Not every monster is a chore to take down. Some can put a thrill in just about any encounter. Consider these examples.
There are some monsters that can slow the game down to a crawl. Or that can take away your ability to do anything to them by stunlocking you. Or that can even devour your previous magic items right out of your fingers. But some monsters do the opposite. Whether because of mechanics, or drama, or what have you, they are actually fun to fight. Monsters like…
Vampire
Hear me out. Vampires are excellent enemies because when you can take one on, it proves that you’ve come a long way as an adventurer. They also make for very dramatic villains. After all, there’s a reason that Curse of Strahd is the most popular modern D&D module. It rests on the character of its villain – yes, and a big part of what makes him interesting is his position as a predator of the night.
What makes Vampires fun to run is that they play by logic that most players can expect. Vampire lore is kind of ingrained in the culture, so players who know “hey expose that vampire to sunlight or running water” or whatever get to feel smart. And Vampires keep coming back – unless you kill them for good on purpose. It’s like having a vampiric villain gives the DM permission to be melodramatically evil. And that makes for a fun monster to fight.
Ogre
On the other end of the spectrum are ogres. They are also fun to fight, but it’s because they are very simple to understand. They’re big. They hit hard. And most importantly, they are pretty easy to hit. It’s part of their design that ogres have a lot of hit points but their AC is pretty low. Which means that most of your attacks are going to hit – and, as a player, that just feels good. Hard to argue with “hit big monster feel good for slaying it.”
Sahuagin
This one might be a bit of a stretch for some folks. But some of the most fun I’ve ever had as a player was fighting aquatic creatures. I like the challenge of it. I like the way they make you think in three dimensions (if you fight them underwater). And I like the fact that they can command sharks and that means they often come with mounts that are fun to fight.
These underwater raiders are almost always unambiguously evil and unambiguously fun to fight. Especially since even if the challenge rating is fairly simple, the added difficulty of “and now we have to have water breathing” makes it interesting (but not annoying).
Gnoll
Gnolls are an amazing menace for any DM and group of adventurers. If you’ve fought them in Baldur’s Gate 3, you know why – they feel like a tough foe even if their AC and hit point totals leave them within reach of standard humans. Beating a horde of gnolls feels like an achievement because they have so many stat blocks with supporting abilities. Fighting them becomes a puzzle of “okay we gotta kill the guy that’s making them move and bite” while also dealing with their minions.
Beholder
Beholders are always a boon. The thing that makes them fun to fight is they’re absolutely ridiculous. The lore about them, their personalities – all of it is a sort of egotistical chaos incarnate. The exact kind of larger than life energy that makes D&D feel like you’re in high fantasy times.
Especially if you have a DM that rolls randomly to see what kind of eye rays they can bring to bear. Then it becomes a game of “keep out of the antimagic zone” (or stay in it to avoid eye rays) while also whittling down the big floating eyeball of death.
Happy Adventuring!
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