Creepy Creatures: Bestiary of the Bizarre (PFRPG) PDF

4.00/5 (based on 4 ratings)

Our Price: $21.95

Add to Cart
Facebook Twitter Email

One hundred new malevolent monsters to terrorize your Pathfinder Roleplaying Game players! From the horrific leatherbound, to the deadly salt dragon, these creatures will test the mettle of even the bravest heroes. The entries within this tome will give pause to even the most experienced and jaded player.

These are all unique, never-before-seen monsters with beautiful full color illustrations.

The monsters in this book were a true labor of love. Many a character has shed his blood on the fangs and claws located in this tome. Hopefully they will provide you the same dark pleasures they provided us.

Product Availability

Fulfilled immediately.

Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at store@paizo.com.

PZOPDFALLCRC001E


See Also:

Average product rating:

4.00/5 (based on 4 ratings)

Sign in to create or edit a product review.

Creepy and Bizarre Monsters Indeed!

4/5

It is rare to be treated to a big monster book from a 3PP... in colour! This is exactly what Creepy Creatures: Bestiary of the Bizarre is. The illustrations are perhaps a bit too big. I would have preferred a bit more text to some (if not all) of the creatures, but the quality of the artists are... exceptional.

There are creatures that make no sense (lobsterpede, centipede folk, hair golem, frogodile), but all monster books have some of those, and then there are the really cool monsters... the rest!

There is much to love in this book, but I have to settle for a 4 star rating because the monsters lack information and have made their illustrations twice as big as they should have been, to cover for the lack of text.


The Hawkape haunts my players' dreams...

5/5

This is a truly professionally done and beautifully crafted book. I LOVE the vast majority of the new monsters contained in this book, the aforementioned Hawkape being a funtime favorite. Good stuff that should have a place at most game tables... my recommendation is buy it if you like new monsters!


Bizarre creatures that,while professionally done, didn't impress me at the price

3/5

This massive 115 pages full-color pdf has 1 page front cover, 1 page blank inside of the front cover, 2 pages editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page explaining the glyphs that denote creature-types, 1 page SRD and 1 page back cover, leaving 107 pages for the content.

The first thing you'll notice is that this book is beautiful - full-color, cool artworks are provided for every monster and both formatting and layout are professional and adhere to the highest standards.

What do I seek in a monster-book? I want iconic beasts that are more than just another set of stats, that feature more than just variations of old tropes. I want the immediate impulse to use them in my games and, ideally, to yell: "Yeah, now that's it!" "Creepy Creatures" is a bestiary of rather horror-themed creature or at least bizarre ones, so let's take a look at some of my most and least favorite among them:

Rather lame ones:

-Adhaesus: Creature that clings to walls while fighting. The choker is much cooler and the artwork doesn't help the creature.

-Bisontaur: Centaur with Bisonlike-top. Boring.

-Hawkape: Owlbear-like creature. Owlbears are canon by now and while they never were my favorite creatures, Hawkapes are in my opinion unnecessary. Their abilities don't really set them apart.

-Centpede Folk: Centipede-like humanoids whose artwork unfortunately lacks arms.

-Frogodile: Another amalgam animal. Just as boring.

-Gibbering Terror: Incorporeal undead which feature the one truly boring/bad artwork of the book.

-Magma Kraken: Fire-elemental kraken creature. Disappointing for a CR 20 creature, this one has almost only elemental abilities.

-Star Jelly Ooze: This creature is a ooze-steed that looks like a long version of a Super Mario star with wings. I'm not kidding.

-Assassin Zombie: Assassins. Zombies. I don't think they go together or that you actually need a separate creature that fits this particular niche.

Cool creatures:

-Assassin Cat: A cat with brilliant abilities with supernatural abilities and a deadly toxin.

-Brain Wasp Swarm: Disturbing swarm of vermin.

-Clutch Hound: Cthulhoid dog with a great artwork.

-Corpse Worm: Shapechanger-worm - great variation of the doppelgänger-trope.

-Plague Dragon: Deadly dragon with cool abilities.

-Eye Parasite: One of the few truly despicable and creepy creatures in the book, this is a combination of a bodysnatcher and beholder-like abilities. Two thumbs up!

-Fleshwarper: Undead that drains charisma by warping flesh.

-Fungus, Ooze: Deadly plant that spawns oozes.

-Hair Golem: Disturbing Golem with a cool artwork.

-Hydra Grub: Multi-headed giant grub, delicacy for dragons.

-Terrorkin: Dream-demon that is half beautiful & half deformed - One of the best artworks i the book.

-Century Tortoise: Giant benevolent turtles that drain away the years of enemies.

-Fang Tree: Spiked, poisonous, carnivorous tree with a beautiful artwork.

-Windigo: Another version of the classic wendigo, this take on it has a mechanically interesting, cool snow and wind aura.

After the monsters, we also get information on the remarkable races (other Alluria products) and have the monsters listed by CR, roles, type, terrain and climate, which is nice.

Conclusion:
Layout and artwork are beautiful, editing and formatting are top-notch (I didn't notice any typos or glitches) and the pdf is extensively bookmarked. On the production-value side, there is nothing to complain. On the content-side, though, there are some problems, at least for me: I thought I'd get a bestiary of rather horror-themed critters and while the book delivers on "bizarre", it, at least in my opinion, does not deliver with regards to "creepy." Even more important: In contrast to e.g. Fey Folio, the monsters herein often fall in the rather bland category, be it fluff- or crunch-wise or just didn't capture my attention, which is a pity as some of them do rock. There are no lore-sections for the critters and most don't get too much fluff-text. More importantly, though, several of the background stories of the critters mention characters of races from Alluria's "Remarkable Races"-line. While I usually enjoy some plug-ins, I do think they went a bit over the top with regards to this book - some of the monsters are directly tied to the races and thus are harder to get or insert into your campaign than necessary. There is no b/w printer-friendly version and while the book is beautiful, it is also very taxing on your printer. While it's a long and beautiful book, it's also not too cheap. My final verdict, taking all of the above into consideration, will be 3.5 stars, rounded down to 3 for the purpose of this platform.


A nice collection of new monsters.

4/5

Creepy Creatures by Alluria Publishing

This product is 115 pages long. The beginning has cover, credits, splash page etc(5 pages). Next it gets to the introduction, which is a intro by the author and explains the symbols used. This is 1 page. The bulk of the book is taken up with the monsters. There is 100 new monsters in the book(107 pages).

I wanted to list all the monsters names but the ToC is inside of a table and I was unable to copy it with out copying the table sadly. So no list. I will try and get a list from the publisher to add to this review. There is a nice mix of CR's in the product.

Then final two pages is taken up with OGL and back cover.

Closing thoughts. First off I am not a huge monster book fan, I am not one of those that buy all the monster books. They tend to need to be very interesting and or different to get my interest. This book accomplished this. While not all the monsters are creepy or horrific most of them are. Many are very well done and should freak out players as well as their characters. The art work is meh to good. I didn't notice any major errors in stat blocks, but take that with a grain of salt. I am not the best with stat blocks. So my rating is 3.5 stars. It is good but not great.

Many of the monsters are very cool and fit the product description very well but not all of them do. I know art work cost a lot which drives the price up. But I felt the price is a little high, which is what dropped my rating from a 4 to a 3.5. If the price doesn't bother you for a monster book then I recommend it, if you like or want more creepy or horrific style monsters I also recommend it. I look forward to seeing what this company does next.

Monster list added as forum post in forum thread.


1 to 50 of 54 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | next > last >>

I'd also be interested in this book, so let me ask here once again:

What to expect from the book?
Are there horror-themed critters inside?

Ties to remarkable races have been mentioned and while I can see how that is cool, I like my fantasy human-centric and don't have any of the races, nor know if I'd like them.

What CRs do we get? Templates? New Lycanthropes or vampires?
Cthulhuesque critters?

Being "a labor of love" unfortunately does not influence my decision on whether to buy or not...

Greetings,
Endzeitgeist

Sovereign Court

I have just read it today, so :

Endzeitgeist wrote:


What to expect from the book?

A lot of solid monsters along a few goofier ones. All in superb art.

Endzeitgeist wrote:


Are there horror-themed critters inside?

Not sure, but I'd say Yes, but not only that. Some of the monsters look like they are well integrated in their "ecology".

Endzeitgeist wrote:


Ties to remarkable races have been mentioned and while I can see how that is cool, I like my fantasy human-centric and don't have any of the races, nor know if I'd like them.

There are a few nods, but I don't own remarkable races, and have the same sentiment as you, and it really was not a problem.

Endzeitgeist wrote:


What CRs do we get? Templates? New Lycanthropes or vampires?
Cthulhuesque critters?

I have not paid much attention to CRs, but I had the feeling there wad mostly mid level monsters, with a few high level. There was a bit of everything, there was at least one chtulhu-like aberration, but this is not the main course.

There were several new dragons (I liked the plague dragon)

Honestly, it is good solid value for the price, the art is oustanding, and it gave me EVIL DM ideas.... (Mwhahaha ?)

Hope it helps


Thank you very much for the information, Stereofm.
The artwork is a definite plus, then.

You mentioned goofy monsters... Goofy good or goofy bad?

I'm just asking because, what I've read about Alluria's race-books, I don't think I'd like them and am unlikely to buy them... At least until I read a glowing review of one, at least.

Cheers,
Endzeitgeist

Sovereign Court

Endzeitgeist wrote:

Thank you very much for the information, Stereofm.

The artwork is a definite plus, then.

You mentioned goofy monsters... Goofy good or goofy bad?

I'm just asking because, what I've read about Alluria's race-books, I don't think I'd like them and am unlikely to buy them... At least until I read a glowing review of one, at least.

Cheers,
Endzeitgeist

A few were goofy in the sens of more crossbreeds in the long tradition of the owlbear. These are rarely interesting IMO. However, there are more than that in the book.


So, it all boils down to this:
Would you recommend that I buy the book?
I'm rather into creepy horror-themed creatures than e.g. Hawksheep. ;)
I'd hate to waste 20+ bucks for a book I ultimately don't like...


Endzeitgeist wrote:

So, it all boils down to this:

Would you recommend that I buy the book?
I'm rather into creepy horror-themed creatures than e.g. Hawksheep. ;)
I'd hate to waste 20+ bucks for a book I ultimately don't like...

It is always a tricky proposition telling someone its recommended or not. A lot of this is taste-dependent.

Let me say this:

I've done some freelance work with Alluria. Their approach, editing, and art are all top-notch. You are not going to find many prettier 3rd party PDFs out there for Pathfinder. The monsters are solid mechanically, and flavor-wise bend towards the creepy.

In my estimation, it's a buy. I like it a lot. But again, I've done some work with them and may be biased.

Let me close by saying keep an eye on their forthcoming products too - hint, hint -- ;)

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

I think you should buy it End so you can review it, so i know if I should. :)

Sovereign Court

You definitely MUST buy the book, as it is one of the best indie products I have seen in a long while, and while not 100 % perfect (what is besides Paizo ?), it comes close.

Sovereign Court

Feeling tired tonight but usually when I read a new monster book, there are maybe 5 monsters making enough of an impression on me that I remember them spontaneously.

Here I read the book and wanted to use a good deal more than 5.


Any chance we could get a Table of Contents preview?

Paizo Employee Director of Narrative

Twin Agate Dragons wrote:
Any chance we could get a Table of Contents preview?

RPGNow has a sample PDF up where the ToC is listed. Link to Sample PDF

Shadow Lodge

Who is the author? Kind of an important omission IMO.


0gre wrote:
Who is the author? Kind of an important omission IMO.

Sam G. Hing --> It's actually on the front cover right beneath the title, but the picture is a bit too small to see that here.


Allright, stereofm, DM and The-last-Rogue, you convinced me, I've put it on my to-buy-list. Still have some stuff to read and review, though, so it might take some time. ^^

Shadow Lodge

The-Last-Rogue wrote:
0gre wrote:
Who is the author? Kind of an important omission IMO.

Sam G. Hing --> It's actually on the front cover right beneath the title, but the picture is a bit too small to see that here.

Cool, thanks I couldn't see that.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Endzeitgeist wrote:
Allright, stereofm, DM and The-last-Rogue, you convinced me, I've put it on my to-buy-list. Still have some stuff to read and review, though, so it might take some time. ^^

Faster, faster.


I'm impressed with the preview. Though now I'm curious, is there any chance of this being made available as a phyical product?


Twin Agate Dragons wrote:
I'm impressed with the preview. Though now I'm curious, is there any chance of this being made available as a phyical product?

Pretty sure they are going to go print. I forget when.


It does my heart good, to see people that enjoy and plan on inflicting my creations on their players. I guess I do have a soft spot in my heart (head?) for old standbys like the owlbear..but I dont limit myself to such things.
Last I heard on the print thing, was by the start of next year. I would love to see it sooner, but its always a money issue.
Dark Mistress..my computer is STILL in the shop..(8 days now, but whos counting..), so I have not forgot you dear.


Dark Mistress..drop me an E-mail at Blackerose@aol.com...


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

For those interested, I've posted my review of the book over on RPGNow and EN World.


Thanks, Alzrius! I've also bought tghe book and once my review is written, I'll post it, too. :)


Ok I have a working computer once again. I missed being on here twenty times a day...

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

I posted my review up here and at ENworld.


Thanks for the review DM. I am glad people enjoy it. I tried to balance the pure horror monsters with some that could fill different ecosystems. Thus the jungle griffin, that is a larger and stronger griffin for the deep tropical jungle.
Stereo..curious about the monsters that jumped out at you to sic on your players?
One note..the only art that is not quite what it should be is the Windigo. Go by the description, not the art. The 1st artwork was closer to what it should have been, but was too cartoonish, and the back up art had to be in, to prevent the delay of the book.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

To many to list jumped out at me so to speak. That's why i didn't list them. I found if I did and then commented on each thing it would have been a massive review. But I would say about 1 in 4 I plan to figure out a way to use. about 1/2 I will use if the right situations come up and finally about 1/4 of them I likely won't use or only very sparingly. Of course this is me going off memory of a 100 monsters. Likely the last group is smaller but I am guessing. :)

I will say the product is plenty good enough to now make me take notice of other stuff you have done and plan to do now.

Sovereign Court

Ah, quite a few have caught my eye :

Spoiler:

Bay-Kok, Buzzbird, Assassin Cat,Plague Dragon, Ectoplasmic Stalker, Feymocker, hair Golem, Paean, Winged Medusa, Terrokinn Sickleshrike, Thanatophidis too

Did not like :
Centipede folks, Corpse Worm, Ooze : Star Jelly (must be a joke there i did not get), Slugmen.

Also, I like the fact that quite a few of the critters are for tropical climates


Stereofm wrote:

Ah, quite a few have caught my eye :

** spoiler omitted **

Also, I like the fact that quite a few of the critters are for tropical climates

HA..the star jelly was just a whim..they work best as a mount for the squole, from RR. I think I gave them a geometric shape just bc I had never really seen it done. The centipede folk are funny..people love them or hate them. I have found them best used as a shocker..just when the playes are thinking it's JUST another pack of giant centipedes. The bay-kok is an old native american monster, and the winged medusa was a form of gorgon from early greek myth. I would have to say the hair golem is my the most disturbing art in the whole book..

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

This list of monsters as promised.
Adhaesus
Ammunition Golem
Arcane Doppleganger
Architeuthian
Assassin Cat
Assassin Zombie
Ballista Drake
Barrow Bat
Bay-Kok
Beachcomber
Bisontaur
Blade Horror
Bone Druid
Brain Wasp Swarm
Burr Monkey
Buzzbird
Carnivorous Elk
Carrion Griffin
Centipede Folk
Century Tortoise
Chitin Golem
Clutch Hound
Corpse Worm
Corpsehanger Tree
Cranium Beetle
Destroyer Relluk
Diplocaulus
Dire Skunk
Ectoplasmic Stalker
Elani
Emotion Golem
Eye Parasite
Fang Tree
Faymocker
Fleshcaller
Fleshwarper
Forged Devil
Frogodile
Fungal Hulk
Fungal Ooze
Giant Virus
Gibbering Terror
Gixubus Mantisphinx
Glacial Ooze Star Jelly Ooze
Gnomehunter Suncat
Grinder Spider
Gurrangath
Hagataur
Hair Golem
Halbeisenian Warhorse
Halfling Bane Spider
Hammertrunk Elephant
Hawkape
Helios Drake
Helmed Ape
Hoard Haunt
Horsewraith
Hydra Grub
Iron Horse
Jungle Griffin
KaiLio
Keel Turtle
Lavacaller Swarm
Lawbringer Xax
Leatherbound
Lobsterpede
Magma Kraken
Marquis Wight
Mistfolk
Morgoth
Nettleman
Paean
Plague Dragon
Puddlefolk
Quill Cat
Razorhorn Moose
Salt Dragon
Sand Ooze
Screaming Hydra
Serpion
Serrlolth
Shadowfang Wight
Shadowstep Wolf
Sickleshrike
Slugmen
Sovereign Ghoul
Spire-Eater Swarm
Tar Serpent
Terrorkin
Thanatophidis
Thunderhead Drake
Tombrobber
Undead Gang
Warder
Windigo
Winged Medusa
Wolf of War

Sovereign Court

Most of these sound really cool!

And hey, I illustrated the Star Jelly, that was the toughest one to visualize although I was pretty happy overall with the end results.


Looking at the list here, all I can say is ..wow that was a crazy few months of work..lol

Silver Crusade

Just started looking this over.

A LOT of very nice artwork in this.

The Leatherbound are definite perfect fits for any Church of Zon-Kuthon.

The entire book seems to lean heavily towards 1st Edition levels of weirdness. Fans of the old Fiend Folio will probably want to give this a look.

Oh wow, Giant Virus. It's exactly what it says. Not a virus that infects giants, or a virus that causes giants. It's a giant virus cell.


Mikaze wrote:

Just started looking this over.

A LOT of very nice artwork in this.

The Leatherbound are definite perfect fits for any Church of Zon-Kuthon.

The entire book seems to lean heavily towards 1st Edition levels of weirdness. Fans of the old Fiend Folio will probably want to give this a look.

Oh wow, Giant Virus. It's exactly what it says. Not a virus that infects giants, or a virus that causes giants. It's a giant virus cell.

I guess that's because I have played from the red box 1E set on till 3.5. That and reading Lovecraft while I was still in grade school....


While I am thinking about it, does anyone have any stories to share about inflicting any of the monsters on their players, or being on the getting attacked end of things?
I am thinking doing a adventure using only monsters from the book for one of the FL cons in Oct. Something to have fun with and promote the book at the same time

Sovereign Court

Well, At yesterday's game, I ahve started to inflict the critters on my hapless PCs.

Starting with :

Spoiler:

The Assassin Cat ! (or Chassassin in French)

Good : Its stealth level was so high that my PCs had almost no chance to detect it on time. So it could try the Coup de Grace on a sleeping PC safely (OKay, low chance of sucess, but still...)

Bad : tiny size = must attack in same case as PC and takes attack of opportunity.

should change : will DC for sleep effect save too low.

Of course it was a team of lvl 6 PCs, and it was just meant to scare them as they were waaaayyy to complacent.

Dark Archive

Any chance of a dead tree format of this book?


Its in the works. Last I heard was around the end of the year. I figure on posting updates as I get them

Sovereign Court

I'll definitely buy the print version !

In fact my players noted the fight against the () as one of the best moments in the game. I'll include fight notes when I introduce the other critters in this thread.

Liberty's Edge

Stereofm wrote:

Well, At yesterday's game, I ahve started to inflict the critters on my hapless PCs.

Starting with :

** spoiler omitted **

Of course it was a team of lvl 6 PCs, and it was just meant to scare them as they were waaaayyy to complacent.

I was the guy who got attacked.

Spoiler:
Please do NOT make the sleep save too high. That damn cat inflicted a coup de grace on my character twice. I was lucky enough to make my save roll on the third round and one thereafter while raising the alarm. And I took the Iron Will feat.

Otherwise, with other characters none the wise, that cat could have kept on coup de gracing me. And at one time, I would have died due to a bad fortitude roll.

Died, finished, ended. Without knowing why and after rolling many Fort and Will saves until it ends badly. And then he would go to the next hapless victim and do it all other again.

It was a very evocative encounter and a wonderful concept and I am all for strengthening this monster somewhat, but not by increasing the very real chance of it killing a PC (or several) with them having zero chance of action to at least try to evade this grisly fate.


That is the role of the cat. If you had higher level PCs, you could use Ability Focus, or just advance the cat to match them somewhat. It should never be the biggest monster you face (unless you are very low level and your DM is evil..)but should always be effective, like a thief in the night

Sovereign Court

The black raven wrote:
Stereofm wrote:

Well, At yesterday's game, I ahve started to inflict the critters on my hapless PCs.

Starting with :

** spoiler omitted **

Of course it was a team of lvl 6 PCs, and it was just meant to scare them as they were waaaayyy to complacent.

I was the guy who got attacked.

** spoiler omitted **

It was a very evocative encounter and a wonderful concept and I am all for strengthening this monster somewhat, but not by increasing the very real chance of it killing a PC (or several) with them having zero chance of action to at least try to evade this grisly fate.

Not entirely true though : you chose to sleep alone in your room. You could have slept in the same room as our resident witcher.

Besides, none of you were paying enough attention, so it was just right to wake you up.

Don't be a pussy, the cat barely scratched you :)

MEE-YOW !

Liberty's Edge

I got a chance to look this one over. Compared to some of the older D20 bestiaries I have, I actually liked this book.

There are a few snoozers, but I was actually surprised to find quite a bit of useful stuff. My only gripe is that they should have used the same ecology glyphs as the Pathfinder Bestiary, but this might have been a PFRPG licensing limitation.

My only concern is the price. $22 seems a bit high for a PDF, though I probably would have been willing to pay $24.99 for a Perfect Bound copy.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Ben I think the art justfies the price. Art is very expensive and this has some good art in it. So I can except the price. If the art wasn't good trust me I would have made a point of that in my review. Cause before I had it, the price was the big sticking point for me. After I got to see it though I changed my mind.


Creepy Creatures: Bestiary of the Bizarre is now in print! You can order your copy at RPGnow.com from the following link: Creepy Creatures

...and dont forget to check out our GM's day sale on RPGNow.com, most of our titles are 25% off!

Thanks again,

J. Matthew Kubisz

Alluria Publishing


Well..this just feels nifty~

Sovereign Court

Aaaaah ! GREAT !

Will rush to grab one now.

BTW, did receive the print of Cerulean seas yesterday, and it was great.


Just ordered the print version of this! Thanks for making it available in print format!

Liberty's Edge

Brutal Ben wrote:
My only concern is the price. $22 seems a bit high for a PDF, though I probably would have been willing to pay $24.99 for a Perfect Bound copy.

Looks like I got my wish. :-)

I would prefer to buy the PDF/Softcopy combo from Paizo.

Is there any plans for this?

Lantern Lodge

Bump:

I've had my eye on this for a while, and greatly prefer a printed book on my shelf, though I generally make all my purchases via Paizo store to combine shipping with my Pathfinder subsciptions and store all my PDF downloads under one account.

Given that a print version appears to be available, is there any chance of a Print/PDF Bundle via the Paizo store?

I generally try to reward third-party publishers who go to the effort of making their products Print/PDF Bundles by purchasing them here. It seems you're missing your core Pathfinder audience if you don't.

Cheers,
Stephen (DarkWhite)
Pathfinder Society 4-Star GM
Venture-Captain, Australia


Reviewed here and sent to GMS magazine. In hindsight I have to say that the 22 Bucks were not well invested for me. It's a ncie book, but not at all what I look for in a monster book.

Cheers,
Endzeitgeist

1 to 50 of 54 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | next > last >>
Community / Forums / Paizo / Product Discussion / Creepy Creatures: Bestiary of the Bizarre (PFRPG) PDF All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.