Favorite Monsters

[Lurker]

As I was working on the ‘group adventure’ for the next domesday – there are still a few rooms open for people to write up, so if you are a DM and want to throw in with the rest of us please do so – I started digging through old notes on adventures I ran back in the day, and remembered all the games I ran back then.

That got me thinking about what monsters I loved to use. I don’t mean monsters I used all the time because they are the standard norm to default to, but monsters I always enjoyed using and would modify the adventure to include them if at all possible.

With that, here are mine – in no particular order

Kobold – they are little and weak on their own, but in a group, in an area they have prepared, they are the masters of ambush and traps.

Leprechauns – well them along with other mischievous puckish fey – if the party is smart enough to treat them (or their area) with respect no issues, and they may be helpful, but if not, and they are angered, oh the fun to be had

Cambion – the original half demon – a demon that (with just a little magic/illusion assistance) can walk freely amongst humanity and be a brutal fighter/assassin – kind of the opposite of my normal character of Paladin

Erinyie / succubus – demonesses/devilesses – to temp and miss lead good adventures . Just how & why are the adventures getting info on all the bad guys they are destroying … in doing so are they actually helping the temptresses by taking care of her opponents … yes I was that twisted a DM

Hags – witchery and brut strength all rolled into one. What more could a DM want, and they make good leaders of other groups of bad guys especially in rural and woodland adventures

And finally

Vampyre – admittedly, I didn’t find them until late in my DMing days, but they are a great late addition. The party is exploring rumors of deaths that point to vampire, so they prepare for that flavor of undead, and then surprise none of it works. Plus they are good leaders of other groups of bad guys in more urban settings

I just realized after reading this, I tend to favor trickery and manipulation than straight hack and slash for my favored bad guys ...

So what are some of yours ?

[KaiserKris]

It may come as a surprise to people who look at my posts in Ye Olde Past, but I'm really fond of demons and devils. Most especially devils.

Especially pit fiends.

Specific Monsters I Adore:
Rust Monsters: They're a little goofy and very, very troublesome for adventurers. I usually play them as being somewhere between innoculous to downright friendly in personality. Problem is, they want to eat that delicious metal on you so badly!.

Goblins: Very much the Paizo-style silly sing-songy pyromaniacs. Dangerous.

Beholders: Technically Wizards property, yeah, but in a home game, nobody will know. They're paranoid and strangely petty along with being immensely powerful and dangerous.

Flumphs: I mean, really they're not monsters at all in the sense of being enemies. They want to help you! They're your adorable weird friends from ... somewhere else. There's just over 20 9-year olds that are very, very familiar with flumphs thanks to me being their teacher.

Hobgoblins: The bigger, smarter, nastier cousins to goblins. They have real pride in their well-disciplined armies and finely honed tactics.

Liches: The ultimate seekers of immortality, the ultimate masters of dark arcane magic. I also enjoy the demilich variant.

[Go0gleplex]

I tend to use whatever monsters lend themselves to the situation. But if I had to pick favorites...

Men. Mankind after all is his own worst enemy.

Kobolds...for much the same reason Lurker gave. Sneaky little bastages that are frequently under estimated and under-played.

Rust Monsters...because they turn tanks into screaming sissies on sight. (lol)

Giant Scorpions...they are dang near impossible to sneak up on and invisibility does nothing to help due to their physiology.

several other monsters noted for camouflage type hunting tactics...

[Rhuvein]

I like using neutral monsters quite a bit. They tend to scare and confuse adventuring parties, simply because they are un-predictable.

As for evil monsters, I really enjoy ogre magi. They are chalk full of great abilities and can surprise and scare the crud of PCs. I generally tend NOT to use them full on, because of their sometimes overwhelming pre-combat spells that can soften (mebbe kill) followed up with their utilization of ogre pets. Watch out!!

[Rigon]

I like Gelatinous Cubes. The guys will tell you why?

And Giants.

R-

[Treebore]

I have a lot of monsters I like. So to pick my most favorites? Hmmmm...

Skeletal Warriors, Death Knights, Vampires, Vampyre, Pit Fiends, Iuz, Dragons, especially Shadow Dragons, Rot Grubs, Prysmal Eyes, Beholders, Balors, Slaadi, the Terrasque, Lolth, Orcus, Grazz't and classed NPC's. Like someone mentioned already, the best bad guys are other humanoids.

[Captain_K]

Fear, paranoia, worry, and uncertainty.. those are some of my favorite monsters. Those four can come cloaked in a skeleton that reassembles itself, a swirling blob of colors that seems to defy all natural laws, a group member possessed by night, or a simple group of orcs which die easily but leave behind a terrible contagion.

[Buttmonkey]

Ogres.

[serleran]

I tend to favor the weak ones, or those with weird abilities, such as nilbog and boggles. Or lava children.

[maximus]

I like Goblins & Hobgoblins, Balors and Pit Fiends, and Giants. Dopplegangers are fun too. I've had a blast with a few of those recently, much to my son's frustration.

[Jyrdan Fairblade]

Orcus is definitely my favorite demon lord.

My favorites include the lowly carrion crawler (I chalk that one up to having the old LJN bendy toy when I was a kid), white dragons, and undead of all stripes.

Orcus

[Captain_K]

I've had great fun with Heccava, trolls, a stone troll and Ghost Dragon recently, orcs, and The Virtuous Seven (Sloth and Wrath).. heck, they're all fun, how could they not be fun?

[Captain_K]

Oh, I nearly forgot Vampires with high level class abilities.. a 23 level thief vampire with 700 years of magic items is only slightly scarier than twins vampires, cleric and mage.. 20th level plus spell casting vampires with demi-god experience and INT.. how could that not be fun!

[alcyone]

Same as everyone else's, the Flumph, maybe the Blink Dog.

[GatewayTodd]

My all-time favorite monster is probably the lich. No matter what the party's level, they always seem to send a shiver up the spine.

[Akeisha Roberts]

I definitely love using some of the classics like Goblins (mean, crafty, and quick), Skeletons (always fun to have a few running around), Rust Monsters (*nom nom nom*), Orcs, the occasional Giant Spider, and Living Statues.

I also have a fondness for Fey types like Dryads, Pixies, Sprites, and Centaurs.

[Lurker]

All nice choices in their own way

You know it is a great psychological example on what each of us likes. Me the tricky and manipulative, others brute strength, others brute power, others the common but playing to their strengths, others twisted in likening rust monsters and the like, others liking the odd ones, then there is the most evil type of DM of all (not naming names here), likening gelatinous cube so the thief can run smack into it and the paladin (played by me) can come within 1 to 2 steps of running into the other, then be worried for the next 3 games until we made it out of the sewers ... yeah most evil of all there

[Persimmon]

Devils, demons, and drow in that order. The first time we went through D1-3 after going through the Giants modules is still probably my favorite old school adventuring memory. More recently I DM'ed a group who went through "A Paladin in Hell" and we all had a blast. Very experienced players using high level PCs. They conquered the adventure and saved the day without having to face Geryon and his consort, who were the big baddies. So I still prefer playing (and designing) either Underdark or Underworld style adventures.