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All monsters and new rules from Preview Bestiary II are now posted on http://www.d20pfsrd.com.
For those who might not know, click on "Bestiary" in the left-side menu and then "Preview Bestiaries". The new rules are highlighted in blue, the new monsters are shuffled into the list on the right.
The new monsters (and direct links) are:
New Rules:
Thanks, guys!
Wow, I really love the art (except for the Shadow)! Ooh, even me daddy is in there! ;)
I'm just concerned about incorporeal undead still doing a bit too much ability damage -- a shadow might drain a STR 18 character in three rounds (anyone who used groups of shadows against a small party in 3E probably knows what I'm talking about). Also, the random [and too long, for my taste] duration of ghoul's paralysis is something that I hoped would be fixed (i.e. one or two rounds would be better for a low-CR monster; my own playtest campaign almost ended with two ghouls managing to paralyze half of the party).
Otherwise it all looks very good!
DM Jeff
(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules, GameMastery Maps Subscriber)
I was hoping that it would clear up when damage reduction is SU or EX. :-(
My preference; all DR is Exceptional. It should work in antimagic areas, which DOES mean that some DR is gonna be particularly bad-ass in antimagic areas. That's cool, I think.
Still no collection of outsider traits :-(
The rules and traits for all of the primary monster types, like Outsider, are in the Bestiary. They're not previewed in these previews because that information isn't really necessary to simply run the monster in an adventure, which is what the previews are really meant for. Also... we don't want to show off EVERYTHING for free!
Love the illos. :)
My one gripe about this product, although I realize it's inevitable with the release of a new game, is that it seems to be essentially "SRD monsters with revisions," whereas I'd much rather see some new stuff.
Presumably that'll be in "Bestiary II" in 2010 sometime...
-The Gneech
There ARE some new things in the first Bestiary, but we're not previewing many of them (although in the first preview we DID show off the crag linnorm and the tengu). The majority of the monsters in the Bestiary are indeed monsters from the SRD, though, since that's the whole point of the book.
If you can't wait for new monsters, you should check out Pathfinder Adventure Paths. Each and every volume has 4–6 new monsters in it.
I was hoping that it would clear up when damage reduction is SU or EX. :-(My preference; all DR is Exceptional. It should work in antimagic areas, which DOES mean that some DR is gonna be particularly bad-ass in antimagic areas. That's cool, I think.
Still no collection of outsider traits :-(The rules and traits for all of the primary monster types, like Outsider, are in the Bestiary. They're not previewed in these previews because that information isn't really necessary to simply run the monster in an adventure, which is what the previews are really meant for. Also... we don't want to show off EVERYTHING for free!
My preference is DR type/material is Ex, Alignment/magic/epic is SU.
And I was hoping for clarification of the outsider traits for any tiefling characters.
Editor alert: the Mummy is missing his monster icons.
This is actually a "Art Director alert." But it's also not a big deal; the icons are there in the print copy of the book. For whatever reason they aren't showing up in the PDF, which MIGHT be a problem with your viewer interacting strangely with the PDF.
Anyway... it's all cool in the print book, so no worries.
Editor alert: the Mummy is missing his monster icons.This is actually a "Art Director alert." But it's also not a big deal; the icons are there in the print copy of the book. For whatever reason they aren't showing up in the PDF, which MIGHT be a problem with your viewer interacting strangely with the PDF.
Anyway... it's all cool in the print book, so no worries.
After reading this I tried it out in Acrobat Reader 9 too...same problem there.
Really, not a big deal! Just wanted to mention it in case it was a 2-minute fix.
The preview looks great!
But one minor quibble - I am confused a bit by the bone devil though - the text says it will use quickened invisibility after each attack, but it has quickened invisibility as an ability only 3x / day.
Does the quicken spell-like ability feat allow it to use its at-will invisibility quickened as often as it wants? Is this redundant with the 3x/day use? (or does the feat grant the 3x / day use?)
The preview looks great!
But one minor quibble - I am confused a bit by the bone devil though - the text says it will use quickened invisibility after each attack, but it has quickened invisibility as an ability only 3x / day.
Does the quicken spell-like ability feat allow it to use its at-will invisibility quickened as often as it wants? Is this redundant with the 3x/day use? (or does the feat grant the 3x / day use?)
Quickened Spell-Like Ability is likely giving it the quickened invisibility three times per day. I believe, without the feat, it wouldn't have quickened invisibility. For the tactics, I assume it means that it keeps on repeating it until it is out of uses, so after three rounds of attacking and going invisible, it would no longer do that.
Love the illos. :)
My one gripe about this product, although I realize it's inevitable with the release of a new game, is that it seems to be essentially "SRD monsters with revisions," whereas I'd much rather see some new stuff.
Presumably that'll be in "Bestiary II" in 2010 sometime...
-The Gneech
There ARE some new things in the first Bestiary, but we're not previewing many of them (although in the first preview we DID show off the crag linnorm and the tengu). The majority of the monsters in the Bestiary are indeed monsters from the SRD, though, since that's the whole point of the book.
If you can't wait for new monsters, you should check out Pathfinder Adventure Paths. Each and every volume has 4–6 new monsters in it.
Heh ... when I looked at the "tengu," my mind read "kenku," which flagged 'em as "existing stuff." Of course, I always sort of assumed that kenku were based on tengu anyway ... what a strangely incestuous hobby we engage in. 0.o
But like I say, I realize that's the point of the book, which is why I'm more eagerly waiting for the next one. :) I do check out the adventure paths as well, but that's for another thread.
-The Gneech
Heh ... when I looked at the "tengu," my mind read "kenku," which flagged 'em as "existing stuff." Of course, I always sort of assumed that kenku were based on tengu anyway ... what a strangely incestuous hobby we engage in. 0.o
The best re-naming story is about "that other demon subtype".
They were first described by Erik and James as qiloppths in Green Ronin books (Book of Fiends), then when they got to write the Fiendish Codex for Wizards the name "qiloppth" couldn't be used, so they went with obyriths, and when finally the boys got to writing Golarion suddenly the qiloppths were open content while the replacement obyriths were not.
So it's back to qiloppth in a strange magic roundabout way.
Ah, the weird ways of D&D monster legalese, it makes my lawyer heart tingle :)
Great stuff, really looking forward to the book!
Rules question based on the preview:
The Shadow does a Strength damage attack. Is this treated differently than Ability Score damage? The Core suggests you just fall unconcious if your ability damage is greater than your ability score (exeption being Con). The Shadow attack says you die.
Second question:
Immunity/vulnerability: reading the Core details these two things work togeter (i.e. a creature with fire immunity has cold vulnerability). This connection is not noted in the Preview 2. Should I assume any creature with an immunity has the opposite vulnerability? Just looking at Stat blocks does not seem to suggest this.
Thanks in advance for clarifications!
The preview looks great!
But one minor quibble - I am confused a bit by the bone devil though - the text says it will use quickened invisibility after each attack, but it has quickened invisibility as an ability only 3x / day.
Does the quicken spell-like ability feat allow it to use its at-will invisibility quickened as often as it wants? Is this redundant with the 3x/day use? (or does the feat grant the 3x / day use?)
Quickened invisibility is something it can only use 3 times a day. That it uses the ability after each attack doesn't change this... it's the same as saying it uses it after each attack up to three times a day, or three times a day after each attack it uses it. But both of those phrasings are longer sentences, and in order to fit each of these monsters on one page, we had to be VERY succinct and careful not to run over for each one.
The Shadow does a Strength damage attack. Is this treated differently than Ability Score damage? The Core suggests you just fall unconcious if your ability damage is greater than your ability score (exeption being Con). The Shadow attack says you die.
That you die when reduced to Strength 0 from a shadow is a special feature of the shadow's strength damage attack. Otherwise it works the same as any other normal ability damage for the purposes of rules and all... the fact that the shadow's strength damage works slightly different is merely part of the shadow's special powers.
Immunity/vulnerability: reading the Core details these two things work togeter (i.e. a creature with fire immunity has cold vulnerability). This connection is not noted in the Preview 2. Should I assume any creature with an immunity has the opposite vulnerability? Just looking at Stat blocks does not seem to suggest this.
Nope; a creature with an immunity does NOT automatically have the opposite vulnerability.
The "immune to fire/vulnerable to cold" thing is a quality of the fire subtype, not a general rule for all immunities.
Likewise, the "immune to cold/vulnerable to fire" thing is a quality of the cold subtype.
Nope; a creature with an immunity does NOT automatically have the opposite vulnerability.The "immune to fire/vulnerable to cold" thing is a quality of the fire subtype, not a general rule for all immunities.
Likewise, the "immune to cold/vulnerable to fire" thing is a quality of the cold subtype.
This goes exactly counter to the text in Pathfinder RPG, page 562:
"If a creature has fire immunity, it also has vulnerability to cold. If a creature has cold immunity, it also has vulnerability to fire."
Not that I'm complaining--I thought that rule was stupid and was planning to ignore it. I assume that the Pathfinder Bestiary will have a description of energy immunity and vulnerability that clarifies this?
This goes exactly counter to the text in Pathfinder RPG, page 562:
"If a creature has fire immunity, it also has vulnerability to cold. If a creature has cold immunity, it also has vulnerability to fire."
Not that I'm complaining--I thought that rule was stupid and was planning to ignore it. I assume that the Pathfinder Bestiary will have a description of energy immunity and vulnerability that clarifies this?
Yeah... that bit of text is unfortunately unclearly written. It's basically talking about creatures with the Fire subtype. There are plenty of examples of creatures that are immune to fire but not necessarily immune to cold, or vice versa. It's just that most of them do... but only because they have the fire subtype.
I haven't had a chance to look at the preview yet. Does create spawn still work the same way?
Do we have to worry about roaming shadows, wraiths, or spectres slipping into villages and washing out as midnight-black tides of undeath?
Create spawn works differently depending on the monster. For some creatures, their spawn is weaker. For others, it's not. It depends on the monster. But the story plot of an undead monster being able to raise an army, fast, of spawn, is a powerful and classic storyline, and we didn't want to take that away from the undead that create spawn. They generally DON'T do this because they're limited in range, or because (such as the case with ghouls or vampires) are generally pretty canny and smart enough to know that broadcasting their presence by ghouling or vampiring out a whole town is a great way to get yourself staked by an adventurer.
Quickened invisibility is something it can only use 3 times a day. That it uses the ability after each attack doesn't change this... it's the same as saying it uses it after each attack up to three times a day, or three times a day after each attack it uses it. But both of those phrasings are longer sentences, and in order to fit each of these monsters on one page, we had to be VERY succinct and careful not to run over for each one.The preview looks great!
But one minor quibble - I am confused a bit by the bone devil though - the text says it will use quickened invisibility after each attack, but it has quickened invisibility as an ability only 3x / day.
Does the quicken spell-like ability feat allow it to use its at-will invisibility quickened as often as it wants? Is this redundant with the 3x/day use? (or does the feat grant the 3x / day use?)
Thanks to you and BlazeJ for the clarifications :)
I think a very simple change to the text - change "...after each attack..." to "...after an attack..." would avoid my confusion, and make it sound less like something the devil would want to do every round (even though limited to 3x/day), and more like something that could be done judiciously to sow maximum confusion.
I think a very simple change to the text - change "...after each attack..." to "...after an attack..." would avoid my confusion, and make it sound less like something the devil would want to do every round (even though limited to 3x/day), and more like something that could be done judiciously to sow maximum confusion.
Perhaps... but the book's already printed and shipping back overseas to us so it's too late to make that change... and it's too minor a change to include in an errata (and isn't errata anyway). Glad I was able to clear it up though!
Enh...
I hate to say this, but Paizo finally put out something I didn't like. Overall, the preview is great. The new art for the Lemure is fantastic. MUCH better than that old art. This one looks a lot more nasty!
I am sad to say, though, that I am disappointed in what they did with the spiders. I mean, it's nice to see some of the old spider's come back. I missed the crab spider and the black widow. But one thing about 3.5 I really liked was the fact that a large spider was just that, Large. A giant spider was gone, replaced with medium IIRC. I mean, you have three different spiders titled as giant, and one is Small, one is Large, and one is Gargantuan. I liked the fact that a Huge spider was a HUGE spider, a Gargantuan spider was a GARGANTUAN spider. It looks like Paizo might have taken that aspect away.
For once, I'm disappointed, but I still plan to buy the product. After all, I'm an RPG subscriber. It's just that Paizo was cleaning up the game with 3.75, and now they appear to be mudding it up again. Paizo, if you want to bring that those old spiders, great! But please, keep the size/name designators from 3.5. It made it much simpler as a DM, for me to know what I was going be to dealing with.
But one thing about 3.5 I really liked was the fact that a large spider was just that, Large. A giant spider was gone, replaced with medium IIRC. I mean, you have three different spiders titled as giant, and one is Small, one is Large, and one is Gargantuan. I liked the fact that a Huge spider was a HUGE spider, a Gargantuan spider was a GARGANTUAN spider. It looks like Paizo might have taken that aspect away
Yeah, I think that was a step backwards. But what can you do?
