Your Favorite Monsters, And Why

[Stormonu]

As the title says: What's your favorite monster(s) and what is it about them that you like? Also, how often do you actually see them used (or use them if you DM) in a game?

Hiding my choice so I don't influence others....
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My favorite would be dragons, generally all of them, but most especially red dragons (Smaug & Vermintherax from Dragonslayer being the big ones I remember/love). Big, powerful, arrogant spellcasting lizards with searing halitosis in the D&D game. What's not to love?

For actual use, I've only ever used 4 red dragons in my games - Azuth the Destroyer, Zamingara the Burning, Blazer the Betrayer, and Fracas the Young.
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[Aberzanzorax]

Hmmm. Good topic.


I'd say that my favorite type/category of monsters would be fiends. Of them, I suppose my most favorite are the Yugoloths.

I love the string pulling "behind the scenes" aspect of them (not to mention that they provide the opportunity to use both demons and devils in a plot arc or campaign.

Of the Yugoloths, I have to go with the ultroloth. I like the very fitting but also somewhat mishmoshed collection of abilites that they have, as well as their specific role.

Heck, "Aberzanzorax" is the name of a powerful Lich Fiend Ultroloth, Fiend of Blasphemy from my last 3rd edition campaign.

So, yeah. Ultroloth.

 

[DMH]

Deepspawn. They are so much fun to design around and can be the most powerful (non divine) creature in existance.
Feed one a formian queen and then it can have an entire hive devoted to its survival.
Feed one a first level kobold sorcerer and then it has tons of magic items for world domination (its spawn can gain levels).
Feed one a doppelganger and it is game over for the local political machine (though the rulers are turned into spawn, the dopplegangers just take their place until the rebirth).

And that doesn't even cover deepspawn that can alter their spawn. Templates and mutations galore.

 

[Gilladian]

Constructs are my favorite in general. Animated objects, golems, and other constructs make creating dungeons so very much more believable. They don't have to have a food source, they can sit and wait silently until the PCs come along, and you can make up unlimited backstories for why they exist. And I do love me a good dungeon!

 

[Hand of Evil]

As game system was not stated:

Skaven - their culture is one of the best documented in RPGs, working from the shadows to bring down mankind. Powerful, stange and dangerous these ratmen use every means possible. They can be smart, cowardly and crazy all at the same time. Man is not their greatest enemy, it is themselves and the lack of trust they have for each other. They are just fun.

In my games they are the "mad masterminds" that come up with crazy devices and plans.

Some of the plans:

• The Warp Stone Zombie Machine, it created a sound and vibration that raised the dead. Build under a graveyard, the zombies would raise and attack.
• Placing of a bomd under the wizard guild. It was a big bomb!

 

[Ahnehnois]

Mind Flayers

Redcaps (MMIII)

Just about any undead

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

Grimlocks.

I've had great success evoking an action/horror feel with them several times by tossing them into D20 Modern.

The PCs, escorted by space marines, are exploring a dark, abandoned spacecraft. The only lights they have are the flashlights mounted on the rifles of the marines. One by one the marines go down, chaos ensues as people start shooting at the darkness.

Great fun.

 

[jbear]

Kobolds: Nasty, evil, and yet vulnerable and weak. Dumb yet sly. Fun to roleplay.

Drow: I love the magpie contrast of their skin and hair. Thoroughly cruel and evil, yet beautiful and complex. Depraved and ambitious yet mesmerisingly attractive. The world can forget them because they devote all their wicked energy fighting amongst themselves. Plus stories involving Lollth, undergound matriachal societies governed by heartless beauties wielding snake headed whips and being turned into a drider are always going to be fun.

Gnomes: Nothing like disguising a gnome assassin as a homeless orphan child with a big floppy straw hat selling fruit in the market place, having the group take him under their wing, to then trustingly follow him straight into a deadly ambush in middle of a treacherous faerie gateway to the feywild, located in the heart of a deadly bog. Sheesh, he even convinced them to beg for protection from the "non-existent" fey guardians by dropping gold coins into the mushroom circles. They then obediantly followed his instructions to sleep soundly, promising not to open their eyes no matter what strange noises they might hear. Even after the player who was marked for assassination had a terrible, prophetic dream about their imminent fate, when he awoke feverish, aware of people sneaking towards them, and given one action before something happened, he chose to lay down and squeeze his eyes even more tightly! Now that is trust! My wife had even made a point to snuggle him and hold his hands to make sure he wasn't afraid while he slept in the big, scary bog! Hehehehe. Gnomes! My group will never forget Ol'nick! raaawg!

 

[Jhaelen]

Aboleth, especially in their more slug-like 1e incarnation with the extra strong leader types introduced in one of Dragon's ecology articles.

Also mind-flayers because they represent such a nice counterpoint to the aboleth.

Edit: I generally try to include them (and mindflayers) at some point in every campaign. In my current campaign they actually turned into something almost similar to allies. They kidnapped two pcs and applied psychic surgery on them to turn them into a kind of missionaries:
In their (carefully edited) memories they had the greatest time of their life visiting one of the utopian aboleth cities in the undersea.

 

[ExploderWizard]

As game system was not stated:

Skaven - their culture is one of the best documented in RPGs, working from the shadows to bring down mankind. Powerful, stange and dangerous these ratmen use every means possible. They can be smart, cowardly and crazy all at the same time. Man is not their greatest enemy, it is themselves and the lack of trust they have for each other. They are just fun.

In my games they are the "mad masterminds" that come up with crazy devices and plans.


Some of the plans:

• The Warp Stone Zombie Machine, it created a sound and vibration that raised the dead. Build under a graveyard, the zombies would raise and attack.
• Placing of a bomd under the wizard guild. It was a big bomb!

This for me too.

In non-warhammer context it would be wererats.