D&D General Monsters from secondary Monster Manuals you got a lot of fun out

[Yora]

It's actually just a piscoloth yugoloth from Planescape. Same body, and attacks with two big pincers and paralyzes with its mouth tentacles.

Below, you have a picture of me with a humble pie:

• Chuul (3rd Ed., Monster Manual; 2000)
• Girallon (3rd Ed., Monster Manual; 2000)
• Gray Render (3rd Ed., Monster Manual; 2000)
• Grick (3rd Ed., Monster Manual; 2000)
• Eidolon (3rd Ed., Monster Manual 2; 2002)
• Twig Blight (3rd Ed., Monster Manual 2; 2002)
• Steel Predator (3rd Ed., Fiend Folio; 2003)
• Vine Blight (3rd Ed., Fiend Folio; 2003)
• Kruthik (3rd Ed. Miniatures Handbook; 2003)
• Nothic (3rd Ed. Miniatures Handbook; 2003)
• Mindwitness (3rd Ed., Underdark; 2003)
• Wood Woad (3rd Ed., Monster Manual 3; 2004)
• Balhannoth (3rd Ed., Monster Manual 4; 2006)
• Sibirex (3rd Ed., Fiendish Codex 1; 2006)
• Merregon (3rd Ed., Fiendish Codex 2; 2006)
• Orthon (3rd Ed., Fiendish Codex 2; 2006)
• Skull Lord (3rd Ed., Monster Manual 5; 2007)
• Elemental Myrmidon (4th Ed., Monster Manual; 2008)
• Star Spawn (4th Ed., Monster Manual 2; 2009)
• Banderhobb (4th Ed., Monster Manual 3; 2010)

That's 20 original monsters from 3rd and 4th edition monster books that made it into 5th edition, rather than the 4 I originally claimed.
Not exactly contenders for D&D's most memorable monsters, though.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

I liked the various elemental demons from 4E, like the writhing crag and jarrlak. Both had interesting abilities and designs and made me wish I had miniatures for them (I've at least been working off and on in regards to first one). I managed to fit a jarrlak into my first 5E game by heavily altering a hellfire engine's statblock. The immolith thankfully did get an official mini that I've made use of before.

I did manage to create a homemade mini for the rukarazyll from 3E. I might post a pic later.

 

[GuyBoy]

Death Knight
Behir
Fomorian
Grell
Cooshee

Probably others too. I think it was Caverns of Tsojcanth that had its own monster book as an insert. Truly awesome as I recall.

I also made use of some of the critters from Deities and Demigods, particularly the Melnibone section. Tygers of Pan Tang anybody?

 

[d24454_modern]

Templates. Lots and lots of templates.

I love using templates for monsters. It's a cheap way to add lots of homebrew to campaign.

Living Spell, Shadow Giant, Gerivar, Half-Fey

 

[Alzrius]

Templates. Lots and lots of templates.

I love using templates for monsters. It's a cheap way to add lots of homebrew to campaign.

Living Spell, Shadow Giant, Gerivar, Half-Fey

I agree, though I sometimes had a tendency to take it too far, ending up with things like this:

 

[Demetrios1453]

It's actually just a piscoloth yugoloth from Planescape. Same body, and attacks with two big pincers and paralyzes with its mouth tentacles.

Below, you have a picture of me with a humble pie:

• Chuul (3rd Ed., Monster Manual; 2000)
• Girallon (3rd Ed., Monster Manual; 2000)
• Gray Render (3rd Ed., Monster Manual; 2000)
• Grick (3rd Ed., Monster Manual; 2000)
• Eidolon (3rd Ed., Monster Manual 2; 2002)
• Twig Blight (3rd Ed., Monster Manual 2; 2002)
• Steel Predator (3rd Ed., Fiend Folio; 2003)
• Vine Blight (3rd Ed., Fiend Folio; 2003)
• Kruthik (3rd Ed. Miniatures Handbook; 2003)
• Nothic (3rd Ed. Miniatures Handbook; 2003)
• Mindwitness (3rd Ed., Underdark; 2003)
• Wood Woad (3rd Ed., Monster Manual 3; 2004)
• Balhannoth (3rd Ed., Monster Manual 4; 2006)
• Sibirex (3rd Ed., Fiendish Codex 1; 2006)
• Merregon (3rd Ed., Fiendish Codex 2; 2006)
• Orthon (3rd Ed., Fiendish Codex 2; 2006)
• Skull Lord (3rd Ed., Monster Manual 5; 2007)
• Elemental Myrmidon (4th Ed., Monster Manual; 2008)
• Star Spawn (4th Ed., Monster Manual 2; 2009)
• Banderhobb (4th Ed., Monster Manual 3; 2010)

That's 20 original monsters from 3rd and 4th edition monster books that made it into 5th edition, rather than the 4 I originally claimed.
Not exactly contenders for D&D's most memorable monsters, though.

Darkmantle as well. It first appeared in the 3.0 MM.

 

[JEB]

Below, you have a picture of me with a humble pie:

• Chuul (3rd Ed., Monster Manual; 2000)
• Girallon (3rd Ed., Monster Manual; 2000)
• Gray Render (3rd Ed., Monster Manual; 2000)
• Grick (3rd Ed., Monster Manual; 2000)
• Eidolon (3rd Ed., Monster Manual 2; 2002)
• Twig Blight (3rd Ed., Monster Manual 2; 2002)
• Steel Predator (3rd Ed., Fiend Folio; 2003)
• Vine Blight (3rd Ed., Fiend Folio; 2003)
• Kruthik (3rd Ed. Miniatures Handbook; 2003)
• Nothic (3rd Ed. Miniatures Handbook; 2003)
• Mindwitness (3rd Ed., Underdark; 2003)
• Wood Woad (3rd Ed., Monster Manual 3; 2004)
• Balhannoth (3rd Ed., Monster Manual 4; 2006)
• Sibirex (3rd Ed., Fiendish Codex 1; 2006)
• Merregon (3rd Ed., Fiendish Codex 2; 2006)
• Orthon (3rd Ed., Fiendish Codex 2; 2006)
• Skull Lord (3rd Ed., Monster Manual 5; 2007)
• Elemental Myrmidon (4th Ed., Monster Manual; 2008)
• Star Spawn (4th Ed., Monster Manual 2; 2009)
• Banderhobb (4th Ed., Monster Manual 3; 2010)

That's 20 original monsters from 3rd and 4th edition monster books that made it into 5th edition, rather than the 4 I originally claimed.
Not exactly contenders for D&D's most memorable monsters, though.

Darkmantle as well. It first appeared in the 3.0 MM.

I actually made a huge personal list on this topic a while back, for a project, so I can add more to the above:

Originally from 3.0/3.5:
Atropal (Tomb of Annihilation)
Allip (Mordenkainen's)
Assassin Vine (Tomb of Annihilation)
Beholder: Gazer (originally known as the Eyeball) (Volo's)
Boneclaw (Mordenkainen's)
Cadaver Collector (Mordenkainen's)
Deathlock (Mordenkainen's)
Demons: Alkilith, Dybbuk, Maw Demon (originally known as the Abyssal Maw) (Mordenkainen's)
Devils: Hellfire Engine, Narzugon (Mordenkainen's)
Draegloth (Volo's)
Drakes: Ambush Drake (Tyranny of Dragons)
Frost Worm (Wildemount)
Homunculus: Iron Defender (Eberron)
Shield Guardian (Monster Manual)

Originally from 4E:
Devils: Hellwasp (Descent Into Avernus)
Drakes: Guard Drake (Volo's)
Gnolls: Witherling (Volo's)

 

[CleverNickName]

I've used nearly half the monsters in the old AC09, Creature Catalog back in the day. Agarat, Wychglow, White-Fang, all the Fundamentals, Tabi, Sea Serpents, Thunderheads, Nagpa, Kopru, the Hivebrood, Vampire Roses, Sirenflowers, Vapour Ghouls...seriously, I could go on. This book had so many awesome monsters, plus a sensible habitat index and rules for balancing encounters (which was huge for those of us running the B/X rules).

I still convert a monster from this book into 5E every now and then when I'm in the mood for a classic.

EDIT: I couldn't leave well enough alone, and I just had to know how many of these monsters I've used in a game. Out of the 278 monsters in this accessory, I've used 151 of them over the last 30 years...about 54%. I highly recommend this accessory.

 

[GuyBoy]

I've used nearly half the monsters in the old AC09, Creature Catalog back in the day. Agarat, Wychglow, White-Fang, all the Fundamentals, Tabi, Sea Serpents, Thunderheads, Nagpa, Kopru, the Hivebrood, Vampire Roses, Sirenflowers, Vapour Ghouls...seriously, I could go on. This book had so many awesome monsters, plus a sensible habitat index and rules for balancing encounters (which was huge for those of us running the B/X rules).

I still convert a monster from this book into 5E every now and then when I'm in the mood for a classic.

View attachment 140311

Loved this book. Thanks for reminding me of it. After recent events, it’s good to see the TSR logo in a positive light.

 

[CleverNickName]

Loved this book. Thanks for reminding me of it. After recent events, it’s good to see the TSR logo in a positive light.

I love this book too, but I admit that it's far from flawless. Many of the entries have the same issues of poor representation and racial stereotyping that plague much of TSR's earlier stuff. ("Primitive Man" and the Kara-Kara are probably the most cringe-inducing examples. It's probably best to use the Humanoids chapter very carefully, and steer clear of those two entries in particular.)