Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bonus Bestiary (OGL)

4.30/5 (based on 13 ratings)
GameMastery Module D0: Hollow's Last Hope (OGL)
Show Description For:
Non-Mint

Add Print Edition $5.00 $1.00

Add PDF FREE

Non-Mint Unavailable

Facebook Twitter Email

Unleash the Beasts!

Get your first look at the future with more than a dozen menacing monsters that we couldn't make room for in the Pathfinder Bestiary. These creatures won't be making an appearance in the Pathfinder RPG for at least a year and will thus only be available in this book for a long while. Showcasing the new rules and flexibility of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, this collection of creatures draws from more than 30 years of gaming history and includes:

  • Deadly beasts and familiar allies, such as allips, caryatid columns, faerie dragons, huecuvas, shadow mastiffs, and more!
  • New rules for monstrous companions, arcane creations, sinister traps, variant creatures, and other options for use with both 3.5 and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
  • Explanations of never-before-seen rules being included in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
  • A preview listing of nearly every monster to be included in the upcoming Pathfinder Bestiary
  • Reimaginings of some of the most iconic creatures in gaming, vibrantly illustrated by some of the best artists in fantasy

Add a taste of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game to your campaign today with this official manual of Pathfinder monstrosities!

This 16-page supplement was initially made available for Free RPG Day on June 20, 2009.

Note: Due to the special nature of this product, it is NOT part of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Subscription.

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

Archives of Nethys

Product Availability

Print Edition:

Available now

Ships from our warehouse in 11 to 20 business days.

PDF:

Fulfilled immediately.

Non-Mint:

Unavailable

This product is non-mint. Refunds are not available for non-mint products. The standard version of this product can be found here.

Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at store@paizo.com.

PZO9500-3


See Also:

1 to 5 of 13 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | next > last >>

Average product rating:

4.30/5 (based on 13 ratings)

Sign in to create or edit a product review.

In a way, it all starts here!

3/5

Is it sheer coincidence or proof of cosmic synchronicity that my personal rotation of reading has scheduled me to review Paizo's 2009 Free RPG Day offering on the same day as 2019's Free RPG Day? We'll let the metaphysicians chew that one over, but in the meantime, I'll discuss the Bonus Bestiary.

This sixteen-page, full-color, softcover product served as something of a preview of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, as it was released just several weeks before the Core Rulebook debuted. It introduces the overall look of monster stat blocks in the game and (I assume) gave players some monsters to work with prior to the release of the first Bestiary. The twelve monsters it includes weren't included in that book, so it had some value even past the first year of the game's existence (it looks like most of these were included in Bestiary 3 in 2011). You can judge the cool cover art yourself (I didn't realize water nagas were so scary!), but here's a description of the contents.

The inside front cover is a listing of the 300+ monsters that were to appear in the Bestiary so readers could get a sense of what to look forward to. The inside back cover is the classic: "3.5 Survives! 3.5 Thrives!" advertisement for PF1. I should really get a poster of that advertisement for display somewhere.

After a credits/table of contents page, the next two pages discuss a couple of rules developed uniquely for Pathfinder: the concepts of Combat Maneuver Bonus and Combat Maneuver Defense. These were elegant simplifications on how to resolve things like trips, disarms, grapples, etc., without having separate formulas for each type. There's also an explanation of how diseases and poisons are formatted. The rest of this introductory material explains Pathfinder's approach to Universal Monster Rules, and gives some samples. It all shows the designers spent a lot of time thinking about how to do monster stat blocks in an intelligent and user-friendly manner.

Now, on to the monsters. A high-DC Perception check will notice some very minor differences in how the stat blocks in the Bonus Bestiary are formatted compared to the actual Bestiary: the CR/XP entry is slightly different, and there's a fixed gold piece "treasure value" instead of a reference to treasure categories like "Standard", etc.. I might actually prefer the explicit gold piece value, approach, but that's neither here nor there now, not to mention a decade's time travel away. Each of the twelve monster entries is illustrated, though the artwork styles are a bit more inconsistent than later Paizo books.

1. Allip: Super creepy undead resulting from the death of the mad or suicidal. Their special abilities fit well.

2. Ant Lion, Giant: Never actually seen these in a game, but I like their little sand trap ability.

3. Ascomoid: Never heard of this--some kind of giant puffball fungus. Frankly pretty goofy, and really more a supernatural hazard than a monster.

4. Axe Beak: If you have bird phobia, watch out! Good to see training and animal companion rules--a reminder of another thing the Pathfinder team did well.

5. Caryatid Column: Essentially lesser stone golems, but their "shatter weapons" ability could be really nasty. If I were a mean GM, I'd toss these in any time a melee character got on my nerves.

6. Dragon, Faerie: These sorts of creatures aren't really my thing, as they verge more on the cartoonish. Still, I have to admit the artwork is really colourful and they might be fun to have as a familiar.

7. Dragonne: Kind of a bland lion/dragon mix. Rules for mounts (using Leadership) and animal companions.

8. Hag, Annis: The artwork here is great, capturing the size and hunch-backed nature perfectly (though perhaps making them look like undead).

9. Huecuva: Heretical undead clerics; an interesting concept but they need a power boost to really work well.

10. Lammasu: I guess this is a lion/eagle mix. I think maybe some of these entries were omitted from the first Bestiary for a reason.

11. Naga, Water: Cooler on the cover than here.

12. Nixie: Okay, I guess.

13. Shadow Mastiff: Cool artwork and "shadow blend" makes them fearsome foes for their CR.

Overall, there's a good mix in the book of different monster types: undead, constructs, magical beasts, regular animals, etc. I did notice there aren't any high-CR threats, with the CR 8 Lammasu as the highest.

Paizo took the same approach with its Free RPG Day 2017 product when getting ready to debut Starfinder. I'd actually rather have more of a grab-bag preview--maybe one class, a few skills, a few feats, and then a couple of monsters to get a feel for the game as a whole. Anyway, the Bonus Bestiary is still available for purchase as a print product from Paizo (for just $ 1!) or as a free PDF download. Today, the product is really nothing more than a curiosity, but it's a mildly interesting one nonetheless.


Thank Goodness for Free PDFs

3/5

5 stars for the free PDF.

1 star for the print version because it is obsolete.

3 stars overall.


Great Product But..

5/5

This product is obsolete in Pathfinder Society. Purchase Bestiary 3. Thanks


Small book... big monsters

5/5

I have always love monsters and little book has some of my favorites like the Nixie, Annis hag, Faerie dragon, and Dragonne. My only complaint is there not a single monster in this book that should have been in the main Beastiary.


Pretty Schweet Shtuff, Maaaan.

3/5

I personally love the Allip and the Huecuva, but anything undead will always light a fire in my heart. Also, I love the appearance of the Caryatid Column in here. I remember springing one of those on my unsuspecting players in the Undermountain dungeon crawl.

For being a freebie, this is definitely a solid product you should download. The only monster I had a tough time with was the Ascomoid. A rolling spore ball's only weakness is level surfaces! Exploit it!


1 to 5 of 13 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | next > last >>
151 to 200 of 421 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | next > last >>

where do i get it today? or am i really behind the curve


Mat Patel wrote:
where do i get it today? or am i really behind the curve

There's a list of participating retailers at www.freerpgday.com.

Dark Archive

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber

Well I managed to hit Troll and Toad and pickup mine. However my wife apparently under the happy pregnant hormone level today stopped into a different store and picked one up as well. She did this last year too so I may just start planning on getting something else when I pick mine up. However if she didn't pick it up I would screwed for having grabbed something else.

Great looking book and the few entries I have read were great. I will be finishing it up tonight after I now the lawn.

I also picked up Dungeon Denizens revised it too is a great book.

The Exchange

I will have to buy it. Have to!

The Exchange

damnitall22 wrote:

Well I managed to hit Troll and Toad and pickup mine. However my wife apparently under the happy pregnant hormone level today stopped into a different store and picked one up as well. She did this last year too so I may just start planning on getting something else when I pick mine up. However if she didn't pick it up I would screwed for having grabbed something else.

Great looking book and the few entries I have read were great. I will be finishing it up tonight after I now the lawn.

I also picked up Dungeon Denizens revised it too is a great book.

Now, I'm not married so have no real life experience in these things, but maybe you two could ya know, talk about it before hand? Just a thot. ;)

Paizo Employee Director of Game Development

Just grabbed mine at Dragon's Lair in Austin. They had a table with the offering laid out and a one per customer rule. There were three left when I got there.

The book looks great. Certainly an appetizer before the Bestiary!

Dark Archive

I snagged mine today from Evolution Games in Lansing, Michigan. It was about an hour road trip for us, so we consumed mass quantities of caffeine and hit the road. Arrived a half hour before opening and hung out in the parking lot. Made our way in and were the first to the free stuff table.
There before me lay two available bestiaries. Whoo Hoo. But talk about some reserved copies eh? Does anyone know actually how many copies came in each box? Any how my crew proceed to walk out with enough retail to pay for his box o' free stuff with the profits. Free RPG Day works, folks. :D

My copy is beautiful and in my opinion a damn fine selection of monsters and top notch art as always. The product is less than 20 pages and I am a happy satisfied person! Let that stand unto itself.

I hope everyone else got the groovy stuff they wanted. And thanks again to Paizo for offering up a quality product for free.

Dark Archive

Is this thing a free download now? Can't seem to find a download link....

Paizo Employee Director of Game Development

Radavel wrote:
Is this thing a free download now? Can't seem to find a download link....

Monday I believe was said somewhere.

Dark Archive

Thanks very much. I really thought I missed it.

Fantasy Flights said the same thing for their quick start rules for Rogue Trader.

Dark Archive

Got my copies today at Time Machine Hobbies in Manchester, CT today. I got one and my wife got one and my son got one as well. It all great. I can't wait for the actual Beastiary to come out.

Though I have a question behind the spoiler:

Spoiler:
I saw the list of creatures in the Beastiary and I have to wonder why the Hippogriff is not on the list or slated not to be in the final book?

Dark Archive

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber
Darkwolf wrote:
damnitall22 wrote:

Well I managed to hit Troll and Toad and pickup mine. However my wife apparently under the happy pregnant hormone level today stopped into a different store and picked one up as well. She did this last year too so I may just start planning on getting something else when I pick mine up. However if she didn't pick it up I would screwed for having grabbed something else.

Great looking book and the few entries I have read were great. I will be finishing it up tonight after I now the lawn.

I also picked up Dungeon Denizens revised it too is a great book.

Now, I'm not married so have no real life experience in these things, but maybe you two could ya know, talk about it before hand? Just a thot. ;)

Well we do talk about it. She knew I was going to Free RPG Day but she likes to surprise me with D&D stuff all the time. Last year the store I went to had a strict one per customer policy and she was able to get me some stuff from a different store. This year both stores had a liberal policy and so I ended up with more stuff. She also snagged me a copy of Classic Monsters Revisited and the Guide to Absalom.

RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32

Stoopid Eau Claire, Wisconsin...


Joana wrote:

I sent my husband this morning, and he got there before the store opened and waited. The sales clerk mentioned to him how excited she was about Pathfinder and how she couldn't wait for August! Good Paizo buzz!

EDIT: Mairkurion, which Lone Star did you go to? We went to the one in south Arlington.

I went to the one on Mockingbird. On my way back from DFW, where I was dropping off some friends, I stopped at the one in Irving to get my daughter a copy (she's stuck at work today AND in MN--doubly cursed), only to discover that one went kaput.

The Exchange RPG Superstar 2009 Top 8

I went to my local gaming store and picked up PF#20. I didn't even have to tell them what free product I wanted. They pulled it from the box for me when I walked in. Paizo gets all my gaming dollars.


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Got it. Already have Revenge of the Kobold King so I picked up two other things that caught my eye.


damnitall22 wrote:

Well I managed to hit Troll and Toad and pickup mine. However my wife apparently under the happy pregnant hormone level today stopped into a different store and picked one up as well. She did this last year too so I may just start planning on getting something else when I pick mine up. However if she didn't pick it up I would screwed for having grabbed something else.

Great looking book and the few entries I have read were great. I will be finishing it up tonight after I now the lawn.

I also picked up Dungeon Denizens revised it too is a great book.

Hummm you have a store in richmand? where at?

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

Looked like the local store here wasn't very busy today. Got mine with many to spare. Hope they get them all out to people.

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16

Got mine at Games Plus in Mount Prospect, IL - they seem to have ordered 2 or more boxes of Free RPG Day stuff, and were letting people take 2 items. Got the Bestiary and the Hero Lab CD.

The BB is great, and lots of nice rules tidbits in there. I particularly like how leadership can be used to gain monster companions and uses the druid animal companion rules for them, and the implication that Shield Guardians are now a template that can be applied to any golem. The special situational modifiers for outsiders being called with planar ally or planar binding are also cool.

XP being listed next to CR will be very useful, as well as the treasure value in gp. I noticed that the advancement entry is gone, but I assume general rules for that exist.

I was a bit confused by the ascomoid having improved overrun though - since it has trample, would it ever need to use overrun instead? Speaking of overrun, the CMB rules seem to indicate that bull rush and overrun are now part of your move action, which should make them a lot more useful since you won't have to give up your standard action to use them.

Dark Archive

TriOmegaZero wrote:
Looked like the local store here wasn't very busy today. Got mine with many to spare. Hope they get them all out to people.

So unfair -- mine didn't participate at all, and it's part of the biggest RPG store chain around here (in fact, it's the only one that has also 'brick-and-mortar' stores).

Did I understood correctly that I can't order a print copy from Paizo? Because since I *cannot* get a free copy, I would gladly pay for a book.

The Exchange

Asgetrion wrote:
TriOmegaZero wrote:
Looked like the local store here wasn't very busy today. Got mine with many to spare. Hope they get them all out to people.

So unfair -- mine didn't participate at all, and it's part of the biggest RPG store chain around here (in fact, it's the only one that has also 'brick-and-mortar' stores).

Did I understood correctly that I can't order a print copy from Paizo? Because since I *cannot* get a free copy, I would gladly pay for a book.

Linky

Should be available here Monday-ish.

Dark Archive

Darkwolf wrote:
Asgetrion wrote:
TriOmegaZero wrote:
Looked like the local store here wasn't very busy today. Got mine with many to spare. Hope they get them all out to people.

So unfair -- mine didn't participate at all, and it's part of the biggest RPG store chain around here (in fact, it's the only one that has also 'brick-and-mortar' stores).

Did I understood correctly that I can't order a print copy from Paizo? Because since I *cannot* get a free copy, I would gladly pay for a book.

Linky

Should be available here Monday-ish.

Oh, that's great! I hope I'll be quick enough to grab a print copy... :)

Paizo Employee Director of Game Development

deathboy wrote:

Though I have a question behind the spoiler:

** spoiler omitted **

You might note the list is an incomplete list.

Grand Lodge

Vic Wertz wrote:
Andrew Betts wrote:
I drove to the nearest store. Got there when it opened. They opened up the boxes. They got twice as many of one item and no Bestiaries ... I nearly cried. Twas the only thing I wanted to get from Free RPG Day ... 2 hours of driving for nothing.
That's... odd. We were told there beforehand that there would be a minimum of ten copies of the Bestiary per box, and after the boxes were packed, we were told that they did hit over 10. (I think it was actually more like 15.) Who's the store?

It was GrandLAN Gaming in Grand Rapids, MI. We were there when they were opening the packages and and they ended up with 30 of one of the books and no Bestiary. There were 4 of us there just for that. We were all pretty bummed out. The guys at the store were really confused, but all they could say was sorry.


In Barcelona was the only retalier shop in Spain. So I went there this morning just to hear that packs and all the stuff hasn't arrived yet...

;(


Vic Wertz wrote:


So not. I was going to schedule it for midnight, but then I realized that it needs some attention before I can put it up. We'll get it up as soon as possible, but I think even noon on Monday is probably optimistic.

Sad I am. :(

Oh well. Monday shall come.


Doc_Outlands wrote:

I live in such a pit of utter abject lack of culture that my FLGS's are Paizo, RPGNow, and ebay.....

ONE STORE in Louisiana is participating and it is on the WRONG END OF THE STATE!! I was shocked to see no entry for Little Wars in BR, unless they've closed and I didn't know about it. Of course, they are on the wrong end of the state, as well.

Little Wars is not closed, but it does have a new owner who took over just a few months ago. However, they have not really been stocking a lot of Pathfinder stuff yet.

Scarab Sages

It's 11:15 PM Saturday night and all I see is the PDF is currently unavailable.

So does this mean we have to wait until Monday evening after work to download the free PDF? I really didn't want to miss the freebie! :(

What deity must I appease to be sure I obtain this elusive PDF?

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Winterthorn wrote:

It's 11:15 PM Saturday night and all I see is the PDF is currently unavailable.

So does this mean we have to wait until Monday evening after work to download the free PDF? I really didn't want to miss the freebie! :(

What deity must I appease to be sure I obtain this elusive PDF?

They have said the PDF and a limited number of print copies will be up to buy Monday afternoon PST.

Sovereign Court

***** 5 STARS *****

Extremely well selected creatures, marvelously updated to new Pathfinder RPG rules, lavishly illustrated, excitingly explained (in terms of the new game rules).

This was the highlight of everyone's excitement today! Thank you, PAIZO. P.s. Gamestore owners are eagerly awaiting Pathfinder RPG - and two have told me they wished it were already here! (P.s. 3.5 has also been selling quite a bit in association with the adventure paths.)

You are #1, my friends.

Well done indeed.

3.5 Thrives!

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Pax Veritas wrote:

***** 5 STARS *****

Extremely well selected creatures, marvelously updated to new Pathfinder RPG rules, lavishly illustrated, excitingly explained (in terms of the new game rules).

This was the highlight of everyone's excitement today! Thank you, PAIZO. P.s. Gamestore owners are eagerly awaiting Pathfinder RPG - and two have told me they wished it were already here! (P.s. 3.5 has also been selling quite a bit in association with the adventure paths.)

You are #1, my friends.

Well done indeed.

3.5 Thrives!

This post reminded me of something. One of the local stores i stopped at today. Had before had a clearence sale to sell all their back stock of 3.5e stuff. Today i noticed they had not a lot but a number of 3.5 stuff, when i asked about it. They said they had gotten enough requests for it that they tracked down some of the products and ordered more.

I was honestly surprised by that. For the record it was mostly WotC stuff with some GR and Mongoose stuff. Not counting their seperate pathfinder section.

Scarab Sages

Dark_Mistress wrote:
They have said the PDF and a limited number of print copies will be up to buy Monday afternoon PST.

Okay! Superb!

@Pax Veritas: Indeed sir, 3.5 does thive!!! :)

Dark Archive

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber
seekerofshadowlight wrote:

Hummm you have a store in richmand? where at?

No, last year I went to the Rusty Scabbard. This year I went to Troll and Toad in Barbourville. Although there is a store in Richmond Comic Oasis on main st not sure what all they have. I haven't been there in about a year.


Not having that poster is about to kill me. I think I should order it for Father's Day.


[sour grapes]I hope those of you who actually have a game store in your country are happy with your situation, regardless of whether you get a bonus bestiary free version. [/sour grapes]

Dark Archive

got my copy! last one at the store. Whew!


Got mine today at Generation X Comics in Bedford, TX! Woot!


Dark_Mistress wrote:


This post reminded me of something. One of the local stores i stopped at today. Had before had a clearence sale to sell all their back stock of 3.5e stuff. Today i noticed they had not a lot but a number of 3.5 stuff, when i asked about it. They said they had gotten enough requests for it that they tracked down some of the products and ordered more.

I was honestly surprised by that. For the record it was mostly WotC stuff with some GR and Mongoose stuff. Not counting their seperate pathfinder section.

Talking with the gal behind the counter at the local GS today, and she told me that there have been several people coming in to unload used 4E books in order to trade them for 3.5 used stock. I'm thinking they're still selling a good amount of 4E books, because the section is quite large, but apparently several D&D players have expressed their dissatisfaction with the new version.


Got mine along with a dragon warrior player's guide. God I wish August would get here right about now.

The Exchange RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32

No stores in the Netherlands :(
Hope I can get a print copy when it's up here.

Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease

Silver Crusade

I got a copy yesterday. Not bad at all. The line up for the full bestiary looks good.


Going to get this had me going to a local game shop I didn't even know existed. I might have to go back sometime, though. It was a pretty nice little place. And something that did kind of surprise me was that it had given about equal space in its shelving units to Pathfinder stuff and 4E. It seems that they're both doing pretty well.

I also snagged the 4E module and Paranoia book. I'm not too much of a 4E fan, but I do like Eberron and the module's plot can always be adapted to 3.5. Plus, the tile section it came with can work with any version of D&D. I would've grabbed the free dice too, but what's the point of a set of two polyhedron dice that doesn't even have a d20 in it?


carborundum wrote:
No stores in the Netherlands :(

At least you live in the land of the free.

Spoiler:

Just pop on the ferry to England and go to one of the London shops, like the Orc's Nest. Make a day of it. Read the bestiary in Eindhoven and hash it over with a cup of coffee before you go home. Geniet.


Hmmm, June 21st. Is this product available? Says it is currently unavailable.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
voska66 wrote:
Hmmm, June 21st. Is this product available? Says it is currently unavailable.

You can get it online june 22nd aka tomorrow. They have said they hope to have it up by noon PST.


Typical.

My FLGS chose to have their pesky company birthday sale yesterday...and NOT do Free RPG Day, so I was unable to snag a bonus beastiary.

Oh well...guess I'll DL the PDF tomorrow.

The Concordance

tick....tick....tick


Proficuus wrote:
tick....tick....tick

Hook's crocodile has found us! Run for your lives!


Well its one day after Free RPG day,so where's the free pdf already?

Grand Lodge

Twin Dragons wrote:
Well its one day after Free RPG day,so where's the free pdf already?

Many times the sages have said "At least noon PST on Monday". Trust the sages, they do not steer wrong.

151 to 200 of 421 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | next > last >>
Community / Forums / Paizo / Product Discussion / Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bonus Bestiary (OGL) All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.