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And I really like the Crawling Apocalypse from Sandstorm because GIANT OCTOPUS MUMMY YOU GUISE! I also love the Ocularon from the 3e Fiend Folio, mainly because it always seemed like the perfect natural enemy to the Beholder, though sadly it's never appeared again after its one Fiend Folio entry.
And isn't the Displacer Beast a straight ripoff of the Coeurl from Voyage of the Space Beagle?
Why has no one mentioned gnolls? I guess they are based off mythology--but just about all DnD creatures are based closely off something.
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Seriously, though. Flumphs are honestly one of, if not my favorite monster. I just love that fact that they are the heroes of the abberations. And honestly, I don't really understand why people don't like them. Whats so bad about them anyways?
EDIT: Hey tbok1992! You saw that article on bogleech too! That's sweet. Flumph's are awesome, and they shouldn't be so discriminated by players.
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Originally Posted by MoleMage
Wow. I started on 3.5 edition so the flumph is something I learned of later, but this is genius.
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Thri-Kreen w/ greatsword by flumphy Insane Binder Avatar by Babale
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I just remembered. Gnolls are an original creation. Possibly the most original thing DnD has created. The name was based off a half-gnome-half-troll, which is what they originally were. Then, they decided to make them hyena humanoids.
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It's worse than the time some friends used a silver piece, a platinum piece, a delayed blast fireball and a scroll of passwall to make a nuclear explosion in a game...
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Originally Posted by nagora
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Alright. But it still fulfills the OP's request since the idea isn't based on mythology and it didn't have widespread literary precedence. Regenerating trolls are at least as unique to D&D as Vancian magic in that case.
Alright. But it still fulfills the OP's request since the idea isn't based on mythology and it didn't have widespread literary precedence. Regenerating trolls are at least as unique to D&D as Vancian magic in that case.
Umm, well, yes, it's as original to D&D as Vancian magic - which is to say, it wasn't invented for D&D, and isn't unique to D&D.
We are looking for original D&D monsters. The trolls didn't originate here, and are therefore not original.
Along with the beholder and aboleth, I would float the Avolakia and the Ulgurstasta as two of the most impressive D&D innovations (although all four could do without the goofy made-up names IMO).
For something that's specifically original to 3rd Edition, I have to go with Incarnum. There aren't many other things out there which it resembles, and while the fluff as-written is a bit painful, it unlocks a lot of really great possibilities which my campaign has been running with to great effect.
Oh wait, we're talking monsters, right. Okay, the Incarnum golem. Basically a D&D Terminator - it thinks, it learns, it adapts as you fight it. And it's made of plates of glass with souls in them.
Umm, well, yes, it's as original to D&D as Vancian magic - which is to say, it wasn't invented for D&D, and isn't unique to D&D.
We are looking for original D&D monsters. The trolls didn't originate here, and are therefore not original.
Well, I did say that for the purposes of this thread "D&D unoriginal monsters are those that have widespread fictional precedent [or are mythological]". It's useful to me when someone points out a monster even if it's taken from a less well-known work and it's educating when someone points out their origin! Win-win. Though maybe that makes the thread title less than ideal, but I still don't know how to phrase it better.
Which is not really a D&D original; HP Lovecraft came up with the idea, this is just a version of it which is a template and you can stick it on a wizard or something.
IMO, you can't claim something is an original monster if it was lifted from another source, even if the source is obscure.
So regenerating trolls are out.
The displacer beast was lifted from "Black Destroyer" (1939) and The Voyage of the Space Beagle (1950) by A.E. van Vogt, originally called a "coeurl".
Mind flayers are another nod to Lovecraft, partially inspired by covr art from The Burrowers Beneath by Brian Lumley.
As stated earlier, the Tar(r)asque is French, D&D just made it a lot bigger.
Yuan-ti seem very close to at least one Oriental myth.
Gnolls seem very similar to "kaftar", mythological Persian "half-man, half-hyena" creatures.
And while in no way based on it in form, the "Land Shark" skit on Saturday Night Live aired in 1975, while the original Monster Manual was published in 1977.
Cthonians look more like giant squids and not at all humanoid. But they do live underground, have a telepathic stun attack, and suck out their victims with their tentacles. To the elder brains and illithids being great wizards it's not a long step.
Yuan-ti are just naga, which you could call a "generic" creature from large parts of Asia. The only original part is that they were humans who attempt to become more snake like over thousands of years, while naga are treated as an actual species of creatures.
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Cthonians look more like giant squids and not at all humanoid. But they do live underground, have a telepathic stun attack, and suck out their victims with their tentacles. To the elder brains and illithids being great wizards it's not a long step.
It's also funny to note that Final Fantasy took the image of a mind flayer for its Mage monsters. No beholder though, although there might be a loose inspiration for the various "giant eyeball with mouth" monsters, though they tend to have limbs and none of them have 10 smaller eyes.
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Yuan-ti are just naga, which you could call a "generic" creature from large parts of Asia. The only original part is that they were humans who attempt to become more snake like over thousands of years, while naga are treated as an actual species of creatures.
It irritates me profoundly that the name "naga" is NOT used for the Yuan-Ti; I've had to do a lot of flailing about to come up with an alternate concept for them which I liked. I've settled on a mix of Robert Howard's Hyborian Serpent People (also used by H.P. Lovecraft in the ghostwritten "The Curse of Yig"), the Setites from Vampire: the Masquerade, and some voodoo and new age references to a snake as a bearer of somewhat-venal enlightenment. But it would have been SO much easier if I could have called them Naga in the first place and THEN stapled on the Himalayan concept of kundalini and the Egyptian myth of Apophis and so forth. The monster that actually got the name Naga is fairly forgettable IMO, and doubly annoying when you get the Shinomen Nagas in OA which are completely unrelated (and, IMO, far cooler).
I remember reading a blog in which the writer complained that the sealion seemed like something a six year old would come up with -- he didn't realize that ancient scholars believed there was a marine equivalent/counterpart to every terrestrial animal.
I may get some flak for this, but I really like what D&D has done for / with dragons.
From (post 2nd) Kobolds and Dragonborn, to Chromatic, Metallic, Gem, and Esoteric dragons, Wyverns, Manticores, Dragonnes, Drakes, Draconians, I think there's a lot of good stuff there.
Council of Wyrms, Dragonomicon, Races of the Dragon, Dragonlance, the list goes on.
Undeniably a part of real world mythos and legends, but I think the important thing is what they've done with it. I never heard of Linnorms before D&D, though they are ostensibly Norse dragons (I haven't looked that up, but am guessing). They don't have rear legs.
Big fan of dragons, and I really like what D&D has done with them, even if that is as simple as made them more accessible to me.
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I remember reading a blog in which the writer complained that the sealion seemed like something a six year old would come up with -- he didn't realize that ancient scholars believed there was a marine equivalent/counterpart to every terrestrial animal.
You are almost certainly thinking of this legendary article. Which lead its author directly to playing 4th edition and landing a long-running freelance writing gig for Wotco. He is my hero, and while this isn't his best article IMO, it's certainly his most famous.
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Originally Posted by psiclone57
I may get some flak for this, but I really like what D&D has done for / with dragons.
From (post 2nd) Kobolds and Dragonborn, to Chromatic, Metallic, Gem, and Esoteric dragons, Wyverns, Manticores, Dragonnes, Drakes, Draconians, I think there's a lot of good stuff there.
Big fan of dragons, and I really like what D&D has done with them, even if that is as simple as made them more accessible to me.
Some of the D&D dragon stuff is dumb, some of it is awesome. But then that's pretty much inevitable given how much they dominate the line in general (being in the name and all). You throw enough balls out there, some of them are going to be home runs, and others very foul indeed.
I don't know if this was a direct inspiration, but the Thri-Kreen really make me think of the Priest-Kings of Gor...they're described as insectoid, have quasimagical powers (probably high technology in the setting, I haven't looked into it, but psionics would tend to fit better than magic), and rule over a desert land where they oppress humanity (okay that last part isn't quite a match for Dark Sun, but then they're a PC race so that's to be expected).
Neogi are completely original as far as I know; IMO this is not a point in their favor, as there isn't really anything resonant about them to me. I would like them to be more akin to the titular Aliens of Ridley Scott's movies, but instead they come in bright colors and are mostly known for being merchants. A bit of a letdown for an aberration race with mind control powers. The info on them in Lords of Madness helps some with taking them seriously, but I still shake my head at the idea of them having a more than vague, coincidental resemblance to a spider with an eel stapled to its head.
You are almost certainly thinking of this legendary article. Which lead its author directly to playing 4th edition and landing a long-running freelance writing gig for Wotco. He is my hero, and while this isn't his best article IMO, it's certainly his most famous.
The vargouille and vampire frogs that he complains about are also straight out of mythology.
Thri-kreen are product identity so I guess they are a WotC creation. thought I am sure there is something that inspired them.
Kuo-toa and Yuan-ti are as well, and they are not even slightly concealed immitations.
With Thri-kreen, I am quite certain they are almost directly taken from the Green Martians from John Carter, which date back to 1917. Not explicitly insects, but the resemblance is striking.
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And more recent interpretations by artists look a lot more like thri-kreen.
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Well I have only seen the most recent movie and never read the books so those martians aren't really on my mind. But now I do see a big resemblance between both of them.
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