Reskinning Outsiders/Extraplanar Creatures

[The Lesser Evil]

As we know, Ravenloft is cut off from the world, making fiends, celestials and other extraplanar outsiders rare and unique threats in the Demiplane of Dread. This is great for thematic reasons, but unfortunately cuts out large swaths of the traditional D&D monster selection, especially towards the higher end. Therefore, I propose this thread be used for ideas in reskinning the various extraplanar monsters into creatures that could originate from the Prime Material Plane or the Land of Mists.

[Dark Angel]

As we know, Ravenloft is cut off from the world, making fiends, celestials and other extraplanar outsiders rare and unique threats in the Demiplane of Dread. This is great for thematic reasons, but unfortunately cuts out large swaths of the traditional D&D monster selection, especially towards the higher end. Therefore, I propose this thread be used for ideas in reskinning the various extraplanar monsters into creatures that could originate from the Prime Material Plane or the Land of Mists.

Like the elemental conversions from the traditional (fire, water, air, earth) to the corrupted (pyre, blood, mist, grave) or just coming up with more powerful variants altogether?

[The Lesser Evil]

Like the elemental conversions from the traditional (fire, water, air, earth) to the corrupted (pyre, blood, mist, grave) or just coming up with more powerful variants altogether?

No, what I mean is coming up with similar functioning (have the same overall stats, for example) monsters but with different flavor/origins such that the monster facsimile could be used without breaking the tropes of the setting by including them on a more frequent basis.

[Mistmaster]

Well Imps could be fairys for example.

[order99]

You don't necessarily need to re-skin the entire race in order to be effective-you could always use the stats for a singular being:

For example-on the Midlothian Island chain there dwell a family of horrible cannibal-men (the Bean-Midians), grown monstrous and corrupt on Manflesh, you could easily use Hobgoblins for the children, Ogrillons for the young adults and full blown Ogres for the Clan Elders-but old Sawney Bean, the Patriarch, old and enduring as an old Oak? The Darklord grown fat on the flesh of his own children (devouring them before they become powerful enough to challenge him)? Use a Pit Fiend and change the Gate power to Call of the Clan (summons his monstrous kin to his side) tweak a few other powers to fit your version of a gigantic Ur-Cannibal Lord and go from there...

Take an ordinary Yellow Musk Creeper (with its tendency to create the Yellow Musk Zombies) and give it a Genius Intelligence-Toben the Many gets a new Frenemy to play with, YAY!!!

I've always been a fan of the Dark Creeper and Dark Stalker from the Fiend Folio...mysterious creatures with a few nasty tricks and a tendency to go 'PAF!' (or sometimes 'BOOM!' ) when killed, leaving no bodies behind to convince skeptics. I've used the re-skinned Creepers (The Men From Under the Bed) and Stalkers (The Nightmare Messengers) to pretty good effect in Urban games for both low and medium Level adventures....

I'll admit I haven't done much re-skinning of too many Extraplanar critters (I don't run too many High Level games) but powerful Demonic or Angelic beings could quite easily be used as a Horrid Super-Construct such as the Legendary Colossus of Ylourgne (of Clark Ashton Smith fame) or a False God created by the Dark Powers)...

Now I could easily see Lemures re-skinned as some sort of 'Return of the Living Dead' Unkillable flesh-eating Zombie-they shy away from a Cleric well enough, but they will not stay down without Holy Water or Blessed Blades-unless such weapons and powers are overwhelmingly prevalent then perhaps the best one can hope for is to keep them trapped in chains in the bottom of the lake?

While we're on the subject-there are some monsters that work well as a species, but honestly, the greatest and most horrible legends are nearly always singular. Why have Dragon Turtles when you can just max out its Hit Dice and have Leviathan, the Alchemist's Greatest Folly, Plague of the Sea and Island That Eats? Grown from a tiny thing in a vat and flushed out into the sea as a failure only to grow, and eat, and GROW AND EAT!!!

Aboleth as a race? Nay, there be only one Abner Leith, who sought the power of Unholy magics and was 'rewarded' by evolving into the God of the Bog...those who travel to far from the cleaner waters and into the still risk being drawn into the Bog God's Domain (Sinkhole of Evil really) and forever loses both mind and soul as the body degrades into a blasphemous slimy Bog Reaver (Scum)...No sane person names a child Abner in these parts anymore, for fear the babe comes to the psychic attention of the Bog God!