What are your favorite bestiaries?

[frogglesmash]

Add the title says, what are you're favorite beastiaries, first or third party included, for d&d/Pathfinder/d20 modern/etc.

Mine are the Monsternomicons 1 & 2 from Privateer Press, due not only to the stellar monsters, but the sheer amount of world building the books engage in.

[Palanan]

I've found myself using Pathfinder's Bestiary 5 more than any of the others, for the sheer potential of so many of the creatures. I used a liminal sprite for what was meant to be a single encounter, and she's ended up becoming a valued member of the party. I've also used a witchcrow as a recurring antagonist to good effect.

That said, Bestiaries 3 and 4 are also full of good options. Paizo was really on a roll there.

[Thurbane]

I love Tome of Horrors (revised) for 3.5, since it had stats for so many monsters from older editions that never got brought into official 3.5 books.

[BWR]

"Creatures of the Dreamseed". A bit of a cheat since it's for the Engel RPG which had its own system, but it had a brief d20 port, so it squeaks by on a technicality.
At least half the book is a travelogue, with lots of descriptions of the world and people and how the author encountered the monsters.
Flavorful, atmospheric, great art, and the monsters are creepy. The only bad things I can say about it are I would have liked more, and the mechanics are a bit shaky, as were so many d20 versions of other games.

[magic9mushroom]

Add the title says, what are you're favorite beastiaries, first or third party included, for d&d/Pathfinder/d20 modern/etc.

Mine are the Monsternomicons 1 & 2 from Privateer Press, due not only to the stellar monsters, but the sheer amount of world building the books engage in.

What counts as a bestiary? Only books that are only monsters, or also books about monsters (Draconomicon, Fiendish Codices, Libris Mortis, Lords of Madness)?

Because I mean if it's the latter then Lords of Madness without a shadow of a doubt. Otherwise I'm honestly not sure.

[Bphill561]

Monster's Handbook from Legend and Lore series. It has a good number of monsters plus a CR system that lets you customize any existing monsters with more abilities, feats, hp, etc.

[the_david]

That's Legends and LAIRS. It took me a while to figure that out when I couldn't find anything online. Sadly, that line is no longer supported by fantasy flight games.

[Thurbane]

Also a big fan of Advanced Bestiary from Green Ronin: great source for new templates.

[the_david]

Ooh yeah. I love the Eye King Template!