What's the quintessential D&D monster?

[Mighty Halfling]

What about the Tarrasque?

The Tarrasque is based on a French monster-myth. Come on with a name like that you had to know!

 

[jdavis]

Displacer Beast
Hell Hound
Blink Dog
(ok actually it's the Umber Hulk, I got the old hard D&D toy one around here somewhere.)

 

[johnsemlak]

Not even close to the truth. The very term 'Drow' has been used at least as far back as the Icelandic sagas. Even then it referred to a dark elf, also known as a svartalf.

Begs the question: How did they get a copyright on that?

I beg your pardon

The drow as they appear in D&D are pretty much a D&D creation straight up. The Gygax Q&A thread and other discussion threads discuss this in detail. Yes the word 'drow' was taken from old tales, but certainly icelandic sagas didn't speak of subterreanean dark elves wielding hand crossbows and worshipping spiders.

Again, the drow are straight up D&D.

 

[Yummysnake]

Beholder, albeit for slightly different reasons.

From a game standpoint, beholders are just rocking monsters. They offer a ton of coolness. They are one of the few monsters that isn't underpowered (relative to the party) by a concept taken from mythology --

Ya. I gotta agree with you on all these points. Beholders are scaaaaaaary.

 

[Greyhawk_DM]

Hobgoblins
Giants

 

[tetsujin28]

It's all about the otyugh and neo-otyugh.

 

[Warbringer]

I know it's a little later (FF), but Death Knight.

Beholder
Lich
Drow

While they are not creations of the game they are definately monters that shape its flavor

 

[Farland]

Rustmonster all the way.

 

[Rel]

Now see, I think you're disqualifying list is flawed.

The creature that most makes me think of DnD is the Orc. Nothing screams DnD more than an Orc - even if it does originate in other sources.

Agreed. And if it can't be the Orc, then I say it should be Pie. Orc and Pie go together.

I know you're probably thinking, "Rel, Pie is not a monster." But this is 3E. I'm talking about Fiendish Pie. Gelatinous Fiendish Pie.

That's bad-ass pie, man.

 

[Halivar]

That's bad-ass pie, man.

Unless it's a strawberry gelatinous fiendish pie.

Then it's much too tasty to be taken seriously.