Shy, reclusive giants, Stone Giants are more willing to camouflage themselves in the mountains than rampage, but they can attack when they need to be. Also, some of them look a lot like Dhalsim.

(actually, yes - that RUnecarver way in the back row was nicknamed "Aspect of Dhalsim")

Pathfinder took Stone Giants and kept them as-is, so those minis can fit in with D&D ones juuuuust fine.

Scan from the 1961 book "Karlsruhe - Ein Bildband" by Erich Bauer - rare thing, given I found this at an English house in 2014..

Dragons in Dungeons & Dragons are divided by color. Some are purely color-based, like Red, Green, white, or even Purple, whereas others are metallic - Gold, Silver, Copper, Iron, et cetera. Copper Dragons, as fitting with other metallic types, are actually (generlaly) good-natured, only Coppers tend to be more capricious and moody, and thus likely to cause a lot of damage anyway when they feel like playing a trick or two.

Also, their breath is ACID.

Automatons of rusted metal powered by steam, Cannon Golems pack a hefty wallop with their apparently inexhaustible ammunition supplies.

A Scanderig's stomach is filled with fire hot enough to melt any metal.

See, the miniature has a cool translucent stomach, but it's kind of hard to light it properly.

The undead make their own sports.

Because Pathfinder is really clearly Dungeons & Dragons with the file numbers shaved off, it's no surprise that they have not only their own demiliches, but a very clear Acererak ripoff named Mesmalatu. Funny thing is, this makes him the first "official" demilich mini.

This is one reason why I love transluscent toys. That purple is just mesmerizing...

This version of a D&D wraith is very, veyr clearly based ona certain someone (or nine someones) from The Lord of the Rings. Can YOU tell who?

Oni were in the original D&D. Then they got renamed "Ogre Magi." And then in 4th Edition, they not only became Oni again, but got variants resembling real Oni and other yokai (there's even a Hannya one). This fellow looks like a few different kinds of Japanese demons, actually (including Oni). This is one of the 4E changes that I really, unabashedly like.

The biggest of the big, baddest of the bad, and ultimate D&D villain: VECNA! But he wasn't always like that - in fact, for the longest time, Vecna couldn't do anything!

It's really too bad that his miniature has such a poor paint job. Bear with me, here. in fact, look up artwork of Vecna on-line. Got it now? Okay!

Vecna is a lich - a human sorcerer who stored his soul in another object (called a phylactery) and made himself undead so he could cheat death. Yeah, he came before Voldemort. And some older artwork of him LOOKS like Voldemort... before Harry Potter was popular.

Way back during his normal tenure as a lich, Vecna was betrayed by his right-hand man, Kas the Betrayer (he really should've seen that one coming), and was thought destroyed - all that remained of him were his left eye and hand! But actually, Vecna had plans, and this was a part of it. The Eye of Vecna and Hand of Vecna went on to become major artifacts - in fact, long before Vecna himself ever showed up in D&D, his eye and hand were there. Each one gives you massive powers if you replace your body part with it (eye for an eye, hand for a hand). Of course, it also slowly corrupts you. But that's to be expected. But then Vecna returned, using his vast knowledge and experience to ascent to godhood, gaining the domains of magic and secrets. He later threatened all the planes in a scheme that actually CAUSED THE SHIFT FROM SECOND TO THIRD EDITION (well, it's the in-universe explanation). He now resides merrily as a god, still plotting in the background.

Vecna is one of the more personable D&D supervillains, in that maybe you can prove useful, or maybe you can give him more secrets, so he isn't necessarily going to go berserk on you - but his influence is slow-acting, long-lasting, and highly-corrupting. He really has become the greatest D&D villain, and I kinda wish they made a better mini of him. Hey, he fits Halloween, though!

And you thought the Warforged Sorcerer was crazy!

When a robot goes native, he goes NATIVE. Severed heads, crab claws, bones... and I guess something to counteract the rust. This is actually one of the most-detailed warforged sculpts out there, even when you realize how awesome the other warforged miniatures are. So hey, cool beans!

These were originally monsters specific to Eberron who pre-existed Foulspawn, but soon got rolled into the category.

Dolgaunts are mutated hobgoblins, transformed into blind, tentacled creatures covered in cilia. They live underground, and often practice meditative martial arts - what better to do when you have so many limbs?

I assume that most of you are familiar with Medusa's mythical origin (it wasn't QUITE the same as in Clash of the Titans), so I'll just focus on the D&D aspect instead.

In Dungeons & Dragons, there is a whole race of medusae. Depending on the edition, they could look just like pretty women (with snakes for hair), or scaly monsters, like this gal here. Also depending on the edition, there might be males or not. In 2nd edition, maedar (male medusae) could turn stone to flesh by punching it, and thus feed a family. In 4th edition, they had a hypnotic venom gaze attack, and thus were poison-based rather than stony. In Eberron, plenty of medusae are valuable members of society, and rather careful with those (voluntary, at-will) gaze attacks.

In this one RPG, I played a D&D-style medusa. The main issue with her was that she had kind of grown up alone in a dungeon, so people had to civilize her. She acted like a puppy. Man, it was FUN.

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Scan from the 1961 book "Karlsruhe - Ein Bildband" by Erich Bauer - rare thing, given I found this at an English house in 2014..

He's the biggest! He's the strongest! He's the boss! An orc chief takes no guff and shows no mercy, because any other way would end with the other orcs trampling him.

Forest-dwelling Green Dragons are known for their clever-yet-devious natures and poisonous chlorine breath. When they're young, they are about the size of a small horse, but still quite formidable.

When you see a ghost like this, it is time to move.

NOW.

Apparently it's possible for Mind Flayers to mess up making new Mind Flayers, and end up with hybrids (their usual way of reproduction involves implanted eggs and mutated host bodies). When mixed with lizardman DNA, though, these aberrations are somewhat accepted, often used as soldiers or guards. They also look like awesome, awesome Cthulhu spawn, and this mini can sub for Dragonlance's really silly neutered Mind Flayer variants.

Certain rare specimens of the Sahuagin species grow to a larger size, and sprout four arms.

Yeenoghu, foul Demon Lord of Cruelty, god of the savage Gnolls, wielder of a vicious triple flail... and he looks like Goofy.

When most people betray the heroic party, they gain a little bit of power and then die. Raistlin became a god.

With the power (and tutelage) of the archmage Fistandantilus, Raistlin's power increased exponentially. He donned his new black robes to evidence his irrevocable turn to evil, and his quest to usurp not only his old master, but all the world by becoming the god of magic (and evil). And in fact, he would have destroyed Takhisis and all of the other gods... but then Raistlin learned that if he were to continue his path, he would destroy the entire universe, and become the only living being left. Unwilling to do that, and having enough of a change of heart to want to protect his (former) loved ones, Raistlin bravely sacrifices himself to stop Takhisis.

The last photo was of Raistlin with his friends and allies. This one is of him alone, standing in the same terrain as before, only now desolate and uprooted.

Very clearly based on the chicken-legged mutants in Tremors 2 (no, seriously), Ethereal Marauders can plane shift with ease. Their usual tactic is to suddenly appear, grab someone, and then disappear with it again. So, if I remember correctly (I don't have it near me), the card that came with this miniature included a quote:

"Hey... where did Lidda go?"

The evil queen of the dragon gods, Tiamat is especially villainous because there is no good angle to photograph this mini if you want a good look at all of her heads! She has five heads, one for each type of Chromatic Dragon, representing her dominance over each breed. Tiamat is not only one of the strongest of the D&D archvillains (hello, she's a god), she even appeared in the old cartoon!

In ancient Babylonian mythology, Tiamat was the giant monster slain to produce the earth. She also probably wasn't a dragon, as her description made her sound like a cow, udders and all.

Green Dragons got redesigned in 4th Edition, though many players just took them to be a variant breed. These are venomous from head to toe - venom spurs, spikes, breath, and even a gaze that poisons your mind!

The Drow spider-goddess, queen of the Demonweb Pits, and extremely overexposed famous villain, Lolth got a pretty big boost from all the drow-themed Forgotten Realms novels. But aside from those, she's an effective villain, even if you downplay the whole dark elf seductress thing.

Of course, Lolth's TRUE form is a spider. Not a drow, not a drider, but a complete spider. She tends to hold back on that one, since it scares people away.

Sometimes it seems that every picture of a D&D Ogre looks completely different. These days, Pathfinder has settled on big, pale humans, while D&D has given its Ogres snouts, but honestly I'm fine with any. ogres seem like the kind of big brute to be naturally lopsided and uneven, anyway.

Ogres may be big and stupid, but they are capable of surprising amounts of militarization and strategy in the right hands. Beware any chieftains you see, for they have certainly earned their position in battle!

D&D's answer to the Balrog, Balors are massive demons, second only to the Demon Lords themselves! They fight with flaming whips and lightning swords, and wield fire as if it is nothing... and totally aren't Balrog ripoffs. They explode when they die, too, in the ultimate jerk move.

Lamia was the beautiful queen of Libya who angered the gods and became cursed, turning into a hideous, scaled vampiric demon who ate children. Most depictions of her are serpentine, though that is not from the oriignal myth (it's from a John Keats poem, actually). She can also remove her eyes for some reason.

And as we will soon learn, D&D has totally borked the definition of Lamia!

Frankencthulhu?

At the tail end of D&D's 3rd edition, they introduced the Cult of Thoon, a faction of Mind Flayers that worships and seeks out the mysterious concept of "Thoon." Whether Thoon exists or not is up for debate, but in their studies they discovered Quintessance, an equally-mysterious energy source. With Quintessence, they were able to create the first Thoon Hulks.

A Thoon Hulk fills in for the mInd Flayer's biggest weakness - lack of physical power. These ten-foot tall constructs are part Mind Flayer, part machine, and all violence. They will destroy anything in their way, either with their axe hands or by discharging some of the lethal radiation of Quintessence itself.

Happy Halloween! So here's a devil who's TOTALLY not based on Anton LaVey! Except he is. Which is funny, since LaVey was really an atheist/hedonist and didn't believe in the devil.

Dis Pater ("Dark father!"), was originally a Roman underworld god (just like Orcus!), though his name eventually became one of mnay names for the Devil (like Orcus!). In D&D, he is an archdevil who rules the Iron City of Dis in Hell, and is extremely paranoid.

Also known as Treachery Demons, Glabrezus were originally "Type III Demons," until some smart person decided to name these things.

One of the most powerful types of demon, the Glabrezu is a 20-foot-tall beast with four arms, deadly pincers, and the face of a dog. They provide temptation, often in the form of money and power, although sexual temptation is not unheard of (!!!!!!!!). In fact, they are even partly-responsible for the creation of Draegloth. By macking on female drow. I don't know how this is possible, logistically-speaking, and I do not want to.

This ghostly apparition carries out rites for its undead masters...

...You know, some of the WoW minis look really good, after all!

Unique among were-creatures, wereravens often become shamans among their people. The ones who don't just go goth.

A thought. Trolls heal from pretty much anything instantly. So whatever it took to graft that magic eye to himself also left him with permanent scars.

I would be very afraid of Skalmad if I were you.

When a Treant becomes an undead zombie, it resembles a very strange, twisted tree creature.

Dungeons & Dragons interpreted the mythological Salamander (See: A Hot Chick in my photostream) into a pseudo-reptilian fire-elemental species, and this odd, serpentine creature has become sort of a fantasy standard. Although "Standard" Salamanders are supposedly human-sized, the gigantic Noble Salamanders are actually the size standard in recent editions. It's because of tail length, you see. But anyway, these guys are massive, superheated, and ready to scorch you one.

Lighting notwithstanding, this figure really IS bright orange.

The God of war, discord, strife, and destruction, and the eternal foe of Heironeous; Hextor appears to be a massive multi-armed uber-orc. Which is awesome.

FUN FACT: This mini's base is JUST small enough to fit on a Monopoly square. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

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Creatures from the depths of the Dreaming Dark, the Quori are abberant beings from another dimension, long since blocked from Eberron, who can only influence the real world through dreams and possession. But if they ever do find a crack in reality's fabric...

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, and I'LL CLOBBER 'EM!"

In D&D, the Displacer Beast is a really famous tentacled six-legged panther-like monster that can create doubling illusions of itself - hence the "displaced" factor.

However, there is a darker side, that of RIPPING THINGS OFF (which is kinda normal).

In A. E. Van Vogt's 1950 sci-fi novel, The Voyage of the Space Beagle, there is an alien called Coeurl who looks just like this - six legs, tentacles, panthet parts. It's been admitted that this is where the idea for the Displace Beast came from, too. And hey, Final Fantasy uses this monster, and calls it a Coeurl, too!

Voyage of the Space Beagle also had its space ship exploring new worlds and boldy going where no man had gone before. And one of the aliens they found reproduced by laying eggs in innocent people. The spawn would then burst out of 'em. I think it's safe to say that pretty much all modern science fiction owes something to that book.

This gigantic Draconian happens to resemble the Great Dragonian from Capcom's King of Dragons, and I'm SURE Capcom didn't rip Dragonlance off. Yeah, that's the ticket!

Gulgars are fairly obscure D&D dudes. They live underground, and eat gems. This makes them sworn enemies of the dwarves, for obvious reasons. They are also a playable race, which is hilarious.

I mostly remember them for one reason: Out of nine boosters of one particular set, five rares were GULGARS. A one in twenty-four chance of finding a Gulgar in a War Drums booster pack, and I did THAT.

Nerull, the Murdered God, is bad news. He isn't just a god of death, he's the god of murder - violent, unnatural death is his domain, and he's more than happy to contribute to it, too. The good news about this evil being is that, ironically, he got murdered before D&D 4th Edition, with the Raven Queen taking over most of death's aspects. She's not necessarily a good guy, but she's also not particularly evil, either, and is much more pleasant than Nerull the Murder God.

Scanderigs, also known as Forgefiends, are earth-aligned elemental creatures with a twist! They resemble gigantic obese humanoid figures made of iron, and their bellies are forges. A Scanderig consumes metal by melting it down, which is one reason why Dwarves kind of hate them.

These are D&D Bullywugs, only they got renamed in Pathfinder. They're frog people - they live in the swamp, they do froggy things, and they eat humans. Frogs!

WINGED Draconians! You'd have thought this would be standard.

Kind of a zombie but not quite, a Devourer is to a zombie what a tyrannosaurus rex is to a chicken. Formerly a mass murderer in life, a Devourer lives to do nothing more than absorb the souls of the living, thus increasing its own strength. At their weakest, Devourers are the size of humans, with reaching entrails that suck blood. But soon after, they grow to reach ten feet in size, and become like this one - capable of trapping the souls of their victims within their belly cavity. But given enough time, they become truly titanic, and impale multiple souls on their claws. Devourers also retain the intelligence they had in life, making them truly dangerous opponents.

Another classic D&D monster with no prior existence, Umber Hulks are big, beastly insectile monsters that can burrow through earth as easily as swimming. Their smaller top set of eyes can also hypnotize and stun prey, which makes them perfect targets for the Umber Hulk's powerful arms and jaws.

Demogorgon is a fictitious demonic deity first thought up by Lactantius Placidus in the 4th century. It became a go-to name for the devil, and is often thought to have come from greek Mythology, though that is not the case.

In D&D, Demogorgon is one of the three biggest Demon Lords, up there with Orcus and Graz'zt. He is massive, his forked tail serpentine, his arms tentacles, and his twin heads those of a baboon. Demogorgon is actually two beings, with each head - Aameul and Hethradiah - having its own personality and thought processes. He is the self-proclaimed Prince of Demons and Lord of All That Swims in Darkness, including Dagon. Unfortunately, Demogorgon never got a proper miniature (it would have been Orcus-sized), but he DID get an "Aspect of Demogorgon," which is a shrimpy little avatar, way back in one of the first sets of D&D miniatures. That's why it doesn't look so impressive, sadly. it's two sized two small, and designed before they really got details down pat. If you really want to see how Demogorgon should look, just hop on Google Image Search, and check out some of the awesome artwork of this monster.