[Week 9] Which is the Playground's favorite monster?! (2.0) - Under and Dark? Huh.

[Yael]

Welcome to week 9 of us finding out popularity on monsters by direct vote!

You may vote freely for any number of monsters of the selected theme, and at the end of each day for a whole week, we'll see which one was the favoirte 7 days later.
This isn't a competition, just a game, and as a game, everyone is entitled to their opinion of which monster is the best for them, so no arguments please, be good bois. Feel free to say why you love your picks, to help us expand on our viewpoint of that particular creature.
Any vote cast as a reply will be added or counted, so if your monster isn't named yet, vote for it and it will appear and compete~!
Also, whenever your vote isn't statted in D&D 5e rules, it will also be counted as an honorable mention, so don't worry about silly details and keep voting! :smallbiggrin:

This week's theme is:


Underdark
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/21/86/6f/21866fc12d785c247b77a49016efdd9e.jpg

I wasn't able to find the original artist, if source can be provided, it will be appreciated as to give credit.

The end date will be next Wednesday, August 26th.
Any source in 5e is fine, as there isn't that much to pick from (yet), and for those obscure 3rd parties, just point out where are they located for the sake of reference~

My vote: This week's theme is "things that dwell in the underdark", so I'm going for the obvious, the Illithid. Also, they're heavily featured in the new Baldur's Gate coming up, so yeah, pretty happy for that. Anyway, Mind Flayers get my vote. I'm sure lots of things live in the Underdark, so this should be a fine first "environment" to start.



Creature
Creature Type [Tag]
Source

Votes

Civilopede
Monstrosity?
Veins of the Earth, p42

1

Flump
Aberration
Monster Manual, p135

1

Fomorian
Giant
Monster Manual, p136

1

Ghost
Undead
Monster Manual, p147

1

Gnome, Svirfneblin
Humanoid (Gnome)
Monster Manual, p164

1

Mind Flayer
Aberration
Monster Manual, p221

1

Purple Worm
Monstrosity
Monster Manual, p255

1

Troglodyte
Humannoid (Troglodyte)
Monster Manual, p290

2



Week
Type/Subtype

Most voted!

[Week 1] (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?359801-Week-1-Which-is-the-Playground-s-favorite-monster&p=17712990#post17712990)
Aberration Type

Aboleth.

[Week 2] (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?361173-Week-2-Which-is-the-Playground-s-favorite-monster-Dungeons-and-_______&p=17748761#post17748761)
Dragon Type

Pseudodragon.

[Week 3] (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?362428-Week-3-Which-is-the-Playground-s-favorite-monster-Obey-the-Law(ful)!&p=17787914#post17787914)
Lawful Subtype.

Inevitable, Marut.

[Week 4] (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?363934-Week-4-Which-is-the-Playground-s-favorite-monster-Vote-from-the-grave&p=17834771#post17834771)
Undead Type.

Lich.

[Week 5] (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?364977-Week-5-Which-is-the-Playground-s-favorite-monster-!-Mom!-I-want-some-Jell-o!&p=17874220#post17874220)
Ooze Type.

Living Spell.

[Week 6] (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?366161-Week-6-Which-is-the-Playground-s-favorite-monster-!-Rock-solid!&p=17913634#post17913634)
Earth Subtype.

Earth Elemental.

[Week 7] (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?370897-Week-7-Which-is-the-Playground-s-favorite-monster-!-Thinking-outside-the-box&p=18079460#post18079460)
Outsider Type.

Asmodeus, Lord of the Ninth

Week
Theme

Most voted!

[Week 1] (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?614330-Week-1-Which-is-the-Playground-s-favorite-monster-!-(2-0)-A-for-Aberration)
Aberration Type

Aboleth

[Week 2] (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?614701-Week-2-Which-is-the-Playground-s-favorite-monster-!-(2-0)-Normal-is-best)
Humanoid Type

Kobold

[Week 3] (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?615091-Week-3-Which-is-the-Playground-s-favorite-monster-!-(2-0)-Dungeons-amp-_______!)
Dragon Type

Pseudodragon

[Week 4] (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?615506-Week-4-Which-is-the-Playground-s-favorite-monster-!-(2-0)-Brains)
Undead Type

Shadow

[Week 5] (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?615903-Week-5-Which-is-the-Playground-s-favorite-monster-!-(2-0)-Yes-a-quot-monster-quot&p=24615750)
Monstrosity Type

Mimic

[Week 6] (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?616326-Week-6-Which-is-the-Playground-s-favorite-monster-!-(2-0)-Read-between-the-lines&p=24627568)
Devil Tag

Erinyes
[Week 7] (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?616700-Week-7-Which-is-the-Playground-s-favorite-monster-!-(2-0)-Tremble-by-Tanar-ri!)
Demon Tag

Orcus

[Week 8] (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?617027-Week-8-Which-is-the-Playground-s-favorite-monster-!-(2-0)-What-the-Avatar-bends)
Elemental Type

Efreeti

[Week 9]
Underdark

Troglodyte


Disclaimer: I am not sure where this thread should be located, as is D&D 5e specific, but isn't addressing any rules, so feel free to move it to the appropiate forum if neccesary. Thanks.

[kalkyrie]

I'd like to highlight to everyone the 3rd party sourcebook 'Veins of the Earth", written by Patrick Stuart of 'Lamentations of the Flame Princess'.

While it's technically not 5e, the book contains about 50 very imaginative descriptions of creatures which can be translated to 5e easily enough.


My choice for a monster from there would be the 'Civilopede'.
It's a freight-train sized centipede which hunts through the Underdark for dying cities and nations, discovers and preserves their culture and lore, and eats the survivors.

It spares a few librarians from these civilisations, who put the lore on it's back, and become it's curators.
So this lets you have an adventure to recover lore, which involves hunting down the centipede and having a running battle against it's cultist curators on it's back (while the Civilopede rushes through lava filled caverns).
Most of the other monsters in the book are similarly interesting, particularly their take on the derro.

Here is a book review;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDrbK6OG_Ic

Note that there is some serious controversy over the editor of this book, which I won't go into due to being off-topic and potentially against forum rules. Money from sales of this book won't go to that editor, as detailed here - https://tinyurl.com/yxpku24v

[Dragonsonthemap]

Troglodytes, although I don't really like their name.

[MrStabby]

Fomorian

These guys can be surprisinly nasty with a charisma save or be screwed effect. Use in time limited campaigns where waiting for the curse to be lifted is actually a significant cost.



And

Ghosts. Lost deep underground, far from the light and ghosts come foryou out of the tunnel walls... A cascade of immunities and resistances and some really flavourful abilities and effects these are great for an underdark adventure.

And

Purple Worm. One of the nastyest opportunity attacks around. If you are a particularly mean DM andthe party is running from one, you don't have totakethe firstopportunity attack that presents itself - choose the tastiest target. An opportunity attack on a fleeing party is nasty enough, but hitting the last one to leave and swallowing them when everyone else has already dashed away... that is both cruel and hillarious (only do it if there is good reason). This monster is an antidote and a break from (relatively) complex comats that can creep in at this level - random encounter, plot free palate cleanser.

[loki_ragnarock]

I voted for them already as an aberration, but I nominate them again for the Underdark.

The Flumph.

Lawful Good psychic parasites that are just about the only friendly faces to be found in the whole of that benighted realm. Their origins are ancient (The Fiend Folio is their first appearance, if I recall correctly) and they continue to remain relevant even in the current edition.

Flumphs! Flumphs Forever!

[Yael]

Huh, it seems the week will be extended, hopefully we'll get more attention~

By the way, the Civilopede is actually pretty interesting! So is the book where it comes from~

[Wizard_Lizard]

Give my vote to Svirfneblin, I think that's how it's spelled..

[TigerT20]

I'll go for the Troglodyte to break the tie.

After having a string of quests and adventures featuring troglodytes, I'm looking forward to sharing the pain with my players in my home game.

[Yael]

Well, Troglodytes ended up looting the win~

Not that they are not interesting, just that I've seen them few times in the good old underdark.

Anyway, next thread is up~! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?618341-Week-10-Which-is-the-Playground-s-favorite-monster-!-(2-0)-Their-own-size!&p=24694290#post24694290)