Favorite Monster Template

[Thrawn183]

Please post your favorite templates. Feel free to include information such as:

- Name of the template.
- Source of template
- General type of monster it works best on (or is your favorite on if the two aren't the same)
- Why you think it's so awesome.

[Xenogears]

Paragon
Epic Level Handbook
Something normally incredibly weak? I dunno. It'd be fun to see a CR 16 housecat.
It's awesome because the example picture is a hot pink mind flayer?

[Keld Denar]

Been done...check out the Pseudonatural Paragon Death Crab....google should pull it up.

I think its been done for a cat as well.

Me? I like Spellwarped. Take that, you pesky meddling casters! Its also great for minions of a caster, because he can buff them easily nearly for free!

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Half-golem templates. Yes, templates; each type has a loophole in its magic immunity, so on top of giving it ridiculous bonuses, applying two templates to the same critter cancel each others' weaknesses out.

My last low-epic party thought they could handle the paragon pseudonatural tauric hobgoblin/polar bear. Then they noticed its front legs were iron and its hind legs were brass. Then they noticed that the monstrosity was holding a staff. Then they teleported away as fast as they could. :smallbiggrin:

[Anxe]

Multi-headed in Savage Species is my fav.

[Gnorman]

I second Spellwarped. It's eeeeevil.

[Malanthyus]

Vampire Lord (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mm/20021018a)

So far as favorite critter to apply it to? Why vampires ofcourse. ^_^

[Xefas]

Living Spell from Monster Manual...3? 4? 5? I forget. It turns spells into monsters, which is just an awesome concept.

[Emy]

Telthor.
Book: Unapproachable East (which is a pretty good sourcebook in general)
Applied to: Humanoids
Why it's good: Be a ghost! Except, not undead, and also without the crippling level adjustment.

[Malacode]

Multiheaded seconded.
Also, for the twinks out there: Symbiotic. You can apply hundreds of templates to a small/tiny/diminutive/fine creature, then apply symbiotic to it and, say, an average human, and the resulting LA is only 1, total. Why?
Advancement: As Larger creature.

[Kaiyanwang]

Vampire Lord (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mm/20021018a)

So far as favorite critter to apply it to? Why vampires ofcourse. ^_^

Awesome. Didn't knew it... thank you!

Second multi headed. I applied it recently on a mineral warrior war hulk mountain troll, but really shines with dragons.

It's awesome both for mechanics (a lot of monster attacks are linked to their head) and roleplaying-wise.

Think about the troll: maybe he passes a will save against an enchantment...
Think about one head starting to be dull (more than the usual) and the other head looking the former badly, and ordering to an arm to slap it...

Or a listen check of a PC, hearing two-three trolls speaking.
"There are THREE big trolls out there!"

[Emy]

Vampire Lord (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mm/20021018a)

So far as favorite critter to apply it to? Why vampires ofcourse. ^_^

Vampire Lord is good stuff. Almost makes Vampire's +8 LA worthwhile.

[Cyclocone]

Hoarder Dragon. (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070307b) Sooo awesome to spring on unsuspecting players.:smallbiggrin:

[Vaynor]

Wendigo!
Fiend Folio
Humanoid, generally
Incredibly fast flight speed, drives people insane by tracking them, IS insane, great stats, what's not to like?

Downside: no feet.

[Zanatos777]

Vampire Lord (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mm/20021018a)

So far as favorite critter to apply it to? Why vampires ofcourse. ^_^

Love that template.

[PrGo]

Stat wise? Voidmind creature (MM3). Immune to just about everything that usually screws up player characters.
Fluff wise? Vampire Lord just became my new favorite :smalltongue:

[JellyPooga]

Swarmshifter (Libris Mortis)

Gives your Undead BBEG the ability to turn into a cloud of sand/dust or a swarm of insects or even a flying jumble of limbs and body parts!

I particularly like the idea of Tomb Motes (from the same book) with this template using the Tomb Dust variant of the Sand version of the template...just seems so thematically appropriate

[Amiria]

- Half-Farspawn

- Lords or Madness

- Apply to an evil Cleric who is the leader of some cult that worhisps some Great Old One / Cosmic Evil.

- For the Lovecraftian horror feel. Great abilities (+6 Con and +4 Wis as the best ability bonuses, spell-like abilities, blindsight, SR and other resistances, tentacles) that transfoms the base crature into something really tough and frightening.

[Olo Demonsbane]

Legendary
MM2
Anything that either has cleric casting or fights in melee
This template gives insane stat modifiers, the ability to cast spells, continous spell turning...you name it. I use it on almost half of my templated monsters.

[Starscream]

I must second Living Spell. A sadistic creative DM can have endless fun with that one.

Paragon Creature (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/paragonCreature.htm) from the Epic Level Handbook is tons of fun. It can turn any monster into a nightmare to face. DMs should be careful what they apply it to, however.

It might be tempting to simply upgrade your favorite low level monsters to make them credible threats again. But a Paragon Kobold will still only have 20+improved con modifier hit points. By RAW that's a CR 15.25 monster that any character even approaching that level can kill by breathing on too hard.

If you want to have some silly fun look no further than the Titanic template from MM2. Just ask my players who faced Rowsdower, the Kitten of the Appocalypse!

[Shorkan]

I'm not sure if you meant to include 4e templates, but I love the Demagogue template. Especially the "clever escape" power, in which he runs away with twice his speed from the PCs. Reminded me of Nale's +12 to jump checks http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0067.html, and it has a very high "Nalenes" level overal.

[Glimbur]

Half Dragon. You can apply it to any corporeal living creature. I had a sidequest of tracking down a dragon's children... they found a Half-Dragon shambling mound. Then they would have found a Half-Dragon Dragon Turtle that hunted pirates by dropping onto their ship from the sky.