D&D General Quaint and curious monsters of forgotten core

[JEB]

Nightwings - giant flying shadow-bats.

Now I am reminded of Nightwalkers and really need me some of those!

Nightshades (nightwalkers, nightwings, and nightcrawlers) were a package deal in the Rules Cyclopedia and 3E Monster Manuals, but nightwalkers became a solo act in 4E and 5E. Shame.

Tonals - giant sentient soap bubbles of pure arcane energy.

Not quite a core monster, since they only appeared in the Immortals Rules (which didn't make it into the Rules Cyclopedia). But there are a number of really interesting and unusual monsters in there, to be sure...

The Goodman Games B1/B2 update has the Thoul! Just got to use one for the first time in ages last week.

How could I get forget the thoul in my list?? One hopes they'll eventually return in a first-party product.

 

[JEB]

did the doombat from the 1E FF ever appear anywhere after that?

The doombat did not return in any official D&D products, unfortunately. But they did appear in the Tome of Horrors (which got them released under the OGL).

I miss the Dragonspawn, the first batch of which were released in 4e’s Monster Manual. They were neat creatures to throw at players during dragon heavy campaigns.

I think they appeared in 3/3.5e too, just not the original MM. But yes those would be nice to have again.

Yep, they first appeared as the spawn of Tiamat in Monster Manual IV. Would have been a nice inclusion in Fizban's.

 

[JEB]

And Formians. Borg Ants from Beyond? Very fun.

When 5E returns to the planes, it'd be nice if the formians made a comeback. Maybe go a bit meta and play up a rivalry with modrons...

 

[Iry]

Fomorians, most definitely. I always loved how they would just show up in D&D related video games, in the middle of someone else's plot. At the very least NWN and Icewind Dale II, but I feel like there was at least one more.

 

[GuyBoy]

I loved Formorians; iirc they were in Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth and I used them regularly after that in higher level 1E games.

At the risk of being roundly shot at with spud guns, I always hated Modrons, never used them and just found them irritating killers of any type of suspension of disbelief.......

 

[Iry]

At the risk of being roundly shot at with spud guns, I always hated Modrons, never used them and just found them irritating killers of any type of suspension of disbelief.......

Same. Specifically it's how they behave. It's entirely possible to have frightening intelligent Modrons in your game, but the lower ranks are heavily flanderized and used for comic relief when they appear in media (and even other people's games). At best you get some kind of comedic dystopia like Animal Farm.

 

[Hussar]

I loved Formorians; iirc they were in Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth and I used them regularly after that in higher level 1E games.

At the risk of being roundly shot at with spud guns, I always hated Modrons, never used them and just found them irritating killers of any type of suspension of disbelief.......

Yeah, the whole "monsters that look like dice" thing was a huge turn off for me. I always just assumed they were a joke monster. Was totally shocked to learn that some people took them seriously.

 

[GuyBoy]

Yeah, the whole "monsters that look like dice" thing was a huge turn off for me. I always just assumed they were a joke monster. Was totally shocked to learn that some people took them seriously.

Absolutely. I thought it was a joke too, and a pretty unfunny one at that. I’m just glad I’m not alone in my hatred of Modrons!

 

[Yora]

I think modrons work and have a place in Planescape.

Which is another contributing factor for why Planescape should be treated as its own thing and not a generic expansion to conventional D&D settings.

 

[Rabulias]

Yeah, the whole "monsters that look like dice" thing was a huge turn off for me. I always just assumed they were a joke monster. Was totally shocked to learn that some people took them seriously.

I liked the concept of geometry and numeric hierarchy applied to the natives of the Lawful Neutral plane, but the implementation of it with modrons did not sit well with me either. :-/