Neglected Monsters

[Arashi Ravenblade]

Ive too noticed that Beholders dont get alot of 3e screen time, but i think thats due to them being relativly easy to beat. There saves are way to easy to overcome and i think that has made them sorda un-appealing to us since they were 2e party killers in most cases.

 

[Wombat]

**shrug**

I guess most of them in my campaigns -- we only have the MM (3.0 version) and we have used maybe a quarter of the beasties in there. Most of them hold no interest to our group and are, quite frankly, rather silly (Phantom Fungus? Ethereal Filcher? Digester? Rust Monster? Ethereal Marauder?).

So we are happy with a single book and a lot of Classed NPC opponents -- human or demi-human, they still make the most interesting opponents.

 

[Ferret]

Based on a cool/used ratio I'd say Chull and choker are high.

 

[Driddle]

Stirges. The little suckers are totally dissed.

Follow-up question: What have you done, or would suggest, to play up the monsters noted in this thread?

 

[Matafuego]

Beholders play a very important role IMC, there are even Sage Beholder's NPC's.
And on another campaign we had the Shocking-Pikachizard as a Familiar, and we even made it "evolve" into a Blue Dragon (with the use of Dragon Familiar feat).
What about the Delver? Art doesn't do him any good either...

 

[Voadam]

Ive too noticed that Beholders dont get alot of 3e screen time, but i think thats due to them being relativly easy to beat. There saves are way to easy to overcome and i think that has made them sorda un-appealing to us since they were 2e party killers in most cases.

Banewarrens.

There is an encounter with one in the WotC Book of Challenges.

Don't expect more from d20 sources since they were not included in the final srds, just the early draft one.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

There's a beholder in Wulf's SH.

 

[Tav_Behemoth]

Stirges. The little suckers are totally dissed.

I couldn't agree with you more...

Follow-up question: What have you done, or would suggest, to play up the monsters noted in this thread?

...but unfortunately I'm unable to answer this question in less than 56 pages!

One shortcut would be to check out the table of contents for A Swarm of Stirges, or the demo of the ashmalkin, a stirge-riding fey that can make adventurers treat the approach of bat-winged bloodsuckers with a lot more respect, or read the reviews linked in my .sig file.

Ultimately, though, you'll want to buy the book It's available as a $5 PDF through RPGNow, or in print for $12 direct from the creators, or you could ask your FLGS to pre-order a copy. Forgive the shameless self-promotion, but my friend Brian, who wrote the minotaur Horde Book, is always teasing me that no one but me cares about the stirge, so I'm overjoyed that the folks who care about neglected monsters haven't neglected my favorite!

 

[demiurge1138]

I just looked in the Fiend Folio. No shocker lizards, just shockers and volts.

And I have used grey renders, to great effect, twice. One was the henchman of an evil fighter it had "bonded" with, and the other was an experimental test animal owned by a necromancer. The party's necromancer animated it once it was slain and rode around in its ribcage.

And I will agree that beholders have waned in use since 2e. In 3.0, they had bad armor class and few hit points. 3.5 have done something to correct this, fortunately.

I'll agree that chokers and chuuls are underappreciated, but I'd like to add another aberration to the pile- the athach. I have never even heard of these non-giants getting played.

Demiurge out.

 

[Mourngrymn Dasha'r]

Stirges. The little suckers are totally dissed.

I beg to differ, the campaign I am in recently, well a year or so ago real time but only a month ago in game time, our party ran into a slew of those damn things and nearly were over come by the swarm... Individually, they are useless in the swarms... wow.