Bestiary 3 Commentary

[mach1.9pants]

Dire Kangaroos. As a Kiwi (New Zealander) I think what we really need is stats for the worlds biggest birds during recent times:

The flightless Moa: Moa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Haast Eagle: Haast's Eagle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Both, sadly, extinct

 

[Glade Riven]

But there is still no turkey. Why, oh cruel world? Why?

Oh, well. At least we now have the chocobo..er..axebeak. Titanus Walleri for the win, there. Hopefully Bestiary 4 will have even more megafauna, as well as mammal-like reptiles.

Or at least no new categories of fiends. We have enough, now.

 

[SnowleopardVK]

I was thrilled to finally see a fey template personally, and all the new fey and Tane monsters. I'm a fan of faeries.

Aside from the fey I've already used a few of the various new monsters in B3 myself, and a player of mine is already planning on using one of the new Monster PC races (Suli) for the next time I start a new game.

What disappointed me though was the trend of supporting the Abyss over Hell that Bestiaries 1 and 2 started with, and Bestiary 3 has continued. We have more than enough varieties of fiends for any Abyss adventures these days, but I just sent a party to Hell and was scrambling from the lack of level-appropriate monsters. I had to reskin a lot of things, and apply the fiendish template a lot, with a half-fiend villain at the end.

...So I guess what I'm saying is I hope Bestiary 4 goes to Hell.

 

[frankthedm]

the great race of yith.

Well that is neat! But that just leads to the question 'do they have the Flying Polyps?'

 

[Glade Riven]

No, but according to the Paizo forums, they've been statted and have artwork yet keep getting cut from products.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Fair concern but I was pleased with the purchase.

In the core monster manual, there are creatures I wouldn't use.

In this book, there are creatures that look like some vague substitution/additions of already existing creatures.

If you're a Paizo fan and buy all of the material, there is a lot of duplication.

But it has a lot of nods to previous editions. It has mythos. It has a lot of 'Oriental Adventurer' style monsters to it. It has some fantastic art.

SHort review, if you're looking for some great art, solid layout, nods to the previous editions, mythos monsters, linnorm and eastern style dragons, along with a ton of material, that yeah, you probably never will use, this is your book.

 

[Glade Riven]

Huh...though I posted on this again...oh well.

Wrote a review on Paizo's site. Gave it 4 stars because of how overwhelming all the new categories of fiends were.

I think I've figured out the other thing that bugs me...some of the entries are rather obviously there (or look like they are there) because they didn't have room for them in other books (3 Daemons, 2 demons, and a Devil). Normally, this isn't bad thing, but having those daemons, demons, and a devil thrown in with how fiend-heavy the book already is kinda makes the book look like half of it is built to be Paizo's version of the "Book of Vile Darkness). Other odd-man-outs that were put in don't stick out as much (unless you don't like them putting the previous free-download stuff into the book, which I don't have a problem with).

Forgot to mention...the flying apes do make help make it all worth it.

 

[enrious]

Bestiary 3 rules! And let me give you one simple (if somewhat lengthy) reason why.

Some couple years of so ago, I saw a story through some news outlet of a paleontologist or archaeologist or some such in Australia who had found some remains of a relative of the kangaroo. These kangaroos had thicker, stronger bones than the ones we see nowadays, indicating bigger, stronger musculature. They also had claws. And fangs. Now, the discoverer of this news was a bit heartbroken to see such a nasty variation of the peaceful kangaroo. But I am a gamer, so my reaction was, "Cool! Kangaroo with the Dire Animal Template!" But alas, this idea was of no value without roo stats to apply the DAT onto. I have been planning ever since to do some research on kangaroos to create that write-up on my own.

But Bestiary 3 has saved me the trouble! Behold the glory of page 191 -- "Marsupial, Kangaroo"!!!! And now the packs of Dire Kangaroos can run amok upon the players who have me for a GM. Wonderous, it is wonderous, I tell you.

This made me ponder.

Then it made me wiki:

"Procoptodon was a genus of giant short-faced kangaroo living in Australia during the Pleistocene epoch. P. goliah, the largest known kangaroo that ever existed, stood approximately 2 meters (6'7") tall. They weighed about 230 kilograms (510 lb)."

Then it made me start giggling with maniacal laughter. My PCs are so dead.

 

[Glade Riven]

This made me ponder.

Then it made me wiki:

"Procoptodon was a genus of giant short-faced kangaroo living in Australia during the Pleistocene epoch. P. goliah, the largest known kangaroo that ever existed, stood approximately 2 meters (6'7") tall. They weighed about 230 kilograms (510 lb)."

Then it made me start giggling with maniacal laughter. My PCs are so dead.

Might make an interesting mount, too. Maybe a little awkward to fire a bow from, but think of the jump attacks with a lance.

 

[enrious]

Might make an interesting mount, too. Maybe a little awkward to fire a bow from, but think of the jump attacks with a lance.

And they smell bad...on the outside.