What Monsters Do you Use?

[TroyXavier]

I like to use various monsters. I do tend towards more classic monsters, but sometimes I like to throw in something they're not expecting.

 

[KB9JMQ]

I use any and all sources that have monsters.
I normally decide on what kind of monster I want, then find the appropriate CR for the party, narrow down to one that fits the environment/situation then tweak it a bit so it will be the monster I want it to be.

 

[Nightcloak]

For my current campaign, I use some of the classics from the MM plus a few extras "dressed up" to fit the game world. Mostly, I use 3rd party monsters to shake things up. Gives the campaign a unique flavor and keeps the veteran players on their toes.

 

[WmRAllen67]

I went with "Real world" beasties, since most of my palette is prehistoric leftovers (more "Pleistocene Park " than "Jurassic Park") and stuff you'd find on the various crypto-zoological websites...

And dead things... lots of dead things...

 

[Raven Crowking]

Thus far, the Lakelands has seen encounters with (in no particular order):

Green Hag
Boars
Deer
Ogres
Kobolds
Lesser Cave Fisher
Elk
Elklord
Dragon (unspecified type)
Goblins
Ravens
Tentacled Horror
Fiendish Giant Spider
Chitine
Bats
Human Cultists
Skeletal Cultists
Fire Beetles
Shadow Skeletons
Shadow Wolves
Wolves
Skeletons
Halflings
Leatherwings (small pterosaurs)
Ghouls
Skum
Aboleth
Monstrous Spiders
Monstrous Centipedes
Giant Ants
Orcs
Treant
Skunks
Various Faeries of Sundry (and often unique) types
Skeletal Dire Bear
Skeletal Car
Monkey Lizards
Gricks
Grell
Displacer Serpents
Dire Corbies
Monstrous Crayfish
Giant Archerfish
Giant Pike
Caryatid Columns
Lesser Shadows
Nasty Trapped Deity
Nasty Trapped Villian
Skitterhaunt Centipedes
Psuedonatural Rats
Mechanical Man
Crystal Ooze
Dread Warriors
Awakened Giant Viper Druid
Various Serpents
Wood Elemental Leopard
Dire Boar
Owlbear
Turtles, Chipmunks, and other Small Animals
Plesiasaurs
Manticore
Carnivorous Sheep
Aquatic Sheep
Donkey
Horses


And, of course, other things that either slip my memory at the moment, or that I don't want to identify for the players (should they read this).

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Did not vote, none of the choices fit. This would be a much better poll with multiple choices.

The Auld Grump

 

[Li Shenron]

Copy... paste!

Odd choices on the poll.

I use a lot of what you refer to as "classic monsters", but I also use a lot of humans & humanoids. I restrict the books I pull monsters from (most of them seem either vastly inappropriate to the region or just downright silly), but at that point I do use a fair few. Undead are pretty common enemies (skeletons & zombies and cannonfodder and vampires, wraiths, ghosts and the like as the heavier models, depending on the situation).

So I'm not sure I can answer your poll as written...

I don't think I have a limit on what to use, but I like focusing of recurring creatures and try to let them develop a role in the world (society, culture...), rather then using lots of different ones and keep jumping to the next, which may give the idea that there is no other world culture beside humans.

 

[Gez]

I'm looking for a theme.

What was confusing me was the sentence "when you pitch monsters at your foes" -- by "foes", do you mean the players?

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I love monsters. The more the merrier I am. I will not buy MMIII until WotC does a second printing of it though.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

I voted "everything in the Monster Manual because that's closest to the truth, but at the same time I have considered running games in settings with only one or two types of creatures. For example, after playing World of Warcraft and gaining my last few levels in Duskwood, I've seriously considered running a game where undead (and perhaps lycanthropes, for that Universal and Hammer horror movie flavour) are the sole antagonists.

Well, undead and necromancers, you know.