Favorite Monster?

[brekkers]

I was just looking through the d20 book called Monster Ecologies, reading about the various designers favorite monsters... which got me thinking...

What is my favorite monster from any of the D&D games? In fact, what is my favorite monster from any system? O yeah...and why?

I would have to say...the Barghest. Its a very cool monster; it looks cool, has cool powers and has various level of power, which makes it useful at many different levels of play. Also, the barghest is tied to goblins...possibly one of the oldest monsters in the world that everybody knows. Being shapechangers makes them useful in any terrain as well, and they are not just your average "stupid" monster, they have plans...besides finding the next meal, which is something a cool monster should have.

You could place a barghest at the head of a goblin warband, you could use it as an assassin, a councillor to an orc War Chief, or perhaps they just run one of the nastiest thieves guilds in the city.

Also, here is something you probably didn't know about the barghest...its a real-world mythical beast...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barghest

Lets hear a few stories about your favorite monsters...

- Brek

[Barrok]

This differs for different systems for me D&D will always be Beholders - Eye Tyrants are super geniuses and have the destructive capability of taking so many down with them - couple this with using certain aspects in The Lord of Madness .. and well they just are ever so loveable.

Rolemaster - the wolverine.. yep a wolverine - nothing can take down a low level party quicker than a humble wolverine. - With its sharp claws I have scored a critical which had decapitated one player within the first 20 mins of play.

Call of Cthulhu - The Young of Shub Niggurrath - nasty foresty monster causing insanity and mayhem..If I were going for the big gods - I personally like Azathoth as the sheer image of a dancing moron of indescribably power and malevolence.

Space Master - any person with a Magnetic Linear Accelerator Rifle - death from 2000 meters away.. or a crazy person with a mark V Plasma Grenade

Marvel Super Heroes - Absorbing Man or the Wrecking Crew.

[Firefox15]

gotta go with a wolf pack, cause they could keep track of the group at a distance, all the while shielding the total number of pack members until the group gets jumped and then gets quickly overwhelmed by a group of 6-7 wolves surrounding them.

[MindForge]

This is a three-way tie for me due to the circumstances within a game. I would have to say that my favorite swarm/early level monster is the Gnoll, even more so with the new 4th edition rules for their hyena-like abilities. The gnoll is versatile as any creature and they feel like they can fit any role really well.

The second in this trio of ties I have to go with B on this one. The beholder is a creature to be feared in the hands of a good DM. It is also one of the coolest NPC's you can have once you step back from the monsterness of it and delve into the actual individual. I have made a few memorable beholders that my characters loved to hate and finally loved to kill.

The third is my favorite for mid to high levels. The dragon is indispensable. In fourth edition dragons have become fearsome enemies indeed too, with surprises around every corner when fighting them.

[Delta]

The Tojanida.
It's like a really huge turtle, except with more holes in the shell. And it can choose which appendage to stick through what hole at any time. Of course it's aquatic so that's kind of a downer, but still. A NPC wizard had one as a guardian, and the piratey PC knew Aquan and could communicate with the Trojanida. It was fairly intelligent, just seemed a bit confused. Until the PC figured out it actually had the short-term memore of a goldfish.
And it was hungry. They had to keep explaining it that it couldn't eat them, and finally wound up offering it some porridge... of course the monster didn't know what the hell porridge was (and kept asking over and over).

They eventually set it free into the open oceans.
Where it still roams to this day.
And if you speak Aquan and the currents flow the right way, sometimes you can hear its lonesome voice in the distance... "WHAT'S PORRIDGE?!"

So that's the Tojanida.

[MindForge]

And the award to the most feared monster from players: The Rustmonster.

This is a definite favorite just due to player fear. You can take a few of these, even 10 levels beneath the characters and they will run away or find ways to get away from them. I have watched grown warriors run in sheer fear from a baby rust monster and it has made me giddy with glee. I can just see these cute little dog sized rust monsters making little rust monster baby noises happily chasing a warrior gripped with fear as if facing the worst demons from the lowest levels of the abyss.

[Firefox15]

what about a group of behirs attacking the group, nothing will freak them out more than seeing a bunch of serpents slithering toward them and then at the last moment a dozen legs pop out and the beast closes the distance between them quicker than imagined and that causes the group to run like chickens.

[Niko_Kaze]

Kobolds, Goblins, and Dragons, with those I can rule the world.

Kobolds for the sneaky stuff, goblins to fill the hordes and dragons... well do I really need to explain dragons.

[Kurogo]

Oozes. They're terribly underrated monsters that are wholly capable of putting a party into the ground faster than you can say Acidic Death. The variety of flavors in recent expansions has made them all the more interesting.

[Sunfist]

To the original post's link: You have no idea how much time I've spent surfing around Wikipedia getting awesome awesome monster ideas to put in my campaigns. There's so much cool stuff on there. "See also" is awesome.

[Niko_Kaze]

Actually something in the original post does hit one of my (man) annoyances. The ignorance of mythology, ancient religion, and folklore in both modern and role playing society. When I mentioned I was unhappy that the only were-creatures in new WOD were werewolves someone else said, "that's because only werewolves actually appear in folklore." It was ignorant, arogant and wrong. Besides if that were actually the case I would point out that lycanthropy was a curse according to folklore and did not include hunting down rogue spirits in some alternate dimension.

Most of the monsters in the Monster Manual are based in mythology:
Medusas, Chimeras, Dragons, Cockitrice, Oozes, Barghest, Behir, Wyvern, Zombies, Were-creatures, Kobolds, all the fey races, and almost everything else comes from mythology or misunderstand of natural occuring creatures.

Another example of this shows itself in character races. Halflings being thin athletic without fear living a traveller's life? Completely of base from the base stock these came from. Read the Advanced D&D and 2ed write up for these. Slightly Portly homebodies that just want to live in comfort. Elves that where supposed to be the race closest connect to the fey, nature, and magic are just becoming an "advanced declining race" like the Eldar or (in my opinion) mind flayers. Gnomes have taken their spot in the "wild nature magical" world. Especially if you look at all the "elfhate." Most of it is people complaining about the fluff for elves without even knowing where the history behind it comes from.

I find the lack of connection in the modern world understandable, people are content in their ignorance and even arogant about (politics are a prime example of this, "I don't care what the *elitist experts* say..." Hello! I do care they are experts for a reason and if they are *elite* experts I bet they have a better idea of what's going on than you do). But I would expect a little bit better knowledge among role-players, whom should see and read about it more often.

Sigh [/rant]

[xaotik1]

Green Slime. . .if they had an IQ at all, they would be the only living thing on the planet. Too stupid to die, and the more it eats, the bigger and badder it gets. It's also just about the best thing you can put in a vial attached to the end of an arrow. . .eaten from the inside out.

[Barrok]

Another example of this shows itself in character races. Halflings being thin athletic without fear living a traveller's life? Completely of base from the base stock these came from. Read the Advanced D&D and 2ed write up for these. Slightly Portly homebodies that just want to live in comfort. Elves that where supposed to be the race closest connect to the fey, nature, and magic are just becoming an "advanced declining race" like the Eldar or (in my opinion) mind flayers. Gnomes have taken their spot in the "wild nature magical" world. Especially if you look at all the "elfhate." Most of it is people complaining about the fluff for elves without even knowing where the history behind it comes from.
[/rant]

Well lets face it most of the monsters which are the staple of fantasy games came from Tolkein and mythology - I too think it would be nice if people could invest a bit of their time just to read p on some of the stories behind such creatures to actually get a feel for them. Let's face it how many people are going to talk in raptures about Bellaphon slaying the Chimera by throwing a spear with a lump of lead tied to its head into the monster's fiery belly (sorry if I have ruined the story - go read it)

[/rant]

[Niko_Kaze]

My understanding was that the head of the spear was made of lead and the chimera's fiery breath melted it as it went down it's throat. However this is just another example, these myths run with a thousand variations each one says something important about the society, the mythology, and the philosophy of the person telling it, which adds to the richness of a RPG.

[Barrok]

Most definitely. I used to have as a child a book on hero and deity myths - a cool present for a would be geek - It had tales of Thor battling giants, Beowolf, Bellaphon, some of the trials of Heracles etc, this book was also coupled with a book of Korean Folf Stories (which are really weird but fantastic - my mum at the time was taking an A level in Korean and got this book.) So from that I made several monsters for 1st edition which mimicked The various fox spirits of eastern mythology

I think my most favourite monsters.... overall .... are the animal generals from 1st edition Oriental Adventures Where you could if you wish rein act MOnkey and Trippitaka.

[VoidPointer]

Well, my favorite monsters are probably dragons, but to add something to the discussion, I will say this: I've always thought that pixies have major potential as antagonists if you altered their alignment to reflect the whole "seelie/unseelie" thing where the NICE pixies were at best CN.

[MindForge]

If I had to go with the new 4th edition monsters, I would have to go with Orcus in the Monster Manual. I just want to make people make 30th level characters so I can kill them. Just the auras are enough to send a player party running. He attacks anyone that gets near him as an immediate reaction. He literally just spawns undead automatically and heals them with necrotic bursts. Touches that kill and on a miss instantly make an opponent bloodied.

Good god Orcus is a stomper. Ok. If I had to go with a normal monster... Beholder, hands down.

[Mask]

Kobolds. My players fear kobolds. Kobolds are weaklings and cowards, but they KNOW that they're weaklings and cowards and plan accordingly. At least with dragons, you know what to expect; fire, ice, claws, and death. With kobolds... it could be absolutely anything. Spikes, pits, acid, feral serpents, giant beetles, leeches, flaming oil, collapsing walls, more spikes, glue bombs, caltrops, captive ogres, floods, rusty nails, or improperly sanitized eating utensils.

[Niko_Kaze]

Kobolds are the most broken race in 3.5, and I love them too (now). However I remember back when it seemed like goblins filled the "Nasty little buggers who get you even though they shouldn't" spot. Genies are nice too.

[The Speaker in Dreams]

I've always been partial to Hook Horrors for some reason ... I always liked the look of the toy way back when AD&D had the toy-line. It was big, detailed, and I'd never seen anything like it. It kind of looked like something that would have been at home in the old sort of stop-motion animation films: clash of the titans, 7th voyage of sinbad, etc.

:shrugs: I still like 'em, even though they made 'em into more bug-like things, and much less fantastical, IMO. I just use 'em the way I remember and keep the same stats. Cosmetic change, but it works. ;)

[Niko_Kaze]

You know Hooked Horrors where always one of those monsters I didn't want to meet in the underdark. I never faced one but they always seemed the type that would rip one of my wizard characters to shreds.

[Firefox15]

if you really want to freak out an adventuring party, send them up against an entire betallion of Troglydite warriors hell bent on killing the party.

[Grumpy Old Man]

BULETTE, first real campaign I was driving our wagon behind 2 mules after we had carefully chosen our gear and had dumped it all in the wagon. A Bullette came up and we lost our wagon and gear, 2nd Bullette came up and we lost our mules, I hate Bullettes.

On the other hand the really nasty monsters are rats and pigeons, wings being the only difference between them. They eat your lunch then make a deposit on whats left and they don't say thank you, how do you do or ......... well rats and pigeons are the real monsters.

[Scorch]

well rats and pigeons are the real monsters.

I do believe a good old 3.5ED fireball or chain lightning or possibly magic missiles (for you low level vermin killers) would deal with your pigeon in a efficient and spectacular way.

[Firefox15]

or you could do like Randy Johnson did and start hurling 90+ mph fastballs and explode the pigeons on contact. As for the rats, you could try to use someone like Bill Murray's character from Caddy Shack to deal with the problem, but he might blow up your house in the process,

[Niko_Kaze]

"Fire 3 to ensure the complete destruction of the building, then lit 2 set to wide dispersal to pick off any survivors!"
-- Black Mage, on how black magic can help an orphanage on fire.

Seems like an appropriate solution here too.

[Grumpy Old Man]

Really neat solutions for the rat and pigeon problem, maybe not so practical for a L1 Fighter. I suppose I could use my flint and steel and light a whole mess of oil soaked torches but I'm thinking both the winged and 4 legged rats would get out of throwing range before I could throw.

[Nils]

i vote for shapeshifters. saving the beautiful princess seemed to be an easy job. and then... not only the princess already dead, led into a trap and seemingly one of your oldest comrades seems to be the traitor...

that is nasty.