Monsters that turn out very fun.

[The_Universe]

The Gelatinous Cube. 1 Gelatinous Cube nearly killed a 6 member 11th-12th level party. How awesome is that? It's the most fun I've ever had with a monster.

 

[Rel]

The Gelatinous Cube. 1 Gelatinous Cube nearly killed a 6 member 11th-12th level party. How awesome is that? It's the most fun I've ever had with a monster.

Did it have a level of Barbarian?!

 

[Schmoe]

I agree with the poster who nominated Vrocks. They are just a great blend of neat abilities and demonic savagery. Barbazu are great, as well. The at-will Scorching Ray makes a potent ranged attack, and they are brutal in one-on-one combat.

Some of the most fun I've had, though, was using the Darkweaver (Fiend Folio) with a nest of enslaved Hook Horrors. The synergy between the two races is great, and the Darkweaver was sufficiently alien to really creep out my players.

For least-fun creature, I think I have to nominate the Air Elemental. For some reason, my players really didn't enjoy fighting an Air Elemental during a windstorm in the wastelands.

 

[The_Universe]

Nope - they just rolled poorly and acted with the kind of (over)confidence most parties would when confronted with a slow moving acidic jello jiggler. It was also dark, which made the mostly transparent Cube somewhat hard to spot, initially.

It was a fantastic "combat" that they managed to "win" by using a Rod of Rulership to rule the Cube (and then demand that it spit 2 of the party members out).

 

[Orius]

The most fun monster I ever ran was the mimic that had an attitude.

I always thought mimics were just dumb dungeon monsters that PCs killed for xps and treasure. Anyway, the group encounters the mimic I placed in the dungeon I was running at the time, and when I cracked open the MM for the encounter, I noticed that mimics were listed as having a 10 Int and the ability to speak Common. So I decided to have some fun with that.

So the bard goes over to open what the players thought was a chest, and the mimic attacks. The cleric smacks it with his mace, the mimic grabs the mace with its adhesive ability, and yells, "Ow! That hurt, you bastards!" That really seemed to confuse the players. They tried apologizing to it, and asking it if it knew anything about the dungeon, but I ran it as being rude, insulting, obnoxious, and a bit paranoid. It complained about being woke up from a fine nap (and having its nice dreams interrupted), it absolutely refused to give the cleric his mace back, figuring the PCs would just start attacking again, and it didn't know much about the dungeon and was quite surly about being asked too. Finally, they decided to leave it alone, which was their loss, since there was a hidden treasure conceled underneath the mimic that they ended up missing out on.

 

[reveal]

So the bard goes over to open what the players thought was a chest, and the mimic attacks. The cleric smacks it with his mace, the mimic grabs the mace with its adhesive ability, and yells, "Ow! That hurt, you bastards!" That really seemed to confuse the players. They tried apologizing to it, and asking it if it knew anything about the dungeon, but I ran it as being rude, insulting, obnoxious, and a bit paranoid. It complained about being woke up from a fine nap (and having its nice dreams interrupted), it absolutely refused to give the cleric his mace back, figuring the PCs would just start attacking again, and it didn't know much about the dungeon and was quite surly about being asked too. Finally, they decided to leave it alone, which was their loss, since there was a hidden treasure conceled underneath the mimic that they ended up missing out on.

Yoink!

 

[Talmun]

My recent favorite is the Marilith.

Illusion spells, Blade Barrier, and six attacks make it a DM's joy...the fact that she and her wartroll (MM3) were wearing Friend-Shield rings did help a little.

 

[kenc]

Fun for who? The players or the DM?

I can also tell you a monster that's not fun: hydras. I hate running them and I hate fighting them. They are just annoying and the mechanics are horrible as-written.

I love Hydras, my players will walk 50 miles out of their way to avoid a hydra they have encountered a few during their travels and have only managed to ever kill one . I do not agree that the mechanics are broken. A creature with ten heads should be damn hard to kill I (as the DM) love running a hydra encounter.

 

[Mark Causey]

From the MM3 there is a little beasty called a Runehound. That things combination of excellent defense and offense, with DR 5/silver and Fast Healing 3, coupled with a 10 foot reach attack and a breath weapon, make it a very formidable opponent. My players really had difficulty taking the runehound out, and since it had decent enough intelligence to actually use tactics, I got plenty use of using them.

[hijack]I used the Runehound to almost a TPK. Do you think that CR 3 is too low for it?[/hijack]

 

[GlassJaw]

I do not agree that the mechanics are broken.

Who said they were broken? They just suck. Any creature with a mechanic that requires a specific feat, especially one used for a purpose that it wasn't originally intended, is poorly written IMO.

Why couldn't they have just given each head a different AC?

Hydras are much more powerful than their given CR. A hydra can quickly dispatch someone of an equal or higher level if it can attack with all its heads or breath weapons if it's a cryo or pyro.

I like hydras, just not the mechanics.