Please take your time to fill out this poll, it's useful to see what people enjoy because any DM can refer to this and find what players enjoy. What is the best category of monsters in your opinion?
My votes, not that I’m judging more from lore and aesthetic than mechanics.
Aberrations: 3. While there are some cool ones, others leave me wondering what’s so aberrant about them. I also think they’re a little inflexible, like if you’re using them frequently than of course it will be a Lovecraft-esque game, that just comes with the territory.
Beasts: 3. Not the most exciting category, but a necessary one 99% of the time. And thinking about how normal animals live with all these fantastical things can make for fun worldbuilding.
Celestials: 4. Big coolness factor conceptually but difficult to fit into most games.
Constructs: 4. Maybe I would have gone with more 3.5, but there’s a lot you can do with constructs, and how they fit into the world can say a lot about a setting.
Dragons: 4. This was the most difficult for me to rate, and the one most subject to change if I revisit this poll. On one hand, they’re dragons. On the other, it’s a lot of page space for not that much variety for something that will likely, and some say should, only appear a handful of times per campaign.
Elemental: 3. Subjectively probably my least favorite, but you can do cool things with them.
Fey: 4. A very flexible monster type that can fill a lot of niches, and with some pretty great designs too. I do wish there was more to distinguish what makes a fey a fey in the first place.
Fiend: 4. The Tanari and Baatezu have some great lore, and an enemy that’s out to attack you spiritually as much as physically can lead to some awesome scenarios. But the latter point doesn’t have much mechanics backing it, and I find that most fiends’ designs don’t really sell them being otherworldly compared to the weird things you can find in the Prime Material.
Giants: 3. I like giants conceptually but D&D’s take on them subjectively doesn’t excite me. Maybe I’d warm up to them if I read Bigby’s.
Humanoid: 3. You can pack a lot of different skillsets in one encounter, and are open to many different ways to interact with them. Actually I don’t remember why I didn’t give them a 4, but their definitely not getting a 5 from me.
Monstrosity: 4. The grab bag of what doesn’t go in the others, but they have some really cool entries because of that. Sorrowsworn in particular would get a 5 if they were expanded on.
Oozes: 3. They work well in their niche, but it’s a pretty narrow one in my experience.
Plants: 4. Admittedly the blights are doing a lot of heavy lifting here, but nothing says mystical wilderness like animate plants (whether for good or for bad).
Undead: 5. Yep, there was never any doubt I’d give undead a 5. Big on coolness and aesthetics, and a lot of flexibility in their use, from relentless zombies to tragic ghosts. I do think they require some set up for best use, if they’re dropped in haphazardly it can be easy to forget they used to be people, and I think their best when you remember that.
Thank you for your feedback. And I also think Undead is the best.
I will comment on the Elementals though: Not much you can do with just earth, fire water, air, and the others like dust and steam mephits. But I'd rate Elemental higher because it's a cool concept, confronting a creature of pure element.
Undead are too similar and too easy to defeat for a focused character. Base Paladins and Base Clerics give so much anti-undead abilities that a standard party is definitely going to be go through them like butter, unless they are seriously outclassed. Worse, they know their weakness. Radiant, sunlight, get the phylactery, etc. etc.
How many people know that if they hear what sounds like a child at the bottom of a well, but realize it is not a real child, that it is most likely a green hag? And that is a monster manual fey, not one of the really cool ones like the conclave dryad (suddenly have your magic item stop working with no save? That's a conclave dryad!)
I like humanoids because of their diversity. People should give them more credit for how many races there are. And I'm noticing dragons are rated the highest. I love dragons, but the whole group is basically different versions of the same thing.
Fiends are rated high. I feel like they're a little overrated. Celestials are rated low: not surprised, you can't do much with the really.
Aberrations are creepy and good for weirding out players; I like them.
Beasts are necessary but often the least interesting possible thing to use.
Celestials are underdeveloped. They could be interesting but have no real variety or detailed lore, probably because you're not supposed to kill them.
Constructs are neat, but typically best as minions to something else.
I don't understand people who play Dungeons & Dragons but don't like dragons. I mean, sometimes you get dragon'd out and want to focus on something else, they're not the be-all-end-all, sure, but, like... dragons.
The planes tend to bore me. I can forgive individual classes of extraplanar being if they have some inherently interesting concept, but elementals are just kinda there for the sake of being there.
I may be biased against Fey as a kneejerk reaction to the hype they get sometimes, but I really don't think they (at least D&D's idea of them, and at least without the help of a very good DM) live up to their fans' concept of them.
Fiends are the most fleshed-out planar critters and have one or two decent characters and some decent horror applications. Plus, they're one of the shortest routes to a villain faction that's just unabashedly evil, which is useful. So, as planar stuff goes, they're the least boring and have some potential under the right circumstances.
I see the appeal of giants but have never had a strong personal interest in them.
I'm somewhat biased towards humanoids, myself.
Monstrosities are the miscellaneous bin of monsters. Some of my favorites are monstrosities, and yet it seems wrong to say I like monstrosities as a category. Like beasts, it's filling a necessary function.
Oozes need more love. They creep and leap and glide and slide across the floor, right through the door, and all around the wall.
The best plants are Myconids, and Myconids are not plants.
Finally and perhaps most importantly,
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Medium humanoid (human), lawful neutral
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Please take your time to fill out this poll, it's useful to see what people enjoy because any DM can refer to this and find what players enjoy. What is the best category of monsters in your opinion?
Upvote these 18 unique mythical weapon materials!
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi
Fey are the best because they can are less predictable and have stranger abilities.
What about Aberrations? They have some really unique traits. I see your point though.
Upvote these 18 unique mythical weapon materials!
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi
My votes, not that I’m judging more from lore and aesthetic than mechanics.
Aberrations: 3. While there are some cool ones, others leave me wondering what’s so aberrant about them. I also think they’re a little inflexible, like if you’re using them frequently than of course it will be a Lovecraft-esque game, that just comes with the territory.
Beasts: 3. Not the most exciting category, but a necessary one 99% of the time. And thinking about how normal animals live with all these fantastical things can make for fun worldbuilding.
Celestials: 4. Big coolness factor conceptually but difficult to fit into most games.
Constructs: 4. Maybe I would have gone with more 3.5, but there’s a lot you can do with constructs, and how they fit into the world can say a lot about a setting.
Dragons: 4. This was the most difficult for me to rate, and the one most subject to change if I revisit this poll. On one hand, they’re dragons. On the other, it’s a lot of page space for not that much variety for something that will likely, and some say should, only appear a handful of times per campaign.
Elemental: 3. Subjectively probably my least favorite, but you can do cool things with them.
Fey: 4. A very flexible monster type that can fill a lot of niches, and with some pretty great designs too. I do wish there was more to distinguish what makes a fey a fey in the first place.
Fiend: 4. The Tanari and Baatezu have some great lore, and an enemy that’s out to attack you spiritually as much as physically can lead to some awesome scenarios. But the latter point doesn’t have much mechanics backing it, and I find that most fiends’ designs don’t really sell them being otherworldly compared to the weird things you can find in the Prime Material.
Giants: 3. I like giants conceptually but D&D’s take on them subjectively doesn’t excite me. Maybe I’d warm up to them if I read Bigby’s.
Humanoid: 3. You can pack a lot of different skillsets in one encounter, and are open to many different ways to interact with them. Actually I don’t remember why I didn’t give them a 4, but their definitely not getting a 5 from me.
Monstrosity: 4. The grab bag of what doesn’t go in the others, but they have some really cool entries because of that. Sorrowsworn in particular would get a 5 if they were expanded on.
Oozes: 3. They work well in their niche, but it’s a pretty narrow one in my experience.
Plants: 4. Admittedly the blights are doing a lot of heavy lifting here, but nothing says mystical wilderness like animate plants (whether for good or for bad).
Undead: 5. Yep, there was never any doubt I’d give undead a 5. Big on coolness and aesthetics, and a lot of flexibility in their use, from relentless zombies to tragic ghosts. I do think they require some set up for best use, if they’re dropped in haphazardly it can be easy to forget they used to be people, and I think their best when you remember that.
Thank you for your feedback. And I also think Undead is the best.
I will comment on the Elementals though: Not much you can do with just earth, fire water, air, and the others like dust and steam mephits. But I'd rate Elemental higher because it's a cool concept, confronting a creature of pure element.
Upvote these 18 unique mythical weapon materials!
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi
Undead are too similar and too easy to defeat for a focused character. Base Paladins and Base Clerics give so much anti-undead abilities that a standard party is definitely going to be go through them like butter, unless they are seriously outclassed. Worse, they know their weakness. Radiant, sunlight, get the phylactery, etc. etc.
How many people know that if they hear what sounds like a child at the bottom of a well, but realize it is not a real child, that it is most likely a green hag? And that is a monster manual fey, not one of the really cool ones like the conclave dryad (suddenly have your magic item stop working with no save? That's a conclave dryad!)
My favorites are always the ones that make the best NPCs.
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Just some comments:
I like humanoids because of their diversity. People should give them more credit for how many races there are. And I'm noticing dragons are rated the highest. I love dragons, but the whole group is basically different versions of the same thing.
Fiends are rated high. I feel like they're a little overrated. Celestials are rated low: not surprised, you can't do much with the really.
Upvote these 18 unique mythical weapon materials!
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi
Dragons sorta do have no variety, but I love them :)
Conflicted
Confused
Maybe I will return. Perhaps not.
Extended Signature!
Obviously plants. High in vitamins and minerals. Dragons are too chewy.
petition to rename the game pots & plantsAberrations are creepy and good for weirding out players; I like them.
Beasts are necessary but often the least interesting possible thing to use.
Celestials are underdeveloped. They could be interesting but have no real variety or detailed lore, probably because you're not supposed to kill them.
Constructs are neat, but typically best as minions to something else.
I don't understand people who play Dungeons & Dragons but don't like dragons. I mean, sometimes you get dragon'd out and want to focus on something else, they're not the be-all-end-all, sure, but, like... dragons.
The planes tend to bore me. I can forgive individual classes of extraplanar being if they have some inherently interesting concept, but elementals are just kinda there for the sake of being there.
I may be biased against Fey as a kneejerk reaction to the hype they get sometimes, but I really don't think they (at least D&D's idea of them, and at least without the help of a very good DM) live up to their fans' concept of them.
Fiends are the most fleshed-out planar critters and have one or two decent characters and some decent horror applications. Plus, they're one of the shortest routes to a villain faction that's just unabashedly evil, which is useful. So, as planar stuff goes, they're the least boring and have some potential under the right circumstances.
I see the appeal of giants but have never had a strong personal interest in them.
I'm somewhat biased towards humanoids, myself.
Monstrosities are the miscellaneous bin of monsters. Some of my favorites are monstrosities, and yet it seems wrong to say I like monstrosities as a category. Like beasts, it's filling a necessary function.
Oozes need more love. They creep and leap and glide and slide across the floor, right through the door, and all around the wall.
The best plants are Myconids, and Myconids are not plants.
Finally and perhaps most importantly,
Medium humanoid (human), lawful neutral