monster "fusion"

[almightyk]

a dm of a friend of my dm likes to "mix" monsters to add a bit of varieety to his games
the most unfair he has done that i have heard would be a green/gold harpy-dragon

just wondering if any of you have come across dm's "creations" that were either ridiculous, lame, or completely OP

[Debihuman]

This is quite common. I suggest you look in the Wizard's of the Coast Archives for the various monster articles: especially for the two articles on "creatures that cannot be": http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/eo/20060407a and http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/eo/20070401a [The second article specifically address the Half-Dragon Template].

Applying too many templates can get a bit weird, but that's part of the fun about being the DM. The half-dragon template is a lot of fun to play with. You can make the offspring from two harpies (assuming you can have male harpies in your campaign) by having the offspring of half-green dragon harpy and half-gold dragon harpy. Or the parentage can be from a half-green gold dragon (or a half-gold green dragon if you prefer) and a harpy. In all cases, the DM is creatively applying the half-dragon template. Basically the Half-Dragon Template allows for dragons to breed with just about anything.

Debby

Trust me, there is much much weirder than that. Over on EnWorld, they've been updating all the 2nd edition monsters that Wizards didn't convert to 3rd edition. Necromancer Games' Tome of Horrors series does the same.

[Set]

On the sub-topic of the half-harpy / half-dragon, in our last campaign, Green Dragons replaced sorcerer casting with bardic casting and musical progression, and replaced their acid breath with a sonic breath weapon.

It made for quite the different 'feel.'

The strangest thing I've seen in an official WotC adventure was a half-fiendish black pudding. Ew. Some demon must have been watching American Pie and thought, 'Heyyy...'