At last count, we have, um... An umpty-bazillion monsters to choose from, going only by the Bestiaries. And yet, when looking through modules and APs, it is the same critters most of the time. This is not inherently a bad thing. After all, there are only so many monsters you have time to use, and the ones chosen reflect the setting used pretty well.
But from time to time, you want something different.
So what is your favourite? Which little-used monsters have you had good experiences with? Which were easy to build off? Which ones got a place in your setting, and how did they change the place?
Actually many interesting battles for my group included monsters with class levels. Powerful spells or combat maneuvers can make an encounter memorable.
Further, sometimes it's not the monster but the unusual situation. I placed some dire wolves in horse stables, and the rogue player came up with the good idea to lock the stables before the wolves could react.
Anyway, a tendriculos (Bestiary 2) might be worth a look. It attacked my party with reach, they had to close through difficult terrain and the martial got eaten - only to cut himself out (I bent the paralyze rules in his favor) and to end this close battle with a victory. I feel this one was under-CRed, at least against my party.
Bestiary 1 Shadow demons, just because of the mayhem that can be caused through possession.
Bestiary 2 Kolyarut are one of my favourites, going through the mortal world finding liars and oathbreakers and bringing them to Non-Good justice can be rather cool especially with all their at-will tricks. Really gets you thinking about how useful some spells are when a monster can use them an infinite amount of times.
Bestiary 3 Boogeymen can be brilliant, especially if you have them in the game way before it's level appropriate, giving people terrifying hallucinations while invisible, following events of the players because they are the first interesting things he's seen in a while and he's very bored.
Bestiary 4 Incutilis, cephalopod that poisons and controls a helpless creatures body would be cool enough, but these guys are more intelligent than most humans and have telepathy as well. Now from the art, my first thought was "okay these guys can crawl onto a boat, and take them over/murder the sailors in their sleep", but then I realized their puppet abilities work on "any helpless small or medium creature". Psychic cephalopod's who take over the bodies of sharks, dolphins, giant crabs and giant seagulls... etc. These guys have a lot of options available, so you get a lot of variety when using them against your players.
Brilliant! Thank you. Exactly the right stuff I was looking for. What else is out there?
There's a huge number of fantastic 3rd party fey that I've had a lot of fun with recently.
Nightshade Wisps (Fey Folio) and Green Hussars (Tales of the Old Margreve) combined to make a fantastic army for a Shadow Fey (Kobold Press) Count, which was one of my favorite recent encounters. Used alongside Clurichaun (Dark Fey) Huntsmen the entire arc was just one monster we wouldn't usually encounter after another.
The GM even gave us a fey army of our own, courtesy of the Queen of Air and Darkness to face off against the forest fey.
Apart from that I've got a soft spot in my heart for the Burning Child, from Belkzen, which is just a dark and brilliant creature concept, the Kami since I love Big Good type creatures even if their combat stats are rarely used and anything from the Advanced Bestiary, by Green Ronin, which just increases the options you have so much.
Suzerian template will always have a place in my heart, because of the fun I had with it recently.
I must second the boogeyman. He was enormously terrifying then frustrating for my players, but very rewarding when beaten.
Another favorite for me is the assassin vine. If it isn't spotted it's just so deadly.
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My players have learned to fear the twigjack from Bestiary 2. Using even two of these little buggers in the right way can absolutely ruin a party's day.
Although I havent gotten to use them yet, the clockwork constructs seem like they'd be very interesting to fight as a cohesive unit. A few soldiers keeping the party tanks busy, a mage mounted on a steed flinging spells while staying frustratingly mobile, all with a few servants scuttling about and healing whatever damage is done to the soldiers.
ME! I'm a GREAT monster!
If not me, then try a Titan Centipede. I've had fun with them on more than one occasion - trampling a whole group with a hundred colossal feet for about 45 HP to each PC is lots of fun. Did they spread out a bit, not in a nice straight line? No problem, with 120' of movement, undulating all over the battlefield, you can usually get everybody underfoot easily enough (make sure there's a low ceiling to keep the fliers in reach).
If you're gonna use Cloakers make sure to read them carefully. PCs have to be careful if someone gets grappled by one as they get to enjoy taking half the damage the cloaker takes, and that's on top of the screams that it can do. Plus it can fly.
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Short answer? Pretty much any aberration in my book. We got a good crop of em' and they are each so different from one another that your players can never just zone out when they see another new one this session.
In B5 Reptoids offer some interesting options for courtly encounters, scifi, and conspiracy stuff.
The Outer Dragons from B4 are probably my favorite dragons that Paizo has put out since the start of this who pathfinder excursion and also answer a lot of my questions that come up when you start thinking about how a population of giant super predators keep themselves fed and populating without sweeping a land clean or getting merc'd while they hibernate. Also watching one of those things just come diving out of the literal heavens on those swirling stain glass wings is one of those encounters I await the chance to do on bated breath. I mean any dragon can fall from the sky, but only Solar dragons can bask in the licking rays of a solar flare and ride a coronal mass ejection to earth in the glorious morning dawn.
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Bestiary 1 Shadow demons, just because of the mayhem that can be caused through possession.
Bestiary 2 Kolyarut are one of my favourites, going through the mortal world finding liars and oathbreakers and bringing them to Non-Good justice can be rather cool especially with all their at-will tricks. Really gets you thinking about how useful some spells are when a monster can use them an infinite amount of times.
Bestiary 3 Boogeymen can be brilliant, especially if you have them in the game way before it's level appropriate, giving people terrifying hallucinations while invisible, following events of the players because they are the first interesting things he's seen in a while and he's very bored.
Bestiary 4 Incutilis, cephalopod that poisons and controls a helpless creatures body would be cool enough, but these guys are more intelligent than most humans and have telepathy as well. Now from the art, my first thought was "okay these guys can crawl onto a boat, and take them over/murder the sailors in their sleep", but then I realized their puppet abilities work on "any helpless small or medium creature". Psychic cephalopod's who take over the bodies of sharks, dolphins, giant crabs and giant seagulls... etc. These guys have a lot of options available, so you get a lot of variety when using them against your players.
See, when I found out about the Incutilis, I immediately saw dark comedic value. My group encountered a bunch of Grindylows, one of which had found a "special hat" that made him super smart. Turns out the grindys were too dumb to realize what had actually happened, compounded by the fact that the manipulating a creature's body that you've just climbed into should be jarring. Between the broken speech and constantly slapping himself in the face with his own tentacles, the group has grown to... "like" this disturbing little guy.
I also really like the Seugathi. Magic missile wands, aura of confusion, and controlling confused creatures? It's a surefire way to scare the party. :P
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Bestiary 1 Shadow demons, just because of the mayhem that can be caused through possession.
Bestiary 2 Kolyarut are one of my favourites, going through the mortal world finding liars and oathbreakers and bringing them to Non-Good justice can be rather cool especially with all their at-will tricks. Really gets you thinking about how useful some spells are when a monster can use them an infinite amount of times.
Bestiary 3 Boogeymen can be brilliant, especially if you have them in the game way before it's level appropriate, giving people terrifying hallucinations while invisible, following events of the players because they are the first interesting things he's seen in a while and he's very bored.
Bestiary 4 Incutilis, cephalopod that poisons and controls a helpless creatures body would be cool enough, but these guys are more intelligent than most humans and have telepathy as well. Now from the art, my first thought was "okay these guys can crawl onto a boat, and take them over/murder the sailors in their sleep", but then I realized their puppet abilities work on "any helpless small or medium creature". Psychic cephalopod's who take over the bodies of sharks, dolphins, giant crabs and giant seagulls... etc. These guys have a lot of options available, so you get a lot of variety when using them against your players.
See, when I found out about the Incutilis, I immediately saw dark comedic value. My group encountered a bunch of Grindylows, one of which had found a "special hat" that made him super smart. Turns out the grindys were too dumb to realize what had actually happened, compounded by the fact that the manipulating a creature's body that you've just climbed into should be jarring. Between the broken speech and constantly slapping himself in the face with his own tentacles, the group has grown to... "like" this disturbing little guy.
I also really like the Seugathi. Magic missile wands, aura of confusion, and controlling confused...
Shit didn't even see the reference to the Incutilus here. Love those little buggers, they actually are a major player in my home setting and are one of the races I really want to see a psychic variant made for. With the proper gear and circumstances the damage and reach these guys can have can be terrifying, and the shit they pull with puppetmaster can have some really fidge horror implications depending on your interpretation.