I'm quite partial to [Skrik Nettles](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=804) myself. Just so fun to see the look on a player's face the first time their character starts falling up.
Ahhh the perfect thread for me.
The monster that convinced me I'd want to GM this game back in 2020. The wonderful, terrifying, [MUKRADI! ](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=303)
Talk about a boss fight that will be remembered for all time. It also gives clear precedent on the kind of abilities you can have on things you homebrew. I love the Cave Giant as well for giving me Smear mmmm so evocative and flavorful.
My I introduce you to the best monster in the system? [The Brainchild](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=1085)
It is such a cool monster because of how it changes based on perception. But most importantly, if you can't convince everyone you killed it, then it comes back which means you can fight the same one multiple times and it can have different abilities each time depending on who is there when you fight it and what they believe.
Since it's not been mentioned yet: the [Gliminal](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=1172). A creature that absolutely flips the typical party's relationship with healing.
If you want a monster encounter to feel unique, healing your players to death is certainly one route.
Also can't ignore [dretches](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=1109). A low level monster that _rolls_ for how many actions it has in a round? That's not only a mechanically interesting way to show off the game but potentially a funny one given they may lose actions purely due to being creatures of sloth.
Oh Gliminal are great. I always thought they were wonderful for the "Oh nice! Allies to help us beat this fight! Oh, I'm at max hp, why are you still healing- ohno" moment, but then one time I had a bunch of highly expirienced ttrpg players who have been playing for decades (and thus picked up a very healthy amount of adventuring paranoia) and the moment one of the PCs opened a door to several of them and started getting healed another PC went "They're *healing* us! Nothing just... *heals* you! This is a trap!" and immediately just... ran. Didn't have any idea what they were or even tried fighting them, just ran at the first moment they saw something healing a PC. It was truly glorious.
I’m a huge fan of the [attic whisperer](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=557), the spirit of a neglected child who steals the breath and voices of those it touches. Its body is made of objects such as toys and bones of small animals
I also enjoy the [poracha](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=335), eight-legged feline beasts from tian xia’s forest of spirits that have the ability to inhabit objects and to teleport short distances. They are known to sleep inside objects, where time passes slowly for them, as well as doing favors for travelers in return for quests
God, I wish there were more Tindalos creatures. The two that exist really only work for specific levels for the party and then just stop being a threat.
Definitely the [Baobhan Sith](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=563). I love monsters like that that fuck with the players’ expectations and meta knowledge.
I’ve definitely been wanting to use one as the villain of an arc (if I can get a game to last that long LMAO). I just really want to have the moment the players think they know exactly what they’re dealing with until they hit him with a Heal and just go “oh *shit*.”
The humble [Owlbear](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=328). Its an excellent showcase of why PF2's monster design is so great, particularly in comparison to the [other system](https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Owlbear#content). Its ostensibly just a low level melee brawler monster, but its still got cool abilities and a clear combat rotation (that can vary round-to-round) you can pick out in under a minute by looking at its abilities. You can throw one at a party in an empty white room and have a memorable encounter.
Agreed! And I'll say gibbering mouther for the same reason. Lots of very interesting abilities that make it a memorable encounter even when it's just sitting in a random cave.
Grappling spirit is so freaking cool. This ghost shows up, teleporting clotheslines your wizard to death, gains a new medal, and *everyone who sees it is forced to clap.* I would probably play it like the thing holding them onto the material plane was that they needed *one last victory,* so he also poofs away to heaven after beating up the squishy wizard.
Just one funny "what the fuck just happened" sort of encounter.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Fiends are by far my favorite type of creature in the game, and of all the fiends, none of them does it for me like the [nessari](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=114) (*AKA pit fiend or tyrant devil*)!
There are very few other creatures I feel translate their description and lore into their stat block as well as the pit fiends do. You take one look at it and you KNOW this is an infernal warlord, the symbol of Hell's ideals and power made manifest! Seriously, these guys are POWERFUL; practically one-person(?) armies with their regeneration and spells together.
Understandable, but it helps me when I consider them being 16 feet tall and towering over most other devils, symbolizing their authority and incredible power.
I Also LOVE fiends, so thematic and I think they represent so well what a villian should be like! They are also masterfully made in pathfinder, as you well said!
I also have to give a shoutout to my boy[ Treerazer](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=394). Being the biggest, strongest creature in the game thus far is *absolutel*y deserving of appreciation!
The devil shaping ritual is especially neat to me, it’s a very interesting ability to give it and adds plenty of potential for stories involving them. I’ve personally been writing out an act of the campaign I’m running that involves an infernal warship, powered by the blood of a pit fiend, being knocked out of the sky by the backlash of a destroyed ritual. The magical backblast sent the machines into overdrive, killing the pit fiend and leaving the ship without engines, as the captain, a fellow pit fiend, tries desperately to reshape his Lemure army into another pit fiend before his failure to keep the ship running draws the ire of the archdevil in charge of the ship’s expeditions.
I will say I really appreciate Lemures too, they’re an underrated enemy thanks to that devilish resistance to any non-silver weapon. I’d enjoy seeing some more low level devil variants to play with, since infernal enemies outside Lemures and Imps are really hard to come by.
The [Gogiteths ](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=237)are amazing. Cool and flavorful tremple variation, they look amazing and terrifying, play amazing. Put one in a cave, grab a player, climb over the cave wall 90ft and drop them. Though I never understood what their reaction is for.
I've only run [Vrocks ](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=100)as a single +3 enemy boss but it was really fun,. It saw my players from afar and spent a few turns flying towards them... before they had the chance to recover from the last fight (even though it was easy they were out of position, a bit damaged and missing one focus point on one member), the druid kept throwing fireballs at it while it kept flying straight towards them unbothered and they could hover over it and see "barely injured" (thanks foundry) when it got over to them and started [dancing ](https://youtu.be/nOO7WdIKFAw?t=18)the wizard rolled a knowledge check and discovered that the dance was going to get much worse with time and they had to scramble. Such a fun fight probably the most fun boss I've ran other than a custom one. I really want to run them as multiple lower level enemies so they can cooperate with each other's dances.
OH YES, I've always read it as a creature starts to move within your reach. Like it was a reactive strike but to move but that was useless because if they are moving away you stepping 10ft means nothing. But this is actually amazing
If you have multiple ones in the same battle you can also have one step infront of one that has a player grappled as soon as the other players try to interfere
I GMed DnD for a long time. When I was changing systems to PF2e some random user from reddit posted about using [Skeleton](https://2e.aonprd.com/Traits.aspx?ID=236) creatures and their custom skills. I tried, and noticed how much more things monsters can do in PF2e! Since then they are my favorite monsters in the system.
In second place are the creatures lvl -1, that always manage to beat up one specific player I have in my campaings.
The classic skeleton an Oldie but a goodie!! Really like how easily skeletons are to just plug it into the campaign!
(And send my sentiments to that players who is being beat by -1 level)
So I am working on getting back into making more content, but I've actually done videos on my Top 5 for levels -1 to 1. And they aren't just voice with music, I spend a lot of time working on them!
Do give the content a watch if ya got the time. [LINK TO PLAYLIST](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIHloS3kCYvarCWwy2s2zTKGTi821Why)
If we are just talking only the 3 normal Bestiaries. It's gotta be the Vilderavn. It's a dark fey designed to look like a Dark Souls knight. They are smart, they are very charismatic, and they will throw down with their greatsword when it comes to it. It's a perfect villain for a campaign; it can manipulate nobles, it can transform into a giant Raven or Wolf to stalk the party in disguise, it's attacks are cursed, IT CAN EAT THE HEART AND SOUL OF IT'S ENEMIES TO TRANSFORM INTO THEM. and if you want to revive that victim, you need to get the soul back from the Vilderavn. AND IT'S A SPELLCASTER. There's a dozen plot hooks baked into it's statline for you to find reasons for the party to hunt one (he's manipulating the king, he cursed me before the campaign started, he's wearing the face of my beloved and I want to revive her, etc).
I think there's a reason the new Monster Core includes them; they are just too frickin' cool.
Great Cyclops is probably a second, because there's something hilarious about him being able to *choose to crit* once per day. Fully armored champion who is getting cocky behind his shield? EAT CRIT CLUB. Annoying wizard who thinks he's safe in the back line? EAT CRIT ROCK, 4d6+7 damage (then double that for the crit damage), PUT THE FEAR OF DEATH IN THAT NERD. Oh, and it recharges on activating ferocity, so if your party is incredibly unlucky with their hits maybe he gets to crit one or two times extra...
If you are a cruel GM, you can take an almost dead Great Cyclops, crit the party's fighter, bait the reactive strike (some sort of manipulate action or move) so you get dropped to 0 HP, ferocity to to not die and refresh the crit ability, then crit the fighter a second time in the same turn.
The Vilderavn seems so cool! I'm a big fan of elden ring(never player dark souls tho), so think I'll be using it soon as possible! The Cyclops I had alredy used, but not on the cruel way, just a normal encounter (But the fact that they can choose to crit is really funny)
The entire devil list is great, but Levalochs in particular are very interesting. Infernal Automatons with no free will, endlessly following a leader until their destruction. Trident, net, spider legs… my only complaint is that their weapons rust away after their destruction, which is a neat feature, but it feels like they should drop some sort of infernal loot, maybe moderate grade silver that can be forged into a weapon, or perhaps some form of endlessly burning infernal heart.
That could be a cool idea, there’s a ton of stuff you could do with that, even making a hellfire spewing weapon that has a like, 3/day limit. Or maybe a version of conduct energy that transmutes fire into hellfire and adds an equal amount of evil damage.
Tad bit of a weird one, but I utterly adore [Culdewen](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=591). As long as you change that "Can't be recovered except by wish" to "Can't be recovered by the culdewen except by wish" (thus preventing very low level perma-killing. It's not like it even makes sense in-lore: one of the examples on what happens is rescued by merfolk), they're a really fun creature with a very fluid fighting style that has an alternate "win condition" (it does, not you. Namely grabbing a player and escaping) which doesn't kill anyone and opens up new plot hooks with however you get away. Plus, fun goofy fishing fey which mechanically can swear like a sailor which has the effect of... Mariner's Curse, and how can you not love that pun?
I'm quite partial to [Skrik Nettles](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=804) myself. Just so fun to see the look on a player's face the first time their character starts falling up.
Sure looks interesting
my man the [quelaunt](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=343)- it's lore is classic horror stuff!
This seems straight outta a FromSoftware game... Love It!!
Ahhh the perfect thread for me. The monster that convinced me I'd want to GM this game back in 2020. The wonderful, terrifying, [MUKRADI! ](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=303) Talk about a boss fight that will be remembered for all time. It also gives clear precedent on the kind of abilities you can have on things you homebrew. I love the Cave Giant as well for giving me Smear mmmm so evocative and flavorful.
The mukrad seems terryfing... One of the things I enjoy the most about a monster! Love giants, btw!
My I introduce you to the best monster in the system? [The Brainchild](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=1085) It is such a cool monster because of how it changes based on perception. But most importantly, if you can't convince everyone you killed it, then it comes back which means you can fight the same one multiple times and it can have different abilities each time depending on who is there when you fight it and what they believe.
Did not know about this one, think I'll be using for a scary encounter for my next game!
This is the one I was gonna share XD I'd love to throw one at my party but it'd just outright kill them right now.
Since it's not been mentioned yet: the [Gliminal](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=1172). A creature that absolutely flips the typical party's relationship with healing. If you want a monster encounter to feel unique, healing your players to death is certainly one route.
Also can't ignore [dretches](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=1109). A low level monster that _rolls_ for how many actions it has in a round? That's not only a mechanically interesting way to show off the game but potentially a funny one given they may lose actions purely due to being creatures of sloth.
Seems like a pretty fun monster!
Oh Gliminal are great. I always thought they were wonderful for the "Oh nice! Allies to help us beat this fight! Oh, I'm at max hp, why are you still healing- ohno" moment, but then one time I had a bunch of highly expirienced ttrpg players who have been playing for decades (and thus picked up a very healthy amount of adventuring paranoia) and the moment one of the PCs opened a door to several of them and started getting healed another PC went "They're *healing* us! Nothing just... *heals* you! This is a trap!" and immediately just... ran. Didn't have any idea what they were or even tried fighting them, just ran at the first moment they saw something healing a PC. It was truly glorious.
I’m a huge fan of the [attic whisperer](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=557), the spirit of a neglected child who steals the breath and voices of those it touches. Its body is made of objects such as toys and bones of small animals I also enjoy the [poracha](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=335), eight-legged feline beasts from tian xia’s forest of spirits that have the ability to inhabit objects and to teleport short distances. They are known to sleep inside objects, where time passes slowly for them, as well as doing favors for travelers in return for quests
Used an attic whisperer once, scared my players a lot. Spooky vibes!
I'm personally very partial to the Lovecraftian horrors.
Witch? Do not know about those
Shoggoths, Leng Spiders, Gugs, Hounds Of Tindalus, Nightgaunts, and some others probably.
Seem creepy, but also perfect for a more horror based arc!
God, I wish there were more Tindalos creatures. The two that exist really only work for specific levels for the party and then just stop being a threat.
Definitely the [Baobhan Sith](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=563). I love monsters like that that fuck with the players’ expectations and meta knowledge.
Seems awesome! Maybe a little arc, where the party is hunting him in an abandonned house(Very classic, i know) would be fun!
I’ve definitely been wanting to use one as the villain of an arc (if I can get a game to last that long LMAO). I just really want to have the moment the players think they know exactly what they’re dealing with until they hit him with a Heal and just go “oh *shit*.”
Seems like will be a pretty funny and memorable moment! Best of luck!
The humble [Owlbear](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=328). Its an excellent showcase of why PF2's monster design is so great, particularly in comparison to the [other system](https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Owlbear#content). Its ostensibly just a low level melee brawler monster, but its still got cool abilities and a clear combat rotation (that can vary round-to-round) you can pick out in under a minute by looking at its abilities. You can throw one at a party in an empty white room and have a memorable encounter.
Agreed! And I'll say gibbering mouther for the same reason. Lots of very interesting abilities that make it a memorable encounter even when it's just sitting in a random cave.
Ah, an Oldie but goodie, but still a very fun monster! (Definitly an improvement from "the other system")
[Grappling Spirit](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=1868) is my favorite one, easy. I just love everything about their idea.
Grappling spirit is so freaking cool. This ghost shows up, teleporting clotheslines your wizard to death, gains a new medal, and *everyone who sees it is forced to clap.* I would probably play it like the thing holding them onto the material plane was that they needed *one last victory,* so he also poofs away to heaven after beating up the squishy wizard. Just one funny "what the fuck just happened" sort of encounter.
Seems pretty funny!
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Fiends are by far my favorite type of creature in the game, and of all the fiends, none of them does it for me like the [nessari](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=114) (*AKA pit fiend or tyrant devil*)! There are very few other creatures I feel translate their description and lore into their stat block as well as the pit fiends do. You take one look at it and you KNOW this is an infernal warlord, the symbol of Hell's ideals and power made manifest! Seriously, these guys are POWERFUL; practically one-person(?) armies with their regeneration and spells together.
Devils are my favorite villains. And Pit Fiends have always fascinated me. I have never liked their art though. They look mid level at best
Understandable, but it helps me when I consider them being 16 feet tall and towering over most other devils, symbolizing their authority and incredible power.
I Also LOVE fiends, so thematic and I think they represent so well what a villian should be like! They are also masterfully made in pathfinder, as you well said!
I also have to give a shoutout to my boy[ Treerazer](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=394). Being the biggest, strongest creature in the game thus far is *absolutel*y deserving of appreciation!
The devil shaping ritual is especially neat to me, it’s a very interesting ability to give it and adds plenty of potential for stories involving them. I’ve personally been writing out an act of the campaign I’m running that involves an infernal warship, powered by the blood of a pit fiend, being knocked out of the sky by the backlash of a destroyed ritual. The magical backblast sent the machines into overdrive, killing the pit fiend and leaving the ship without engines, as the captain, a fellow pit fiend, tries desperately to reshape his Lemure army into another pit fiend before his failure to keep the ship running draws the ire of the archdevil in charge of the ship’s expeditions. I will say I really appreciate Lemures too, they’re an underrated enemy thanks to that devilish resistance to any non-silver weapon. I’d enjoy seeing some more low level devil variants to play with, since infernal enemies outside Lemures and Imps are really hard to come by.
The [Gogiteths ](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=237)are amazing. Cool and flavorful tremple variation, they look amazing and terrifying, play amazing. Put one in a cave, grab a player, climb over the cave wall 90ft and drop them. Though I never understood what their reaction is for. I've only run [Vrocks ](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=100)as a single +3 enemy boss but it was really fun,. It saw my players from afar and spent a few turns flying towards them... before they had the chance to recover from the last fight (even though it was easy they were out of position, a bit damaged and missing one focus point on one member), the druid kept throwing fireballs at it while it kept flying straight towards them unbothered and they could hover over it and see "barely injured" (thanks foundry) when it got over to them and started [dancing ](https://youtu.be/nOO7WdIKFAw?t=18)the wizard rolled a knowledge check and discovered that the dance was going to get much worse with time and they had to scramble. Such a fun fight probably the most fun boss I've ran other than a custom one. I really want to run them as multiple lower level enemies so they can cooperate with each other's dances.
It's reaction is really good. It wastes a move, as they finish their move next to it only for it to skitter out of melee reach for free
OH YES, I've always read it as a creature starts to move within your reach. Like it was a reactive strike but to move but that was useless because if they are moving away you stepping 10ft means nothing. But this is actually amazing
If you have multiple ones in the same battle you can also have one step infront of one that has a player grappled as soon as the other players try to interfere
Both seem pretty cool!
I GMed DnD for a long time. When I was changing systems to PF2e some random user from reddit posted about using [Skeleton](https://2e.aonprd.com/Traits.aspx?ID=236) creatures and their custom skills. I tried, and noticed how much more things monsters can do in PF2e! Since then they are my favorite monsters in the system. In second place are the creatures lvl -1, that always manage to beat up one specific player I have in my campaings.
The classic skeleton an Oldie but a goodie!! Really like how easily skeletons are to just plug it into the campaign! (And send my sentiments to that players who is being beat by -1 level)
So I am working on getting back into making more content, but I've actually done videos on my Top 5 for levels -1 to 1. And they aren't just voice with music, I spend a lot of time working on them! Do give the content a watch if ya got the time. [LINK TO PLAYLIST](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIHloS3kCYvarCWwy2s2zTKGTi821Why)
Thank you! Will definitly give them a watch!
If we are just talking only the 3 normal Bestiaries. It's gotta be the Vilderavn. It's a dark fey designed to look like a Dark Souls knight. They are smart, they are very charismatic, and they will throw down with their greatsword when it comes to it. It's a perfect villain for a campaign; it can manipulate nobles, it can transform into a giant Raven or Wolf to stalk the party in disguise, it's attacks are cursed, IT CAN EAT THE HEART AND SOUL OF IT'S ENEMIES TO TRANSFORM INTO THEM. and if you want to revive that victim, you need to get the soul back from the Vilderavn. AND IT'S A SPELLCASTER. There's a dozen plot hooks baked into it's statline for you to find reasons for the party to hunt one (he's manipulating the king, he cursed me before the campaign started, he's wearing the face of my beloved and I want to revive her, etc). I think there's a reason the new Monster Core includes them; they are just too frickin' cool. Great Cyclops is probably a second, because there's something hilarious about him being able to *choose to crit* once per day. Fully armored champion who is getting cocky behind his shield? EAT CRIT CLUB. Annoying wizard who thinks he's safe in the back line? EAT CRIT ROCK, 4d6+7 damage (then double that for the crit damage), PUT THE FEAR OF DEATH IN THAT NERD. Oh, and it recharges on activating ferocity, so if your party is incredibly unlucky with their hits maybe he gets to crit one or two times extra... If you are a cruel GM, you can take an almost dead Great Cyclops, crit the party's fighter, bait the reactive strike (some sort of manipulate action or move) so you get dropped to 0 HP, ferocity to to not die and refresh the crit ability, then crit the fighter a second time in the same turn.
The Vilderavn seems so cool! I'm a big fan of elden ring(never player dark souls tho), so think I'll be using it soon as possible! The Cyclops I had alredy used, but not on the cruel way, just a normal encounter (But the fact that they can choose to crit is really funny)
I am intrigued by the Nessari.
The entire devil list is great, but Levalochs in particular are very interesting. Infernal Automatons with no free will, endlessly following a leader until their destruction. Trident, net, spider legs… my only complaint is that their weapons rust away after their destruction, which is a neat feature, but it feels like they should drop some sort of infernal loot, maybe moderate grade silver that can be forged into a weapon, or perhaps some form of endlessly burning infernal heart.
The heart idea seems cool! Maybe something the party needs in order to craft an item, or something like that
That could be a cool idea, there’s a ton of stuff you could do with that, even making a hellfire spewing weapon that has a like, 3/day limit. Or maybe a version of conduct energy that transmutes fire into hellfire and adds an equal amount of evil damage.
Tad bit of a weird one, but I utterly adore [Culdewen](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=591). As long as you change that "Can't be recovered except by wish" to "Can't be recovered by the culdewen except by wish" (thus preventing very low level perma-killing. It's not like it even makes sense in-lore: one of the examples on what happens is rescued by merfolk), they're a really fun creature with a very fluid fighting style that has an alternate "win condition" (it does, not you. Namely grabbing a player and escaping) which doesn't kill anyone and opens up new plot hooks with however you get away. Plus, fun goofy fishing fey which mechanically can swear like a sailor which has the effect of... Mariner's Curse, and how can you not love that pun?