Pathfinder 1E Pathfinder Bestiary - Discussion

[Zaister]

If you can kill him by yourself, then you deserve it! But split among a party of, say, level 20's? sounds about right.

The problem is, you just can't kill him...

 

[Voadam]

How does it handle LA/ECL say if you want to play an ogre or something that won't squish into normal 0 LA 1 ECL?

How about gnolls, if you play one do you still have racial HD?

Would you mind listing the demon lords it uses?

Yay Linnorms!

 

[James Jacobs]

How does it handle LA/ECL say if you want to play an ogre or something that won't squish into normal 0 LA 1 ECL?

LA/ECL is not a part of the Bestiary; this isn't a book of alternate player races. It's a monster book. That said, there is the aforementioned half-page or so of advice in the appendix where we talk a little bit about what to watch out for if you let a player play an ogre or minotaur or something like that. It's certainly possible... but it's not what the game was designed to support. Some day we might do a "Savage Species" style book that looks into the "play monsters as PCs" stuff... but that book isn't this Bestiary.

How about gnolls, if you play one do you still have racial HD?

Yes, you would. Unless the GM houserules their racial HD away.

 

[Alzrius]

Thanks for the details! Just a note: Paizo couldn't use eladrin, since WotC never opened it up (there are no "eladrin" in the SRD for ex, just ghaeles and bralanis).

As a note, there are "eladrin" in the SRD (along with "guardinal") - both terms were accidentally left in some of the summon monster lists.

That said, I understand why Paizo left those alone anyway; WotC's intent was clearly to leave those terms closed, and respecting that was the noble thing to do.

 

[Remathilis]

LA/ECL is not a part of the Bestiary; this isn't a book of alternate player races. It's a monster book. That said, there is the aforementioned half-page or so of advice in the appendix where we talk a little bit about what to watch out for if you let a player play an ogre or minotaur or something like that. It's certainly possible... but it's not what the game was designed to support. Some day we might do a "Savage Species" style book that looks into the "play monsters as PCs" stuff... but that book isn't this Bestiary.

I got mixed emotions on this. On the one hand, I HATE PCs shopping through the monster manual like its a PC book. OTOH, I wouldn't mind balanced PC-worthy stats for things orcs, goblins, minotaurs, or lizardmen.

Put me down for a Savage Species-ish book!

 

[Remathilis]

As a note, there are "eladrin" in the SRD (along with "guardinal") - both terms were accidentally left in some of the summon monster lists.

That said, I understand why Paizo left those alone anyway; WotC's intent was clearly to leave those terms closed, and respecting that was the noble thing to do.

I saw that... I wonder if it would be enough of an opening to use either name in a OGL product?

 

[freyar]

As a note, there are "eladrin" in the SRD (along with "guardinal") - both terms were accidentally left in some of the summon monster lists.

That said, I understand why Paizo left those alone anyway; WotC's intent was clearly to leave those terms closed, and respecting that was the noble thing to do.

That's very interesting. I haven't gone through the summon lists that carefully to notice it.

The only thing I am upset about with the bestiary is the lack of 2 creatures, Illithids and Genasi. I know they probably can't use Genasi but a form of elemental planetouched would've been fantastic. Overall, fantastic artwork and a billion times more useful than the 3E MM. Thanks a bunch Paizo

Definitely couldn't use illithids either, as WotC kept those along with a few other "iconic" D&D monsters out of the SRD and any other OGC.

 

[Aeson]

The problem is, you just can't kill him...

Sylar is a tarrasque? That makes a lot of sense.

 

[frankthedm]

Definitely couldn't use illithids either, as WotC kept those along with a few other "iconic" D&D monsters out of the SRD and any other OGC.

yet the neolithid got in because the psi rules went srd pretty much whole cloth.

 

[Shemeska]

Good catch on the SRD issue. Yes, the lillend is an azata.

Just as a note to head off any confusion, the Bestiary does use some outsider names that come from Golarion, the 3.x eladrin are now azata and guardinals are agathions. However, much of the Golarion specific details of those same outsiders aren't included. For instance, Golarion's angels and agathions are both exclusively NG, two sides of the same coin really, representing specific aspects of their alignment/plane, while 3.x angels and Bestiary angels are deific servitors of any good alignment.

Additionally, unless any specific unique celestials or fiends appear in mythology, they don't appear in the Bestiary, so for instance there's a different list of empyreal lords in the Bestiary versus those that exist for Golarion.