I think I've dated them both! HAHAHA... Okay, lame joke. But really, were they TRYING to set up something like that? Sheesh.

Also, is that harpy a dude?

These fish-men may be somewhat derivative of H. P. Lovecraft's Deep Ones (though not as much as the Kuo-Toa), but they are also oddly enough related to elves! Sorta.

Sahuagin have their own little undersea society (of raiding and rampaging over the surface world), led by the giant four-armed barons. They especially hate elves for some reason. They also became standard Final Fantasy monsters somehow..

A treant is a copyright-friendly ent. A Blackroot Treant is an UNDEAD copyright-friendly ent. And you know, when a dead tree wants to take you down, you know you're in trouble. This figure also bears an odd resemblance to Kokopelli, that weird musical dancing sillhouette fertility thingy.

I really should have added a background, but I actually don't have any dead tree stand-ins.

Twice the size of normal Lizardfolk, blackscales are not "dumb muscle" - they're just big.

Not really devils, Howlers are denizens of the same part of Hell, though. They resemble large skeletal wolf-things covered in oversized porcupine quills, can paralyze you with their howl, and... have quills. You knwo what this means, right? They are just dogs. YOu can tame one. Your pet will be the talk of the town!

This type of elemental is nearly its own tidal wave, easily capable of drowning people within its own body. And you can't escape this tsunami by going inland!

One of the little modifications in flavor they made in 4th Edition was to make Devils more military-minded - not that they weren't already, but they had ranks of actual soldiers added to their species. Shocktroop Devils are BIG, mean, and meant to charge through things. They're pretty simple in that way.

Despite their breath weapons, dragons are not particularly elemental creatures. Catastrophic Dragons, however, are different.

Volcanic Dragons are a type of Catastrophic Dragon, and almost seem to be made of the very lava they spew. Huge, blazing, and powerful, these creatures leave charred ashes in their wake wherever they go. Keep in mind, it is very hard to slay a dragon if its body can melt your sword.

Legend has it that Vardar the Troll King once ruled an empire of his people, long ago. But whatever this legendary troll did has been lost to legend - until now, when Skalmad, the self-styled new king of the Trolls, seeks to awaken the legendary emperor. Considering how trolls are nearly immortal, an organized army of the green giants would be unstoppable!

Queen Vlaakith CLVII, The Lich Queen, is the ruler of all Githyanki (green-skinned D&D monks). She took over after the disappearance of the original Gith, is an undead Lich monster, forged the pact between Githyanki and Red Dragons, and is the entire reason why the race is seen as evil. Vlaakith is BAD NEWS, but she runs her race well fromt he city of Tu'narath.

We all know how hard liches are to kill. Now multiply that byt he power she gains from being a nearly-worshipped absolute monarch over an entire species! In a fight between Vlaakith and Lady Vol...

Once upon a time, he was human. Now, he's a berserk monster whose only desire is to kill, kill, kill!

It's an orc thing. You wouldn't understand.

Many have tried to bring the orcs to civilization; they usually ransack it and go back home. But Obould managed to bring civilization to the orcs!

King of the Broken Arrow tribe, Obould was specially blessed by the god Gruumsh with both intelligence and strength, and quickly became more than a simple orc chieftan. He is a true king, organizing and leading many varied tribes of orc into a cohesive army, and then an empire. Of course, this makes him a bad guy, because ORCS R BAD, and anybody attempting to civilize orcs must be bad, too. But Obould gets the last laugh - officially, the "good guys" never defeat him, he builds a cohesive empire, and lives out a full life. Ha!

Near the town of Sandpoint is a legendary beast. Few know if it exists - fewer still live to tell the tale.

And that's how Pathfinder incorporated the Jersey Devil into the World of Golarion.

These creatures of the Earth element take on fearsome forms, and are easily mistaken for statues.

A "drake" is not quite a dragon. Some look like smaller dragons, others resemble dinosaurs (or flat-out are dinosaurs), and a few are kind of a mixture between the two. Ragedrakes fall into this category - they aren't smart, they lack breath weapons, but they seem a little more like dragons than many of their drakish kin. They can also be trained into good mounts, too.

The Alhoon, or Illithilich, is what happens when a Mind Flayer chooses to become a lich. It becomes a pariah to its people by embracins necromancy and rejecting the psionic heritage of the Illithids, but trades it for immortality. Alhoons combine the deviousness and genius evil of the Mind Flayers with the crafty cruelty and power of a lich. Beware!

Also known as Deep Dragons, these sinuous, serpentine draconic beings live deep under the earth, and are both loved and feared by the Drow. It's a miracle that their wings still function, and yet they do. Purple dragons breathe a sort of corrosive, acidic gas.

Not all orcs are big, hulking brutes. Some, like Ember, choose the way of the travelling wizard instead. He's... not Gandalf, that's for sure.

I see nothing nonsensical about taking, say, an eight-foot-tall ogre and turning it into a zombie. It's just better insurance that way.

The Hezrou is a type of D&D demon that resembles a hulking cyborg frog. It's got a nasty stench, and attacks with brute force and muscle. It also has two D&D minis, and I thought I'd show them off in the best way possible: WITH A WALTZ!

I'm thinking that these will serve as my future wedding cake toppers. You know, "Well, you two certainly seem made for each other..."

Not all Mind Flayers are mages and psionics - some pride themselves in their physical prowess, fighting from the shadows like a ninja of old.

The Roleplayer's Credo: In My Dreams I AM A Dwarven King.

Fight! Wield that chicken leg for JUSTICE!

After receiving inspiration from a Dreamblade figure, Dungeons & Dragons invented Elemental Archons - elemental spirits tied to a suit of armor, and serving as foot soldiers. Water ones are interesting, in that they lack a water elemental's typical tactic of becoming invisible under water, but totally make up for it with that snazzy Triton thing going on.

I need aquatic backgrounds. This is sad.

A rarity among his kind, Mokmurian is a stone giant with magical ability. Although essentially an outcast, he soon began to lead his own giant tribe, and from there united others under his personal brand as an army - loyal to him, and nobody else. But little does the sorcerer know that his plans ultimately feed into the hands of Karzoug, the ancient Runelord and ruler of the Thassilonian realm.

No photoshop! Just fancy lighting!

The people of Kingsport have a unique Yuletide celebration, dating back to before even the pagans.

Crawling things, flying abominations, and the Worm That Walks...

Way more than a simple Warforged Fighter, this one has upgraded himself to meet any foe.

The older a lich grows, the greater his power and reputation, as well. And this one... who knows how many eons he has seen pass from the safety of his lair?

Also known as Barbazu, the Bearded Devils are shock troopers in Hell's army. These vicious creatures are named for their "beards," snaky tendril protrusions much like the medusa's hair. But there's more to them than that - they are fierce, intelligent, vicious, tactical soldiers.

The incomprehensible, mad gods of the outer parts of the universe are served by these strange, bloated, blind things. They continually dance around the great Azathoth, playing insane melodies to appease the Blind Idiot God. Theyalso perform the terrifying will of their masters throughout the cosmos, often "assisting" ignorant cultists in serving the will of the Outer Gods.

Powerful, loyal soldiers, Dragonborn Myrmidons serve Bahamut in warfare. They aren't as holy as the paladins, but they don't need to be.

Evil even for an Illithid, the Mind Flayer Scourge is one of the most feared varieties of its kind! Beware, it will harvest your brain if it gets half the chance.

Will somebody explain to me how when a dragon becomes a ghost, it gains a humanoid body?

Sometimes, a Draegloth is kind of smart (usually if it's a girl). Those ones get to become SPECIAL demon priests, which just underscores how weird Drow are. Seriously.

Possibly the most popular of the Dragonspawn, Blackspawn Exterminators are basically acid-spitting dragon ninjas.

That pretty much says it all doesn't it?

Even at their most basic, Sahuagin are dangerous denizens of the deep!

Another of D&D's most epic archvillains, Manshoon is a powerful wizard, founder and leader of the Zhentarim, a gigantic mercenary army. He's also dead - he got his ass killed a while ago!

but you see, Manshoon is a proper supervillain, and he built himself a lot of clone bodies as backups. They all activated. Now there are MANY Manshoons! Sure, lots of them have died at some point or another, but Manshoon is one of those villains who's pretty much never, ever going to go away. Ever.

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Some Dragonspawn are dragon-animal monsters, while others are dragon-human hybrids. These guys are obviously the latter. Redspawn Arcanisses are arcane magic experts, despite their mroe martial appearance. Easily mistaken for simple half-dragons, they are some of the toughest rivals to the Dragonborn race.

No, not Batman's foe!

Once a mortal man, Bane is the evil god of hatred, fear, and tyranny. or in other words, he's not a nice guy. He's killed other gods, even! Bane most recently kind of helped wreck the whole Forgotten Realms setting with that, too - and that's why Faerun is just depressing and no fun to play in anymore. Also, he broke Batman's back AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I AM SO FUNNY!

Horned Devils do not have terribly prominent horns, but they are devils! The original Horned Devil was soon split into Cornugons and Malebranches, which became "war Devils" (the only real difference was that they had pitchforks). Sometimes, they are blended together again, since the chain vs. trident difference isn't really enough for a new species.

"With a terrifying howl, the orc ripped into his enemy and split his skull."

Howling orcs make normal orcs look peaceful. They are a special subgroup of berserkers who see slaughter as their whole purpose in life. And y ou'd better bet they get to it.

When you hear a howl, be afraid. When you hear many howls, run.

A Gray Slaad! Gray Slaads (slaadi?) are kind of small, but they make up for that with reality-tearing magic! They're also kind of intelligent, too.

"Gawrsh, you're in Hell now, a-hyuck!"

The Demon Lord of Gnolls, King of Ghouls, Father of Brutality, Yeenoghu is one of the oldest demon lords (dating back to the '70s!), and although he is not in the same league as Orcus, Demogorgon, or Graz'zt, he has caused trouble for generations of heroes. The god of all Gnolls, Yeenoghu delights in brutality, particularly in using his triple flail (made with the bones of a murdered god!). He stole the deomain of ghouls from Orcus, at one point even controlling Doresain, the Ghoul King.

It's not his fault that the mini looks so much like Goofy.

Clearly based on Quetzalcouatl (who is also a winged serpent), the easier-to-spell Couatls are some of the most prominent good-aligned monsters in Dungeons & Dragons. Celestial beings of divine lawful goodness, a Couatl is a thing of beauty and justice, and an all-around awesome pal!

He wields the power of the Storm in his hands, and none may stand in his way.

Okay, this is just plain awesome. Sure, he's basically Smurf Zeus, but Storm Titans are AWESOME!

In 4th Edition, elemental-themed giants got somewhat ofg an upgrade. Well, sort of. The giants stayed the same as before, but there are also now Titans, who are one size category larger and much closer to their elemental origins - so a Fire Giant is still just a big giant with black skin and orange hair and fire resistance, but a Fire Titan is actually linked to fire and lava. Likewise, Storm Giants are big blue or purple or green giants, and Storm Titans are basically Zeus.

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Frost Giants may resemble their Jotun kin from Norse mythology, but Frost TItans are made of the actual icy element itself! So he's sort of like a reaaaaally evil Santa claus mixed with the Cold Miser. Kinda.

It's actually amazing how it took until the second 4E Monster Manual for Frost Giants to come back. It just sort of happened in the shuffle.

Also known as Canodemons or Canodaemons, Canoloths are the least powerful of the Yugoloths... also known as Daemons, or just Demons. Yugoloths are a type of D&D fiend that embodies Neutral Evil as opposed to Chaotic Evil Demons and Lawful Evil Devils. They kind of work for both sides as mercenaries. Recently, they got absorbed into Demonhood again, but that is likely to be reversed.

Canoloths aren't just the least of the Yugoloths, they are the only kind with sub-human intelligence. Punishment if a Yugoloth fails too much is being turned into one of these dog-things, you see, and although they have powerful tongues... they ain't much to write home about.

One of the most powerful of the Solonavi, the Avenger is their frontline fighter, striking enemy forces with terrible wrath. one of them made it into the main plotline, too, by killing the Orc leader.

This Mage Knight figure was my first rare ever pulled from a booster.

The Solonavi are a mysterious extraterrestrial race of energy beings, combining aspects of both demons and angels. They were also Wizkids's first foray into translucent plastic, and most of those figures ended up WAY TOO FRAGILE. The Solonavi Creator is a massive powerhouse, worth roughly 7/8ths of your army in strength alone.

Now, these are hard monsters to incorporate into your D&D game.

Aboleths are ancient, nearly-immortal aberrant aquatic creatures (tentacle fish!). They have a shared racial memory that passes from Aboleth to Aboleth, essentially insuring permanent consciousness even as they reproduce and die. And what's more, they are one of the oldest races in existence, quite possibly predating even the gods. Aboleths know that they will survive. They have plans, but are very patient - they certainly have time. There are two major things about Aboleths that make them ahrd to incorporate. One is their back-seat, long term puppetmaster methodology. The other is the fact that they are totally aquatic and useless on land. It's more trouble than it's worth to find a way to make your party breathe under water and then adjust the rules accordingly. A pity, since Aboleths are pretty terrifying in a Lovecraftian sort of way.