Bestiary

This page refers to creatures that appear on the Bestiary Section of a Pawn's Status Information. For a comprehensive list of creatures that may be encountered refer to the Enemies or Dark Arisen: Enemies pages.

Overview
Pawns can gain knowledge of beasts either by travelling with their own Arisen or assisting Arisen in other realms. The level of knowledge a pawn has on a foe is represented by three stars.

To gain knowledge, pawns must witness the Arisen or other pawns performing certain actions against an enemy. Some examples include: exploiting weakspots, using the correct element against an enemy, or taking advantage of certain moves the enemy will make to counter them. Knowledge can also be granted from the Arisen using Strategy Scrolls.

Enemies
Enemies are linked into loose classes of creatures. In many cases, performing an action on or defeating one member of the class of creature will result in Knowledge being gained for all or some of the other creatures in that class. Refer to the individual Strategy Scrolls for information about techniques that apply to a class of creature.

Dark Arisen introduced new enemies but no new strategy scrolls. However, if a technique for an existing Strategy Scroll applies to a new creature, then Knowledge will be gained for the new creature as well. See Wolf Strategy Vol. 1 for an example of this, where Wargs and Garm are classed as Wolves.

Goblin Class

 * Goblins
 * Hobgoblins
 * Grimgoblins
 * Greater Goblins (Dark Arisen)
 * Goblin Shamans (Dark Arisen)

Feral Class

 * Wolves
 * Direwolves
 * Hellhounds
 * Wargs (Dark Arisen)
 * Garm (Dark Arisen)

Skeleton Class

 * Skeletons
 * Skeleton Knights
 * Skeleton Lords
 * Skeleton Brutes (Dark Arisen)
 * Skeleton Mages
 * Skeleton Sorcerers
 * Golden Knights (Dark Arisen)
 * Silver Knights (Dark Arisen)

Saurian Class

 * Saurians
 * Sulfer Saurians
 * Geo Saurians
 * Saurian Sages
 * Pyre Saurians (Dark Arisen)

Zombie Class

 * Undead
 * Stout Undead
 * Undead Warriors
 * Giant Undead
 * Poisoned Undead (Dark Arisen)
 * Banshees (Dark Arisen)

Small Flyer Class

 * Harpies
 * Snow Harpies
 * Succubi
 * Sirens (Dark Arisen)
 * Gargoyles
 * Strigoi (Dark Arisen)

Ghost Class

 * Phantoms
 * Phantasms
 * Specters
 * Wraiths (Dark Arisen)
 * Living Armor (Dark Arisen)

Spectral SpellCaster Class

 * Wights
 * Liches
 * Dark Bishops (Dark Arisen)

Cyclops Class

 * Cyclopes
 * Gorecyclopes (Dark Arisen)

Ogre Class

 * Ogres
 * Elder Ogres (Dark Arisen)

Golem Class

 * Golems
 * Metal Golems

Chimera Class

 * Chimeras
 * Gorechimeras

Giant Flyer Class

 * Griffins
 * Cockatrices

Serpentine Class

 * Hydras
 * Archydras

Tentacled Ocular Class

 * Evil Eyes
 * Vile Eyes
 * Gazers (Dark Arisen)
 * Maneaters (Dark Arisen)

Humanoid Class

 * Hostile Soldiers - This should be all the human enemy types that use a shield in the game, not just the guards.
 * Hostile Bandits - This enemy type are all the Bandits in the game that use daggers or bows.
 * Enemy Wizard - This is essentially all humans who cast spells in the game, whether it be Bandits or Salvation.
 * Enemy Person - Page links to Soldiers at the moment. I have created an Enemy Person page, but the info there would only be identical to the Soldier page.

Dragonkin Class

 * Drakes
 * Wyrms
 * Wyverns
 * Cursed Dragons (Dark Arisen)
 * The Dragon (Grigori)
 * Ur Dragon

Other

 * Eliminators (Dark Arisen)
 * Death (Dark Arisen)
 * Daimon (Dark Arisen)
 * The Seneschal

Tactics
Tips for filling out the Pawns Bestiary:
 * There are more than 3 different tactics your pawn will have to observe. Different beasts have different requirements as to how many tactics must be observed.


 * The first star is the easiest to earn, as it appears that you get it from learning one tactic either from a scroll or from observation. The second star is earned when a number of tactics specific to each beast are learned. The third star is earned when all tactics for a beast and his family of creatures have been learned.


 * Some tactics are shared among enemies in the same family.
 * For example using magic against the lion head for chimera and gorechimera. Others may be specific to that enemy. Using the above example, you get bestiary knowledge on a gorechimera by using fire to keep the snake head from growing back after its cut off. The snake doesn't grow back on a regular chimera, so this tactic is specific to the gorechimera version. Knowing this can sometimes help figure out what to do.


 * If all three small dragon types are 2 star, you're likely looking for something that would apply to them all like shooting the mouth while they breathe fire, where if only wyvern is 2 star and drake and wyrm are 3 star, the tactic you're looking for is specific to wyverns and wouldn't apply to the others (shooting a wyverns wings while it flies to ground it, the others will hover but don't fly around like the wyvern).


 * Pay close attention to what your pawns are saying when fighting enemies. They will often tell you what the enemies weaknesses are, even if they don't yet have the star for that tactic.


 * Having pawns with extensive knowledge in your party can help. At higher levels, unequipping a pawn's weapon can prolong fights. It's pretty hard to get bestiary knowledge in a fight that's over before it starts.


 * Using a well rounded party helps. You'll never get the bestiary knowledge for perfect blocking a wolf's lunge with a party of 4 rangers.


 * For elements, it's pretty easy to get a set of weapons that cover all of the elements, which makes covering them easier than having to switch to sorcerer/mage to cast spells or use affinities.


 * Upgrading rusty weapons to 3 stars will give them torpor and poison. Gold weapons to 3 stars apply silence. Easy way to cover a few debilitations even as a melee vocation. You can also use the debilitation jewels if that's easier than changing vocations.


 * Some easily missed or overlooked tactics:


 * Goblins and at least one of the human enemy types have to be frozen solid and then shattered for bestiary knowledge. Just freezing by itself isn't enough.


 * Wolves have to be lit on fire without being killed outright, and also have to be doused by water (good luck hitting a moving wolf with a flask of water, but there's a bestiary tome for this thankfully).


 * Skeletons are damaged by anodyne, so you have to cast it and then have skeletons walk through the glowing cloud.


 * Cockatrices need to be blinded.


 * Undead have to be grabbed and held.


 * Hydra/archydra have to be coaxed into lowering a head by staggering it (arrows work, but single arrows, not 5/tenfold), then an explosive barrel thrown into the mouth, then hit the bulge in the neck to detonate the barrel.


 * Evil Eyes need to be hit by the upper tier sorcerer spells to make them lower their shield.

As a final note, it may be necessary for a pawn to participate in killing a certain number of enemies. The number varies among the enemies; it can be high, like 500 for Direwolves, or lowish, like 15 for Griffins. Some experiments that shed some light on the subject can be found here.