Big Scary Templates

[El'the Ellie]

Hey all! Pretty simple question, but what are some of your favorite 3.5 templates?

I honestly haven't used them much as a GM, but they look like a great way to build fearsome/more powerful monsters. What are some crowd-pleasers, staples, or just plain favorites?

Many thanks in advance! (By the way, despite the title name, don't feel like they need to be size-increasing or fear based.)

[Gildedragon]

Pseudonatural + Effigy creature: clockwork horrors from beyond nightmares

[Troacctid]

Lost (MoI). Very flavorful and creepy.

I also like half-fiend and half-celestial.

[Flickerdart]

I can't get enough of Half-Fey (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040213a). It's cheap enough to use on almost any monster (as well as some player characters) and gives a whole lot of goodies:

A new movement mode in the form of flight, which can be challenging to deal with for unprepared parties
A variety of spell-like abilities to spice up your creature beyond full-attacking every turn
A chunky Charisma bonus that can turn any run-of-the-mill mook into an influencer and leader (especially when combined with the SLAs above)
Immunity to enchantments, to prevent your PCs from just charming it and moving on


Half-Celestial and Half-Fiend do much the same thing, but they are costlier. On the plus side, the SLAs they get are more readily applicable to combat.

[LordOfCain]

I like half-minotaur...

[RelentlessImp]

Primordial Giant (Secrets of Xen'drik) is a really fun template to throw onto a Half-Giant character.

Saint (BoED), Draconic (Draconomicon), and Phrenic Creature (XPH) are all fun things to slam onto basically any character, so long as you can buy the LAs off.

I'm also a big fan of Half-Celestial, Half-Fiend, Half-Dragon, Half-Fey, and Half-Elemental, but the level adjustment on all of those is entirely too punishing for what you get.

EDIT: As for GM-specific; Worm That Walks (ELH/DDJB) is a great template to creep people out with.

[ComaVision]

Maybe a bit boring but I like the Half-Dragon template because you can slap it on almost anything. Nobody care about a bear but a flying bear that breathes acid is pretty sweet.

[Gildedragon]

Mulhorandi Divine Minion is great too for WTF moments, getting a villain back to full HP and giving them an escape... And for infiltration PCs

[MisterKaws]

Deity is a template too... sort of.

[OldTrees1]

Undead:
Lich, Gravetouched Ghoul (Ghoul Template), Ghost Template Class (scalable Spectral template), Necropolitian (undead type template), & Spellstiched (for magical undead)

Draconic:
Dragonborn, Draconic Creature + Winged(when Dragonborn is not applicable), or Half Dragon (when Dragonborn is not applicable)

[Urpriest]

Lycanthrope is excellent in its versatility. There are other staple-a-creature-to-another templates (Tauric, for example), but Lycanthrope is cleaner, more elegant, and has built-in flavor.

[Flickerdart]

Lycanthrope is excellent in its versatility. There are other staple-a-creature-to-another templates (Tauric, for example), but Lycanthrope is cleaner, more elegant, and has built-in flavor.

I like Entomanothrope better, because it's more novel and avoids all the icky alignment issues (as well as all the Team Jacob jokes). But conceptually, there's not that much difference.

And of course, both can use used to make an unplayable creature playable, often at a reasonable ECL.

[Thurbane]

I'm a big fan of Unholy Scion, Half-fiend, Tainted Raver and Spellwarped.

[Mr Adventurer]

Yeah, I like Spellwarped. Also: Living Spell :D

[AslanCross]

1. Half-Farspawn
2. Pseudonatural
3. Half-Dragon

[chainer1216]

Spell-stitched is alot of fun.

Saint is downright cheap for what it grants.

[unseenmage]

Ever want to stitch two monsters together and see if the result is fearsome or flotsam?

Then the 3rd party Amalgam and Monstrous Lycanthrope templates from Advanced Bestiary are for you!