monsters.

It seems a shame not to involve the holiday in some way.

Apologies in advance, but I'm going to pimp something which I wrote. The Le Games recently released (Su) Monsters: Headless Horseman. One of the variants of the headless horseman template is a headless horseman with a Jack-o'-lantern as a head. Pumpkin and halloween all in one!

(Su) Monsters: The Headless Horseman

Pinotage

 

[DreadPirateMurphy]

Pick something that scares them. Take away their control (temporarily) of the situation. Creep them out. Heroes of Horror has some good examples of ways to freak out players.

Honestly, EVERY D&D monster is pretty much the stuff of real world nightmares. Goblins, witches, and vampires? Yawn.

The other option is to create an NPC patron and friend for the PCs that turns out to be horrifyingly evil, yet appears normal and is nonchalant about the things they do. Book of Vile Darkness could suggest ways to do this.

Whatever it is, it should be personal, it should be perceived as a real threat, and it should require a double-take on the part of your players when they realize what they are facing.

 

[arwink]

Vampires seem to obvious. I'm not aware of there being any pumpkin based monsters.

It seems a shame not to involve the holiday in some way.

You know, pumpkin-based monsters are out there, you just have to know where to look..

I used a lot of the pumpkin monsters from Ronin Arts The Pumpkin Patch for a halloween game last year. They worked surprisingly well.

 

[diaglo]

1edADnD...

they had a pumpkin based monster in the Fiend Folio iirc.


try also the scarecrow and the devil cat

 

[WmRAllen67]

How about the Jacob Garvin Scarecrow, from the Kargatane's "Book of Sacrifices"?

http://www.kargatane.com/index.html

The 1e Fiend Folio illustration of the scarecrow had a pumpkin for a head-- that may be what you're thinking of, diaglo...

Ghosts would be good, and if you've got the Dragon CD Archive, the adventure "The Whistling Skeleton" (IIRC) or the one about the (modern) children in the mad scientist's house (can't remember the issue or title) might be fun for a one-off. You'd need to do some converting, though...

 

[Warehouse23]

http://spoonertrainride.com/images/862_at_pumpkin_patch.jpg

Type: Swarm
HD: 2d12
Init: +1
Speed: 20 ft
.
.
.

 

[antman120]

Thiers the Jack-O-Lantern from Monsters of Norrath

 

[devilbat]

I'll second, or third, or forth, whatever, the usage of the Scarecrow for a spooky cornfield encounter. Run properly and you'll have the players nervous.

 

[Pinotage]

You know, pumpkin-based monsters are out there, you just have to know where to look..

I used a lot of the pumpkin monsters from Ronin Arts The Pumpkin Patch for a halloween game last year. They worked surprisingly well.

Nifty! Haven't seen this one. Looks good!

Pinotage