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104 rules

Name ▲ Page Description Chapter
Bestiary 8The creatures of the Pathfinder Bestiary.Bestiary
Families The Bestiary’s creature families.Bestiary
Aeon 8Aeons have always been the caretakers of reality and defenders of the natural order of balance.Bestiary
Alghollthu 12In bygone millennia, aquatic monsters known as alghollthus used their occult powers to conquer and rule vast parts of the world.Bestiary
Angel 16The celestial hosts of angels are messengers and warriors, divided into choirs based on their abilities and purviews.Bestiary
Animated Object 20Granted a semblance of life through the use of rituals or other strange magic, animated objects take many forms and serve a variety of uses.Bestiary
Ankhrav 22Ankhravs are immense, burrowing, and insectile predators, considered by inhabitants of the rural areas of the world to be an all-too-common plague.Bestiary
Ape 23While many apes exhibit peaceful or reclusive behavior, gorillas can be territorial, and the megaprimatus is especially aggressive and dangerous.Bestiary
Arboreal 24Arboreals are guardians of the forest and representatives of the trees.Bestiary
Archon 26Archons are guardians of Heaven and enemies of chaos and evil.Bestiary
Azata 30Azatas are manifestations of freedom—kindly celestials with a penchant for curious exploration, spontaneous revelry, and whimsical quests.Bestiary
Barghest 36Barghests are lupine fiends with goblinoid faces and humanoid hands.Bestiary
Bat 39A wide range of bats dwell throughout the world.Bestiary
Bear 40Bears are ferocious predators typically found in cold or temperate woodlands and hills.Bestiary
Beetle 41Not all beetles are harmless creatures that can be easily crushed underfoot.Bestiary
Boar 43While domesticated pigs are a staple of farm life, wild boars are much more dangerous.Bestiary
Boggard 44Boggards are aggressive humanoid amphibians that thrive in swamps, marshes, and even some rain forests.Bestiary
Bugbear 47These stealthy and cruel goblinoid creatures delight in spreading fear and tormenting their victims.Bestiary
Caligni 50Calignis lurk in subterranean cities, creeping to the surface to steal, stalk, or make mischief.Bestiary
Cat 52Few predators of the natural world can match the cat’s talent for stalking and stealth.Bestiary
Catfolk 54Lithe and agile, with catlike features and long tails, the amurruns are wanderers, explorers, and extroverts who share a gregarious nature and an unbridled curiosity.Bestiary
Cave Worm 56Cave worms are gigantic scavengers that bore through the depths of the world, eating whatever material they find.Bestiary
Centipede 61Hunters and scavengers that live amid dung and detritus, centipedes are a relatively common and often reviled threat faced by adventurers.Bestiary
Changeling 62Children of hags, destined to become hags themselves, changelings face a life of conflict.Bestiary
Crocodile 67Powerful and primeval in appearance, crocodiles are dangerous natural predators that dwell in marshes, riverbeds, swamps, and other wetlands.Bestiary
Cyclops 68The cyclopes are violent giants with a tragic past.Bestiary
Daemon 70Denizens of the bleak and terrible plane of Abaddon, daemons are shaped by and devoted to the destruction of life in all its forms.Bestiary
Deep Gnome 74These distant cousins to gnomes are reclusive, underground dwellers.Bestiary
Demon 76When a sinful mortal soul is judged and sent on to the Abyss, it can become a deadly fiend—a demon.Bestiary
Dero 84Deros are short, wiry humanoids with milky white eyes, gray-blue skin, and wild shocks of off-white or gray hair.Bestiary
Devil 86Masters 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.Bestiary
Dhampir 95As the mortal offspring of a vampire and a living parent, dhampirs occupy an unusual place among the living.Bestiary
Dinosaur 96Remnants 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.Bestiary
Dog 102Dogs are trusted and loyal companions that serve as guardians, protectors, and hunting companions.Bestiary
Dragon, Chromatic 105While 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.Bestiary
Dragon, Metallic 117Paragons of virtue, nobility, and grace, metallic dragons are benevolent entities revered as mythic beings akin to gods in both their power and majesty.Bestiary
Drake 131Ravenous, 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.Bestiary
Drow 136The first drow were elves who fled into the depths of the world from a devastating cataclysm thousands of years ago.Bestiary
Duergar 138Deep 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.Bestiary
Eagle 141Few avian creatures can match the beauty and grace of the eagle.Bestiary
Eel 142Although these long, narrow fish share similarities in appearance, eels are a diverse group of creatures.Bestiary
Elemental, Air 144Hailing from the Plane of Air, these beings appear in a variety of sizes and shapes.Bestiary
Elemental, Earth 146Earth elementals make excellent bodyguards for adventuresome spelunkers and are ideal protectors of important subterranean locations such as vaults and treasuries.Bestiary
Elemental, Fire 148Fire elementals are destructive manifestations of the scorching Plane of Fire.Bestiary
Elemental, Mephit 150Mephits—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.Bestiary
Elemental, Water 152Water 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.Bestiary
Elephant 154Immediately recognizable by their long, prehensile trunks and impressive tusks, elephants have different characteristics depending on where they are found.Bestiary
Fleshwarp 158Some creatures, notably drow, are not happy with merely killing their enemies.Bestiary
Flytrap 160Flytraps are dangerous creatures as eager to feed on humanoids and larger prey as they are monstrous insects.Bestiary
Gargoyle 161Gargoyles are monstrous hunters made of elemental stone.Bestiary
Genie 162A 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, aBestiary
Ghost 167When some mortals die through tragic circumstances or without closure, they can linger on in the world.Bestiary
Ghoul 169Few creatures are more ubiquitous to sinister locations such as lonely graveyards and ruined crypts than the flesh-eating undead known as ghouls.Bestiary
Giant 170Giants are massive humanoid creatures who live in remote regions throughout the world.Bestiary
Gnoll 178Gnolls are short, hyena-headed humanoids who dwell in warm grasslands, savannas, and arid hills.Bestiary
Goblin 180These small humanoids have green or gray skin and large heads with wide ears.Bestiary
Golem 185Crafted 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.Bestiary
Gremlin 192Gremlins are cruel fey tricksters and saboteurs who have fully acclimated to life on the Material Plane, finding distinct niches for their inventive destructiveness.Bestiary
Grim Reaper 196The Grim Reaper is the unflinching personification of death.Bestiary
Hag 200Malevolent crones who lurk at the edges of civilization, hags use their deceptive, magical abilities to prey upon humanoids, manipulating and corrupting them.Bestiary
Hell Hound 205Hell hounds are fiendish, extraplanar canines hailing from the pit that can hunt down quarry and breathe supernatural gouts of flame.Bestiary
Hobgoblin 206Hobgoblins 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.Bestiary
Horse 209Horses serve as mounts and beasts of burden in many societies.Bestiary
Hyena 211Hyenas are pack-hunting scavengers known for their unnerving, laughter-like cries, and they aren’t above supplementing their carrion diets with fresh prey.Bestiary
Kobold 212Kobolds are small, reptilian humanoids who carry physical similarities to true dragons.Bestiary
Lamia 216Lamias are bloodthirsty victims of an ancient curse for which they blame the gods.Bestiary
Leshy 218Leshys are intelligent plant creatures that guard areas of primeval wilderness or earthly power.Bestiary
Lich 221To gain more time to complete their goals, some desperate spellcasters pursue immortality by embracing undeath.Bestiary
Linnorm 224Immense, 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.Bestiary
Lizard 228Lizards have a wide range of appearances and abilities, but most share a basic reptilian shape—long tails, wide toothy mouths, and four legs.Bestiary
Lizardfolk 230When human scholars speak of ancient civilizations, they usually turn their focus to themselves, researching and lecturing on the first human empires.Bestiary
Mantis, Giant 233These monstrously oversized insects are silent predators with lightning-quick forelegs and a bone-breaking bite.Bestiary
Merfolk 235Elegant, mysterious, and graceful; all this and more can be said of the merfolk.Bestiary
Mummy 240While many cultures practice mummification of the dead for benign reasons, undead mummies are created through foul rituals, typically to provide eternally vigilant guardians.Bestiary
Naga 242Nagas are serpentine beings with magical powers and keen, nearly inscrutable intellects.Bestiary
Nightmare 244Nightmares are flaming equine harbingers of death.Bestiary
Nymph 246Nymphs are a family of fey that take the form of beautiful humanoids with elven features and have a deep association with the natural world.Bestiary
Ogre 252Ogres embody brutish, amoral violence and cruelty.Bestiary
Oozes 254Slimes, molds, and other oozes can be found in dank dungeons and shadowed forests.Bestiary
Orc 256Orcs are violent, monstrous humanoids that live by the rule that might makes right.Bestiary
Planar Scion 262Many immortals dwell upon the other planes of the Great Beyond.Bestiary
Protean 266Guardians 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.Bestiary
Psychopomp 270Psychopomps 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.Bestiary
Pterosaur 272Pterosaurs are primitive flying creatures.Bestiary
Rakshasa 274Rakshasas are evil spirits that cloak themselves in the guises of humanoid creatures, that they might walk unseen among their prey.Bestiary
Rat 276Rats are a ubiquitous menace, scurrying through the sewers and on the streets of nearly every settlement the world over.Bestiary
Ratfolk 277True to their name, ratfolk are rodent-like humanoids well suited to living on the outskirts of mainstream society.Bestiary
Scorpion 285Chitinous scourges of deserts, forests, savannas, and badlands, scorpions are deadly arachnids with powerful pincers and a painful sting.Bestiary
Sea Devil 286Sea devils are horrid, amphibious humanoids who lurk in Golarion’s oceans and crawl ashore to steal away victims beneath the veil of darkness.Bestiary
Shadow 289The mysterious undead known as shadows lurk in dark places and feed on those who stray too far from the light.Bestiary
Shark 291Sharks of all shapes and sizes have stalked the oceans, largely unchanged, since primordial times.Bestiary
Sinspawn 297Sinspawn were created by one of seven ancient wizards known collectively as runelords—each of whom embraced and embodied one of seven sins.Bestiary
Skeleton 298Made from bones held together by foul necromancy, skeletons are among the most common types of undead, found haunting old dungeons and forgotten cemeteries.Bestiary
Snake 302Snakes come in an array of forms, from jungle-dwelling constrictors that wrap around their prey to venomous vipers with deadly bites.Bestiary
Spider 306Few everyday vermin inspire as much dread as the infamous spider.Bestiary
Sprite 308Elusive, 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.Bestiary
Troll 314Slavering, cruel, practically invincible brutes: this is the villager’s stock description for the dread monsters known as trolls.Bestiary
Vampire 320Vampires are undead creatures that feed on the blood of the living.Bestiary
Warg 322The warg is an intelligent and malevolent wolf that dwells among goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, and other violent humanoids.Bestiary
Wasp 324While 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.Bestiary