D&D General Classic Monsters - Retired Roll Call?

Burnside

Space Jam Confirmed
Supporter
My wife and I watched the D&D movie yesterday. Don't worry - I'm not including any spoilers here. But she and I had a discussion of some of the "iconic" monsters she hasn't encountered since starting the hobby 7 years ago, and maybe why that is.

My thought is that many of the classic creatures from her list harken back to an old style of play that has disappeared amongst 5e players (which is when she started the hobby).

Here's a selection from the list we made this morning (and the reason why I think she hasn't encountered them) ...

D&D isn't in Dungeons anymore...
Black Pudding
Gelatinous Cube
Carrion Crawler
Mind Flayer
Intellect Devourer
Roper
Umber Hulk

D&D doesn't like to trick players anymore...
Mimic
Roper
Gelatinous Cube
Rust Monster

Mid-Range CR creatures have limited windows of use...
(You can't use them like goblins in large numbers, and a single one isn't a challenge. They don't really have a place in encounter design.)
Displacer Beast
Intellect Devourer
Carrion Crawler

By the time you get to that level, the campaign will end or else the monster won't be a challenge...
Beholder
Marilith
Tarrasque

I've used every single one of those except the marilith and the tarrasque in 5E, many inside the last 2 years.

I also run many of the official 5E adventures, and I can tell you that I have seen everything on that list except the marilith appear in them, often multiple times.

Mind flayers, intellect devourers, and mimics I would say if anything are a bit overused in 5E adventures.

Xanathar the beholder is a primary villain, of course, in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and is one of the main "faces" of 5E and gets a ton of merch produced.

Individual displacer beasts or pairs of carrion crawlers are very solid challenges for tier 1 parties.

Not sure how to respond to "D&D isn't in dungeons anymore." Loads of dungeons in the official adventures.
 

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Whizbang Dustyboots

Gnometown Hero
D&D isn't in Dungeons anymore...
Black Pudding
Gelatinous Cube
Carrion Crawler
Mind Flayer
Intellect Devourer
Roper
Umber Hulk
Hmm. One of my groups is about 30 seconds away from a fight with one of these monsters.
D&D doesn't like to trick players anymore...
Mimic
Roper
Gelatinous Cube
Rust Monster
I will be publishing something with at least one of these monsters on DriveThruRPG later this year.
Mid-Range CR creatures have limited windows of use...
(You can't use them like goblins in large numbers, and a single one isn't a challenge. They don't really have a place in encounter design.)
Displacer Beast
Intellect Devourer
Carrion Crawler
I am skeptical about how many intellect devourers or carrion crawlers were ever used. I don't think I've ever encountered either, and I've been playing since 1979.
By the time you get to that level, the campaign will end or else the monster won't be a challenge...
Beholder
Marilith
Tarrasque
Oh, I've definitely encountered and used beholders and mariliths, as they're among the coolest monsters in the game. As you say, though, they're high level, so they're often encountered as bosses whom the PCs don't engage in direct combat.
 

Stormonu

Legend
Hmm. One of my groups is about 30 seconds away from a fight with one of these monsters.

I will be publishing something with at least one of these monsters on DriveThruRPG later this year.

I am skeptical about how many intellect devourers or carrion crawlers were ever used. I don't think I've ever encountered either, and I've been playing since 1979.

Oh, I've definitely encountered and used beholders and mariliths, as they're among the coolest monsters in the game. As you say, though, they're high level, so they're often encountered as bosses whom the PCs don't engage in direct combat.
Carrion Crawlers tended to appear more in B/X adventures that 1E, as I recall. I remember how shockingly easy they could destroy a 1st level party (it was like one of the first encounters in the adventure - though I can't remember exactly which).

I remember using Intellect Devourers back in 2E, around the time the Illitiad was released.

Oddly enough, I've only ever actually used a beholder once since about '80, and that was in a homebrew adventure at the tail end of 2E.
 

Tonguez

A suffusion of yellow
Carrion Crawlers were in Mentzers DMG, The Palace of the Silver Princess, Against the Reptile God, Kill Bargle, Quest for the Heartstone, Just Add Water, Test of Warlords, Dwellers in the Forbidden City and many more. It was my first and favourite DnD monster, though most uses are as an incidental sidetrack rather than a main plotpoint :)

I am skeptical about how many intellect devourers or carrion crawlers were ever used. I don't think I've ever encountered either, and I've been playing since 1979..
 

iserith

Magic Wordsmith
My very first character ever died to a carrion crawler in the very first encounter. So I'm happy to inflict that pain on others whenever I get the chance. One of them appeared in a dungeon that I'm running for a group right now - the very same dungeon my character died in back when Milli Vanilli was on top of the world, but adjusted for D&D 5e. It died so fast though. I am consumed by self-loathing.
 

Whizbang Dustyboots

Gnometown Hero
Carrion Crawlers tended to appear more in B/X adventures that 1E, as I recall. I remember how shockingly easy they could destroy a 1st level party (it was like one of the first encounters in the adventure - though I can't remember exactly which).
Yeah, they had a gazillion paralyzing touch attacks, meaning they were almost certainly going to paralyze someone every attack round, more if the DM was cruel and let them split up with attacks. Balance? What balance?
 

Whizbang Dustyboots

Gnometown Hero
Carrion Crawlers were in Mentzers DMG, The Palace of the Silver Princess, Against the Reptile God, Kill Bargle, Quest for the Heartstone, Just Add Water, Test of Warlords, Dwellers in the Forbidden City and many more. It was my first and favourite DnD monster, though most uses are as an incidental sidetrack rather than a main plotpoint :)
Yeah, I was more AD&D focused. There was so much happening in Dwellers of the Forbidden City that the crawlers never registered (although giant caterpillars certainly fit the vibe).

Kind of a weird inclusion in Against the Cult of the Reptile God, though. I'd purge them from the wandering monster table (which is where I am guessing they reside) if I was running it today. That's an adventure with a very specific theme that shouldn't be watered down, IMO.
 

iserith

Magic Wordsmith
I was thinking back to my most recent use of these monsters. A fun little exercise.

Black Pudding: A guardian of the vault of Mazhug, the Last King of the Orcs in a dungeon. It first appears as inky darkness when the vault door opens. Once touched, it awakens to attack. Under the floor of the vault is Mazhug's hoard. This got the better of one of the PCs in at least two groups I ran this for.

Gelatinous Cube: A wandering threat in the upper dungeon in the Get Bargle adventure I'm running now. The PCs bullied it with telekinetic shoves and rays of frost. Sad!

Carrion Crawler: Same dungeon as the gelatinous cube. Not much of a threat.

Mind Flayer: The main villain, Doctor Lobotomy, in a dungeon I run for one-shots called Startertown Underground, a post-apocalyptic sort of dungeon setting. He's been confronted by only one party so far who were brave enough to enter the Sphincter Beyond Comprehension, a fleshy portal to his lair. Just one PC escaped and he was transmogrified by the portal. I later used Doctor Lobotomy as a supervillain in my Street-Level Heroes campaign.

Intellect Devourer: I actually can't remember the last time I used one of these. I don't really care for them for no good reason. I have used them, just can't recall in what context. Maybe in my last Eberron campaign.

Roper: Last time I had one in a game was when I ran the 5e version of Forge of Fury. It's a pretty good monster to reskin for anything you want to grapple and reel though. I've done that several times. I also featured a roper in my short-form scenario, Rope Tricked.

Umber Hulk: This was a minor villain in my Street-Level Heroes game. Its name was Digdug. On his Right three fingers he had a tattoo of D - I - G. On his left three fingers, he had a tatoo of D - I - G. Luckily for the tattoo artist, Digdug was illiterate. He killed one of the PCs, Dr. Squid, by collapsing a cave ceiling on him.

Mimic: I used one in a Lovecraftian dungeon. It disguised itself as a sarcophagus sitting atop the pressure plate for an acid-spewing trap. So PCs would mess with the sarcophagus, get stuck, and get acid spewed on them. Good times. I killed a PC in a different dungeon with a mimic next to an electrified floor plate. Haha, zap, one more monk dead before he could get stunning strike.

Rust Monster: Love these because nothing raises the stakes like the threat of equipment degradation. They are wandering monsters in the current Bargle dungeon I'm running and are the very first encounter in Startertown Underground that I mentioned above. That adventure is really about finding a lot of junk to use and improvise with, so taking out equipment plays into the theme.

Displacer Beast: As mentioned upthread, these are on the Forest Encounter chart from XGtE which I used in the wilderness trek to and from the dungeon. They came up once and like 4 of them, so those Tier 1 PCs were very lucky to escape.

Beholder: A villain in my Street-Level Heroes campaign named Perceptus who lived in a hollowed out tower in a swamp.

Marilith: Serpentina, the captain of a Ship of Chaos in my current Planescape adventure, God Heist. This Friday the PCs plan to try to steal the ship so they can get to their goal quicker, no doubt meaning they will fight this menace and her crew of glabrezu. This battle is taking place in Graz'zt's realm in the Abyss, above Zrintor the Viper Forest. Pretty cool backdrop.

Tarrasque: I've never actually run a game with a Tarrasque. I have a half-designed scenario involving one destroying a city and the PCs basically need to mitigate damage as the goal and eventually figure out how to deal with it by some means other than flying and acid splash. But I did recently play in an adventure where we were swallowed by a tarrasque and had to fight our way to the exit. Yes, that exit.
 

Whizbang Dustyboots

Gnometown Hero
The main villain, Doctor Lobotomy, in a dungeon I run for one-shots called Startertown Underground, a post-apocalyptic sort of dungeon setting. He's been confronted by only one party so far who were brave enough to enter the Sphincter Beyond Comprehension, a fleshy portal to his lair.
You are not kidding about the "magic wordsmith" stuff. :love:
 

Incenjucar

Legend
In my last campaign (4E, ended 6 years ago):

Black Pudding - Used it
Gelatinous Cube - Used it
Carrion Crawler - Nope
Mind Flayer- Used It
Intellect Devourer - Nope
Roper - Used it
Umber Hulk - Used It
Mimic - Used a Horde Mimic
Rust Monster - Nope
Displacer Beast - Used it
Beholder - Used it
Marilith - Used it
Tarrasque - Nope
 


Whizbang Dustyboots

Gnometown Hero
Just today, my daughter (11) and son (8) befriended a Carrion Crawler in a random dungeon by throwing bags of poop, animal cookies, and crushed up dog biscuits. She named it Cut-Cut because I described it's face as looking like that of Cthulhu.
Kids throwing bags of poop (or even having bags of poop) checks out.
 

J-H

Hero
Monsters I have used from the OP list:
Black Pudding - I put it in Castle Dracula (Castlevania) in a stream in the forest.
Gelatinous Cube - showed up in a couple of low level modules.
Mimic - In the Mage Tower module on DM's Guild. Player took off his helmet and put his ear next to the door to listen for what was the other side. The door was a mimic.
Rust Monster - part of the Trap! Trap! module on DM's Guild, very fun.
Intellect Devourer - against 18th level PCs. They ran away after the paladin got int-drained.

I haven't gotten to use Illithid yet, but only because the players haven't gone to those areas.
 

Lanefan

Victoria Rules
The only ones of that list I've never used are the Intellect Devourer and the Tarrasque.

As for the rest:

Black Pudding - was in the adventure just completed; the party saw it as a "pool of oil", got suspicious, and intentionally avoided it.
Gelatinous Cube - is in the next adventure, and appears anywhere I need to spice up a trap.
Carrion Crawler - haven't used for a while as they don't present much of a threat; last seen maybe 6 years ago.
Mind Flayer - are the foot-soldiers of some major behind-the-scenes villain(s) in this campaign, so can appear at any time.
Roper - last seen maybe 11 years ago (maybe the Storoper version?). I really should toss a few more of these in now and then.
Umber Hulk - was in the adventure just completed; the party learned of it before getting to its location, and intentionally avoided it.
Mimic - was in an adventure about a year ago but by sheer luck the party completely missed it. It was very disappointed.
Rust Monster - last seen about 2 years ago when I jumped to running a low-level party for a while.
Displacer Beast - I know I've run these within the last decade but can't honestly remember when.
Beholder - last seen about 4 years ago.
Marilith (or other big-ass demon that can really bring the nasty) - last seen about 5 years ago when Pazuzu showed up.
 

Carrion Crawlers tended to appear more in B/X adventures that 1E, as I recall.
I think this was probably because the basic set had a smaller monster list, so the things that were on it tended to crop up more often.

But if you go by computer games, the sewers of Baldur's Gate are infested with carrion crawlers, and the sewers of Lusken are infested with black puddings.

I suspect black puddings having a joke name is a turn-off for the more serious-minded dungeon builder.
 


Whether in published writing or in narration at the table, just change the name to Black Ooze and your problem is solved.
I normally would change it in narration - it doesn't look much like a pudding. Should it be changed in official publications? Some people really hate bad jokes!
 

jasper

Rotten DM
WHIMPER WHINE WHIMPER WHINE IN SALLY BROWN'S VOICE, "I HAVE EVEN ENCOUNTERED ALL THE AD&D MONSTERS YET. ARGGH!"
 

Vaalingrade

Legend
Am I the only one confused as to why 'not being in a dungeon' would prevent you from running into a beefcake bug or a spacefaring squid man?
 


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