Summary
If you’re a Dungeon Master running aDungeons & Dragonscampaign, you know that one of the hardest decisions you’ll have to make is selecting monsters for a combat encounter. You might find yourself asking: Is this encounter balanced? What happens if I accidentally TPK the party?
Most of the time, if you use challenge ratings correctly, you won’t have to worry about a TPK. However, there are some monsters in the 2025 Monster Manual that can prove really tricky to use, even for high-level DMs. These monsters are powerful, have game-breaking abilities, and are more likely than not to cause a TPK if you’re not careful.
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697
Challenge Rating
30
The tarrasque is, in essence, a joke in the Dungeons & Dragons community. This monster is so powerful that it’s basically designed for a TPK thanks to its Reflective Carapace ability, which allows the tarrasque to basically be unaffected by ranged spell attacks, and potentially reflect the damage back at the caster.
Beyond that, it has nearly 700 hit points and a suite of various abilities and legendary actions that can take out even the most foolhardy players. You don’t want to use this creature unless you’re doing it for fun in a non-canonicalone-shot session.
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114
5
Gorgons aren’t all that powerful necessarily, and have a relatively low challenge rating. However, they have two abilities that can turn the tide of battle rather quickly, especially for lower-level parties who might not be equipped to handle such features.
First, the gorgon has a petrifying breath ability that can impose the Restrained condition on creatures. If targets fail twice, they gain the Petrified condition. All it takes is one or two bad rolls on this save for half the party to be petrified, which can really make a combat encounter with a gorgon go south quickly.
16
126
7
The primeval owlbear is another creature that, on its surface, doesn’t necessarily seem all that threatening. However, there are two features that this creature has that can prove disastrous for a highly magical party that lacks a sturdy party member like a barbarian or a fighter.
First, the primeval owlbear has advantage on all saving throws against spells and other magical effects. Plus, it tends to get into melee range for its attacks; squishy casters beware! Lastly, it has a screech recharge ability that can cause 6d8 thunder damage and potentially impose the incapacitated condition on targets. Again, any creature that can incapacitate multiple members of the party at once should be feared.
18
184
13
This creature is an abyssal demon with a powerful suite of abilities and recharge attacks. First, the nalfeshnee has advantage on all saving throws against magical effects, just like the primeval owlbear. It also has three attacks, meaning it has a decentlyhigh action economy.
Lastly, you’re going to want to keep an eye on the Horror Nimbus, which can impose the Frightened condition on players. Plus, this creature can teleport as a reaction, making it highly nimble. Ultimately, there’s no one feature of this monster that’s game-breaking, but make sure your party is prepared to take on such a threat, especially given its higher-than-most armor class.
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127
6
The medusa is another creature that has a paralyzing ability that can prove disastrous against an improperly leveled party. The medusa has a feature called Petrifying Gaze that has the same Restrained and Paralyzed condition effect as the gorgon.
Again, all it takes is one or two bad rolls for the entire party to be paralyzed. Make sure, before throwing the medusa at your party, that they have at least one or two people who can potentially end conditions using spells or potions.
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123
The violet fungus necrohulk is a large necromantic plant that has powerful multiattacks, a decently high AC, and immunities to many conditions, including necrotic damage, poison damage, blinded, charmed, and more. However, the real threat of this creature is its Absorb Body feature.
With this feature, any medium or small creature that is in melee range of the necrohulk has to make a Strength saving throw (DC 15) or be absorbed into the form of the necrohulk. This can prove catastrophic for weak spellcasters or a party that’s generally not very strong. Plus, if a target dies while absorbed, their body is destroyed,meaning resurrection will prove extremely difficult.
150
10
Aboleths are mysterious creatures that often trade in knowledge and the mysteries of the universe. First, permanently destroying an aboleth is extremely hard, as aboleths can regenerate 5d10 days after their initial destruction. Plus, if the party is fighting the aboleth in their lair, they gain a total of four legendary resistances, making them incredibly hard to take down.
The thing you’ll want to be most wary of as a DM running an aboleth is their psychic abilities. Aboleths can consume the memories of players they kill, effectively mind-wiping them. Additionally, aboleths can permanently charm targets for 24 hours, a lot longer than the typical Charm Person spell. Plus, aboleths can restore HP with their legendary actions.
190
Beholders are one of the most classic Dungeons & Dragons monsters out there, but it’s hard to use them as a DM in fights, particularly for underleveled parties. There are two main reasons for this. One, beholders have an impressive array of abilities that range from paralyzation and petrification to disintegration, making them highly offensive combatants.
Secondly, and more importantly, as a bonus action, beholders can emit an antimagic field, making them incredibly hard to fight against as a spellcaster. Your table’s barbarian and fighter might be fine with the encounter, but a highly powerful wizard might find themselves next to useless in battle against one of these flying creatures.
199
11
Devils and demons make for incrediblyfun combat encountersin Dungeons & Dragons. However, many of these creatures can prove extremely powerful, even to expert players. The horned devil, which has nearly 200 HP, is one such devil that should be used lightly.
The most dangerous feature this monster has is its Infernal Tail. Creatures targeted by this effect must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw, and, on a failure, incur an infernal wound, which forces the target to lose 3d6 HP at the start of each of its turns for one minute. There are ways to end this effect early, but if the table is running out of options, this can easily take someone off the field rather quickly.
247
Purple worms boast one of the highest armor classes and hit point totals in Dungeons & Dragons. Plus, their sheer size can prove dangerous for parties to contend with. However, the one feature that purple worms have that is going to prove the most tricky to run as a DM is the worm’s swallow ability.
Purple worms can swallow large and smaller creatures whole, grappling them and imposing both the Blinded and Restrained conditions on them. Each round they’re inside the worm, they take 5d6 Acid damage. If players can’t find a way out of this trap, it’s very likely they’ll find themselves making death saves sooner rather than later.
