Families

Pathfinder Bestiary (Second Edition)

In this section

• Aeon Aeons have always been the caretakers of reality and defenders of the natural order of balance.
• Alghollthu In bygone millennia, aquatic monsters known as alghollthus used their occult powers to conquer and rule vast parts of the world.
• Angel The celestial hosts of angels are messengers and warriors, divided into choirs based on their abilities and purviews.
• Animated Object Granted a semblance of life through the use of rituals or other strange magic, animated objects take many forms and serve a variety of uses.
• Ankhrav Ankhravs are immense, burrowing, and insectile predators, considered by inhabitants of the rural areas of the world to be an all-too-common plague.
• Ape While many apes exhibit peaceful or reclusive behavior, gorillas can be territorial, and the megaprimatus is especially aggressive and dangerous.
• Arboreal Arboreals are guardians of the forest and representatives of the trees.
• Archon Archons are guardians of Heaven and enemies of chaos and evil.
• Azata Azatas are manifestations of freedom—kindly celestials with a penchant for curious exploration, spontaneous revelry, and whimsical quests.
• Barghest Barghests are lupine fiends with goblinoid faces and humanoid hands.
• Bat A wide range of bats dwell throughout the world.
• Bear Bears are ferocious predators typically found in cold or temperate woodlands and hills.
• Beetle Not all beetles are harmless creatures that can be easily crushed underfoot.
• Boar While domesticated pigs are a staple of farm life, wild boars are much more dangerous.
• Boggard Boggards are aggressive humanoid amphibians that thrive in swamps, marshes, and even some rain forests.
• Bugbear These stealthy and cruel goblinoid creatures delight in spreading fear and tormenting their victims.
• Caligni Calignis lurk in subterranean cities, creeping to the surface to steal, stalk, or make mischief.
• Cat Few predators of the natural world can match the cat’s talent for stalking and stealth.
• Catfolk Lithe and agile, with catlike features and long tails, the amurruns are wanderers, explorers, and extroverts who share a gregarious nature and an unbridled curiosity.
• Cave Worm Cave worms are gigantic scavengers that bore through the depths of the world, eating whatever material they find.
• Centipede Hunters and scavengers that live amid dung and detritus, centipedes are a relatively common and often reviled threat faced by adventurers.
• Changeling Children of hags, destined to become hags themselves, changelings face a life of conflict.
• Crocodile Powerful and primeval in appearance, crocodiles are dangerous natural predators that dwell in marshes, riverbeds, swamps, and other wetlands.
• Cyclops The cyclopes are violent giants with a tragic past.
• Daemon Denizens of the bleak and terrible plane of Abaddon, daemons are shaped by and devoted to the destruction of life in all its forms.
• Deep Gnome These distant cousins to gnomes are reclusive, underground dwellers.
• Demon When a sinful mortal soul is judged and sent on to the Abyss, it can become a deadly fiend—a demon.
• Dero Deros are short, wiry humanoids with milky white eyes, gray-blue skin, and wild shocks of off-white or gray hair.
• Devil Masters of corruption and architects of conquest, devils seek both to tempt mortal life to join in their pursuit of all things profane and to spread tyranny throughout all worlds.
• Dhampir As the mortal offspring of a vampire and a living parent, dhampirs occupy an unusual place among the living.
• Dinosaur Remnants from the world’s primeval era, these enormous reptilian animals still exist in large numbers in isolated and remote wildernesses or far underground within magical Darklands caverns.
• Dog Dogs are trusted and loyal companions that serve as guardians, protectors, and hunting companions.
• Dragon, Chromatic While there are many types of dragons, from the powerful planar dragons to the strange esoteric dragons, few dragon varieties are as well-known and as rightly feared as the chromatic dragons.
• Dragon, Metallic Paragons of virtue, nobility, and grace, metallic dragons are benevolent entities revered as mythic beings akin to gods in both their power and majesty.
• Drake Ravenous, bestial, and driven by instinct—drakes are primitive draconic monsters who bear a fraction of the terrifying might of their larger cousins but little (if any) of the cunning.
• Drow The first drow were elves who fled into the depths of the world from a devastating cataclysm thousands of years ago.
• Duergar Deep beneath the surface, duergars stubbornly claim the ancestral subterranean homelands of the dwarves as their own, having refused to venture to the surface along with their modern dwarven cousins.
• Eagle Few avian creatures can match the beauty and grace of the eagle.
• Eel Although these long, narrow fish share similarities in appearance, eels are a diverse group of creatures.
• Elemental, Air Hailing from the Plane of Air, these beings appear in a variety of sizes and shapes.
• Elemental, Earth Earth elementals make excellent bodyguards for adventuresome spelunkers and are ideal protectors of important subterranean locations such as vaults and treasuries.
• Elemental, Fire Fire elementals are destructive manifestations of the scorching Plane of Fire.
• Elemental, Mephit Mephits—sometimes known as elemental scamps—are little bipedal critters with bat-like wings who serve stronger elementals on the Elemental Planes or neophyte spellcasters who summon them to the Material Plane.
• Elemental, Water Water elementals can be very destructive, but often not intentionally so; just as water can bring life to those in need on the Material Plane, its waves can pound shores and rains can flood cities.
• Elephant Immediately recognizable by their long, prehensile trunks and impressive tusks, elephants have different characteristics depending on where they are found.
• Fleshwarp Some creatures, notably drow, are not happy with merely killing their enemies.
• Flytrap Flytraps are dangerous creatures as eager to feed on humanoids and larger prey as they are monstrous insects.
• Gargoyle Gargoyles are monstrous hunters made of elemental stone.
• Genie A unique type of genie exists for each Elemental Plane, and the bodies of genies are formed out of elemental matter corresponding to their native plane: djinn are formed from wind, clouds, and storms; efreet are fire made flesh; marids are beings of water; and shaitans are composed of metal, gems, a
• Ghost When some mortals die through tragic circumstances or without closure, they can linger on in the world.
• Ghoul Few creatures are more ubiquitous to sinister locations such as lonely graveyards and ruined crypts than the flesh-eating undead known as ghouls.
• Giant Giants are massive humanoid creatures who live in remote regions throughout the world.
• Gnoll Gnolls are short, hyena-headed humanoids who dwell in warm grasslands, savannas, and arid hills.
• Goblin These small humanoids have green or gray skin and large heads with wide ears.
• Golem Crafted of base materials and then magically animated into a powerful guardian, the legendary golem is a living construct that mindlessly obeys its creator’s commands— often continuing to do so for years or even centuries after its creator’s death.
• Gremlin Gremlins are cruel fey tricksters and saboteurs who have fully acclimated to life on the Material Plane, finding distinct niches for their inventive destructiveness.
• Grim Reaper The Grim Reaper is the unflinching personification of death.
• Hag Malevolent crones who lurk at the edges of civilization, hags use their deceptive, magical abilities to prey upon humanoids, manipulating and corrupting them.
• Hell Hound Hell hounds are fiendish, extraplanar canines hailing from the pit that can hunt down quarry and breathe supernatural gouts of flame.
• Hobgoblin Hobgoblins may appear to outsiders to be the most civilized of goblinkind, but their civilization is hardly one of kindness and equality—instead, they revel in all that is militaristic, tyrannical, cruel, and destructive.
• Horse Horses serve as mounts and beasts of burden in many societies.
• Hyena Hyenas are pack-hunting scavengers known for their unnerving, laughter-like cries, and they aren’t above supplementing their carrion diets with fresh prey.
• Kobold Kobolds are small, reptilian humanoids who carry physical similarities to true dragons.
• Lamia Lamias are bloodthirsty victims of an ancient curse for which they blame the gods.
• Leshy Leshys are intelligent plant creatures that guard areas of primeval wilderness or earthly power.
• Lich To gain more time to complete their goals, some desperate spellcasters pursue immortality by embracing undeath.
• Linnorm Immense, primeval dragons of the northern reaches of the world, linnorms hate those they deem to be lesser creatures and seek to inflict as much suffering as possible upon their unfortunate victims.
• Lizard Lizards have a wide range of appearances and abilities, but most share a basic reptilian shape—long tails, wide toothy mouths, and four legs.
• Lizardfolk When human scholars speak of ancient civilizations, they usually turn their focus to themselves, researching and lecturing on the first human empires.
• Mantis, Giant These monstrously oversized insects are silent predators with lightning-quick forelegs and a bone-breaking bite.
• Merfolk Elegant, mysterious, and graceful; all this and more can be said of the merfolk.
• Mummy While many cultures practice mummification of the dead for benign reasons, undead mummies are created through foul rituals, typically to provide eternally vigilant guardians.
• Naga Nagas are serpentine beings with magical powers and keen, nearly inscrutable intellects.
• Nightmare Nightmares are flaming equine harbingers of death.
• Nymph Nymphs are a family of fey that take the form of beautiful humanoids with elven features and have a deep association with the natural world.
• Ogre Ogres embody brutish, amoral violence and cruelty.
• Oozes Slimes, molds, and other oozes can be found in dank dungeons and shadowed forests.
• Orc Orcs are violent, monstrous humanoids that live by the rule that might makes right.
• Planar Scion Many immortals dwell upon the other planes of the Great Beyond.
• Protean Guardians of disorder and natives of the primal plane of chaos known as the Maelstrom, proteans consider it their calling to spread bedlam and hasten entropic ends.
• Psychopomp Psychopomps are guardians and shepherds of the dead native to the Boneyard, the vast plane of graves where mortal souls are judged and sent on to their eternal rewards or damnations.
• Pterosaur Pterosaurs are primitive flying creatures.
• Rakshasa Rakshasas are evil spirits that cloak themselves in the guises of humanoid creatures, that they might walk unseen among their prey.
• Rat Rats are a ubiquitous menace, scurrying through the sewers and on the streets of nearly every settlement the world over.
• Ratfolk True to their name, ratfolk are rodent-like humanoids well suited to living on the outskirts of mainstream society.
• Scorpion Chitinous scourges of deserts, forests, savannas, and badlands, scorpions are deadly arachnids with powerful pincers and a painful sting.
• Sea Devil Sea devils are horrid, amphibious humanoids who lurk in Golarion’s oceans and crawl ashore to steal away victims beneath the veil of darkness.
• Shadow The mysterious undead known as shadows lurk in dark places and feed on those who stray too far from the light.
• Shark Sharks of all shapes and sizes have stalked the oceans, largely unchanged, since primordial times.
• Sinspawn Sinspawn were created by one of seven ancient wizards known collectively as runelords—each of whom embraced and embodied one of seven sins.
• Skeleton Made from bones held together by foul necromancy, skeletons are among the most common types of undead, found haunting old dungeons and forgotten cemeteries.
• Snake Snakes come in an array of forms, from jungle-dwelling constrictors that wrap around their prey to venomous vipers with deadly bites.
• Spider Few everyday vermin inspire as much dread as the infamous spider.
• Sprite Elusive, flighty, and ebullient, sprites are what many villagers first imagine when they hear the terms “fey” or “fairy.” While their dispositions vary from the benevolent grig to the trickster pixie, all sprites share a connection to magic and diminutive size.
• Troll Slavering, cruel, practically invincible brutes: this is the villager’s stock description for the dread monsters known as trolls.
• Vampire Vampires are undead creatures that feed on the blood of the living.
• Warg The warg is an intelligent and malevolent wolf that dwells among goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, and other violent humanoids.
• Wasp While the common wasp poses little threat to a hardy adventurer aside from an uncomfortable sting, a large and aggressive swarm of these territorial insects—to say nothing of their oversized kin—can lay low an entire party of heroes.
• Werecreature Werecreatures are humanoids doomed to transform into animals and animal-humanoid hybrids under the light of the full moon.
• Wolf Wolves roam forests, hills, and other wild lands, where they hunt in packs to beleaguer and surround their prey before going in for the kill.
• Xulgath Reptilian humanoids who live in the uppermost reaches of the Darklands, xulgaths (known as troglodytes to many surface-dwelling folk) often attack intruders in their territory on sight.
• Zombie A zombie’s only desire is to consume the living.