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"And then the glacier got up and walked."
Ice Elementals, despite being essentially water elementals, are far different beasts. They rampage because their lives are so fragile, so easily melted... but you can guarantee that in their short time one arth, they will make inhospitable terrain even less hospitable!
Hindu demons, the Rakshasa are shapeshifting terrors who live to destroy, desecrate, and burn. Subtle, they are not.
In D&D, a Rakshasa is a terribly evil spirit that takes the form of a tiger-man with backwards hands. That's actually close enough.
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!
As far as evil gods go, Kyuss is not one you really want to bring home to mother. The Worm That Walks seeks to bring in an Age of Worms, in which all things will be devoured. His followers sacrifice thei very bodies, their consciousness soon transferring to a multitude of squirming, biting creatures hidden within their robes.
It's based on the "Crawling Ones" from H. P. Lovecraft's short story, "The Festival."
Also known as Filth Demons, Gibrileths are basically flying cancer tumors. Even being near one is a recipe for disease, but things only get worse when they rip tumors out of their bodies and hurl them at you like diseased grenades. That, or they could sting you with their scorpion whips.
One of the horrific abominations made at the dawn of time, Blood Fiends are four-armed living weapons that know nothing except violence. Rip and tear! RIP AND TEAR!!!!
"It was a paw, fully two feet and a half across, and equipped with formidable talons. After it came another paw, and after that a great black-furred arm to which both of the paws were attached by short forearms. Then two pink eyes shone, and the head of the awakened gug sentry, large as a barrel, wabbled into view. The eyes jutted two inches from each side, shaded by bony protuberances overgrown with coarse hairs. But the head was chiefly terrible because of the mouth. That mouth had great yellow fangs and ran from the top to the bottom of the head, opening vertically instead of horizontally."
-H. P. Lovecraft, "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath"
Gugs are ancient giants that dwell in the dark places of the world, banished there by the Great Old Ones. Their cities in the Dreamlands are vast, terrifying, inhuman even in their architecture. The Tower of Koth in the center of their city has a staircase that leads all the way to the surface, but is locked with a door that no Gug can open. Though nothing keeps the Gugs from ascending that stairway and waiting, silently by the door, waiting for some unwary soul to open the way...
Kids, this is what your parents think of the music you listen to.
Aside from being awesome flavor in any large army (or band) of orcs, the Orc Wardrummer was very popular in the miniatures game because he could really increase his buddies' stats. In the RPG, he's actually listed as a bard. A HILARIOUS bard, I might add!
See what I mean? Look at the snout on that guy!
The sight of an Ogre Warhulk on a battlefield is not a comforting one. These guys are trained in a special form of demolition - demolishing armies. They charge into the battlefield like whirlwinds, swinging those huge flails to sweep down anything in their paths.
Lord Soth is pretty much D&D's Darth Vader.
A death knight and servant of Tahkisis (in Dragonlance), Soth rampaged his way through his own setting, and eventually left his mark on Ravenloft, too. He was so awesome that, even when the writers tried to give him a pathetic death, Soth took out a whole castle!
Also, he's got one of the best-looking minis ever.
Hailing from ancient Arabian myth, the Manticore is a horrible beast with the body of a lion, the face of a man, and the tail of a scorpion. Some versions have wings. This is an ancient, ancient creature, showing up in myths well over two thousand years old. The MAnticore devours its victims hole, only rarely even leaving bones behind!
"Who dares invade my tomb?" declares the mighty lich as he rises from his couch of gold (it's a zombie in a costume. you're getting trolled again).
Featured on Life In Plastic: nerditis.com/2018/02/15/life-in-plastic-the-tomb-of-horro...
The Faceless Ones, guardiand of Ngranek, terrifying creatures from the depth of nightmare, Nightgaunts are only some of the surreal things met by Randolph Carter in his quest through the dreamworlds. They got their name for a nickname H. P. Lovecraft gave his own screaming night-terrors.
"He doesn't need eyes to aim."
This Mysterious Gunslinger truly is The Man With No Name... and No Face, too. Not only can he shoot you, but you can't disrupt or move him, and he can switch the positions of his allies with just a single command.
Never trust a guy if you can't tell how he sees you.
ARACHNOPHOBES, ALL OF YOU!
Neogi are some of the weirder things to come out of D&D. They are an alien race of interdimensional spiders who travel through the plans, capturing and selling slaves. Despite their eel-meets-tarantula papearance, they are quite intelligent and civilized (and capitalist!). They have also tamed Umber Hulks really well as body guards, enslaved Beholders to power their starships (yes, in D&D), and somehow straddle the line between merchant and menace. Awesome, eh? Or, uh, probably scary.
Which tiles will YOU step on?
Featured on Life In Plastic: nerditis.com/2018/02/15/life-in-plastic-the-tomb-of-horro...
It's a baby phoenix! Actually, it's a baby Phoelarch, which is a human-phoenix hybrid and is so needlessly convoluted that most people ignore them in D&D. But the Phoera itself makes a very nice little figure, especially since it is shaped perfectly for this kind of lighting.
One of the classic monsters from the beginning of D&D, Otyughs are... well, pretty much that garbage thing from Star Wars. They eat refuse and offal, though they won't pass up a human or two. They are surprisingly big, too.
Otyughs have a few variants - there is the Neo-Otyugh, which looks the same as the others but is smarter (It can even speak!), and the Lifeleech Otyugh, which has extra spikes and tentacles, and is capable of "stealing" healing - if anybody heals near it, it gains the positive effect. D'oh!
Little-Known Fact: The first Final Fantasy blatantly ripped off D&D's bestiary, though most monster names were changed in translation (Marilith to Kary, Mind FLayer to Wizard, Bulette to BAretta, Sahuagin to Sea Hag, etc.). Otyughs and Neo-Otyughs were in that game, renamed Ochu and Naochu. And they still are, though they look plantlike now instead of the traditional three-footed, tentacled, triple-eyestalked monstrosities we know and love.
Featured on Life In Plastic: nerditis.com/2013/03/13/life-in-plastic-obscure-toy-lines...