"Favorite Dungeon Monster?" Topic

Do you have a favorite?

Beholder
Mind flayer
Drow
Kuo-toa

Basically, the Descent into the Depths of the Earth/Vault of the Drow all-star cast.

Three Headed Troll

Rust monster.

Hands down. Maybe followed by owl bear…

Oh man do I ever have my favs.

Gnolls were my go to for general muscle around the dungeon. To me there were more interesting than orcs and goblins and the whole hyena thing made them seem more scary than orcs and goblins. In other words they will eat you.

Wights for a low level undead creature that would be a real test for a low to mid level party.

Minotaurs just because I love Greek Mythology

Drow Elves the ultimate bad guys and everyone of them could be tooled up different especially if encountered in a group.

Mind Flyers i.e, Illiths because they look like Cthulhu minions and were damn scary and powerful just with one.

Nightmares ridden by an Anti-Paladin or Evil Mage. Now there is a tough nut to crack.

Dragons of all types

Carrion Crawler

Mark 1, Mod 0 orc.

Gnolls

For some reason I have always liked kobolds. Go figure..

Displacer beast

Uncle Teeth.

Kobolds!

Skeletons

Gelatinous cube

As DM: Tucker's kobolds. Heh, heh, heh. Followed by rust monsters. And I once scared my players to death with my rendition of a barrow-wight, which the original MM wight was clearly meant to be. (Don't care for the newest version at all.)

Parzival, Tucker's kobolds were my first thought as well! I loved those guys…

Trolls, gotta have trolls.

Then it was whatever monster I'd just finished painting.

Wow, so many neat monsters, so few characters to destroy….

Drow, Mind Flayers, Minotaurs, Beholders, Skeletons, Lizardmen, Owl Bears, Manticores, and especially old school pumpkin-headed (literally) Bugbears! (See the Archive Miniatures range!)

Tlincalli

they be scorpion men

Otyughs. Your reward for poking that pile of refuse with a 10 foot pole.

Githyanki and Drow, Intelligent and capable of teamwork.

Other humans, dragons and things that go bump in the night

Cthulhu.

Skellies & orcs

Beholders are probably the most iconic to me. I've always had a thing for the pig-faced orcs as well.

Kobolds

I used them to harass players to the point of tears. They would almost never engage in direct combat they would just follow at a safe distance. Some memorable moments…

#1 We tie off our pack animals and proceed ( When you return the pack animals are gone with all of your provisions…)

#2 He is to injured to proceed leave him here we will return for him ( When you return there is nothing but his gnawed blackened bones in a fire pit.)

#3 We will scale this cliff ( Kobolds emerge and start pelting them with darts and rocks)

#4 We will create a rope bridge across the crevasse ( As soon as the last man is halfway across Kobolds emerge and cut the rope.)

#5 We cannot carry the Dragon's treasure hoard so we will bury it here and return for it. ( Kobolds are watching from the shadows and wait for the players to leave to dig it up.)

The list goes on…

Minotaur. Singly or in small groups the charge of a bull-headed, usually axe-wielding, man always shakes a party.

Gnolls. Tougher than orcs and hobgoblin but not overkill.

Probably the Rust Monster.

Neo-Otyugh was a picture I looked at quite a bit, so weird.

Pig faced Orcs. Though Kobolds are up there.

Hey, I have that three-headed troll!

I'm partial to Drow and Balrogs, although not necessarily at the same time.

Carrion crawler – many a first level party paralysed and decimated by them…

Oozes,jellies,gelatinous cubes, skeletons,zombies these types with no concern for morale can be a lot of fun for a party that does not approach with caution.

I used them to harass players to the point of tears.

I used goblins like that. It was a great way to "punish" the players for sloppy behaviour by creating a side "quest" to correct the problem … retrieve the mounts (or the latest ones from someone else they stole, leading to conflict later in the city), retrieve the treasure, clear out the goblin nest before they kill us with guerilla tactics, revenge the snack …

Darkness.

Dragons, because they guard a lot of treasure and magic items.

The enormous Gygax that lurks at the heart of every dungeon…

John T

Rust monsters are adorable but ghouls end adventuring parties

I really like using the basic fellows, Gnolls, undead, Goblins, Orcs, and humans/dwarves as enemies but having them fight in interesting ways.

Most of my dungeons have one 'neat' monster in a room for a reason, and then the rest is some sort of community of monsters like an orc tribe or group of evil dwarf miners.