Nothing quite compares to the euphoric rush of revealing that CR 16 Iron Golem you’ve been saving until the end of the dungeon. A hulking metallic monstrosity with the incredible strength, and of course all the damage immunities they could ft on the page. A great foe for any party to be certain, but what makes it so scary? It’s terrifying because it’s hard to kill, but it can’t really out-think the players. Even a monster with supreme intelligence, like a beholder, is going to have limitations there. Once the players leave the dungeon, many of these creatures cease to be threatening. Now, you could always alter your world in a way that allows for these creatures to openly mingle in society, but the fact remains that a standard world, whether published on homebrew, operates under the assumption that this isn’t the case.
Fighting monsters is a lot of fun, and an integral part of Dungeons & Dragons, and many other tabletop roleplaying games, but after having played games like Legend of the Five Rings, and Vampire the Masquerade, I’ve noticed that monsters lack a certain intimidating intelligence that humanoid enemies provide. Generally, the campaign’s villain, and a few lackys, provide most of the intelligent opposition, with the rest of the enemies being either aberration creatures or a few dummy thicc ogres that all share the same brain cell. These enemies have a place, but I see them used in places where I think intellectually superior enemies would fit better.
Take a dungeon filled filled with mindless ghouls for example. Yes, they’re scary, but once the ghouls are dead, there isn’t much more they can do to hurt the players. Now let’s consider another undead, like a vampire. The party marches into the keep and toasts him, end of story. Maybe someone even had to use a healing potion. But is it over? What if the vampire has friends in another court that will seek revenge on the party? What if the vampire is able to maintain control over his thralls even after death? Ghouls don’t have friends (sorry ghouls), and they don’t have the power to make thralls. Making intelligent enemies isn’t new, but I think they’re underutilized in most of the games I’ve either seen or heard stories about.
Using more intelligent, humanoid enemies that can not only match the players in fight methodology and tactics, but also serve as social and political rivals simply requires a loser grip on the “meat grinder” campaign that I know so many people love. If you want a story to be compelling for your players, I would suggest threatening them with more than just their lives. Character death should not be the only motivating force for players to do anything or to be afraid of something. Have an enemy whose a merchant who wants to frame the players for his insurance scam, or a corrupt guard captain that whose covering up a plot to assassinate his lord. Have some fun and be creative with your story telling instead of having your players kill giant rats for 6 hours a week.
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