D&D 5E Weak monsters that terrify you

[FormerlyHemlock]

What are the "weakest" monsters in the book which nevertheless terrify you?

For me, Shadows are high on the list. Two 7th level characters against 10 shadows is officially not even a "Deadly" fight, but between high Stealth, bonus action Hide, good damage, strength drain, and undead conversion on kill (justifying hordes and hordes of them), plus a whole pile of resistances and immunities--you could not pay me enough to venture into a place where shadows are known to lurk in the company of only one other PC.

I'd rather take off and nuke the site from orbit--it's the only way to be sure.

What else have you got?

 

[darjr]

Ha I was going to say shadows! But yea, there are others. The ones that cap max hit points are particularly bad.

 

[Nevvur]

In principle, the intellect devourer. Never actually had a character die from one, nor killed a PC with one as a DM, but their mere existence makes one second-guess choosing Intelligence as a dump stat.

In practice, agreed on shadows. As above with dumping strength.

Ice, magma, and steam mephits are some of my favorites to use as a DM, because they're the type of creatures that can inflict serious harm if PCs don't coordinate their attacks and positioning, particularly with melee heavy parties.

 

[darjr]

Oh, that's the one. Ghost with possession. Especially upon a very very very tall place. I had one posses a PC and attempt to throw themselves off. It isn't save or die, but it's close.

 

[Asatania_GM]

I'm always nervous putting a carrion crawler up against a low level party. They stealth up, surprise the party, and inevitably party members fail their saves...

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

In principle, the intellect devourer. Never actually had a character die from one, nor killed a PC with one as a DM, but their mere existence makes one second-guess choosing Intelligence as a dump stat.

In a single encounter a few months ago, one PC (Monk 7/Druid 4) and two NPCs (Ranger 8, Figher 5ish) in a party of six or seven got taken out by three intellect devourers, a Rakshasa, and a Mind Flayer, despite the fact that the PCs were doing the ambushing and they had drow-poisoned weapons. The Ranger got body snatched (and subsequently killed by the other PCs as a result), the other two got perma-stunned. Intellect Devouring combos exceptionally well with Mind Blast. The Intellect Devourers were a negligible fraction of the XP earned but a huge part of the actual threat.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Goblins.

They are the only monster I've seen my players get scared they might lose an encounter against without being outnumbered 3:1 or facing something much higher CR than the party level.

 

[PnPgamer]

kobolds. They always hit.

 

[Azurewraith]

Rust Monsters! 1flubbed roll and your suddenly naked

 

[pukunui]

Gibbering mouther! It's hard to believe it's only CR 2.