Monsters that turn out very fun.

[Maldin]

Githyanki. You cannot go wrong with these guys.

Githyanki are great, I agree. I've used them to great effect myself both as part of prime plane campaign (Greyhawk) and outer planar campaign (both before and after Planescape came around). But the most fun (DM and player) I've had is with a cousin of the githyanki...

Pirates of Gith! ;-)

In my Greyhawk related Spelljammer campaign, the Grinder (asteroid field surrounding Oerth) is infested with many different (and territorial) Gith tribes. My modified PoGs have all the abilities of the original Monsterous Compendium Appendix PoGs, however they vary in level (both lower and higher) and are fully psionic (which the originals were not). A group of very high level (all above 16th) and very cocky PCs in a very well-outfitted hammership fell upon an abandoned "bait" ship, and a fleet of PoG fell upon them. First 3 stolen elven flitters armed with wands of lightning phased in out of the astral (one of the PoGs unique abilities that only works with small elven ships) to pin the PC ship down, while 2 lampreys, one squidship and one hammership lunged out from behind asteroids. All being co-ordinated by a leader on an octopus ship (which didn't participate in the actual battle). Remember, ALL ships were occupied by full complements of fully psionic PoG! (One of these days I'll post the PoG ships' crew lists on my website for people to use - it took a heck of a long time to generate all those psionic abilities!) The ensuing battle was the most memorable evening (and it took all evening) of gaming we've ever had.

The outcome, you may ask? Most of the enemy was destroyed or routed. They managed to board and seize the PoG hammership in hand-to-mind combat while their own ship crumbled behind them. The PC's ship was literally shattered from all the ramming and missile damage. The leader on the octopus escaped (and many of the gith from the other ships that could teleport also escaped with him). Since that battle, that particular tribe has had it out for them, and is constantly scrying for when the PCs cross the Grinder again. They've had to be very clever (and use misdirection, along with crossing in the territories of other tribes) ever since to avoid another major combat, althought so far there have been a few more minor ones.

Denis, aka "Maldin"
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Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com
Check out the ton of cool Edition-independent stuff on my website, New Spells, Magic Items, Notoriety, Artifacts, Kyuss, secrets of the Twin Cataclysms, the Codex of the Infinite Planes, the Dreadwood, the cities of Melkot, Greyhawk and Irongate, a Grand Unified Theory for all of D&D, magic and the Multiverse, and much, much more!!

 

[johndaw16]

Got to say one surprisingly fun encounter for me as a DM and one that was surprisingly tough for my PCs involved chuuls and aquatic elves attacking the party on a ferry crossing a marsh. I slapped the Warbeast Templates on the chuuls (not sure if that is technically possible under the rules but hey I'm the DM for a reason). I used the chuuls as mounts for aquatic elf rangers with bows. The three chuuls and their riders laid an ambush for the small ferry boat the PCs were on with a summoned water elemental lurking in the river for back-up. The monsters managed to hide well enough in the river to get the drop on the PCs, the elves peppered the party with arrows to soften them up, then two of the chuul/elf pairs closed to melee. Needless to say the chuuls started to tear apart the boat and pull PCs into the water. The elves threw nets on the PCs and used tridents and their reach to great effect. I nearly killed two PCs outright and almost drowned the party barbarian because she couldn't swim (I ruled this because she was from the desert and had NEVER seen standing pools of water). And later on in the campaign a PC actually did die in a fight with chuul and its rider.

 

[Pants]

The only way we survived was because he didn't know that ray of enfeeblement does not stack with itself.

Demiurge out.

I, uh, *cough* also forgot that rule once

The party was fleeing from a group of irrate demons (a couple of vrocks and a chasme or two). The Mage was in primarily good shape and decided to turn and fight. The chasme's quickly reduced him to 0 Str with several rays of enfeeblement. You haven't had a satisfying fight until you see a twinked Sun Elf Wizard limply floating in the sky (thanks fly spell!) at 0 Str. I discovered the rule after the fact and apologized. Oh well, no one died.

I've had many a great fight featuring outsiders. They usually have a great range of mobility, physical power, and good SLA's that they make balanced and irritating encounters for players, but fun encounters for the DM!

I also like giants. Don't know why, but a few ogres or hill giants suddenly ups the ante on fights, probably because they can deal prodigious amounts of damage for their CR's.

 

[Psion]

Alright... I didn't have much to add to this thread, but the Githyanki talk inspired me to recall the first time we met these beasties, when the 1e Fiend Folio was a new toy.

Man, that was strange. The DM described their presence on the border with the astral as having ghostly effects, which really freaked us out. Then he showed us the cover of the FF when they appeared. We were like "whoa".

I really ought to start using my Githyanki avatar again...

 

[KB9JMQ]

Recently I had a lot of fun with Grells and Gricks.
The grells are just cool in their own right and the gricks just gave my players fits since they werent prepared for enemies coming up thru the sand.

Oh I also threw undead blink dogs at them and now they hate them with a passion.

 

[Thamior Galanodel]

I laught a lot with a Ancient Red Dragon with Improved Disarm.He took the PC's weapons and hit then with their own weapons.

 

[Chairman7w]

LOL! Now that's just mean!

 

[Testament]

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.

I can't help but think of this treasure chest having a Cockney accent. Somehow, that makes it even more hillarious.

 

[Orius]

I can't help but think of this treasure chest having a Cockney accent. Somehow, that makes it even more hillarious.

Actually, FWIW, I was thinking more along the lines of Dennis Leary when the inspiration to do this struck me. I probably didn't come close, but it was still fun.

 

[Rel]

Actually, FWIW, I was thinking more along the lines of Dennis Leary when the inspiration to do this struck me. I probably didn't come close, but it was still fun.

Oh even better! Did you give it a cigarette?