Monster's in my Pocket.
My favorites?
I checked iconic D&D. My favorite category, however, is undersea creatures. Open ocean, the deep sea, the ocean floor, and underwater caverns, are all very mysterious and exciting. I like sahuagin, aboleths, kraken, triton, merfolk, shark variations, and most others. Regular monsters, modified to exist underwater, provide something different and challenging when compared to their surface counterparts. This is so even when they are compared to many of the more exotic land creatures. Extremely mundane conversions, in rules and appearences such as say, a goblin with gills and a trident, are obvious exceptions. You can probably guess why I'm not a huge fan of sea elves (though I tolerate them). Creatures designed purely to thrive underwater are strange and alien in both body and mind.
Underwater enviroments are by themselves inherently challenging, but are not nearly as daunting as extra planar enviroments, especially to lower level parties. This gives them greater accesability. The fact that they exist in our own world, unlike the plains, gives them a greater feeling of realism, and gives players and DMs a more fundamental understanding of them. For higher level parties, extra-planar, underwater enviroments populated with aquatic outsiders (along with non-outsider forms of life) provide an alternative use for this type of creature. Under the sea is such a vast enviroment, which can never (by my reasoning) be fully explored and understood. Why then, in a game where such fantastic exploration is possible, even feasable, has so little been devoted to its exposition?
Also, I like my creatures to be xenophobic. However, I can't stand when this facet is exaggerated to the extent that the creatures have no option other than to attack, and ergo be attacked, on site. I also like kobolds, like many other posters. When I use them, I keep their xenophobia in check, and allow PCs, even lawful good ones, to interact with them. They are lawful, and while evil, they are clever enough to interact with others when it suits them. I make the same considerations with mind flayers, sahuagin, and other creatures with intelligence. Consider that humans' xenophobia does not prevent them from interacting with others, even if such situations eventually disintigrate. Role playing is the name of the game. Any monster for which this is not an option is predictable and often boring.
I very much like how with the new edition monsters are easily upgradable. Kobolds for example, can be threats even to powerful parties. if the little guys' group is composed of 10th level fighters and rogues with +2/+3 equipment, and/or they are lead by some 13/14th (approx.) level priests and sorcerers, even high level characters will have to show respect. This is something which would have been unheard of in older editions. Unintelligent monsters can be upgraded with more HD. In their case some of my favorites are beasts like the remorhaz, behir, hydra, vermin type critters (especially when made intelligent), and most magical beasts. So why not combine these methods for upgrading creatures? Who wouldn't like to see a more powerful 4HD or 5HD base creature (maybe sahuagin or kobold) variant, with special powers, maybe even psionics? Then, with the ability to add class levels, you can create a seriously fun, different, and intriguing menace.
On the other hand I've had enough dragons, basic type elementals, and undead. I like these three alot, but I feel that they have been done to death (get the undead pun?). Another overrepresented group are unaugmented animals, especialy when one considers the various supplemental bestiaries. When you add real world references into the mix, mundane animals are probably the creatures least needing additional development.
Keep the creatures' combat tactics, society, and ecology in mind when they are designed. Don't include superfluous, or unexplained abilities. They confuse DMs and often make creatures seem unrealistic. Lets consider a mountain dwelling bat with gills? If it doesn't hunt in (partially?) submerged darkened caverns, such a creature would be silly and confusing. Always keep quality before quantity when it comes to monster references. New and useful information, is always preferable. We don't need any more forgetable critters, or rehashed references dedicated to pre-existing beasts. I hope my post was helpful.
Sincerely,
Bill
