Your favorite monster

[Sindal]

Hey yall

This weeks question isnt actually a rp question but i think its pretty interesting.

-What is your favourite/most memorable monster? (Or some of your favourites)

Anything in the monster manuals. From the lowly imp to the mighty terraque. Can be any reason. Either you like how they look, what they can do, their history or maybe you just had a really memoravle fight with one that suprised you.

Eg:
- I like rakshasas. To the point that my divine soul sorceror gets his power from a dead rakshasas essense. Im fond of satyrs too ( my ranger had to grow up with some)

-I have a dm whos rather fond of kobolds. He also tends to like creatures that can petrify like basalisks. We fought a heavily weakened basalisk for our first adventurr with him. Very memorable.

[hymer]

Trolls are the quintessential monster to me. Cunning but unlearned, brutal and resilient, and you need to know their secret to finally defeat them.

[Unoriginal]

Hard to pic one favorite, but the Flail Snail is pretty great.

[Sindal]

Hard to pic one favorite, but the Flail Snail is pretty great.

The heck is a flail snail?

Doesnt have to be just one. Top 3 or 5 if you like.

Id like to think itll promote some interesting monster awareness for dms and players to use or encounter as well. :p

[BobZan]

Ogre!

I had nightmares with Ogres on 3.5

[hymer]

The heck is a flail snail?
In 5e it's from Volo's Guide to Monsters IIRC.
https://i.redd.it/3w4y3f0d37p11.jpg

[Whyrocknodie]

Hard to pic one favorite, but the Flail Snail is pretty great.

Bravo!

I pick the flumph.

[thoroughlyS]

Goblins. (Although technically they're my favorite race.)

After that, I like ettins and oni. The weird not-quite-giants.

[EvilAnagram]

I'm glad to see the flail snail getting love. One captained a pirate ship in a game I ran. It wasn't awakened, the pirates just treated him like a mascot.

[the_brazenburn]

I like minotaurs, have liked them even before using them in D&D.
Seconded on Flail Snail, they're awesome.
Oni are kind of fun; I loved that creepy children's rhyme sidenote.

[dejarnjc]

I like how vampires are designed and how they operate in play. Makes for an interesting monster with lots of sensible options for easy customization.

[JackPhoenix]

Humans. Or humanoids, really. They are the real monsters, after all.

I'm fond of all kinds of undead, from the lowly mindless zombie hordes to powerful vampires and liches.

I also like Mind Flayers, though I don't really get a chance to use them in the game.

[Oramac]

For me, without a doubt, it's the Guard Drake from Volo's. Couldn't honestly tell you why. I just really love them.

After that, pretty much any undead is a favorite. Mainly Liches and Death Knights.

[Sahe]

I like Liches I think there is some fun stuff you can do with them.

I plan to add a Lich who is the curator of the Black Library, a demiplane with the largest collection of knowledge in the universe (yes this one is heavily inspired by Wan Shi Tong from Avatar).

I also like Hobgoblins, and I really wanna use them one day as the main threat or maybe even just a power in the world at large.

[Dr. Cliché]

Always had a soft spot for Gnolls.

[Baptor]

Yuan-ti

I know they are my favorite because I have a rule that I can't use them as villains if I can remember the last time I used them to avoid using them too much.

Encountered them as a player in 2nd edition and loved em ever since.

[Porcupinata]

I've always liked intellect devourers. I love the story potential of the thing that replaces someone's brain and then rides their body around acting as a spy. They always work great when they're already inhabiting an NPC rather than as a wandering monster.

The 5e mechanics for them aren't the best there have ever been, but the concept is great.

[Cicciograna]

I have always had a soft spot for the following, in no particular order:


Rust monster:: they are cute, end of the story. They're also a scourge, though, but with a steady supply of scrap metal they make as adorable pets.
Pseudodragon: it's essentially a cat that is a dragon that is a cat that is a dragon. Lovable, and my character is finally going to have one!
Basilisk: a good nice monster, content of being cranky and satisfied with his petrifying gaze. Another nice pet to have, once beyond the petrifying part.
Spectator: a cute floating eye that begs to be loved. Plus, his non-evil nature is refreshing, for being a beholder.
Kobolds: gotta love the little cunning rats. I prefer them to goblins because they are crafty and devious, plus trapmaking.
Bulette: no particular reason for this oldie but goldie, but the landshark has always had my love.


Also, notable mention for the Skeleton (but only human), especially if given some kind of intelligence in some way. Must be because I used to love the Monkey Island Saga, so whenever I see a skelly I associate him to LeChuck undead army.

[RedMage125]

Always had a soft spot for Gnolls.

OMG, me too. I've been a big fan of gnolls since 2e (although I did not start DMing until 3e). In my campaign world, gnolls who worship Yeenoghu are a significant minority (about 35-40% of gnolls). Most of the rest (about 50-55%) are still Evil, but live more in tune with nature, and worship nature deities (usually my CE deity of beasts, slaughter, and winter). They have a large percentage of druids, rangers and barbarians among them. The remaining small percentage of them are TN or CN nature revering gnolls (more druids and rangers, usually). With 5e's new fluff...I may disregard it, except as it applies to the demon worshipping gnolls.

As far as humanoids, I'm also fond of Hobgoblins. Very organized, militaristic, and evil. I certainly prefer them to orcs. Kobolds get a niche mention for me, only because the last 5e game I ran, I was able to do a whole small town that had been overrun with the little buggers, and it was trapped out the wazoo, which was a lot of fun to run my players through.

Most of my most memorable encounters I have created were against humanoids, but I've also done the occasional dragon. And those, when done right, are GREAT encounters. From the dragon lair that the players traverse, to the surprise dragon in the BBEG's fortress, to the truly epic battle with Dragotha, the very first dracolich, in the Age of Worms...dragon fights are awesome.

As a player, though...I've had really memorable fights against Beholders, Vampires, and of course, the Tarrasque (in 3.5e).

[bc56]

Hmm
Favorite monsters

Beholderkin have always been fun to play with.
Same with oozes, I can't wait to get a chance to try out the Oblex.

[Ivor_The_Mad]

Hard to pic one favorite, but the Flail Snail is pretty great.

These are one of my favorites too. I have never had a chance to use it but I would love to. I mean its a giant snail with flails on its face what's not to love.

I am also intrigued by mindflayers. This is a very hard question since creatures are one of my favorite things in D&D.

ACTUALLY, SCRATCH THAT Tressym is my favorite. I think they make awesome D&D companions with the flying, see invisibility, and poison sense. Plus its a cat with wings.

[sithlordnergal]

Spirit Troll: It is similar to a troll, only its weakness is Psychic and Force damage instead of Fire and Acid, and it deals Psychic with every attack. Meaning it cuts through Beserker resistances with ease. It and the Rot Troll make excellent additions for any undead encounters.

Rot Troll: The Rot Troll is the other neat troll variant. Rather then heal hp, it deals an unavoidable 1d10 Necrotic to anyone who ends their turn near it. This effect can be stopped by fire and acid, but it is still really cool.

Star Spawn Seer and Star Spawn Hulk: Technically these are two different monsters, but their abilities play off each other so perfectly they may as well be a single enemy. The Star Spawn Seer only does Psychic damage, and has a few neat attacks. One teleports an opponent 60ft on a failed...I wanna say Intelligence save? It could be Wisdom. Either way, if the target fails the save they are teleported, and everyone with about 10 or 15 feet of the target takes psychic damage. It also throws a ball of psychic energy, and can teleport away from damage as a reaction.

Meanwhile the Star Spawn Hulk is there to knock people prone for the most part, however it reflects any Psychic damage it takes in a 10ft radius. So if the Seer targets the Hulk and hits, everyone within 10ft of the Hulk takes the damage from the Seer's Psychic ball.


Rune-Forged Guardian: This is probably my favorite monster. It is a special boss monster from the Forgotten Traditions module. It only makes a single attack, however it has a ton of Legendary Actions, Reactions, and makes for a challenging and interesting fight. Especially if the players aren't prepared for it.

Its main schtick is that its Immunities, Resistances, and Abilities change every round, and it can use its Reaction to become Immune to Fire, Lightning, Ice, or Acid damage. When it becomes Immune to a damage type, that damage type starts healing it and it gains special effects. For example, hitting it with an Ice Spell causes it to be coated with Ice that nullifies all damage from the first Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing attack it is hit by. Being hit by Fire adds Fire damage to all of its attacks. While Lighting gives it the ability to fly, and Acid lets it create a cloud of poison.

Top that off with Immunities to spells that change its shape, like Polymorph, immunity to non-magical weapons, and a hearty sum of hp, Slow on a Recharge, and it makes for a difficult Boss fight

[xroads]

At the top of my list would have to be the treant. Ever since I used a possessed hangman tree in a western game I ran, I've tried to squeeze an encounter with a killer tree in any campaign I run.

After that, I like dinosaurs & yuan-ti. Dinosaurs are just fun for fairly obvious reasons. And yuan-ti are deviously dangerous. My players have feared encounters with the yuan-ti more than just about any other encounter so far (with exception to an arch-mage lich).

[lunaticfringe]

Good ole fashioned pack of ghouls, mayhaps with a Ghast with a few innate spells leading them.

I really dig the Troll variant options in the 5e MM. You can add features from other monsters to it and make severed body parts crawl around and keep attacking.

3rd Party is the Vapor Cat. I always picture a huge, (more?) evil Cheshire Cat just messing with a party. Hit and run guerilla tactics, just enough to ruin Rests. Then, after they take a point of 2 of exhaustion, BAM! Roll initiative

[Spectrulus]

I'm a huge fan of the balhannoth.

An intelligent lair adapting creature that preys upon the desires of victims to prey on them.

I put my players up against one, and between the sheer paranoia it caused them, lashing out just often enough to deny rests, and kidnapping various party members, it was also a blast to direct. Party is now very interested in rings of mind shielding.

[Unoriginal]

I like the Venom Troll, too, but to be honest throwing an Acid Troll at my PCs would be gold.

[No brains]

The greatest monster is Man. Dun dun dun!

[carrdrivesyou]

I'm gonna give a shout out to the ooze boys for this. From Gelatinous Cubes to Black Puddings, I love em all. I even made some custom ones for a campaign a ran. They dealt fire damage instead of the typical acid, and had a sort of sentience that allowed them to change shapes/functions to allow them different methods of taking their prey.

That's what happens when you let a cooky old wizard become a chef and enchant his baked goods.

[Sindal]

Good ole fashioned pack of ghouls, mayhaps with a Ghast with a few innate spells leading them.

I really dig the Troll variant options in the 5e MM. You can add features from other monsters to it and make severed body parts crawl around and keep attacking.

3rd Party is the Vapor Cat. I always picture a huge, (more?) evil Cheshire Cat just messing with a party. Hit and run guerilla tactics, just enough to ruin Rests. Then, after they take a point of 2 of exhaustion, BAM! Roll initiative

Do you have any stat blocks or images for Vapor Cats? I'm not finding anything directly translating to that name. It sounds pretty fun

[Finger6842]

Humans (as opposed to humanoids)
Bugbears
Orcs
Giants
Owlbears
Shambling Mounds

[Tawmis]

Orcs have been a long time favorite of mine, as a DM, because I have a tribe of Orcs that I have put in just about every campaign.

But recently, the party has moved to another continent that's been uncovered, and I've been fleshing out gnolls, which I've been enjoying.

But really, does anything beat dragons?

[Skylivedk]

Vampires. As a kid, they'd scare me ****less. In 5e they're pretty fun and powerful.

I like kobold dungeons. My players still say "god damn koboldians" when they spring a trap as a reference to their first time wading through a kobold dungeon (where they referenced South Park in agony)

[Skylivedk]

Oh, and I forgot! Steam punk cyborg gorillas. Long story....

[PhoenixPhyre]

Very favorite? The Froghemoth. Even the name is fun.
Second? Anything with tentacles or that can be described as "eldritch" or "body horror."

[sithlordnergal]

Very favorite? The Froghemoth. Even the name is fun.
Second? Anything with tentacles or that can be described as "eldritch" or "body horror."

You would enjoy the Star Spawn Mangler then. It is a mass of hands, claws, and teeth. But be careful though, it may only be a CR 5 but I have seen one drop a Shield Guardian from 142 hp to about 25 in a single round before any of the party members could attack.

It uses a gimmick with Stealth and Surprise rounds, and if its gimmick goes off it can, and will, kill even high level players if they have low HP. If its gimmick goes off, you're looking at an average of around 90 points of damage during a surprise round to a single player, during which time none of the surprised players can do anything

[dmteeter]

Nothing will ever leave as much of an impression on me as the first time i played D&D when i was 10 years old.

My character was an elf fighter and i ran into this room and my uncle told me i saw a monster he described as a large insect with brown/orange colored carapace.....

I ran forward and attacked....

It was then i was introduced to the greatest monster in D&D THE RUST MONSTER!!!!!!!!

[Tiadoppler]

Dragons. I especially enjoy dragons who do not use the standard color=damage type tables and happen to live in atypical places.

Lycanthropes and Doppelgangers because I am the DM, and my players need more paranoia in their lives.

Fascist Elves with superiority complexes are just so satisfying to disintegrate.

[Scarytincan]

Boneclaw. That thing is terrifying. Grab you from a crack in the wall 15 feet away and teleport you away to be ripped to shreds alone in the dark...

Also balhannoth. Another less known one with a great kit for built in fighting style and plot

[Callak_Remier]

Varguilles
Troglodytes
Fairy dragon

[lunaticfringe]

Do you have any stat blocks or images for Vapor Cats? I'm not finding anything directly translating to that name. It sounds pretty fun

My bad it was Vapor Lynx. It's From Tomb of Beasts, here is a link (https://www.5esrd.com/gamemastering/monsters-foes/monsters-by-type/monstrosities/vapor-lynx-3pp/).

[damascoplay]

Nightwalkers... they are so badass and actually scary to face head on, since you know... you die if he drops you to 0 hp. I Feel like that's the type of creature you definitly don't want to risk charging at without a strategy, even at epic level.

Edit: They're also huge asf.

[Harpier]

For me, Couatls are definitely up there. A pain in the neck to actually fight, but they're great patrons and questgivers with an interesting powerset and flavor, and a built-in story hook with their mysterious creator god.

[guachi]

carrion crawler from Red Box Basic set or the Ogre from B2 Keep on the Borderlands.

[Teaguethebean]

I love the aboleth I have a player who is playing an eladrin character (they are immortal in my world) he was imprisoned by an evil church for 20,000 years and forgot his past life but this aboleth as they have the memories of their ancestors knows everything and they had an intense battle were the player had to mind control the aboleth to tell him more as they fled from the battle they were losing. It was really intense and it has become my favorite monster ever sense then. (I also like hobgoblins)

[Tvtyrant]

Aboleths: I banned them from my campaigns when I realized that every plot ended up being about Aboleths. Being immortal, hyper-intelligent paranoid wizard/dragons they have a lot of time to make their plots come true.

Kobolds: I love Kobolds. Being a pathetically weak race that reproduces like rabbits lets you do so much stuff. Have a tribe that serves the local monster, another group mines a rare mineral and defends their mines with their tiny lives, others act as paid exterminators by eating all of the rats. Kobolds do it all.

[Asmotherion]

I'm rather fond of low CR critters like Imps, Zombies/Skeletons and Goblins for Generic Encounters (with one-two Higher CR creatures in the mix).

As for Campain Bosses, Dragons (The Shadow Template on a Bronze Dragon being my Top Pick) and Liches. As Spellcasters, I can justify some customisations, and even blend them in with the crowd, making some "guest star" appearances earlier in the game, were the players will have to work to really know it's them.

I also like the Deathlock as a returning Antagonist... not really the main villain, but someone the PCs will cross many times, and will have enough backstory to give if they look for it.

[Snails]

Trolls -- Much more interesting and menacing than a bag of hit points.
Ettins -- A monster that can argue with itself has immeasurable comic potential, while still being scary

Dislikes:
Beholder -- I always felt like I was fighting a dumb vending machine of doom created by a god who likes RNG too much.
Rust Monster -- Exists as an excuse to screw certain players. But thank god there exists a Disenchanter to screw everyone and level the playing field, but, no, that too will screw the same certain players.

[RedMage125]

Ettins -- A monster that can argue with itself has immeasurable comic potential, while still being scary.


That reminds me of something I did once.

So, players got captured by some evil wizards (diabolists and acolytes of the skin). Once they freed themselves, they gathered their gear and went to confront them. In doing so, they encountered all their supernatural prisoners.

There was a hallway with 6 large cages. In one, a beholder, which had had all of its eyes removed. Across from that, a lobotomized mind flayed (still very smart, but psionically powerless). Next to that, a medusa which had been blinded and her head "shaved". Across from her, a Neutral lich, a historian who probably had the power to escape, but the diabolists had his spell books and phylactery. Next to him, a horribly disfigured and maimed nymph. And across from her, an Ettin which had had one of his heads removed, and the stump cauterized. He may have been the saddest. When questioned, he said "Morg and Torg will...Morg will crush wizards who did this."

Some of my players actually got a little misty eyed. They never thought that they could feel sympathy for monsters.

[Unoriginal]

Some of my players actually got a little misty eyed. They never thought that they could feel sympathy for monsters.

Did they help the monsters escape and recover?

[PhoenixPhyre]

Did they help the monsters escape and recover?


That reminds me of something I did once.

So, players got captured by some evil wizards (diabolists and acolytes of the skin). Once they freed themselves, they gathered their gear and went to confront them. In doing so, they encountered all their supernatural prisoners.

There was a hallway with 6 large cages. In one, a beholder, which had had all of its eyes removed. Across from that, a lobotomized mind flayed (still very smart, but psionically powerless). Next to that, a medusa which had been blinded and her head "shaved". Across from her, a Neutral lich, a historian who probably had the power to escape, but the diabolists had his spell books and phylactery. Next to him, a horribly disfigured and maimed nymph. And across from her, an Ettin which had had one of his heads removed, and the stump cauterized. He may have been the saddest. When questioned, he said "Morg and Torg will...Morg will crush wizards who did this."

Some of my players actually got a little misty eyed. They never thought that they could feel sympathy for monsters.

Apropos of this, I once had an introductory dungeon with a small group of goblin bandits (stealing sheep) led by a black wyrmling dragon. There were two "bosses"--the goblin boss and the dragon. The boss, when encountered (if the party hadn't raised the alarm), was engaged in unwilling relations with a couple of goblin females. They'd literally catch him with his pants down. The dragon, on the other hand, showed signs of having been a prisoner--a limp, signs of shackles on his legs, and a cowed/fearful manner.

I ran this with multiple parties. To a group, they eviscerated the goblin boss (two groups hung him from the ceiling by his entrails while still alive) and talked to the dragon. All of them ended up letting the dragon go--one group went so far as to spend healing resources (lay on hands IIRC) to heal the wounds. They then lied to their quest-giver, blaming everything on the goblin boss.

It's interesting how descriptions of things change the behavior of the players. I make it clear that there's no fixed alignment in my setting, so anything could be good or bad depending on the individual. It's made most people try to talk their way out of things and make allies rather than murder hobo their way through things.

[NaughtyTiger]

I love oozes before everyone gets magical armor/weapons. It is rare to see fear in player's eyes.



That reminds me of something I did once.
This is incredible!!!

[RedMage125]

This is incredible!!!
Thank you.

Did they help the monsters escape and recover?

Actually, yes. Once they defeated the diabolists, they used their variable, keyed portal to open up a portal to Arvandor, to let the other humanoid (elves) prisoners escape. The monsters, except the lich, went with them (lich teleported out).

The elven gods were appealed to by the other prisoners, and by healed the monsters. Now, this little misadventure took place in the middle of a larger campaign involving an alliance of surface races against an army of drow. The Ettin stayed with the alliance out of gratitude, most of the others went their own ways.

Although, much later, the PCs got captured by mind flayers in the Underdark. Since all illithids look the same time them, they were quite shocked when one opened their cell and released them. It addressed then as "foodthings", and told them that they were now square for saving him/it earlier.

[DaveOfTheDead]

I've been waiting to throw a Revenant at my group. Haven't had a good choice yet, but I have a fun plan.

The lord/king/ruler of the kingdom they're in has been secretly replaced by a doppelganger (the actual creature or not) and has gotten rid of the actual ruler. The PCs, while exploring some kind of cavern or cave, stumble upon the revenant who has had his face skinned off and his ears cut off, so not to help identify who it actually is.

[Millstone85]

I made myself a mindwitness avatar after reading in VGtM that lost mindwitnesses sometimes enter the service of flumphs, shifting their alignment to lawful good.

That could make for hilarious scenarios. Bully a flumph cloister and suddenly it starts shooting eye rays at you. Conversely, help a flumph and gain a beholderkin buddy who insists it is a flumph at heart.


Anything with tentacles or that can be described as "eldritch" or "body horror."
You would enjoy the Star Spawn Mangler then. It is a mass of hands, claws, and teeth.My problem with star spawn is that I find the art uninspiring. Also, they keep changing name. Here, have a look.

https://pictr.com/images/2018/11/17/0nyOen.jpghttps://pictr.com/images/2018/11/17/0ny95B.jpghttps://pictr.com/images/2018/11/17/0nyR1c.jpg
Now, if you like it, good for you.

[goremonger]

Owlbear.


Forever imprinted into my consciousness from the very first game of D&D as kid in grade 2 going solo through Keep on the Borderlands, being DMed by a friend in grade 3, in 1979 (or maybe early '80). Neither of us really understood the rules, but he was such a smart young kid he could take me along the narrative journey and thrill me to my bones as my dwarf (I still have the character sheet to this day) managed to escape the beast's hug, and beak rattling my brains in my helm, and barely survive long enough to slay it with my bardiche (I don't even know if Basic D&D had the bardiche, but my friend had a few AD&D books and the character was written up as a dwarven fighter, but the adventure was B2 for sure). I was hooked, at it has been my iconic D&D monster ever since.

[Louro]

Kobolds: I love Kobolds. Being a pathetically weak race that reproduces like rabbits lets you do so much stuff. Have a tribe that serves the local monster, another group mines a rare mineral and defends their mines with their tiny lives, others act as paid exterminators by eating all of the rats. Kobolds do it all.

Yeah, kobolds!
So weak... and yet a creature to be feared. Their strongholds are pretty much invulnerable :)

[Throne12]

Mind flayers they are monsters I can challenge my players with. There mind blast is so great to use. I have a player that a power gamer and all his characters are so op to where if I try and challenge him the rest of the party gets tpk. But I I keep it challenging for the rest of the party he just walks over everything before the party. So stunning him with a mind blast is so nice but he got my mind flayers with a dam web spell.

[Zakz3]

Shadows, golems,animated Armor and
Almost all magic creations are fun to mess around with

Also displaced beasts

[Kane0]

I'll narrow it down to favorite of each type
Aberration: Slaadi
Beast: Giant Crocodile
Celestial: Solar
Construct: Helmed Horror
Dragon: Blue
Elemental: Fire Snake
Fey: Redcap
Fiend: Baatezu
Giant: Ogre
Humanoid: Gnoll
Monstrosity: Purple Worm
Ooze: Gelatinous Cube
Plant: Shambling Mound
Undead: Wraith

[PeteNutButter]

The Hydra

-It is the perfect representation of many real life struggles. Solve one problem > create two more.

-I had one of the most epic battles with one in 3.5, where the rest of the party was unconscious forcing me to solo one.

-Not long ago when running one against a group of inexperienced players it created one of the funniest DM moments of my gaming career. The wizard hit it with a firebolt. It didn't grow any heads that round, but it suddenly started focusing the wizard. His response, "Guys, don't hit it with fire. It pisses it off." It was another four rounds before someone dared to try fire again, almost TPK. :smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin:


I should also add that my players have pointed out I overuse monsters that consume PCs. Apparently people get eaten in my games a lot.

[Potato_Priest]

I also am a big fan of oozes, but I find the ones in the MM to be a little lacking in variety. Do any fellow ooze lovers want to drop me a link to some cool homebrew?

Korreds are also really cool. They look awesome, have crazy good abilities, and intriguing lore.

[McSkrag]

Umber Hulks are super fun. It's great watching the players try to attack without getting confused.

I also love Ghosts. They have so many RP possibilities and the possession ability is hilarious.

[Son of A Lich!]

Formians are my all time favorite. I've always hated the idea of "Always Evil Races" and Formians scale really well from 1st to 16 or so, they can develop complex plans and be an excellent source of magic items with utility, and all without having any qualms about morality. They aren't evil. Your kingdom is just in the way of our Interstate and we're going to politely cut off traffic to and from your kingdom to connect our 7 hives. You are free to protest if you like... But I will remind you that we DO have 7 hives of thousands of soldiers each that are all linked together in the hive mind...

I'm glad that Hags are getting a lot of love and attention this time around. Speaking of monsters with unusual items...whoa... I replaced the Deck of Many Things, with "The Deck of Many Fates". The Players were allowed to draw three cards from the deck, and each had a plot point that they could turn in for a hero point by "Realizing their fate" (So, the Three of Swords says something like "You will receive a Weapon that killed it's own Master", this encourages a player to work creatively to make a self-fulfilling prophecy). While many of the fortune tellers are glad to read the fortunes of the players, when they encountered a green hag who offered to stack the deck for them, They let her live and she would deal each of them the Kings of each of the four suits... I have never seen players argue with each other in that psuedo out-of-character-but-sort-of-in-character state for so long and viciously.

Hags are awesome if you use them well.

There is a lot of D&D classic monsters, from Flail Snails to Owlbears, Flumphs and even Wolf-in-sheep's-clothing, that I will always remember fondly.

Wights are my favorite undead, because when Necromancers think they have the up on their undead minions, and you can start corrupting their master's wishes, it's a good time all around.

I really like Gnolls that aren't evil, but simply carnivorous nomads that have a hard time learning most languages. I'm surprised they lost 10 feet of movement this edition, Gnolls have always been faster then humans in every edition prior, if I'm not mistaken. I know that was true in 4th, 3rd and 2nd at least. I have to admit, as far as the evil races go, Gnolls are pretty darn cool.

[Trustypeaches]

It isn't my favorite monster, per se, but I really like the Boneclaw from Mordenkaim's Tome of Foes.

A lich who fails the ritual to transfer his soul into a phylactery and instead binds it to the vessel of the most hateful, scornful person in the nearby vicinity, whom it then must serve without question. This is just a fantastic monster for different kinds of story hooks, considering how strong a boneclaw is and how it can attach itself to all sorts of different characters and villains, many of whom might be deeply weak on their own. The storytelling possibilities are really strong with this monster.

[M Placeholder]

The Ettercap.

Its adorable.

[KorvinStarmast]

But really, does anything beat dragons? Nope.
But in second place, I put Cloud Giants.
Big and strong, but also smart, and can be negotiated with. A little magic too. Super NPCs for any campaign, not just monsters.

And they throw rocks.

Big, strong, smart, iconic, and they live in castles in the air/on clouds. I also like what the team did with them for this edition: neutral good (50%) or neutral evil (50%)

(And I had to laugh when I read the Storm Kings Thunder lead in ... they begin the game with "rocks fall and everybody dies" on that poor village in the river ... I chuckled)

[Goldlizard]

mimics. never gets old to put a few chests in a room and put a sign in that says "Two of these are mimics. Good luck"

[Millstone85]

After the mindwitness, another hybrid beholderkin that I really like is the gibbering orb. Sadly, it hasn't appeared in 5e yet.

This creature has three horrifying traits:
* It is like a gibbering mouther, and also a floating ball that shoots eye rays.
* Under all the gibbering, it is actually way smarter than a beholder.
* It can shapechange between a single big orb and a hive of smaller ones.

There are several ways to explain its existence:
* It is the common Far Realm ancestor of the beholder and the gibbering mouther.
* It is what appears when a beholder dreams after hearing a gibbering mouther.
* It is the result of a gibbering mouther acquiring the eyes of a beholder.
* It is part of an alien life-cycle that also involves the gibbering abomination.
* All of the above.

https://pictr.com/images/2018/11/22/04ePpI.png

[Dr. Cliché]

They're not in 5e yet but there was always something about Wolfweres that really appealed to me.

[Bloodcloud]

Yeah, kobolds!
So weak... and yet a creature to be feared. Their strongholds are pretty much invulnerable :)

I have definitely been overusing Kobolds as a dm... and my players always seem to pick one up as a pet.

[DragonBaneDM]

I’ve always loved Dragons.

As a kid who got a Monster Manual for his birthday, I loved that they got their own big section, that they were color coded and so dang powerful. It made me think of Power Rangers, Beetle Borgs, and all the other color coded heroes I had grown up with.

My first real campaign in high school was centered around dragon-hunting and collecting relics that made the heroes more dragon like, and my current campaign features dragons as the main benefactor and threat.

[RedMage125]

mimics. never gets old to put a few chests in a room and put a sign in that says "Two of these are mimics. Good luck"

Better yet, have only one of the chests be a mimic. Statistically, they'll fight one, open the other chests, and leave the last chest untouched, because they believe it to be a mimic, thus missing out on valuable loot. *cue evil laugh #14*

[Potato_Priest]

I recently had a party I’m DMing for fight a Bullette, and that was some amount of fun. The burrow speed really gives the bullette a lot more control over its position and action economy.

[Goldlizard]

Better yet, have only one of the chests be a mimic. Statistically, they'll fight one, open the other chests, and leave the last chest untouched, because they believe it to be a mimic, thus missing out on valuable loot. *cue evil laugh #14*

The purpose of saying two is to have only one of them a real chest. then when they open the third, they get surprised. or better yet, say that "At least half are mimics but not all of them." or something that makes them feel safe. sometimes no chest but loot is inside mimics.

[Inscrutable]

Mind Flayers are probably my favorite lore, but in 5e, the Wight's picture is far and away my favorite art in the book.

https://www.aidedd.org/dnd/images/wight.jpg

[Drakkoniss]

Well, this is certainly a difficult question to answer. However, I shall give it a shot.

The first three that leap into my mind are the Lich, the Mindflayer, and the humble Skeleton.

The Lich is not an underappreciated monster by any means, but I would just like to give a moment to praise the level of variability and versatility they can have in play. Not only do they have the capacity to come from any sort of race (which is a highly under-utilized trait, by the way), and even some monsters, but their personalities, ambitions, and place in the world are highly malleable [not even really limited by their undead nature, given the workarounds such a character could have in play], as well. Given the fact that their only prerequisite is that they were a spellcaster capable of 9th level spells (in this edition; also, a wizard, if one goes strictly "by the book"), one is not entirely lost when trying to design who they are. That is to say: having them be such a high level spellcaster gives you a good point to spring off of in the character creation process. Additionally, the fact that they have essentially infinite spellcasting capacity below 9th level while in their lair (out of combat, at least), there is little limit to how well-prepared they can be, or the interesting details one could throw into the details of an encounter, there.

Mindflayers have an absolutely beautifully-developed ecology, and work like a sort of living cancer to whatever world they inhabit, yet they always have to be careful, until the point their foothold is so strong as to be almost unstoppable (hah). Their hive mind-yet-not-quite mindset gives a very unique and intriguing aspect to their society. The fact that one could encounter a wandering magic user variant of their lot at any time and thereby potentially start all sorts of fun and mayhem. And finally... they have a counterbalance in the form of a group of monsters which would normally be quite a significant threat to the party, as well: the Gith.

Skeletons... not only can you make a skeleton out of anything [though not quite so easily, in this edition], you have some very interesting aspects to them that can make a well-thought-out encounter quite intriguing. While they are generally automatically aggressive to the living in a similar way to the manner zombies are, they are quite intelligent, for undead. If you encounter a horde of them, they might be capable of forming up into battle lines and acting as if they were still part of an army [should they come from a battlefield]. Beyond this, when not in the presence of the living (or when the living is going undetected), skeletons often act as if they still held the roles they did in life. If they were aristocrats, you might see them dancing a macabre waltz, or sitting in decrepit seats to watch the theatre. Heck, there might actually be skeletons standing up on stage, playing out parts for plays they don't actually remember the words to. Additionally, skeletons strike me as particularly interesting in that, like zombies, they spawn naturally. If a site saw a great enough tragedy, the dead may very well simply rise up and wander from where they rest, which can make for a very interesting and beautiful plot hook.