D&D 5E Monstrous Disappointments.

[Li Shenron]

No specific monster disappointment but maybe a general feeling that most low-level monsters are a bit too similar.

No monsters in 5e are terrifying.

Well... I was unexpectedly terrified by the average hobgoblin damage when they are fighting together.

 

[Salthorae]

For me the first one that springs to mind is werewolf

Hehe, I killed 2 PCs when the little girl they’d found and we’re escorting to safety took the opportunity of another creature attacking to wolf out and turn on the party.

They have neutered most everything in 5e from spells to monsters to make it less “hard mode” and therefore more accessible (is my guess).

I would have to agree though for me the most underwhelming thing I’ve thrown at my party in 5e has been Ogres. They just don’t strike the fear like they used to once you’re past level 1

Oni OTOH remains just as terrifying an encounter as I remember.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

For me the first one that springs to mind is werewolf. They just don’t instill he kind of fear or revulsion I would like.

Lycanthropes are pretty scary when you haven't given every martial member of the party a magic or silvered weapon yet. I once had a barbarian who was forced to resort to diplomacy. It might be useful if creatures came with notes about what sort of party or environmental situations they would be useful in.

My biggest disappointment due to design was the shambling mound. Basically unless the players both don't know that lighting damage heals it and happen to use lightning, it is trivial for even a low level party to kill something that only moves 20ft a round unless you trap them with it or they don't think of trying to keep their distance. And how often would they happen to use lightning? And with 136 hit points, if your party is at the sort of low level at which it is allegedly deadly then it is just a tedious process to kill it, especially since your frontline fighters are probably avoiding melee. Basically unless you have new players and a character whose go to is eccentrically a lightning spell it is a waste of time.

Meanwhile my biggest disappointment due to luck was a young dragon. It was supposed to be the most dangerous encounter of the party's tier one careers but they disabled it with a spell first round, it kept failing saves, and by time it was able to be effective it was at death's door, which also meant that in order to get use out of it's breath weapon before it died it had to use it when the party was spread out. But then again the fight only happened because the Warlock, despite very clever and creative RP trying to negotiate, could not make a decent persuasion roll to save his life (seriously, we did like 5 rolls and even with a good modifier he never got higher than a 12), which I guess makes it fair that the dragon failed three saves in a row. Some days the dice just don't cooperate with having compelling gameplay.

 

[Wiseblood]

Perhaps a reimagining of powers and abilities for monsters. I will examine the monster creation rules when I get home. Some heuristics are probably funneling monsters toward sameness and encounter frontloading. Meaning monsters start strong and run out of steam rather than having climactic abilities. (If any of that makes sense.)

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Maybe.

But while I can make things scary or terrifying with narration, atmosphere, and so on, the actual monsters themselves are underwhelming in 5e.

Too often, the setup in narrative terms is undermined by the monster itself.

You end up with a big build up, followed by a "Oh, more of the same. Yawn."

In short, there are plenty of ways to generate the feelz in 5e, but monsters ain't one of 'em.

That's essentially always been the case, though, hence the jaded point is really undeniable. Sure, in like 1990, a Mindflayer was terrifying just for what it was - not least that it was to some extent an unknown to most players, a rumour, a legend. By like 1996, when people have killed half a dozen to several dozen of them, and could basically be wearing a Davy Crockett hat except made out of Mindflayer, not so much.

So with experienced players you're always relying on either your narration and setup, or the players hyping themselves from some kind of PTSD. I mean, in 1998 I got players who had slain ancient dragons, beholders, lichens and countless mindflayers to basically quake in their boots over Hill Giants for goodness sake! Not even at a level where the giants were that big a threat. Mechanically they were a joke but...

 

[Quickleaf]

One thing I'll say about 5e monsters is that their Perception scores are universally easily outpaced by a player making a Stealth-focused PC. That may be design working as intended – i.e. playing up the trope of heroes sneaking past without raising alarm – but it's something I've noticed.

A lot of how monsters come across depends on the party and how the DM uses them. A lycanthrope is a monster that's immune to non-magical damage; for a party with few to no magic weapons, and some characters unable to cast spells, fighting such a monster is terrifying. Conversely, if you run a game dripping with magic weapons or for players who choose character options that give them magical attacks, the fear of lycanthropes will be lessened.

I've found that the bigger puzzle piece if how you use the monsters. For example, I ran a goblin encounter that brutalized my 10th level party. A small group of MM goblins, led by a CR 5 goblin assassin, and enchanted with pass without trace surprised a worn and weary party. Their constant use of Nimble Escape made it almost impossible for PCs to get a bead on their positions. A mage NPC betrayed their allied NPC Artus, stealing his Ring of Winter and trying to escape down a mineshaft while this was going on. After barely succeeding, the party was legitimately scared of confronting the goblins again, and opted to crawl through tunnels with ghoul sign instead just to avoid the goblins.

 

[Nebulous]

Demons and devils. They've been heavily neutered into what lowkey13 noted, big bags of hit points and multiattacks that lower level PCs can easily handle. Demon Lords from Out of the Abyss were chump change, as written, to level 14 mortals. I've done a few things: (1) give outerplanars back some of their 3rd edition spell-like abilities, legendary or bonus if an especially nasty being, and (2) got the Monster Talents homebrew material from DM Guild (which provides a way to beef up monsters with some of their old-school abilities without breaking the CR system).

For me, making monsters interesting is a combination of action economy (legendary, bonus, and reactions, doing more than one thing), use of the environment (taking advantage of terrain, including as a weapon), and dynamic options for foes (more than simply melee attack and done).

As to your werewolf, there's nothing wrong with you beefing them up if they seem too simple. Increase their hit points or strength. Make the lycanthropy save harder. Use more descriptive text. Given them a savage bonus (if they drop an opponent, bonus bite attack or the like, as if blood makes them more aggressive). Give them a howl feature, that it is so chilling that a low DC save might be necessary to avoid that knee-quaking fear, induced primally so that even experienced warriors might shake.

Yes, the Monster Talents is a nice supplement to layer over nearly all the core monsters. I guess that's one nice thing about 5e, the baseline simplicity makes it really easy to mod on the fly.

 

[Celebrim]

That's essentially always been the case, though, hence the jaded point is really undeniable. Sure, in like 1990, a Mindflayer was terrifying just for what it was - not least that it was to some extent an unknown to most players, a rumour, a legend. By like 1996, when people have killed half a dozen to several dozen of them, and could basically be wearing a Davy Crockett hat except made out of Mindflayer, not so much.

There is only so many old school mindflayers you could face before they killed you. They had 90% magic resistance, which made them immune to magic of 9th level or below and as a practical matter throwing spells at them was never likely to work. They had an attack that insta-killed you in 1d4 rounds, and psychic blast in 1e AD&D was no joke with an array of possible consequences that included catatonia, insanity, and death. If you faced them in fair combat enough, you'd die.

On paper, the 5e Mindflayer doesn't even have enough mind flaying goodness to justify it's own established canon.

 

[Nebulous]

One thing I'll say about 5e monsters is that their Perception scores are universally easily outpaced by a player making a Stealth-focused PC. That may be design working as intended – i.e. playing up the trope of heroes sneaking past without raising but it's something I've noticed.

In my opinion, the weak monster Perception scores are next to useless, often even with a monster that is "supposed" to be good at perception with keen senses and smell. I will frequently double their perception score and give them advantage, otherwise the chances of beating a stealth are negligible. And on top of that, parties frequently use Pass Without Trace if it's at their disposal. I mean, a wolf has +3 to track foes with scent and smell. That's a horrible chance of success for something built for tracking.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

There is only so many old school mindflayers you could face before they killed you. They had 90% magic resistance, which made them immune to magic of 9th level or below and as a practical matter throwing spells at them was never likely to work. They had an attack that insta-killed you in 1d4 rounds, and psychic blast in 1e AD&D was no joke with an array of possible consequences that included catatonia, insanity, and death. If you faced them in fair combat enough, you'd die.

On paper, the 5e Mindflayer doesn't even have enough mind flaying goodness to justify it's own established canon.

If you faced goblins in "fair combat" in 2E you died, dude. I once saw 6 goblins basically TPK 7 well-rolled L1 characters. Players learned to work around magic resistance very early on in 2E, too.