D&D 5E Your Personal Favorite "Old School" Monsters

[Ralif Redhammer]

Carrion Crawlers. They're lowly but fighting one can easily go really pear-shaped. I had the toy as a kid, and reacquired it as an adult to decorate my desk at work.

 

[Aaron L]

Also read the descriptions and really sell them like it's something new. Most players forget details. I once gave detailed imagery of a group of orcs attacking. When I finished describing the 6 to 7 foot tall orcs as per monster manual my party ran from the "Ogres" . I had to leave the room to keep from laughing.

That's actually a retcon I really dislike. Orcs were originally Lawful Evil and the same size as Elves, and Half-Orcs were the same size as Half-Elves (just look at the the height/weight charts in the 1E DMG and the size comparison illustration in the 1E PHB) not at all the gigantic hulking Chaotic Evil brutes they became in 3rd Edition. (The Orcs in the Mines of Moria as portrayed in the Fellowship of the Ring movie were just right.) They received a bonus to Strength because they were tough and wiry, not because they were great big.

Unfortunately some people saw that bonus to Strength and lazily assumed "that must mean they're supposed to be huge!" And it has unfortunately stuck ever since. I think the Elf-sized but savage and strong Orc is much more interesting, much less blatant and stereotypical.

It's same problem as with The Hulk, going from normal man-height but bulky to a humongous monstrosity over the decades.

 

[zarionofarabel]

Carrion Crawler and Rust Monster!

 

[ART!]

I'm not sure if this 100% qualifies, but I do love me some wyverns. It's a good bet that any D&D game I run will have wyverns in it at some point.

I think I just like the word "wyvern", and I'm pretty sure I first heard of them from playing D&D all those years ago...

 

[Zaukrie]

Not really old skewl, but I love the Kaorti as beings from the far realm.....

crazy derro are a favorite. roper. berbalang. the gith. grell. hook horror.

 

[Wasteland Knight]

Grell. Giant, floating brains with a squid beak and paralyzing tentacles. Also immune to lightning!

 

[Tonguez]

Otyughs are awesome sauce, I love having them stomping around sewers and burrowing under old trash heaps.
(I also used a giant aquatic Otyugh who was being worshipped as a god (the villagers would throw sarcrifices into his sea cave) as a villain in one adventurer.)

I also really like Umberhulks and get confused when I dont see them.

Of course Shambling Mounds just havent been the same since Alan Moore made them elemental champions of The Green

 

[Aaron L]

Grell. Giant, floating brains with a squid beak and paralyzing tentacles. Also immune to lightning!

Oh yeah, Grells are great!

 

[Sacrosanct]

Cave fisher
Owlbear
Aspis drone
Umber hulk

 

[Mistwell]

I think I will always love owlbears. There is something so absurd and yet lovable about their image.