For some reason one of my favorite monsters is the Gelatinous Cube. I put a gelatinous cube encounter in every campaign. Even if I'm running an official adventure, I'll add a gelatinous cube somewhere along the way. It's actually surprising how many different ways you can design a fun GC encounter. My players have come to expect this and (mostly) look forward to them.
Do you all have a favorite monster that you use frequently? What is it?
To clarify, I have 1 gelatinous cube per campaign, they are not around every corner. But now that I think of that...
Molds. Molds everywhere! ... and stirges. They are more common than bats in my world. I ran an entire adventure based on a semiannual swarm of stirges (like the plagues of old).
I would say giants if my campaign setting wasn't based around the idea of a giant civilization disappearing thousands of years ago. Since they aren't actually in that campaign, I'd don't really have one.
I guess my homebrew ones don't count, since they're in my campaign because my campaign is in a homebrew setting. If I had to pick, I guess I would say dragons. I mean the game is called Dungeons and Dragons, after all. Other than that, I think that every player should face an aboleth at least once, and I love roleplaying them.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
rats, giant rats, and diseased giant rats... Pretty much appear all over for me. Just such a simple, no explanation needed type encounter. Sewers, abandoned temples, back alleys, anywhere could have these varmints and it'd make sense
It varies from setting to setting, but each of my settings always have some sort of signature monster. In the Wild Waste, it's the Sand Dragons, giant moles capable of burning a magical mineral that they swallow and store in their guts as they dig through the sand of the Waste to create a roar powerful enough to shatter bones. In the Archipelago That I Haven't Come Up With A Clever Name For it's the Nefas, deep sea fish and other creatures which have been corrupted, warped, and granted intelligence by some magical material from a fallen star which pierced into their deep sea caves as it fell, who come up in the surface in magical "reverse diving suits" that allow them to survive the low pressures of the surface. In the Shardlands it's the Returned, humanoids and other beings with souls which have returned from life just a few moments after dying due to the broken barriers between the spiritual and material planes, whose minds have been shattered by their return, and who feel hunger, pain, and everything that normal people feel, but cannot heal their wounds, and cannot die from anything short of completely destroying their bodies. If they are not burned or kep fed and uninjured, they are driven mad by the pain and often attack whoever they see.
I don't think I have a "vanilla" signature monster, though I have been considering running a gnoll-based campaign.
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"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
Signature creature meaning use all the time or signature meaning something I homebrew?
The creatures I use most often are gnolls. Bad guys with longbows are fun!
The creatures I use often and I homebrew are badger folk, and mouse folk, and Hoops. I had them in my campaign since I was a college kid. The Hoops are a homage to Gamma World. A few years ago I read Matt Colville's books and he has badger folk and mouse folk too. Makes me wonder if I'm being derivative or cool.
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"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
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"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
My players enjoy being freaked out by my zombies actually. Combat with them is always a gore fest, especially when the "not dead yet" feature kicks in. Just last week (not my most gruesome but hidden for readers not up for it:
"So your Dragonborn acid spray does pretty much flay the bulk of its flesh from its torso. When the brassy mist dissipates you see it's frame arched backward in death stagger, and then it lurches forward to you, ribbons of flesh still capable of raising its arms to thrash at you with gnarled hand bones." "WHY WON'T YOU DIE!" "This isn't the first time this character has said that." "I know, and I was pretty sure I had it dead to rights last round when I said it then too."
Role play wise, good dragons. One's basically a group patron on one of my parties, and she's made introductions to her kind up and down her hierarchy, there's a pair they're always running into on the Infinite Staircase, an appearance a Bahamut's Court could happen much later in game. They're ... eccentric, but they are truly interested and truly _enjoy_ the party, I think they find them a source of validation. I think one of them actually got the party interested in abstract art by touring its gallery with them. Consequently, there are event/developments I need to think through carefully.
Nothing established for me yet, but I'm a big fan of Nothics and Blink Dogs.
Nothic's Wierd Insight makes them a great way to poke and prod the PCs in compelling ways, and their background as Cursed Arcanists is drenched in mystical drama. I'm toying with creating one that has regained it's self awareness. I'm excited to explore the psyche of something that has lost itself on the other side of overwhelming madness and returned.
Blink Dogs are just great, because who wouldn't love a teleporting pupper that is smarter than the average humanoid?
Nothing established for me yet, but I'm a big fan of Nothics and Blink Dogs.
Nothic's Wierd Insight makes them a great way to poke and prod the PCs in compelling ways, and their background as Cursed Arcanists is drenched in mystical drama. I'm toying with creating one that has regained it's self awareness. I'm excited to explore the psyche of something that has lost itself on the other side of overwhelming madness and returned.
Blink Dogs are just great, because who wouldn't love a teleporting pupper that is smarter than the average humanoid?
Sympathetic/friendly Nothics are the best, hands down.
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"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
Gelatinous Cubes and Mimics. In my current campaign both have been weaponized by villainous factions. They make appearances at the most unexpected times.
Had to determine once if Gelatinous Cubes can float. That was interesting research.
I think if you asked the party I DM for, it would either be vampires or mimics. In my first (homebrew) campaigns I used quite a few mimics. After that I ran CoS and have continued the party past the end of that further into a dark fantasy setting, so vampires have shown up on several occasions.
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Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews!Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
I don't have a specific monster but I love putting class levels onto creature statblocks to create little minibosses. Saying "The Goblin Champion uses Action Surge" or "The Hill Giant Sorcerer causes a Wild Magic Surge" always receives a great reaction, saying "The 4 armed Gargoyle Monk dodges the fireball with its evasion" resulted in a lot of hostility though.
For some reason one of my favorite monsters is the Gelatinous Cube. I put a gelatinous cube encounter in every campaign. Even if I'm running an official adventure, I'll add a gelatinous cube somewhere along the way. It's actually surprising how many different ways you can design a fun GC encounter. My players have come to expect this and (mostly) look forward to them.
Do you all have a favorite monster that you use frequently? What is it?
To clarify, I have 1 gelatinous cube per campaign, they are not around every corner. But now that I think of that...
Molds. Molds everywhere!
... and stirges. They are more common than bats in my world. I ran an entire adventure based on a semiannual swarm of stirges (like the plagues of old).
...cryptographic randomness!
I would say giants if my campaign setting wasn't based around the idea of a giant civilization disappearing thousands of years ago. Since they aren't actually in that campaign, I'd don't really have one.
I have a weird sense of humor.
I also make maps.(That's a link)
Homebrew. My “signature monsters” are all homebrewed or at least homebrew variations on the standard ones.
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I guess my homebrew ones don't count, since they're in my campaign because my campaign is in a homebrew setting. If I had to pick, I guess I would say dragons. I mean the game is called Dungeons and Dragons, after all. Other than that, I think that every player should face an aboleth at least once, and I love roleplaying them.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
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Homebrew (Mostly Outdated): Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
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If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
rats, giant rats, and diseased giant rats... Pretty much appear all over for me. Just such a simple, no explanation needed type encounter. Sewers, abandoned temples, back alleys, anywhere could have these varmints and it'd make sense
Boldly go
Kobolds, because every tier 2-3 party needs to be humbled by CR 1/8 creatures occasionally.
It varies from setting to setting, but each of my settings always have some sort of signature monster. In the Wild Waste, it's the Sand Dragons, giant moles capable of burning a magical mineral that they swallow and store in their guts as they dig through the sand of the Waste to create a roar powerful enough to shatter bones. In the Archipelago That I Haven't Come Up With A Clever Name For it's the Nefas, deep sea fish and other creatures which have been corrupted, warped, and granted intelligence by some magical material from a fallen star which pierced into their deep sea caves as it fell, who come up in the surface in magical "reverse diving suits" that allow them to survive the low pressures of the surface. In the Shardlands it's the Returned, humanoids and other beings with souls which have returned from life just a few moments after dying due to the broken barriers between the spiritual and material planes, whose minds have been shattered by their return, and who feel hunger, pain, and everything that normal people feel, but cannot heal their wounds, and cannot die from anything short of completely destroying their bodies. If they are not burned or kep fed and uninjured, they are driven mad by the pain and often attack whoever they see.
I don't think I have a "vanilla" signature monster, though I have been considering running a gnoll-based campaign.
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
Signature creature meaning use all the time or signature meaning something I homebrew?
The creatures I use most often are gnolls. Bad guys with longbows are fun!
The creatures I use often and I homebrew are badger folk, and mouse folk, and Hoops. I had them in my campaign since I was a college kid. The Hoops are a homage to Gamma World. A few years ago I read Matt Colville's books and he has badger folk and mouse folk too. Makes me wonder if I'm being derivative or cool.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Rust Monsters. But not the 5e Rust Monster. The Rust Monster from the Basic Set that put the fear into adventurers of any level.
My players enjoy being freaked out by my zombies actually. Combat with them is always a gore fest, especially when the "not dead yet" feature kicks in. Just last week (not my most gruesome but hidden for readers not up for it:
"So your Dragonborn acid spray does pretty much flay the bulk of its flesh from its torso. When the brassy mist dissipates you see it's frame arched backward in death stagger, and then it lurches forward to you, ribbons of flesh still capable of raising its arms to thrash at you with gnarled hand bones." "WHY WON'T YOU DIE!" "This isn't the first time this character has said that." "I know, and I was pretty sure I had it dead to rights last round when I said it then too."
Role play wise, good dragons. One's basically a group patron on one of my parties, and she's made introductions to her kind up and down her hierarchy, there's a pair they're always running into on the Infinite Staircase, an appearance a Bahamut's Court could happen much later in game. They're ... eccentric, but they are truly interested and truly _enjoy_ the party, I think they find them a source of validation. I think one of them actually got the party interested in abstract art by touring its gallery with them. Consequently, there are event/developments I need to think through carefully.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Hahahahaha yes. The first tutorial campaign pits you against one right away and leaves you naked after your first battle.
Nothing established for me yet, but I'm a big fan of Nothics and Blink Dogs.
Nothic's Wierd Insight makes them a great way to poke and prod the PCs in compelling ways, and their background as Cursed Arcanists is drenched in mystical drama. I'm toying with creating one that has regained it's self awareness. I'm excited to explore the psyche of something that has lost itself on the other side of overwhelming madness and returned.
Blink Dogs are just great, because who wouldn't love a teleporting pupper that is smarter than the average humanoid?
I love mimics. I haven't run enough campaigns to really call it my "signature" monster, but it definitely gets used.
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Sympathetic/friendly Nothics are the best, hands down.
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
Gelatinous Cubes and Mimics. In my current campaign both have been weaponized by villainous factions. They make appearances at the most unexpected times.
Had to determine once if Gelatinous Cubes can float. That was interesting research.
I think if you asked the party I DM for, it would either be vampires or mimics. In my first (homebrew) campaigns I used quite a few mimics. After that I ran CoS and have continued the party past the end of that further into a dark fantasy setting, so vampires have shown up on several occasions.
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
I don't have a specific monster but I love putting class levels onto creature statblocks to create little minibosses. Saying "The Goblin Champion uses Action Surge" or "The Hill Giant Sorcerer causes a Wild Magic Surge" always receives a great reaction, saying "The 4 armed Gargoyle Monk dodges the fireball with its evasion" resulted in a lot of hostility though.
Four... armed... gargoyle... monk... with Evasion...
Stealing!
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I am about to run Ghosts of Saltmarsh so this question is very pertinent. What was your conclusion?