Paizo To Make Kingmaker Bestiary... For D&D 5E!

thundershot · May 3, 2019

So let me get this straight... they’re doing a PF2E Kingmaker book.. and a 5E book essentially converts the things that need converted (monsters)

Ash Mantle · May 3, 2019

I like that Paizo are starting small with a bestiary conversion for 5e rather than a full on conversion of the full adventure path.
However, I'll also like a steamlined conversion of the kingdom building rules for 5e, as well as those awesome sidequest encounters in the form of the wanted posters in the front and back covers of the old softcover printings. I'm unsure if just a conversion of the bestiary sections from the Kingmaker AP will be enough to fill a hardcover, unless they also decide to include some other Pathfinder monsters, that fit into the theme of Kingmaker, from their bestiaries into the conversion.

It'll also be cool if they could include the statblocks of some named characters from the AP as a whole, in the same vein as how Wizards includes named characters in the bestiary sections of their adventure modules.

I also appreciate that more details will be revealed in the upcoming months.

Mistwell · May 3, 2019

Malovech said:
The door has cracked open...

Yeah. They're dipping their toe in the water.

If this sells well, I expect that door will be opened wide.

The question is, are the rumors about 2e enthusiasm being on the weak side true and this is a sign they're looking at a backup plan? My guess is no, but I can't be sure. This is pretty surprising.

Ash Mantle · May 3, 2019

Mistwell said:
Yeah. They're dipping their toe in the water.

If this sells well, I expect that door will be opened wide.

The question is, are the rumors about 2e enthusiasm being on the weak side true and this is a sign they're looking at a backup plan? My guess is no, but I can't be sure. This is pretty surprising.

I think it'll help their market visibility, and if the 5e players like the content of what Paizo produces they might even start investing in Pathfinder 2.0, and Paizo could expand their sales that way.
From what I've seen of the reception on their own forums though, it doesn't look promising, there's a few Pathfinder 1.0 players on that same thread who won't even buy a Pathfinder 2.0 compilation but will buy a Pathfinder 1.0 compilation in a heartbeat. But that's also just the forums.

Ash Mantle · May 3, 2019

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
How many new monsters were in Kingmaker? Or are there a lot of Pathfinder critters in it that aren't already in 5E?

Even if this is just, effectively, a bunch of 5E stats to make the Kingmaker 2E work with 5E, this sounds pretty good. If it's a substantial collection of Paizo beasties for 5E, that's even better.

From Stolen Lands, we get the Carbuncle, Drekavac, Elk, River Elk, Megaloceros, Taztlwrym, Thawn, Thylacine, Brush Thylacine.
From Rivers Run Red, we get Ceratiodi, The Grim White Stag, Hodag, Rorkoun, Trollhound.
From The Varnhold Vanishing, we get Blodeuwedd, Clawbat, Great Cyclops, Peluda, Stygira.
From Blood for Blood, we get Ahuizotl, Bog Strider, Calathgar, Fungus Leshy, Nuckelavee.
From War of the River Kings, we get First Blade, Irlgaunt, Verdurous Ooze, Greater Verdurous Ooze, Warsworn.
From Sound of a Thousand Screams, we get Ankou, Dweomercub, Dweomercat, Grodair, Skrik Nettle, Zomok.

It should be noted that both the Grim White Stag and the First Blade are the semi-divine heralds of the Pathfinder gods Erastil and Gorum respectively, so hopefully there's some context of the deities they serve.

If the wandering monster encounter tables feature some monsters that are in Pathfinder but not yet in 5e, they could work on converting those too.

mach1.9pants · May 3, 2019

Mistwell said:
Yeah. They're dipping their toe in the water.

If this sells well, I expect that door will be opened wide.

The question is, are the rumors about 2e enthusiasm being on the weak side true and this is a sign they're looking at a backup plan? My guess is no, but I can't be sure. This is pretty surprising.

If the answers on the Paizo forum are anything to go by, 2E is very divisive. Lots of 'no interest in 2E no sale' and 'can't believe they're supporting 5E before their own 1E' posts. More negative than positive. But, I guess, most of the Paizo forum peeps are the most invested in 1E.

Parmandur · May 3, 2019

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
How many new monsters were in Kingmaker? Or are there a lot of Pathfinder critters in it that aren't already in 5E?

Even if this is just, effectively, a bunch of 5E stats to make the Kingmaker 2E work with 5E, this sounds pretty good. If it's a substantial collection of Paizo beasties for 5E, that's even better.

According to Mike Mearls, the hardest part of Tales from the Yawning Portal was translating the 3.0 custom NPC stat blocks into 5E stat blocks: so it's more the specificity of 3.x NPC building that would necessitate that much information.

Parmandur · May 3, 2019

Mistwell said:
Yeah. They're dipping their toe in the water.

If this sells well, I expect that door will be opened wide.

The question is, are the rumors about 2e enthusiasm being on the weak side true and this is a sign they're looking at a backup plan? My guess is no, but I can't be sure. This is pretty surprising.

I'd say this is definitely testing interest in a backup plan, should the need arise.

Henrix · May 3, 2019

Reaching out to make 5e players aware of their excellent adventure paths seems like a really good idea.

I'd love to see them cooperate with wizards to get some of their old Dungeon stuff out as well.