Monsters of Cool

[fafhrd]

The Splinterwaif.

"Now look over at that hedgerow, sweetling. Your brother Tobias was a bad boy when he was young. But then the splinterwaif got em'. He's been such a good boy ever since, quiet and still. Don't worry though, I've got water enough for you too."

 

[RichGreen]

II also like the concept of the Brood Keeper as well.

I've used the brood keeper and it made for a cool high-level encounter.

I have a lot of favourites: arcanaloths, aboleths, mind flayers, beholders, devourers, yuan-ti and most undead.

Cheers


Richard

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Mind flayers aren't original, they're mini-Cthulhus.

A squid head does not make them Cthulhu, since they're a lot more than just an appearance. There's the attacks (not shared with Cthulhu), the culture (not shared with Cthulhu) and lore (not shared with Cthulhu).

 

[DMH]

Aboleths are my favorite, but the avolakia and thri-kreen almost hedge them out.

 

[Sejs]

Cthulhu: Squid head, aquatic, wings, eternal hunger, husky, sleeps a lot.

Illithids: Squid heads, hate bright light, psionic, lazy, eats brains, waifishly thin, big on leather gowns and goth accessories.


Yeah, ya know, other than the squid head thing there's not a lot of similarity going on.

 

[Ry]

CthulhuIllithids: hate bright light, psionic, lazy, eats brains, waifishly thin, big on leather gowns and goth accessories.

Wow, the resemblance to girls that I knew in high school is kind of freaking me out there.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Cthulhu: Squid head, aquatic, wings, eternal hunger, husky, sleeps a lot.

Illithids: Squid heads, hate bright light, psionic, lazy, eats brains, waifishly thin, big on leather gowns and goth accessories.


Yeah, ya know, other than the squid head thing there's not a lot of similarity going on.

Cthulhu, like mind flayers, has potent psychic powers. Even while asleep, his dreaming mind is so powerful it can influence humans.

The two most important attributes of mind flayers are the striking appearance and the psychic abilities, as evidenced by the name. (The brain eating relates to the idea of mind powers.) Both these attributes are shared with Cthulhu.

 

[Imruphel]

- The Lords of Madness: aboleth, illithids and mind flayers. Oh and neh'thalggu. I've loved the brain collectors since they first appeared in Expert days.

- Yuan-ti and naga.

- Drow (and driders... especially my version of the driders that uses the tauric template... nothing like a drow weaponmaster bolted onto the body of a sword spider). I still like them (it's my choice not to read bad novels).

- Dire apes (especially with yuan-ti-created templates). I love rend (almost as much as I hate grapples).

 

[Hussar]

One of my favourite critters is the Wyvern. I actually like these guys better than dragons. Lots of fun. I think it was the old Dragon Ecology article that really did it for me for these guys. I still remember the line about villagers tarring their roofs with wyvern poison to ward off wyverns. Very cool.

Also really like manticores. Not all that different from wyverns I suppose. Just a very easily customizable critter that works at a whole bunch of levels and locations.

 

[Sejs]

Cthulhu, like mind flayers, has potent psychic powers. Even while asleep, his dreaming mind is so powerful it can influence humans.

That's the thing though, other than the dreaming/unconscious telepathy deal, I can't think of much psionic about Heavy C.

I don't doubt in the slightest that illithids as a monster started off conceptually as cthulhuoid horrors from the unknown, but the two paths quickly diverged. Elder brains, ceremorphosis and trans-planar slave empires versus dreaming matter-transcendental star god who would love to self resurrect, but can't.