 | |
| Image found at flumph.com. No, seriously. |
About the only monsters that didn't make the cut were those of the "monster +1" variety - i.e. a monster with additional hit dice or class levels. With all the myriad systems and calculations, statting up monsters like that was useful in d20, but in Blood & Treasure its mostly a waste of space. Even the "alternate iconics" have all made it in as well, from the greymalkin to the evil eye to the phrenic scourge. That being said, there's always room for a few more monsters.
So - my question is this: What is the best monster ever! that wasn't included in the SRD, but does exist in some open content source?
In particular, I want to know what you think is the best monster ever! from each of the following books:
[I'll keep a tally as people comment]
AD&D's Fiend Folio
Beaktapus (as an alternative to the Grell) ... 2 votes
Crypt Thing ... 1 vote
Dark Creepers and Stalkers ... 1/2 vote
Death Knight ... 1 vote
Flail Snail ... 2 votes
Skulk ... 1/2 vote
Slaad ... 3 votes
* I think it's a testament that by far the most response is for Fiend Folio monsters. It's may favorite as well, and I guess I just draw that sort of crowd!
** Looks like the slaad are starting to run away with this one
AD&D's Monster Manual II
Metal Monsters (as an alternative to the modrons) ... 1 vote
D&D's Rules Cyclopedia
Rakasta ... 1 vote
Any of the myriad d20 sourcebooks
Clockwork Horrors (an alternative version, of course) ... 1 vote
Hengeyokai (an original version, most likely) ... 3 votes
Primordial Ooze (as an alternative to the deepspawn) ... 1 vote
I'd love to hear from the readers ... what is your favorite that you'd like to see in Blood & Treasure?
Posts
well, you already gave a picture of the flumph... but of course, there is another... the Flailsnail! There is no
ReplyDeletewell, you already gave a picture of the flumph... but of course, there is another... the Flailsnail! There is no better monster than that. (sorry for the broken comment, the blogspot comments are always wonky for me)
ReplyDeleteNo problem. I'm a flail snail fan myself.
DeleteFF - Crypt Thing
ReplyDeleteMMII - Modron
For my part, I've always loved the Mind Flayer.
ReplyDeleteFor my part, I've always loved the Mind Flayer.
ReplyDeleteMM = Beholder
ReplyDeleteFF = Grell
Monsternomicon Vol. 1 = Iron Lich
Monsters of Faerun = Deepspawn
MM - Gnoll
ReplyDeleteFF - Death knight
The mind flayer makes it into the book as the phrenic scourge, and the beholder as the evil eye. There is an open version of the grell, so that's a possibility, as is the crypt thing. The deepspawn isn't open content, but I can think of something very similar that is - the primordial ooze from the Monster Encyclopaedia I. The modrons aren't open content, but since I'm reading the Metal Monster, I'm about ready to stat them out as an alternative to the modrons.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the Fiend Folio was always a treasure trove. My favorites there are, of course, the githyanki (though I know they aren't open content), the derro, dark creepers and dark stalkers, skulks, and the xvarts. If you absolutely made me pick one, I'd have to say the derro.
ReplyDeleteGithyanki, my absolute favorite villains.
ReplyDeleteEthereal Marauders, perfect for biting characters in the ass!
Clockwork horrors, my players run away when they hear scritching and scraping sounds now!
Slaad (I like Bat's version over at Ancient Vaults and Eldritch Secrets).
ReplyDeleteLove the slaad, and Bat's version is, I believe, open. If not, I could take Pozas' ogdoad and tweak them to be closer to the original version of the monsters.
ReplyDeleteI have included the githyanki as the "Astral Raiders", so they're already good to go. The ethereal marauders are SRD, so they're already in the game - same with the derro. I love the dark creepers, stalkers and skulks, and all three are in the Tome of Horrors, so they're in play.
The clockwork horrors aren't open, per se, but other clockwork beasties are and one can always tweak things to get the proper effect.
Half serious answer - there's a movement at rpg.net these days to include sentient bears as a PC option in pretty much every D&D variant. This is your chance to corner the bear market!
ReplyDeleteCompletely serious answer - I'd like to see hengeyokai. It would help when using the rules in Asian-inspired settings, and really, shapechanging animals are a trope in folklore the world over.
I did throw in a template for making Beast-Men (i.e. anthropomorphic animals), so I'm half-way there. The hengeyokai are a definite possibility.
ReplyDeleteI will second the notion for a hengeyokai. Especially if included with would be information on how to make them a PC race (3e Oriental Adventures had this option built in).
ReplyDeleteSlaad. Definitely Slaad.
ReplyDeleteHengeyokai as Zdan said above.
ReplyDeleteSlaad. Dark creepers would be my second choice from those options.
ReplyDeleteThe Pathfinder srd has some open game content slaad-alikes as well, though they're snakey rather than toadey.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/protean
Is all of that material open content? I've looked it over, but I was never sure.
ReplyDeleteThere is a declaration of open game content here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.d20pfsrd.com/extras/community-use
"Unless indicated otherwise, all parts, sections, or areas of this website are identified as Open Game Content, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a, Section 1(e)." On the other hand, I am not a third party publisher, let alone a lawyer, so there may be details I'm unaware of.
I would just like to point out there are actually 3 votes for the hengeyokai: tzadkiel, me and Brutorz Bill. Just sayin'.
ReplyDeleteMy vote's to the flail snail. It's definitely something goofy that's nice and open for making awesome in a setting.
ReplyDeleteI'm somewhat partial to the Beaktopus, myself... ;)
ReplyDelete