I am working on developing more fantasy Beasts for my story, and need a jumping-off point. Currently I have: -Hippogriff -Gryphon -Hellhound -Unicorn -Pegasus -Ursai (Bear-like beast I made up) -Friesencat (Sabertooth tiger-like beast I made up) -Dragons I've picked these because they can all be used as mounts by my Beast Rider soldiers. But I want to add in other magical beasts to flesh out the story. A forest wouldn't just have big animals, but smaller ones too. And all my magical critters live in the Beast Preserve, so it stands to reason that there would be more than just the above listed ones. What I'm asking for is suggestions for other beasts. Big, small, doesn't matter. Needs to be magical in some way. Doesn't have to be made up by YOU, I like to draw from myths and legends as well. For example, my sister mentioned the Wolpertinger. (Fairly certain she was joking, but....maybe I'll use it anyway lol.)
http://zaffudo.com/sebe/Pathfinder%20Roleplaying%20Game/PZO1112%20Bestiary%20(3rd%20printing).pdf I would also recommend just googling “Magical Bestiary” in general.
I love myths! Jackalopes are fun, basically rabbits with antlers. There is quite a lot of folklore about foxes who can transform into people, often to seek revenge when they've been wronged or to test people. I'm not sure where a phoenix would be said to live but you could always put some in there.
Selkies - creatures that are seals in water and women on land.. I think. It could be vice versa. One artist interprets selkies to be like mermaids, with a seal tail and the top half of a woman. Idk her username on deviantart but if you look up selkies art it will probably come up. Imps - according to google "a small, mischievous devil or sprite" which is kinda weird to me bc in a book I used to have when I was little, imps weren't devils but more like tiny little elves that were mischevious. Oh well. Faeries. A harpy "a rapacious monster described as having a woman's head and body and a bird's wings and claws or depicted as a bird of prey with a woman's face." Night hag "The night hag or old hag is a fantasy creature from the folklore of various peoples which is used to explain the phenomenon of sleep paralysis." Sirens and mermaids (I'm assuming you know what these are) Kelpie - "Kelpie, or water kelpie, is the Scots name given to a shape-shifting water spirit inhabiting the lochs and pools of Scotland. It has usually been described as appearing as a horse, but is able to adopt human form." Idk if there's a proper lore for it but on the sims they have humanoid people called "plantsims" and they can photosynthesize and absorb water, they can reproduce asexually like plants which could be a cool idea. Sorry that a few of these are humanoid creatures (Idk what you're looking for specifically.) If all else fails just splice various creatures together, like Idk a mix of a spider, a hippo and a rabbit. That usually leads to cool creatures.
I use Pinterest to find animal references and creatures from mythology; I like the visual reference and then I can dig deeper through research. It's even useful for fantasy races and creatures in circulation. Otherwise, googling or getting a bestiary from a bookstore is really one of your best bets. I also like Pinterest because I can save/pin references I like for future use. Every culture has their own list of mythical beasts. Some examples include Philippine mythology (e.g. aswang and tikibalang), Slavic mythology (e.g. kikimora and domovoi), Persian mythology (e.g. chamrosh), and Bavarian mythology (e.g. wolpertinger), Native American mythology (e.g. wampus cat, pukwudgie, and wendigo), and French mythology (e.g. rougarou). You could also look at European heraldry for inspiration (e.g. enfield, lindwurm, unicorn, and hippogriff). Dinosaurs and extinct animals are also a great resource (e.g. chalicotherium). I hope this helps. PS I am using the terms folklore and mythology interchangeably. Also, you have to remember that when researching the creatures from mythology that there is a lot of overlap. for example, the chamrosh is similar to the griffin.
