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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alzrius" data-source="post: 9669465" data-attributes="member: 8461">I recently picked up a bunch of PDFs at the tail end of DriveThruRPG's PaizoCon Sale, one of which was <a href="https://legacy.drivethrurpg.com/product/134084/10-AllNew-Giant-Arthropods?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank">10 All-New Giant Arthropods</a> (affiliate link) for PF1 by Octopus Apocalypse.It was...okay.If I sound unenthusiastic, it's because what's on the tin is what's here; no more, no less. That's not a bad thing by any measure, it's just rather unusual for Octopus Apocalypse. And that's not just me taking note of their rather humorous (and somewhat Cthulhoid) name; this is a company that's put out products such as Exotic Races: Sentient Piles of Animate Garbage and 10 All-New Absurd Monsters, with other offerings that feature banana-men and goblins with flumph heads. In other words, it's strange to see them take a particular idea seriously.To be fair, it's not unprecedented. Their Weapon Mastery: Shang Gou book was also straightforward, with none of their trademark humor. But I suppose I expected there to be something atypical in a book with giant arthropods (though I suppose a giant carnivorous butterfly is something of a nod in that direction). As it stands, the monsters here are good. I kind of wish they hadn't used so many close-up pictures of the actual creatures, since those were rather uncomfortable to see in such detail, but it's not like it's unexpected. That said, I can't help but notice that there's design space that was ignored; this book came out more than three years after Paizo's Ultimate Magic gave us rules for <a href="https://pathfinder.d20srd.org/ultimateMagic/spellcastingClassOptions/druid.html#vermin-companions" target="_blank">vermin companions</a> for druids and rangers, so why are there no companion stat blocks for any of the creatures here? Neither is there any guideline about where any of these would appear on a summon monster list. Likewise, while the book is consistent in its focus on giant versions of these monsters, some swarms would have been nice (though you can at least apply the <a href="https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/creature-swarm-template/" target="_blank">creature swarm</a> template easily enough to get that).None of this is a mark against the book per se, and I've mentioned before that I'm not sure how much I can condemn something for what it didn't do. But at the same time, I can't help but be cognizant of the fact that sometimes the difference between a good product and a great one is that the latter goes the extra mile...and this book didn't. If you want some bigger, deadlier vermin, you'll find them here, but just that and nothing more.</blockquote>

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