Pathfinder Chronicles: Classic Monsters Revisited (OGL)

4.70/5 (based on 35 ratings)
Pathfinder Chronicles: Classic Monsters Revisited (OGL)
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Pathfinder and the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path famously reimagined goblins, detailing their culture, mannerisms, and tactics in a way that made a boring old monster one of the most hotly discussed foes in fantasy roleplaying. Now, the minds that bring you Pathfinder have applied the same method to ten "classic" monsters, providing complete ecological discussions and adventure ideas involving orcs, ogres, goblins, hobgoblins, trolls, bugbears, and more in this lavishly illustrated, full-color 64-page overview that is both fun to read and fun to use at the gaming table.

Designed for use with the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting but easily portable to any fantasy campaign, Classic Monsters Revisited is a resource gamers can turn to again and again.

Written by James Jacobs et al.

ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-079-7

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

Hero Lab Online
Fantasy Grounds Virtual Tabletop
Archives of Nethys

Note: This product is part of the Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscription.

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4.70/5 (based on 35 ratings)

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The First and Still the Best

5/5

As the first "Revisited" book, Classic Monsters established the formula that has been used ever since. This book covers all the classic fantasy monsters that have been standard for rope-playing games for decades. We see them in new lights as not just the " villains" and "monsters" of our games (as the villain rarely sees themselves as such), but a fully alive sentient beings. They have loves, desires, wants and fears. They just don't sit in a dungeon room waiting for you to show up, they have their own lives going on independent pf the players. The cultures of each are amazing, and made me interested in monsters like the lizard folk or minotaurs that I never cared for. It made me have nightmares of Bugbears outside my window and even sometime sympathize with what are arguable right bastards. Probably my single favorite part of the book is that Ogre mothers talk of the Trolls who come down the mountain to kidnap little Ogre children and eat them. The books shows that even the monsters that we fear have those they fear as well. This bit of humanity in these so called "monsters" adds even more depth to the deepest RPG in the industry today.


Portuguese - Br

4/5

Devido ao pouco conteúdo de regras (até porque ele é do período de indecisão se a Paizo aderiria a quarta edição ou não) esse livro só é recomendado a quem não quer utilizar os humanóides clássicos do dungeons and dragons como meras buchas de canhão. Algumas das novas características e personalidades das criaturas podem render ótimas histórias ou pelo menos adicionar profundidade a raças que nunca tiveram nenhuma (mesmo os artigos mais rasos dão muitos detalhes sobre a sociedade e cultura desses povos que hoje em dia não são encontrados em muitos lugares). Para aqueles que se interessam em tratar os humanóides como culturas antagonistas, o livro e excelente e mesmo não fugindo do maniqueísmo clássico do D&D, pelo menos ele torna esses monstros e monstros verdadeiros que merecem serem mortos ao atacado (e não apenas porquê tem um circulo vermelho embaixo do pé deles).


Required Reading for RPG Monster Book Writers

5/5

I just got this book today, and, though it only contains 10 of the most basic and generic monsters found in any Fantasy RPG, it has leaped to an undisputed position at the top of my list of favorite monster books - nothing else comes close.

This should be required reading for writers of RPG monster book "fluff"! It seems that RPG writers have been pretty lazy about these sorts of monsters, giving a token nod to the likes of Goblins and Orcs as "oh, there's also some generic Tolkien-inspired cannon fodder... now, let's move on to some interesting stuff!" But in this book, the writers give these monsters the attention they deserve.

My favorite entries are for Goblins, Bugbears, and Ogres, which seem particularly alive and vivid as images from effective and memorable horror films, so that these monsters become unforgettable and vividly nightmarish.

This book, light on stats, would be right at home on the shelves of DMs running anything from Pathfinder or D&D (3rd and 4th), to Call of Cthulhu, and a number of these monsters can even be adapted to stories for RPGs based on Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5, X-Files, and Supernatural.

This book should have been produced a long time ago, and should have been built into D&D by now :)


Fantastic.

5/5

Plenty of information to make a whole adventure or campaign arc revolving around any one of the monster types included. This gives each of the generic monsters its own flavor and motivations, and the whole thing was just a fun read. Make more of these for other monsters!




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Dark Archive

Can anyone share with me the full list of monsters that are included in this book?

Thanks

Jon Brazer Enterprises

Taurren wrote:
Can anyone share with me the full list of monsters that are included in this book?

Bugbears, Gnolls, Goblins, Hobgoblins, Kobolds, Lizardfolk, Minotaurs, Ogres, Orcs and Trolls.


Oh my...


No PDF version available yet ?
Is it scheduled for later ?


Yes, PLEASE get the .pdf out sooner. This request goes for a lot of other products, too. I consolodate a lot of stuff to an online collection, so many print versions aren't that much fun for me. This, as a .pdf...AWESOME!


Seldriss wrote:

No PDF version available yet ?

Is it scheduled for later ?

PDF is available at about the same time that the print version is available in stores, usually about a week or two after it ships to subscribers.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

This is a great read! I loved the new take on just about all the monsters included and can practically feel them fitting right in the Golarion that we've already been exposed to in the last nine months. I can't wait to see where it goes from here. Will there be future versions like this for other classic monsters?

Paizo Employee Chief Creative Officer, Publisher

Buy enough copies of this one and there will be. :)

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

Erik Mona wrote:
Buy enough copies of this one and there will be. :)

You're talking to a SUPERscriber here! A man can only buy so much. But I will pimp it to all my friends and gaming compatriots.


I finished reading this last night - what a great book! Lots of great Golarion-monster-flavor and plenty of interesting tid bits to create unique and memorable encounters and NPC's. The crunch that is included is "just the right amount", IMO: a stat block for each creature and something special for each one (a couple feats, a variant statblock, a unique weapon, etc.) Great job, Paizo.

Just one question... what's a crocottan, referenced in the gnoll chapter?


Wait- The .pdf is $17.99, too. Am I reading it correctly that the .pdf is the same price as the print edition? I would be surprised, from past purchases where .pdfs were cheaper than the printed copy. Any help?


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Unless I am mistaken Classic Monsters Revisited (both print and pdf) contains no open content, and does in fact attempt to close content that was previously open as part of the SRD.

Classic Monsters Revisited p1 wrote:
Except for the material designated as Product Identity (see above), the Appendix of this Paizo Publishing game product is Open Game Content, as defined in the Open Gaming License...

This refers to an appendix as the only part of Classic Monsters Revisited (CMR) which contains open content. Unfortunately CMR does not contain an appendix.

I am sure that this is accidental, as the declaration quoted above is identical to the one in Guide to Korvosa (which does contain an appendix) - I suspect that the same layout template is being used for the Pathfinder Chronicles products, and changes to the declaration where missed before publication.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Szombulis wrote:
Wait- The .pdf is $17.99, too. Am I reading it correctly that the .pdf is the same price as the print edition? I would be surprised, from past purchases where .pdfs were cheaper than the printed copy. Any help?

D'oh! It's $12.99. Fixed. Thanks!

Dark Archive

I ordered this product a couple of weeks ago through my hobby store. When I went to pick it up this week, he told me it was canceled and wouldn't be available for order until 4/30. What gives?

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

joela wrote:
I ordered this product a couple of weeks ago through my hobby store. When I went to pick it up this week, he told me it was canceled and wouldn't be available for order until 4/30. What gives?

The official retail release date for this product is indeed April 30. (The retail release date is usually set around two weeks after we ship it from our warehouse because it takes a little while to get from us to our distributors and then from our distributors to your retailer.)

Dark Archive

Vic Wertz wrote:
joela wrote:
I ordered this product a couple of weeks ago through my hobby store. When I went to pick it up this week, he told me it was canceled and wouldn't be available for order until 4/30. What gives?
The official retail release date for this product is indeed April 30. (The retail release date is usually set around two weeks after we ship it from our warehouse because it takes a little while to get from us to our distributors and then from our distributors to your retailer.)

That's good to know. I'll schedule my orders in a similar fashion. Thanks!


Is this product related in any way to the pathfinder alpha RPG? Is this a monster manual equivalent, or no?

Liberty's Edge

Crave wrote:
Is this product related in any way to the pathfinder alpha RPG? Is this a monster manual equivalent, or no?

No. This is a fluff book about a few classic monsters like goblins, trolls, orcs, etc. We likely won't see a monster manual for Pathfinder until the final version comes out.


I think a friend of mine gave this book the best compliment I can imagine the other day. We've both even following the saga of 4E and after reading Classic Monsters Revisited for ten minutes he turned to me and said "Wow, it's like I'm reading proper D&D again."

So thank you, Paizo, for giving us Proper D&D once again.

Verdant Wheel

Yeah, it´s like the good ol´times are back. It´s a really endearing book. Makes me remenber old times like Mystara where humanoids had a life.

The book refers a lot about Shamans and Witch Doctors. There will be new classes or both are others names for adepts ? Because i really guess they aren´t Spirit Shaman or Warlocks.

And some monsters like Kobold and Bugbears really deserved some special upgrade levels like Kobold Paragon or Bugbear Paragon to make for unique villains without devolve to standards class powers.

Dark Archive

I couldn't have run the opening of Burnt Offerings without this gem, to drive home the hilarous scenes my gaming group will reminiscence for quite some time. And I expect to turn to those 6 pages on goblins many more times.

Guess the same applies to running "Crown of the Kobold King" and its predecessor and upcoming sequel, if you look at the 6 pages on kobolds in this book.

And that's my biggest gripe with this product: the product policy behind it. It wouldn't hurt Paizo adventures to come stocked with those respective 6 pages or even a strongly boiled down version thereof. In the case at hand, why not spend one page in Runelords 1 on Goblin metabolism (which really EXPLAINS their food distractions during combat) and Goblin fears? Just tacked onto James Jacob's Ten Funny Facts about goblins? It's little, and it makes a VAST difference.

So I'm rather ambiguous about this product. As to content: 5 stars - definite recommendation. Product policy: 1 star.

That said, I'm not sure my criticism is valid as regards the current product line. I'm getting behind with my DMing, but it seems Crimson Throne instalments don't require you to buy extra books to play them to the hilt.

Frog God Games

Draco Bahamut wrote:

Yeah, it´s like the good ol´times are back. It´s a really endearing book. Makes me remenber old times like Mystara where humanoids had a life.

The book refers a lot about Shamans and Witch Doctors. There will be new classes or both are others names for adepts ? Because i really guess they aren´t Spirit Shaman or Warlocks.

I can't speak for the other contributors, but when I referred to shamans and witchdoctors I was harkening back to something along the lines of the old 1e DMG where it gave these distinctions to humanoid spellcasters: shamans basically as clerics (or perhaps 3.5 adepts) and witchdoctors as a sort of wizard/cleric combo. The good ol' times are back indeed (which is exactly what I was shooting for, so I'm glad you thought so). :-)

Frog God Games

T'Ranchule wrote:

I think a friend of mine gave this book the best compliment I can imagine the other day. We've both even following the saga of 4E and after reading Classic Monsters Revisited for ten minutes he turned to me and said "Wow, it's like I'm reading proper D&D again."

So thank you, Paizo, for giving us Proper D&D once again.

Maybe the best compliment ever given to an RPG product...


Any plans to reprint this?

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Andre Caceres wrote:
Any plans to reprint this?

Yep... but it will probably take a few months....


Vic Wertz wrote:
Andre Caceres wrote:
Any plans to reprint this?
Yep... but it will probably take a few months....

You know Vic, if I may call you that, you are so fast its scary with responses.

Moreover, go home some time, pop a beer and relax, just a little. Jeez.

But thanks just wanted to know.

Dark Archive

I saw my first post-Dungeon, Dragon magazine Paizo product on the RPG shelves today at B&N. There, tucked between the typical WotC D&D books (4E AND 3.x edition) and WW, was Classic Monsters Revisited.

Coolio.


Wouah the art, man! It's greaaat!! And aside from the gnolls entry, the descriptions are awesome. I just don't understand why these "classic monsters" are not more put to use in monthly pathfinder adventure path & modules (aside from gobs). When are we getting orcs for Gary's sake?


Reprint of print edition soon?


Clarice wrote:
Wouah the art, man! It's greaaat!! And aside from the gnolls entry, the descriptions are awesome. I just don't understand why these "classic monsters" are not more put to use in monthly pathfinder adventure path & modules (aside from gobs). When are we getting orcs for Gary's sake?

Gnolls seem to be big for AP4. Will we be seeing gnollish feats from this work in that work? Work it baby!

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

William Crispin wrote:
Reprint of print edition soon?

We've had to prioritize our reprints lately, and Classic Monsters isn't quite ready to go into the queue yet. We're hoping to work it in so that it arrives around the same time that Dragons Revisited is out.... so maybe February, plus or minus.


*Sniff, sniff*

I love you guys.

Dark Archive

Kruelaid wrote:

*Sniff, sniff*

I love you guys.

Finally read it Kruelaid ?

: )

Scarab Sages

If you can not wait for a reprint I have found this item for sale in the UK. This store has a few that are very cheap.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:I T&item=390022156285


I just ordered one from Amazon.com for about $12.00. I don't remember how many they had left, but you might try there. They are showing they have 35 used copies for around $10.

As the Old Used Car Salesman used to say, "Hurry and get them while they last".

Scarab Sages

Wow, it appears I really dropped the ball on this one. Can someone tell me the release date for PC: Classic Monsters Revisited? I thought that I got in on the Chronicles subscription on the ground floor but I somehow missed this one it seems. Of course I have been out of touch off and on for years now so this is hardly a surprise. Anyway, I will order it as soon as I can be sure that I don't already own it.

Tam

If you by chance are wondering how I can be uncertain if I own it or not, the physical copies go to my home in the US, I haven't actually seen or held any of them.

Sovereign Court

Tambryn wrote:

Wow, it appears I really dropped the ball on this one. Can someone tell me the release date for PC: Classic Monsters Revisited? I thought that I got in on the Chronicles subscription on the ground floor but I somehow missed this one it seems. Of course I have been out of touch off and on for years now so this is hardly a surprise. Anyway, I will order it as soon as I can be sure that I don't already own it.

Tam

If you by chance are wondering how I can be uncertain if I own it or not, the physical copies go to my home in the US, I haven't actually seen or held any of them.

If you have a subscription and it was sent to you as part of a subscription it will show up in your my downloads page.

It came out in April last year.

Scarab Sages

Roger. I wonder if there is anyway I can tell when my Chronicles sub started.

Just wandering aimlessly at this point, I will no doubt order it from amazon soon.

Tam

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Tambryn wrote:
Roger. I wonder if there is anyway I can tell when my Chronicles sub started.

You can work it out by looking at your order history.

You subscribed after the Rise of the Runelords Item Cards, the Rise of the Runelords Map Folio, the Guide to Korvosa, and Classic Monsters Revisited had been released.


Is there any hope of getting another print run of this and getting it in stock so I could obtain it?

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Ankounite wrote:
Is there any hope of getting another print run of this and getting it in stock so I could obtain it?

Not within the next several months. We're reserving our resources for printing the Pathfinder RPG this summer. I'd really like to get it back on the press shortly after that, though...


Sounds fair. I'll just have to wait for it to get another run then.

Vic Wertz wrote:
Ankounite wrote:
Is there any hope of getting another print run of this and getting it in stock so I could obtain it?
Not within the next several months. We're reserving our resources for printing the Pathfinder RPG this summer. I'd really like to get it back on the press shortly after that, though...


I'd also like to get a print copy of this, what's the estimated date that this will see print again?


Pity you can't pre-order a reprint. Or pre-order PDFs for that matter. (PFRPG Bestiary and Core Rulebook? I'm looking at you.)

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

xoid wrote:
Pity you can't pre-order a reprint.

When it gets to the point that we actually have a schedule for reprinting, we'll probably flip the switch to allow you to backorder it.

xoid wrote:
Or pre-order PDFs for that matter. (PFRPG Bestiary and Core Rulebook? I'm looking at you.)

That's trickier. Our entire PDF ordering process is built around the notion that they're always available immediately, and changing it would be very, very complicated. On the other hand, since they're PDFs, you don't need to worry about them selling out before you get a chance to order your copy!


I bought the hardcopy of Classic Monsters Revisited and the PDF separately. All the other PDFs of Pathfinder Chronicles books in my downloads have a whole-book PDF and a by-chapter PDF but this one I only got a whole-book PDF. Are the by-chapter PDFs only available as part of subscriptions, or should I have one available in my downloads, or was a by-chapter PDF not available for this book?

It's been awhile since I bought the PDF, I've just been putting off asking about it.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Wolf Munroe wrote:

I bought the hardcopy of Classic Monsters Revisited and the PDF separately. All the other PDFs of Pathfinder Chronicles books in my downloads have a whole-book PDF and a by-chapter PDF but this one I only got a whole-book PDF. Are the by-chapter PDFs only available as part of subscriptions, or should I have one available in my downloads, or was a by-chapter PDF not available for this book?

It's been awhile since I bought the PDF, I've just been putting off asking about it.

We didn't start doing the by-chapter PDFs on the Chronicles line until the Campaign Setting came out, I believe.


Vic Wertz wrote:
Wolf Munroe wrote:

I bought the hardcopy of Classic Monsters Revisited and the PDF separately. All the other PDFs of Pathfinder Chronicles books in my downloads have a whole-book PDF and a by-chapter PDF but this one I only got a whole-book PDF. Are the by-chapter PDFs only available as part of subscriptions, or should I have one available in my downloads, or was a by-chapter PDF not available for this book?

It's been awhile since I bought the PDF, I've just been putting off asking about it.

We didn't start doing the by-chapter PDFs on the Chronicles line until the Campaign Setting came out, I believe.

Alright, thanks. That was the first book I got in my Chronicles subscription. I just wasn't sure if I was missing something or not.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

We've recovered a few cases of this long-sold-out book from one of our distributors. Grab 'em quickly, 'cause they probably won't last long!


surely there is the demand to keep this in print?

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