[3.5] Fun plot monsters?

[Valwyn]

I mean, killing orcs and zombies is all well and good, but do you guys have know of any fun/interesting monsters with plot powers/potential? For example, weird elementals (MM2, 90) are designed to help the PCs find answers via high skills and spells, not fight. A verdant prince (MM4, 172) can make a pact with a player and impose nasty penalties if they try to break the deal. I know basically any dragon, lich, or spellcaster could fill this role, but I was wondering if you guys have any favourite monsters that are more than a bag of HP and spells.

[Uncle Pine]

A particularly stout and knowledgeable tibbit Artificer who likes to make himself pass as a dwarf.

[Thurbane]

In a 2E game, the DM had a Lich dressed as a croupier with a Deck of Many Things, offering the players a draw.

[flappeercraft]

Gods and Demigods are always a classic. Dopplegangers are also pretty good and Mindstealers are also pretty good. http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mm/20030727a

[Deeds]

Check out Toad from monster manual 1. Their CR is literally 1/10 and they are often in a swarm of 10 to 100 per encounter. While they aren't particularly challenging, they still have plot potential.

Why is it raining frogs in the village?

Misquitos and malaria is a problem in Needs-your-help-town. The town mad scientist suggests gathering 10,000 frogs from the Oh-no-creepy marsh.

Local spellcaster needs toad warts for their new spell.

On the plane of Nega-Chaos, all creatures have DR 15/toad. Before plane shifting, your party may want to visit the swamp first.

EDIT: Want an actual challenge with the toad? Fine. Braxxus, Dark as the Void, Nastiest of Nastys, and Emperor of the Swamp is a sexually active black dragon. On a lonely night, he helped spawn Half-Black Dragon Toads. A single swarm has been destroying your party Druid's national park. Use with caution, as a 40 toad swarm with a 1/day 60ft line of acid per toad is a little strong.

[Crake]

I'm particularly fond of a trio of succubi binder/ur-priest/tenebrous apostates, each with a different fiend of XYZ from fiend folio (I use gestalt to make it all fit together, see my homebrew optional gestalt in my sig, players are equally open to utilize it). They tend to range from active villains to mischievous helpers to devious pact makers, plenty of plot to go around :smalltongue:

[daremetoidareyo]

Taunting haunt from mm5

[Cirtona Pox]

A Chimera on which the dragon head seeks to become a real dragon. Clearly insane, it has eaten the other two heads and burned the necks shut. Now it offers the party some form of information that they need in exchange for their assistance.

[Kol Korran]

You can check my extended signature for the link to the compendium for maligned and forgotten monsters. It was a project in which others and myself tried to alter/ change some monsters. A great deal of it was giving them a greater role (In terms of flavor and potential plot and interactions) in the world. Each one also has a segment called "Playing in a D&D table near you!", which helps tie the info together, in encounter level, adventure level and even campaign level.

2 notes though:
- Most entries are... quite long...
- I started writing it when my grasp of English (Mostly grammar) was a lot weaker. So there are some typos, some odd sentence structure and the like. I've gone over some of the posts and fixed them, but not all...

[mikelibrarian]

I think this website may be what you're looking for. It gives plot ideas for hundreds of Pathfinder monsters. I have nothing to do with the site other than being a fan.

[SangoProduction]

Beholders. Or even the Hive Mother.

[Mr Adventurer]

I like that Dalmosh (MM... 5, I think?) can be summoned by anyone who can throw a sufficiently gluttonous party. Don't need to be a magic user of any sort. Lets you do a Dark Heresy style investigation game with D&D! :D

[Celestia]

Monsters with plot powers? Well, I'm not sure if there are any monsters that are specifically called out as being able to perceive the "fourth wall" or even being particularly genre savvy, but I suppose you could theoretically give any of them plot-manipulating powers. It might be difficult to play, but it would be rather interesting.

[martixy]

At some point I went through the Monster Manuals picking stuff with potential. Here are excerpts from my notes:

* Banshrae [MM5/10]
Eastern-looking fey that can act as puppet-masters for a quest line or two.

* Skull Lord [MM5/154]
12 servants of an ancient BBEG.

Vrakmul is an ancient mad necromancer who was destroyed 1200 years ago. Before that however he had created 12 special servants that would try to bring him back as a lich for some unknown purpose. In reality, he had found an ancient prophecy that hinted at [???].

* Vitreous drinker, CR11 [MM4/174]
Undead servant of Vecna. Perfect mid-level mastermind.

* Redcap, CR2+ [MM3/138]
A crotchety boogieman-like fey with a unique advancement mechanic.

* Bearhound, CR7 [MM3/16]
A mythical(like Lochness) woodland creature some noble could try to hunt for sport or joke about.

* Glimmerskin, CR8 [MM2/114]
A positive energy creature that bonds with a host to experience the thrill of battle.
Provides access to its feats and class features to the host.

* Chain golem, CR5 [MM2/44]
Someone found out the secret to construction and is now being hunted by the kytons, hires PCs to keep him safe.

* Deathshrieker, CR15 [MM3/32]
Dementors. Also sound-based enemies.

* Kythons [BoVD/178]
Giger-esque Aliens. Very adaptive as far as CRs go.
Quest ideas:
- Purging a nest of Kythons.
- An evil cabal feeding entire villages to a kython nest, so they can grow stronger and be unleashed upon the world at some point.
- The cabal has altered a nest of kythons with a hivemind. With a nest big enough, this might even be an [EPIC] encounter. Or near-epic anyway.

* Shadar-kai, CR 1 [FF/151]
Shadow fey - a previous race that lived on the PMP, but declined due to the curse they suffer. Good for flavourful NPCs. And PCs(+1).

* Sea Drake, CR 15 [FF/147]
Territorial, RP-friendly creatures. World-building material.

* Alkilith (Tanar’ri), CR 14 [FF/46]
Demon that turns into a living cloudkill spell. (Su) means non-dispellable.
Also highly adaptive - from Medium to Colossal.

* Blood Fiend, CR 14 [FF/47]
Demon+Vampire - literally a demon vampire.
* Disenchanter, CR 17 [FF/62]
Result of experiment that went a bit too well. Anti-item, spellcaster, can be used as a "track down and contain" quest.

* Ethergaunts, CR 9-17 [FF/64]
Totalitarian society(think Equilibrium) of no-emotion atheists, who wanna take over the PMP.
They have non-magic techy items. Etherblade = fantasy laser.

[The Bandicoot]

Don't know if this has been mentioned already but..... Mimics speak common. Have it talk to the players.

[Thurbane]

Awakened Animated Object (platinum statue).

Puts all of his skill into Diplomacy and Bluff: "Please don't melt me down for treasure! I'm a nice guy when you get to know me!"

https://sc01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1zWHIKVXXXXbSXXXXq6xXFXXXH/Bronze-Sculpture-ADONIS-Limited-Edition.jpg

[MintyThe1st]

I personaly enjoy the Elder Evils because of the gradual build up to their inevitable arrival, and the end of the world vibe they give off. i had alot of fun creating my own based off this guy:
http://magicgameplan.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/skithiryx-the-blight-dragon.jpg