Where do your monsters come from?

[robjh]

Mostly MM, MoFaerun, and the freebie netbook of beasts . Haven't had much use yet for MM II or Fiend Folio.

 

[Bendris Noulg]

...where do all of these top carnivores actually come from? How can they possibly all survive in such large numbers?

DM's with no sense of verisimilitude.

 

[Minicol]

Where do the monsters you use as a dm come from? Do you mostly use the Monster Manual, mostly WotC books, mostly something else entirely?

Myself, I tend to use a lot of WotC monsters, mostly because I mostly own WotC monster books. I hear Monsternomicom is great, though, and would love to pick it up.

Hiya Jester,

The answer is : EVERYWHERE I can get some ! Especially if they have a cool look. Mostly this means old favourites from previous eds in WOTC books, but also anything D20 with a decent illustration will do. lately, I have been running a vs Chaos campaign, so a weird look helps.

As a sidenote, I use an Access database to keep track of all the monsters I know. there are around 6000 entries.

 

[Minicol]

Hmmm, when I read the title of this thread I thought it was going to be a serious discussion of monster overpopulation in D&D worlds -- where do all of these top carnivores actually come from? How can they possibly all survive in such large numbers?

Hmm... if you take out the outsiders (outside ecology), the constructs (do nothing), the undead (locked in their tombs)... and a lush ecology, this is rarely a problem, until high level when there are so many different types of Dragon to kick. The worse case to me is in Draconomicon, when you have some kind of gargantuan DESERT dragon. and it does not seem to eat sand...

 

[Prothall]

Well, recently I've mostly used the Fiend Folio (which is great), the Monster Manual, and some templates or monsters from Dragon, though I tend to change things up a bit. For example, I once used a Bebilith, but changed the eye rays so two dealt cold damage and two made people turn into ice (instead of stone). I do have a lot of monster books, though, and one I noticed that I haven't used recently was the Tome of Horrors. I love the book, but my players are at that stage where they need CR 15 encounters to even break a sweat, evil little munchkins that they are. Also, I don't think I've ever used a monster from the Creature Collection (I only have the original first one), except possibly after writing the stats from the ground up. Oh, and the Monster's Handbook is great even if you don't use the system in it as printed.

 

[RichGreen]

Hi,

Monster Manual mostly, but I've used quite a few from MM II in the last year. For my new Lands of Intrigue game, I'll be using more "new" monsters from Monsternomicon, Creature Collection 1 & 2 etc and less standard critters.

My epic game is set in the Abyss, so I've been using fiends from MM II & FF, and will be using some of the undead from Ghostwalk.

Cheers


Richard

 

[ForceUser]

Where do the monsters you use as a dm come from? Do you mostly use the Monster Manual, mostly WotC books, mostly something else entirely?

I use various WotC hardcover books for monsters, and I often tweak them a bit so my well-read players won't know exactly what they are capable of. I have bought Creature Collection I & II as well as the Monsternomicon, and I have found them all to be disappointing.

As an example of what I mean by "tweaking" monsters, I might run my PCs into a band of stone giants, but describe them as being hairy cyclopskin. So now I have a group of new monsters with unknown capabilities with no extra work on my part, and my players are none the wiser until a few rounds of combat have passed.

 

[jerichothebard]

Almost entirely from the SRD.

 

[DragonLancer]

Hmmm, when I read the title of this thread I thought it was going to be a serious discussion of monster overpopulation in D&D worlds -- where do all of these top carnivores actually come from? How can they possibly all survive in such large numbers?

Why bother? The world's of D&D are fantasy realms. I'm sure that any player or DM even bothering to consider such a thing is taking it far far too seriously.

 

[Pants]

I use mostly the MM3.5, being that most foes my players face are either classed humanoids or 'old favorites.'
I have however made use of the MMII, Fiend Folio, and the Book of Vile Darkness on occassion. I have used the Creature Collections a couple of times along with the Tome of Horrors, but those are very rare occurences.
Right now, in one of my campaigns, the PC's are mercs in a war against Hobgoblins (low level) and in the other High-Level campaign, they've faced against demons, high level spellcasters, undead, a few dragons, and giants.