Here's the challenge: think of a monster that is an official D&D monster FROM ONE OF THE MANY MONSTER MANUALS (you can't pick one that only showed up in some obscure adventure), that you bet no one has ever actually used ever in the game's history.
Then we see if anyone here ran it.
Just about anything from the third edition MONSTER MANUAL 3.
My heart says Umpleby*.
Because, seriously, WTF?
*Assuming the Fiend Folio counts.
I've run D&D campaigns with monsters only from the 1e Fiend Folio, thus everybody showed eventually. The Umpleby (referred to online as "Lightning Chewbacca") is an oddly useful creature because it's not evil, has lots of HD and can align with PCs which is rare among the FF monsters. But its origin is a joke creature. It has a hair net. Get it?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umpleby
Quote from: Spinachcat;965222I've run D&D campaigns with monsters only from the 1e Fiend Folio, thus everybody showed eventually. The Umpleby (referred to online as "Lightning Chewbacca") is an oddly useful creature because it's not evil, has lots of HD and can align with PCs which is rare among the FF monsters. But its origin is a joke creature. It has a hair net. Get it?
Next you'll tell me you actually used al-Mi'raj's and Blindheims in a game. Probably during the same encounter. :)
The Masher from the first Monster Manual.
I thought I had the MM memorized from playing 1e for so long, but the a year or so ago I noticed it, stuck between the Manticore and Mastodon.
No illustration and it's sort of split between the bottom and the top so it's easy to overlook. It's also just a giant fish that lives in a coral reef.
Quote from: Barghest;965227Next you'll tell me you actually used al-Mi'raj's and Blindheims in a game. Probably during the same encounter. :)
Al-Mi'rage? Yep, used it. And the Carbuncle. They also show up in an anime series, wielding knives and axes...
For me it might be the Water Termite from BX.
What about all those weird dimensional things from the I section of BECMI D&D? How many players ever made it that far to meet one???
Flumphs. Blink Dogs.
Quote from: Christopher Brady;965371Flumphs. Blink Dogs.
Used a Flumph way beck when they first came out and were still cool. :o
My only experience with 3e ended with my Sorcerer encountering a pack of Blink Dogs.
I remember playing with Flumphs and blink dogs. Blink dogs are pretty cool actually.
Quote from: JeremyR;965232The Masher from the first Monster Manual.
I thought I had the MM memorized from playing 1e for so long, but the a year or so ago I noticed it, stuck between the Manticore and Mastodon.
No illustration and it's sort of split between the bottom and the top so it's easy to overlook. It's also just a giant fish that lives in a coral reef.
I read this and I was like "WTF"? Went to my shelf and pulled out the 1e MM, and sure enough - right there! Never knew about it until your post :)
Quote from: Kane;965426I read this and I was like "WTF"? Went to my shelf and pulled out the 1e MM, and sure enough - right there! Never knew about it until your post :)
yeesh? Didnt anyone ever watch Jacques Cousteau?
Yeah I had to look it up probably forgotten because there is no stupid picture of it like in the FF. Speaking of which, the Adherer has never been actually used has it? Perhaps inna joke adventure...
The Peryton from 5e MM? It was originally a joke from a 1950s bestiary book but D&D took the idea and hired artists to make it look terrifying. I think they made it look even sillier. You can make a deer-headed bird look believable with the right anatomy, but never terrifying.
Anyone actually used it? Without laughing?
Quote from: Omega;965234Al-Mi'rage? Yep, used it. And the Carbuncle. They also show up in an anime series, wielding knives and axes...
For me it might be the Water Termite from BX.
What about all those weird dimensional things from the I section of BECMI D&D? How many players ever made it that far to meet one???
We had the water termite come up at least once. Pretty sure it might have been on a wandering monster chart for Isle of Dread os something, but we had a ship attacked by them.
We had a thread similar to this a long time ago and I stated my belief that the Perryton was rediculous and couldn't imagine using it. I was quickly rebuked by the semi-official Perryton fan club that lurks here.
So I will make my answer, "there are none". There are no monsters in any official monster volume for any edition of D&D that have not been used by someone. Someone has used flail snails and flumphs for the funnies of it all, if for no other reason.
And a lot t of the odd monsters such as Vampiric Mist from some of the modules were collected in Creature Crucible making them "official" for this exercise.
Catoblepas.
As a GM, I have never actually used, or played a game, that included a Cyclops or a Juggernaut from 0D&D. Nor have I ran or played in a game that featured a Coatl, Brain Mole, or Thought Eater from Eldritch Wizardry. Masher, haven't used a masher from Blackmoor. That's it from all the 0D&D monsters.
Never used or played in a campaign featuring ...from AD&D
Axebeak
Baluchitherium
Eye of the Deep
Groaning Spirit
Intellect Devourer
Quasit
Strangle Weed
From Fiend Folio:
Blindheim
Booka
Clubnek
Dire Corby
Flail Snail
Gambado
Ogrillon
Pernicon
Protein Polymorph
Sheet Ghoul
There's a bunch of stupid critters I leave out of 3e.
How about the Wolf-in-Sheep's-Clothing. It's like a tentacle tree stump monster with a rabbit sitting on the stump. Only the rabbit is part of the monster, a decoy. According to Wikipedia, it first appeared in Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and then later reprinted in Monster Manual II. I didn't know that until just now when I looked it up. Seems like a fairly ridiculous creature that likely never got used outside of the module it initially appeared in.
Quote from: Voros;965381I remember playing with Flumphs and blink dogs. Blink dogs are pretty cool actually.
I put blink dogs in the very first dungeons I ever made back in jr. high. Blink dogs and giant ants.
Quote from: BoxCrayonTales;965665The Peryton from 5e MM? It was originally a joke from a 1950s bestiary book but D&D took the idea and hired artists to make it look terrifying. I think they made it look even sillier. You can make a deer-headed bird look believable with the right anatomy, but never terrifying.
Anyone actually used it? Without laughing?
It's in my 5e RAW Play by Post random encounter table, here on this forum. Never rolled it up (thank god! it's brutal for low PCs). The coolest and perhaps scariest part of it is that its shadow is that of a human. Makes for a spooky shadow flying across on the ground after an eagle cry in a Wild West game.
Quote from: Opaopajr;965686It's in my 5e RAW Play by Post random encounter table, here on this forum. Never rolled it up (thank god! it's brutal for low PCs). The coolest and perhaps scariest part of it is that its shadow is that of a human. Makes for a spooky shadow flying across on the ground after an eagle cry in a Wild West game.
Yeah, and to counter what BcT said unthread, the entry was not a joke in the Borges original. I find that if you've been in the presence of a large antlered beast then you will typically adjust your impression of the danger level.
And if it flies and has immunity to normal weapons? Out of all the things that could plague a village, it trumps the demihuman posse hard, in my experience.
It comes from a long line of classic demonological aesthetics where demonic spirits often materialized as perverse mixes of known animals. So I give an appreciative nod to it recognizing precedent. That and the Jersey Devil description gives credence that some large mutant thingy still has the power to scare.
Quote from: Ratman_tf;965680Catoblepas.
Used them. Caused a near TPK with two.
Quote from: Opaopajr;965686It's in my 5e RAW Play by Post random encounter table, here on this forum. Never rolled it up (thank god! it's brutal for low PCs). The coolest and perhaps scariest part of it is that its shadow is that of a human. Makes for a spooky shadow flying across on the ground after an eagle cry in a Wild West game.
Before I put my 5e game on hiatus, I used one of those too.
Quote from: WanderingMonster;965683How about the Wolf-in-Sheep's-Clothing. It's like a tentacle tree stump monster with a rabbit sitting on the stump. Only the rabbit is part of the monster, a decoy. According to Wikipedia, it first appeared in Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and then later reprinted in Monster Manual II. I didn't know that until just now when I looked it up. Seems like a fairly ridiculous creature that likely never got used outside of the module it initially appeared in.
Dude those things are awesome. You need to play Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.
Jesus, some of these comments take me back. I absolutely used the Catoblepas and the Peryton... I have fond memories of both, and when I was a wee laddie roping random friends and family members into games I couldn't WAIT to use the Catoblepas... and any flying monster was good to ambush players with... I used them all.
Of course now... more than twenty odd years later I couldn't begin to tell you why I loved the Catoblepas so damn much. Something to do with the artwork, maybe?. I do remember loving the Catoblepas Cheese that appeared in an adventuring catalog a few years later.
This reminds me to place a catoblepas in one of my fetid forest ponds nearby a now-established enormous boar family (something like 12 adult boar members; I kept rolling max on number appearing they've become their own regional feature). I could use its ugly warthog-head like a dangerous feint to expectations. Perhaps in a deeper, darker part of the forest... nearer the large cannibal toads and scolopendra?
I've summoned catoblepas in Dominions...
[ATTACH=CONFIG]1018[/ATTACH]
It's an actual Ethiopian legend brought to Europe by Pliny the Elder. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catoblepas
Quote from: Ratman_tf;965680Catoblepas.
I've used it. More than once.
Quote from: GameDaddy;965681As a GM, I have never actually used, or played a game, that included a Cyclops or a Juggernaut from 0D&D. Nor have I ran or played in a game that featured a Coatl, Brain Mole, or Thought Eater from Eldritch Wizardry. Masher, haven't used a masher from Blackmoor. That's it from all the 0D&D monsters.
Never used or played in a campaign featuring ...from AD&D
Axebeak
Baluchitherium
Eye of the Deep
Groaning Spirit
Intellect Devourer
Quasit
Strangle Weedp
Used all of these.
Quote[/I]
From Fiend Folio:
Blindheim
Booka
Clubnek
Dire Corby
Flail Snail
Gambado
Ogrillon
Pernicon
Protein Polymorph
Sheet Ghoul
There's a bunch of stupid critters I leave out of 3e.
Never used any of these.
Also, never used a Masher.
Quote from: Barghest;965227Next you'll tell me you actually used al-Mi'raj's and Blindheims in a game. Probably during the same encounter. :)
Not in the same encounter...until now:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]1026[/ATTACH]
I love the idea of a space uni-bunny ship guarded by lazer frogs!!
Quote from: Voros;965434Speaking of which, the Adherer has never been actually used has it? Perhaps inna joke adventure...
No joke. Do you know the Glue spells from T&T and Runequest? Those were favs of ours back then. The Adherer was the monster that temporarily took your goodies away from you. Fighters without their magic swords suck shit against monsters you need to hit with magic weapons, thus teaming up the Adherers with other beasties.
Quote from: Christopher Brady;965371Flumphs. Blink Dogs.
How *dare* you defame the Glorious Flumph! I based an entire campaign sub-plot around them! Best monster in all of D&D!