Pathfinder Campaign Setting: "Misfit Monsters Redeemed" [RPG]

"Everyone deserves a second chance" is the tagline on the back cover of Misfit Monsters Redeemed.  D&D has decades of Monster Manuals and the like, filled with hundreds of creatures.  It's inevitable that some would land with a thud, and others would be unintentionally, hilariously bad.  The goal of this book is to provide a new take on some old duds and salvage them for use.  As the introduction explains, Paizo had had good luck with its ". . . Revisited" series of books that added fresh flavour to classic monsters, but this book arose from a dare on the forums to see if the company could take the worst creatures in fantasy RPG history and breathe new life into them.  Redemption is attempted for ten

monsters, each receiving six pages of coverage divided into the following sections: ecology, campaign role, variants, role on Golarion, stat block, and new artwork.  I'll give my verdict on each attempt at redemption below, but the short conclusion is that . . . some of these creatures really didn't deserve a second chance, and just couldn't be redeemed.  However, there are a few nice surprises.

Before getting into the content, I'll just mention the cover artwork (fairly poor, in my opinion) is reproduced in the inside back-cover sans logo, while the inside front cover is a funny "Hall of Shame" listing the monsters covered with a "before" and "after" to show what the book has tried to achieve.

*Adherers: Before, they were essentially sticky mummies that could trap weapons used against them; now they have damn creepy origin as essentially living livestock for phase spiders on the ethereal plane.  I think their CR is too low given the awesome build-up for them in the text.  Nonetheless, my verdict:  Redeemed.

*Delvers: Before, they were subterranean cave slugs that feast on ores, and filled a pretty bland role alongside things like xorns and earth elementals.  Now, they're intelligent, spiritual beings that could serve as guides for spelunkers.  My verdict: Redeemed.

*Dire Corbies: Before: evil crow-men.  Now: Xenophobic bipedal birdmen of the Darklands.  There's a lost opportunity to tie them into tengu somehow.  They're okay, but essentially just disposable random encounters for subterranean explorers.  My verdict: Guilty as Charged!

*Disenchanter: Before, blue camel-like creatures that can destroy magic items.  Now: Pretty much the same, with a bit of a better backstory.  I don't get their weird headband fetish, and they're truly goofy looking.  My verdict: Guilty as Charged!

*Flail Snail: Before, they were giant snails with maces on their faces.  I have to admit I was surprised they could be improved, but now they're long-lived, intelligent zen monks with magic reflecting shells.  My verdict: Redeemed.

*Flumphs: Before, they were weird floating jellyfish-like creatures.  Now, these lawful good creatures warn of horrors from other worlds, and good make for really good adventure hook vehicles.  My verdict: Redeemed.

*Lava Children: Before, they were a forgettable race of feral subterranean humanoids.  Now, they're the creations of shaitans meant to survive in the Elemental Planes of Fire and Earth.  I still don't get why metal passes through them, and despite the admittedly creepy artwork, I still don't see much of a role for them in a campaign.  My verdict: Guilty as Charged!

*Lurking Ray: Before, they were underground ambush predators.  Now, they have a really interesting, well-defined ecology with different niches for three variations.  Still, each variation is a subterranean ambush predator and they're nothing more than random encounter fodder.  In addition, Pathfinder's suffocation rules are such that they're not really dangerous.  My (reluctant) verdict: Guilty as Charged!

*Tojanida: Before, they were aquatic crustacean-like monsters.  Now, they're aquatic outsiders trapped ages ago in a bizarre shell form, and they can't remember why.  I just can't really get a read on these creatures and what role they're supposed to fill in a campaign.  My verdict: Guilty as Charged!

*Wolf-in-Sheep's Clothing: The only creature in the book I'd ever actually used, this forest predator (pictured on the cover) with a dumb name disguises itself as a tree stump with a small rabbit or squirrel on it before pouncing on any PC who gets too close.  Its ability to manipulate corpses is creepy, and the book provides some admittedly interesting ideas on how to use a surprise monster that will only ever work on players once.  It's a good try, but my verdict is still: Guilty as Charged!

By my count, the book successfully redeems four of the ten monsters it covers.  That's not bad considering what the writers had to work with.  That being said, I don't really see this book as being useful for anyone but real old-school gamers who would get a little kick out of seeing a modern updating on an old loser of a monster.  Everyone else could happily stick to the six Pathfinder bestiaries for all their monster needs.  To me, that makes Misfit Monsters Redeemed among the least essential books in the Campaign Setting line.