Top 10 Coolest Monsters in Pathfinder Bestiary (Second Edition)

By Chris Renshaw

Last week, I took a look at the Pathfinder Second Edition Core Rulebook. Of course, while the Rulebook is huge and packed with a lot of information, if you are going to run a game of Pathfinder, then the Bestiary is a “must-have” book also. Normally, if you have read any of my other RPG reviews, you’ll know that I always struggle “reviewing” these books or chapters that are just filled with monsters. Instead, what I like to do is pick out my favorite monsters from all the ones that are available. These are the monsters that when I saw the images and read the text, they immediately got the creative gears going in my head.

One thing I will say about the Bestiary is that the book does a good job of including the “required” monsters that you have for a first bestiary, like dragons, goblins, etc.; it also includes a big variety of other creatures. This means you don’t feel like you are wasting money on just an update of creatures from the first edition Bestiary.

Also, I’ll copy and paste the disclaimer from the Core Rulebook review:

Disclaimer: While I have played Pathfinder 1st edition a few times, I do not consider myself an expert on the system or on the lore/world. Therefore, there is the possibility I misinterpret/misread/misspeak on something. If so, please let me know in the comments, and I’ll try and make edits to this where applicable.

Aeon (pg 8)

I’ll start this off saying this list is just in alphabetical order. Also, you’ll see that many of these creatures made me think about running Pathfinder game versions of different pop culture things. For instance, the Aeons are a bunch of creatures that work to shape reality and the multiverse and maintain order/balance. Yet, when I look at these creatures and their arbiters (pictured above), and hear them talk about the “convergence”, all I can think about are the monitors from the Halo franchise. Now I want to create an adventure where players are transported to a ring world where these Aeons are talking about the “convergence” - where the convergence is a weapon to take out living beings.

Archon (pg 26)

Let’s hop from one video game franchise to another, as Archons are various types of creatures that are in “heaven” and defend against any sort of threats. Given that the bestiary also includes angels and demons, this totally screams “Diablo” style adventure to me, especially a Diablo III based one, where adventurers have to help these Archons defend against various demons that have broken Heaven’s gates and are rampaging throughout.

Dragon Turtle (pg 128)

Metallic and Chromatic Dragons are so worn out by now. But Dragon TURTLES? That sounds way too cool to pass up. These could be a great surprise enemy for any encounter, as they could be buried in the ground resting and adventurers could accidentally awake one (or more). Or we could take the pop culture route and make a TMNT themed adventure except the turtles are the baddies.

Ether Spider (pg 155)

I can already hear the “NOPE” from several people, as these things look creepy AF. Yet apparently these creatures live on the ethereal plane that many “teleport” style abilities move through to get one place from another. Especially since these creatures are not naturally “bad”, just hungry. They could be used to throw off players as they are holding back a host of other even worse creatures, or could be great to have in a GM’s back pocket to pull out when a teleportation spell goes terribly.

Goblin Dog (pg 182)

When you read the text, you find out that this “dog” isn’t really a dog, more of a rodent. Yet, how cool is it to have a bunch of goblins and their dogs working together. Especially if you have a group that has a couple of mystical/natural creatures as pets and/or familiars. You could even go against type and have the goblins *not* be enemies and a group that the players have to learn a valuable skill on how to take care of animals that they will need later on in the story.

Golem: Alchemical Golem (pg 185)

Going back to video game references, this specific type of golem reminds me of a mashup between Bioshock and Mars Attacks. Off the top of my head, I could see players stumbling upon a “utopia” created by a mad man that is now mostly vacant, with just these alchemical golems stumbling around to protect it.

Psychopomp: Morrigna (pg 270)

This creature just looks so cool that I want to find some type of adventure to put it in. In the lore, they guard the dead making sure that they are messed with before the souls get sent to the correct afterlife. Yet, the lore makes it clear they always wear masks - why? What happens when some being manages to steal one of their masks? Maybe use them in a scenario also involving vampires where the vampires are stealing the dead and turning them and these Morrigna need the players' help to stop them.

Skulltaker (pg 300)

The skulltaker is just an interesting concept, arising from the bones of dead mountain climbers who have unfinished business by not making it to the summit. These creatures would be a good “along the journey” style of monster to encounter, where the heroes have to make it to the summit to fight the baddie, but they encounter this dude along the way. Could even be a scenario where they work to “free” the spirits instead of straight up fighting them.

Soulbound Doll (pg 304)

This one feels like a “duh”, but clearly we are looking at a halloween themed adventure. Nothing can creep out an adventuring party like a possessed doll. For a twist, you could make it seem like the doll is being controlled by a necromancer, when actually it is the doll that is in control and is the master.

Will-O’-Wisp (pg 333)

Last one, and this one would pair up nicely with the doll in a halloween adventure. Since they can extinguish their fire, I’m thinking you could set an encounter inside a pumpkin patch to truly amp up the halloween theme. Then, as a surprise action you could have them explode out of the pumpkins and catch the heroes off guard. Even then, you could throw another twist into the encounter and have the Wisps be a distraction for some other monster that is nearby.

That’s my list of monsters. As I said, this list was built by which monsters inspired me the most as I was reading through the Bestiary. How would you use these monsters? Which monsters inspired you more? Let me know in the comments below, or over on Twitter and Facebook.