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codyleaderbrand
2015-06-30, 08:50 AM
What are some RPG monsters who you think deserve a little bit more attention than they receive? Everyone has their favorite unique monster that always makes an appearance and I'm curious to hear what you guys have in mind! Personally I'm a fan of Aboleths, with a bit of tweaking they are perfect villains!

Underrated D&D Monsters (http://critconfirm.com/7-underrated-dd-monsters/)

dream
2015-06-30, 11:12 AM
Nilbogs, Nilbogs, & Nilbogs :smallamused:

MrStabby
2015-06-30, 11:27 AM
Balenorns.

Er...

All of the whole living plant type things - Vampiric Roses, Strangulating Ivy and Slaver Bushes. You can do a whole Vegetable themed campaign.

JAL_1138
2015-06-30, 11:34 AM
The Death Minnow. (It actually exists.)

halcyonforever
2015-06-30, 11:43 AM
Balenorns.

Er...

All of the whole living plant type things - Vampiric Roses, Strangulating Ivy and Slaver Bushes. You can do a whole Vegetable themed campaign.

going to have to snatch that idea... Most people ignore plant themed things all together.

Lord Torath
2015-06-30, 01:29 PM
Don't forget Tangle Killer Trees, Grab Grass, and Amber Lotus Blossoms! Work great with the Vampire Roses.

I rather like the Thaygar (aka. Beholder-Eater, or Grimgobbler).

Maglubiyet
2015-06-30, 01:35 PM
All of the whole living plant type things - Vampiric Roses, Strangulating Ivy and Slaver Bushes. You can do a whole Vegetable themed campaign.

Don't forget the intelligent types -- shambling mounds, volodni, needlefolk, and woodlings. Myconids too if you aren't offended that a fungus is classified as a plant.

Karl Aegis
2015-06-30, 01:36 PM
I've always thought Charles Barkley was underused.

NRSASD
2015-06-30, 01:58 PM
I've had one campaign where we had to rescue baby myconids from a group of adventurous halfling chefs. I'm sad to say that we failed.

Underused monsters? Any form of giant insect besides ants, beetles, or spiders. Especially the weird non-earth insects.

dream
2015-06-30, 02:21 PM
I've always thought Charles Barkley was underused.
Using such a monster would just be wrong. Worse than Rot Grub :smalltongue:

noob
2015-06-30, 02:49 PM
Any farm animal not being a horse or rid-able and with 5 archetypes including werechair.

Karl Aegis
2015-06-30, 03:32 PM
Using such a monster would just be wrong. Worse than Rot Grub :smalltongue:

http://cs622028.vk.me/v622028934/75a3/88QPZH9A68c.jpg

Behold the might of High Executioner Barkley.

Berenger
2015-06-30, 04:50 PM
Orcs. Took me five years of playing fantasy campaigns to encounter a single one.

MrStabby
2015-06-30, 05:34 PM
I havent played it for a long time but didn't third edition D&D have templates and classes you could add to animals?

If so, the most underused Monster is a Vampiric Lich Chicken with levels in Bard.

Anonymouswizard
2015-06-30, 06:18 PM
Humans for fantasy, with all the cool monsters I've seen them forgotten.

Also the half dragon half celestial half fiend nymph vampire commoner.

Cealocanth
2015-06-30, 07:20 PM
As a DM, I'm not entirely sure I've ever used an actual slaad. I've made up legions of random world-altering monstrosities for the players to face, but apparently a slaad is too mainstream or something.

ExLibrisMortis
2015-06-30, 08:22 PM
I havent played it for a long time but didn't third edition D&D have templates and classes you could add to animals?

If so, the most underused Monster is a Vampiric Lich Chicken with levels in Bard.
Uh, nothing wrong with this monster per sé, but you can't normally undeadify an undead chicken. Either Vampiric or Lich has to go, or you houserule it.

You could make an antropromorphic chicken bard lich, or an awakened chicken bard lich, or a gold dragon bard lich in the form of a chicken, or a were-chicken bard lich, or a multiclass chicken-infested commoner/bard were-chicken lich. Which are probably underused.

MrStabby
2015-06-30, 08:31 PM
Uh, nothing wrong with this monster per sé, but you can't normally undeadify an undead chicken. Either Vampiric or Lich has to go, or you houserule it.

You could make an antropromorphic chicken bard lich, or an awakened chicken bard lich, or a gold dragon bard lich in the form of a chicken, or a were-chicken bard lich, or a multiclass chicken-infested commoner/bard were-chicken lich. Which are probably underused.

Now I want to work an Awakened Chicken bard Lich into my current campaign... Not sure where it would fit in the plot. On the other hand it would be one hell of a Random Encounter.

NomGarret
2015-06-30, 08:47 PM
It would make a great leader for one of those "all the townsfolk are in a weird cult" side quests.

halcyonforever
2015-06-30, 08:50 PM
Now I want to work an Awakened Chicken bard Lich into my current campaign... Not sure where it would fit in the plot. On the other hand it would be one hell of a Random Encounter.

Almost want to make the primary villian be some awakened chicken/cow that has plotted the destruction of all humanoids for the enslavement of his race...

HolyCouncilMagi
2015-06-30, 10:38 PM
Slaads are so interesting. And by interesting, I mean "Huh?" Slaads are the sort of things that are difficult to make antagonists, because once you have a horde of them menacing the world, it quickly devolves into "all the other guys are attacking the Prime Material, but I want to protect it!" and "Oh yeah, well if you guys are all loyal, then I'm gonna be a double-agent!" with a splash of "I'm going triple agent because go big or go home!" And then, under the mound of quintuple agents with the Slaads split 30-30 to a side and nobody knowing who's loyal to what, some are still just straight-up on one-side, usually for the sake of being retro, though other reasons do occasionally come up.

You may have noticed I said they split 30-30. Where'd the other 40 percent go? About half of them went home because the fighting got too mainstream; that statistic not accounting for the few who thought they decided to go home but then had a character growth moment and chose to fight on. Then there's half of the remaining 20 percent, who decided to start a third side in the war just for the hell of it, attacking whichever side gained an advantage (or attacking whichever side was losing, or attacking while the sides were equal in order to spur conflict, all generally based on their moods). Then there's the remaining ten percent of total Slaads that started a peace movement while ripping off various hippy cultures.

And these statistics don't account for the outliers among outliers, like the party that decided to go be heroes in another campaign, and the one that decided to become a hermit in the Prime Material so that he could give out advice that he'd heard somewhere that sounded like what profound people say.



On-topic, I think homunculi are sadly underused. I mean, they're a neat challenge for a party just starting out, and they make for such great little minions to send around if your BBEG happens to be (or have) a caster.

Also, not nearly enough of any of the variant monster types (Incarnum Dragons are amazingly cool) largely because campaigns focusing on anything other than "whoo, magic!" are exceedingly rare.

Outside of D&D, I have yet to see any chimaerae in Mutants & Masterminds, for some sad reason.

NowhereMan583
2015-07-01, 01:43 AM
On-topic, I think homunculi are sadly underused. I mean, they're a neat challenge for a party just starting out, and they make for such great little minions to send around if your BBEG happens to be (or have) a caster.

I can vouch for this idea -- in a campaign I ran a few years ago, the PCs' first encounter with the kobold lich Jak the Panoptic was a group of low-level mooks backed up by one of Jak's homunculi. The homunculus rode around in one of the mooks' saddlebags and sniped at the PCs with an enchanted crossbow. From my perspective, it added a lot to the encounter; from the PCs' perspective, they almost got blown up by a twisted little freak.
I also enjoyed this because it let me give the mooks a magic weapon the PCs couldn't effectively use. It was pretty dangerous -- the bolts exploded in a fireball wherever they hit -- but it was a hand crossbow made for a tiny creature, so the medium-sized PCs without exotic weapon proficiencies had something like a -8 penalty to use it. The next session, they nearly killed half the party trying to use it in combat, and they ended up trading it away at the first opportunity.

As for underused monsters... I'd like to second the "aboleth" vote from the beginning. I love those guys, and they nearly always show up in my campaigns. I don't think the PCs have ever actually engaged them in combat, though; they're always manipulating things off at the fringe of events, and the few times they've encountered the PCs in person, the players panicked and ran.

Aarakocra also don't get used nearly enough. They're a good solid low-HD monster, humanoid enough to take class levels without any real issues, and they can fly. There's a lot of potential there -- I think many D&D campaigns could be more interesting all around if GMs, in the planning stage, took a long look at their hordes of orcs or goblins, or the friendly elven nation near the starting city, or any group of humanoids they're planning to include, and asked themselves: "would this be cooler if they were bird-people instead?" (And this (http://thecreaturechronicle.tumblr.com/) excellent blog has converted them to Pathfinder for us.)
In my campaign setting, the Aarakocra are one of the Precursor races. Back when even elves were just slightly smarter plains apes, there were a bunch of competing non-mammalian races covering the world, and the Aarakocra were the greatest among them. They're still out there somewhere, having reverted to a hunter-gatherer culture in the shade of their ancestors' crumbling quasi-Egyptian monoliths. Thus far, none of the PCs have been particularly interested in searching for the "mythical" Land of Sharpened Beaks, though...

For similar reasons as the above, I find chuul to be an underused mid-level threat. Human-level intelligence but with fairly inscrutable motivations (what is chuul society even like? The rulebooks don't seem to know, so make it up yourself) and dangerous combat tricks.
... they're aboleth bio-weapons gone rogue, and the reason nobody knows what chuul society is like is because the chuul haven't finished figuring that out either. They do all agree that human meats are tasty, though.

Kech are also unexpectedly fun. I didn't even realize how dangerous they could be until I introduced some in my current campaign -- they're faster than any PC races, they have a climb speed, and they can't be tracked except by magic. So when they decide to bug out, they're gone, and odds are the PCs won't be able to figure out where.
... they, like the Aarakocra, are a very old race. In the case of the Kech, however, that's because the Aarakocra made them. Aarakocra wizards uplifted them from apes and pressed them into service. When the Aarakocra civilization fell, that servile mindset was still hardcoded into them, and now they follow whoever they feel -- according to legal principles only they remember -- is their rightful leader. Since they're highly competent (see above), fairly intelligent, fanatically loyal, and (according to the PFSRD) have no problems with eating people, they're a good fit for BBEG's trusted lieutenants.

Finally, Yrthak. If you don't think this thing is awesome, I can't help you.
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG262.jpg

Edit: Also, of course, mephits always need more love.

noob
2015-07-01, 04:53 AM
I find that Cthulhu with 20 truenamer levels and the template war machine are underused.

MrStabby
2015-07-01, 08:08 AM
Almost want to make the primary villian be some awakened chicken/cow that has plotted the destruction of all humanoids for the enslavement of his race...

Please can I play this campaign?

Bard1cKnowledge
2015-07-01, 04:18 PM
The Death Minnow. (It actually exists.)

Oh JAL, you cray cray

This is a monster no one uses

Sphinxes
(Tried to put up a venture bros pic, but phone options stink)

HolyCouncilMagi
2015-07-01, 04:29 PM
Edit: Also, of course, mephits always need more love.

Entirely tangential to the thread, but I'd like to inform you that I'm about to enter a campaign where Mephits are one of the major PC races, so how's that for giving them some love?

NowhereMan583
2015-07-01, 05:37 PM
Entirely tangential to the thread, but I'd like to inform you that I'm about to enter a campaign where Mephits are one of the major PC races, so how's that for giving them some love?

I approve of this so much you don't even know.

Steampunkette
2015-07-01, 06:00 PM
Gristle and Flay.

Underused, Overawesome.

http://i.imgur.com/uw2FLYl.png

nedz
2015-07-03, 05:20 PM
Warforged, with the Sandwich Toaster attachment.

GungHo
2015-07-06, 10:19 AM
I've always thought Charles Barkley was underused.

You say this jokingly, but I once had Shaq come through a Gate spell gone horribly wrong. Yes, he was a monk. Yes, he got that glow.

dream
2015-07-06, 03:01 PM
Werecats ...:smallconfused:

nedz
2015-07-06, 04:03 PM
Flumphs


123456789

Stellar_Magic
2015-07-06, 04:49 PM
I'm going to agree with a lot of what the article said... though with specific exceptions.

Fey as a type tend to be under represented in homebrew campaigns, but they seem to have a better level of representation in official campaigns.

Orcs... you know, it's funny. I've never been in a campaign with orcs as the antagonists. I think it has to do with them being 'too iconic' or 'too Tolkien', most GMs try to be a bit more inventive... as a result, we don't see these that much these days. Actually, most of the adventures I've been on seem to steer away from gobliniods as well, too cliche?

Malimar
2015-07-06, 07:44 PM
Well, for a game called Dungeons and Dragons, it took me a suspiciously large number of years of playing before I encountered my first dragon of any sort. Several years beyond that, and I can still count on one hand all the dragons I've encountered as a player.

JAL_1138
2015-07-06, 10:56 PM
Oh JAL, you cray cray


Crazy? They exist, I tell you. Originally from Dragon Magazine, later appearing in (I think) Monstrous Compendium Vol. IV. http://www.lomion.de/cmm/deatminn.php

And have you ever even seen one used in a game?



EDIT: Also under-used, the Froghemoth, which appeared in Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and pretty much nowhere else.

JAL_1138
2015-07-06, 11:07 PM
ALSO! The Fire-Breathing Phase Doppelganger Giant Space Hamster. It actually exists, and it's both a hilarious entry due to flavor text and the concept itself, as well as a pretty vicious critter to fight.

Bard1cKnowledge
2015-07-07, 10:27 AM
Housecats, shoggoths, ochre jellies, dracoliches, ((posted in order from most horrifying to least))

Malimar
2015-07-07, 06:08 PM
ALSO! The Fire-Breathing Phase Doppelganger Giant Space Hamster. It actually exists, and it's both a hilarious entry due to flavor text and the concept itself, as well as a pretty vicious critter to fight.

I had an entire dungeon full of giant space hamsters in my Spelljammer game, though the weirdest ones I actually used were some carnivorous acid-breathing flying giant space hamsters. And a chimera that was three different hamster heads instead of the regular chimera heads. (Also, infestations of miniature giant space hamsters are a running gag in this game.) Giant space hamsters in all their variety are part of what prompted me to run a Spelljammer game in the first place.

Anonymouswizard
2015-07-07, 07:03 PM
ALSO! The Fire-Breathing Phase Doppelganger Giant Space Hamster. It actually exists, and it's both a hilarious entry due to flavor text and the concept itself, as well as a pretty vicious critter to fight.

Please tell me that there's a miniature variety of this variant.

TurboGhast
2015-07-07, 08:32 PM
Please tell me that there's a miniature variety of this variant.

It exists: Third page on top right (http://rpg.brainclouds.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/SpaceHamster_4E.pdf)

Anonymouswizard
2015-07-07, 09:22 PM
It exists: Third page on top right (http://rpg.brainclouds.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/SpaceHamster_4E.pdf)

Missing the Fire-Breathing Phase Doppelganger part. Please give me a Miniature Fire-Breathing Phase Doppelganger Giant Space Hamster.

JAL_1138
2015-07-08, 06:59 AM
The 4e doc for the hamsters makes me sad. I realize it's homebrew, or at least not-affiliated-with-WotC-or-TSR website-brew, but A) You never stat Wooly Rupert, so of course they statted him, and B) it's missing the flavor of the 2e entries, some of which had commentary from gnomish biologists. Asking for bail money, in the case of the FBPDGSH.

FabulousFizban
2015-07-09, 12:20 AM
incorporeal bat swarms

MWHAHAHAHAHA

JAL_1138
2015-07-09, 02:18 AM
incorporeal bat swarms

MWHAHAHAHAHA

Holy Pelor, what are these goddamn animals?! *waves fly-swatter*

Bard1cKnowledge
2015-07-09, 09:38 AM
Half fiend housecats, half celestial housecats, half dragon housecats

noob
2015-07-09, 09:58 AM
I through of using house-cats but with 1 rogue level they are overpowered(3 sneak attack in one turn is too much)

illyahr
2015-07-09, 10:04 AM
incorporeal bat swarms

MWHAHAHAHAHA

Thats evil! You're evil! :smalleek:

*secretly writing that down* :smallamused:

Segev
2015-07-09, 11:13 AM
incorporeal bat swarms

MWHAHAHAHAHA


Thats evil! You're evil! :smalleek:

*secretly writing that down* :smallamused:

Please enlighten me as to the evil genius hidden here. Incorporeal means they're not damaging most PCs, doesn't it? And, in not damaging them, they fail to inflict their "nausea" effect?

illyahr
2015-07-09, 11:33 AM
Please enlighten me as to the evil genius hidden here. Incorporeal means they're not damaging most PCs, doesn't it? And, in not damaging them, they fail to inflict their "nausea" effect?

The horrid thing you have to remember is that bat swarms don't have to hit to do their damage (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/swarm.htm). As long as they can enter your space, they will deal damage. As long as they do damage, they will drain blood. As long as you remain in their space, you will need to save vs. nausea.

As an incorporeal creature, they take half damage from spells unless that spell is a [force] spell. As a swarm, they are immune to most weapon damage and most targeting effects.

What you have here is a 'creature' that will slowly kill you and you can do next to nothing about it.

Magentawolf
2015-07-09, 11:36 AM
Flail Snails.

MrConsideration
2015-07-09, 12:10 PM
incorporeal bat swarms

MWHAHAHAHAHA

http://i.imgur.com/Hne2dwD.jpg

JAL_1138
2015-07-09, 12:53 PM
The horrid thing you have to remember is that bat swarms don't have to hit to do their damage (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/swarm.htm). As long as they can enter your space, they will deal damage. As long as they do damage, they will drain blood. As long as you remain in their space, you will need to save vs. nausea.

As an incorporeal creature, they take half damage from spells unless that spell is a [force] spell. As a swarm, they are immune to most weapon damage and most targeting effects.

What you have here is a 'creature' that will slowly kill you and you can do next to nothing about it.

So, RAW abuse instead of a Fear and Loathing reference. I think it's reasonable to conclude they'd need to be physically capable of interacting with your blood in order to drain it.

illyahr
2015-07-09, 01:25 PM
So, RAW abuse instead of a Fear and Loathing reference. I think it's reasonable to conclude they'd need to be physically capable of interacting with your blood in order to drain it.

They aren't actually draining blood, more like causing a bleeding wound. But yes, minor RAW abuse on this one. :smallbiggrin:

Bard1cKnowledge
2015-07-09, 06:41 PM
Mechaninics be danged,

Half dragon gelatinous cube

noob
2015-07-09, 06:57 PM
lvl 17 wizard with worms that walk template and apocalypse swarm template(hit him and you get one bonus Big Bad Evil)

Brendanicus
2015-07-09, 08:34 PM
Orcs... you know, it's funny. I've never been in a campaign with orcs as the antagonists. I think it has to do with them being 'too iconic' or 'too Tolkien', most GMs try to be a bit more inventive... as a result, we don't see these that much these days. Actually, most of the adventures I've been on seem to steer away from gobliniods as well, too cliche?Orcs fall victim to being too low on the threat-level totem pole. They are too strong to be part of the usual low-level rogues' gallery, so they lose out on that niche. Once players reach high enough levels for Orcs to be realistic campaign villains, they become outclassed by more interesting antagonists (Low-level fiends, undead, gnolls, etc). I guess to comes down to versatility. EVERY D&D villain wants loot and conquest, but most have some sort of twist on it. Orcs are vanilla in regards to villain motivations, which is why I've never seen them in more than a tertiary role. Some of my favorite sessions have involved Orcs, but they were desperate and unscrupulous as opposed to out-and-out savage.

Goblinoids have a similar problem... for the most part. Goblins fall victim to being overshadowed by their superior Kobold contemporaries. Kobolds can do anything a goblin can do except have big friends who aren't dragons. Bugbears fall under the Orc problem from above. Hobgoblins, however, provide a unique niche of a well-organized but distinctively monstrous army. If you ask me, they should be one of the top villains in this game, as so much can be done with them.

Segev
2015-07-10, 10:01 AM
The somewhat modern stereotypes for the differences between goblins and kobolds - at least on their own - is that the latter are made nastier by adding their trap-making cleverness to the encounter, while the former are made nastier by adding alchemical genius to their bag of tricks.

Kobolds are horrifying in their own lairs. Goblins are more threatening when attacking and undermining your stronghold.

illyahr
2015-07-10, 10:18 AM
The irony is that both goblin and kobold come from the same (or similar, depending on who you ask) root words that basically meant the same thing.

Segev
2015-07-10, 11:16 AM
The irony is that both goblin and kobold come from the same (or similar, depending on who you ask) root words that basically meant the same thing.

Ah, English. Following other languages down dark alleys, clubbing them over their heads, and rifling through their lexicons since medieval times.

FabulousFizban
2015-07-10, 11:34 AM
They aren't actually draining blood, more like causing a bleeding wound. But yes, minor RAW abuse on this one. :smallbiggrin:

I haven't actually used an incorporeal bat swarm before, but I have used an incorporeal rat swarm in a scenario I made based off of Lovecraft's Rats in the Walls. Suffice it to say, my players were unhappy and panicked quickly.

illyahr
2015-07-10, 11:34 AM
Ah, English. Following other languages down dark alleys, clubbing them over their heads, and rifling through their lexicons since medieval times.

As a bard, I feel an overwhelming need to sig this. May I? :smallbiggrin:

Anonymouswizard
2015-07-10, 11:39 AM
A friend of mine once decided kobolds were blue. Something to do with metals, I believe.

Bard1cKnowledge
2015-07-10, 11:46 AM
I call kobolds lizard puppies

Joe the Rat
2015-07-10, 11:56 AM
A friend of mine once decided kobolds were blue. Something to do with metals, I believe.

Good old Cobalt. Bonus points if they're also obsessed with mining/stealing silver.

I suppose one question that goes with this is monsters being under-used as opponents, or under-used in a setting. I've used all of 3 encounters with kobolds, and they're pretty played out until the party goes for a tribe's stronghold. But they keep popping up, partially because they have the best information network in the world. Being small, opportunistic, and highly organized, they need to know what's going on, and freely share information with other tribes for mutual benefit. Kobold hangs around, sees the action, runs away, and word spreads at the speed of underdark.

JAL_1138
2015-07-10, 12:32 PM
The Invisible Stalker always cracked me up.
https://throughacrackedlens.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/invisible-stalker.jpg

And you practically never see it used...
Sorry, had to.

Bard1cKnowledge
2015-07-10, 12:39 PM
The Invisible Stalker always cracked me up.
https://throughacrackedlens.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/invisible-stalker.jpg

And you practically never see it used...
Sorry, had to.

Abadar dang it JAL

JAL_1138
2015-07-10, 12:58 PM
Abadar dang it JAL

I said I was sorry... :smalltongue:

Segev
2015-07-10, 02:40 PM
As a bard, I feel an overwhelming need to sig this. May I? :smallbiggrin:Absolutely! I'm honored. :smallsmile:


I said I was sorry... :smalltongue:

Don't be! It was a beautiful pun.

Qwertystop
2015-07-15, 11:04 AM
The Invisible Stalker always cracked me up.
https://throughacrackedlens.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/invisible-stalker.jpg

And you practically never see it used...
Sorry, had to.

3.5 has art for it that looks like some guy getting snuck up on by a heat haze.

GoldfishBowl
2015-07-15, 11:30 AM
I never see enough Krenshars.
Creepy little buggers.

King of Casuals
2015-07-15, 09:22 PM
In my games at least, Bugbears, Gnolls, and Ogres. Theyre underused BECAUSE theyre the classics and no one thought to use them, so ive never once fought a bugbear, gnoll, or ogre.

JAL_1138
2015-07-15, 09:42 PM
Brine dragons. Morkorths.