D&D: Five Unassuming Monsters Perfect For When You Need Something to Come to Life and Try to Kill the Party

These five monsters look unassuming right up until they come to life to try and kill the party. Classic fantasy moment.

There are some moments that are so iconic they resonate into the very marrow of human experience. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never seen it happen specifically in a movie or game, there’s something about coming across a room full of skeletons, lying peaceful and still as the grave that just signals that they’re going to come to life and try to kill you.

Or walking down a corridor filled with armored statues. Sure, they’re empty, but there’s something about the way they stand that you just KNOW they’re going to come to life to try to kill you. It’s a kind of fun that we crave—where you pick up on something, think ‘yep this is about to happen’ and then the thing you expect to happen, happens. It works for delivering delight or humor as well as the occasional Dark Souls moment where, of course that skeleton comes to life, why wouldn’t it.

It’s a moment you can—and should—put into your D&D campaigns. But you have so many options. Here are five great unassuming monsters to use the next time you want something to come to life to try and kill the party in a room that should otherwise be completely harmless.

Skeleton

Look it’s a classic for a reason. If you haven’t done the ol’ “you enter a room littered with skeletons, some still clutch swords or spears where they fell,” in your games of D&D yet, you don’t know what you’re missing. Even if one or more of your players realize it, it’s such an iconic moment. It’s one of the expectations of the setting, and a great way to communicate “we’re in it now.”

It happens so much it might even catch them off guard, like it did in Baldur’s Gate 3. There’s a moment where skeletal priests rise up to defend a tomb where you’ll meet a certain undead NPC who is in dire need of some big naturals. Skeletons are a classic for a reason, and not just because they have vulnerability to bludgeoning damage.

Animated Armor

On par with skeletons are animated suits of armor. Especially if it’s a hallway lined with statues of armor carrying various weapons in different poses. Sure, there’s nothing lurking behind the visors, but when they start jerkily coming to life, your players know what they’re in for.

Animated Armor might catch players off guard with their stalwart resistances. They are immune to poison and psychic damage, and can’t be charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, or poisoned. They also have blindsight out to 60 feet, which makes them formidable foes, even at only CR 1. Plus, they’re suits of armor so when you slay them you don’t have to worry about what their loot will be.

Awakened Tree

Now we stroll a little closer to Evil Dead territory. But Awakened Trees are much less sinister as a default setting. Because they’re invested with sapience from magic, not necessarily fiendish forces from eyond the pale. Though that is, entirely a possibility.

And when Awakened Trees come to life, it’s a lot more organic. Their blooms can open, they could be infused with energy from the Shadowfell, seeping out of their burls. Their limbs could be menacing. The possibilities are limitless to infuse a scene with horror and/or melodrama.

Plus, again, there’s something unsettling about a copse of trees, serene and still. Especially if it’s about to become a corpse of trees.

Troll Limb

Troll limbs are a new monster in the 2025 Monster Manual. And they are quickly becoming one of my favorites in this list. Because you normally only encounter them after you’ve already finished fighting a troll. It’s something that feels very FromSoft—in that you kill the troll, which is already a hard enough fight. And then the fighting music goes away.

It’s quiet for a beat.

And then the troll’s severed limb comes back to life and kills you while you’re trying to drink from your flask. It’s perfect. in D&D troll limbs aren’t necessarily as deadly as a whole other phase of a boss fight, but they do hit surprisingly hard for what they are. Against a party who’s just had a tough fight, or who has fled into a lair where a troll’s limbs have been cast aside for dinner later, they might be deadly. And they’re the entry on this list that is most likely to surprise players the first time around.

Stone Golem

Finally, the ultimate classic. Fantasy worlds are littered with giant stone statues. Either of heroes or guardians or monuments to ancient peoples—you can’t crawl through 1d12 hexes without coming across a looming edifice of a bygone age.

Of course it’s come to life and is trying to kill you right now. Stone Golems are extremely dangerous. They’re higher CR monsters, for sure. But they also are resistant to magic and can slow their enemies in combat, making it easier ofr them to wail on them with their devastating slams or magical force bolts.

If you’re wondering where the mimic is in this list, joke’s on you, the whole list was a mimic—now roll for initiative!

Bell of Lost Souls Staff Writer and DM, J.R. covers RPGs of all stripes and on occasion eats sandwiches. You can ask him about either at [email protected]

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