To Dm's: What is your favorite monster/bad guy to throw at the oarty?

[Gonzo the Mofo]

Since I have been playing off amd on since 79 one of my favorites has always been giants, lots of hp and lots of damage. Another favorite is massive amount of low level guys against a party of say 6 high level guys. Yea ,you need to roll 20's to hit but its always fun to watch the players when you get to their char and roll a whole handfull of D20's has they hope no 20's come up. But since 3E has come out I guess one of my favorites now are the undead templates.

 

[hong]

Dragons. Nothing else instils awe and dread in quite the same way.

 

[Gonzo the Mofo]

Yea Dragons are good but I like to wait till the players are fairly high level so you can throw some REAL Dragons at them.

 

[shilsen]

Last/current campaign: kobolds. Dragons are great for putting the fear of god into PCs (and the fear of DM into players ), but nothing bugs a group more than having their collective asses handed to them by a bunch of scaly little guys. It's especially effective if the kobolds are the basic unclassed MM types, and have a collective EL that the party should roll over. Unfortunately you can't do this at high levels, but at 5th or 6th level it's great.

 

[Shallown]

I really love spiders. Big ones small ones, undead ones. Something about all those legs and how they can all be a little different. Trap door here, a jumping there. All sorts of Possibilities.

Spiders don't creep me out in real life but I find using them in games disturbs most people.

Spiders..equal fun.

 

[ashockney]

Liches and Beholders...

I don't think a campaign has ever gone by that at least one of the primary BBEG was a lich. Beholders seem to scare the pants off of people at any level. Put them in a room with anything, and that Beholder will get taken down quick.

Test my theory...put a beholder in your next Dragon's lair, and see who the party goes after.

 

[Neo]

Depends on the context..

If you mean favoured creature to use as a generic opponent then for me Drow and Orcs are the two of choice, Drow because they instill fear and have a penchant for ellaborate plots and plans, which prove fun for a GM. And Orcs because despite thier brutish ways they are somewhat endearing and timeless.. I mean no matter how many orcs you slay or kill, theres always more biding thier time and growing strong in the shadows and the holes of the earth....sweeet.

If however you mean as a singular overall villain type creature then it has to be either Dragons, whose power and majesty is truely unmatched OR Outsiders such as Demons and Devils, using these can add a whole new dimension (in more ways than one) to how a game turns out and proceeds.

 

[Darklone]

Kobolds with simple mechanical traps (that are triggered by a kobold hidden nearby and therefore hard to disable!)

Hobgoblin phalanxes with sound tactics

Any kind of small monsters that shock the players

Bandits! Brigands that only rob and steal from the players a lot!

 

[Umbran]

I'm gonna give a useless answer

My favorites are the ones that mean something to the PCs. When the fight is more role playing than roll playing, I'm happy.

 

[Zappo]

Ogres. With lots of fighter and barbarian levels. Mwahaa!