How To Approach D&D Monsters with Adam Lee

When you're talking about D&D monsters, it's important to realize that there is more to them than just their challenge rating. I talked to Dungeons & Dragons creative writer Adam Lee about some of his favorite monsters, about what he likes most about how you have to approach them.

Adam Lee: I love Froghemoth. Froghemoth is super awesome. It's just this total freak and terrifying.

Todd Kenreck: Maybe the ugliest monster.

Adam Lee: Maybe the ugliest monster. I love things from the Fiend Folio. I mean, there's the thought eater is just this weird, bizarro creature and I like things that are kind of funny, from the funny, early days of D&D where things were just bizarre and strange and, I don't know. You wouldn't even think that they are actually monster-like. But they are. We put a lot of them into Annihilation, some of these monsters where you rarely see. I mean, I love the mythic monsters as well, the monster like a sphinx. A sphinx is a great monster. You've got to deal with it in a different kind of way that you would another ... Most people think, "Oh, a monster. I'm gonna go hit it with my sword. I like monsters that you've got to deal with this thing a different way. You've got to use your intelligence to get through or you've got to use your wisdom or you've got to use your ability to invent some kind of unique way yo bypass it. You've got to role play your way through it.

Adam Lee: Dragons, of course dragons are amazing, but, again, I like to use them in a different way. They're not just these giant, flying flame-throwers that just destroy and wreck crap. The dragons are intelligent. I mean, most of them and to be able to actually find a way, like, "Okay. How do I deal with this thing and what does a dragon want and what do dragons represent?" I like kind of an ouroboros thing. It makes you think about what this monster represents in a mythic sense. I mean, in one of our story meetings, I was talking about the Feywild and that things in the Fey realms are actually sort of manifestations of emotions. Anger will manifest as a monster in the Feywild. So a monster will sort of embody this anger or jealousy will manifest as a monster. So I like monsters representing sort of ourselves. They're facets of who we are. I mean, really, when we were inventing monsters as early primates or whatever we did it, we were creating sort of these facets of ourselves and embodiments of our fears or embodiments of our doubts or whatever.

Adam Lee: I love it when a monster takes on that role instead of just like, "Oh, I'm just gonna hit it with a hammer." Something that is out there and is freaky or makes you think about something deeper than just sort of solving it physically.