The ending scenes of the movie are perhaps a great example of just how terrifying a monster confrontation can be. The monster from the movie Cloverfield (affectionately called “Clover” by the crew) is 300 feet tall and scary, if for no other reason than we rarely get a good look at it. Plus we threw in their strange invisibility to those who have not seen death and their unnerving love for blood. Seriously, this thing is perfect for a necromancer or vengeance paladin. We took the Pegasus stats and reworked them up to a Challenge 5 creature, making them just as deadly as their reputation would imply, and the kind of mount you write home about. Strangely haunting, deathly creatures from the Harry Potter series, thestrals are basically emaciated, black, pegasi. We’ve based these stats on a combination of Frost Giants and Golems in general, with a special power unique to Marshmallow. The monster was created by the ice queen in a fit of anger and seems to represent that hostility, attacking those who would disrupt her alone time in her castle.

The massive ice creature that Elsa creates in Frozen has a name, and that’s Marshmallow. Want to do a Xenomorph queen? Just mod an Adult Black Dragon.

Pretty simple for a creature that could be quite memorable to fight. We’ve started with the stats for a Young Black Dragon and modified to make it a little more like what we see in the movies. Think about it: it’s amphibious, acid spraying, black, and vaguely dragon-ish.

The Xenomorphs from the Aliens franchise already haunt our nightmares, plus they’re basically a black dragon. Let’s take a look at a few awesome examples from all over modern cinema, from sci-fi, to monster horror, to animated films like Frozen. Scouring the Monster Manual for something your players haven’t had the pleasure of fighting? Grabbing monsters from our favorite movies and books can be a fun way of finding inspiration and it’s easy to “file off the serial numbers” of existing stat blocks, making something new from those old hat creatures.

Dungeons and dragons monster stats