Monster PCs

[assault]

I've been thinking about letting/encouraging PCs to be the major monsters in the campaign. "People" like the Dragon, or the Undead Lord.

Naturally, I need a set of monster types to pick from. A dozen or so would be ideal.

They should be smart/dangerous enough to travel around and do things - not just lurk in a cave.

So, aside from the two I listed, what others would be suitable.

I suppose an Orc would be suitable, if they were capable of leading a horde of their fellows.

A Troll, or Ogre? They would need to be fairly clever examples of the kind, and have an agenda.

Human villains are obvious - but not really what I am looking for here. I suppose I could reduce the number of true "monsters" if half of the threats are actually "people". I'd still like at least half a dozen monster options though.

Maybe I am asking the wrong question. Maybe it should be: if you were playing a monster, what would you want to play?

[Grailknight]

Well, of the options, Demon Lord or Dragon would be the most attractive to me though it would be an archetype derived thru an anime lens. Perhaps an entire isekai  campaign would work. That way a common goal could be set but allow many approaches to achieving it.  

[BigJackBrass]

The most successful all-monster party I ran a game for consisted of a Lamia, a Dark Elf, a Goblin and a Shoggoth called Benny. I'd say just go with what sounds fun, the players will make it work.

[Lord Liaden]

Giants have a lot of potential. Not just big humanoids, but the powerful magic-wielders from Norse mythology. Utgard-Loki class.

 

Lords of the four elements, maybe wanting to purge the sapient parasites destroying the natural order.

 

Lovecraftian horrors, Cthulhu and its kin.

 

A Talos-like giant golem, perhaps with smaller golems as minions. Weapon of ancient war run amok?

 

Echidna, the half-serpent "mother of monsters" from Greek mythology, with her terrible offspring.

 

Bound evil god who has escaped and seeks vengeance, e.g. Loki, Cronus, even Lucifer or Iblis.

 

 

 

 

[Steve]

Vampires are possibilities because they can blend into human societies. Although a group of doppelgängers would work even better for this too.

 

Evil sorts tend to be selfish, so why would a bunch of monsters work together? Are they all minions of someone?

 

Flipping the script, maybe they are monsters but act as heroes. This is for players who love angst.

[Barton]

i played in a party made up of an orc, bugbear, and a goblin. The party was on a quest to find a new land for the tribes to get away from humans. Interesting concept.

[Lord Liaden]

3 hours ago, assault said:

I've been thinking about letting/encouraging PCs to be the major monsters in the campaign. "People" like the Dragon, or the Undead Lord.
 

 

It sounds like assault is going for PCs as high-powered monsters, the leader types for the evil hordes. Not just filling the roles of an adventuring party with creatures normally characterized as "monsters."

 

I'm trying to picture how you get several PCs of that magnitude and nature to cooperate. My initial thoughts are that they are either lieutenants to an even greater evil -- the Nazgul to Sauron, for example -- or they would appear successively as foes for heroes. I also have to ask assault if the players would be playing these monsters exclusively, or are they also simultaneously running heroic PCs?

[Mr. R]

Take a look at Birthright, that setting for DnD.  It has many Monster NPCs as leaders of their own countries!

[Scott Ruggels]

Played a Dragon as a P.C. for a long time.  H generally walked around as a Human noble, with distinctive looks. But as a Dragon he was a lot more self indulgent, and would lie around in the sun, or save his breath weapon and skillfully drop rocks from high altitude.

[Khymeria]

Some form of intelligent undead is a logical choice. An ancient mummy with an illusory image to conceal actual look. Vampire is in the same realm, and a ghost could be interesting. 
 

 

[Jmonty]

You must decide if you want a group of PCs with good relationships between them, or not. I usually give my players their PCs built with a group idea, like a mad doctor and his followers (an assistant, a bodyguard, and a fixer), so I would think of monsters in a pack. Or not, then I would give them a medieval version of the Universal Monsters and let them fight for the same goal. Or may be you want Kaijus.

[MordeanGrey]

I've ran players in campaigns who played a wide variety of "monster" characters.

 

These have included a hollow suit of armor animated by magic, a demon sword that possessed NPCs to carry it around, a day-walker vampire, goblin fire mage, mind-flayer, minotaur, centaur druid, ogres, etc.

 

These campaigns were in a wide-open magic world and I allowed about anything as long as it had a good back story.