CanadienneBacon
Explorer
Also, not a monster, but the Cleric Trickery domain makes for a SCBAMF villain.
D&D 5E Which monsters have the most exciting powers?
- Thread starter Will Doyle
- Start date
Banderhobb
First Post
Monsters that have interesting movement options like burrowing and flying, and monsters that have powers with synergy. I once made a custom balor with a fire aura that discouraged melee, and a stunning condition on its opportunity attacks. It had quill demon minions that shot poison spines against characters that disengaged. So the players needed to choose between risking a debilitating poison that would last through the fight and a one round stun, or the balors fire aura.
Imaculata
Hero
I've occasionally created home brew powers for my monsters, especially when it came to boss monsters.
Environmental attacks
I once created a Forge Golem who could pour molten steel into the arena, by pulling a chain on the ceiling. Each time this would shrink the size of the area that the players could safely fight in. He would also attempt to drop it on top of the players, especially if they were standing close together.
Feeding tube
I created a mindflayer boss once, who had some kind of wall mounted feeding tube attached to its back, that would heal him each round. Once the players figured this out, they first focused on severing the tube, before proceeding to deal damage to the boss.
Singing statues
The aforementioned Forge Golem was accompanied by four animated statues that produced a magical sonic effect that boosted the power of the boss. The appearance of the statues gave a clue to what their effect was. For example, a blindfolded statue caused melee attacks against the boss to have 50% miss chance. A statue with its mouth sewn shut, caused spells used against the boss to have 50% spell failure chance. An armored statue provided the boss with damage resistance. And the fourth and last statue, looked like a monk, and gave the boss regeneration. Bards could counter the effect of a statue with their music, and any silence effects of course also worked. However, since the statues were animated, they would of course attempt to get out of the area of effect of any silence spell. The players had to prioritize which statue to destroy first, and they had to split up to also keep the boss busy.
Environmental attacks
I once created a Forge Golem who could pour molten steel into the arena, by pulling a chain on the ceiling. Each time this would shrink the size of the area that the players could safely fight in. He would also attempt to drop it on top of the players, especially if they were standing close together.
Feeding tube
I created a mindflayer boss once, who had some kind of wall mounted feeding tube attached to its back, that would heal him each round. Once the players figured this out, they first focused on severing the tube, before proceeding to deal damage to the boss.
Singing statues
The aforementioned Forge Golem was accompanied by four animated statues that produced a magical sonic effect that boosted the power of the boss. The appearance of the statues gave a clue to what their effect was. For example, a blindfolded statue caused melee attacks against the boss to have 50% miss chance. A statue with its mouth sewn shut, caused spells used against the boss to have 50% spell failure chance. An armored statue provided the boss with damage resistance. And the fourth and last statue, looked like a monk, and gave the boss regeneration. Bards could counter the effect of a statue with their music, and any silence effects of course also worked. However, since the statues were animated, they would of course attempt to get out of the area of effect of any silence spell. The players had to prioritize which statue to destroy first, and they had to split up to also keep the boss busy.
Ralif Redhammer
Legend
Ah, mimics, the monster that always seems to work, no matter how many times I use them.
L
lowkey13
Guest
*Deleted by user*
KahlessNestor
Adventurer
I'm kind of partial to oozes, especially the gelatinous cube. Had a paladin fail his perception check and walk right in. He was carrying the torch.
JackOfAllTirades
Explorer
Generally speaking, I think NPCs with class levels are the most interesting adversaries, whether they're referred to as "monsters" or not.
For the first session of my new campaign, I wanted to start my players off at 3rd level, and decided the "boss fight" for their first adventure would be a human Warlock. (Great Old Ones) But the players said "Actually, we'd rather start at 1st level, thanks." So I had to do some quick re-tooling, and after his cultists failed to dispatch them, the Warlock left and sent his Imp familiar to spy on the PCs.
I must say, for such a low CR, Imps have a lot of interesting powers! And the party really had a tough time dealing with him....
Fractal Rabbit
Explorer
I can hear the DM's cackle of glee from here...
Regarding kobolds, I was once in a group whose DM played kobolds as if they were the Viet Cong. I remember a 5th level Paladin (2E, wearing full plate) failing a save and being held (but not crushed) under an enormous piece of tree that swung down on him. He was only pinned.
But, it happened in one foot of water so he drowned.
He may have survived had he stayed with the group (and the thief who was earning his pay checking for traps) but the Paladin, being played to the hilt (har har har...) didn't want anything to do with him. So he left him behind.*
Good times. Good times.
*Off topic, but the guy who played the Paladin was kind of a d-bag. He was one of those players that once he heard the other PC was a thief, kept making a big deal out of it ("I would never sully myself consorting with the likes of you, thief!"). The only problem was, the DM allowed the old 2nd Edition Kits, and so the other PC was only technically a thief. His Kit was something like a MacGyver/Investigator (I don't quite remember the name of the kit) and his alignment was NG and he didn't actually steal stuff. Guy was a d!@&.
Chaosmancer
Legend
I suppose the real question is what we mean by "exciting"?
Cloakers have a few interesting abilities, like their frightening moan and illusory duplicates as long as they are in shadows.
Spores are interesting effects, a couple creatures have them like Vrocks or Myconids, but clouds of deadly dust a pretty scary, especially if they can be just floating about without the creature itself nearby.
A personal favorite though is the Goblin's Nimble Escape. My players fear goblins now, since the little buggers are so hard to pin down and so good at hiding.
Cloakers have a few interesting abilities, like their frightening moan and illusory duplicates as long as they are in shadows.
Spores are interesting effects, a couple creatures have them like Vrocks or Myconids, but clouds of deadly dust a pretty scary, especially if they can be just floating about without the creature itself nearby.
A personal favorite though is the Goblin's Nimble Escape. My players fear goblins now, since the little buggers are so hard to pin down and so good at hiding.
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