[3.5] Scariest Monster You Made

[Thurbane]

So, as a DM I often tinker with monsters - add templates, advance HD or add class levels (currently working on a large Advanced Spellwarped Gargoyle).

Wondering what some of your favorite creations to throw at a party have been?

Cheers - T

[Peelee]

So, as a DM I often tinker with monsters - add templates, advance HD or add class levels (currently working on a large Advanced Spellwarped Gargoyle).

Wondering what some of your favorite creations to throw at a party have been?

Cheers - T

A rope. A plain, nonmagical, non-animated, not-even-silk rope. It was originally just a rope, doing what ropes do. By sheer happenstance, it unwittingly became the final boss of the campaign, nearly getting a TPK. It was one if the most tense battles of any game I've ever been in, and for both the players and myself, that simple rope remains the shining jeweled crown in a very fondly-remembered adventure.

[YossarianLives]

A rope. A plain, nonmagical, non-animated, not-even-silk rope. It was originally just a rope, doing what ropes do. By sheer happenstance, it unwittingly became the final boss of the campaign, nearly getting a TPK. It was one if the most tense battles of any game I've ever been in, and for both the players and myself, that simple rope remains the shining jeweled crown in a very fondly-remembered adventure.

Well now you have to go and tell us the whole story.

[atemu1234]

A half-dragon advanced Vaath.

Though maybe the quickened quickling quickling deserves an honorable mention.

[Solaris]

So, as a DM I often tinker with monsters - add templates, advance HD or add class levels (currently working on a large Advanced Spellwarped Gargoyle).

Wondering what some of your favorite creations to throw at a party have been?

Cheers - T

It wasn't my favorite (those are ogre mages), but I slapped a half-dragon template on a giant octopus once. I didn't think anything of it, but apparently my fiancee has something of a phobia when it comes to tentacle monsters.

The fact that I played it to the hilt and preyed on said phobia is what makes me a bad person.

[Judge_Worm]

Illithid Ogre Mage Psion//Wizard
I applied the Mind Flayer race as a template to an ogre mage, then slapped on 10 gestalt levels of Telepath and Illusionist. The party never killed it so I had it keep popping up. It ended up killing the BBEG when I realized slowly progressing such a monstrosity was a better foe. It took half the party with it in the final battle. The game ran partially into epic, but I think the final levels for that thing were something like Telepath 10/Some Psionic Prestige class 10//Illusionist Wizard 10/ Incantrix 4/ Master Specialist 6. And for the final battle I went ahead and made it an Alhoon. Great times were had by all, except the fighter's leadership army, they mostly red-shirted it, as well as the party cleric going down first (perfectly reasonable tactics for a creature with Int in the 30's). Not bad for what was supposed to be a one off throwaway.

Even had a theme song (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DC6UtsPa13o).

[dextercorvia]

Psuedonatural, Spellwarped, Axiomatic, Magebred Rat

Size/Tipe: Tiny Outsider (Extraplanar)
Hit Dice: 1/4 d8 +3 (4hp)
Init: +5
Speed: 15, climb 15, swim 15
AC: 22 (+2 size, +4 Dex, +6 Nat), touch 16, flat-footed 18
BAB: +0
Attack: Bite +6 (1d3)
Space/Reach: 2 1/2ft/0ft
Special Attacks: Smite Chaos, True Strike
Special Qualities: Thick Skinned Breed, Darkvision (60), Resistance acid, cold, electricity, fire, and sonic 5, Immunity to polymorph and petrification, Spell Absorption, Linked Minds, SR 11, Alternate Form
Saves: Fort +7, Ref +6, Will +1
Abilities:Str 10, Dex 19, Con 16, Int 7, Wis 12, Cha 2
Skills: Balance +13, Climb 15, Hide +19, Move Silently +13, Swim +13
Feats: Stealthy, Weapon Finesse, Alertness, Endurance


8 of these make a CR 1 challenge. With +19 to Hide, they make a natural ambush. Alternate form gives it that Tentacular feel and an effective 23 AC vs most PCs. Moderately high AC means they can stick around to get some hits in, while resistance to elements, helps them to outlast common fodder removal at the level. They aren't the most optimized encounter I've ever designed, but they were a lot of fun to use.

[Crake]

Illithid Ogre Mage Psion//Wizard
I applied the Mind Flayer race as a template to an ogre mage, then slapped on 10 gestalt levels of Telepath and Illusionist. The party never killed it so I had it keep popping up. It ended up killing the BBEG when I realized slowly progressing such a monstrosity was a better foe. It took half the party with it in the final battle. The game ran partially into epic, but I think the final levels for that thing were something like Telepath 10/Some Psionic Prestige class 10//Illusionist Wizard 10/ Incantrix 4/ Master Specialist 6. And for the final battle I went ahead and made it an Alhoon. Great times were had by all, except the fighter's leadership army, they mostly red-shirted it, as well as the party cleric going down first (perfectly reasonable tactics for a creature with Int in the 30's). Not bad for what was supposed to be a one off throwaway.

Even had a theme song (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DC6UtsPa13o).

Why did you not give him illithid savant? Every enemy of the players that he kills and devours, he gets some of their power. So he has little bits and pieces of all the major enemies that the players came across.

[A_S]

I statted up a Shadow Dragon with levels in Telflammar Shadowlord once, but I never actually ran it against my party. I suspect my proportion of PC deaths via being-in-full-attack-range-of-a-dragon would have been even higher than Saph's (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?94243-Campaign-Journal-The-Red-Hand-of-Doom!) if I had.

*edit* Ooh, I actually still have the stat block for her sitting around:


Thaxll'ssillyia
Mature Adult Shadow Dracolich Swordsage 2 / Telflammar Shadowlord 5
Large Undead (Augmented Dragon)
Hit Dice: 22d12 + 2d8 + 5d6 (175 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 80 ft, fly 150 ft (poor)
Armor Class: 43 (-1 size, +2 dex, +5 wis, +27 nat), touch 16, flat-footed 41
Base Attack/Grapple: +26/+39
Full Attack: Bite +34 melee (2d6+9+1d6 cold) and 2 claws with Improved Rapidstrike +33/+33/+33/+33/+28/+23/+18 melee (1d8+4+1d6 cold) and 2 wings with Improved Rapidstrike +32/+32/+32/+32/+27/+22/+17 melee (1d6+4+1d6 cold) and 1 tail slap +32 melee (1d8+13+1d6 cold)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft. (10 ft. with bite)
Special Attacks: Breath weapon, discipline focus (weapon focus: tiger claw), frightful presence, maneuvers, paralyzing gaze, paralyzing touch, shadow jump, shadow pounce, spell-like abilities, spells
Special Qualities: AC bonus, blindsense 60 ft., damage reduction 10/magic and 5/bludgeoning, darkvision 120 ft., immunity to cold, electricity, magic sleep effects, polymorph, and paralysis, invulnerability, shadow blend, shadow blur, shadow discorporation, spell resistance 28, undead traits
Saves: Fort +14, Ref +22, Will +22
Abilities: Str 28, Dex 14, Con —, Int 22, Wis 20, Cha 26
Skills: Balance +9, Concentration +40, Hide +30, Intimidate +33, Jump +36, Knowledge (arcana) +31, Knowledge (local: Thesk) +8, Knowledge (religion) +31, Knowledge (the planes) +31, Listen +37, Move Silently +34, Sense Motive +30, Spellcraft +19, Spot +37, Tumble +28, Use Magic Device +9
Feats: Ability Focus (paralyzing touch), Blind Fight, Dodge, Improved Rapidstrike (claws), Improved Rapidstrike (wings), Mobility, Multiattack, Rapidstrike (claws), Rapidstrike (wings), Spring Attack
Challenge Rating: 26


Breath Weapon (Su): 40 ft. cone, 4 negative levels, Reflex DC 29 half.
Discipline Focus (Ex): Thaxll'ssillyia is treated as having the Weapon Focus feat for Tiger Claw weapons, including her natural claw attacks.
Frightful Presence (Ex): 210 ft. radius, HD 21 or less, Will DC 29 negates for 24 hours.
Invulnerability: If Thaxll'ssillyia is slain, her spirit immediately returns to her phylactery, from where it may attempt to possess a suitable corpse.
Maneuvers: IL 15, 4 readied maneuvers.
Paralyzing Gaze (Su): Gaze attack, paralyzes victims within 40 ft. for 2d6 rounds, Fortitude DC 29 negates permanently.
Paralyzing Touch (Su): A creature struck by any of Thaxll'ssillyia's natural attacks must make a DC 31 Fortitude save or be paralyzed for 2d6 rounds.
Shadow Blend (Su): In any illumination other than full daylight (a daylight spell counts), Thaxll'ssillyia can disappear into the shadows, giving her total concealment.
Shadow Blur (Su): If Thaxll'ssillyia is not in daylight or the illuminated radius of a light source, she may assume the benefits of the blur spell. This ability may be activated or deactivated as a free action.
Shadow Discorporation (Su): If Thaxll'ssillyia is in shadow or darkness, then any time she is dealt potentially lethal damage, she may attempt a Reflex save (DC 5 + damage dealt) to discorporate into shadows instead. If she succeeds, she appears at the next sunset at a location of her choosing within one mile of where she discorporated.
Shadow Jump (Su): As dimension door, but only between areas of shadow or darkness. 100 ft./day.
Shadow Pounce (Ex): Thaxll'ssillyia may execute a full attack upon completion of any ability, spell, or effect with the [teleportation] descriptor, as long as she starts with line of sight to her target and teleports to an appropriate location.
Spell-like Abilities: 3/day — mirror image CL 7, 2/day — dimension door CL 7, 1/day — shadow walk CL 5, 1/3 days — control undead CL 15 (Will DC 25 negates).
Spells: As 7th level Sorcerer and 5th level Telflammar Shadowlord.
Undead Traits: Thaxll'ssillyia is immune to mind-affecting effects, poison, magic sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects, and any effect that requires a Fortitude save unless it also works on objects or is harmless. She is not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability damage to her physical ability scores, ability drain, energy drain, fatigue, exhaustion, or death from massive damage. She cannot be raised, and resurrection works only if she is willing.
Maneuvers and Stances Known: action before thought, leaping flame, shadow jaunt, shadow stride, shadow blink, wind stride, zephyr dance; assassin's stance, hunter's sense.
Sorcerer Spells Known: (6/8/8/6; save DC 18 + spell level): 0—detect magic, ghost sound, mage hand, message, prestidigitation, read magic, touch of fatigue; 1—benign transposition, blood wind, grease, nightshield, true strike; 2—dimension hop, gentle repose, wraithstrike; 3—deeper darkness, animate dead.
Telflammar Shadowlord Spells Known: (4/3/1; save DC 16 + spell level): (see Unapproachable East, p. 37).

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Half-Fiend, Divine Rank 0, Tarrasque (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?156029-Optimizing-the-Tarrasque/page2)

[Flickerdart]

Titanic Monstrous Vampire Dire Weasel, with the slight modification that the "triple damage of special attacks" should also apply to the ability damage dealt by the weasel's blood-drinking (because it makes sense that a Gargantuan weasel would drain buckets more blood than a Medium one). It was a nasty customer you really didn't want to get pinned down by, but the resultant CR was high enough that the PCs had the tools to mount an effective defense.

[bloodystone2]

Let me give some context to the most powerful boss I had ever made. So during one of my favorite campaigns, I had 8 Player characters and 4 pets of various sorts. This was my second campaign, ever, and I didn't find the fallacy with that unless I make it unchallenging or uninteresting (which trust me, it was fun for all).

I was challenged by a player to created an entire adventure based around a song. That song was the vocaloid song "Dark Woods Circus."
If you've ever read the lyrics to that song, you know how f*cked up that place is. Anywho, there were children all around the circus preforming arts and such like that (33 to be exact, and only one of them was alive, the rests were ghosts). The ringmaster was this necromancer named Minute, whom actually had a kind father-son relationship with a PC, so things got awkward when they found him as a sadistic killer. My personal dnd world has an extra feature which is the elements/attributes system. Not going into much detail to it but basically there are 12 elements (I added some) that everyone (and everything) is attuned to and, given the right artifact, you can turn into the element of that form. There's also the corruption that distorts everything about a person.

Minute was a flesh elemental, sewn together with the corpses of the fallen. Dogs, cats, orcs, scorpionfolk, dragons, children of all races, ect. were poorly patched into his flesh when he shifted over. When the bull**** ended with the carnival games, and the final boss started, it took them 5 IRL hours to kill that thing. This is partiarlly that he had three different times he could act in a round, and the fact that I went into excruciating detail about his actions, which each action had at least one phobia linked to it. Violently puking child zombies and skeletons, devouring the carnival denizens to regenerate health, the ability to pounce anyone, the ability to regenerate limbs, his massive 500 HP (mind you, they were level 3 at the time), and all the phobia linked to each individual player made Minute such a fun and memorable boss.

Long story short, big flesh demon clown thing with lots of hp, damage, and gory details to make everyone uncomfortable except me.

[SangoProduction]

Well, technically I didn't send it against our group, but it was indeed special.

My character grew attached to 2 shocker lizards that died, and decide to recreate it as an ascended, mechanical being (character was a ironborn artificer/wizard). Nothing huge, just gaining the construct type, and at the cost of a couple hundred xp, they could additionally absorb lightning damage from 5 foot area and redirect it.
It was pretty much never really used (mechanically) until the day the GM decided it was a good idea to make us face our "evil clones", which included these lizards (because I don't like to abuse mechanics, typically). My turn, and I commanded them to shock. As expected, it was redirected, and the evil lizards shocked back. And it went like this for a good minute or 2 until I just decided what I'd do.
They launch their final shock worth over 520d6 or so by this point, which my lizards absorbed and were to redirect again. To throw a curve ball though, I grappled the evil lizards, succeeded critically, and chucked them across the room, leaving my twin exposed. Well, I won the battle, needless to say. Along with the twin, the wall was disintegrated to the point of making a tunnel to where the rest of my party was fighting their twins.

I would say something like that would be kinda scary, especially if it was pointed at you.

[Sliver]

A recent beatdown bodyguard of a demilich I created. Let's say that the player challenging it to a duel was warned that just because the SRD entry didn't look threatening, doesn't mean that those are the stats I'm actually using.

Evolved Devourer
Size/Type: Large Undead (Extraplanar)
Hit Dice: 16d12+96 (200 hp)
Initiative: +6
Speed: 40 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 27 (-1 size, +16 natural, +2 Dex), touch 11, flat-footed 25
Base Attack/Grapple/Trip: +8/+23/+27
Attack: Claw +22 melee (1d6+12)
Full Attack: 2 claws +22 melee (1d6+12)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Energy drain, trap essence, spell-like abilities, 1/day Improved Invisibility
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., spell deflection, spell resistance 21, undead traits, Fast Healing 3
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +12
Abilities: Str 32, Dex 14, Con Ø, Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 18
Skills: Climb +24, Concentration +18, Diplomacy +5, Jump +24, Listen +22, Move Silently +19, Search +10,Sense Motive +11, Spot +22, Survival +3 (+5 following tracks), Spellcraft +5
Feats: Combat Reflexes, Mage Slayer, Improved Combat Reflexes, Expertise, Improved Trip, Knock-Down
Challenge Rating: 13

Created with Corpsecrafter, Undead Master and Desecrate for those precious hp. The fight itself happening in the desecrate area, so +2 to attacks included.

Lays down the negative levels with knockdown and improved combat reflexes.

Should the CR be adjusted for the creation method, or does 13 seem fair? (+1 for 4 HD, +1 Evolved)

[Sheogoroth]

Any monster can be terrifying, all depends on how you frame it.
My personal favorite is This (http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090626040052/flapjack/images/thumb/1/11/BarberMonsters.jpg/500px-BarberMonsters.jpg) bad boy.
Doesn't even matter how you stat it, it's a giant Golem made from human hair and fish heads.
If you make it nasty, give it engulf and the human voice of a child that begs for mercy as it's decimating the party, they will be probably cut bait and run.

[almightycoma]

The scariest encounter I made for my group would be what they called the "nesting doll zombies". the encounter was two zombies with extra HD that were actually a stacks of undead. They were made of a zombie, skin kite, a gut pile undead (name escapes me) and a skeleton in each. when they hacked through the zombie HD it fell apart into the other undeads. I guess it got under their skin, because they still bring it up if I try to run another horror campaign.

[Yael]

Ehh... I don't remember what it exactly was, but granted it was a full female party it had loads of tentacles...

Also an Illithid of Thoon... And a Pseudonatural Neothelid....
Damn I'm ****** up...

[Izmister]

wasn't really scary, but was quite the monster. It was a human, fighter. He wasn't really designed for fighting though, he was a lab test subject the party found in a tower. Its feats were willing deformity, deformity (madness), reflexive psychosis, and symbiote mastery. It also had a healing nodules graft, and a living breastplate symbiote. He was supposed to be an important character that was kidnapped and transformed to be unrecognizable. The party was supposed to free it and it would pretty much run around like a headless chicken, heal party members, and act as a escortee. Apparently the setting and monster was too scary. As soon as it rasped "help meee..." everyone attacked and killed it immediately!

[Werephilosopher]

My players just fought the "final boss" of a dungeon, a half-farspawn obsidian ooze. In ordinary form, it looked like a regular obsidian ooze, except its insides glowed pink instead of orange and it had dripping suckers on its underside. I gave it burrowing touchsight, so when it saw them it burrowed into the ground and tracked their movements. The half-fiend sorceress was flying close to the wall, so it burst out and attacked her before retreating back in.
That prompted the group to gather close and ready actions to attack if it emerged - but it also had telekinesis every few rounds, so it emerged on the other side of the room and flung one of the party members over for attacking. It managed to burrow away again, and it emerged from the wall to engulf the sorceress. When the dwarf crusader tried to attack with his hammer, he ended up getting sucked in as well. Both of them were nearly cooked alive.
Eventually they got the ooze on the ropes. But then it switched to its alternate form - the pink magma flowing from its mouth turned to molten flesh, and its suckers burst open as steaming tentacles and sickening pink liquid flowed out. The looks of nausea on my players' faces were wonderful to behold.
When the party finally managed to beat it, they confessed they had feared they wouldn't be able to win. In any case, they definitely found it horrific.

[Urpriest]

Feral (Dragon Magazine Template that gives foot-claws and raptor traits) Blackscale Lizardfolk Were-Dire Tiger, I think with some Barbarian levels. Did not expect that guy to be quite as devastating in a full attack as he turned out to be...

[atemu1234]

Why did you not give him illithid savant? Every enemy of the players that he kills and devours, he gets some of their power. So he has little bits and pieces of all the major enemies that the players came across.

Because that's liable to kill the players? That PrC is... terrifying.

[Eldan]

Half-Fiend, Divine Rank 0, Tarrasque (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?156029-Optimizing-the-Tarrasque/page2)

That reminds me of when I had an epic party for a one-shot and threw a modified tarrasque at them, the Spawn of Erebos. I don't remember the exact templates, but it was certainly Chameleon, Dark, Shadow, Wendigo. It ended up with a high flight speed (something around 150, perfect) and a stealth check in the 40s, despite its size. It also went ethereal occasionally.

[Kazyan]

Sicily, according to one of my players--apparently she was worse, and more challenging, than the Elder Evil of the campaign. I threw her along with another enemy (who was rendered trivial) at a party of 5 level 18s or so, most of whom had finished quests for artifacts.

Sicily (Lilitu Soul Eater 10/Battle Dancer 2) CR 23
CE Medium outsider (lawful, evil, extraplanar, tanar’ri)
Init +19; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Listen +36, Spot +36
Languages Abyssal, Common; telepathy 100 ft.
AC 48, touch 40, flat-footed 19
(+12 Dex, +8 natural, +17 battledancer, +5 defending, -4 robilar’s gambit)
hp 295 (14+12 HD); DR Takes 4 additional damage from attacks; 10/cold iron or good
Immune electricity, poison
Resist acid 10, cold 10, fire 10; SR 23
Fort +25, Ref +33, Will +23
Weakness divine magic
Speed 40 ft. (8 squares); air walk
Melee Kicks +39/+34/+29/+24 (1d6+11 plus 2 negative levels [Life Drain: -44 HP instead of 10, +44 HP to Sicily]) and 4 stingers +40/+40/+40/+40 (1d4+11 plus 2 negative levels [Life Drain: -44 HP instead of 10, +44 HP to Sicily] plus poison)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with stingers)
Base Atk +24; Grp +30; Bull Rush +6
Special Actions Combat Reflexes, Robilar’s Gambit, lilitu’s gift
Cleric Spells Prepared (CL 9th):
5th—moon bolt (x2, DC 31), plane
shift (DC 32), scrying (DC 32)
4th—moon bolt (DC 31), cure critical wounds (2), freedom
of movement, imbue with spell ability
3rd—bestow curse (DC 30), close wounds (3), dispel
magic, nondetectionD (DC 30)
2nd—close wounds (4), demoncall, enthrall
(DC 29), hold person (DC 29), silence (DC 29)
1st—command (DC 28), cure light wounds (4),
demonflesh, divine favor, shield of faith
0—cure minor wounds (4), detect magic, mending
D: Domain spell. Domains: Demonic, Trickery.
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 14th):
At will—charm monster, detect good, detect
thoughts, disguise self (no limit on
duration), fly, suggestion, greater teleport (self
plus 50 pounds of objects only), sending, tongues
2/day—dominate person, quickened suggestion, symbol of persuasion
Abilities Str 22, Dex 34, Con 25, Int 16, Wis 20, Cha 44
SQ item use, mock divinity, shroud alignment, tanar’ri traits
Feats Combat Reflexes, Alertness, Weapon Focus (Stinger), Quicken
Spell-Like Ability (suggestion), Weapon Finesse, Robilar’s Gambit, Life Drain, Power Attack, Mindsight
Skills Spot, Listen, No one cares about the others
Equipment
+6 Cloak of Charisma
+5 Amulet of Mighty Fists
+5 Warning Eager Defending Longsword
Cloudwalker Anklets
Magic Siphon
+1 Soulfire Bracers of Armor
Third Eye Conceal
184 skiurid nodules
A few used scrolls (one of Quickshift, just before the battle)


After the PCs finally killed her and distributed Psionic Revivify, several of then went out to buy Soulfire stuff.

There was also the tiger guarding the bush whose berries contained the essence of the Void where vestiges roam.

CHOSEN TIGER OF THE VOID
Legendary Tiger of Legend, Binder 16 (Eligor/Dahlver-Nahr/Haures)
Large Outsider
Hit Dice: 42d8+759 (948 hp)
Initiative: +16
Speed: 50 ft.
AC: 49 (–1 size, +8 Dex, +32 natural), touch 19, flat-footed 43
BAB/Grp: +31/+60 (+28)
Attacks: 2 claws +27/+27 melee and bite +27 melee (pact augmentation, PA’ing for full)
Damage: 2 claws 4d6+56, bite 6d6+45+poison (PA’ing for full)
Face/Reach: 5 ft. by 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Improved grab, pounce, rake (+27/3d6+45), poison bite (1d6 Str/1d6 Str, DC 46)
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, scent, fast healing 5, soul binding (3 vestiges up to 8th), pact augmentation (4 abilities), Soul guardian (fear, slippery mind, soulfire), shield self (DC 19), immune to mind-affecting, nearly-incorporeal when moving, DR 21/--
Saves: Fort +41, Ref +31, Will +32
Abilities: Str 60 [Pain Mastery +4], Dex 27, Con 34, Int 4, Wis 18, Cha 12
Feats: INA (Claw), INA (Bite), Improved Toughness, Improved Multiattack, Power Attack, Toughness, Pain Mastery, Damage Reduction x7, Superior Initiative, Multiattack(B), Imp.Init (B), Improved Binding (B), Ignore Special Requirements (B)
Skills: Doesn’t matter
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 23
Treasure: +6 Amulet of Health [shape of Dahlver-Nahr’s sign],
Alignment: Always neutral

My PCs were optimizers, and even though the Playground tells me that melee characters are worse than useless at high levels, the party was very close to retreating from this thing because it just would not die until after, like, the third hour of wailing on it.

Yes, the CRs on the above are a bit out of control, but so were my players.

[Telonius]

So far, the scariest I've put together was an attack force of Were-Squirrels. The scariness was more due to the description and the presentation, though; the stats weren't all that impressive.

[Mr Adventurer]

"Mittens" - the advanced Spellwarped T-rex, with Mindflayer grafts, being ridden by a Simulacrum of Elminster.

Good times.

[Thurbane]

I was happy with Grimfang, an Advanced Spellwarped Worg Souleater 2.

I used him as a recurring hit and run striker in the EtCR game I ran.

[VariSami]

Some of the ones I am proud of include,

"Mutant" Kythons (Half-Illithid Kython Broodlings and Adult)
an Insectile Zern (shapeshifting, 6-armed evil genius with warping blasts and a pincerstaff)
a Wendigo Worg (all about the presentation and the fact that they were escorting hundreds of civilians)

All of the above are, of course, relatively low level threats. However, the concepts and the presentation allowed them to creep my players quite badly.

While I never had a chance to use them, here are a few other encounters I have prepared:

"Gigogogu" (Lolth-touched Insectile Thri-Kreen Bar1;Fig1;Warb3; charger-based 8-armed insect with 4 different greatswords)
"Gluttonid" (Arachnid Awakened Wolverine with Battle Jump; berserking spider-things that drop down on you from the ceiling in droves)
"Mad Healer" (Healer with levels in Fleshwarper, made possible by Human Paragon and Mystic Wanderer; read the healer's code a bit like the devil reads the bible and was making people better by exposing them to Warp Touch; also had Mother Cyst, Deformity (madness) and Deformity (parasite))
"Goreplate" (Evolved Blood Knight Half-Ogre Pal5 of Tyranny with Trophy Collector, who had a few Corpse Dracotaurs clad in black armor as his cohorts and rode a Radont to battle; basically Blood Knight is a 3rd party template that makes the character a puddle of blood oozing constantly from between the heavy armor casing it inhabits and Radont is a Huge 3rd party horse)

[Eldan]

Oh yeah, for low levels: Fiendish Wolverine Warblade with tiger claw maneuvers. Cackle like a madman as a bundle of claws shoots thirty feet through the air and lands in someone's face.

[Thurbane]

Here's a couple of my stat blocks:

Tantorius Bloodworth (Loxo Vampire ) (CR 4) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=17959282&postcount=1)
Ghaele Zombie (CR 6) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=7824922&postcount=1)
Grimfang (Advanced Spellwarped Worg Soul Eater 2) (CR 7) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=8525164&postcount=19)
Half-Farspawn Yuant-ti Abomination (CR 9) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=7071846&postcount=12)

[ezkajii]

I don't have a lot of experience with making up custom monsters for campaigns, so far, but the one creature I made which seemed to really strike fear into the hearts of my players was when I slapped the Corpse template on a Solar. Of course, that whole battle was a debacle - but that's a different story.

[Jormengand]

Well, there was the time I took a solar angel and just gave it immortality...

[Seerow]

A half-earth elemental dwarf that got experimented on by a Wizard, getting the Mineral Warrior and Half-Golem templates applied to it. It got advanced with Outsider hit dice (Half-Elemental changes type to outsider, not sure if you can RAW advance a race without racial hit dice by hit dice normally by RAW, but with that many templates I decided it qualified). After that it tacked on a bunch of non-associated druid levels.

In the end it was enough of a meatshield to survive most things naturally (bunch of AC, DR, and HP and solid saves, even unbuffed, plus a bunch of immunities including to most magic), while having enough casting himself to be able to fill in any defensive gaps, and give tactical versatility beyond "I Hit It". He also grabbed a custom feat to let him have a Stone Flyer (from the Faerun Underdark book) as his animal companion. Those are the ones that have a both a fly speed and earthglide, and confer their earth glide to a rider.

[ezkajii]

Well, there was the time I took a solar angel and just gave it immortality...

I can't tell for sure if you're saying that's something similar you did or if you're basically mocking me; if so, that seems unnecessarily antagonistic. I'd love to give you the benefit of the doubt, here, though.

[Seto]

There's one scary thing I'm working on, although I haven't figured out all the details yet. It's basically an Ethereal parasite that crawls inside your mind and feeds from it (save everyday or mental ability drain). It has few HP and few dangerous attacks, but trying to remove it by attacking it directly will result in half of the damage being converted into mental ability damage to the infected character. You can separate it from its host (and then safely kill it) with a high-DC Heal Check, or Remove Curse.
You risk catching it when you venture (consciously) on the Ethereal.

[Zaq]

I've never really made any new monsters for 3.5 . . . well, I did in my very first campaign, but they were all dumb and poorly balanced, because I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. But they weren't anything special.

That said, there is one memorable encounter I ran where I actually weakened a monster from how it appears in the books, and it still nearly TPK'd the party. I used Cranium Rat Swarms, from the Fiend Folio. One Lesser Pack (nominally CR 2) and one Average Pack (nominally CR 5) against a fairly typical level 6 party. I weakened them by removing their swarm-based immunity to melee weapons, making them just take half damage from melee attacks instead (since I didn't want the party beatsticks to be useless), and I didn't boost anything in return.

My friends still complain about how unfair that encounter was, and I really can't fault them for it. Nothing should ever have a cone of "you're out of the fight for 3d4 rounds." And it's especially true that nothing should have a cone of "you're out of the fight for 3d4 rounds" usable every 2 rounds and/or at-will. Add in spells, swarm traits (weakened or not), and the fact that an Average Pack turns into a Lesser Pack when you kill it, and you have a supremely poorly-designed monster.

Don't use Cranium Rat Swarms. They're bad news.

[illyahr]

Onyx, a female Drow Half-Fiend Half-Dragon (there's a very good story (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=16134455&postcount=501) behind that) that was a Warlock 6//Rogue 6 with a Divine Rank of 2. She was backed up by her "father," who had become a Lillitu (FC 1 or 2, I don't remember which). She specialized in Compulsion effects and Field Control. The party hated her with a passion.

[Crake]

I made mini tarrasques. They invaded a city en masse. Very similar in all ways to their bigger cousin, except their regeneration had a single, randomly determined weakness that you needed to find and exploit. There was no outside indication of what it was, so for each one, you needed to do trial and error. In one fight the players went through about 10 of them (they were ECL 17, there were two versions, one CR 11 and huge, another CR14 and gargantuan), so trying to find the weakness of each one proved to be too difficult, so they instead just beat the so heavily to negatives until the battle was over, then looked for their weaknesses.

The players all increased their size, so they never got to swallow anyone whole :( and neither did the dusk giants (fully advanced thanks to having gorged themselves on townsfolk at that point. They also had snatch, multisnatch and snatch and swallow, so they could just pick up people left and right, and swallow them at once) that were riding them (yup, giants riding tarrasques, that'll put the brown in your player's pants :smalltongue: )

[Jormengand]

I can't tell for sure if you're saying that's something similar you did or if you're basically mocking me; if so, that seems unnecessarily antagonistic. I'd love to give you the benefit of the doubt, here, though.

Whuh? I'm confused, why would I be mocking you and why would you think that from the fact that I literally took a solar and made it immortal? (Think I also made it DR... 1? Might only have been DR 0. Don't remember.)

EDIT: Oh, I see, you made a post that I didn't even look at before posting that bore passing resemblance to mine so you thought that I was mocking you. Cool.

[fishyfishyfishy]

I statted up a Shadow Dragon with levels in Telflammar Shadowlord once, but I never actually ran it against my party. I suspect my proportion of PC deaths via being-in-full-attack-range-of-a-dragon would have been even higher than Saph's (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?94243-Campaign-Journal-The-Red-Hand-of-Doom!) if I had.

*edit* Ooh, I actually still have the stat block for her sitting around:

Do you mind if I steal that for my campaign? It seems perfect for a BBEG I had brewing up.

[Thurbane]

Also, a Spellwarped Girallon Fighter 2 armed with 4 kukris.

...there's nothing like a monkey knife fight! :smallbiggrin:

[rgrekejin]

Maybe not the most physically dangerous, but my brother, upon reading a cracked.com article about animals with horrifying mating habits, had me make the "Anthropomorphic Bedbug" as a monster race for my campaign. Needless to say, it's natural weapons (and the "toxin" the secreted) were the stuff nightmares are made of.

Not as scary, but equally memorable, was the time I offhandedly made a joke attributing some unusual circumstances to the actions of the obviously fake "Swamp Krakens", and my PCs dropped everything to go on an expedition to find one.

[A_S]

Do you mind if I steal that for my campaign? It seems perfect for a BBEG I had brewing up.
Not at all; go right ahead.

[Mr Adventurer]

Spawn of Erythnul, a half-fiend advanced Girallon Warblade using Tiger Claw. Sadly he suffered Single Monster Syndrome a bit, but he was pretty cool.

[Tvtyrant]

Half Illithid Giant Squid for all of the brain extraction (since it has a crazy grapple score and lots of tentacles).

Half Dragon Mineral Warrior Slaughterking Kython with all of the kython weapons. It liked to phase in and out of walls while breathing fire and spitting acid at the party.

[Thurbane]

Here's a couple of my stat blocks:

Tantorius Bloodworth (Loxo Vampire ) (CR 4) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=17959282&postcount=1)
Ghaele Zombie (CR 6) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=7824922&postcount=1)
Grimfang (Advanced Spellwarped Worg Soul Eater 2) (CR 7) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=8525164&postcount=19)
Half-Farspawn Yuant-ti Abomination (CR 9) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=7071846&postcount=12)

...and another I had forgotten:

Spellwarped Shadow Dragonkin Hexblade 3 (CR 8) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=15211357&postcount=1)