D&D iconic monsters

[martynq]

Which monsters would you say are most iconic for the D&D game? There seem to me four obvious no-brainers: Dragons (names in the title after all!), Beholders, Mind Flayers, and to a lesser extent Orc.

Which others would you add to the list? (Note I'm not saying which is your favourite but which you associate as crucial to the game.)

Martyn

 

[Sammael]

Rust monsters. Gelatinous cubes. Drow.

 

[dreaded_beast]

Monsters:

Humans
Elves
Dwarves
Halflings
Gnomes
Half-Elves
Half-Orcs

 

[Goblyn]

Displacer Beasts, Liches, Mimics(I'm not 100% sure about this one)

 

[Alzrius]

I'd say any monster not present in the SRD that is in the Monster Manual is iconic...WotC certainly seems to think so.

The monsters specifically called out in the Legal section of the SRD are: beholder, gauth, carrion crawler, tanar’ri, baatezu, displacer beast, githyanki, githzerai, mind flayer, illithid, umber hulk, yuan-ti.

 

[blargney the second]

I'd say skeletons, zombies, goblins, and kobolds are the top four in my experience. Every low level game runs into at least one of them!

-blarg

 

[KB9JMQ]

Zombies, Rust Monster, Skeletons, Kobolds & Giant Rats are the ones which come to my mind first.

 

[Wombat]

I'd say any monster not present in the SRD that is in the Monster Manual is iconic...WotC certainly seems to think so.

The monsters specifically called out in the Legal section of the SRD are: beholder, gauth, carrion crawler, tanar’ri, baatezu, displacer beast, githyanki, githzerai, mind flayer, illithid, umber hulk, yuan-ti.

Interesting list, certainly

Of course these are monster I never use, so I am pretty easy -- means I will never infringe on their territory

 

[D+1]

At first I was thinking that in order to be TRULY iconic it would have to date to the very earliest printed versions of the game and from that I'd list

• Carrion Crawler
• Displacer Beast
• Gelatinous Cube
• Green Slime
• Owl Bear
• Purple Worm
• Rust Monster
• Stirge
• Troll
• Hell Hound (maybe)

But that leaves out a few other really classic monsters from AD&D:

• Beholders (most especially)
• Ankheg
• Bulette
• Intellect Devourer
• Lich
• Otyugh
• Piercer
• Roper
• Shambling Mound
• Shrieker
• Umber Hulk
• Xorn
• Ogre Magi (maybe)

Of anything from more recent versions nothing seems to qualify as TRULY iconic except Terrasque but that is more because it's talked about, not because it gets encoutered in the game.

That of course leaves out a lot of classic monsters from mythology (like dragons) even those that might be uniquely envisioned (like, say, Basilisk). Also leaves out demons and devils as their use and abuse in the game seem much more subjective as to which, if indeed any, are prominent. For example, I'd list type VI's (Balor to the uneducated), Orcus, Demogorgon, Asmodeus and Pit Fiends as those were most featured in campaigns I've played or run but others would choose many more, and probably replace or add with Dispater, Baelzebul, Jubilex, Type I-V's, etc. I also deliberately omit certain monsters borrowed from elsewhere like orc and ents from Tolkien. Trolls, even though derived from Three Hearts Three Lions, FEEL very unique to D&D (unlike orcs because so few people have read their source material) and yet tend to be part of a more universal D&D experience (unlike the various demons/devils).

 

[Remathilis]

I think there is a distinction between "Iconic" and "Intellectual Property"

The monsters not in the SRD are those WotC feels they own the "concept" behind. They aren't necessarily "iconic monsters'.

My List of Iconic Monsters
Orc
Goblins
Skeletons/Zombies
Kobolds
Dragons (Red/Gold)
Devils/Demons (esp. the higher powered ones and the feme-fiends)
liches
drow
vampires
centaurs
pixies
minotaurs
Elementals
dire/monsterous animals
Beholders
Mind Flayers

I guarentee you cannot find a D&D/Compatible modules that doesn't you one or more of the above monsters (most liberally).