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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Estlor" data-source="post: 2713254" data-attributes="member: 7261">I'm kind of picky when it comes to my monsters.  I like monsters that challenge the perceptions of my players.  And I don't mean monsters that use illusions, I mean monsters that work against their expecations.  Most of the people I've played with have been around the block enough times with D&D that they know fire and acid are the only two things that can take down a troll.  Most of them know if you see an armadillo monster with feelers at the mouth, stay away unless you don't have any metal.  They know if a dragon's red it's probably bad, if it's gold it's probably good, and if it's dead it's probably going to be paydirt for their party.So I ask myself before I plan an adventure, "How can I get the most out of my monsters?"  I've found you can usually group monsters into 4 categories: Smart Monsters, Unexpected Monsters, Adaptable Monsters, and PC Fodder.Smart monsters are the monsters that have particular weaknesses, are aware of their weaknesses, and can find ways around their weaknesses.  Take the vampire, for example.  In past editions, submerging him in running water would quickly kill him.  Now, if you play the game exclusively, you'll know vampires have an aversion to water.  Do you know it's running water?  If you don't and I hide the vampire down in a pool of still water, you won't expect him there.  He pops out, and in classic horror film standard, you're lunch.  Or how about the troll?  Why shouldn't a troll find a way to use his fire weakness against the PCs.  Will they try to douse him in fire if he's, I don't know, in a room with smokepowder or standing oil?  Do you risk blowing yourself up to take out the troll, or do you suddenly have to come up with a new plan.  That's what a Smart Monster is all about - using the player's metagame knowledge against them.Unexpected Monsters are the sort your party never sees coming and knows nothing about.  I love the D20 system for this.  There are so many 3rd party monster books floating around that you can usually dig something up to surprise them.  But it's more than just throwing a monster they've never seen at them, it's (I repeat) using a monster THEY NEVER SEE COMING.  Like the Stone Zombie out of Creature Collection 2.  To a player, it looks like a statue.  But not a statue in the, "I'm obviously not a statue," way.  Put it in a spooky house and turn it loose on the party.  If the mage thinks they're smart enough to try and destroy the statue with those anti stone spells, suddenly they've got a normal zombie on their hands.  Yeah, a zombie's not that difficult to take down, but your party never knows what to expect from you, and stops taking certain things for granted.Another version of the Unexpected Monster, which is one of my favorite kind, is the monster that looks like a normal one in the Monster Manual except you've subtly changed it.  Like a troll that is weak against cold and electricity or a dragon that breathes green slime as a breath weapon.  He might look like a green dragon and live in the forest, but that's not chlorine gas coming at you!Adaptable Monsters are monsters you can use as written from the MM but still get a lot of play out of them.  Doppelgangers and other shapeshifters are great for this.  Put the PCs in a situation where they don't know they're dealing with an Aranea or a Doppelganger or a Werewolf and watch them chase their tails for a while until they figure it out.  Maybe they make short work of it when they figure it out, but the challenge is in the hunt, not the kill.And, that leaves poor PC fodder.  They're the sort that get chewed up like meat and spit out.  Of course, 3.X has given us the ability to layer class levels on top, which can turn fodder into a challenge, but very few people will expect much out of a goblin or a kobold.There's a theme here.  Calling a game Dungeons & Dragons implies the fun is in the setting AND the encounter.  The DM's job is to keep things fresh and imaginative, and monsters are the single greatest tools we have.  If an encounter makes a player second-guess themselves and start thinking about tactics, then you've won as a DM.  If you can create more satisfaction than XP and treasure in an encounter, then you've won as a DM.I've got other thoughts - like how I hate wierd extra-planar monsters - but that's more a case of personal preference.  There's no mechanical reason for me to dislike them.  My campaigns just don't usually go that route.(Still fishing for Elements of Magic: Mythic Earth)</blockquote>

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