dreaded_beast
First Post
Remathilis said:
Hehe, sounds like a challenge to all those adventure publishers out here, hehe.
D&D iconic monsters
- Thread starter martynq
- Start date
Hehe, sounds like a challenge to all those adventure publishers out here, hehe.
Tarrasque Wrangler
First Post
It's gotta be the gelatinous cube. 
Orcs are up there too for sheer commonality, but edition-to-edition, D&D can't seem to decide exactly what an orc is (LE pig-snouted fighters? CE neanderthal barbarians?) so they lose out for not being iconic enough to maintain an identity.
Nothing screams D&D to me more than the beholder though. Floating orb of eyeballs shooting death rays. Only in America!
Orcs are up there too for sheer commonality, but edition-to-edition, D&D can't seem to decide exactly what an orc is (LE pig-snouted fighters? CE neanderthal barbarians?) so they lose out for not being iconic enough to maintain an identity.
Nothing screams D&D to me more than the beholder though. Floating orb of eyeballs shooting death rays. Only in America!
Aust Diamondew
First Post
Beholder is the most iconic and most original d&d monster hands down.
Alzrius
The EN World kitten
Remathilis said:
Close enough. They consider them to be so iconic of D&D that they were able to copywrite them as D&D-specific, and having no prior source.
And yet, the quintessentially D&D "Challenge of Champions V" in Dungeon #108 has none of those. The closest it comes are some non-dire/monstrous vipers, and an animated statue that happens to be shaped like a marilith.
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Alzrius
The EN World kitten
Kelleris said:Hey, that's cheating!
Challenge of Champions doesn't have any real monsters at all, so that's a terrible example. Although the latest did have a kinda-Griffon and the sorta-Marilith you mentioned...
Fair enough.
How about the adventure "Provincial Prior Cause" in Dungeon #96. The monsters there are a non-dire boar, some humans with horses (and a falcon), a darkmantle, a homonculus, a troglodyte, and a bugbear.
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Kelleris
Explorer
*flips through his Dungeons*
Okay, you win...
Still, the monsters cited above are more common than most. Also, that adventure is low-level, and most of the iconics are mid- to high-level monsters (though not all, at least).
And I'd consider the D&D-style homonculi to be distinctive, if not actually iconic.
I don't know, do you like seeing these iconic monsters in games? Or are you indifferent or hostile to beholders, mind flayers, and the like, simply because they're used so often?
I know some people can't stand drow anymore...
Okay, you win...
Still, the monsters cited above are more common than most. Also, that adventure is low-level, and most of the iconics are mid- to high-level monsters (though not all, at least).
And I'd consider the D&D-style homonculi to be distinctive, if not actually iconic.
I don't know, do you like seeing these iconic monsters in games? Or are you indifferent or hostile to beholders, mind flayers, and the like, simply because they're used so often?
I know some people can't stand drow anymore...
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D+1
First Post
Agreed. Just to clarify my own position: I left off monsters like orcs, ogres, etc. because even though they are everywhere they aren't particularly unique. Just variations on humanoids that you'd find in any fantasy RPG under a dozen different names. The point about orcs is a good example - they aren't even consistent from one version to another so how can you call them iconic even if they are universally found in D&D games? It's why I don't actually cite Drow as being iconic (at least not to me), because though they have a special place in D&D history and so on, the general concept as just another variation on an evil humanoid just doesn't say "iconic" to me.Remathilis said:
I think "Iconic" has to mean that it stands as an example of monsters you find in D&D, should be found somewhat commonly in D&D, it has to be fairly unique to D&D (thus no generic mythological creatures like dragons or griffons are going to qualify as iconic, nor goblins, kobolds, ogres, nor any variations on a theme of dwarves, elves, halflings, gnomes...), and preferrably not even derived from other sources. It's why beholders, mind flayers, etc., being NON-open content, actually makes them such obvious iconic monsters. They are "protected" in a way as being specific to D&D. Icons of the game itself.
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DragonLancer
Hero
Iconic Monsters are really only those that exist in D&D.
Beholder.
Carrion Crawler.
Mind Flayer.
Rust Monster.
Tarrasque.
To me those are the only truely iconic, because the majority of others are taken from real world mythology (Dragons, for example) or other books (Orc's being pretty much a creation of JRRT).
Beholder.
Carrion Crawler.
Mind Flayer.
Rust Monster.
Tarrasque.
To me those are the only truely iconic, because the majority of others are taken from real world mythology (Dragons, for example) or other books (Orc's being pretty much a creation of JRRT).
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