D&D General Favorite Creepy Monster To Run?

[jdrakeh]

Doppelganger. With a little (secret) player cooperation and a closed environment, a lot of fun can be had with a doppelganger.

 

[Mannahnin]

On this topic, I always want to use the scarecrow in a Halloween themed adventure, but the MM version is just so wimpy. I need to get off my arse and homebrew something better.

I had a witch villain in one of my campaigns who used construct scarecrows as guards and enforcers. I think I came up with my own stats. Not especially horrifying, but the PCs didn't love the extra flame damage they took being slammed by them once the (vulnerable) scarecrows were set alight.

 

[Mannahnin]

Doppelganger. With a little (secret) player cooperation and a closed environment, a lot of fun can be had with a doppelganger.

One of the scariest antagonists I remember from a 3.5 campaign we played was an assassin who possessed people a la Magic Jar. Giant pain to fight, especially once he started possessing us.

 

[TiQuinn]

Carrionettes. Creepy little marionettes that try to take over your body. I had so much fun running an adventure with those things!

 

[Richards]

My players are creeped out by the boneless - the animated flesh of skinned victims. They refused to have their PCs get anywhere near the boneless, bombarding them from a safe distance.

And I agree with the meenlocks - I came very close to a TPK with three of the little buggers in my most recent adventure.

Johnathan

 

[Remathilis]

Having just wrapped up a Ravenloft game, I can say I had plenty of them. I got the classics (vampire, werewolf, golem) but VRGR has some other great ones. My two favorite were the Dullahan (because being chased by the headless horseman is always fun) and the relentless slasher (which is great if your looking for a bit more Ripper action).

 

[Remathilis]

On this topic, I always want to use the scarecrow in a Halloween themed adventure, but the MM version is just so wimpy. I need to get off my arse and homebrew something better.

Something like this?

 

[Sorinth]

I had a Dryad that was kidnapping villagers and sacrificing them at the base of her tree to feed it blood. I modified the tree stride to allow taking one willing person with her which made her quite adept with the charm at separating a PC from the rest of the party. And a PC alone and charmed with the bad guy is scary.

 

[Scott Christian]

Semi-comedic, but creepy - perytons. A flying deer that feeds off of hearts is brutal, weird and vile.

For a full session Hags. Weird premonitions, teamwork until they hate each other, sometimes kind to people, but not in a good way.

Perytons are indeed underrated when it comes to RP. I once had an NPC who left his many "female friends" without a note, coin, etc. after promising each he would take care of them. He struck out into the frontier for a get rich scheme. The PCs grew to really like him, as he was charming and working with them. Meanwhile, while he was trying to get rich, his ladies found out about each other and, through the manipulation of a devil, started killing one another. As an extra, I had each one become a peryton, looking for him and trying to "get his heart." The PCs were confused, wondering why all these weird bird creatures showed up trying to kill their friend, but once they learned lore, they were like - "Ooooohhhhh!" It was a great roleplay moment between the man and the PCs.

I named him Bon Audo, an anagram for Audobon. They realized it after they learned the lore.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I had a Dryad that was kidnapping villagers and sacrificing them at the base of her tree to feed it blood. I modified the tree stride to allow taking one willing person with her which made her quite adept with the charm at separating a PC from the rest of the party. And a PC alone and charmed with the bad guy is scary.

I had a worg (the more wolfy kind, not the 5E mutant things) that liked to talk Common, knew how to cast charm person and had an appetite for the village children. An extremely effective fairy tale monster.