D&D: Five Spooky Monsters Perfect for Halloween
It’s October. Halloween is closer than ever, and that means it’s time to break out the spookiest, scariest monsters. Here are five of our faves.
Halloween time calls for Halloween monsters. That’s just science. The slight lessening of opppressive heat that makes you think, “wait, it’s this hot in October?!“, the appearance of large bags of candy in your local grocery store and possibly also your closet – all of it adds up to a yearning for that which spooks.
Whether it’s Draculas, Wolfmen, or any other creature Abbott and Costello might have met one fateful afternoon, these are some of our favorite horror monsters from the manual.
Vampire
Gotta go with a classic. And nothing says “we’re doing a horror” adventure like a vampire showing up. They don’t even have to appear on screen to make an appearance. All you need is a couple of exsanguinated corpses and the looming presence of a gothic castle and you’ve got atmosphere just oozing into your session.
Mummy
Mummies are much rarer undead. But that doesn’t mean they’re bad—in fact, that they’re uncommon gives them an element of being unknown, which we all know is one thing everyone always fears. A good mummy can be the anchor of a campaign, representing a returned threat a party has to deal with; or it could be a powerful thorn in the side of party members who have larger aspirations.
Werewolf
Hard to go wrong with a werewolf. They are cursed, they have razor sharp claws and teeth, and of course, they can spread the curse of lycanthropy on to those they come into contact with. That means that one of your party members might just be the next werewolf you come across. So stock up on wolfsbane.
Flesh Golem
Flesh Golems might seem like an unusual choice for a horror themed monster. But hey, it worked for the young Doctor Frederick Frankenstein, and it can work for you. Flesh golems are, as the name suggests, unstoppable flesh monsters. Normally, these are automata and guardians in D&D, so you might want to spice these up with some touch of that good hubris. Maybe the flesh golem was meant to be someone’s resurrected loved one, or maybe it represents the responsibility of a creator for one’s creations. There’s a lot of metaphors to dig into with flesh golems.
Ghost
Finally ghosts! The one monster in D&D so scary it can literally scare you to death. Fail a save and you’ll age 1d4 x 10 years if they decide to get spooky. Even if they don’t, they can possess you or your friends to turn your trusted allies into agents of the ghost with little enough that can be done to banish the ghost.
What are your favorite spooky monsters
