Monster Lore

[McQ]

Are there any books that delve into detail about monster lore and nature?

Some of the 3.5 Monster Manuals included more details like their presence in Eberron or Greyhawk, but I'm hoping to find something more like the Book of Aberrations. Some fluff to make them more interesting, though I know a lot is left purposefully to the DM to develop (often tips are left in monster descriptions to help with this).

As an example, I'm looking for specifics about Shadows. Many undead are created through a certain process in which someone died. The natural method these undead come to exist, rather than simply being created by Necromancers.

If there isn't a reference, what would be appropriate for a natural method in which a Shadow is made?

[hamishspence]

Dragon Magazine has a few. One issue provided a "how these undead come into being" story snippet for a whole bunch of undead. "Birth of the Dead" was the name of that issue.

Libris Mortis may have some.

[GrumpyWizard]

Savage Species might have some general monster lore. Libris Mortis indeed has a world of fluff on undead, though I don't recall any story about the origins of shadows.

[hamishspence]

Complete Divine has its own list of undead- some with souls, some without. Sometimes the soul is trapped in the undead and something else (evil spirit of some kind) is in charge- spawning undead tended to be this.

Sometime it has access to the memories of the body (corporeal spawning undead tended to be this).

I think shadows were one of those that didn't, and contained a trapped soul.

[Eldan]

Older edition books, if you can find them, often had a bit more on the various creatures. Planescape books were extremely nice in that regard, often making each monster entry two pages (including the comparably short AD&D statblocks), as were those of Ravenloft.

[Serpentine]

The latest Monster Manuals expanded a lot more on the ecology of their monsters. Aside from that, specific books (e.g. Races ofs) and the aforementioned Dragon Magazine Ecology of... articles (which included an Ecology of the Adventurer article, written by a kobold), I don't have much to offer.

[Lastgrasp]

Have you checked out the Pathfinder Revisited line? It's 64 page books on monster ecology, history, variants, etc. Awesome series. This is the blurb for Undead Revisited.

For most people, death is a release, a passage into the just rewards of the afterlife. Yet not everyone who dies rests easy. Legends and campfire tales tell of those individuals too evil to die, or too twisted by pride or occult knowledge to cross over to the other side. These lost souls become the undead, plaguing the dark crypts or silent streets of cities and farm towns alike, feasting on the innocent or spreading their immortal contagion like a plague.

Undead Revisited explores 10 different undead monsters—or entire breeds of monsters—from both real-world history and the time-honored traditions of fantasy roleplaying. Each monster entry explores the undead creature’s formation and ecology, its interactions with its victims and other undead, tips and tricks regarding its role in a campaign, variant versions for added gaming utility, and more. In addition, each entry comes with a unique sample monster, complete with full statistics for the Pathfinder RPG and ready to be dropped into any game.

* Inside this 64-page book, you’ll find: Liches, the twisted spellcasters who lock away their souls so death may never claim them
* Devourers, who form from the spirits of powerful spellcasters and fiends that venture into the darkness beyond the planes and come back forever tainted
* Raveners, the undead dragons wrapped in the soul energy of those they destroy
* Spectral dead, those formless spirits such as the wailing and betrayed banshees, the insane allips, the furious spectres, and the supremely evil wraiths
* Shadows, those souls too covetous and miserly to relinquish their grasp on life
* Bodaks, the eyeless horrors twisted by sights no one was meant to see
* Graveknights, whose lust for battle knows no end—not even in death
* Nightshades, the planar juggernauts who seek to snuff all life from the cosmos
* Mohrgs, the undead murders who rise after death to stalk the streets
* Wights, with their insatiable hunger for the souls of the living

Undead Revisited is intended for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and Pathfinder campaign setting, but can easily be used in any fantasy game setting.

[Sdonourg]

http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19546370/Monster_Lore_Compendium
There is a Monster Lore Compendium on wizards.com forums, but you can also look into Monster Ecologies articles in Dragon Magazine.

[McQ]

Thanks for the input everyone. I suggest you all check out the link Sdonourg gave. And I'll try to check out that Pathfinder book if I can find it Lastgrasp.

Seems like from this Monster Lore Compendium the Shadow perpetuates the making of other Shadows. But I also like the Pathfinder usage of them being covetous people in life.

[hamishspence]

After a quick look at the Birth of the Dead article in October 2005's Dragon Magazine.

Shadows arise spontaneously from those who died at least partly due to their own physical weakness.

A person blasted with a ray of enfeeblement then killed, a person poisoned into incapacity, then left to be eaten by rats, an old person who was unable to adequately defend themselves due to lack of strength- all might rise as shadows.

This is what causes them to crave vigor- and thus, drain it from others.