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

[EricNoah]

My alt.bullywug is far superior.

Link?? Or post here?? Please?????????

 

[KB9JMQ]

Waay more cool - Grell, Bulette, Kobolds, Dire Creatures, Undead, Kenku
Less cool - Elves, Half-Anythings.
Never was cool - Drow

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Never Were Cool, but Now are Way Beyond Uncool:

• Krenshar

Blasphemer!!!!

Krenshar r0x0rz my b0x0rz.


Less cool: Drow. Or do we pronounce it "Dröw"?

More cool: Yuan-Ti. Love 'em. Nothing spices up a game like fifteen consecutive poison attacks.

 

[TheEvil]

More Cool:
Orcs - They have finally gotten past the pig-headed humanoid origins on Monster Manuals of old and grown into a race that can be an ongoing challenge to PCs.

 

[shaylon]

Less Cool-In agreement with most, I would have to go Drow here. Enough about them, they raid the surface all the time, but for what end? I am tired of them.

More Cool-Evil Humanoid BBEG's. It may sound strange to some of you, but with the advent of good writers making adventures and people with real writing experience coming up with motives for evil characters I think they are most improved. In the old days it wasn't always clear why the "Mad Wizard" or "Elite Warrior" acted in the manner that they did. They were just "Evil", so that is the way it was. Now you see more in depth characters with real motivations, and the line between good and evil is sometimes blurred. I think many times it makes for a great story.

Also More Cool-Kobolds. I know some have stated they disagree but after Tucker's Kobolds you have seen a much tougher opponent. Not sure when Tucker was around, but I only recently discovered them and I have a newfound respect for them.

-Shay

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Less cool -

Drow, by a long shot.
Beholders - cool back when there was just one kind; when 2e introduced what seemed like a million varieties, I lost interest. Never seemed to recover it.
Hobgoblins

More cool -

Dragons - their coolness has steadily risen since 2e.
Kobolds

 

[Gothmog]

More cool: gnolls, aboleth, grell, yuan-ti, grimlocks, duergar, Far Realms stuff, fey creatures

Less cool: gnomes, goblins, gensai, anything with an elf in its bloodline

Never was cool: drow

 

[Desdichado]

What a cool thread! It's hard to say, though -- most of the monsters I didn't like I still don't, and most of those I did, I still do. That said, there were some products put out that changed my opinion of some creatures.

For instance, I never liked beholders or mind-flayers much from 1e, and I didn't see anything in the early books of 3e to remove that stereotype. Lords of Madness has definitely given them a new coolness, though. In fact, aberrations in general are much cooler to me than they used to be, because they're not just silly combinations of weird animals anymore. Well, a lot of them are, but there seems to be a better emphasis on Lovecraftian Far Realms type aberrations lately, and it has really increased their coolness.

I was always ambivalent about dragons; they seem cool enough on the face of it, but I didn't much like the chromatic and metallic varieties, and the general weakness of dragons over all. The Monsternomicon really changed my tune about dragons though -- those three dragons listed above, as individuals, no less, are too rockin' to be believed.

I always thought the displacer beast was pretty stupid, but the illustration in d20 Modern of one eating a Santa Claus was really cool.

Orcs are more than just mooks now, and thanks (probably to Warcraft) they're more than just evil parodies too. I heartily approve.

 

[VirgilCaine]

I was always ambivalent about dragons; they seem cool enough on the face of it, but I didn't much like the chromatic and metallic varieties, and the general weakness of dragons over all.

In brute spellcasting power, yes, dragons are weak. As a melee damage machine that you can't practically run away from and that is REALLY hard to kill, they work.

 

[EricNoah]

Just to rock the boat: I like drow; they were maybe a little more cool before but they can still be cool now with drow-appropriate feats and equipment. I still long to run or play in an all-drow underdark-intrigue adventure or mini-campaign some day...