Counter-intuitive monsters

[Fishbone]

What monsters just make no sense to you? I'll start with one that has been sticking in my craw for a long time:The Barbed Devil.
The Barbed Devil causes fear as a supernatural ability. Fear makes people run away. Why would a grappling creature want someone to run away?
The Barbed Devil casts Hold Person as a spell at a DC 4 lower than the fear effect. The Barbed Devil is also supposed to be one of the elite monsters at grappling yet it is medium-sized and only grapples at +22. +22! It can't even outgrapple monsters 3 or even 4 CR lower than it like Behirs and Remorhazes.

 

[diaglo]

nilbog

that one always made me chuckle.

 

[Jhaelen]

What monsters just make no sense to you?

Umm, lots. Almost every critter invented in earlier editions has some odd quirks, that don't make much sense with the 3.5 ruleset. And even several of the new ones are badly designed.
Check out the Design & development articles on the WotC site for some good examples.

Some of them never made any sense. Good old Gary Gigax invented some monsters that are hardly more than living puns.

 

[Piratecat]

Some of them never made any sense. Good old Gary Gigax invented some monsters that are hardly more than living puns.

It's Gygax, so you know.

Which ones didn't work for you?

 

[hong]

Curse that H. R. Gigax for starting the trend for horrendous insectoid monsters! Curse him, I say!

 

[diaglo]

Umm, lots. Almost every critter invented in earlier editions has some odd quirks, that don't make much sense with the 3.5 ruleset. And even several of the new ones are badly designed.
Check out the Design & development articles on the WotC site for some good examples.

Some of them never made any sense. Good old Gary Gigax invented some monsters that are hardly more than living puns.

don't forget some of the Fiend Folio monsters came from White Dwarf first.

 

[Imruphel]

Ice devil: It ain't immune to cold despite having numerous cold-based abilities and appearing to be made of ice.

pre-3.5E Balor: It took until 3.5E for this creature wrapped in flames to be, um, actually immune to flames.

Nightmare: Another flaming creature without resistance or immunity to the flames that constantly surround it.

Tanar'ri: Why are they immune to electricity? It's inconsistent with their environment.

There are some others but these are the main ones that stick in my craw.

 

[Piratecat]

Curse that H. R. Gigax for starting the trend for horrendous insectoid monsters! Curse him, I say!

Didn't he invent the gigeroyle?

A lot has been made of why shadows haven't completely overrun the world by creating spawn. It's a good question!

 

[Huw]

Creatures with a tradition for magical theory and research being sorcerers instead of wizards - like aranea and phaerimm.

 

[cmrscorpio]

The Barbed Devil is also supposed to be one of the elite monsters at grappling yet it is medium-sized and only grapples at +22. +22! It can't even outgrapple monsters 3 or even 4 CR lower than it like Behirs and Remorhazes.

Of course the Barbed Devil can't out-grapple Behirs and Remorhazes! The Barbed Devil is a medium creature and those are huge creatures. You automatically lose when you try to start a grapple creatures two or more sizes larger than you. Besides, Barbed Devils don't need to beat Behirs or Remorhazes at grappling, they just need to be able to beat the PCs.