What monster type do you use / encounter the least?

[Sejs]

Dragons.

I tend to keep 'em big, appropriate, or thematic (or any combination thereof) or just opt not to use 'em at all. They're rare, but when they show up, they're quite memorable.

Fey and Plants actually see a decent amount of play in my game, though that owes a good deal to the characters: out of 4 PCs we have a ranger, a druid, AND a spirit shaman ... and the shaman's a kiloren. A big chunk of the game's theme is Natural vs Pseudonatural, so those naturey creatures get more screentime than they might in another game.

 

[airwalkrr]

It's probably a toss-up between fey, plants, and dragons. But dragons always get at least a little face time in my campaigns, even if it is simply to awe the PCs with their incredible power. Fey and plants on the other hand I can have entire campaigns without on occassion.

 

[ivocaliban]

Oozes, Plants, and Aberrations (shock! awe!) see the least appearances in my game. In a roughly six year campaign I have had one gelatinous cube, and a handful of plant-life and aberrations.

As for Fey, I was rather surprised. I quite enjoy them as encounters, because they're generally not evil, but quite troublesome. It requires a (good) party do more than simply fight or flee. Particularly, if there is a druid or ranger along for the ride.

 

[Robert Ranting]

Elemental.

Somehow, in seven years of D20, I've only used two as a DM (An Elder Earth Elemental and a Belker) and never encountered one as a player in 8 campaigns and numerable one-shots. I attribute much of this to playing Arcana Evolved, where elemental summoning spells tend to be poor choices at any spell level compared to...well, anything else, but a good portion of that gaming was done in 3.x D&D.

Oozes I've seen or used a few times. Fey I've run into at least twice (What is it with Corrupted Dryads anyway?) and since I often run AE, one of the common player races are Sprytes.

The one break from tradition I can see in my patterns is that Plant monsters are relatively common. In my last campaign, I threw a Kelp Devil (ToH), A Red Sundew (MM2) and a Ironmaw (FF) at my party. Each one of them did a number on the party fighter, leading to some interesting running jokes about his being allergic to plants, since he easily destroyed any and every other creature that presented itself within melee or even longbow range. In my current campaign, the party encountered Violet Fungi, Shriekers, Phantom Fungi, and a Tendriculous out of the MM, and both an Ascomid, and numerous Vegepygmies out of the Tome of Horrors. As a player, I've dealt with Shambling Mounds, Corrupt Treants, (come to think of it, I've run both of those as a DM as well), an Ironmaw, Assassin Vines, "Pod People" from an old Ravenloft module, and Sporebats.

I dunno why people seem to avoid plant monsters. They may seem silly, but they're easy to explain (magical contamination, evil druid, alien spores, outsider influence, the land rising up to defend itself, etc.) and mechanically, they have some neat twists.

Robert "Nature, Green in Root and Thorn" Ranting

 

[Wombat]

Very hard to decide.

I dislike so many monsters as presented...

I can say I am a big fan of humanoids and undead, but outsiders, abberations, oozes, plants, and all the rest are only taken in on a case-by-case basis. I mean, how am I supposed to take the Phantom Fungus or the Ethereal Filcher seriously?

 

[Masquerade]

Probably elementals or oozes, although I certainly have nothing against either of them.

 

[Holy Bovine]

Fey. Rarely use them have never encountered them.

 

[Pants]

But dragons always get at least a little face time in my campaigns, even if it is simply to awe the PCs with their incredible power.

Yep.
Even if the players never fight the dragon, they know it's there, I make sure of that.

I dunno why people seem to avoid plant monsters.

For me, it's not really about the silly aspect, just the fact that I run more urban or dungeon/ruin based games. Plants, very rarely, fit into such games.

Meanwhile constructs, demons, humanoids, and aberrations fit well into these games. Elementals get used because everyone loves to summon them.

 

[Ibram]

Thinking back over the years the only creature type that I cannot remember using are constructs.

most campaings have Humanoid, Monsterous Humandoids, Giants (Ogres and Trolls), and a few Outsiders or Abberations.

 

[DragonLancer]

Fey. I like them but they fit a different style of story than I tend to run. Though that may change as in my campaign Drow are unseelie fey rather than elves.

Plant came a close second, except they do get a little use.