D&D 3E/3.5 The 4E Monster Manual -- what 3.5 monsters need the axe?

[gothmaugCC]

I actually hope that they either ditch familiars entirely or come up with some rules where familiars aren't independent creatures from their masters. Some kind of extension of the caster that shares hit points, saves, etc. with its master when you're trying to figure out if someone can hit the familiar, but in general less of a "henchman" type extra character and more of a "magic item" type thing.

(A change I'd like to see applied somehow to "animal companions" that druids and rangers get, come to think of it. If they still get animal companions in 4e.)

Heh, I'd have to check my old rulebooks, but back in the days of second edition, if your familiar died, didnt you have to make a save or die as well? I seem to remember that back then familiars were as much of a hazard as a boon.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Heh, I'd have to check my old rulebooks, but back in the days of second edition, if your familiar died, didnt you have to make a save or die as well? I seem to remember that back then familiars were as much of a hazard as a boon.

IIRC you took some damage and had to make a System Shock roll or something like that. Yeah, familiars have kind of always sucked. If they are kept, they should actually aid spellcasting or something. Its kind of busch league to run around with a toad in your pocket for a measly 3hp.

 

[AllisterH]

If people are going to complain about bizarre, silly-looking, or scifi-esque monsters, I guess the beholder has to go.

"He shoots, he scores !!!"

Really, the beholder is one of the DUMBEST looking creatures ever....Still doesn't change we want it in the MM.

 

[hong]

"He shoots, he scores !!!"

Really, the beholder is one of the DUMBEST looking creatures ever....Still doesn't change we want it in the MM.

The rule of thumb I use is that if a monster has appeared in fantasy material other than direct D&D adaptations, then it has "arrived". The beholder has arrived; there were "floating eyes" as early as Ultima 4, back in 1984.

 

[gothmaugCC]

Just an Update guys, but in the DnD miniatures article posted on the WoTC site today, it mentions that "all the monsters appearing in Deserts of Desolation will appear in the 4ED monster manual with one exception".

So I guess that will kill our speculation rather quickly. Sofar in previews on the site we've seen a:

Capritious Copper Dragon
Flame Archon
Umber Hulk
Spider Drow Priestess
Gelatinous Cube
Troll

So we know at least 5 out of those 6 will be present in the new book.

 

[The_Gneech]

Let us, on a conceptual level, purge forever any "undead" that was never once alive, thank you. Creatures that are extradimensional horrors that just happen to look vaguely like dead things, but were never once alive and therefore are not undead, are outsiders.

Also, why are "orc" and "hobgoblin" not two different names for the same creature?

For that matter, why aren't "gnomes" a subrace of "dwarf" that happens to live on the surface and have a sense of humor?

Other than that, I have no desire to strike monsters. I may not use half of them, but that's no reason to prevent anyone else from doing so.

-The Gneech

 

[Mokona]

Aboleth - I don't really want to turn my player's characters into skum
Achaierai - a giant chicken
Arrowhawk - a flying bird that can't
Beholder - "Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder" but this monster is silly
Blink dog - aka Lassie hates cats (I mean displacer beasts)
Bulette - look out, land shark!
Chaos beast - it just isn't fun
Choker - looks like it could play basketball
Chuul - lobster with an attitude
Cloaker - a flying manta ray, that makes scary noises
Delver - it seems more like an anachronistic machine, only it's an aberration
Destrachan - it should be a deaf creature since sonic attacks should blind the current version
Digester - definitely feels like Star Wars
Displacer beast - it's a cat only it has six legs...and tentacles
Dragon turtle - why?
Elf -
Ettercap - too many spidermen in the Monster Manual
Formian - what do ants have to do with heaven, hell, and the outer planes?
Gibbering mouther - the thing that ate New York
Girallon - one funky monkey
Inevitable - look at the robots (or is that warforged), I thought formians filled the Lawful role
Krenshar - Up close I've gutted a man with my sword and I'm afraid of some exposed muscle tissue?
Kuo-toa - why does kermit cast lightning bolts
Magmin - why have both the Azer and this creature
Mimic - you're rubber and I'm glue, won't you be sad when I'm stuck to you

 

[howandwhy99]

Arrowhawk
Choker - put back in Hooked Horror
Darkmantle - put back in Piercers
Delver - effectively Purple Worms
Digester
Dire designation for "Cave" and "Giant" animals
Gray Render - interesting ally text, but effectively an ogre
Mohrg - Spectres and Wraiths fill this niche nicely
Ravid
Spider Eater
Tojanida
Yrthak

Please include:
Psionics for psionic creatures
Humans

 

[frankthedm]

Also, plenty of monsters will be in MM1, but not alll the monsters you expect to see in D&D will be. Those that have a home in the new edition will eventually see release, however. Sometimes they'll even get a polish that makes them into something more useful and compelling, and maybe even more mythologically accurate.

Uh-oh...

Given that the petrification breathing bull version of the gorgon has been brought up recently, I suspect it will get the axe.

And I am betting we may be getting a more potent medusa.

 

[GreatLemur]

Let us, on a conceptual level, purge forever any "undead" that was never once alive, thank you. Creatures that are extradimensional horrors that just happen to look vaguely like dead things, but were never once alive and therefore are not undead, are outsiders.

Yeah, this is something I've noticed, too. I remember looking through the descriptions of the various Nightshade creatures, and trying to figure out where they came from. They don't look like corpses, and there's no "Nightwalkers are the spirits of dead giants who..." explanation, or anything like that. I'm kind of wondering if someone just decided that anything powered by negative energy qualified as technically "undead".