Monster Pairings

[Vrecknidj]

I've always been partial to pairings with complementary powers. You know, a white dragon with a fire giant, that sort of thing. It confuses the hell out of players who are trying to prepare for a fight.

Dave

 

[Thotas]

Combos that have Creature A immune (or not relevant) to the nasty area attack of Creature B are always trouble; some examples occur earlier on the thread, but I'm pointing out the principle here. The effect really needs to be acknowledged as a minimum +1 EL adjustment at low levels and maybe as high as +3 at high levels.

 

[Nifft]

Nah, not +1 EL or anything -- it's just good sense!

Harpy + "Hazard" critter (assassin vine, grey ooze, etc.)
Will o' Wisp + Shambling Mound

... though IMHO (or at least IMC) it's unlikely for undead to work with the living.

-- N

 

[Tuzenbach]

Beholder and any sort of ooze/slime/pudding either above or below (or both!).

 

[Al'Kelhar]

My off-the-cuff ideas:
... Shadow Demon (BoVD) + Wraiths. Yeah, you just better cast magic missile at the darkness...

Hey, stealing my ideas now! (I've got this exact combo in my current adventure). I've also got two spectres in a room with 100 1HD ghosts with no powers to affect corporeal creatures, all of them basically indistinguishable.

I always like the combos where the bad guy and minions look exactly the same. You know, the ghast amongst the ghouls, the lich amongst the wights/mummies/zombies/insert name of favourite desiccated corpse here. Particularly as the low-level undead soak up all the turning attempts.

Cheers, Al'Kelhar

 

[Gez]

Incorporeal monster with spellcasting or spell-like abilities (ghost, spectre, shadow demon...) plus ooze (like gelatinous cube).

The spellcasting monster hides itself inside the ooze, shielding it from attacks (who's wanting to enter inside a gelcube to bash away at a spectre? and those area of effect spells won't reach the incorporeal baddy unless they completely toast off the ooze); letting it unleash its spells or SLA at the PCs to soften them for the ooze to swallow. Spells or SLA like hold person are especially cruel in that combo.