Mike Mearls' Monster Makeover Suggestions HERE

[Hussar]

Hrm, makeover's I'd like to see.

In no particular order, poking my nose through the SRD:

Gorgon - just cos it's bizarre - little or no relation to the mythology and a big cow that turns you to stone? Definitely a WTF kind of critter.
Harpy - DC 16 will save at CR 4? Nasty considering it's effectively save or die.
Oozes - Should be traps not critters.
Another vote for undead in general.

 

[WayneLigon]

Shadows
Frost worm (any creature that goes up in a mushroom cloud when it dies deserves another look-see)
Giants
And I'd like to see his thoughts on dragons, myself. Or on the bread-and-butter goblinoid/humanoids.

 

[DMH]

Gorgon - just cos it's bizarre - little or no relation to the mythology and a big cow that turns you to stone? Definitely a WTF kind of critter.

It is based in mythology. The name gorgon was used for two disimilar creatures and one of them was a metal skinned bull with a poisonous breath.

Two things for my addition to the thread: Why was the sprite eliminated and then used as a family name? Why is the roper a magical beast?

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hey all!

I'd like to see all creatures with a natural physiognomy have Hit Dice based on their size.

So humans (for instance) would start with 3 Hit Dice (6 feet tall divided by 2), as would illithids.

Ogres 4 HD - 8 feet tall divided by 2

Hill Giants 5 HD - 10 feet tall divided by 2

etc.

(With 2 near equal dimensions) Stocky creatures like dwarves or fire giants, or long creatures like horses or elephants. Instead of taking 1/2 the longest dimension in feet as HD, take 2/3.

(With 3 near equal dimensions) Spherical creatures like Beholders. Hit Dice equals diameter in feet (Beholder 8 HD).

I know thats probably a less specific request than you were looking for but I think its something they should consider for future editions.

I think it would definately help make a bit more sense of the discrepancy between Ogres and Hill Giants.

 

[Driddle]

Pimp my gelatinous cube!

 

[Hussar]

It is based in mythology. The name gorgon was used for two disimilar creatures and one of them was a metal skinned bull with a poisonous breath.

Really? I knew about the medusa/gorgon connection. I didn't realize there was a second gorgon. Where is it from?

 

[Imruphel]

Really? I knew about the medusa/gorgon connection. I didn't realize there was a second gorgon. Where is it from?

Gary Gygax posted the info some months ago on his thread when asked the question why he chose to make the gorgon the steel bull that we now know and love. I seem to recall that an old bestiary (19th century or possibly earlier) had both the medusa-gorgon and the bull-gorgon detailed.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'd like to see all the "traction" monsters like drow, illithid, githyanki, etc. get CR1 incarnations and let them be powered up by class levels, as was said. Make Yuan-Ti be a CR1 beastie and then power them up via special Yuan-Ti feats that raise the CR in chunks, letting DMs create just the beastie they want, up to whatever that crazyass one in Fiend Folio is called.

The vampire is a mess and very unvampiric. I'd also look at the Ravenloft racial vampires for ways to make them a little more interesting while still refering back to the vampires of myth and legend.

Lycanthropes are too much damn work for the results. Reverse engineer one monster, create two templates, and then apply both to your base NPC. That's a lot of work for, say, a kobold were(dire)weasel. I'd like to see a version where one of the lycanthrope forms was just the base animal with DR X/silver and maybe one or two other minor power-ups and a simpler hybrid template.

Create a standard fey template that can be added to humanoids, both to add consistency to the fey type and to let people make elves and gnomes (or even dwarves) into fey types if they want, which would push all three races more towards their mythological roots.

 

[crazy_cat]

Pimp my gelatinous cube!

Seconded.

 

[jmucchiello]

Where's the Hydra? A creature with the stupidest rules exceptions. That certainly needs to be fixed. Why bother attacking the heads when it provokes a dozen AoOs against you if you don't have improved sunder?

Similarly the Barghast's feed advancement rules are just bad rules. (There's another monster with similar rules that would need to be fixed as well.)

Vampires are fixed by making them an exception to the Undead trait: have no discernable anatomy. Personally I'd change them to native outsiders with ties to negative prime.