D&D 5E Which common monsters/creature types do you exclude from your campaigns?

[Vaalingrade]

The Far Realm is one of the more boring and trite takes on that sort of thing too.

I will never forgive the dumb 'horse sized ticks' line from the 3e MotP.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

This is kind of hard to answer for me, I don't really usually think it form this angle.

I don't have the assumption that just because the system used is D&D all D&D races and creatures are included as a default unless explicitly excluded. Rather I look it from the opposite direction: nothing is included by default, and for each setting I choose what things to include, depending on the style and tone of the setting. I also usually redesign and reconceptualise things to suit the setting and my personal preferences better, so it is not just to include or not to include, but what form will the creature take in this world.

Some examples:

Spoiler: Do you recognise what these are?

(Link for more pics)

Though I'm allergic to centaurs, so those I tend to exclude as a default.

 

[Voadam]

For a while I in 3e I excluded half-races as races. So Half-Dragons might be an individual divine champion powered up by Tiamat or an individual wizard magical experiment instead of from cross-breeding and I had full subspecies like gray orcs with half-orc stats.

It has been a long time (2e and the late 90s) since I used infectious lycanthropes. I am not interested in dealing with the infectious curse of lycanhropy in game, though I love non-infectious wolfwere and WoD style werewolves.

I stopped mostly using energy draining undead as I really do not want to deal with level loss in game, either having it happen or having enough cleric restorations to make it not a problem. Similarly save or die poison monsters. Or age attack ghosts. This was mostly an issue for pre-3e D&D.

 

[Thomas Rainsborough]

Orcs, and that's from long before recent issues.

They're just REALLY BORING and really overused, and have been overused since the mid-1990s at the latest. They have nothing going on, and 5E trying to make them have something going on by that thing being "RACISM" (unintentional as it may be) did not help matters.


I don't hard-exclude them myself, but they're really over-used, so I very rarely include them and tend to have them more as bizarre ancient creatures rather than having them be all "Lovecraftian" in the typical sense. The Far Realm is one of the more boring and trite takes on that sort of thing too.

I do have a soft spot for Beholders, who are technically Aberrations, though.

Also Giants who aren't Hill or Stone giants. I'm just not into these like, "IM A RED VIKING WHO IS 14' TALL AND ON FIRE LOLOLOLZ!!!!!"-type giants, they're so... tacky! So kitsch! So like, ugh... no. No. Just no. They're like something out of a bad videogame, and I've felt that since the '80s! We might as well be fighting sports mascots, but at least that would be kind of funny.

Orcs are a mainstay in the D&D world. Now, mine are all in the north of my world, and the players seldom encounter them. At least in my 5e campaigns. In my 1e game the chars definitely fight Orcs as the chars are low level. And Volo's has presented a beautifully written section expanding on Orcs well beyond the MM. I most definitely have plans for the players to run into the full spread of Orcs in my 5e games, and will port over as much as I can into my 1e game.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I really like orcs. Or at least I like my idea of orcs, not necessarily all D&D depictions of them. They're one of the three major species in my current setting. They're some sort of mix of Warcraft Orcs, Klingons and Burroughs' Green Martians.

Hobgoblins are the ones that I really haven't found use for. They're like disciplined orcs, which to me doesn't seem like a fun niche. I probably would just use humans for hobgobliny tropes.

 

[cbwjm]

I don't use dinosaurs. Not sure if I have angels either, that niche is taken by another race of celestials in my homebrew.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I don't use dinosaurs. Not sure if I have angels either, that niche is taken by another race of celestials in my homebrew.

Thank you for inspiring Angelsaurus.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

And Volo's has presented a beautifully written section expanding on Orcs well beyond the MM.

I think you're confusing "beautifully written" with super-racist.

I mean like super-duper-ultra-KKK-type racist.

Because the description of Orcs in Volos, which you're calling "beautifully written", is basically identical to the description of non-white races in older school textbooks, written by super-racist dudes.

Thank you for inspiring Angelsaurus.

OMG YES.

I really lie orcs. Or at least I like my idea of orcs, not necessarily all D&D depictions of them. They're one of the three major species in my current setting. They're some sort of mix of Warcraft Orcs, Klingons and Burroughs' Green Martians.

Hobgoblins are the ones that I really haven't found use for. They're like disciplined orcs, which to me doesn't seem lie a fun niche. I probably would just use humans for hobgobliny tropes.

This makes sense to me. I think it's really one or the other that most people use. I'm a big Hobgoblin guy, having them as sort of even-more-Evil Romans (as Ancient History and Archaeology student I already regard the Roman Empire as wildly Evil in a D&D sense). But I don't think one really needs both. They have different styles, but not different enough.

 

[Mort]

This makes sense to me. I think it's really one or the other that most people use. I'm a big Hobgoblin guy, having them as sort of even-more-Evil Romans (as Ancient History and Archaeology student I already regard the Roman Empire as wildly Evil in a D&D sense). But I don't think one really needs both. They have different styles, but not different enough.

That's what I do with my hobgoblins (as a matter of fact, I can't even think the last time I used orcs - but I use hobgoblins a lot) - even more evil and even more expansionist Romans.

 

[Bitbrain]

Beasts, Lycanthropes, and Undead.

Beasts — As a DM, I expect you to want to kill monsters, not cause the next extinction event of regular animals.

Lycanthropes & Undead — I’ve played in too many games where the DM wanted to run a horror campaign but couldn’t get the tone right and ended up just throwing nothing but undead or werewolves at the party.

For. Every. Single. Combat. Encounter.

I’ve become so thoroughly sick of fighting undead and lycanthropes that I refuse to use them in my own campaigns.