Do you run monsters straight from the MM?

[Ds Da Man]

I was wondering how many of you actually use the creatures from the MM as is? Me personaly, I never use the MM. I think my players have memorized so many of the creatures, that they know all the specialized attributes, feats, etc.
Now, I know this is metagaming, but some players just can't help it. I have found myself creating some wicked creatures, and plots because of my desire to constantly freak out my players. Our regular game session of D&D, has been in TWLD (which I personally think is a poorly written waste of money), and to keep the party interested, I have devised a wicked little scenario involving a goblin priest of a so-called god, who happened upon a magic item that allowed him to be possessed by an evil lich, who happened to create an interesting well of elemental-demon spawning. The characters have no idead whats going on, and had just entered a room with a couple of barghests, fighting a pair of these mixed-bone-undead-scorpion-tailed-flaming creatures. Taking the side of the barghest, they defeated the flaming things, while taking damage for being within 5-foot every round, with saving throws every other round just to tolerate the heat. Oh yea, they exploded when killed. It was a blast!!!
Anyway, straight MM, or do you feel you have to change the creatures for your group?

 

[Jdvn1]

I run grunts straight out of the MM. For tougher encounters, I spend more time on it.

 

[Gez]

Ditto. I run monsters straight from the bestiaries quite often for mooks.

 

[BullMarkOne]

I massively mutate, morph and mutilate my Monster Manual monstrosities........ sorry couldn't resist. Slightly less tautologically(is that a word?) I tend to change every critter out of the MM if at all possible. Sometimes in small ways with templates or a class level or two, or sometimes in huge ways, basically creating new monster variants. When I'm feeling lazy I'll just change the appearance and name of a monster and use some stats right out of the MM too.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Majority of my critters are straight out of the MM, at least in a mechanical sense. A large minority are tweaked, templated, or pulled from other sources.

However, I often change a few features--sometimes minor, sometimes major--of the creature's appearance. Do that, and even PCs who have the MM memorized backwards and forwards have no idea what they're facing, even if the stats are totally unchanged from the traditional white dragon/kuo-toa/troll/whatever.

 

[Ranes]

If I've got a large number of relatively mundane critters of one type, then I'll give one or two of them an elite array but, for standard issue mooks, out of the book is fine with me. Then again, only one of my players has a copy of the MM and he's great at controlling his metagaming. I enjoy tinkering with monsters when no one's looking though and it is fun to surprise him with modified monsters.

 

[IronWolf]

I use more than just the MM for monsters (generally from other FR sourcebooks). A majority do come from the MM though. Some get minor tweaks and others don't change much at all.

 

[Bryon_Soulweaver]

I have something like that in mind, hoping to use as an NPC. Get a troll, add the half-green dragon and the aasimer templates with the Illithid minor bloodline. Have it resistant to fire and cold damage. Its appearence should like a green dragon that stands up on its hind legs about 13 feet tall with a brain shaped skull and an odd angelic sense to him/her. Give it a few rogue levels for sneaking around, and we have ourselves an assassin, I think.

Forget I put that.

I use stuff from the MM and other monster sources.
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[S'mon]

Hm, both, I guess. For 'routine' monsters the MM is fine. Powerful creatures intended to challenge the PCs benefit from some attention.

 

[LeapingShark]

I run them close to the MM, but usually with a minor twist to keep them all fresh and mysterious. Most creatures have one or two physical features (e.g. different fur color, or perhaps no tail) different than the MM description, to put a seed of doubt in the players minds and keep them wondering what everything really is. Alot of times there is also a feat swapped, or slightly different special ability, just to make the world wonderous and new for the players. I keep each race's base stats consistent throughout each campaign though (with variances for special encounters or individual personalities).