[raniE]

If there are going to be multiple bestiaries anyway, I would prefer a that each one be themed. That makes it easier to remember which book a creature will be in. How narrow the themes should be would depend on how many books are planned. If there's only going to be one big bestiary, just throw everything in there.

If we do end up getting a separate book for humanoids (and yeah, absolutely include orcs, lizard men etc in that one) I would prefer broader write-ups of several possible cultures or ideas for cultures rather than exhaustively detailed mono-cultures. Orcs, elves, dwarfs, goblins, hobgoblins and halflings should exhibit as much cultural variety as humans do.

Maybe have all this kind of variety set up in setting books instead. So beasts get a big book and intelligent monsters another one, but if we want to know about orc cultures we need to open say "Kingdoms of Sharador" or "The Opal Empire" or whatnot and then we'll get details on local cultures, whether human, orc, elf, dwarf, goblin or anything else.