D&D General Nominate your favourite D&D monster and why

[Morrus]

Time for a favourite D&D monster poll!

This isn’t a “how many monsters can you name” thread. You get to nominate ONE monster and must write at least a paragraph on why, plus your favourite art piece depicting that monster.

Reminder of things you must include

• ONE nomination. If you nominate more than one, both get disqualified.
• Paragraph explaining why.
• Favourite image depicting it.

Remember, it’s not a competition to name a monster somebody hasn’t nominated. It’s your favourite monster.

@Peter Coffey podcast topic!

 

[Sacrosanct]

Owlbear. KotBL was one of my first experiences to D&D, and this image inspired so much awesomeness in my mind. What an epic battle! Who were these heroes? How were they going to win? This epitomized what the game offered: heroes fighting fantastic monsters. For a creature based off of a cheap plastic toy, it became iconic. And because of its hit dice, it was a monster right there in the sweet spot of adventuring. Not too high where you hardly encountered one, and not too low so your PCs had enough experience to survive.

 

[Giltonio_Santos]

The githyanki is probably my favorite D&D monster. Cool backstory, iconic powers, iconic enemies and allies (if you're putting githyanki in your campaign, you're automatically allowed to include red dragons, mindflayers, and githzerai, no questions asked!), iconic items, an interesting society, and a strong potential to figure from the beginning to the end of a long campaign as the main villainous opponent.

 

[darjr]

Grimtooth in honor of Rick Loomis

 

[Fenris-77]

Owlbear. KotBL was one of my first experiences to D&D, and this image inspired so much awesomeness in my mind. What an epic battle! Who were these heroes? How were they going to win? This epitomized what the game offered: heroes fighting fantastic monsters. For a creature based off of a cheap plastic toy, it became iconic. And because of its hit dice, it was a monster right there in the sweet spot of adventuring. Not too high where you hardly encountered one, and not too low so your PCs had enough experience to survive.

This, QFT. I had essentially this exact reply in mind. Thanks for saving me valuable typing time. Keep on the Borderlands ftw.

 

[Oofta]

I'm almost afraid to admit it, because they are the bottom of the food chain. Pathetic, cowardly, black-hearted little beasties that will murder you in your sleep because they're bored and they like the sight of blood.

Goblins. Yep. One of the weakest monsters in the MM. The speed bump equivalent of an MMO's rats that you hunt at first level. Maybe it's because they're the underdog, maybe it's the high squeaky voice with oddly enough a bad British accent that I use when I run them. Maybe it's because I like using them against higher level parties when they hear that the cave is "only" overrun by goblins. You want to take pity on them because you know that they've always been the one the "real" monsters kick around, but given a chance they're as mean as can be. Oh, and beware goblins in their home territory. They know they're vulnerable to they work harder than anyone to stack things in their favor.

 

[Fenris-77]

This is not a valid nomination. The instructions are in the first post.

Well lah-dee-dah. Fine, be that way. Owlbear.

The basic box was my intro to D&D, and Keep on the Borderlands is my base template for what a module should be. The Owlbear is the big bad beastie in that module, and that was my first experience fighting something that I really thought was going to ace the whole party. That encounter is the one by which all my other D&D encounters are measured.

 

[schneeland]

I'd like to add the Beholder.

• The Beholder is probably the first iconic D&D monster I was exposed to - unaware of its lore at that time - through the Eye of the Beholder video game. It's not a monster that I use frequently these days (a lot more evil necromancers, lizard men, etc.), but any D&D monster manual without the Beholder would feel terribly incomplete.
• If I have to pick one, I think I like the slimy Beholder illustration from Volo's guide best:
  

 

[PabloM]

Oh, I really like many, and I have a predilection for undeads, devils and demons. However, if the instruction is to choose one and only one, I think the one I like the most is the Displacer Beast. They are aesthetically beautiful, the powers of displacement make them reckless in combat, attack in packs, are intelligent and even today when my players, several levels above the Displacer Beast CR, see one, they start to give me worried looks.

 

[MockingBird]

2e Kobold. My first experience with D&D was with the starter set that came out in the 90s. It came with a audio CD and 3 small adventures. It also came with a slim down monster manual. This is where I learned what a Kobold was. The illustration of these little pesky beast definitely excited my imagination. I was later let down when they evolved from a k9 likeness to a dragon likeness. To this day my Kobolds are the 2e version