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Well, you can use the PRD to survey which one contains more of the creatures you want to use.
Personally I only own a hard-copy of Bestiary 1, and don't currently plan to buy any of the others in Hard-copy. I've found for my campaigns it's just more convenient to use entries from the PRD or excerpts from PDFs than trying to bookmark the physical entries and flip through them in combat.
I'd get 6 personally since it might take a little while for all the stuff in it to become available online.
You want Bestiary 1 simply because it has some of the most common creatures that exist and that you will ever need. It has the most common devils and demons, the most common True Dragons (metallic/chromatic), it has the angelic Solar along with a lot of other good outsiders, the skeleton and zombie template (Animate Undead), common animals such as the horse which you need if anyone ever gets a mount (paladin/cavalier), goblins/hobgoblins/bugbears, and goblin dogs, ogres, the most common giant types (stone/fire/storm), Orcs.
While all of the bestiaries do have very cool monsters they are more of an expansion to the game while the monsters in Bestiary 1 are essential to any game.
Purchase made this can be closed now :)
Never! we will continue to answer your question despite it already being answered multiple times - that's just what we do here: get all the bestiaries!
The first two Bestiaries are mandatory. The rest really depend upon the type of game you are running.
Purchase made this can be closed now :)Never! we will continue to answer your question despite it already being answered multiple times - that's just what we do here: get all the bestiaries!
I'd get 6 personally since it might take a little while for all the stuff in it to become available online.
B6 has a lot more high-CR stuff than the others, so I'd consider that one a little more specialty.
Bestiary 2 is actually my favorite book that Paizo has released, so I recommend that one.
The art in it is great, the dragons in it are my favorites of all the books and I feel like this had a lot of the pent up creativity in it being the first bestiary that wasn't just a bunch of Pathfinderized restats of 3.5 monsters, but a bunch of new unique stuff to Pathfinder.
I own Bestiaries 1-5, plus the Monster Codex.
B1 is absolutely essential because it has all the creatures referenced in the Core Rulebook (animal companions, familiars, beasts of burden, and summoned creatures) plus a solid selection of monsters of all levels and types. (IIRC, some of the later Bestiaries skimp on the monster creation appendix, so B1 is good to have for that, too.)
B2 fills in a lot of gaps left by B1. Overall, it has more common/essential monsters than any later books.
With the groundwork done by the first two, B3 and B4 were able give more room to niche/specialty monsters. But they also have a fair number of monsters that I wouldn't want to do without. (I have a special fondness for B3, because I recently ran a longish ape-themed adventure featuring kech, vanara, and a baregara.)
B5 was a gift, otherwise I'm not sure if I would own it yet. Getting full use out of it requires more sources than previous books, which could be either a pro or con depending on your library and campaign. (For example, it includes a number of new mythic monsters, while several others require the psychic magic rules from Occult Adventures.)
Monster Codex gives expanded options for specific races, mostly from Bestiary 1 (plus serpentfolk from B2 and ratfolk from B3), so you'll need those sources to make proper use of it.
The art is nice in all of them and worth having. imo
It's worth mentioning the Tome of Horrors Complete. I always find something new and unique to drop on the board after perusing through the massive tome.
I have Bestiaries 1 through 6 (got it last Monday), The Occult Bestiary, the Southlands Bestiary from Kobold Publishing, The Psionic Bestiary, The Midgard Bestiary,and the Midgard Book of Drakes.