Wikipedia's list of legendary creatures by type

Nixil

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Surprisingly, a pretty good list considering that it supposedly doesn't include creatures from modern fantasy fiction. I was still kind of disappointed though as I was expecting a lot more interesting designs.

Still it's got me thinking, what are the benefits of designing your own creature? Sure it could be more immersive, but it's a lot easier to just 'borrow' them or modify them a bit.
Is there ever a case where changing the names would be bad? Maybe for some of the more well known ones, but for more obscure ones (for the general reader) it should be fine?
 
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Ral

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Of course there are advantages when designing your own creature. I mean think of the stories that create their own creatures. These includes Lord of the Rings (which is so often copied), The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, Dr. Seuss stories, Godzilla and so many more.

The greatest advantage in designing your own creature is that you can tailor made your creature to your story and your story to your creature. Just think of the Dementors from Harry Potter Series or Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland or Grinch from How the Grinch Stole Christmas. You can tell truly interesting and unique stories by inventing your own unique creatures.

As for names . . . no. They are only obscure for certain demographics. Most people might not know what manananggal or yokai or patupaiarehe are but they are not obscure to the locals where these myths came from. And in this connected world, you don't want them to point it out to you.

There is also the risk of Cultural Appropriation, especially if you end up using the the myths without understanding the culture behind it (which renaming kinda is). You could end up offending the culture where you take the myths from.
 
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HURGMCGURG

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I may seek inspiration from somewhere else, but in the end, I like to make my own monsters.
 

Ram5

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You already have pokemon and Digimon, what else do you need?
 

AliceShiki

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I think the easiest way to go about it is to just make a monster as you need it. Like... If you need a giant alligator with poisonous scales and that eats mana... Go ahead and make one, it's not like there is anyone stopping you from doing it.

OTOH, if you just want a dragon... Just make a dragon, hooray for 0 innovation needed! \(^^)/

Just make things as you need it I guess? When you're making a fight scene, I assume you already know how the fight is going to develop, so just make the creature do whatever you want to make the fighting interesting~
 

Ram5

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I think the easiest way to go about it is to just make a monster as you need it. Like... If you need a giant alligator with poisonous scales and that eats mana... Go ahead and make one, it's not like there is anyone stopping you from doing it.

OTOH, if you just want a dragon... Just make a dragon, hooray for 0 innovation needed! \(^^)/

Just make things as you need it I guess? When you're making a fight scene, I assume you already know how the fight is going to develop, so just make the creature do whatever you want to make the fighting interesting~
How dare you say the dragon is 0 innovation, a dragon is the peak of imagination!!! And unicorn...
 
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