From recent personal experience, if you're a first level PC with nine hit points that giant spider that just bit the barbarian for ten is pretty darn scary.
The Carrionette. Beyond just looking creepy and having the ambush ability of a mimic, their ability to trap you in their body while they walk around in yours is pretty darn horrifying.
Honorable mention for the Dullahan. Out of all the monsters in VRG< which has one of the highest-quality bestiary sections of any book I've purchased? This one has stood out to me the hardest and lived in my memory the longest. This is a critter whose every single axe stroke has a five percent chance of simply ending you. No death saves, no Whack-A-Mole Healing Word nonsense, none of it. if the Dullahan crits and you flub that Con save? Off with your head. Straight to the Dead pile with you, and most resurrection magic can't even help because your head's off. Revivify isn't going to fix your head being off. This is a critter that can threaten characters of any level, kinda no matter what. Doesn't matter how phat your lewt is, how thicc your HP is, or anything else. If the dullahan gets lucky? You're simply dead. Which is a degree of ballsy Wizards has not been for quite some time, even if they lacked the balls to just let it happen without the save. Frankly if I were running the monster, that Con save to avoid declapitation would not exist - if it crits, you ded. Monsters don't get saves against a vorpal sword, players don't get saves against a dullahan's vorpal battleaxe.
From recent personal experience, if you're a first level PC with nine hit points that giant spider that just bit the barbarian for ten is pretty darn scary.
The Carrionette. Beyond just looking creepy and having the ambush ability of a mimic, their ability to trap you in their body while they walk around in yours is pretty darn horrifying.
Not powerful, but hard to deal with.
Shadow
Honorable mention for the Dullahan. Out of all the monsters in VRG< which has one of the highest-quality bestiary sections of any book I've purchased? This one has stood out to me the hardest and lived in my memory the longest. This is a critter whose every single axe stroke has a five percent chance of simply ending you. No death saves, no Whack-A-Mole Healing Word nonsense, none of it. if the Dullahan crits and you flub that Con save? Off with your head. Straight to the Dead pile with you, and most resurrection magic can't even help because your head's off. Revivify isn't going to fix your head being off. This is a critter that can threaten characters of any level, kinda no matter what. Doesn't matter how phat your lewt is, how thicc your HP is, or anything else. If the dullahan gets lucky? You're simply dead. Which is a degree of ballsy Wizards has not been for quite some time, even if they lacked the balls to just let it happen without the save.
Frankly if I were running the monster, that Con save to avoid declapitation would not exist - if it crits, you ded. Monsters don't get saves against a vorpal sword, players don't get saves against a dullahan's vorpal battleaxe.Please do not contact or message me.
Mind Flayers and any creatures connected to them (Elder Brains, Intellect Devourers, Oblex, et cetera). Pretty easy to understand why, too.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms