The monster you fear most

[was]

Behirs..every time I encounter one in a campaign I get blasted and then swallowed.

 

[Flatus Maximus]

Ropers! Maybe not a TPK, but someone's probably going to die if it surprises the party.

 

[karlindel]

I agree with the incorporealness, but wraiths are nothing compared to Shadows. It isn't long before the strength drain will kill most charactersl much faster than level drain will. I played a Grey Elf Wizard who feared nothing except shadows.

My players in 4e have found monsters that drain healing surges to be very scary.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Mmmm. Choices, choices...

Mind Flayers are dangerous. For their suggested encounter level they are well bad.

A well played Dragon is a nightmare. All that physical power plus magic plus spell resitance plus mobility. Yuck.

A draining, incoporeal beasty is nasty. You really need your clerics to be turning focussed here. And even then a Dreadwraith is dangerous. (In a one-off I played a twinked out Radiant Servant of Pelor and even then it was still difficult to take out a Dreadwraith.)

Anything with a that attacks with a touch attack (mmmm, like incoproreal undead.)

But in the end my biggest fear is reserved for anything with Class levels. <sings> Anything you can do I can do better!

 

[Jhaelen]

However, the general principle remains: Objects of fear are not to be avoided in-game. Doing so would cripple the game, because it's a game about being a hero and confronting the bad and scary. If you're too afraid to even let your character do so in an imaginary, safe for you situation, then it's not the game for you I would have to say.

There's a difference between common fear and a phobia. A phobia is a mental disorder that should be treated by a therapist.

Imho, what the DM was doing is the equivalent of serving peanut-butter after the player announced she was allergic to peanuts. This more than just being a jerk, it's grossly negligent behaviour.

 

[SkidAce]

Slaad, infesting you with their little slaad eggs.

 

[Corathon]

There's a difference between common fear and a phobia. A phobia is a mental disorder that should be treated by a therapist.

Maybe missing that distinction resulted in the difference in people's responses. Most people use the word "phobia" carelessly, while the woman afraid of spiders had an actual phobia. I don't like heights, but describing my PC falling won't fill me with terror, because I don't really have acrophobia.

Oh, and to address the OP: mind flayers (in 1E they have the equivalent of SR 30, can kill anyone they hit in 1-4 rounds with no saving throw, and blast people's minds with an attack will be hard to save against for some party members, no matter their level or amount of magical goodies), ghosts (supernatural aging sucks), level draining undead, beholders ("Make a saving throw. OK, make another saving throw. OK, make another saving throw..."), aboleth, old and older dragons (For the huge damage potential of the breath), any unique being (e.g. a demon lord, an archdevil, a slaad lord).

 

[steeldragons]

I think I'm going to have to say, for that pure party terror, anything that regenerates or reanimates. Anything that heals itself or (after getting chopped up into little bits) pulls itself back together and comes at you again...definitely going to get a reaction in my experience.

I have rarely seen such a frantic reaction when a batch of skeletons (oh so casually scoffed at and blasted through) put themselves back together and kept attacking. Pure party panic. Great stuff.

For myself, barring the obvious, beholders -which even at high levels would elicit immediate "run away" mode, but "back in the day" I'd have to say mine (as a player) were Green Slime (it's gonna turn me into slime, man!!!!) and Rot Grubs (anything that's gonna burrow in and eat me from the inside out just freaks me out!)

...and anything (usually undead) that drained levels.

Actually was in a group one time (party average couldn't have been more than 3rd level or so) up against...I dunno, wights or wraiths or something. We're all completely freaked yelling at the player of the party cleric "Turn it! Turn it! Turn it!!!" . His response was "Screw turning! I'm getting out of here!!!" (granted his cleric was always played as something of a coward. Still, several lost levels later, we were not pleased.)

--SD

 

[Wik]

However, the general principle remains: Objects of fear are not to be avoided in-game. Doing so would cripple the game, because it's a game about being a hero and confronting the bad and scary. If you're too afraid to even let your character do so in an imaginary, safe for you situation, then it's not the game for you I would have to say.

Sorry, I disagree.

If there is something that makes a player uncomfortable, even if it isn't a true "phobia", the GM should avoid that subject matter. There is no rule that says there has to be spiders in D&D - you can run a perfectly fine game without them.

Saying that the player should just suck it up because "Spiders are a part of the game and the real world" is like insisting that your diabetic player drink sugared pop with the rest of the group because "sugared drinks are part of the game and the real world".

For what it's worth, I have a player who is icked out by spiders. She has little problem with them in game, so long as I don't go into detail describing them. This works fine for me. On the other end of the screen, I have a problem with games/scenes that involve sexual crimes (as I've mentioned elsewhere on EN World). When those scenes (very rarely) pop up in game, I excuse myself and leave the room. Were a GM to continue a campaign with those types of encounters/scenes, I would quit the campaign, with absolutely no regrets.

In other words, part of the social dynamic inherent to role-playing is making concessions for the people around you. Forcing a player to play a game that centres around areas that make him/her uncomfortable is selfish, plain and simple. A GM who insists on creating scenes and encounters that are not fun for his players shouldn't be GMing; he should be writing a novel or some other form of media that doesn't involve direct interaction with the "audience".

 

[Henry]

What monster would you say you fear more than any other? The one that elicits an "Oh crap" reaction from you just with its presence alone. What has caused it to be your "most feared"?

It doesn't have to be something huge and powerful. Tucker's Kobolds are a pretty obvious example of why. Perhaps it's something your DM is just deadly with.

Two words: ROT GRUB. What monster makes you fear just by coming in contact with something you shouldn't have -- who could kill you without an attack roll? Who makes you burn yourself in a mad attempt to expel it from your body? For monsters whose presence is called an "infestation" instead of a "group" or "horde"?

Holy are they scary.