Late Entries to a Survey of Bestiaries

January 6, 2024
Pokénatomy II
author: Christopher Stoll
interior artist: Christopher Stoll
cover artist: Aaron Hain
publisher: self-published
publication date: 2022
cover: hardcover
number of pages: 216
ISBN-10: none
ISBN-13: none
description: This second unofficial Pokédex contains anatomical descriptions of 100 Pokémon from the Johto region.

Our featured entry from this bestiary is girafarig.

CHARACTERISTICS
Girafarig are twin-headed mammalian Pokeémon remakrable for their gestalt consciousness partitioned across two fully functional brains. Each head is capable of functioning while the other is asleep, and they take turns watching for threats.

PHYSIOLOGY
Girafarig is considered omnivorous. The forward-facing head is capable of eating seeds, nuts, leaves, and other vegetative matter. Their hind-head is carnivorous and will consumer carrion, eggs, insects, and even live mammals. Both heads' digestive tracts converge in a single colon where waste is combined and excreted.

Girafarig are distantly related to Stantler, and it is believed that their unique physiology may have originated when an extra-dimensional organism such as Unown successfully fused with their ancestor.

Each head contains a singular consciousness capable of communicating and even solving simple puzzles under laboratory conditions. Their nervous systems are interconnected via the spinal column, which allows for the sharing of sensory data and emotions, as well as strategic coordination in life-or-death situations.

BEHAVIOR
Mating takes place in spring. In a complex courtship display, males dance while rapidly raising and lowering both of their heads. Only the front head is attached to the respiratory system and capable of making sounds. The front head lets out a series of inviting calls, while the tail chatters its teeth. These dances typically end in rejection, as both of the female's heads must find a potential partner attractive in order to mate. If they enjoy the male's display, the two Girafarig will bond. The couple then dig and defend a nest, remaining monogamous partners until their first young have hatched and are strong enough to survive on their own.

February 3, 2024
Tome of Beasts III
lead designers: Scott Gable, Richard Green, Kelly Pawlik, Sebastian Rombach, Mike Welham et al.
development lead: Meagan Maricle
interior artists: Miguel Regodón Harkness et al.
cover artist: Chris Rallis
publisher: Kobold Press
publication date: 2022
cover: hardcover
number of pages: 424
ISBN-10: 1-950789-39-X
ISBN-13: 978-1-950789-39-9
description: This bestiary presents more than 400 beasts. The book is compatible with 5^th edition of Dungeons and Dragons.

Our featured entry from this bestiary is the tuberkith.

Tuberkith are root vegetables given sentience by fey magic. After a rural village offended the local fey court, its unseelie ruler condemned the villagers to watch their year's harvest uproot itself and walk away, leaving them to starve. Potatoes, beets, yaro, and yams crawled free from the soil and strolled about the village.

The fey lord's curse did not work out as intended: Instead of fleeing into the surrounding wilderness, the tuberkith became quite social. They exhibited a natural predisposition for managing crops and happily supported the villagers' farming efforts in growing additional food. The tuberkith settled among the villagers and formed families, becoming a blessing in the long run.

FRIENDS IN THE FIELD. Tuberkith form strong relationships with the communities around them, who cherish the tuberkith's natural connection to the fields they work. They seem to especially enjoy working with humans, halflings, and erina.

PLANTING OFFSPRING. When reproducing, both tuberkith parents plant an eye in the ground. The parents tend to the burgeoning roots for three months, then they pull the new offspring from the ground.

DEFENSIVE WEAPONS. Like other cultures, tuberkith have developed weapons to defend themselves from predators and foes. The tuberkith wield two-handed mashers, which can knock their foes to the ground, while allies use one-handed peelers to effortlessly slice flesh from the prone enemies.

March 2, 2024
Monster Manual Expanded
authors: Mannix "Dragonix" Manansala
interior artist: Art of Neight et al.
cover artist: Ruben de Vela
publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
publication date: 2019
cover: hardcover
number of pages: 320
ISBN-10: 0-01-064137-8
ISBN-13: 237-0-01-064137-0
description: This bestiary contains descriptions of 470 creatures. This book is compatible with the 5^th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons Role Playing Game.

Our featured entry from this bestiary is the urophion.

When a roper is infected with an illithid tadpole, it undergoes ceremorphosis and transforms the roper into a urophion. Mind flayers usually create urophions to serve as guards.

Urophions see themselves as intellectual equals to mind flayers. However, mind flayers treat urophions as social outcasts are either shunned or ignored. Years of this kind of treatment may drive a urophion insane, causing it to attack its kin. Others escape their servitude and wander off into the Underdark. If they encounter an intelligent creature, they may not be automatically hostile, as it longs to have a decent conversation. That is until it realizes it is hungry and starts to crave the creature's brain.

April 6, 2024
Monster Manual Expanded II
authors: Mannix "Dragonix" Manansala
interior artist: Arthur Azaryan et al.
cover artists: Joshua Raphael & Wilson Nugrahaa
publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
publication date: 2019
cover: hardcover
number of pages: 312
ISBN-10: 0-01-064139-4
ISBN-13: 237-0-01-064139-4
description: This bestiary contains descriptions of 390 creatures. This book is compatible with the 5^th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons Role Playing Game.

Our featured entry from this bestiary is the doomsphere.

Urban legends speak of the bodies of adventurers who were unfortunate enough to encounter the ghostly globe of death. Lifeless bodies frozen in fear and anguish, no one can tell how they came to their gruesome ends. Perhaps this spectral beholder passed through their bodies, its necrotic touch corrupting flesh and bone. Or perhaps one look at its pale, abhorrent visage was enough to drain the life out of its victims.

Mad Orb of Undeath. A doomsphere is the restless spirit of a beholder that spawned after its death due to a curse or was created by powerful necromantic magic. In extremely rare instances, a beholder that sought lichdom but failed in the ritual would instead return as a doomsphere. The creature retains almost all of its arsenal of abilities, save a few that have changed due to undeath. Most, but not all, tend to become insane after this ghastly reincarnation.

The doomsphere continues to "live" beyond death as the vile xenophobic beholder it once was, only far more dangerous and more isolated this time and adventurers know better than to invade its old stomping grounds, which it haunts to this day.