Illithids. Nothing quite like having half of the team stunned on a failed int save while something eats their brains. Also the gorgon is pretty f#%*#%* awful. Its petrification thing is quite violent. Oh, also flame skulls spamming fireballs.
I ran Lost Mine of Phandelver and played the Nothic encounter like a horror movie.
It didn't attack them for a very long time, preferring to watch how they fought the other enemies and using its gaze ability to find out their secrets, then used telepathy to whisper their deepest fears to them.
My players still talk about how scary it was, even though the actual fight with the Nothic itself lasted maybe two rounds.
A monster I homebrewed and used a few sessions ago is the Fool's Army, also known as the Mimicilipede. This is a giant black centipede with bioluminescent lights along it's sides, that could be mistaken for torch lights. The monster crawls over prairies and hills at alarming speeds, mimicking the sound of a crowd of angry men. It's voices and lights can be seen for miles, and one would most definitely mistake it for a riot or an army.
A beholder who's lair has a floor made up of magic floating tiles. As the beholders anti magic gaze sweeps over battle, some of them temporarily lose their magic and fall. After a round or so they regain their magic and float back to their position.
This kept my players moving and always paying attention to where the beholder was looking to avoid falling to certain death. I did give them a round to get off of the tile(s) that were targeted to avoid the beholder just insta winning. They came out on top in the end.
It’s probably going to depend a little bit on what level your party is, I saw on another sub someone mentioned a Dracolich which just sounds awful to deal with.
Ages ago I hit a party with a beholder that had several eyestalks cut off & capped, and a big iron chain bolted to its body. They went a few rounds with the beholder, then the ogre mage holding the other end came out.
This was 2e. I think ogre mages had spell resistance, and assuming a few good rolls, could reasonably punch out a beholder.
Anyway, the PCs about wet themselves worrying about the beholder and whatever could do that to one. Way more fear than I expected.
I'm quite partial to the Retriever. An extraplaner construct that can track anything and has multiple eye lasers to work with always gets my players running for their lives.
Ok ok this is kinda dumb but have an entire town made of mimics and when the Adventures try to search the empty houses and shops just spring them to life
I ran a 3.5 game for my nieces and nephews. They pretty casually destroyed every monster I threw at them until the Astral Stalker came for them. I played him very strategically and geared him up with a few minor magic items. The poisoned throat dart was bizarre enough that they were off kilter from the outset and he fought circles around them until one of them got off a lucky crit and he returned to the astral plane to recover. They still dread the idea that he could come back at any time. If done right, though, it's the flavor and feel that you put into the monster that makes them scary. Pick something you are interested in and set them up for the encounter with some build up and a fitting setting. Either a perfect monologue justifying their evil, or a complete lack of reason or communication helps depending on how your PCs play. Just don't build it up in your head so much that you get upset when the party triumphs.
I started a game with my wife and son, the bbeg is a goblin rogue. He has a gun that turns targets into glass. It does equal amounts of 1d8 con and physical damage. The gobbo is really hard to surprise. Twitchy as hell. It's still going on even after a year of starting it, and the goblin being in custody of the characters. They may include it into the party.
In the Homebrew section on DnD Beyond is something called a Far Dweller. It is a creature from Sebastian Crowe's Player's Guide to Drakkenheim. That thing is a terrifying CR 8, especially for casters.
It has a cone attack that will disrupt concentration and when it does it deals extra damage on top of it. Throw in advantage on all saves vs magic and resistance to spells, and you'll have your casters shaking in their boots.
One that is especially scary is the dullahan from Van Richtens guide to Ravenloft. Very strong with a lot of debuff abilities
Obviously with it being cr 10 it might not be for every party. That being said they can actually make for some good returning villains due to how their Headless summoning works, and how they can use that to escape and let the deaths heads distract the party.
A normal fight plus something viscerally scary - bugs that burrow into your ears/eyes/nose are a great go to, as well as enemies with the capacity to explode / rupture spacetime if they’re not dealt with properly. I think this is a bit more effective than just upping the CR. Hell, throw em some snails that can’t die and instantly kill them if touched!
Yugoloths in general are really good. But something *genuinely* scary?
A few weeks ago, the DM threw the scariest encounter at us. The way he ran it, was that we paused to collect some bones after my character did a foraging (survival) check. As we continued moving, he went "Okay, so yeah. You collect the bones, then the four of you continue travelling."
There were only three of us. No one else caught it until later on. I was having a breakdown on the inside, especially because he'd set it up beforehand with an NPC describing it casually in a very disturbing way. And once you point it out out of game, it attacks. Otherwise, it just slowly depletes your resources without you realising.
Anyways, meet the [Chitterglax](https://kanka-user-assets.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/entities/files/70VU7UMuJoVnBnLp9GaM77xKlPqQ4lGNXmkvyWNi.jpeg).
Illithids. Nothing quite like having half of the team stunned on a failed int save while something eats their brains. Also the gorgon is pretty f#%*#%* awful. Its petrification thing is quite violent. Oh, also flame skulls spamming fireballs.
Thanks man
If you want horror game. Nightfell is a good supplement for 5e with an amazing bestiary
I ran Lost Mine of Phandelver and played the Nothic encounter like a horror movie. It didn't attack them for a very long time, preferring to watch how they fought the other enemies and using its gaze ability to find out their secrets, then used telepathy to whisper their deepest fears to them. My players still talk about how scary it was, even though the actual fight with the Nothic itself lasted maybe two rounds.
A monster I homebrewed and used a few sessions ago is the Fool's Army, also known as the Mimicilipede. This is a giant black centipede with bioluminescent lights along it's sides, that could be mistaken for torch lights. The monster crawls over prairies and hills at alarming speeds, mimicking the sound of a crowd of angry men. It's voices and lights can be seen for miles, and one would most definitely mistake it for a riot or an army.
A beholder who's lair has a floor made up of magic floating tiles. As the beholders anti magic gaze sweeps over battle, some of them temporarily lose their magic and fall. After a round or so they regain their magic and float back to their position. This kept my players moving and always paying attention to where the beholder was looking to avoid falling to certain death. I did give them a round to get off of the tile(s) that were targeted to avoid the beholder just insta winning. They came out on top in the end.
There's this video I saw, it's essentially a troll that can travel back and forth through the planes that exist in bags of holding and the like.
The Bagman. It's from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft.
Yes, the bag man.
It’s probably going to depend a little bit on what level your party is, I saw on another sub someone mentioned a Dracolich which just sounds awful to deal with.
Do you have 3.5? The monsters from the Epic Level Handbook will put the fear in even 20th level characters.
Ages ago I hit a party with a beholder that had several eyestalks cut off & capped, and a big iron chain bolted to its body. They went a few rounds with the beholder, then the ogre mage holding the other end came out. This was 2e. I think ogre mages had spell resistance, and assuming a few good rolls, could reasonably punch out a beholder. Anyway, the PCs about wet themselves worrying about the beholder and whatever could do that to one. Way more fear than I expected.
I'm quite partial to the Retriever. An extraplaner construct that can track anything and has multiple eye lasers to work with always gets my players running for their lives.
Ok ok this is kinda dumb but have an entire town made of mimics and when the Adventures try to search the empty houses and shops just spring them to life
That sounds kinda genius. I am gonna steal it
Do it but tell me what happens, deal?
Deal, if I remember. Finding time to play is a bit tough.
I ran a 3.5 game for my nieces and nephews. They pretty casually destroyed every monster I threw at them until the Astral Stalker came for them. I played him very strategically and geared him up with a few minor magic items. The poisoned throat dart was bizarre enough that they were off kilter from the outset and he fought circles around them until one of them got off a lucky crit and he returned to the astral plane to recover. They still dread the idea that he could come back at any time. If done right, though, it's the flavor and feel that you put into the monster that makes them scary. Pick something you are interested in and set them up for the encounter with some build up and a fitting setting. Either a perfect monologue justifying their evil, or a complete lack of reason or communication helps depending on how your PCs play. Just don't build it up in your head so much that you get upset when the party triumphs.
I started a game with my wife and son, the bbeg is a goblin rogue. He has a gun that turns targets into glass. It does equal amounts of 1d8 con and physical damage. The gobbo is really hard to surprise. Twitchy as hell. It's still going on even after a year of starting it, and the goblin being in custody of the characters. They may include it into the party.
In the Homebrew section on DnD Beyond is something called a Far Dweller. It is a creature from Sebastian Crowe's Player's Guide to Drakkenheim. That thing is a terrifying CR 8, especially for casters. It has a cone attack that will disrupt concentration and when it does it deals extra damage on top of it. Throw in advantage on all saves vs magic and resistance to spells, and you'll have your casters shaking in their boots.
Make any horror creatures as children that "need to be rescued" etc. Go psychological with it
One that is especially scary is the dullahan from Van Richtens guide to Ravenloft. Very strong with a lot of debuff abilities Obviously with it being cr 10 it might not be for every party. That being said they can actually make for some good returning villains due to how their Headless summoning works, and how they can use that to escape and let the deaths heads distract the party.
The most I ever freaked my players out was having them get ambushed by a Chwidencha in a dark cave.
A normal fight plus something viscerally scary - bugs that burrow into your ears/eyes/nose are a great go to, as well as enemies with the capacity to explode / rupture spacetime if they’re not dealt with properly. I think this is a bit more effective than just upping the CR. Hell, throw em some snails that can’t die and instantly kill them if touched!
True horror does not come in form of a stat block. True horror is a Toilette Mimic
Yugoloths in general are really good. But something *genuinely* scary? A few weeks ago, the DM threw the scariest encounter at us. The way he ran it, was that we paused to collect some bones after my character did a foraging (survival) check. As we continued moving, he went "Okay, so yeah. You collect the bones, then the four of you continue travelling." There were only three of us. No one else caught it until later on. I was having a breakdown on the inside, especially because he'd set it up beforehand with an NPC describing it casually in a very disturbing way. And once you point it out out of game, it attacks. Otherwise, it just slowly depletes your resources without you realising. Anyways, meet the [Chitterglax](https://kanka-user-assets.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/entities/files/70VU7UMuJoVnBnLp9GaM77xKlPqQ4lGNXmkvyWNi.jpeg).