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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
D&D Monsters that Scare You and Your Players
- Thread starter demiurge1138
- Start date
arscott
First Post
Okay, some of you people have really crappy notions about scariness.
Scary isn't about some mechanical advantage that makes this monster somewhat more inconviniencing that the previous ten. When I see a rust monster, I don't even get apprehensive. The only thing a rust monster symbolizes is that the DM feels that he's given out too much treasure.
Scary is when you wake up in the middle of the night shaking, covered in sweat. And even when you've made yourself a cup of warm milk and fished your childhood teddybear out of the closet, you still can't shake the thought that something's out there, just waiting for you to close your eyes.
It's gotten to the point where even monsters that are supposed to be terrifying are just blasé. I was reading through the Lords of Madness preview, and when I read the section on the new featured abberation, I couldn't even feign interest. The basic concept of "wearers of the skin" might have been interesting, but they ultimately boil down to yet another floating, tentacled abberation.
The Arcana Unearthed eye things sound interesting, but if the players know ahead of time that they're going to lose an eye, what's the point? The horrified potential of "without warning, some hideous beast rips your eyeball from it's socket" just turns into "eh, I saw it coming. I cast cure blindess"
Mechanics alone does not a monster make. If you want something, then it has to be role-played to its potential. It's not good enough to say "They look like squid people". You have to show that these are aliens, with intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic. And remember than inhuman outlooks and motivations applied to the Faerie court are just as creepy as those applied to Lovecraft knockoffs, if not creepier.
Scary isn't about some mechanical advantage that makes this monster somewhat more inconviniencing that the previous ten. When I see a rust monster, I don't even get apprehensive. The only thing a rust monster symbolizes is that the DM feels that he's given out too much treasure.
Scary is when you wake up in the middle of the night shaking, covered in sweat. And even when you've made yourself a cup of warm milk and fished your childhood teddybear out of the closet, you still can't shake the thought that something's out there, just waiting for you to close your eyes.
It's gotten to the point where even monsters that are supposed to be terrifying are just blasé. I was reading through the Lords of Madness preview, and when I read the section on the new featured abberation, I couldn't even feign interest. The basic concept of "wearers of the skin" might have been interesting, but they ultimately boil down to yet another floating, tentacled abberation.
The Arcana Unearthed eye things sound interesting, but if the players know ahead of time that they're going to lose an eye, what's the point? The horrified potential of "without warning, some hideous beast rips your eyeball from it's socket" just turns into "eh, I saw it coming. I cast cure blindess"
Mechanics alone does not a monster make. If you want something, then it has to be role-played to its potential. It's not good enough to say "They look like squid people". You have to show that these are aliens, with intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic. And remember than inhuman outlooks and motivations applied to the Faerie court are just as creepy as those applied to Lovecraft knockoffs, if not creepier.
.
Kanegrundar
Explorer
My players are deathly afraid of Illithids (like I stated earlier) and here's why:
I was running Night Below back in the waning days of 2E (for me at any rate) and the party was ambushed by two illithids and large group of Derro. The Derro warriors were getting slaughtered, but the Savants were giving them a little bit of grief. The dwarf fighter ran up to deal with them when the Illithids appeared. They promptly controlled the dwarf's mind and sent him back against his own party. The Savants got some Hold Person spells to work (what can I say, they were rolling horrible saves that session), which set up a kill-fest on the Party. The dwarf beheaded the human paladin. Derro warriors took out the held cleric. One of the hirelings fell to mind control and started hacking up the rogue. The party's wizard knew full well that a TPK was about to occur and was determined not to give the Illithids any more brains to eat, so he dropped a fireball right into the center of the fracass. The cavern was small enough that the blast took in everything. All the derro died, one of the Illithids (the other ran off), and all but the mind-controlled dwarf from the party died. That was the end of that campaign right there!
Ever since Illithids have held a special place in the hearts of those players.
Kane
I was running Night Below back in the waning days of 2E (for me at any rate) and the party was ambushed by two illithids and large group of Derro. The Derro warriors were getting slaughtered, but the Savants were giving them a little bit of grief. The dwarf fighter ran up to deal with them when the Illithids appeared. They promptly controlled the dwarf's mind and sent him back against his own party. The Savants got some Hold Person spells to work (what can I say, they were rolling horrible saves that session), which set up a kill-fest on the Party. The dwarf beheaded the human paladin. Derro warriors took out the held cleric. One of the hirelings fell to mind control and started hacking up the rogue. The party's wizard knew full well that a TPK was about to occur and was determined not to give the Illithids any more brains to eat, so he dropped a fireball right into the center of the fracass. The cavern was small enough that the blast took in everything. All the derro died, one of the Illithids (the other ran off), and all but the mind-controlled dwarf from the party died. That was the end of that campaign right there!
Ever since Illithids have held a special place in the hearts of those players.
Kane
Honestly? I think my players fear jermlaine more than just about anything else out there, for many of the same reasons that other people have mentioned kobolds. Plus, it's one thing to know that the beastie you're fighting is out to kill you and maybe even eat you, but when you're up against a foe whose main desires also include your abject humiliation, it can be a bit daunting!
Plus, they've gotten burned by jermlaine on several different occasions now. Even though nobody has died (yet) as a result of a jermlaine encounter, the players all start to sweat whenever they realize that there are jermlaine about.
Johnathan
Plus, they've gotten burned by jermlaine on several different occasions now. Even though nobody has died (yet) as a result of a jermlaine encounter, the players all start to sweat whenever they realize that there are jermlaine about.
Johnathan
Solarious
Explorer
For all the people who hate Dopplegangers, you will simply love Changlings then. They're Dopplegangers lite, and have no CR/LA thingies. Only Minor Shapchange (which is basicly Disguise Self without the clothes) at will and the class levels to back it up. ![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
Personally, my scariest opponents are one of the two:
1) Opponents who use pure skill and beat you down. You know, the people who plan a neferious plot for 25 years and have contengincies for everything that can go wrong? Lex Luthor kind of villians, who study you until they know how to make you twitch and name all your weaknesses by heart? Those scare me.
2) The Quori from Eberron. They can quite literally be anyone, and they can attack you at will in your dreams. There is almost literally no sanctuary from them if your DM is feeling sadistic. They are fond of blackmailing, corruption, and using Mind Seed to convert just about anyone to their cause. Plus, they're nigh impossible to hit back at. You can't friggin kill them. And if you want to take them on on their home territory... well, there are a few thousand of them around, all with Teleport Without Error at will and Psion levels... and that's assuming you can get to their plane in the first place.
Personally, my scariest opponents are one of the two:
1) Opponents who use pure skill and beat you down. You know, the people who plan a neferious plot for 25 years and have contengincies for everything that can go wrong? Lex Luthor kind of villians, who study you until they know how to make you twitch and name all your weaknesses by heart? Those scare me.
2) The Quori from Eberron. They can quite literally be anyone, and they can attack you at will in your dreams. There is almost literally no sanctuary from them if your DM is feeling sadistic. They are fond of blackmailing, corruption, and using Mind Seed to convert just about anyone to their cause. Plus, they're nigh impossible to hit back at. You can't friggin kill them. And if you want to take them on on their home territory... well, there are a few thousand of them around, all with Teleport Without Error at will and Psion levels... and that's assuming you can get to their plane in the first place.
TroyXavier
First Post
Beholders without a doubt. They are the #1 creature for my party members to avoid.
DungeonmasterCal
First Post
arscott said:
And you have no sense of humor. It's really not necessary to step in and speak to us like we don't have a clue what we do as DM's. I think I speak for the majority on this thread when I say we've all had moments where we really shone and scared the living baheebies out of their players. I know I have. One of the tricks I do is, in casual conversation, find out what a person is most creeped out or even terrified of in real life and then use it in a game. I've made a player leave the room in near tears after her ranger fell into a pit of snakes, or had a player so wigged out by describing spiders in his dwarven cleric's beard he was unable to speak for shaking.
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