D&D 5E Weak monsters that terrify you

[Jester David]

Banshee. Fail that save at level 5 or 15 and you go down. Fight 2-4 for a real challenge.

 

[Lidgar]

Stirges. My goodness, stirges.

 

[Minigiant]

Aaakocra
Which evil DM's idea was it to detach their arms and wings?
Flying fast humaniods with free range on weapon access.... great

At least they are NG.

 

[Uchawi]

Any creature with sub-systems that are not covered by the standard class abilities (like intellect devourers). There is no way the party can compete, including legendary actions. Or a mob.

 

[NotActuallyTim]

Phase Spiders. Because just when you think there's no spiders around here, BAM, one shifts in from the Ethereal plane and lands on your head!

 

[S'mon]

Sure. But the focus there was the loss of death saving throws, not the manner of delivery of the bonus action attack.

Cinematically, I'm envisioning a gnoll having dropped a character. The gnoll then leans over and rips out the character's throat (bite), leaving the victim to bleed out in short order. Gave me a shudder.

I mean, it doesn't have to attack the fallen PC. It can move and attack somebody else.

 

[Al2O3]

Rust monsters are always something I consider when making characters. For that reason I really like warlocks and monks. They trend to be able to take on any enemy regardless of gear.

 

[Rhenny]

Rust monsters are always something I consider when making characters. For that reason I really like warlocks and monks. They trend to be able to take on any enemy regardless of gear.

I had rust monsters scare the heck out of a warforged PC during the playtest. There wasn't even a rule mentioned in rules as to how it might affect a creature that is primarily made of metal like a warforged. It was the pure thought of it that scared the player/PC.

 

[Rhenny]

To tell the truth, Bullywugs are pretty scary for 1/4 CR (50 xp) creatures since they get 2 attacks per round. I ended up killing a PC (and almost 2 of them) with these little bog jumpers when I ran a modified Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle. One night, only 2 players could make the game, so the fighter and monk (both 2nd, I think) decided to scout ahead, and try to train a baby black dragon that had imprinted on the fighter. All was great on the way out. They handled a few giant frogs, and found a strange gazebo structure about 3 hours away. Then on their way back they met 8 Bullywugs (unfortunately, I just used the random encounter table in the adventure not remembering that Bullywugs could attack 2x per round). I kind of hoped that the fighter would be able to command his black dragon baby to help out, but unfortunately, he rolled poorly so the dragon killed one bullywug and spent the rest of the time eating it and then flying in circles over the fighter and the monk as they fought. Since the bullywugs could jump really far, it was pretty easy for them to gang up on both the fighter and the monk. With a few of the bullywugs left, both of the PCs went down. That's when the dragon chased them away. Unfortunately, the fighter failed 3 death saves...and as luck would have it, on the very next round, the monk rolled a 20 and got to his feet with 1 hp. He carried the fighter back and had a story to tell the rest of the group.

 

[Lancelot]

Intellect devourers, obviously. And grey oozes. But the party has never encountered the former, and only rarely for the latter.

So, of the commonly encountered low-level monsters...?

Hobgoblins. They have decent AC, just enough HP to make it difficult to kill them at low levels, and they hit like a truck thanks to +2d6 for martial advantage.

In my group's first encounter with hobgoblins, their Level 2 / AC 16 / 23 HP barbarian raged and charged into four of them. He failed to hit, and was unlucky to be hit 3-out-of-4 times in response. One of those was a crit. So, we're talking 4d8+8d6+3 damage. He took over 50 points, halved due to rage. Still enough to drop him. The 17 HP cleric, 15 HP rogue and 11 HP wizard promptly requested a time-out while they switched to their brown trousers.

It doesn't help that I play hobgoblins as smart (optimal tactical choices), and they're the prevalent humanoid race in my home-brew. Also, they often work in concert with goblins, wolves and wizard/shaman support. If one of their allies can trip a PC or otherwise grant combat advantage to the hobgoblins, it helps to counteract the relatively low hobgoblin +3 attack bonus. At 12 damage per hit, and 24 on the crit, nobody likes facing them in numbers.

Hobgoblins are absolute priority targets for my players, even if there are bugbears or ogres on the field. They've accounted for eight dead PCs since we started playing 5e (only dragons, as a species, have accounted for more lost characters in my two gaming groups).