D&D General Quaint and curious monsters of forgotten core

[Hussar]

My issue with Modrons is pretty much the same as I have with most Planescape material - I just don't know what to do with it. It's a failure of my own imagination, I admit that. I look at, say, formians, and think, "Ok, borg ants that arrive and begin assimilating everyone around them" and I can work with that. I can make all sorts of adventures from that.

But geometric and numerical heirarchy? What do they want? What is their motivation? And I'm just at a complete loss for how to use them in an adventure. It's the same with Slaad. Another monster I don't think I've ever used in D&D. Or 'Loths, for that matter. Mercenaries in the Blood War? Well, I don't use the Blood War, so, the entire purpose of this entire line of monsters suddenly vanishes. They're just another kind of demon, just Neutral instead of Chaotic. Whoopee.

So much of the Planescape stuff just does not inspire me. I just don't know what to do with it.

 

[Mind of tempest]

My issue with Modrons is pretty much the same as I have with most Planescape material - I just don't know what to do with it. It's a failure of my own imagination, I admit that. I look at, say, formians, and think, "Ok, borg ants that arrive and begin assimilating everyone around them" and I can work with that. I can make all sorts of adventures from that.

But geometric and numerical heirarchy? What do they want? What is their motivation? And I'm just at a complete loss for how to use them in an adventure. It's the same with Slaad. Another monster I don't think I've ever used in D&D. Or 'Loths, for that matter. Mercenaries in the Blood War? Well, I don't use the Blood War, so, the entire purpose of this entire line of monsters suddenly vanishes. They're just another kind of demon, just Neutral instead of Chaotic. Whoopee.

So much of the Planescape stuff just does not inspire me. I just don't know what to do with it.

if I was to do modern motivation it is to make everything perfectly ordered and static like the lights of order from es oblivion.
slaad are agents of pure chance roll a dice and they do what is days.

loths I got nothing other than just being really horrible out of spite which seems weak to me.

 

[Demetrios1453]

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.

That's just because dice and (some) modrons are coincidentally based on the Platonic solids. And even then, that's only the tridrone and quadrone. There are 13 other types of modron that look nothing like dice.

 

[SkidAce]

@Hussar , think of Modrons as Replicators from Stargate SG-1.

Good times...

 

[JEB]

More random former core monsters that come to mind:

Achaierai (3.0/3.5 Monster Manual)
I don't know why I like a monster that's basically an evil giant bird head on stilts, but I do. If we get more adventures set in the Lower Planes, I hope it makes at least a cameo.

Fremlin (Monstrous Manual)
Tiny winged gremlin relatives with a side of ugly cute. And also a PC option in 2E! Suppose you could reskin the new Fairy for that purpose in 5E.

Immolith (4E Monster Manual)
What happens when a bunch of demons come back wrong. A nice use of 4E's demon lore, tapping into that elemental origin. I still think it could be easily fit into 5E.

Masher (1E Monster Manual)
Another forgotten aquatic monster. Objectively, nothing too special, but I guess I liked their name more than anything else.

Mudman (MC Vol. 2, Monstrous Manual)
A simple monster concept - magically animated mud creatures - that I'm surprised hasn't returned in some form in 5E.

Nixie (Original boxed set, Basic 1977, D&D Rules Cyclopedia, 1E Monster Manual, Monstrous Manual, 3.0/3.5 Monster Manual)
Not a monster I have a strong personal attachment to, but considering how the nixie was core in nearly every edition, and it's a simple concept (sea fairy), it's surprising they haven't made a comeback.

Nuckalavee (D&D Rules Cyclopedia)
A really bizarre creature that seems like it would be a great fey foe in 5E. (There is an unofficial version in 5E thanks to the Tome of Horrors.)

Yrthak (3.0/3.5 Monster Manual)
One of the more interesting niche-filling monsters from 3E to me, probably because it seems very kaiju.