The popularity of monsters - part II

[der_kluge]

More monsters and their (un)popularity

 

[megamania]

First in yeah.


This weekend I used Shocker Lizards for the first time as a swarm. DEADLY.


Considering the 1000's of creatures out there, there will be many not ever used by a DM. Still- I'm curious about the results....

 

[The Lost Muse]

I don't play much, but I don't believe I've ever used any of those while GM'ing either.

 

[Pants]

I've used:
Chuul - Very deadly, nasty critter
Digester - Another relic from my RttToEE campaign
Formian - Fought a bunch as a player
Grick
Howler - Damn nasty, I love these guys
Krenshar - I use them all the time actually
Kraken - Fought one as a PC once
Shield Guardian - Better than golems IMO
Yeth Hound

 

[RichGreen]

Hi,

I've used or encountered about half of these. Chuul have come up several times -- very annoying grapplers.

I don't think I've used a purple worm since 1st Edition.

Cheers


Richard

 

[Tonguez]

Arrowhawk - nope
Belker - a what??
Chuul - no
Digester - modified this entirely to become the Bonasus aka Bonacon
Formian (Any) - yes and was even thinking of allowing modified wrokers to become a PC race
Grey Render - yes had one roaming an old ruin
Grick - yes I love things with tentacles
Howler - a summoned hound
Krenshar - yes but I changed how they look
Kraken - yes it attacked a ship
Lillend - nope
Phantom Fungus - nope
Purple Worm - nope
Ravid - nope
Razor Boar - nope
Shield Guardian - nope
Shocker Lizard - yes I've encountered a colony of these basking next to a waterfall
Sphinx (any) - nope
Yeth Hound - nope
Xill - nope

 

[Masquerade]

Only the Krenshar of these.

 

[el-remmen]

Only three this time:

Arrowhawk - Symbol of one of the gods of the north
Purple Worm - Used to threaten a dwarven stronghold as a means to motivate the party
Sphinx (gyno) - As guardians, and sometimes the deliverer of messages from the gods in the form of riddles or enigmas

I am unlikely to ever use any of the others on the list. They just don't do it for me.

 

[el-remmen]

Another thought about these threads:

I was thinking that in most cases except for the fantasy staples (like orcs, unicorns, dragons, etc. . ) any of the strange or "invented" monsters are going to especially fit a role in how the DM sees the setting and the tenor of the campaign in general.

While a giant fire-breathing lizard with wings does not seem weird to us b/c we are so used to the idea of dragons, a shape-shifting fungus that looks like a battlemech might stretch our suspension of disbelief, because we haven't grown up with it.

 

[GilaMonster]

I fought a group of Formians just last session. They're nasty in groups. Four warriors did some serious damage to a 7th level party.

Encountered a shocker lizard several months ago as an NPC mage's familiar. Never fought them.