Pathfinder 1E Pathfinder Bestiary - Discussion

[Xendria]

In the Qadira book is the race you are looking for.

Where can I find this book?

 

[James Jacobs]

Ok, all of the above was very informative and all well and good but what about the dinosaurs?

There are eight "dinosaurs" in the book: ankylosaurus, brachiosaurus, deinonychus, elasmosaurus, pteranodon, stegosaurus, triceratops, and tyrannosaurus.

 

[humble minion]

How are the monster advancement rules? Is there any more elegant method for advancing monsters that rely on supernatural or spell-like-abilities, rather than just piling hit dice on and making them physically tougher, or giving them class levels which may not be closely related to their 'schtick'?

 

[James Jacobs]

How are the monster advancement rules? Is there any more elegant method for advancing monsters that rely on supernatural or spell-like-abilities, rather than just piling hit dice on and making them physically tougher, or giving them class levels which may not be closely related to their 'schtick'?

The monster advancement rules are as simple or as complex as you want them to be, frankly. We've removed the "Advancement" line from each monster as a way to encourage GMs to advance monsters however they want. The Bestiary has a rather large appendix that talks about how you build an entirely new monster from scratch (these are the same rules and guidelines we followed ourselves in building the monsters in the book), and these rules work hand in hand with the advancement rules. You CAN simply advance a monster by HD or size, but at the same time you should keep an eye on its other design elements and make sure that the new monster you end up with is sufficiently advanced on ALL fronts, using the first appendix's monster design rules as a guide.

 

[Windjammer]

Re: Demon Lords. There's a pretty good 10-page article by James Jacobs in Pathfinder #18. It doesn't give any stats beyond a CR (usually somewhere around 30) but it's very rich in flavour, as is to be expected given the author. I don't know when the full book is due to release, or how many plan on that purchase, but wanted to mention Pathfinder #18 as a viable option for a teaser or (as in my own case) a treatment of the material at a level of detail that totally satisfies me. It's also an awesome supplement to Fiendish Codex 1, completing that book's list of demon lords with write ups on demon lords that didn't make the WotC book.

Re: Bestiary itself. I'm not sure I like the cover picture, since I miss the original artwork for the Troll (with respect to its nose, for one thing) and don't particularly like Wayne Reynolds' "interpretation" of it. What's more, the picture itself sits too closely to what WAR did for another product. I would have expected something fresher. Quite a let down, if you ask me.

(That's from a Board Game called "Dungeon Twister". The game is available in English, French, and German.)

 

[Grazzt]

...We basically picked and chose demon lords from a mix of open content (thanks, Tome of Horrors!)...

You're welcome

 

[Roman]

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 think this is unfortunate. At least nominal support through LA/ECL would have been nice. Oh well, hopefully, you will indeed return to this issue someday with a dedicated book.

 

[Roman]

Note that Asura's a name we've already claimed for a race of outsiders—a race of lawful evil outsiders based heavily on Indian myth. We've only statted up one Asura so far (in Pathfinder #9), but another one's on the way at some point in Council of Thieves.

Both "Agathion" and "Azata" are based on real world mythos, though. Agathion is a Greek animal spirit, so it seemed logical to make the NG animal-headed outsider race agathions (and having the 1st edition agathion itself be a NG creature from the outer planes is a nice bonus there). The azata is a bit more obscure; the original spelling is in fact "Yazata" and they're from a Zoroastrian concept (check out the Yazata entry in wikipedia for more info).

So while both "guardinal" and "eladrin" are merely made-up words, the names for our equivalents in the PRPG are based on real-world myth and sources. This is a case, I think, where not being able to use the names that WotC claimed as their IP ended up spurring us to come up with even better names, personally!

This is awesome! I absolutely love it when names are taken or derived from real world religions or myths and legends. I too find this approach to naming to be far more agreeable than when designers/companies just pull names out of thin air - that simply has much less appeal.

 

[frankthedm]

SRD bestiary is up.

Monster Index

Tarrasque gets a few upgrades [sblock=New tricks]

It now can shoot those oversized 3E spikes. 120 ft range increment, 6 in a volley +25 to hit, 2d10+6 damage each.

Immunity to permanent wounds. JIC someone tries some shenanigans with vile damage or abilities not yet written.

Can now only be killed by Plot^TM. Wish might still work, but it is no longer the default go-to solution.

Air Tarrasque. He’s probably getting a Nike endorsement.[/sblock]

 

[freyar]

Been browsing the PRD on the web at work. The advancement section is really quite nice!

Did note a few problems, though: a few tables in the advancement rules seem to be partially missing, and I don't see darkvision in the universal monster rules.