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Your Favorite Monsters, And Why
- Thread starter Stormonu
- Start date
Wiseblood
Adventurer
Hill Giants
They don't have stupid powers to wreck your party dynamic: Hold, invis. Imp. Grab. No level drain. Can't fly no DR.
Just a straight foreward sack'o HP ready to pulverize you. You can generally feel pretty good about yourself for wiping them out. ( they're tougher than almost any non-magical humanoids.)
.... and their bag of goodies.
"What's in the bag?"
"A bunch of Rocks and a dead halfling."
"Awww.... can we kill another one ....please?"
They don't have stupid powers to wreck your party dynamic: Hold, invis. Imp. Grab. No level drain. Can't fly no DR.
Just a straight foreward sack'o HP ready to pulverize you. You can generally feel pretty good about yourself for wiping them out. ( they're tougher than almost any non-magical humanoids.)
.... and their bag of goodies.
"What's in the bag?"
"A bunch of Rocks and a dead halfling."
"Awww.... can we kill another one ....please?"
DrunkonDuty
he/him
I like Orcs 'cause they're versatile.
Dragons 'cause they're iconic.
Owlbears 'cause they're funny looking.
Succubi 'cause of the 1ed MM picture.
Dragons 'cause they're iconic.
Owlbears 'cause they're funny looking.
Succubi 'cause of the 1ed MM picture.
Wik
First Post
Recaps from 4e's MM2 are definitely a cool monster.
Any small-sized, tree-dwelling jungle/forest monster gets love from me: grippli, Tasloi, phanatons... they're all good.
Many amphibious/aquatic monsters are awesomesauce. I love the MM3's Craud, and the Kuo-Toa and Locathah, as well as those Ixitxachitl, are all pretty awesome.
The Balhannoth now has a place in my heart, because it's a monster that can actually scare my players. I'll be using it again, that's for sure.
My favourite, though, is the Squealer, from Expedition to the Barrier Peaks - sound mimicry, and then a GOTCHA! surprise? Love it.
Any small-sized, tree-dwelling jungle/forest monster gets love from me: grippli, Tasloi, phanatons... they're all good.
Many amphibious/aquatic monsters are awesomesauce. I love the MM3's Craud, and the Kuo-Toa and Locathah, as well as those Ixitxachitl, are all pretty awesome.
The Balhannoth now has a place in my heart, because it's a monster that can actually scare my players. I'll be using it again, that's for sure.
My favourite, though, is the Squealer, from Expedition to the Barrier Peaks - sound mimicry, and then a GOTCHA! surprise? Love it.
Shemeska
Adventurer
I'm tied here between two monsters: Baernaloths and Faerie Dragons. Rather different beasts for certain.
Baernaloths - they're the original progenitors and servitors of Evil. They predate mortals, they predate gods, they predate virtually every other entity in the multiverse and most of them have since either abandoned that reality or fallen into madness as victims of their own spiritual entropy. Some of them still take interest in the younger fiends however, and they spin plots that evolve over the couse of millennia.
They're more forces of nature than normal NPCs, and interaction with them is more often a case of being drawn into the current of their influence rather than by a PCs own actions or happenstance. When they do act, the most horrific of acts occurs: worlds burn, gods die, faiths are broken, and blind, pointless misery remains in their wake.
And let's face it. I've written about them... alot... only two of them canonically get named, and I did one of them. 2e really snagged my attention here, and I ran with it in a pair of really long campaigns.
And here's a picture of one of them I used in that campaign - Tellura Ibn Shartalan, the Dire Shepherd, 2nd of The Demented.
[sblock]The arcanaloth howled in ecstatic triumph, his jaws open wide and fangs exposed to the wind, cackling into the opened Well while beside him the ultroloth’s eyes flickered with a burning array of colors and the air crackled with the hum of a telepathic cry. The yugoloths expressed their emotions, what emotions they possessed, in their own ways unique to their caste, but the other… she turned to glance at Xolivrek, the first time she had done so since they’d prepared the ritual to release Shaktari.
“They don’t know that you’re here.” Xolivrek said, coming to that realization. “You’ve said nothing to them, and they’ve said nothing to you since this began. They’re completely unaware of you.”
The girl smiled and nodded as the light from the depths poured forth, and the hiss of a great uncoiling serpent grew louder and louder. Xolivrek noticed for the first time that her shadow was moving, not with her movements, and not with the raging storm of guttering light rushing forth from the opened Well, but independent as if it were a living thing unto itself. Eyes and mouth visible against the surrounding landscape as it curled about the girl’s ankles and pooled at her feet, it seemed as if it too were smiling.
“You’ve done well child.” Tellura Ibn Shartalan said as she leaned forward upon her shepherd’s staff, suddenly standing only a few feet away from the varrangoin. “You’ve given the yugoloths apparent reason for their success, and your brothers will attest to your betrayal, even if it meant nothing to Shaktari’s freedom. You’ve served your purpose, but like Cabiri before you, you’ve seen too much. However unlike the obyrith lord of observation, you’re of no use to us in the future, nor are you one of mine.”
Xolivrek gasped then as he felt something take hold of him, gripping the core of his essence as if it where a physical thing. Tellura smiled, and beside her, rising up independent of her physical form, her shadow sneered and snarled, a moment before it drove some vital fraction of the varrangoin’s essence into the ground like a spike, tethering him to the spot.
Tellura Ibn Shartalan, the Dire Shepherd, second of The Demented smiled and so did her shadow.
“Shaktari is awake, and when she arrives from the Well, she’ll be hungry you see. The dear child, she’ll be so very hungry…”
[/sblock]
Faerie Dragons
And switching gears to Faerie Dragons now. I've had one of these little buggers show up in literally every single game I've ever run as far as I can recall. They're cute, they're sometimes annoying, they like apple tarts, and I give them Wish 1/day with no XP required as a result of it. Of course they usually blow their wishes on something stupid but amusing, but that's half the fun. Combine them with Xaositects and wild magic zones and you're probably in a campaign of mine.
Baernaloths - they're the original progenitors and servitors of Evil. They predate mortals, they predate gods, they predate virtually every other entity in the multiverse and most of them have since either abandoned that reality or fallen into madness as victims of their own spiritual entropy. Some of them still take interest in the younger fiends however, and they spin plots that evolve over the couse of millennia.
They're more forces of nature than normal NPCs, and interaction with them is more often a case of being drawn into the current of their influence rather than by a PCs own actions or happenstance. When they do act, the most horrific of acts occurs: worlds burn, gods die, faiths are broken, and blind, pointless misery remains in their wake.
And let's face it. I've written about them... alot... only two of them canonically get named, and I did one of them. 2e really snagged my attention here, and I ran with it in a pair of really long campaigns.
And here's a picture of one of them I used in that campaign - Tellura Ibn Shartalan, the Dire Shepherd, 2nd of The Demented.
[sblock]The arcanaloth howled in ecstatic triumph, his jaws open wide and fangs exposed to the wind, cackling into the opened Well while beside him the ultroloth’s eyes flickered with a burning array of colors and the air crackled with the hum of a telepathic cry. The yugoloths expressed their emotions, what emotions they possessed, in their own ways unique to their caste, but the other… she turned to glance at Xolivrek, the first time she had done so since they’d prepared the ritual to release Shaktari.
“They don’t know that you’re here.” Xolivrek said, coming to that realization. “You’ve said nothing to them, and they’ve said nothing to you since this began. They’re completely unaware of you.”
The girl smiled and nodded as the light from the depths poured forth, and the hiss of a great uncoiling serpent grew louder and louder. Xolivrek noticed for the first time that her shadow was moving, not with her movements, and not with the raging storm of guttering light rushing forth from the opened Well, but independent as if it were a living thing unto itself. Eyes and mouth visible against the surrounding landscape as it curled about the girl’s ankles and pooled at her feet, it seemed as if it too were smiling.
“You’ve done well child.” Tellura Ibn Shartalan said as she leaned forward upon her shepherd’s staff, suddenly standing only a few feet away from the varrangoin. “You’ve given the yugoloths apparent reason for their success, and your brothers will attest to your betrayal, even if it meant nothing to Shaktari’s freedom. You’ve served your purpose, but like Cabiri before you, you’ve seen too much. However unlike the obyrith lord of observation, you’re of no use to us in the future, nor are you one of mine.”
Xolivrek gasped then as he felt something take hold of him, gripping the core of his essence as if it where a physical thing. Tellura smiled, and beside her, rising up independent of her physical form, her shadow sneered and snarled, a moment before it drove some vital fraction of the varrangoin’s essence into the ground like a spike, tethering him to the spot.
Tellura Ibn Shartalan, the Dire Shepherd, second of The Demented smiled and so did her shadow.
“Shaktari is awake, and when she arrives from the Well, she’ll be hungry you see. The dear child, she’ll be so very hungry…”
[/sblock]
Faerie Dragons
And switching gears to Faerie Dragons now. I've had one of these little buggers show up in literally every single game I've ever run as far as I can recall. They're cute, they're sometimes annoying, they like apple tarts, and I give them Wish 1/day with no XP required as a result of it. Of course they usually blow their wishes on something stupid but amusing, but that's half the fun. Combine them with Xaositects and wild magic zones and you're probably in a campaign of mine.
Mr. Wilson
Explorer
Demons/Devils and Undead.
I believe Shemy called them the "Peanut Butter and Jelly" of evil, and for good reason.
They are very versatile as well, and you can find one subtype that will fit virtually every role you could think as adversaries.
I believe Shemy called them the "Peanut Butter and Jelly" of evil, and for good reason.
They are very versatile as well, and you can find one subtype that will fit virtually every role you could think as adversaries.
Xris Robin
First Post
Someone mentioned mine already, but Owlbears. I dunno why, they're pretty silly. A bear with the head of an owl? And I've never had someone use owlbears (found some in NWN once, though), but I like them anyway.
Also dragons, because... dragons. It sorta explains itself.
Also dragons, because... dragons. It sorta explains itself.
Iron Sky
Procedurally Generated
I'm a sucker for demons, ever since I read the Elfstones of Shannara back in middle-school. It's still one of my favorite fantasy novels.
I also seem to have a thing for constructs lately, between Iron Sky in my last 3.5e (Story hour) game, warforged dragoons in my current 4e game, and and island full of constructs in the PbP adventure I'm running in L4W. Don't know why exactly either...
Of course, there's also dragons. My first 2e AD&D game I ran for a few years in high-school was primarily about dragon slaying - well, aside from keeping an elven prince from overrunning the world with demons. I think the group killed half-a-dozen dragons over the course of that campaign (probably lost twice as many PCs doing so). Dragons were also key in my SH campaign and the party killed one in my 4e game when they were 6th level or so.
I also seem to have a thing for constructs lately, between Iron Sky in my last 3.5e (Story hour) game, warforged dragoons in my current 4e game, and and island full of constructs in the PbP adventure I'm running in L4W. Don't know why exactly either...
Of course, there's also dragons. My first 2e AD&D game I ran for a few years in high-school was primarily about dragon slaying - well, aside from keeping an elven prince from overrunning the world with demons. I think the group killed half-a-dozen dragons over the course of that campaign (probably lost twice as many PCs doing so). Dragons were also key in my SH campaign and the party killed one in my 4e game when they were 6th level or so.
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