Under-used supernatural creatures

I've heard of the Dobhar-chu, but what's a ghulag?

Also, has the Nandi bear been mentioned yet? It's a bearlike creature from Africa that feeds exclusively on brains. Because a medium to large predatory mammal totally isn't going to end up exhausting its food supplies by limiting its diet to such a small percentage of the kill.

Zombie Bears? You Can Panic Now.

Dobhar-chu are awesome. If I'm remembering what I've read about them correctly, they're supposed to mate for life, and if either days the other will take instinctive animal vengeance.

The shachihoko, a Japanese tiger-carp hybrid.

The grindylow, a British child-eating water demon with a hunting method similar to that of a crocodile.

The adaro, South Pacific monsters that slide down rainbows and throw poisonous fish at people.

The aigamuxa, South African giants whose only eye is on the sole of their foot.

The hitotsume-kozō, Japanese cyclops-like monsters the size of a child.

Typhon, a lava-breathing giant from Classical Mythology with storm-causing wings, a horselike head and snakes for fingers & legs, with additional snake heads covering his body.

Echidna, a man-eating snake-woman and Typhon's wife.

The Lambton worm, a semi-aquatic poisonous serpent from the UK.

Azhi Dahaka, the multiheaded demon dragon from Middle Eastern tradition.

The Fomorians, Irish giants with the head of a goat, one eye, one arm & one leg.

The mngwa, a large gray African wildcat.

The antmen, a Proud Warrior Race of human-sized ants from Greece.

The tarasque, a French dragon with the body of an ox, the shell of a tortoise, the face of a human, the mane of a lion, the tail of a scorpion and six bearlike feet.

The Japanese snow spirit, the ghost of a woman who died alone in a snowstorm and seeks revenge.

Gogmagog, a giant from the UK.

The tokoloshe, an African creature that resembles a cross between a goblin and a zombie.

Talos, a metallic giant from Greece.

The Stymphalian birds, Greek storklike birds with metallic feathers.

The tengu, a Japanese humanoid with wings, bright red skin and a huge nose.

The catoblepas, a cowlike African beast with a Deadly Gaze and heavy, piglike head.

Morgawr, a plesiosaur-like sea monster from the British Isles.

Sleipnir, Odin's eight-legged horse in Norse Mythology.

Lamia, a Greek child-eating demon who can rip her eyes out and predict the future.

The scorpion men, Babylonian warrior monsters that resemble humans from the waist up and scorpions from the waist down.

The nagas, benevolent Snake People from Hindu tradition.

The wraiths, Scottish ghostlike monsters.

Ahhh a topic I adore!

I'm mad for monsters! A HUGE fan of mythology/folklore and cryptids alike! There is almost no monster left for me to explore.

In this world the games ALWAYS start with the same Goblin, Giant Spider and Skeleton/Zombies enemies... No game starts off with Gremlins, Gulons or Gaki... creatures that are so much more fun than the overused boring creatures.

And movies? They can’t think further than pretty werewolves, cuddle vampires and boring zombies, not even nasty ghouls, no… just the horrible slow endless waves of zombies… so boring! Wendigo’s and Bloody Bones for example are so much more scary and evil than werewolves, zombies and vampires combined, but because there can’t be sex with those the movies aren’t made that often… in the case of the horrid bloody bones there are even zero.

It’s time for the world to change and embrace the less known horrors on their television.

Let me give you an example of the overused creatures of this world: (from games, favorite lists, documentaries, movies and stories mostly)

Werewolf - Vampire - Griffon - Pegasus - Gorgon (Medusa) - Minotaur - Goblin - Hydra - Faeries - Normal Boring Demons - Imps - Gargoyles - Efreets and Genies - Skeletons - Harpy - Normal Giants - Wyverns - Dryads and other such Nymphs - Grim Reapers - Trolls - Sea Serpents - Krakens - Normal Ghosts - Orcs - Centaurs - Cyclops - Normal Hags - Basilisk - Sphinx - Naga - Manticore - Elementals - Ogres - Succubus - Satyr - Kitsune - Phoenix - Cerberus - Roc - Kaiju (Godzilla and others) - Mermaid - Unicorns - Nessie Monsters - Mummy - Lizardmen - Yeti - Chimera - Tengu - Hippocampus - Leprechaun - Kirin - Sasquatch/Bigfoot - Gnome - Elf - Dwarf and most of all ZOMBIES and D&D-like DRAGONS I really hate those overused things.

These are all very overused, trite, moldy, over worn or whatever you want to call it, and even if team Chimera and Griffon will say that they never have seen a movie with those beasts in it, they are overused in both computer games and D&D-like games. Heck, the Griffon is in every soccer-guy-makes-a-youtube-movie-about-his-top-10-favorite-monsters list, this means it’s an overused and well known creature as well. Everybody knows about Lion/Eagles and Winged Horses, almost nobody knows about little evil gnomes that dip their hats in their victims blood or about fat ugly tree spirits that crush men by sitting on them in their sleep. (Redcap and Batibat) People seem to be attracted to simple things… two animals that are put together to create another (Griffon) or just earth-bound creatures that gained wings (Pegasus) to me those are too simple and boring.

I'm creating my own RPG game (lufia-like) and this is the list of rather unknown monsters I will use in that game. There are Banshee's and Scylla's in this list, many people know about these creatures already, but the average Wolverine(from x-men) and soccer-fan doesn't know about them so they are not OVE Rused like Vampires and Dragons are. Wikipedia is your good friend and if you want to learn about the more unknown monsters in this world you would do good to read about them ALL. :-p

Most of these monsters I warp into more game-friendly creatures of course, like the Akaname in my game will be transformed into a Licker-like (from Resident Evil) monster that enjoys using its long tongue to bring sickness and destruction instead of cleaning a filthy bathroom...

GREEK MONSTERS -

Antaeus - Half earth elemental, half giant that regenerates when touching the earth.

Argus - Eyeball/sight based Giant

Cacus - Half fire elemental half giant.

Campe - She Dragon-Wyvern like creature which tail ends in a pretty woman’s torso to lure prey with.

Cercopes - Twin monkey thieves that have wings like the monkey's from the Wiz of Oz. They are master thieves.

Charybdis - Living whirlpool monster.

Chrysaor - Son of Medusa, winged demon boar creature which blood spawns hordes of scorpion monsters.

Empusa - Or a succubus with flaming hair or a centaur-like creature with the lower body of a mantis and upper body of a fiery demoness.

Ladon - Plant Dragon/Tree Dragon

Makhai - War Daemons with multiple (2 or 3) torso's growing out of just two legs.

Nemean Lion - Lion monster with a very tough skin that could not be pierced.

Scylla - Sea monster.

Stymphalian Birds - Crane-like birds with extremely sharp beaks and feathers they can shoot like arrows.

Symplegades - Twin Rock Golems that crush creatures between the two of them. (Well in the true myth they are just two giant rocks that crash ships between them)

Teumessian Fox - A large evil fox that could not be caught (in games a fox that has very good evasion skills)

Vrykolakas - A very nasty and ugly disease bringing vampire.

Echidna - The mother of all monsters.

Agrios - Bear giants, much like giant werebears that are very nasty and mostly born as twins.

JAPANESE MONSTERS -

Akaname - Filth Lickers, cockroach-like humanoids with very long acid dripping tongues, attracted to filthy environments and creatures.

Bakekujira - Ghost Whales, skeletal whales of vengeance that attack whale hunting boats, every animal eating from the rotting flesh of this creature will become its undead minions.

Baku - Dream eating tapir-like creature.

Enenra - Smoke demon, the Mortal Kombat Ninja Smoke is also an Enenra.

Gaki - Ghost of greed, appears to be a animal (mostly serpent) made from treasures and gold coins.

Gashadokuro - Giant skeleton that collects more bones into its mass and who is created by mass famine.

Harionna - Demon woman that can animate her extremely long hair into all kinds of things, mostly sharp hooks.

Heikegani - Demonic Samurai crabmen, samurai that drown themselves reappear as these creatures.

Hyakume - Slimy eyeball monsters much like Beholders from D&D but more slimy.

Ikuchi - Giant sea serpents leaking oil and tar everywhere they go, they can also spit it and make it burn.

Jinmenju - Monstrous trees that spawn/grow fruit monsters that hunt and collect food for its parent tree. Others just spawn fruit heads that drive people insane with talk.

Jorogumo - Spider demons, black widow spiders that can use illusions to lure prey to them and they can take human female form as well.

Jubokko - Vampire Trees, created when a human is hung on a branch from a tree and the blood of this human is absorbed by the roots.

Kamaitachi - Fast weasel creatures also known as sickle weasels. Extremely fast.

Kijimuna - You still know about these troll dolls from the past? With the bright colored hairs? These are Kijimuna's, goblin like creatures with bright red fiery hairs that are obsessed with fire.

Namazu - Giant catfish monsters that have earth-based powers and create massive earthquakes.

Nekomata - Demon cats or Oni cats that take the form of sweet kittens to lure children to their doom.

Nue - Chimera like creatures, with the body of a tiger, the head of a baboon and its tail is a huge serpent, they invade people’s dreams and can take mist form.

Omukade - Do you know about the Marilith Demon from D&D? This is such a demon but instead of serpent this demon has centipede features.

Raiju - Thunderbeasts that can become pure electricity, don't anger them. Pikachu is based on this.

Rokurokubi - Evil vampiric hags which appear as beautiful women but which neck can grow very long to hunt like an anaconda.

Sazae Oni - Female oni's that appear as sea snails with a woman-like creature growing out of the shell.

Yuki Onna - Female frost ghosts.

SCOTTISH/IRISH/WELCH/CELTIC MONSTERS -

Afanc - Half beaver and half crocodile, intelligent and creative as a beaver and feral and bloodthirsty as the crocodile, creates traps and dams from victims bones.

Ankou - Grim Reaper creature that also holds a lantern.

Banshee - Wailing female ghosts.

Barghest - Also known as the Hounds of Ill Omen, if you see this shadow-like dogs you're in for some trouble and mostly you die few days later.

Black Annis - Evil, cruel and ugly hags that collect the bones of creatures to dress themselves in them.

Bloody Bones - Boogeyman creature that appears as flayed giants without skin and without legs, crawling around and leaving a trail of blood. Extremely scary.

Bodach - Shadow Boogeyman also known as BAUK in another mythology, these appear from shadows and use shadows to teleport much like the Spiderman villain The Spot.

Buggane - Giants that have mole features, they protect other faeries.

Cluricaun - Evil red-wearing Leprechauns that are always drunk and bring bad luck instead of good luck.

Dullahan - The headless horseman.

Fetch - Mirror Shapeshifters that hunt vain creatures from their mirror homes, Bloody Mary is said to be a Fetch.

Gancanagh - Very pretty and vain male faeries that appear very human, their skin holds poison that makes females addicted to them, females fight themselves to death for the Gancanagh.

Grindylow - Half piranha creature and half octopus, seen in Harry Potter movie.

Jack in Irons - Giants that haunt lonely roads, they are dressed in chains and are dressed in the skins of their victims.

Kelpie - Water horses.

Lavellan - The most poisonous creature out there, appears as a mutant rat creature.

Nuckelavee - Creatures of disease and corruption that appear as sickly centaurs with the human body growing out of the back and like the Bloody Bones they don't have a skin.

Phooka - Black Unicorns with silver manes and horns, they are steeds for evil faerie queens and kings and can also shapeshift, the moon gives them powers.

Redcap - Evil gnomes that dip their red hats in the blood of their victims.

Shellycoat - Water Boogeyman that dresses itself in very sharp shells, it uses these shells as weapons, armor and to steal the voices of its victims.

Sianach - Evil elk creature that hunts humans, mostly hags ride upon these nasty stags.

Spriggan - Tiny shy creatures that become huge and aggressive giants when sad or angry. Much like Mr.Hyde

Springheel Jack - Murderous creatures that can jump very high and hunt people on the streets.

Will o Wisp - Light creatures that lure people into bogs and swamps to feast on their terror and fear.

Leanan Sidhe - Female vampires that don't feed on blood but on creativity and charisma.

OTHER MONSTERS - Raging from Persian, African, North American, Native American, Norse, Egyptian, Aztec, Slavic, Inuit, Germanic, Philippine, Arabian, Chinese, Mapuche and Australian Myths and folklore and also some cryptids for the fun of it!:

Aatxe - Giant red demonic bulls, sometimes even red demonic minotaurs.

Abaasy - Strange demons with one eye, one leg and one arm, they ride on dinosaur-like dragons that have 3 heads, 8 legs and 2 tails.

Abaia - Giant eel monsters that protect lakes and can summon water-based disasters like tsunami's, monssoons and whirlpools when mad.

Acheri - Female children that bring disease wherever they go.

Adaro - Shark based monsters, much like mermen but with shark features, they hunt during storms and become very blood lusty when it rains.

Ahkiyyini - Large skeleton monsters that play the drums to create storms and tidal waves at sea.

Ahuizotl - Strange chimerical monsters that have a claw on the end of their tail and who can mimic voices.

Aitvaras - Fiery roosters while indoors but fierce dragons when outdoors.

Akhlut - In water they appear as Orca Whales, out of the water however they turn into large black N white wolves.

Ala - Wind Demons that summons heavy winds to destroy crops, houses and fields.

Almi'raj - Very feral rabbits the size of large dogs with an unicorn horn.

Alraune - A plant woman growing out of a huge flower or rose, they feed on blood. In other myths they are just Mandragora's.

Ammit - Half crocodile, lion and hippo, they eat the souls of the dead.

Aniwye - Giant monstrous skunk monsters.

Asag - Stone Demons that spawn smaller rock demons from their bodies.

Aswang - Nasty demons that can shed off body parts to hunt for them, like hands, their entire upper body or their head. (Manananggal and Penannagal are variants)

Barbegazi - Snow Gnomes with very large feet that cause avalanches.

Batibat - Very fat evil Dryad-like creatures that haunt you when you cut or harm their forest/tree homes.

Baykok - Hunter skeletons that can fly and use a bow to hunt, they rarely miss their target and like to hunt powerful creatures.

Blemmyes - Giants that don't have heads but their faces are in their chests, they have huge maws full of sharp teeth.

Bunyip - Half shark and half leopard seal.

Cactus Cat - A cactus creature that takes the form of a big cat.

Calopus - Horned wolves.

Chan - Giant Clam monsters that use illusions to lure prey inside their huge maws.

Cherufe - Lava/Magma monsters that demand sacrifices and which live inside volcanoes. (extremely cool creatures!)

Chon Chon - Flying heads with bat wings for ears.

Crocotta - Hyena like monsters that can mimic any sound they hear, very cruel and very powerful teeth that can bite through adamantium.

Cuco - Pumpkin head boogeyman.

Death Worm - Giant sandworms that hunt using lightning and poison acid.

Djieien - Solifugid spiders that burry their hearts in another body so they are immortal until their heart is found and crushed.

Draugr - Sea based zombies and ghouls.

Dybbuk - Very powerful poltergeist like creatures that mostly possess other creatures or objects, their presence can animate an entire household.

Echeneis - Remora like fish that have strange magnetic abilities and which often stop ships.

Gaasyendietha - Also known as Meteor Dragons, these strange stone-like dragons travel in the form of a meteor from world to world.

Girtablilu - Scorpion people, they have the upper body of a human and the lower body of a huge scorpion.

Globster - Sea ooze monsters.

Goat Rider/Bokkenrijder - Demonic Bandits that are cursed riding upon demonic goats.

Gold Digging Ant - Giant ants that collect gold, are made from gold and who eat gold.

Gulon - Wolverine (animal) like creature that is very gluttonous and only eats and eats.

Ichneumon - A giant wasp/mongoose like creature that hunts dragons and lays its eggs inside them. The ultimate dragon hunter/slayer.

Impundulu - Thunderbirds shapeshifters from Africa.

Itzpapalotl - Skeletons with butterfly wings, they present the beauty of death.

Kapre - Evil treant like creatures that use smoke to confuse other creatures.

Karkadann - Nasty brown desert unicorns, sometimes zebra unicorns.

Kasai Rex - T.rex with red/black tiger prints.

Kaw Kaw - Very fat sluggy boogeyman with an enormous maw that swallows its prey whole. Hunts for bad children.

Kikimora - The evil female version of the brownie and domovoy, they create mischief in houses and make it a mess, they controll all sorts of insects.

Kokogiak - 10 legged polar bear monsters that can create illusions of the people they eat to lure their loved ones into their maws.

Kongamato - Giant prehistoric flying reptile monsters.

Kumiho - The evil, silver, 10 tailed variant of the Kitsune. MUCH cooler than the boring kitsune.

Leshy - Plant creatures that ask riddles and can shift sizes.

Lindworm - Very ancient and cool wingless dragons.

Lorelei - Nasty mermaids that are much like sirens, instead of luring with their voice, they create chaos and induce violence in men with their songs.

Mahaha - Frost demons with very large nails, they tickle their victims to death, they always laugh much like the Clown IT from the horror movies, they leave their victims with a frozen smile.

Mara - Nightmare creatures that haunt dreams, D&D turned them into fiery horses.

Minhacao - Enormous black, armored jungle worms.

Myrmecoleon - Giant monstrous ant lions. Or a stupid half ant, half lion that starves itself to death because the ant part can't digest the meat the lion part eats.

Ouroboros - Much like the Amphisbaena, but much bigger. The serpent that eats its own tail.

Peluda - A very spiky dragon.

Peryton - Demonic Eagles with demonic stag heads and antlers, they feed on hearts and cast the shadow of their latest victims instead of their own.

Polevik - Field Domovoy that controls spores and fungus.

Popobawa - Bat like humanoids that cause all kinds of mischief and evil, they are addicted to chaos.

Pukwudgie - Troll like creatures that have large porcupine quills on their backs, they are into voodoo and necromancy.

Pyrausta - Insect Dragons, many species are known to exist, like Wasp Dragons, Mantis Dragons and Dragonfly Dragons.

Qalupalik - Evil Inuit sea hags that kidnap children.

Rarog - Fiery dwarf-like creatures that travel in the form of a fireball and have fire hair.

Rat King - Rat Mutants that are rats grown together in horrid ways.

Rusalka - Female water spirits formed from drowned ladies.

Sandwalker - Half crabs and half scorpions, they roam the deserts and eat the camels and people that live there.

Siyokoy - Rikuo from Darkstalkers looks very much like a Siyokoy or evil merman.

Strigoi - Evil animalistic vampires that can take the form of any animal they desire. They can turn into a blood like ooze monsters as well.

Tiddalik - Giant frogs that suck up entire lakes into their body (which holds another realm in it) they suck up lakes and spit them out on any place they desire.

Tikbalang - Horse Minotaurs that hunt females.

Tiyanak - Evil vampiric babies, in my game they are the evil version of Cupid with gothic features and black wings, bringing hate with their arrows instead of love.

Toatieh - Statues that look like giant tigers or lions, inside their body is another prison realm, if they eat you whole you be teleported to that realm inside their stomach.

Tsemaus - Shark like creatures that swim in sand and which dorsal fin is extremely long and sharp.

Umdhlebi - Corrupting vines that corrupted trees and plants around them, creating a very nasty landscape.

Valravn - Giant raven monsters that can burst into a swarm of ravens, they can also transform into any creature they eat the heart from.

Vila - Evil Storm Nymphs, pearl white skins with dark indigo hairs that always move as like they are in a storm, they control weather and can turn into swans.

Vodyanoi - Frog like humanoids that control water and are very grumpy.

Wendigo - The most fearsome and evil of all creatures, they appear as humanoids without feet and with stag like antlers. They are the spirits of cannibals.

Wolpertinger - Half rabbit, bird and stag and very aggressive.

Xmulzencab - A creature or god made from swarms of bees.

Yale - A goat/stag like creature with horns it can move in any direction it desires.

Yara Ma Yha who - A red creature that falls from trees and which creates others of its kind by corrupting children. Boogeyman species.

Zaratan – Enormous turtle who has a island on its shell.

Hope you like this list and that you learned some more about awesome new critters and myths.

There are a lot more monsters I know about, but these are my favorites. I'm not a huge fan of good and gentle monsters/creatures such as Simurgh, Vanara, Garuda and domovoy/brownie's so they aren't in my lists.

Don't worry about the length of this post or me having no life, I’m a extremely fast typer, that’s all + I want these creatures to be more famous, so posting these here hopefully helps me to reach more people and that more people know about them so they aren't underused anymore.. :-) Of course there are also Wolverine and Soccer fans that also like the less known creatures/characters but in my personal experience they are rare.

Gancanagh Out.

edited 4th Aug '13 7:29:38 AM by Sincubus

not all of those 'English' creatures come from England;

The banshee, dullahan, leanan sidhe, phooka and clurichaun are Irish, and there are a few Scottish and Welsh in there too. Best not to mix them up. Especially Irish. They are also all faeries, part of your 'overused' list.

But good list overall, I might use a few of those creatures!

Aren't globsters dead whales?

For the record, practically every Greek monster on that list can be found in the Percy Jackson And The Olympians and The Heroes Of Olympus series. Also:

I never actually knew about these, but they're referenced in Percy Jackson, too, apparently. The camp for demigods that the series takes place in features a rock climbing wall which is actually two walls that occasionally clang together. (It's a really difficult climbing wall.) The series isn't always explicit in its references.

edited 4th Aug '13 5:58:32 AM by Zarek

Ow sorry I was being very lazy about the irish, scottish and welch part, while i'm good at monsters i'm very bad about the countries.

But many monsters from Scottish mythology also appear (the same of somewhat different) in Irish mythology... so that's why I put them together, maybe call them Celtic next time. The overused Faeries are Pixies and Butterfly winged Faeries BTW, not the special and strange faeries I listed.

Globsters are dead whale blubber cryptids, but Pathfinder turned them into sea oozes, and I liked that more than just whale blubber.

You should check all these monsters in Wikipedia, I sometimes put my own spin on monsters so not all the monsters above have 100% accurate discriptions.

edited 4th Aug '13 6:09:48 AM by sincubus

Of course Charybdis and Scylla and some others appear in Final Fantasy and Percy Jackson and even in movies like Clash of the Titans BUT they are still unknown to the big public, i've seen a lot of people react to the new Percy Jackson trailer saying that the Charybdis is the kraken... so that tells me that the big public doesn't know about Charybdis at all, while everybody knows about the Minotaur and Medusa...

Charybdis and Scylla do appear sometimes in books and movies, but they aren't overused like werewolves and vampires, so I still hope to see them more often.

Agrios (bear twins) for example is only used in Percy Jackson, never seen them everywhere else, so you can't call them overused.

The Symplegades also have two land based counterparts in greek mythology called the Wandering Rocks or the Planctae BTW, so maybe Percy climbed those?

edited 4th Aug '13 6:04:54 AM by sincubus

I wasn't meaning to say they were just as overused. I was just trying to give an example. (Mostly I was shilling my favorite book series.)

How do you quote a post here? I can't quote a post?

[quote]blabla[/quote] Test test

I know Percy Jackson used a lot of greek monster, the series gained my interest last week when I saw the trailer of Charybdis, I really want the Stymphalian Birds and Agrios Bear Twins to be in the movie as well! But i'm sure they get cut because soccer players don't understand those difficult things... I already heard they gonna use Manticore instead to fill the role probably of teh Agrios Twins...

[[quoteblock]] texty text text [[/quoteblock]] for quotes.

And yeah, it's unfortunate that the Agrios twins were probably cut. Although, to be fair, the Manticore isn't all that commonly used outside of tabletop games and the occasional video games.

Most people know about Manticores, they are in countless games (Heroes of might and magic, Neverwinter Nights, WOW, Final Fantasy, Lufia, ect ect), they are always in the first monster manual of D&D, there maybe aren't many movies about them yet, but still these creatures are pretty overused in games and monster lists. Wikipedia's art/picture part also has countless pictures of manticore, almost endless.

While the Manticore isn't as overused as Pegasus or Werewolves and zombies, they are still pretty well known, together with Naga and Kirin they are on the second row of being used frequently. While I hate the extremly overused in this world (Zombie / Normal Vampires / Normal Werewolves / D&D Dragons and Unicorns) I do like Naga's and Manticores, but I still could not put them on the list of creatures that are always left out or most often being just forgotten...

And thanks for the help about quotes!

edited 4th Aug '13 6:25:41 AM by Sincubus

I forgot about Sagari, Shadhavar, Chupacabra, Boggart, Bugbear (not the D&D variant), Argopelter, Berserkers (not the humans), Adlet, Cipactli, Cliff Ogre (not normal ogres), Con Rit, Chickcharney, Alicanto, Anansi, Amikiri, Wizards Shackle, The Wild Hunt, Wadjet, Vetala Vampire, Veo, Valkyrie (while not really rare), Tsuchigumo, Sea Bonze, Rompo, Revolving Beast, Python, Puck, Peri, Otso, Obambo, Mokoi (wizard hunters), Nuppeppo (flesh golems), Mothman, Nargun, Mokele Mbembe, Migas, Mamlambo (brain eating fish), Lou Carcolh, Korrigan, Knocker, Bluecap, Pech, Iku Turso, Kasa Obake, Karkinos, Hesperid, Graeae, Ghul, Garmr, Gallu, Fury, Maenad, Fossegrim/nokken, Fomorian, Eurynomos, Keres, Erymanthian Boar, Erlking, Epiales, Emela Ntouka, Eloko, Ewah, Einherjar, Dvergr, Dactyl, Drop Bear, Decarabia, Carbuncle, Boobrie, Cu Sith, Cat Sithe, Balaur, Azgenzak, Drekavac, Samebito, Adze, Ahool, Akki, Alastor, Encantado.

Lol the lists are endless, so much monsters, so little inspiration in people...

What do you mean by "not the humans?" I was under the impression that all Berserkers were humans. At least as far as the modern werewolf could also be considered "human."

Well in D&D/WOW berserkers are just humans that become mad with anger.

I was aiming for the Berserkers from Norse Mythology, humans that gain beast features and feralness when angry or in fights.

There is also the African catfish monster called Lau, instead of earth based powers like the Namazu has, the Lau has electric powers.

Skinwalkers, Poludnica (Lady Midday), Humbaba& Pazuzu, Selkie, Agloolik, Fenris, Geryon, Flesh Eating Horses of Diomedes, Thriae or Bee Nymphs, Tzitzimitl, Cadejo (very cool dog monster that has two bodies, one good white and one evil black), Tiamat, Jabberwocky, Bandersnatch, Jormungandr, Gorynych, Sepid, Ghawwas, Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Famine, Death, War and Pestilence), Circe, Camulatz, Camazotl, Asabosan, Blue Tiger, Sirrush, Fir Bolg, Ly Erg, Arachne, Grendel, Norn, Jersye Devil, Legion, Barometz (evil version), Sewer Alligator, Aleya, Lilim, Piasa

And of Course the awesome Dobhar-Chu, Vouivre, Chagrin, Ramidreju, Nguruvilu, Sleipnir, kekkai, Land Wight, Rakshasa, Inkanyamba, Duwende, Catoblepas, Zu or Ziz, Mapinguari, Delgeth, Ropen, Ugjuknarpak, Hadhayosh and the dirty Bonnacon.

Also if there are D&D fans here, you should try Pathfinder instead, the monsters there are so much better! And their bestiaries are full of bizarre creatures from mythology and also coming from the minds of the creators of paizo/pathinder + you can chat with them and even tell them which monsters you want to see in the next bestiaries, like the Tooth Fairy, Al-mi'raj and Argus coming in bestiary 4 because I kept bugging them with my own wishes! Try it out on their forum!;-)

edited 4th Aug '13 8:37:28 AM by Sincubus

Since when is the chupacabra underused?

I never seen them in movies or games.

I can't say that for soccer-guys-make-list-about-their-favorite-mytho-monsters-on-youtube tho... so you probably right, still they aren't so overused as Werewolves and Pegasi.

They however are like Mothmen very recent monsters, so that's maybe why they show up more often then the ancient mythology monsters.

BTW, I didn't agree with your Naga, Wraith, Tengu and Lamia entries, I think they are like Manticore and Kappa on the second row of overusedness, WOW kinda made the Naga to popular for my taste and screwed up their entire coolness by turning them into strange merman.

edited 4th Aug '13 9:41:40 AM by Sincubus

We have a whole page for their uses, actually. Well, we have a page for a lot of monsters, but still.

We have a page that covers fucking squonks, in fact.

I make a point of not intentionally using any mythological creatures in my story, over-used or under-used. Any monsters in my story are my own original creation. The closest thing to a stock monster is The Construct, a dragon - but even The Construct isn't a straight up reptilian dragon, it's a steampunk dragon made of mechanical parts that eats metal in order to grow.

Well the problem with making your own monsters is that its always based on something in the end.

Real life animals, Dinosaurs, TV/Cartoon/Movie creatures, Game creatuers, mythological creatures (but different) or lovecrafts horrors that don't seem to have a form...

I kinda like it to use mythological creatures but change their appearance to suit my own taste or to give them other special abilities that still hold a little bit true to the myth but also suit the creature in my opinion, like the Echeneis, a remora fish that only stops boats in the true myth, I gave it magnetic abilities, the power to levitate and made it bigger and more shark-meets-remora-meets-lamprey, in that way its very different from the myth but still has the same name and some of its behavior, so people will recognize the thing, or at least its name, much like Final Fantasy series doe, but somewhat less different (as Final fantasy sometimes uses a Elephant and calls it Siyokoy or using a normal tiger and calls it Manticore... I think that's a bit too far off for my taste)

I like it when people see my ideas for RPG's that they recognize the creatures names and appearances.

Anyway can you give some examples of your own created creatures? I'm curious now.

To keep ontopic some more names: Hodag, Mami Wata, Visha Kanya (in pathfinder Vishkanya), Kuchisake-onna, Futakuchi-onna, Splinter Cat

[obligatory note that Lovecraft's horrors were largely inspired by marine life] [and that it's really annoying how intrinsic people seem to think tentacles are to cosmic horror, but I digress]

Mmm.

I won't go as far as DA to say I'll never take inspiration from mythology, but one of the things that irritates me about the usual RPG approach is that their creatures are so... scattered. It feels bizarre to have a pack of crocottae hunting an emela-ntouka. It's like the ecological equivalent of Aerith and Bob.

edited 16th Aug '13 7:16:01 PM by Noaqiyeum

Any specific examples (other than the obvious parallels between Cthulhu and cephalopods)?

edited 18th Aug '13 3:50:50 AM by Spinosegnosaurus77

Sure. Leaving the ubiquity of tentacles and cephalopoids aside (not only Cthulhu, but also the star-spawn, moon-beasts, dholes, star vampires, and Shub-Niggurath, to mention a few): there are the Deep Ones (and their rulers Dagon and Hydra), who have obvious ichthyoid traits; the Elder Things◊, who colonised the oceans of prehistoric Earth and share traits with a number of prehistoric marine creatures, mostly sea cucumbers, ophiuroids, crinoids, and other echinoderms; the explicitly coral-like flying polyps◊; the mi-gou◊, who while usually described as fungi are also compared to crustaceans; and the Great Race of Yith, who are something of a bizarre Biological Mash Up of barnacles and sea anemones, with a bit of crab for flavour.

Most of Wikipedia's list of deities in the Cthulhu Mythos are aquatic or have features predominant in marine life.

By comparison, truly unearthly beings like Yog-Sothoth or the Colour Out Of Space are relatively scarce.

edited 18th Aug '13 12:56:58 PM by Noaqiyeum