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Dragonborn aren't all plate-armored soldiers! And even though he has a breath weapon, this one likes to use his wand for fire.
Balors got BIG in 4th Edition! Actually, they always were big, it's just a size category thing in an attempt to differentiate them more from pit fiends. They are GIGANTIC, BIG, BAD, and IN CONTROL. And they actually are closer to the LOTR Balrog's size now, anyway.
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.
The Black Dog, also known as the Barghest or The Grim, is an ancient, evil symbol - if you see it, your days are numbered and there is nothing you can do about it. Hey, ever notice how many mythical Irish Creatures are death omens?
I refuse to say "Lizardfolk." D&D's sudden shift to "folk" was kind of a silly move. Lizardfolk, mongrelfolk, treefolk, etc... eh, just my old codgery rant.
Lizardmen of the Blackscale tribe are HUGE, roughlyhe size of ogres. A normal human would come up to roughly the waist of one, in fact. This makes them highly sought-after mercenaries.
Brain creatures that aren't actually brains, Grells have been around since the very beginning of D&D, and are one of the defining monsters for the "aberration" subtype.
Grells resemble beaked floating brains with lots of barbed tentacles, through which they can inject their victims with paralysis-inducing venom. They are actually very intelligent and sentient, and live in their own societies... but Grell culture is totally alien to our own, Grell language is impossible for humans to understand, and likewise they cannot fathom or understand us. So they assume that we are animals and food, and we assume that they are animals and pests. And the cycle goes on!
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.
Ya know, I was so SURE that "Galeb Duhr" meant something... but these rocky monsters are D&D-original. They are also related to dwarves in the same way as Azers and Frost Dwarves - earth-based creatures made from essentially the same stuff as your average dwarf, only elementalier.
Rock 'N Roll!
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.
See, drow (dark elves) in MOST D&D settings worship spiders, and sometimes turn into half-spider thingamabobbers called Driders (ha ha, drow+spider=Drider). In Eberron, however, there are drow who revere scorpions. So what do they do?
Become Scorrows, of course!
I wonder what The Rock has to say about this one...
Okay, jokes aside, let's look at Eberron Drow for a moment. You see, Drow (dark elves) in D&D have always been the same thing: Evil matgriarchal spider-worshipping emo bad guys who live in caves underground. That's what they were in the original setting. In Faerun, they were MORE SO. ANd had books. Lots of books. About the only good Drow ever (until there were tons more). So Eberron, which already switches up a lot of things, decided to change Drow around a little bit. Essentially they are the same, except far more live in the surface (particularly in jungles), and can be good or evil. Rather than a spider theme, they care more about scorpions. Kind of arbitrary, but interesting.
Ancient, elder beings, Aboleths swam in the oceans even before the pantheon. Their machinations are timeless, their schemes eternal. They will outlast you.
And they're goofy fishies!
I've already explained Yugoloths (the third Fiend type, later absorbed into demons, neutral evil mercenaries). Mezzoloths (Mezzodemons?) are the rank-and-file soldiers of these infernal mercenaries. Resembling little more than giant cockroaches, these creatures wield vicious tridents and have access to a number of spells, including the lethal Cloud Kill.
NOTE: That one in the back used to hold a trident, but it is the single most fragile D&D mini in existence, with a stress point RIGHT on the trident. I have about eight of them, and almost all broke immediately. The later redo (in the front row) is much, much sturdier.
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A Yochlol is a special kind of demon. The Handmaidens of Lolth, the evil Drow-sider goddess, Yochlols often take the form of attractive drow females... though they are really cyclopean ooze-monsters.
Come to think of it, I've had girls reveal worse secrets on dates.
So, Drow worship spiders. Their chief goddess often appears as a spider-drow hybrid. Therefore, what happens when one of their own is turned into a half-spider, half-dark elf creature? They shun it, of course!
Driders are outcasts from Drow society, and their mutation is either a gift or a curse, depending on the circumstances. However, they are exceptionally terrifying, and usually take up posts guarding dark elf cities. All the danger of a giant spider with all the intelligence of an elf - AND opposable thumbs!
One of the ultimate classic D&D monsters, the Umber Hulk has been around since the very beginning, and has no mythological precedent whatsoever. A big beetle shaped kind of like an ape, Umber Hulks can burrow through the earth like it's water, and looking into their eyes will confuse almost anybody. They are smarter than they look, though still very much animals, and can show an impressive amount of tactics when hunting for a meal.
Oddly enough, a lot of subterranean races have managed to tame Umber Hulks, even some of the ones that grow to massively huge sizes.
Fearsome creations, Chain Golems are essentially similar to Iron Golems, only made of lots of little pieces of iron, and not big panels. Aside from increased flexibility and malleability, a chain golem can trap a living being inside its body, thus serving as the perfect mobile prison.
And they are HUGE.
One of several "Terrain" miniatures, this one is also a monster! See, the Deathgrasp Sarcophagus is possessed, and will sneak around (as much as a coffin can sneak), randomly opening up to devour people inside. Okay, okay, maybe it's better as a terrain piece.
Golden Protectors are special. They are what happens when a Gold Dragon falls in love with a Lammasu and they have babies. Half-dragon half-holy lion babies. And yet, despite the majesticness of it all, the mythological link to ancient Assyria, and everything else, I just wanna poke him in his widdle tomato nose.
It's funny and silly, but something about this dragon's shape makes it hard for my camera to focus on it. But anywayyyyyyy...
Good-natured metallic dragons, Adamantine Dragons are somewhat obscure, mostly gaining a boost in 4th Edition because the previous "basic" set of five metallic dragons had copper, brass, and bronze which all look and act alike. Adamantine dragons are forceful, direct, and prefer frontal assaults to subterfuge. They also have a "thundrous" breath weapon, which does not mean lightning - it means sound damage... so these guys basically just yell REALLY REALLY LOUDLY.
Not the brightest bulbs in the bunch, Hill Giants nevertheless are the most "normal" of all D&D giants. They're not elemental, not vampires, not astral, and they can't pull grenades out of their bodies (Geriviar are weird). Sure, recently there was an attempt to make them Earth Giants, and thus related to Earth Titans, but come on, look at thart! it's just a bunch of hygiene-impaired cavemen!
'Course, since they're like fifteen feet tall, I wouldn't wanna make any of them angry.
What do you get when you take the worst aspects of two very bad things, and put them together? Why, you get demon ogres, of course! This disruptive abomination lays waste to everything in its path, and certainly doesn't play well with others.
This was always one of my favorite D&D minis, even if it's way too specific to see much use on the table.
More than a mere ghoul, Doresain has served both Yeenoghu and Orcus, and lived to tell about it! He is the King of the White City (made of teeth and bones), wearer of the Cloak of Mouths, and wielder of the staff Toothlust. He is also very nearly a god himself, though generally content to merely serve them. Just as with Vecna, it's a REAL SHAME that one of the worst-painted D&D miniatures is for one of the most impressive villains.
They're smelly lizards that live in caves, but somehow Troglodytes are really famous, prominent monsters.
Sometimes people don't take bugbears seriously. They see how furry they are and how they're related to goblins, and they laugh, and laugh, and laugh...
...And then the Headreavers come.
Heroslayers are among the largest and fiercest of their multi-headed kin. These vicious monsters are just as bad as a dragon their size, and facing one is a task for a team, not just a lone warrior.
Behirs are gigantic multi-legged reptiles that resemble dragons, but are not exactly related. They can run quite well on their legs or slither and coil like serpents depending on need, and can defend themselves (from what? This thing could eat an elephant) with lightning breath. Behirs are solitary monsters, though they can occasioanlly be found in small family units.
And yes, this is another classic D&D monster.
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More than a mere "normal" Barghest, Malfeshnekor is an ancient beast of terrible intelligence and evil power. Imprisoned long ago in the shadows of the depths of the earth, he awaits his freedom.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUGH IT'S THE WORST MONSTER EVER!
Rust Monsters have existed since the beginning of D&D, and they have only one purpose: Punishing players and making them cry. See, Rust Monsters instantly rust any metal they touch, which they then eat. Thus, dropping one on the heroic party means that they will soon lose their hard-won equipment.
:-(
>:-(
Anyway, they are actually patterned after one of those generic "Chinasaurs," and the original first edition art looked identical to the cheap knockoff dino toy. Odd, eh?
Fighters " The Way of Champions " 3rd Edition
- Centre Sportif de Differdange - Differdange - 03.06.2017 © claude piscitelli
Not literal god-slayers, these titanic dragonspawn are quite good at taking out Bahamut's Aspects and high priests, though. Bred for war, Bluespawn Godslayers are essentially giant siege engines, veritable T-Rexes with swords. You will mostly only see them at war, but you never, ever want to be on the receiving end when they tear down castle walls to crush your armies beneath their feet.
Orc religion is uneven and strange, but some tribes have room for nature-loving druids. 'Course, they aren't tree-huggers, and will set you on fire if they can.
Based on the Chilean and Argentinian ChonChon vampire, Vargouilles are strange creatures that can infect you with their blood-sucking bite. Once infected, your ears grow into wings and your head detatches, turning you into one of them!
You know your pastor is really dedicated when he keeps up his job even after he's died! or maybe I can't think of anything witty to say about a cool WoW mini.
He's not just a Mind Flayer, he's a SCOURGE! Though they all are, what with their archvillainy, brain-eating, and whatnot.
Githyanki are an extraplanar race of near-humans who were imprisoned and enslaved by Mind Flayers for many millenia before finding their freedom. They live as aesthetic warrior monks in the Astral Plane.
Githzerai are an extraplanar race of near-humans who were imprisoned and enslaved by Mind Flayers for many millenia before finding their freedom. They live as aesthetic warrior monks in the Elemental Chaos of Limbo.
Clearly, they are different enough to be considered separate species.
The Evistro, or Carnage Demon, lives up to its name. Resembling nothing more than fanged gorillas, they may be individually somewhat weak, but they tend to run in packs, each feeding off the others' rage.
So hey, the berserk destruction-murder monkeys actually DO play well with others! Now, how bad does your toddler look in comparison?
So, the D&D folks took the weird, twisted child-eating vampire of Greek Myth, and turned her into a lion centaur. Mmmmmkay.
(No, that's not nudity, just an errant glob of paint. Get your mind out of the gutter!)
Paint it yellow, and you've got Goro!
Blood Fiends are leftover abominations, constructed monsters used as weapons in the war between gods and primordials (D&D's version of the Gods Vs. Giants thing you see in a lot of mythologies). There are many bigger, badder abominations, but these ones appear in packs, and few things are quite as terrifying as a horde of four-armed brutes ready to rip you to pieces.
Efreeti, Efreet, Ifrit, Ifriti... whatever, they're all based on the same thing.
The Ifrit (Afrit?) are spiritual creatures made of fire, related to the Djinn. They are generally evil, and kind of like demons kindasorta.
In D&D, they are not demons, but rather an elemental race that LOOKS devilish despite not being so. They are generally evil, although their City of Brass is a fairly fair place to be.
The leader caste of the Yugoloths, Ultroloths seem weak when compared to Balors or Pit Fiends, but they make up for it with cunning.
Yugoloths are kind of an oddity. Technically, they're really only there to fill in the Neutral Evil slot in the demon/devil/fiend alignment wheel. In-game, they have some decent lore, just without a real place for it.
Originally called "Daemons," Yugoloths were renamed in THE GREAT ANTI-DEMON RENAMING of 2nd Edition (Demons became Tanari'i, devils became Ba'atezu), only they never got their original name back, probably because daemon was too close to demon. And then in 4th edition, when the alignment system was changed somewhat (closer to the original alignment system from way back when), yugoloths cor absorbed into Demons as a specific type of mercenary demon. Same role as originally (neutral evil, willing to help both/all bad guy sides), but now they are officially demons. In fact, the "loth" in their name is now "demon." So, Ultrodemon.
Possessing a gaze that can end the lives of mortal man, the Greater Basilisk is bigger, stronger, and more fearsome than its smaller brethren. Keep your ears open, because wahtever you do... you can't look at it.
See all that dust on this figure's base? That's not dust. This particulat D&D minis set (night Below) had a chemical flaw in the plastic, and most of the figures develop a "haze" when left out in the air. It's easy to wash off, though, and usually does not return. But man, that is a sad flaw.