D&D 5E Here's Our Favourite (and least favourite) D&D Monsters!

Last week I took a poll to determine which D&D monsters were the most loved, and which languished unliked in the back of the cupboard. The poll was limited to the D&D 5E Monster Manual, specifically the main monsters section (so not the NPCs or animals).

Aboleth from Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition, by Kim Van Deun​

Let's start with the monsters that nobody liked. Well, to be accurate, there were none that scored 0 votes, but the poor empyrean only squeezed in with a single vote. If there's any monster in need of some love, the empyrean is it. It's the least-liked monster in the Monster Manual.

Joining it at the bottom, though, are some other unpopular critters -- the magmin (spellchecker PLEASE let me type that word - even my OS doesn't like the magma .. err.. magma ... umm .. magmin!), darkmantle, sprite, satyr, quaggoth, and merrow.

The top of the chart was a little more predictable. The iconic mind flayer led the pack, followed closely by dragons and beholders. A little way behind those three, we had some other D&D staples in the form of skeletons, the lich, goblins, and the troll.

Demons are more popular than devils. Liches are loved more than vampires. Death knights are in the middle of the pack, neither loved nor disliked. The 'iconic' D&D monsters (i.e. the mind flayers and beholders, which D&D created) are very well loved.

Anyway, I should stop talking about it and just show you it. Here's the full list, in descending order.

1. Mind Flayer
2. Dragons
3. Beholders
4. Skeletons
5. Lich
6. Goblins
7. Troll
8. Demons
9. Ghouls
10. Giants
11. Owlbear
12. Ogres
13. Zombies
14. Vampires
15. Devils
16. Displacer Beast
17. Kobolds
18. Wraith
19. Rust Monster
20. Gnolls
21. Orcs
22. Elementals
23. Hags
24. Umber Hulk
25. Carrion Crawler
26. Golems
27. Wight
28. Death Knight
29. Hobgoblins
30. Lycanthropes
31. Mummies
32. Minotaur
33. Lizardfolk
34. Rakshasa
35. Bugbears
36. Bulette
37. Manticore
38. Wyvern
39. Shambling Mound
40. Yuan-Ti
41. Elves (Inc. Drow)
42. Gargoyle
43. Shadow
44. Hydra
45. Mimic
46. Oozes
47. Dracolich
48. Griffon
49. Modrons
50. Aboleth
51. Chimera
52. Flameskull
53. Hell Hound
54. Purple Worm
55. Medusa
56. Oni
57. Roper
58. Basilisk
59. Otyugh
60. Stirge
61. Intellect Devourer
62. Ankheg
63. Dinosaurs
64. Ghost
65. Hook Horror
66. Doppelganger
67. Genies
68. Harpy
69. Pseudodragon
70. Demilich
71. Drider
72. Gibbering Mouther
73. Animated Objects
74. Grell
75. Nightmare
76. Thri-Kreen
77. Banshee
78. Behir
79. Bullywug
80. Nagas
81. Revenant
82. Will-O'-Wisp
83. Dragon Turtle
84. Faerie Dragon
85. Flumph
86. Gith
87. Mephits
88. Sahuagin
89. Slaadi
90. Tarrasque
91. Treant
92. Cockatrice
93. Kuo-Toa
94. Myconids
95. Scarecrow
96. Specter
97. Sphinxes
98. Ettin
99. Nothic
100. Remorhazes
101. Succubus/Incubus
102. Water Weird
103. Gorgon
104. Roc
105. Troglodyte
106. Unicorn
107. Angels
108. Couatl
109. Kraken
110. Peryton
111. Crawling Claw
112. Helmed Horror
113. Salamanders
114. Yugoloths
115. Centaur
116. Dryad
117. Duergar
118. Grick
119. Kenku
120. Lamia
121. Shield Guardian
122. Xorn
123. Cambion
124. Cloaker
125. Cyclops
126. Fomorian
127. Gnome (Inc Svirfneblin)
128. Hippogriff
129. Invisible Stalker
130. Yetis
131. Ettercap
132. Fungi
133. Jackalwere
134. Grimlock
135. Half-Dragon
136. Homunculus
137. Azer
138. Chuul
139. Merfolk
140. Pegasus
141. Pixie
142. Aarakocra
143. Blights
144. Galeb Duhr
145. Piercer
146. Merrow
147. Quaggoth
148. Satyr
149. Sprite
150. Darkmantle
151. Magmin
152. Empyrean

 

[Omand]

I will dig out my books and see if I can find the reference to share.

Cheers

OK, about the Darkmantle ...

So, my memory was sort of playing tricks on me.

The Darkmantle first appeared in the 3E Monster Manual. The creature was native to caverns and the Underdark, and the lore included the line that "Scholars believe that the darkmantle recently evolved from a less capable predator." The text also had the Darkmantle disguising itself like a stalactite.

In the 3.5 revision a bit more text was added about the appearance and size of the darkmantle, but it was basically copied over with no changes, unlike some other creatures.

As far as I can find, the Piercer did not appear in official WotC 3E or 3.5

Reading between the lines I think the suggestion by the 3E team is the the silly Piercer (one of Gary's gotcha/joke monsters) was redesigned into a more cool opponent.

The Darkmantle returned in 4E (MM2) as a creature from the Shadowfell. No language about how it evolved or if it is descended from another creature.

In 5E the Darkmantle is back to being from the Underdark.

It is the 5E Monster Manual that upgrades lore for the Piercer and Roper. The Piercer is now the larval form of a Roper. Once a Piercer eats and grows enough, it permanently descends from the ceiling and lives on the floor instead.

So my bad for linking them all together, they are not explicitly so in 5E.

Here endeth the lesson and we now return you to your regular thread.

Cheers

 

[Erdric Dragin]

The Empyrean’s concept is incredibly cool, children of the gods who’s emotions are charged with their divine power. The execution is lacking though. The forms and powers of the gods are so varied, yet all the Empyreans look like large statuesque humans/giants with a singular standard stat block. They are the same regardless of who their parents are and that seems really strange. You are telling me that an Empyrean child of Bahamut will look the same and have the same exact powers as an Empyrean child of Corellon or Moradin?

It's because TSR/WotC made the mistake of tying Titans (the actual name of Empyreans) to the gods, but never specifying which gods. At the same time they tried to maintain their connection to the Olympian gods. In retrospect, they should have created two different types.

They should have left the Empyreans for the Olympian gods mythos and made the Titans tied to the Giant pantheon. Forgotten Realms did it correctly by tying Titans to the Giant Pantheon, but unfortunately they still overlap the Greek ones. Which makes things awkward for the lore.

 

[Stormonu]

OK, about the Darkmantle ...

So, my memory was sort of playing tricks on me.

The Darkmantle first appeared in the 3E Monster Manual. The creature was native to caverns and the Underdark, and the lore included the line that "Scholars believe that the darkmantle recently evolved from a less capable predator." The text also had the Darkmantle disguising itself like a stalactite.

In the 3.5 revision a bit more text was added about the appearance and size of the darkmantle, but it was basically copied over with no changes, unlike some other creatures.

As far as I can find, the Piercer did not appear in official WotC 3E or 3.5

Reading between the lines I think the suggestion by the 3E team is the the silly Piercer (one of Gary's gotcha/joke monsters) was redesigned into a more cool opponent.

The Darkmantle returned in 4E (MM2) as a creature from the Shadowfell. No language about how it evolved or if it is descended from another creature.

In 5E the Darkmantle is back to being from the Underdark.

It is the 5E Monster Manual that upgrades lore for the Piercer and Roper. The Piercer is now the larval form of a Roper. Once a Piercer eats and grows enough, it permanently descends from the ceiling and lives on the floor instead.

So my bad for linking them all together, they are not explicitly so in 5E.

Here endeth the lesson and we now return you to your regular thread.

Cheers

I think the link you're looking for is actually in the designers notes from 3E (good luck finding those)! I mentally recall the link between piercer - darkmantle - roper as well. As I recall, darkmantles primarily came to be because the designers were disappointed how helpless a piercer was after its initial drop (basically a trap more than a monster). You could probably also include the Storoper ("stone roper") in that as well, as an elder form of roper with a tougher shell and the ability to "petrify" opponents.

 

[Omand]

I think the link you're looking for is actually in the designers notes from 3E (good luck finding those)! I mentally recall the link between piercer - darkmantle - roper as well. As I recall, darkmantles primarily came to be because the designers were disappointed how helpless a piercer was after its initial drop (basically a trap more than a monster). You could probably also include the Storoper ("stone roper") in that as well, as an elder form of roper with a tougher shell and the ability to "petrify" opponents.

Thanks @Stormonu you may well be correct.

I thought that I had read it in the 5E material though, but it could be my brain playing tricks and thinking back to 3E material. I binged on books in 3E and also absorbed tonnes of material from the website.

Cheers

 

[Richards]

When 3E was still in the development stage, I was asked to write up an "Ecology" article for Dragon focusing on one of the new creatures that would be debuting in the 3E Monster Manual. (I was part of the NDA group and had been sent draft copies of the three core books at the time.) At that point there wasn't a whole lot to choose from so I picked the "darcmantle" (that was its original spelling; I convinced them to spell it normally) specifically because it was apparent - to me, at least - that this was an upgraded version of a piercer, and as "The Ecology of the Piercer" had been the very first article that spawned the whole "Ecology" series (back in Dragon #72) I felt that made the darkmantle especially appropriate. I had planned on the entire darkmantle race having been derived from a group of piercers whose bodies had been warped by the energies of the Demiplane of Shadows, but that wasn't allowed because at the time the designers hadn't yet worked out whether there was even going to be a Demiplane of Shadows (or if it was going to be upgraded to a full plane or possibly even done away with). So I didn't get to use that origin, but "The Ecology of the Darkmantle" did get published in Dragon #275, the first to use the 3E rules.

At the time, there was no link between piercers and ropers - that must have started with 5E.

Johnathan

 

[Omand]

When 3E was still in the development stage, I was asked to write up an "Ecology" article for Dragon focusing on one of the new creatures that would be debuting in the 3E Monster Manual. (I was part of the NDA group and had been sent draft copies of the three core books at the time.) At that point there wasn't a whole lot to choose from so I picked the "darcmantle" (that was its original spelling; I convinced them to spell it normally) specifically because it was apparent - to me, at least - that this was an upgraded version of a piercer, and as "The Ecology of the Piercer" had been the very first article that spawned the whole "Ecology" series (back in Dragon #72) I felt that made the darkmantle especially appropriate. I had planned on the entire darkmantle race having been derived from a group of piercers whose bodies had been warped by the energies of the Demiplane of Shadows, but that wasn't allowed because at the time the designers hadn't yet worked out whether there was even going to be a Demiplane of Shadows (or if it was going to be upgraded to a full plane or possibly even done away with). So I didn't get to use that origin, but "The Ecology of the Darkmantle" did get published in Dragon #275, the first to use the 3E rules.

At the time, there was no link between piercers and ropers - that must have started with 5E.

Johnathan

Thanks @Richards.

I have that magazine in my collection (in storage) and definitely read it. Must be part of my muddled memories.

Cheers

 

[Lanefan]

3. Displaced Beast - These creatures are connected to the Shadowfell and the goddess of darkness Volumdremaak. There are also no longer evil.

4. Driders - No longer reside in the Underdark, and they have been cured from the suffering inflicted by Lolth’s curse (though they are still spider centaurs). They have integrated themselves into surface society and are just another normal race.

Funny - I went the opposite direction and made Driders the divine servants, or minions, of Llolth (similar to how Valkyries are the minions of some of the Norse deities); much like it seems you've done with Displacer Beasts and Volumdremaak.

Which means if you ever see a Drider in my games, assume it's there because Llolth has a direct interest in proceedings.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Mind Flayers are my favorite D&D monster of all time, so I'm glad (if not a bit surprised) that they were the top pick from this poll. They definitely deserve it, IMO.

 

[Tonguez]

Emperyans are frankly boring, they another celestial alt-angel with no real flavour that cant be got from Solars/Planetars etc.

I am suprised that both pixies and sprites score low, but then suppose theres lots of other fey options for a game.

also fun to see that the classic Rust Monster is still Top 20

disappointed Mindflayers topped the list rather than Dragons

 

[el-remmen]

OK, about the Darkmantle ...

So, my memory was sort of playing tricks on me.

The Darkmantle first appeared in the 3E Monster Manual. The creature was native to caverns and the Underdark, and the lore included the line that "Scholars believe that the darkmantle recently evolved from a less capable predator." The text also had the Darkmantle disguising itself like a stalactite.

In the 3.5 revision a bit more text was added about the appearance and size of the darkmantle, but it was basically copied over with no changes, unlike some other creatures.

As far as I can find, the Piercer did not appear in official WotC 3E or 3.5

Reading between the lines I think the suggestion by the 3E team is the the silly Piercer (one of Gary's gotcha/joke monsters) was redesigned into a more cool opponent.

The Darkmantle returned in 4E (MM2) as a creature from the Shadowfell. No language about how it evolved or if it is descended from another creature.

In 5E the Darkmantle is back to being from the Underdark.

It is the 5E Monster Manual that upgrades lore for the Piercer and Roper. The Piercer is now the larval form of a Roper. Once a Piercer eats and grows enough, it permanently descends from the ceiling and lives on the floor instead.

So my bad for linking them all together, they are not explicitly so in 5E.

Here endeth the lesson and we now return you to your regular thread.

Cheers

Still a neat piece of lore. As someone who has unapologetically used piercers in many past games (and my two current ones), I didn't need them to be linked to anything else to be interesting to me - but this certainly gets my creative juices flowing more.