What is your favorite D&D monster?

[Wraith Form]

I'm going to cheat a little bit and paste what I've written on another board:

Mine is the Gelatinous Cube.

Fun thread! I agree, Eris--I'd also like to add Carrion Crawler to the list (those phallus-like tentacles make them horrid). Also Owlbears, Displacer beasts, and umber hulks seem "iconic" to D&D. For some crazy reason, I also like Shambling Mounds, partially because their names are so evocative and partially because they don't have to be shambling vegetation mounds, they could be nearly any type of mound....a mound of dirty laundry, a mound of fertilizer & feces, a mound of rusting metal junk, a mound of battlefield corpses, etc. (where it starts to really slip into a construct-type category).

But yeah, ultimately, the Human is the worst monster.

 

[Lasher Dragon]

The latest monster that really had me hoping I'd never face it is the Entropic Reaper from Libris Mortis... just plain nasty.

 

[Tangent Loki]

Girillion -- because it's an obviously mutated monkey. Not only that buts it's way overpowered for it's cr and can eaily rip a wagon in half. I'll never use one against my players though, because of the sheer power of an alblino four armed ape.

But that doesn't make it uncool.

I actually like to use humaniods alot myself, because they have more 'human' motivations, and it makes the game more interesting to me, it's pretty rare that I thow my part against any 'just monsters'.

 

[Geron Raveneye]

Rust monster...always had a soft spot for them silly little buggers, from Day 1 in the Red Box solo adventure on.

 

[Dracomeander]

My favorites depend on what I'm using them for:

Non-intelligent monster: Golem
Intelligent monster: Umber hulk
Monstrous Intelligent Society: Yuan Ti
Iconic singular foe: Dragon
Devious recurring BBEG: PC race eventually gaining an undead template

 

[Swedish Chef]

Ever since a 2ed. Ogre Mage almost destroyed the party, single handedly, I've felt a particular fondness for them. Cone of Cold. Invisibility. Flight. Regeneration. The party was mightily pissed when 2 characters dropped from the initial CoC (party average was about 8th level!). They managed to defeat the OM, but didn't know about the regen. They were more pissed when it attacked them at the next city, in their inn, with a fireball from it's Wand of Fireballs.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

Humans, cuz we just don't get it. But for sheer player-panicky fun, the rust monster. I remember playing in the original Ravenloft module. We'd just encountered Strahd for the first time and beat him back. He retreated in his gaseous form, and we were all high-fiving and strutting around like we were the baddest of the bad. Then someone opens a door and a rust monster falls among us. We were squealing like frightened little pigs trying to climb over each other and escape.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Ettercap. Kobolds are great, too.

 

[MetalBard]

In 3.0 & 3.5? The Aboleth.

I've had lots of fun with them, and nobody ever expects THE ABOLETH!

I do have newfound respect for the aboleth, especially after reading Richard Pett's "The Styes" in Dungeon magazine.

Not many people digging the devils here... ah well.

 

[Bryan898]

Dread Wraith.... I like the grim reaper appearence, and the very evil ability to spring attack through the wall

Pit Fiend would be my second favorite. It's big, evil, intimidating, and has tons of cool abilities to play with. It spreads terror just by looking at it, it can kill you with a bite, constrict you in it's tail, and is extremely intelligent. My players dread being caught with a pit fiend in a deeper darkness spell.