What monsters strike at unexpected weaknesses of the players ?

Chloroform and rope?

Fucking savage

Always a good solution

Your mum
also mimics[\spoiler]

I'm always a bit wary about how that goes.
I mean how do you even lose experience points

Diseases that deal permanent constitution damage.

Don't try to make sense of D&D rules, they're not trying to simulate any logical reality, not even a fake one. It's built mostly for gameplay.

Making their stupid antisocial actions have social consequences.

For casters it could be simple memory loss, for martials it could be muscular athrophy or some debilitating handicap they have to overcome

>Monsters

>Doppleganger roams the city abusing barmaids and setting fire to various buildings, but THIS time the citizens have had enough!

>Draining intelligence is more of an anti-caster thing.

Not when the fighter's Intelligence gets knocked down to 0.

>Implying the monster will not drain the intel of the most intelligent PC

What monsters have an intelligence drain attack ?

>reach 10 ft

Anything that would drain levels. It existed in D&D 2nd edition, not sure they kept that afterward? But yeah, "lose one experience level by attack" usually cause players to flee

Martials BTFO.

In a fight, maybe not. Take out the brainlets first, THEN feast.

>inspire fear

players below mid-level?

pretty much anything, gear loss, stat loss, spell loss, death you name it it can be done.

players above mid-level?

pretty much nothing, even death is temporary.

Sooner or later (likely sooner) that's going to end with the players and GM hating each other &/or the group breaking up.

There is only so many times you can play the 'told you so' card before players tell you where you can shove it.

I... Is there an easy way to regain that intellect ?
There's no way that's permanent unless you have a High level spell, r-right ?

Magic.

Getting chainstunned for the whole battle making you sit with a thumb up your arse doing nothing.

coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com/2017/11/osr-attack-sheet.html

I think maybe Goblin Punch has written about this subject before as well.

Instead of lowering your HP, it lowers your age, regressing you until you turn into a helpless newborn who isn't even self-aware.

Quest hook; a child, decrepit and wrinkled, hoarsely says "It didn't work! IT DIDN'T WORK!" before dying of old age.

Dude, that's not even the scariest thing the Intellect Devourer can do.

Once your intelligence becomes zero, it can devour your brain and permanently take over your body. Not even resurrection can save you from that.

Goblin Punch has a hell lot of interesting things

...

>pretty much anything, gear loss, stat loss, spell loss, death you name it it can be done.
what about memory loss ? Monsters so horrible they fuck with your mind and break your personnality/delete your memories, or maybe they have powers that can infect your personnality with a virus like your operating system can be infected. You'll have nightmares more and more frequently before losing it.

It's permanent, unless someone casts Greater Restoration, or the DM uses the resting rules from Xanathar's Guide to Everything, in which case it's a week of downtime.

I can see an orc shaman cursing you with visions so horrible you cannot see an orc without making a will save not to flee and have to make every attack against an orc with disadvantage.
Kinda like magical PTSD. Works fine with drows or magic users in general I guess.

>shaman
>the shaman curses by spitting on you, everyone knows his powers are terrible but you just had to challenge a power greater than you

his saliva contains a neurotoxin that enters through the skin and causes degenerative diseace in your nervous system

Shadows always fuck my players up. Anything that attacks things outside of their HP is terrifying for players.

Shadows don't attack HP ?

I know. Monsters that don't lower HP, but other stats.

Trust me, the players WILL be scared.

Far Realm is best realm

They attack Strength in 5e

then stand 35 feet away gg

Have a monster that feeds off draining levels/stat points/etc, but keeps any given victim trapped in a web of illusions for days or weeks on end, draining it only slightly faster than it heals.

From the player's perspective, they pass one will save and realize the past several sessions (and levels) have just been a dream.

>There is only so many times you can play the 'told you so' card before players tell you where you can shove it.

I mean, they could also just stop doing that shit.

Isn't there a monster in some old edition whose attacks drain HP permanently?

Fantastically sadistic in theory, but I think I'd be legitimately pissed off if my DM ever actually pulled that on us. Nothing worse than having effort nullified.

Int drain is weaker on caster though. When it takes 18-24 points to drop a caster and 8-12 to drop the fighter, I'm gonna put the fighter in a coma first.

Yeah, it definitely fits a lot better in the old grognard "haha, that's a hilarious way for my character to die. Better whip out his eight twin brother in a row!" way.

I think vampires did if I recall correctly

basically any undead beyond bog standard zombies and skeletons? and even bog standard zombies and skeletons with certain templates?
Constitution drain and negative levels were a dime a dozen in ye olden times user, you 5e kids don't even have to deal with Glitterdust

Night hags still have that effect in 5E, but not in combat.