Alex Schroeder: Halberds & Helmets

Doppelgängers are for the urban adventure when you no longer know whom to trust and how to safely uncover the conspiracy....

Crocodiles are ambush predators. I like to announce their presence and treat them like traps....

Creepers are a total party kill in the making with their eight paralysing attacks but I still love them....

Giant crabs are cool because of the crab demon lord Garaskis that offers pincer arms and carapace armour to the poor and powerless....

Chimeras are goofy because of the goat head, but also dangerous for the lion attack and the dragon breath. I use them as guardians of the underworld....

Giant centipedes and other vermin like rats and bats, and monsters like rot grub or green slime are better handled as traps. They don't need to be in the monster manual....

Centaurs are half horse half men, horny drunken violent creatures. Content warning: sexual violence....

A cat for every occasion, from pumas, mountain lions, jaguars, lions to tigers: harassing villages and making it hard to cross rivers...

Bugbears are cat people: sneaky, dangerous, serving underground elves, always ready to pounce on you, always spying on you...

Boars as pets for orcs, giant boars as mounts for dwarves and halflings, and demon boars as protector spirits of a forest...

Talking about giant beetles and how I used them: pack animals for the underworld, war elephants for goblins and the like, or car sized monsters in dungeon corridors...

Talking about giant bees, giant wasps, and how I used them: like Aliens in a hive, and as mounts for lizard people...