What's your favorite monster I've never heard of?

[Ry]

Just wondering what kind of monsters people have found fun to use in campaigns, outside of the well-trodden paths of the Monster Manuals.

 

[diaglo]

hastur, hastur,....

 

[Henry]

I used to LOVE the Gambado from the old Fiend Folio (the first "trap door monster" I can remember!)

Also, the Nilbog from FF really hasn't made a 3E appearance, yet.

 

[Kormydigar]

Just wondering what kind of monsters people have found fun to use in campaigns, outside of the well-trodden paths of the Monster Manuals.

How do we know what you have never heard of?

Anyhoo, I like some monsters from old basic D&D: Dusanu, Malfera, Spectral Hounds, Soul Eaters

 

[Grazzt]

Also, the Nilbog from FF really hasn't made a 3E appearance, yet.

Only if you don't count the Tome of Horrors (or Tome Revised) . The Nilbog is in there (actually, the version in Tome revised is much better, I tweaked/reworked its special ability just a bit so it was easier to use and stuff).

 

[Ghendar]

Anyhoo, I like some monsters from old basic D&D: Dusanu, Malfera, Spectral Hounds, Soul Eaters

Yeah, some of those old BD&D monsters were cool.

Decapus from B3.
Thoul
Wyrd (this was an elf like creature that threw energy spheres from its hands)

 

[Voadam]

Slayer's Guide to Demons has a bunch of insane incorporeal non-tanari family demons who I think are really cool. I forgot their names but they were a lot of fun to use.

Ravenloft monster book's Vyrlakos (sp?) vampires are very cool disease vamps.

Elemental creature template from 3.0 book of templates. No wierd smites, breath weapons, or spell like abilities, just elemental traits and the specific element powers.

 

[Agent Oracle]

Sword & Sorcerery Studio's Creature Collection has a bunch of baddies of dubious power levels; like a God that's CR 10, you have to deal his full hit points in damage in a single round of combat, or else he just uses his magic item and instantly is restored to full health, or a CR 2 falcon with a vorpal wing blade.

But a few of their CR 1/2 monsters (which were intended to be playable,since they include Humans, Dwarfs, elfs and halflings in the book)

But there are a few quite nice ones: for example:

A CR 4 monster that you can own, the Bottle Imp, a tiny undead who is connected to his bottle. Have the BBEG toss his bottle into melee combat (the bottle is quite tough) and watch as the whisp of smoke attacks for 1d6+4 with a nasty sleeping poison after effect.

At CR 5 is the mighty Hollow Knight, A former paladin whose soul has been fused to his suit of armor, which stands as a Lawful neutral defender. These guys make GREAT plot advancers, and allied NPC's.

Though my favorite are the Ratmen (or Slitheren) They actually seperated ratmen out into different monsters based on what their profession was! (Diseased ratmen, Foamer ratmen Red Witch ratmen)

Bear in mind, this book was published BEFORE the monster manual.

 

[Shade]

Wow, there are so many great overlooked creatures...

One of my favorite obscure ones from 3E is the rotripper, found only in Dragon Annual #5. It is an undead giant that tears the arms off its victims and fuses them with its own body. Few things horrify a player more than seeing their character beaten to death by its own arms.

The Minion of Chaos from Dungeon #99 makes a great campaign-ender (or a good epic opponent).

Some great ones off WotC's website are the blood elementals and blood mother, the mindstealer drone and master, the wharlysk, the feverclaw, the sickstone golem...the list goes on.

 

[lukelightning]

Litoriansphinx. It's a monster with the body of a lion and the head of a lionperson.