Jeff's Top 3 D&D Monsters

Perhaps the most ancient mythos, the Hero’s Journey is one which almost always culminates in an epic creature confrontation. The brave knight has overcome every obstacle in his/her quest for glory or love, only to find themselves staring down a dragon so ferocious it would make Chuck Norris shriek like a banshee. The Pagemaster anyone?

If you wanna get a little shamanistic, perhaps the beast symbolizes a character’s greatest internal fears, which have manifested in a dream as a giant spider they must now face without recourse. What’s certain is that one of D&D’s most endearing features is the sheer scope and choice of monstrous entities a DM has at their disposal to just rifle at their players like a Machiavellian sociopath. Will your party stand tall against that which frightens them most, strengthening their character and resolve? Or will they cower in the wake of the monsters that lurk deep within the dungeons or their hearts, fleeing for their lives like far too many before them? Hold on to your butts cause we about to go deep.

Here are three of my favourite D&D monsters of all time.

Beholder

There are numerous scenarios in life where one can enter a room and be immediately faced with a stark existential realisation of being hopelessly and completely screwed. Encountering a Beholder tops the list. While you may scoff at the idea that a fat blob with one eye and 10 tentacles with smaller eyes can really be that much of a threat, we say unto thee: The devil is in the details friend.

For starters, this blobby mess can fire a sweeping field of energy from its central eye that nullifies the magic of it’s foes, but don’t think the pain stops there. 10 eyes means ten rays of the death that can be fired right into your face including but not limited to: Sleep Rays, paralysis rays, fear rays, and yes, disintegration rays. Carving out lairs deep under cities, Beholders actually take pride in enslaving other creatures to build and control immense evil empires. So not only are these despots terrifyingly deadly, their also one-eyed dicks. Behold this. (gives middle finger and then dies a horrible death)

Mind Flayer

JADE became intimately familiar with the Mind Flayer when 90% of the party in Conquest of Frey fell to it’s squiddy masochism - the only surviving member swearing fealty like the brave lad he was. Ask yourself what you would do when coming face to face with a creature whose sole motivation in life is controlling sentient minds to the point of hopeless slavery, before devouring the brains for sustenance. Any being whose physiology depends solely on consuming the hormones, enzymes, and psychic energy that brain tissue can provide just sounds like a really bad time man.

Expect to rarely encounter these creatures alone, as they are often flanked by at least 2 other beings firmly under their control. Seems the only saving grace here comes from imagining this squid-faced gangster yelling “Get ‘em Boys!” in the most cliched way possible. Though not physically dominant, as soon as your party gets hit with a mind blast leaving everyone stunned and easy pick'ns.

Black Pudding

What kind of immature icons would we be if we didn’t include pudding on this list. Though regrettably not of the chocolate variety, this pudding is certainly just as deadly, and perhaps even tastier if you know what we mean 😉 (I don’t even know what we mean). Belonging to the ooze family, this pile of goo is surprisingly hard to kill, as when struck with a weapon, it simply multiplies into smaller pieces! If that isn’t enough to satiate your palette, this healthy dessert will absorb your sword on a roll of 5 or less, and also enjoys disintegrating your armor with acid until you’re naked and alone. And they say pudding doesn’t make you lose weight.

What makes this creature so terrifying and dangerous is that fighting it is a race against the clock. Massive damage must be done before there are no more weapons left to do damage with. JADE likes goo. We try not to discriminate against goo as there are many great and delicious goos out there. But if you want our advice on this one, the next time you hit the sweet table, maybe you should opt for the cheesecake instead.

Out of all of the available D&D monsters out there, this has been but a small taste of what waits for you in the dungeons of your nightmares. The beautiful thing is that any DM with a strong imagination can also conceptualize creatures similar to those in the manuals and compendiums, and bring them to life simply by borrowing similar stats and abilities. JADE did exactly that with our Rock Worm in the Elementia Campaign’s major temple. If you’re a novice DM, we encourage to study up on what’s available for you to torment your players with, and work with each other to engineer memorable encounters that will take your immersion to new zeniths. Swipe some of our character dice as well, and experiment with creating the characters and NPCs who stand the best chance of completing the Hero’s Journey, facing their greatest fears, and finding themselves the subject of Bardish songs for centuries to come!


Written by: Jeff Clive

Image Sources:

All images are from the Dungeons and Dragons , 2nd, 3rd and 5th ed Monster/Monstrous Manuals. Oh... And the last one is from Volo's Guide.