Monsters that have gotten more cool/less cool over the years

[Psion]

Let me add to my "less cool" list:

Gith: The way that our old GM introduced them was way cool, and Planescape carried the torch.

But Gith in 3e have been a mess. They can't decide which favored classes they are supposed to have, they make Githzerai lawful, and they introduce a whole Githyanki campaign arc which, while otherwise cool, has one fatal flaw: it made them non-Psionic.

 

[HellHound]

Personally, as an ex-drow-hater, I feel that drow are getting cooler again, as the new material for them starts to slow down, and we can pick and choose what we are going to use for them. But that's just me... I always hated drow back in the old days, and managed to skip the whole 2e & Drizz't phenomenon. I *love* feats like Lolth's Meat which really encourage drow to be played nasty.

So, yeah, Drow = MORE cool. I'm with Eric Noah on this.

Slaad did a climb in coolness, but have slid back down. They are becoming less cool now, sadly.

Gnomes haven't changed - they still completely lack in coolness.

Aboleths are -distinctly- more cool. Even before lords of madness, but that book also gave them another boost.

Serpent races of all kinds - far cooler as more material gets published. I loved them from the beginnings, but the support does nothing to hurt their cool factor. I love Arcanis for this, with the Ssethregore book.

Beholders - less cool... just not as scary in my experience in 3e as in prior editions. Probably just me though.

Mind Flayers - I just don't know... I love them dearly.... cooler though? maybe... less cool? maybe... can't decide.

Goblins - DISTINCTLY cooler with class levels. Love gobbos.

And.... Humans. 3e Humans are finally back on top.

 

[Hjorimir]

All of the humanoids have gotten cooler with 3E due to advancement by level.

Also, for me, I'm really liking all the genies now.

 

[The Great Bear King]

Less Cool:

Elves in all forms. And Sweet Jesus do they have forms. It's like someone nuked an elven nation and the elves got all warped by the radiation and like roaches in the rubble they just bred and evolved and spread out to feed and nance in the woods.

Orcs. Making them CE has ruined them in my eyes. May they commit ritual suicide and be promptly beaten up by the goblins in Acheron.

Devils: Bone Devils. Chain Devils. Bearded Devils. Horned Devils. Ice Devils. Whoever changed the Baatezu names back to the 1e versions has shamed themselves and is henceforth declared no longer human. Pack your bags nameless designer, we're shooting you into space.

More Cool:

Kobolds. They're so much cooler now. Meepo made them

Githyanki/Githzerai. You cannot make them uncool. It's not possible.

Tanar'ri: They're mocking the Baatezu now for having crappy names.

Yugoloths: Even that Int 16, stat neutered Ultroloth is looking cool compared to the 'devils' and he's laughing at them too.

Pit Fiend: He's still trying to play it cool and he's almost pulling it off despite being like a really cool kid forced to hang out with his brain damaged cousins who drank wood alcohol on a frat dare and trying to ignore them drooling or playing with themselves in public.

I agree with you on orcs. They should be like Nazis or Stalinists, not retarded members of the Manson Family.

But I must disagree with you about kobolds. I don't like the idea of them as smaller lizard men and dragon decendants. Though kobolds as decendants of imps makes more sense to me.

 

[HellHound]

Devils: Bone Devils. Chain Devils. Bearded Devils. Horned Devils. Ice Devils. Whoever changed the Baatezu names back to the 1e versions has shamed themselves and is henceforth declared no longer human. Pack your bags nameless designer, we're shooting you into space.

Bah. In my opinion, it was about time the bloody unpronounceable "we're not devils, we're some other kind of evil thing from the lower planes but DEFINITELY not devils, honest, how could I be lying, I'm lawful, trust me. Not a devil" names got thrown out and we went back to the way it was supposed to be.

But then again, I -really- disliked most of the 2e stuff.

As for Orcs, I'm an old OD&D player, and Orcs were always Chaotic. This whole love of Lawful orcs weirds me out, to be honest. Orcs were factional, divisive, unfriendly, and unable to work together... which is good because it keeps them from ever taking over. An army of orcs, if not given a target, is quite likely to kill itself in time... a la Lord of the Rings.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

As for Orcs, I'm an old OD&D player, and Orcs were always Chaotic. This whole love of Lawful orcs weirds me out, to be honest. Orcs were factional, divisive, unfriendly, and unable to work together... which is good because it keeps them from ever taking over. An army of orcs, if not given a target, is quite likely to kill itself in time... a la Lord of the Rings.

Interestingly, I always saw orcs as being very lawfully inclined, with the intertribal rivalries reflecting how every tribe had its place in the pecking order, with all of them jostling to supplant the others for the top spot - a good example being the conflict between orcs under the thumb of Sauron being hostile to those under the sway of Saruman. I guess it's a matter of perception concerning what constitutes lawful and chaotic behavior. In my view, orcs can be amassed into huge armies due to being basically lawfully inclined (in my old school way of looking at things), even if those armies would degenerate into struggles for dominance between various factions if there was no strong leader. Chaotics, especially evil chaotics, would never be capable of being organized above tribal level, if that, unless a really powerful leader was within arm's reach of them.

 

[werk]

Less - Yugoloths/daemons

SO sad

 

[lukelightning]

This might be controversial, but here are my picks:

Less cool:

Mind flayers. Disclaimer: I really like 'em and think they are cool. However, they seem to be getting more and more common. They used to be something you would find only in the deepest darkest underdark. Now they are something in the Caves of Cavernosity, leading the bugbears and orcs.

Kobolds: I'm tired of "my leet k0Boldz can pwn u!" uberfication that people seem to do on the boards.

Orcs: Despite being describe in the MM as murdurous savage monsters, they have often been "Klingonified" and made into the Noble Honorable Warrior type. Dude, Where's My Kill-Crazed Chaotic Horde?

Golems: Rope golem? Paper golem? Why not make a candycane golem?

Elementals other than the classic 4: People use elemental and golem interchangably. Smoke elemental, potion elemental, mud elemental, poo elemental. By definition, if it is not an Element/basic building block of creation, it shouldn't be an elemental.

Undead. Oh, look, another insane necromancer raising an army of the dead. Yawn. Haven't people learned to cremate the dead and avoid this problem?

Half-anything. I'm all templated out. Stop your insane dragon-troll-black pudding-elemental orgies.

Any mechanical monster. This is D&D, not Robots and Railroads.

 

[The_Universe]

I've got to say that I think the Phantom Fungus is as cool as it has ever been, and as cool as it will ever be. EVER.

ALL HAIL THE PHANTOM FUNGUS!

 

[Teflon Billy]

More Cool: Yuan Ti, Slaad, Gargoyles

Less Cool: Drow