Best 3E era monsters?

[Fishbone]

I've put digesters, destrachans and yrthaks all to good use. I'd really like a digester mini please, WotC. And maybe even a yrthak in the next huge set.

If you weren't joking when you wrote that I salute you.

 

[Shade]

Honorable Mention: Rune Golem, Dragon 343. Because druids need to shout "Blood for my lord Odin!" more often.

Your relief golem is another instant classic.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

* Bhut - masquerade as human by possessing a corpse (Fiend Folio)

Those were from either Master of the Desert Nomads or Temple of Death from regular (non advanced) D&D. I thought they were quite cool and was glad to see an update.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

Those were from either Master of the Desert Nomads or Temple of Death from regular (non advanced) D&D. I thought they were quite cool and was glad to see an update.

Two completely different Bhuts. (Wow- that sounds really bad.)

The Bhut from the Fiend Folio, as far as I can tell, is a new monster. It's a possessing sort of spirit, and is undead. The Bhut from X4: Master of the Desert Nomads is not undead, though it shares properties with both undead and lycanthropes; they are humanoids that appear human during the day, but change into strange hybrid undead/lycanthrope forms at night.

 

[James Jacobs]

Two completely different Bhuts. (Wow- that sounds really bad.)

The Bhut from the Fiend Folio, as far as I can tell, is a new monster. It's a possessing sort of spirit, and is undead. The Bhut from X4: Master of the Desert Nomads is not undead, though it shares properties with both undead and lycanthropes; they are humanoids that appear human during the day, but change into strange hybrid undead/lycanthrope forms at night.

The Bhut from X4 inspired me to include the bhut in Fiend Folio, but I also pulled some lore from real-world myths about bhuts in the Fiend Folio version. In any event, you can still use the Fiend Folio bhut in a theoretical X4 update; instead of changing shape into monsters at night, they just shed their stolen corpses at night.

 

[Shade]

Hey James, while you're here I have an on-topic question for you: You created the rotripper and kurge (two of my faves) in the Children of Tharizdun article in Dragon Annual 5. The julajimus and rogue eidiolon went on to appear in the MMII. Any idea why there's no hardcover love for the other two?

 

[Psion]

Hey James, while you're here I have an on-topic question for you: You created the rotripper and kurge (two of my faves) in the Children of Tharizdun article in Dragon Annual 5.

Some of my faves, too!

 

[Shade]

A few more "I-think-they're-new-to-3E" faves:

• Glacierdrak and gravewyrm
• Blood Mother

 

[James Jacobs]

Hey James, while you're here I have an on-topic question for you: You created the rotripper and kurge (two of my faves) in the Children of Tharizdun article in Dragon Annual 5. The julajimus and rogue eidiolon went on to appear in the MMII. Any idea why there's no hardcover love for the other two?

The rotripper does something that D&D doesn't like to admit happens. It removes limbs. 3.5 doesn't play well with limb removal, at least in the core rules. The rotripper went through some heavy revision back when I submitted it, as the editors and I tried to figure out how best to handle its special attacks. I have a feeling that it never got picked up for a hardcover simply because it opened a can of worms R&D didn't want to open. You'll note that apart from beheading attacks (which is basically instant death), there aren't a lot of official D&D monsters like slicer beetles any more that lop of arms and legs...

The kurge got into an issue of Dungeon not long after it's debut in the annual, but it too kinda fell into the darkness after that. Not sure why this one didn't graduate, but then again, for both these guys, there's ALWAYS a lot of undead. When WotC was compiling the MM2, they already had plenty of undead, but perhaps not as many constructs or aberrations, which might be why they chose to pick up the julajimus and the rogue eidolon and not the other two. And then by the time the Fiend Folio rolled around, the kurge and the rotripper were consigned to the outer darkness.

Which is too bad, cause I liked them too.

 

[Shade]

The rotripper does something that D&D doesn't like to admit happens. It removes limbs. 3.5 doesn't play well with limb removal, at least in the core rules. The rotripper went through some heavy revision back when I submitted it, as the editors and I tried to figure out how best to handle its special attacks. I have a feeling that it never got picked up for a hardcover simply because it opened a can of worms R&D didn't want to open. You'll note that apart from beheading attacks (which is basically instant death), there aren't a lot of official D&D monsters like slicer beetles any more that lop of arms and legs...

That makes sense, and is unfortunate. I really miss the ol' sword of sharpness. Just having vorpal seems odd. You'll be happy to know that the rotripper played out very well in at least one campaign. Even frenzied berserkers get a bit unsettled by being beaten with their own arms (especially when said arms were sporting bladed gauntlets).

The kurge got into an issue of Dungeon not long after it's debut in the annual, but it too kinda fell into the darkness after that. Not sure why this one didn't graduate, but then again, for both these guys, there's ALWAYS a lot of undead. When WotC was compiling the MM2, they already had plenty of undead, but perhaps not as many constructs or aberrations, which might be why they chose to pick up the julajimus and the rogue eidolon and not the other two. And then by the time the Fiend Folio rolled around, the kurge and the rotripper were consigned to the outer darkness.

'tis a shame. Both these fellas are far more interesting, IMHO, than the grimweird, boneclaw, blood hulk, and plague walker, to name but a few that came afterwards.

There is definitely no shortage of undead, though.