paizo.com Recent Reviews of Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)paizo.com Recent Reviews of Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)2021-11-20T03:41:30Z2021-11-20T03:41:30ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Without Opponents, Combat Sure Wouldn't Be Much Fun! (5 stars)Jhaemanhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2017-11-08T08:15:09Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>Bestiaries are Pathfinder's version of the D&D Monster Manuals: reference books containing descriptions and stat-blocks for hundreds of new creatures for PCs to battle, bother, or befriend. They're not designed to be read cover to cover, but that's exactly what I did for this review. The Bestiary weighs in at 327 pages and contains (according to the back-cover) over 350 different monsters arranged in alphabetical order. </p>
<p>The book starts with a two-page Introduction, and it's actually worth reading because it explains what the (28!) different categories of information in a creature's stat block mean. It also introduces the the "Monster Icons" scheme, wherein each monster receives three different icons to visually denote its creature type, terrain, and climate. I like the idea of the icons, but I find them too small and similar to be useful, and I'm not interested in flipping back to page 5 too figure out what they mean. I'm happy just reading the corresponding entries in the stat block. </p>
<p>For monsters, we start with Aasimar on page 7 and run through until Zombie on page 289. This is what the book is all about, but it's a challenging thing to review as my notes are full of bits of scattered remarks about dozens of different monsters. As I can't figure out a coherent way to synthesize them, I'm going to take the unusual tack of just including them as a sort of impressionistic picture of what's in the book. Skim to the bottom for more of the review.</p>
<p>"A"</p>
<p>—aboleths are a lot tougher than CR might indicate!</p>
<p>—Not officially Golarion, but flavour in entries generally compatible</p>
<p>—backdoor cosmology with angels stuff</p>
<p>—really good write-up of Solar Angels</p>
<p>—Army Ant Swarms are pretty nasty!</p>
<p>—like archons—I've never really seen them used outside of summoning, when no RP is involved</p>
<p>—azatas: CG celestials</p>
<p>Bs</p>
<p>—cool how barghests become greater!</p>
<p>—bebiliths: wow, awesome art for an awesome creature!</p>
<p>—bugbear artwork is weird, but fascinating bit on "The Nature of Goblinoid Evil"</p>
<p>Cs</p>
<p>—creepy Choker</p>
<p>—good mixture of animals and various types of monsters </p>
<p>—a lot of classic ones, but some new ones (like chuul) as well</p>
<p>—like history of cyclops and flash of insight power</p>
<p>Ds</p>
<p>—dark folk and dark stalkers?!?! humanoid subtype with language—never heard of them...</p>
<p>—demons! Good, engaging, clear explanation </p>
<p>—don't argue with a balor demon!</p>
<p>—great stories for demons—quasit familiars taking master's souls!</p>
<p>—devils! emphasis on hierarchy </p>
<p>—a good variety of tough foes, with lots of HP and resistances</p>
<p>—great writeup of lemure devils</p>
<p>—fantastic artwork all the way through!</p>
<p>—Devourers are pretty nasty for their CR!</p>
<p>—too many dinosaurs!</p>
<p>—dragons! stat blocks are so long, there's very little description </p>
<p>—driders and drow: underused</p>
<p>E</p>
<p>—elementals</p>
<p>F</p>
<p>—familiar (no idea that was here!)</p>
<p>—froghemoth—really?</p>
<p>G</p>
<p>—gelatinous cubes are really dangerous!</p>
<p>—genies</p>
<p>—love Shaitan genie art</p>
<p>—ghosts: emphasis on story-based customization, 2 page spread</p>
<p>—Giants!</p>
<p>—fun gibbering mouthers artwork</p>
<p>—goblins</p>
<p>—golems</p>
<p>Hs</p>
<p>—half- templates</p>
<p>—occasionally the titles aren't the most intuitive: "Herd animal, bison" for example</p>
<p>—need full stats for combat-trained horses</p>
<p>Is</p>
<p>—intellect devourer—WTF!</p>
<p>Ks</p>
<p>—kytons are cool/creepy</p>
<p>Ls</p>
<p>—lamia artwork is regrettable </p>
<p>—lich: gotta have 'em!</p>
<p>—linnorms are nasty, especially curses and poison!</p>
<p>—lycanthrope template </p>
<p>Ms</p>
<p>—medusas, minotaurs, mimics—all the classics!</p>
<p>—mummy rot sure is nasty!</p>
<p>Ns</p>
<p>— nagas look dumb</p>
<p>—neothelids are intriguing! need more</p>
<p>—nymphs have cool boons</p>
<p>Os</p>
<p>—Oni need better explanation </p>
<p>Ps</p>
<p>—good amount of player detail for pegasi</p>
<p>Rs</p>
<p>—rakhasa: a lot of potential in the right campaign </p>
<p>—retrievers are scary</p>
<p>—rust monsters!</p>
<p>Ss</p>
<p>—sea hag artwork is great! (and evil eye comatose ability!)</p>
<p>—shadows can be quite more lethal than CR</p>
<p>—touch ACs are so low because of artificial natural armor bonuses, making Alchemists and Gunslingers especially powerful</p>
<p>—shoggoths arent very scary for CR19</p>
<p>—skum have surprisingly interesting write-up</p>
<p>—giant slugs too goofy</p>
<p>Ts</p>
<p>—tarrasque: bad pic, underwhelming </p>
<p>—troglodyte pic is great!</p>
<p>Us</p>
<p>Vs</p>
<p>—vampires: elaborate template </p>
<p>—vargouille's kiss is nasty</p>
<p>Ws</p>
<p>Xs</p>
<p>—xills are awesome!</p>
<p>Zs</p>
<p>—zombie pic is hilarious </p>
<p>Hm, that was embarrassing. Sorry! </p>
<p>After the monster entries are a series of appendices, and these definitely add value to the book. </p>
<p>Appendix 1 is Monster Creation, and it offers a very thorough and clear guide to monster creation. There are a •lot• of moving parts to creating balanced monsters in Pathfinder, so this will take some time until you get the hang of it. Appendix 2 is Monster Advancement, and this is another important part of the book because it shows GMs how to adjust creatures in the book to make them more or less powerful by adding simple templates (like "Giant" or "Young") and by adding racial hit dice or class levels. Appendix 3 is the section of the book I use more than any other, and it's indispensable: Universal Monster Rules. In order to save space and avoid repetition in stat blocks, common monster abilities are fleshed out here: everything from Darkvision to Damage Reduction to Incorporeal and more. Only very, very experienced GMs should try to run creatures just from the stat blocks without remembering to double-check what their monster abilities do, precisely, in the Universal Monster Rules. The same appendix also contains creature Types and Subtypes, which are like packages of basic information that all creatures of a particular category, such as demons or animals, share. Again, this is to save space in stat blocks. Appendix 4 is very short, and provides some advice on Monsters as PCs. I've never used it. Appendix 5 is Monster Feats, though some PCs may actually legitimately use some of them like Craft Construct. If you notice that a monster has a feat you can't find in the Core Rulebook, that's probably because it's listed here. Appendices 6 and 7 list Monster Cohorts (for the Leadership feat) and Animal Companions (for druids and rangers), respectively. Appendices 8-12 are indexes that help a GM who is looking for monsters of a particular type, CR, terrain, etc. Really useful information that most people who just use online databases probably never realized was available. Finally, Appendix 14 contains Encounter Tables broken up by terrain. These include average CRs for an each table, but I still think it'd be foolish to actually roll on them: in a Hill/Mountain, region, for example, your PCs could run into CR 3 orcs or CR 12 fire giants. A party that is challenged by the former would be curb-stomped by the latter. Good random encounter table design needs to have a narrow range of CRs before they become feasible.</p>
<p>I'm not a huge monster guy like some people, but I definitely enjoyed reading the Bestiary and I learned a lot about the core monsters of the setting. I know there are five later books that expand the selection far more, but much of what I see in APs and PFS still draws from this book. Along with the Core Rulebook, it's safe to say that the Bestiary was one of the releases that helped to solidify Paizo's reputation as a company that publishes the highest calibre of RPG books in terms of writing quality, artwork, design, and layout. It's not indispensable since there are multiple websites that present the same information, but for ease of use (and the joy of skimming), the Bestiary is one of those books that every GM should have.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>Bestiaries are Pathfinder's version of the D&D Monster Manuals: reference books containing descriptions and stat-blocks for hundreds of new creatures for PCs to battle, bother, or befriend. They're not designed to be read cover to cover, but that's exactly what I did for this review. The Bestiary weighs in at 327 pages and contains (according to the back-cover) over 350 different monsters arranged in alphabetical order. </p>
<p>The book starts with a two-page Introduction, and it's actually worth reading because it explains what the (28!) different categories of information in a creature's stat block mean. It also introduces the the "Monster Icons" scheme, wherein each monster receives three different icons to visually denote its creature type, terrain, and climate. I like the idea of the icons, but I find them too small and similar to be useful, and I'm not interested in flipping back to page 5 too figure out what they mean. I'm happy just reading the corresponding entries in the stat block. </p>
<p>For monsters, we start with Aasimar on page 7 and run through until Zombie on page 289. This is what the book is all about, but it's a challenging thing to review as my notes are full of bits of scattered remarks about dozens of different monsters. As I can't figure out a coherent way to synthesize them, I'm going to take the unusual tack of just including them as a sort of impressionistic picture of what's in the book. Skim to the bottom for more of the review.</p>
<p>"A"</p>
<p>—aboleths are a lot tougher than CR might indicate!</p>
<p>—Not officially Golarion, but flavour in entries generally compatible</p>
<p>—backdoor cosmology with angels stuff</p>
<p>—really good write-up of Solar Angels</p>
<p>—Army Ant Swarms are pretty nasty!</p>
<p>—like archons—I've never really seen them used outside of summoning, when no RP is involved</p>
<p>—azatas: CG celestials</p>
<p>Bs</p>
<p>—cool how barghests become greater!</p>
<p>—bebiliths: wow, awesome art for an awesome creature!</p>
<p>—bugbear artwork is weird, but fascinating bit on "The Nature of Goblinoid Evil"</p>
<p>Cs</p>
<p>—creepy Choker</p>
<p>—good mixture of animals and various types of monsters </p>
<p>—a lot of classic ones, but some new ones (like chuul) as well</p>
<p>—like history of cyclops and flash of insight power</p>
<p>Ds</p>
<p>—dark folk and dark stalkers?!?! humanoid subtype with language—never heard of them...</p>
<p>—demons! Good, engaging, clear explanation </p>
<p>—don't argue with a balor demon!</p>
<p>—great stories for demons—quasit familiars taking master's souls!</p>
<p>—devils! emphasis on hierarchy </p>
<p>—a good variety of tough foes, with lots of HP and resistances</p>
<p>—great writeup of lemure devils</p>
<p>—fantastic artwork all the way through!</p>
<p>—Devourers are pretty nasty for their CR!</p>
<p>—too many dinosaurs!</p>
<p>—dragons! stat blocks are so long, there's very little description </p>
<p>—driders and drow: underused</p>
<p>E</p>
<p>—elementals</p>
<p>F</p>
<p>—familiar (no idea that was here!)</p>
<p>—froghemoth—really?</p>
<p>G</p>
<p>—gelatinous cubes are really dangerous!</p>
<p>—genies</p>
<p>—love Shaitan genie art</p>
<p>—ghosts: emphasis on story-based customization, 2 page spread</p>
<p>—Giants!</p>
<p>—fun gibbering mouthers artwork</p>
<p>—goblins</p>
<p>—golems</p>
<p>Hs</p>
<p>—half- templates</p>
<p>—occasionally the titles aren't the most intuitive: "Herd animal, bison" for example</p>
<p>—need full stats for combat-trained horses</p>
<p>Is</p>
<p>—intellect devourer—WTF!</p>
<p>Ks</p>
<p>—kytons are cool/creepy</p>
<p>Ls</p>
<p>—lamia artwork is regrettable </p>
<p>—lich: gotta have 'em!</p>
<p>—linnorms are nasty, especially curses and poison!</p>
<p>—lycanthrope template </p>
<p>Ms</p>
<p>—medusas, minotaurs, mimics—all the classics!</p>
<p>—mummy rot sure is nasty!</p>
<p>Ns</p>
<p>— nagas look dumb</p>
<p>—neothelids are intriguing! need more</p>
<p>—nymphs have cool boons</p>
<p>Os</p>
<p>—Oni need better explanation </p>
<p>Ps</p>
<p>—good amount of player detail for pegasi</p>
<p>Rs</p>
<p>—rakhasa: a lot of potential in the right campaign </p>
<p>—retrievers are scary</p>
<p>—rust monsters!</p>
<p>Ss</p>
<p>—sea hag artwork is great! (and evil eye comatose ability!)</p>
<p>—shadows can be quite more lethal than CR</p>
<p>—touch ACs are so low because of artificial natural armor bonuses, making Alchemists and Gunslingers especially powerful</p>
<p>—shoggoths arent very scary for CR19</p>
<p>—skum have surprisingly interesting write-up</p>
<p>—giant slugs too goofy</p>
<p>Ts</p>
<p>—tarrasque: bad pic, underwhelming </p>
<p>—troglodyte pic is great!</p>
<p>Us</p>
<p>Vs</p>
<p>—vampires: elaborate template </p>
<p>—vargouille's kiss is nasty</p>
<p>Ws</p>
<p>Xs</p>
<p>—xills are awesome!</p>
<p>Zs</p>
<p>—zombie pic is hilarious </p>
<p>Hm, that was embarrassing. Sorry! </p>
<p>After the monster entries are a series of appendices, and these definitely add value to the book. </p>
<p>Appendix 1 is Monster Creation, and it offers a very thorough and clear guide to monster creation. There are a •lot• of moving parts to creating balanced monsters in Pathfinder, so this will take some time until you get the hang of it. Appendix 2 is Monster Advancement, and this is another important part of the book because it shows GMs how to adjust creatures in the book to make them more or less powerful by adding simple templates (like "Giant" or "Young") and by adding racial hit dice or class levels. Appendix 3 is the section of the book I use more than any other, and it's indispensable: Universal Monster Rules. In order to save space and avoid repetition in stat blocks, common monster abilities are fleshed out here: everything from Darkvision to Damage Reduction to Incorporeal and more. Only very, very experienced GMs should try to run creatures just from the stat blocks without remembering to double-check what their monster abilities do, precisely, in the Universal Monster Rules. The same appendix also contains creature Types and Subtypes, which are like packages of basic information that all creatures of a particular category, such as demons or animals, share. Again, this is to save space in stat blocks. Appendix 4 is very short, and provides some advice on Monsters as PCs. I've never used it. Appendix 5 is Monster Feats, though some PCs may actually legitimately use some of them like Craft Construct. If you notice that a monster has a feat you can't find in the Core Rulebook, that's probably because it's listed here. Appendices 6 and 7 list Monster Cohorts (for the Leadership feat) and Animal Companions (for druids and rangers), respectively. Appendices 8-12 are indexes that help a GM who is looking for monsters of a particular type, CR, terrain, etc. Really useful information that most people who just use online databases probably never realized was available. Finally, Appendix 14 contains Encounter Tables broken up by terrain. These include average CRs for an each table, but I still think it'd be foolish to actually roll on them: in a Hill/Mountain, region, for example, your PCs could run into CR 3 orcs or CR 12 fire giants. A party that is challenged by the former would be curb-stomped by the latter. Good random encounter table design needs to have a narrow range of CRs before they become feasible.</p>
<p>I'm not a huge monster guy like some people, but I definitely enjoyed reading the Bestiary and I learned a lot about the core monsters of the setting. I know there are five later books that expand the selection far more, but much of what I see in APs and PFS still draws from this book. Along with the Core Rulebook, it's safe to say that the Bestiary was one of the releases that helped to solidify Paizo's reputation as a company that publishes the highest calibre of RPG books in terms of writing quality, artwork, design, and layout. It's not indispensable since there are multiple websites that present the same information, but for ease of use (and the joy of skimming), the Bestiary is one of those books that every GM should have.</p>Jhaeman2017-11-08T08:15:09ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): It all starts here babee (5 stars)Exmortishttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2014-11-29T13:00:22Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>One only two books you require to jump in and play Pathfinder, it is the essential meat in the gaming stew. As important and the core rulebook is, it is nothing with out this work.</p>
<p>Expanded and tweaked off the OGL 3.x material, its cleaner, better organized and tweaked for the Pathfinder rules. Every hero needs a foe, every damsel in distress needs a captor, and every GM needs a source of badies to keep the group on their toes. You will find it all here, between these pages is years of destruction and mayhem.</p>
<p>No matter if you playing Pathfinders own setting, one of your own design and creation, or another publishers material, this is the must have companion to your CRB.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>One only two books you require to jump in and play Pathfinder, it is the essential meat in the gaming stew. As important and the core rulebook is, it is nothing with out this work.</p>
<p>Expanded and tweaked off the OGL 3.x material, its cleaner, better organized and tweaked for the Pathfinder rules. Every hero needs a foe, every damsel in distress needs a captor, and every GM needs a source of badies to keep the group on their toes. You will find it all here, between these pages is years of destruction and mayhem.</p>
<p>No matter if you playing Pathfinders own setting, one of your own design and creation, or another publishers material, this is the must have companion to your CRB.</p>Exmortis2014-11-29T13:00:22ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): They need more monsters (5 stars)Bealishttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2013-12-12T13:11:15Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>not as useful as the advanced raced guide for the monsters you could play as it does have a lot. i own this and well do my best to keep it hidden from my players. they keep trying to make them fight dragons... they are lvl 5</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>not as useful as the advanced raced guide for the monsters you could play as it does have a lot. i own this and well do my best to keep it hidden from my players. they keep trying to make them fight dragons... they are lvl 5</p>Bealis2013-12-12T13:11:15ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): great reference book (5 stars)Victus Lex Virtus 1https://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2013-04-10T18:40:34Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>This book has all the monsters you would need on a starting campaine</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>This book has all the monsters you would need on a starting campaine</p>Victus Lex Virtus 12013-04-10T18:40:34ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): The standard by which all monster products will be judged by. (5 stars)Alexander Augunashttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2013-02-27T19:53:59Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>By now, there are several Bestiaries out in print, but when this book first came out you arguably needed to own it to play the <i>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game</i>. Was it worth the purchase? Decide for yourself!</p>
<p><b>Crunch</b>
<br />
When we talk about a book's crunch, we're looking at its game rules, mechanics, and similar stats. As a monster book, the Bestiary is 99% crunch, and for Paizo's first real Bestiary, it is absolutely fantastic. There isn't a whole lot you can really say about monster stat blocks; they work perfectly and there aren't any monsters that feel ridiculous for their challenge rating (CR). The book also includes several new races that are appropriate for player characters; in this book, we have aasimars, the tieflings, and drow, as well as the applicable but seldom appropriate deurgar, drow noble, and svirfneblin. The book stays true to the rules of its predecessors; when you look at a drow, you recognize it as a drow from previous games. Because of the significant power up that the core races received these classically "OP" races aren't very far out of line with your traditional player characrers, and as a result we don't see the Level Adjustment system in Pathfinder. If you're unfamiliar with the term, in older editions of Dungeons and Dragons, some races were deemed so powerful that you had to actually forgo class levels in order to be a member of the race. For example, if you wanted to play a drow, you had a LA of +1, meaning that your race counted as 1 class level when determining your party's level. This either meant you were more powerful than your friends or (and more commonly) your GM had you start at a lower level to compensate. And believe me, it is not fun to be a sorcerer of an LA race because of how far behind your party is! The racial benefits seldom made up for the loss of character levels and it was a pretty terrible mechanic all around, so good riddance.</p>
<p>Although the book's theme is classic monsters, Paizo manages to add its own spin on fantasy games by including weird and amazing monsters. A perfect example is the froghemoth, which is basically a giant aberrant frog-monster. As a huge Lovecraft fan, I was ecstatic to see monsters like the shoggoth creep up in Pathfinder as well. For a first Bestiary, the spread of monsters is well-chosen and you could definitely run a game with only this book if you really wanted to.</p>
<p>What probably amounts to the best change of all, in my opinion, is the changes to the rules for building your own monsters. These rules are difficult to comprehend and enact in other games, but the Paizo team does an excellent job of laying out step-by-step every detail in crafting your own monsters by including handy charts and tables. For a game that knew it wasn't launching with much material and that it wanted to be backwards-compatible with older products, it was a very wise choice to streamline monster-making as much as they did and its probably the best reason to keep a copy of Bestiary I in your library alongside future monster tomes. 5 /5 Stars.</p>
<p><b>Flavor</b>
<br />
When we talk about a product's flavor, we're talking about its fiction content, its style, and its overall feel. This section is always very opinionated, because even though I whole-heartily enjoy Lovecraft and his works, there are those who don't like their minds thrust into insanity and the mere sight of a shoggoth or whatnot. When you read the Bestiary, the one thing that becomes very clear is that there simply is not much room for flavor. Most monsters get a paragraph and a half of descriptive text and a beautiful picture, but that's about it. Honestly, however, that's all this product needs. The monsters that are detailed are classic monsters, so the information provided about them tends to be enough that classic gamers can recognize the creature for what it is and new players can get a sense of wonder and learn enough about the monster to be on the same page with the veterans. The art is fabulous in this book and supplements the descriptions perfectly, even when the monster concept is weird text-wise a beautiful illustration helps to sell it to you personally.</p>
<p>The elephant in the room is that Pathfinder wants to have its own identity as much as it wants to follow in the footsteps of its predecessors. This means that every so often the Paizo team completely re-imagines and redefines the traits of a specific monster. Usually this happens to a relatively unknown or under used monster (we'll talk more about this in Bestiary III), but there is one monster in particular that is relatively well-known and got the Paizo makeover in a big way. That monster, which has become Paizo's mascot of sorts, is the goblin. To give a little bit of background, traditionally goblins have admittedly lacked character; they were little more than evil halflings in most settings. Paizo's very first adventure path, Rise of the Runelords, shook this up by drastically changing the image of the goblin; they were now psychotic savages who were obsessed with fire and scared of dogs and horses. They sang Children of the Corn style songs about death and murder and often filled a role as comic relief in many of the adventures they have been featured in while simultaneously managing to inspire fear and terror in many a party. In my experience, you either love or you hate the new look of goblins. Many classic gamers that I've played with deplore the "new" goblin if only for the art design; big heads, small bodies. Honestly, however, it doesn't bother me much; my gaming generation includes Warcraft's techno-suicidal goblins and Warhammer's hordes of insane, suicidal goblins; next to those, Paizo's take on the goblin fits in rather nicely.</p>
<p>For being limited to several paragraphs of text per monster, the Bestiary gives you everything you'd expect and more flavor-wised. Its a book of monsters that feel threatening and believable; there's nothing too dumb or too far out there unless you're a hard-core medieval traditionalist. 5 /5 Stars.</p>
<p><b>Texture</b>
<br />
When we talk about a book's texture, we're talking about its grammar and layout, among other things. As someone who has actually sat down to try and write a bestiary, let's be clear that if there's one thing I get, its that stat blocks are HARD. They're hard to format, they're hard to standardize, they're even hard to spell check because of the sheer amount of text that a book like the Bestiary has. All of its complex jargon, half of it made of surreal naming conventions. With all this mind, if there's one place that the Bestiary is amazing, its the texture. There is almost no errors of any kind in this document. Perfect grammar. Perfect spelling conventions. Perfect formatting. Everything is perfect.</p>
<p>As you can see in the picture I included, the Bestiary breaks from traditional monster books in that it limits one monster page, with only a few exceptions (mostly animals and familiars). There is extreme attention to detail in the text placement, and its very impressive that the book manages to be as descriptive as it is with as little space as it has; almost every monster is illustrated, after all, so not only are you juggling stat blocks, but you're also juggling them with text descriptions and illustrations. This book is a marvel of editing and layout and nothing less. 5 /5 Stars.</p>
<p><b>Final Score & Thoughts</b>
<br />
<i>Crunch:</i> 5 / 5
<br />
<i>Flavor:</i> 5 / 5
<br />
<i>Texture:</i> 5 / 5
<br />
<i>Final Score:</i> 5 / 5</p>
<p>This book does everything right. It is the shining star by which all monster-based products should be judged. For a first attempt, Paizo smashes their monster book out of the park, past all expectations. It makes me excited to start looking at the future Bestiary products.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>By now, there are several Bestiaries out in print, but when this book first came out you arguably needed to own it to play the <i>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game</i>. Was it worth the purchase? Decide for yourself!</p>
<p><b>Crunch</b>
<br />
When we talk about a book's crunch, we're looking at its game rules, mechanics, and similar stats. As a monster book, the Bestiary is 99% crunch, and for Paizo's first real Bestiary, it is absolutely fantastic. There isn't a whole lot you can really say about monster stat blocks; they work perfectly and there aren't any monsters that feel ridiculous for their challenge rating (CR). The book also includes several new races that are appropriate for player characters; in this book, we have aasimars, the tieflings, and drow, as well as the applicable but seldom appropriate deurgar, drow noble, and svirfneblin. The book stays true to the rules of its predecessors; when you look at a drow, you recognize it as a drow from previous games. Because of the significant power up that the core races received these classically "OP" races aren't very far out of line with your traditional player characrers, and as a result we don't see the Level Adjustment system in Pathfinder. If you're unfamiliar with the term, in older editions of Dungeons and Dragons, some races were deemed so powerful that you had to actually forgo class levels in order to be a member of the race. For example, if you wanted to play a drow, you had a LA of +1, meaning that your race counted as 1 class level when determining your party's level. This either meant you were more powerful than your friends or (and more commonly) your GM had you start at a lower level to compensate. And believe me, it is not fun to be a sorcerer of an LA race because of how far behind your party is! The racial benefits seldom made up for the loss of character levels and it was a pretty terrible mechanic all around, so good riddance.</p>
<p>Although the book's theme is classic monsters, Paizo manages to add its own spin on fantasy games by including weird and amazing monsters. A perfect example is the froghemoth, which is basically a giant aberrant frog-monster. As a huge Lovecraft fan, I was ecstatic to see monsters like the shoggoth creep up in Pathfinder as well. For a first Bestiary, the spread of monsters is well-chosen and you could definitely run a game with only this book if you really wanted to.</p>
<p>What probably amounts to the best change of all, in my opinion, is the changes to the rules for building your own monsters. These rules are difficult to comprehend and enact in other games, but the Paizo team does an excellent job of laying out step-by-step every detail in crafting your own monsters by including handy charts and tables. For a game that knew it wasn't launching with much material and that it wanted to be backwards-compatible with older products, it was a very wise choice to streamline monster-making as much as they did and its probably the best reason to keep a copy of Bestiary I in your library alongside future monster tomes. 5 /5 Stars.</p>
<p><b>Flavor</b>
<br />
When we talk about a product's flavor, we're talking about its fiction content, its style, and its overall feel. This section is always very opinionated, because even though I whole-heartily enjoy Lovecraft and his works, there are those who don't like their minds thrust into insanity and the mere sight of a shoggoth or whatnot. When you read the Bestiary, the one thing that becomes very clear is that there simply is not much room for flavor. Most monsters get a paragraph and a half of descriptive text and a beautiful picture, but that's about it. Honestly, however, that's all this product needs. The monsters that are detailed are classic monsters, so the information provided about them tends to be enough that classic gamers can recognize the creature for what it is and new players can get a sense of wonder and learn enough about the monster to be on the same page with the veterans. The art is fabulous in this book and supplements the descriptions perfectly, even when the monster concept is weird text-wise a beautiful illustration helps to sell it to you personally.</p>
<p>The elephant in the room is that Pathfinder wants to have its own identity as much as it wants to follow in the footsteps of its predecessors. This means that every so often the Paizo team completely re-imagines and redefines the traits of a specific monster. Usually this happens to a relatively unknown or under used monster (we'll talk more about this in Bestiary III), but there is one monster in particular that is relatively well-known and got the Paizo makeover in a big way. That monster, which has become Paizo's mascot of sorts, is the goblin. To give a little bit of background, traditionally goblins have admittedly lacked character; they were little more than evil halflings in most settings. Paizo's very first adventure path, Rise of the Runelords, shook this up by drastically changing the image of the goblin; they were now psychotic savages who were obsessed with fire and scared of dogs and horses. They sang Children of the Corn style songs about death and murder and often filled a role as comic relief in many of the adventures they have been featured in while simultaneously managing to inspire fear and terror in many a party. In my experience, you either love or you hate the new look of goblins. Many classic gamers that I've played with deplore the "new" goblin if only for the art design; big heads, small bodies. Honestly, however, it doesn't bother me much; my gaming generation includes Warcraft's techno-suicidal goblins and Warhammer's hordes of insane, suicidal goblins; next to those, Paizo's take on the goblin fits in rather nicely.</p>
<p>For being limited to several paragraphs of text per monster, the Bestiary gives you everything you'd expect and more flavor-wised. Its a book of monsters that feel threatening and believable; there's nothing too dumb or too far out there unless you're a hard-core medieval traditionalist. 5 /5 Stars.</p>
<p><b>Texture</b>
<br />
When we talk about a book's texture, we're talking about its grammar and layout, among other things. As someone who has actually sat down to try and write a bestiary, let's be clear that if there's one thing I get, its that stat blocks are HARD. They're hard to format, they're hard to standardize, they're even hard to spell check because of the sheer amount of text that a book like the Bestiary has. All of its complex jargon, half of it made of surreal naming conventions. With all this mind, if there's one place that the Bestiary is amazing, its the texture. There is almost no errors of any kind in this document. Perfect grammar. Perfect spelling conventions. Perfect formatting. Everything is perfect.</p>
<p>As you can see in the picture I included, the Bestiary breaks from traditional monster books in that it limits one monster page, with only a few exceptions (mostly animals and familiars). There is extreme attention to detail in the text placement, and its very impressive that the book manages to be as descriptive as it is with as little space as it has; almost every monster is illustrated, after all, so not only are you juggling stat blocks, but you're also juggling them with text descriptions and illustrations. This book is a marvel of editing and layout and nothing less. 5 /5 Stars.</p>
<p><b>Final Score & Thoughts</b>
<br />
<i>Crunch:</i> 5 / 5
<br />
<i>Flavor:</i> 5 / 5
<br />
<i>Texture:</i> 5 / 5
<br />
<i>Final Score:</i> 5 / 5</p>
<p>This book does everything right. It is the shining star by which all monster-based products should be judged. For a first attempt, Paizo smashes their monster book out of the park, past all expectations. It makes me excited to start looking at the future Bestiary products.</p>Alexander Augunas2013-02-27T19:53:59ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Pathfinder the Bestiary (4 stars)judas 147https://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2013-02-09T17:15:05Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>great one, some draws are so ugly, without creativity at all (sphinx)</p>
<p>but it is a bestiary, 3rd printing which i have!!</p>
<p>i always love the monsters and bestiaries and call them how you preffer, i want more bestiaries!!</p>
<p>one gothic bestiary would be nice (with carrion crown monsters and alike)</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>great one, some draws are so ugly, without creativity at all (sphinx)</p>
<p>but it is a bestiary, 3rd printing which i have!!</p>
<p>i always love the monsters and bestiaries and call them how you preffer, i want more bestiaries!!</p>
<p>one gothic bestiary would be nice (with carrion crown monsters and alike)</p>judas 1472013-02-09T17:15:05ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Best Bestiary Ever (5 stars)g0atstickshttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2012-08-16T11:12:31Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>This is the Bestiary that shou;dv'e been releases so long ago. 1 page. 1 monster. </p>
<p>I read this to my daughter when I lay her down at night its so good.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>This is the Bestiary that shou;dv'e been releases so long ago. 1 page. 1 monster. </p>
<p>I read this to my daughter when I lay her down at night its so good.</p>g0atsticks2012-08-16T11:12:31ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Good introduction to what monsters populate Pathfinder (5 stars)Andru Watkinshttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2012-05-25T22:58:45Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>I liked the monsters introduced in this book as well how to create your own monsters. I was thankful to see how to improve a monster or reduce it. Overall a great book.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>I liked the monsters introduced in this book as well how to create your own monsters. I was thankful to see how to improve a monster or reduce it. Overall a great book.</p>Andru Watkins2012-05-25T22:58:45ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): 2nd best Bestiary from Paizo (5 stars)Xaaon of Xen'Drikhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2012-03-28T06:21:42Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>Finally backtracked to the Bestiary, so All the Core and Major books are now covered on my blog (still need to conclude the UC/UM reviews as I was mostly covering the feats.)</p>
<p><a href="http://epicrpgblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/review-bestiary-pathfinder.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Bestiary Review</a></p>
<p>I love it, can't do without it, but I hope more like B3 keep coming out.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>Finally backtracked to the Bestiary, so All the Core and Major books are now covered on my blog (still need to conclude the UC/UM reviews as I was mostly covering the feats.)</p>
<p><a href="http://epicrpgblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/review-bestiary-pathfinder.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Bestiary Review</a></p>
<p>I love it, can't do without it, but I hope more like B3 keep coming out.</p>Xaaon of Xen'Drik2012-03-28T06:21:42ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Bestiary (5 stars)corwyn blackthornehttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2012-02-17T06:12:12Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>Short and sweet, I love this book and this system.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>Short and sweet, I love this book and this system.</p>corwyn blackthorne2012-02-17T06:12:12ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): love it! (5 stars)DarkFoxAnnihilatorhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2012-02-15T17:37:22Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>This was the first book to arrive, the artwork is stunning in detail, the selection of monsters didn't dissapoint either. I reallly like the one page per monster format, the charts are handy as well. Overall I'd say I'm glad I went with the PF series from paizo over anything else out there.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>This was the first book to arrive, the artwork is stunning in detail, the selection of monsters didn't dissapoint either. I reallly like the one page per monster format, the charts are handy as well. Overall I'd say I'm glad I went with the PF series from paizo over anything else out there.</p>DarkFoxAnnihilator2012-02-15T17:37:22ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Monsters galore! (4 stars)Mark Knightshttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2011-12-31T03:39:58Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>This book is excellent. It has a wide variety of creatures to suit all level campaigns and excellent artwork. The only criticism I have of this book is one that is common across all RPG's these days and that is the use of the generic ruling for types of creatures. For example, a creature listed as having Undead Traits FORCES you to look at a separate page for further rules on how to run the creature. To be a perfect creature catalogue you really need all the rules on the one page to save the time. I know this means repetitive printing and information and cost, but I would prefer it that way.</p>
<p>Otherwise, brilliant book :)</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>This book is excellent. It has a wide variety of creatures to suit all level campaigns and excellent artwork. The only criticism I have of this book is one that is common across all RPG's these days and that is the use of the generic ruling for types of creatures. For example, a creature listed as having Undead Traits FORCES you to look at a separate page for further rules on how to run the creature. To be a perfect creature catalogue you really need all the rules on the one page to save the time. I know this means repetitive printing and information and cost, but I would prefer it that way.</p>
<p>Otherwise, brilliant book :)</p>Mark Knights2011-12-31T03:39:58ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL) (5 stars)FeatureCreephttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2011-12-12T03:33:06Z...FeatureCreep2011-12-12T03:33:06ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Makes a great doorstop... (2 stars)Ringtailhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2011-07-05T02:41:23Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>Much like my copy of the Core Rulebook, probably more so, I’m very glad that my 1st printing copy of the Bestiary was a gift, for I would’ve not purchased it. To sum up my thoughts as accurately as possible suffice it to say that I knew the book was not worth bothering with when my old roommate’s Yorkshire terrier decided it was a chew-toy while I was at work and I wasn’t upset when I found out about it.</p>
<p>My copy had the same poor physical quality and binding issues that my Core Rulebook had, meaning that it is already in multiple pieces after fairly light use. There is a long errata that seems to change just about every monster within which makes me honestly wonder if there was a proof-reading stage at all before this book was printed. It’s artwork was outstanding, but with the annoyingly bad physical and content quality that didn’t mean much.</p>
<p>Luckily the PRD houses the post-errata monsters sorted conveniently, so as long as I’m near a computer I never need to both with the book version of the Bestiary. And I suppose there are a few decent things to come out of this mess. The simple templates are useful and the chart of average monster statistics is handy since I generally like to build my own creatures anyways. These two things are the only reason this book warrants a second star.</p>
<p>Avoid it. It simply isn't a neccessary addition to the game and Paizo prints far better material to spend your hard earned cash on.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>Much like my copy of the Core Rulebook, probably more so, I’m very glad that my 1st printing copy of the Bestiary was a gift, for I would’ve not purchased it. To sum up my thoughts as accurately as possible suffice it to say that I knew the book was not worth bothering with when my old roommate’s Yorkshire terrier decided it was a chew-toy while I was at work and I wasn’t upset when I found out about it.</p>
<p>My copy had the same poor physical quality and binding issues that my Core Rulebook had, meaning that it is already in multiple pieces after fairly light use. There is a long errata that seems to change just about every monster within which makes me honestly wonder if there was a proof-reading stage at all before this book was printed. It’s artwork was outstanding, but with the annoyingly bad physical and content quality that didn’t mean much.</p>
<p>Luckily the PRD houses the post-errata monsters sorted conveniently, so as long as I’m near a computer I never need to both with the book version of the Bestiary. And I suppose there are a few decent things to come out of this mess. The simple templates are useful and the chart of average monster statistics is handy since I generally like to build my own creatures anyways. These two things are the only reason this book warrants a second star.</p>
<p>Avoid it. It simply isn't a neccessary addition to the game and Paizo prints far better material to spend your hard earned cash on.</p>Ringtail2011-07-05T02:41:23ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Good stuff (5 stars)The Dark Hunterhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2011-06-27T12:56:14Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>It's a big book of Monsters what more do you want (well more books of monsters of course)!</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>It's a big book of Monsters what more do you want (well more books of monsters of course)!</p>The Dark Hunter2011-06-27T12:56:14ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Fantastic! (5 stars)Iron-Dicehttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2011-04-03T16:01:28Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>Read this book from cover to cover. It really brings the monsters to life, going well beyond just stat listings. Great monster choices. Fantastic art. Useful and interesting background material for adventures. Well indexed reference. It's got it all.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>Read this book from cover to cover. It really brings the monsters to life, going well beyond just stat listings. Great monster choices. Fantastic art. Useful and interesting background material for adventures. Well indexed reference. It's got it all.</p>Iron-Dice2011-04-03T16:01:28ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Monsters are my favorite (5 stars)Dragon78https://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2011-03-30T14:51:46Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>I love monsters, especially from mythology, in fact it was the secend edition monster manual that got me into D@D to begin with. So when I got this Beastiary, I was not disapointed, it was in many ways superior to the 3.5 monster manual wich is not an easy feat to do. While I do have some things to nit pick, like some monster choices or artwork, I am still very satisified with this product.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>I love monsters, especially from mythology, in fact it was the secend edition monster manual that got me into D@D to begin with. So when I got this Beastiary, I was not disapointed, it was in many ways superior to the 3.5 monster manual wich is not an easy feat to do. While I do have some things to nit pick, like some monster choices or artwork, I am still very satisified with this product.</p>Dragon782011-03-30T14:51:46ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Beyond essential... (4 stars)Keith Savage aka Korakhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2011-01-16T03:21:53Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>I received the pdF version for Christmas and I have been astounded by this book! The art's superb for the most part, the fact that it includes loads of tips for customizing the monsters, overall, it's great. As much as I like hardcover books (I'm a committed book collector), I love how the pdF is hyperlinked throughout. It makes navigating the book so easy. Great job, Paizo, on this pdF!</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>I received the pdF version for Christmas and I have been astounded by this book! The art's superb for the most part, the fact that it includes loads of tips for customizing the monsters, overall, it's great. As much as I like hardcover books (I'm a committed book collector), I love how the pdF is hyperlinked throughout. It makes navigating the book so easy. Great job, Paizo, on this pdF!</p>Keith Savage aka Korak2011-01-16T03:21:53ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Exactly what you expect and need (5 stars)ajshttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2010-11-06T14:35:45Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>It began with the "Monster Manual." You expect there to be a book full of monster stat blocks. PFRPG has that, and this is it. What you get in addition are superbly drawn pictures of each monster, well designed (but not distracting) layout, plenty of use of the creature advancement and templating system, and some excellent use of pre-existing d20 OGL resources outside of the basic SRD monsters.</p>
<p>The only thing that I think is missing is a simple trade-off. I want more fluff, but this book is so full of creatures that there isn't enough room for it. Instead, Paizo is producing a line of fluff-heavy creature books such as Classic Horrors, Misfit Monsters, etc. which I'm eagerly gobbling up in order to add spice to my campaign world.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>It began with the "Monster Manual." You expect there to be a book full of monster stat blocks. PFRPG has that, and this is it. What you get in addition are superbly drawn pictures of each monster, well designed (but not distracting) layout, plenty of use of the creature advancement and templating system, and some excellent use of pre-existing d20 OGL resources outside of the basic SRD monsters.</p>
<p>The only thing that I think is missing is a simple trade-off. I want more fluff, but this book is so full of creatures that there isn't enough room for it. Instead, Paizo is producing a line of fluff-heavy creature books such as Classic Horrors, Misfit Monsters, etc. which I'm eagerly gobbling up in order to add spice to my campaign world.</p>ajs2010-11-06T14:35:45ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Ease of Use, and Creative Prompts are the Order of the Day. (4 stars)Talyseonhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2010-10-10T13:32:55Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>The Bestiary is the Monster Manual on steroids. Not only are the monsters deliniated in stats, but the flavor text sparks creative and fiendish ways to use them to abuse, erm, amuse your players. Check out my full review <a href="http://bit.ly/1gXFOno" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Pathfinder Bestiary</a></p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>The Bestiary is the Monster Manual on steroids. Not only are the monsters deliniated in stats, but the flavor text sparks creative and fiendish ways to use them to abuse, erm, amuse your players. Check out my full review <a href="http://bit.ly/1gXFOno" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Pathfinder Bestiary</a></p>Talyseon2010-10-10T13:32:55ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Best "monster manual" I've ever bought (4 stars)The Killer Nachohttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2010-08-08T12:25:39Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>This is the most well-organized and beautifully illustrated "monster manual" I've ever bought. Everything about the book is amazing. The notes at the end for tips creating ones only monsters is also very useful to GMs wanting to create challenging, but fair monsters. The only complaint I have is that it stuck a bit too close to the 3.5 Monster Manual, so if you have that or like using the SRD, it may be considered a waste of money. Although the new stat blocks are a lot more useful than the poorly-organized 3.5 Monster Manual, so if that is worth $40 to you, go for it. I can't wait to see what Paizo has in store for the Bestiary 2.. maybe we'll see some original monsters in there (and some of the few Paizo left out).</p>
<p>Overall, well recommended for GMs!</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>This is the most well-organized and beautifully illustrated "monster manual" I've ever bought. Everything about the book is amazing. The notes at the end for tips creating ones only monsters is also very useful to GMs wanting to create challenging, but fair monsters. The only complaint I have is that it stuck a bit too close to the 3.5 Monster Manual, so if you have that or like using the SRD, it may be considered a waste of money. Although the new stat blocks are a lot more useful than the poorly-organized 3.5 Monster Manual, so if that is worth $40 to you, go for it. I can't wait to see what Paizo has in store for the Bestiary 2.. maybe we'll see some original monsters in there (and some of the few Paizo left out).</p>
<p>Overall, well recommended for GMs!</p>The Killer Nacho2010-08-08T12:25:39ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL) PDF: A required and well produced book (4 stars)Lord Of Darknesshttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2010-07-16T00:33:26Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL) PDF</b></p><p>For any RPG setting based on the conflict of archetypes it is necessary to have a wide assortment antagonists to challenge the party. In that respect Paizo has delivered a quality product. </p>
<p>I do not begrudge the choice to leave some monsters out, or under-defined in the first book. After all, there is a lot of material to cover if we are talking about presenting all monsters from the various OGL pantheons. However, the organization of the book does sometimes make it difficult to locate things, and I find myself having to make frequent use of the table of contents rather than being able to simply intuitively find the creatures in the book. For that reason, I cannot give the book a 5 star rating.</p>
<p>I have both the PDF and the print versions, and find the the production values of both are quite consistently high. I have nothing but good things to say in that regard.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL) PDF</b></p><p>For any RPG setting based on the conflict of archetypes it is necessary to have a wide assortment antagonists to challenge the party. In that respect Paizo has delivered a quality product. </p>
<p>I do not begrudge the choice to leave some monsters out, or under-defined in the first book. After all, there is a lot of material to cover if we are talking about presenting all monsters from the various OGL pantheons. However, the organization of the book does sometimes make it difficult to locate things, and I find myself having to make frequent use of the table of contents rather than being able to simply intuitively find the creatures in the book. For that reason, I cannot give the book a 5 star rating.</p>
<p>I have both the PDF and the print versions, and find the the production values of both are quite consistently high. I have nothing but good things to say in that regard.</p>Lord Of Darkness2010-07-16T00:33:26ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Dragons and were-tigers and owlbears, oh my!!!xorialhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2010-03-17T21:28:30Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>I received this book with my regular subscription, but hadn't realized that I forgot to review it earlier than now. First off, in response to the review that this is not a revolutionary book, it was not meant to be. This simply updating monsters to the new PFRPG. For that, it is an excellent resource.</p>
<p>My only complaint is that the dragons were a little skimped on, here that is. They received their own book which I have not purchased yet. I know that is an OGL product, but I imagine they got more info in that manual. Basically, thought, there could have been more crunch on dragons in this book. I have to wonder if the original progression charts in the SRD still apply.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>I received this book with my regular subscription, but hadn't realized that I forgot to review it earlier than now. First off, in response to the review that this is not a revolutionary book, it was not meant to be. This simply updating monsters to the new PFRPG. For that, it is an excellent resource.</p>
<p>My only complaint is that the dragons were a little skimped on, here that is. They received their own book which I have not purchased yet. I know that is an OGL product, but I imagine they got more info in that manual. Basically, thought, there could have been more crunch on dragons in this book. I have to wonder if the original progression charts in the SRD still apply.</p>xorial2010-03-17T21:28:30ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): A Useful Book, but Nothing Revolutionary (3 stars)Green Left Eyehttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2010-01-29T20:00:45Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>The PFRPG Bestiary is a useful, well-organized and attractively illustrated book. I have no regrets about purchasing it, and would recommend it to anyone trying to make up their minds as to whether or not they should buy it. Having said that, there are some areas where it disappoints, and I do hope that the Paizo staff keeps them in mind for future releases.</p>
<p>As other reviewers have mentioned, several of the iconic D&D monsters did not make the transition into the Bestiary. This isn't particularly distressing to me, but I do wish that there were some Pathfinder-specific monsters to fill in the gaps. When one mentions the mind flayer or the beholder, any canny roleplayer will know that the subject is D&D. Given the creativity of the Paizo staff and the worthiness of the Pathfinder setting, I would have expected the Bestiary to contain a number of monsters capable of calling Pathfinder immediately to the minds of gamers. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the Bestiary seems short on creatures designed to "brand" for Pathfinder.
<br />
My only other disappointment was the lack of any information regarding the role that each monster plays on Golarion. The Pathfinder setting is wonderful, but the Campaign Guide was focused mostly on the ways in which the PC races have influenced the world; I had hoped that the Bestiary would have shown some of the ways in which Golarion was influenced by the presence of the monsters contained within.</p>
<p>In summary, the Bestiary is a "workhorse" of a book. Definitely useful and certainly well-constructed and beautiful, but it doesn't exactly bring anything especially new to the table.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>The PFRPG Bestiary is a useful, well-organized and attractively illustrated book. I have no regrets about purchasing it, and would recommend it to anyone trying to make up their minds as to whether or not they should buy it. Having said that, there are some areas where it disappoints, and I do hope that the Paizo staff keeps them in mind for future releases.</p>
<p>As other reviewers have mentioned, several of the iconic D&D monsters did not make the transition into the Bestiary. This isn't particularly distressing to me, but I do wish that there were some Pathfinder-specific monsters to fill in the gaps. When one mentions the mind flayer or the beholder, any canny roleplayer will know that the subject is D&D. Given the creativity of the Paizo staff and the worthiness of the Pathfinder setting, I would have expected the Bestiary to contain a number of monsters capable of calling Pathfinder immediately to the minds of gamers. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the Bestiary seems short on creatures designed to "brand" for Pathfinder.
<br />
My only other disappointment was the lack of any information regarding the role that each monster plays on Golarion. The Pathfinder setting is wonderful, but the Campaign Guide was focused mostly on the ways in which the PC races have influenced the world; I had hoped that the Bestiary would have shown some of the ways in which Golarion was influenced by the presence of the monsters contained within.</p>
<p>In summary, the Bestiary is a "workhorse" of a book. Definitely useful and certainly well-constructed and beautiful, but it doesn't exactly bring anything especially new to the table.</p>Green Left Eye2010-01-29T20:00:45ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Overall, a well-done piece of work (4 stars)roguecophttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2009-12-27T19:48:19Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>On the good side: one monster-per-page (or two), well-organized stat blocks and descriptions, the ability to advance critters easily and effectively, the background story on the beasties (more fluff is better!), the overall layout of the book and its sturdiness</p>
<p>On the bad side: missing some of our favorites (But that must be a licensing issue, right? How can I live without Beholders?? LOL ), and the manga-ish-ness of some of the artwork is a bit distracting to a certain level of realism enjoyed in the game, though overall the artwork is good</p>
<p>Overall, a good purchase. I do not regret dropping the cash. :)</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>On the good side: one monster-per-page (or two), well-organized stat blocks and descriptions, the ability to advance critters easily and effectively, the background story on the beasties (more fluff is better!), the overall layout of the book and its sturdiness</p>
<p>On the bad side: missing some of our favorites (But that must be a licensing issue, right? How can I live without Beholders?? LOL ), and the manga-ish-ness of some of the artwork is a bit distracting to a certain level of realism enjoyed in the game, though overall the artwork is good</p>
<p>Overall, a good purchase. I do not regret dropping the cash. :)</p>roguecop2009-12-27T19:48:19ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): A petty flaw. (5 stars)Dramhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2009-11-18T14:37:17Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>The Bestiary is amazing. I love the format! I was discouraged early on in the book by one piece of art but quickly recovered. The Dire Bear looks like a surprised grizzly with rocks on its back. That being said, the remainder of the art is exceptional.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>The Bestiary is amazing. I love the format! I was discouraged early on in the book by one piece of art but quickly recovered. The Dire Bear looks like a surprised grizzly with rocks on its back. That being said, the remainder of the art is exceptional.</p>Dram2009-11-18T14:37:17ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Fanastic Bestiary (5 stars)Masikahttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2009-11-14T07:22:34Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>In my experience, I have found D&D OGL Bestiaries fairly well done. This book continues that tradition and then builds on it. It takes the basic stat blocks and then give a million and one options to customise/develop monsters.</p>
<p>The layout is perfect. Front the monsters with templates followed by monster creation/advancement and then useful, summative and well organised appendices... ones that I know I can be used.</p>
<p>This book is not targetted at beginning GMs who use stats to rush monsters at players for hack and slash. This book is written by experts for expert DMs or to develop GMs to run monsters in creative and challenging ways. A must for the PFRPG GM.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>In my experience, I have found D&D OGL Bestiaries fairly well done. This book continues that tradition and then builds on it. It takes the basic stat blocks and then give a million and one options to customise/develop monsters.</p>
<p>The layout is perfect. Front the monsters with templates followed by monster creation/advancement and then useful, summative and well organised appendices... ones that I know I can be used.</p>
<p>This book is not targetted at beginning GMs who use stats to rush monsters at players for hack and slash. This book is written by experts for expert DMs or to develop GMs to run monsters in creative and challenging ways. A must for the PFRPG GM.</p>Masika2009-11-14T07:22:34ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Awesome (5 stars)MasterDM1https://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2009-11-14T01:29:39Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>I just downloaded the Pathfinder Bestiary and I am just awestruck at the great job Paizo has done. Everything in the book is so well organized and interlinked so there is no problems whatsoever finding things. I have been playing/DMing D&D for 30+ years and though still a huge fan of D&D I am ready to make a complete switch to Pathfinder. Wizards should have consulted with Paizo instead of slinging together their current miasma of 4th edition. This is how D&D should be!</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>I just downloaded the Pathfinder Bestiary and I am just awestruck at the great job Paizo has done. Everything in the book is so well organized and interlinked so there is no problems whatsoever finding things. I have been playing/DMing D&D for 30+ years and though still a huge fan of D&D I am ready to make a complete switch to Pathfinder. Wizards should have consulted with Paizo instead of slinging together their current miasma of 4th edition. This is how D&D should be!</p>MasterDM12009-11-14T01:29:39ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL) (3 stars)P.H. Dungeonhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2009-11-13T03:36:37Z<p>The Bestiary is a very attractive looking monster book, filled with lots of great art and interesting fluff, and some fun new monsters. However, as far as the monster stats go, there are very few changes to the actual monsters themselves. They are essentially just reprints of the monsters from the 3.5 MM. The 3.5 monster manual has been around for a long time now, and there has been plenty of time to figure out which monsters work well and which one's need some changes/improvements, so am I not noticing many? As a quick example- the pit fiend, while it does have neat new power called devil shaping (which is useless during combat as it takes 1 minute to use), still doesn't have enough hp to keep it standing for more than a couple of rounds against the average 20th level party, and it's regeneration is only 5. If you are going to create a new game, why not change a few things to make it better than its predecessor?</p><p>The Bestiary is a very attractive looking monster book, filled with lots of great art and interesting fluff, and some fun new monsters. However, as far as the monster stats go, there are very few changes to the actual monsters themselves. They are essentially just reprints of the monsters from the 3.5 MM. The 3.5 monster manual has been around for a long time now, and there has been plenty of time to figure out which monsters work well and which one's need some changes/improvements, so am I not noticing many? As a quick example- the pit fiend, while it does have neat new power called devil shaping (which is useless during combat as it takes 1 minute to use), still doesn't have enough hp to keep it standing for more than a couple of rounds against the average 20th level party, and it's regeneration is only 5. If you are going to create a new game, why not change a few things to make it better than its predecessor?</p>P.H. Dungeon2009-11-13T03:36:37ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Excellently formated and beautiful Art work. (5 stars)Druthlenhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2009-11-08T00:06:48Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>I bought the PDF version of this and what a deal. It is formated so that when I need a monster I simply print that page. I have not ran into a monster that takes up more then 1 page. It is so well formated. It saves my ink and paper and Im ready to go with just one page. I write all over it with notes for that game and toss it when Im done. Great job!!!!!!</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>I bought the PDF version of this and what a deal. It is formated so that when I need a monster I simply print that page. I have not ran into a monster that takes up more then 1 page. It is so well formated. It saves my ink and paper and Im ready to go with just one page. I write all over it with notes for that game and toss it when Im done. Great job!!!!!!</p>Druthlen2009-11-08T00:06:48ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Another case of four stars not telling the whole story . . . (4 stars)KnightErrantJRhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2009-11-03T04:59:46Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>This book, like the core rulebook, is gorgeous. Not only that, but it has most of the OGL creatures in it, updated to the Pathfinder rules as well as some interesting and logical tweaks.</p>
<p>The only real gripe I have is that, while I understand why it was done, I didn't like that some classic creatures were turned into templated versions of the core version of the monster (I don't know you you need to have separate stats for heavy war horses, but it just doesn't sit right, to me, to have them be "advanced" horses, for example).</p>
<p>All of that having been said, call this one a 4.75, but I'm just too much of a pain to give up a five star review.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>This book, like the core rulebook, is gorgeous. Not only that, but it has most of the OGL creatures in it, updated to the Pathfinder rules as well as some interesting and logical tweaks.</p>
<p>The only real gripe I have is that, while I understand why it was done, I didn't like that some classic creatures were turned into templated versions of the core version of the monster (I don't know you you need to have separate stats for heavy war horses, but it just doesn't sit right, to me, to have them be "advanced" horses, for example).</p>
<p>All of that having been said, call this one a 4.75, but I'm just too much of a pain to give up a five star review.</p>KnightErrantJR2009-11-03T04:59:46ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Oh So Glorious! (5 stars)Celestial Half-Porchttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2009-10-29T20:23:12Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>When this arrived at my door I couldn't wait to tear it open and as I read it all I could think about was great enemies to use to kill my friends. There is only one problem.... Where's the Bodak? J/K never use him anyway.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>When this arrived at my door I couldn't wait to tear it open and as I read it all I could think about was great enemies to use to kill my friends. There is only one problem.... Where's the Bodak? J/K never use him anyway.</p>Celestial Half-Porc2009-10-29T20:23:12ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Vast improvement over it's predecessor. (5 stars)Dennis Bakerhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2009-10-26T17:35:48Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>My first thought was this product was going to be essentially a reprint of the 3.5 monster manual with the Paizo rules changes and the awesome Paizo design work. As such my expectations were pretty moderate for this book.</p>
<p>I am happy to say that my expectations were greatly exceeded. The book is indeed an amazing piece of design (art!) which I expected from paizo, but it goes a lot further than that. The monsters are rebalanced and often completely reworked. Common abilities are standardized and put in a "common monster ability" section in the back of the book which means the pages are dedicated to strategy, ecology, and generally awesome flavor text.</p>
<p>The artwork is exceptional, there are a few outliers that look out of place in there but in general it's amazing stuff. In a really nice touch the illustrator's names are on the side of each page.</p>
<p>Overall the book is amazingly well organized, it's easy to find what you need and the book is simply the best looking RPG source book I have ever seen.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>My first thought was this product was going to be essentially a reprint of the 3.5 monster manual with the Paizo rules changes and the awesome Paizo design work. As such my expectations were pretty moderate for this book.</p>
<p>I am happy to say that my expectations were greatly exceeded. The book is indeed an amazing piece of design (art!) which I expected from paizo, but it goes a lot further than that. The monsters are rebalanced and often completely reworked. Common abilities are standardized and put in a "common monster ability" section in the back of the book which means the pages are dedicated to strategy, ecology, and generally awesome flavor text.</p>
<p>The artwork is exceptional, there are a few outliers that look out of place in there but in general it's amazing stuff. In a really nice touch the illustrator's names are on the side of each page.</p>
<p>Overall the book is amazingly well organized, it's easy to find what you need and the book is simply the best looking RPG source book I have ever seen.</p>Dennis Baker2009-10-26T17:35:48ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Great Book... (5 stars)Lord Haliaeetushttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2009-10-25T04:10:13Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>Simply put, this a high quality product that anybody interested in PFRPG should consider purchasing. The art, for the most part, is top notch. The high spots for me were the angels, demons, and devils. Even the rat entry featured a wicked looking dire rat! The only major disappointment was the Tarrasque - it left a little something to be desired. There were a couple others, but this doesn't take away too much from the book as a whole.</p>
<p>The actual content is superb. I particularly appreciated the designers including guidelines for running some of the races as characters (e.g. aasimar, drow, etc.). The templates are well done too. I have yet to compare the Bestiary directly to the Monster Manual - that should be interesting.</p>
<p>Congratz to Paizo for putting out another great product.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>Simply put, this a high quality product that anybody interested in PFRPG should consider purchasing. The art, for the most part, is top notch. The high spots for me were the angels, demons, and devils. Even the rat entry featured a wicked looking dire rat! The only major disappointment was the Tarrasque - it left a little something to be desired. There were a couple others, but this doesn't take away too much from the book as a whole.</p>
<p>The actual content is superb. I particularly appreciated the designers including guidelines for running some of the races as characters (e.g. aasimar, drow, etc.). The templates are well done too. I have yet to compare the Bestiary directly to the Monster Manual - that should be interesting.</p>
<p>Congratz to Paizo for putting out another great product.</p>Lord Haliaeetus2009-10-25T04:10:13ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Well done BUT... (4 stars)Covetoushttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2009-10-22T17:32:13Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>...Suggestion-wise I would say to put the templates in their own section in the next installment (if you do one). Apart from that I echo the other comments.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>...Suggestion-wise I would say to put the templates in their own section in the next installment (if you do one). Apart from that I echo the other comments.</p>Covetous2009-10-22T17:32:13ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Everything I hoped for & more ... (5 stars)NEONCONhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2009-10-20T23:39:54Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>The easy complaint here is ... "Haven't I seen most of these monsters somewhere else before?" The answer is ... "Yes, but not like this!"</p>
<p>As always, Paizo hits it out of the park with their art direction and production value. The book is a visual stunner. Each illustration is familiar, but uniquely Pathfinder/Paizo. Information design is excellent, which is one of my major quibbles with other creature collections.</p>
<p>But what about game play? Isn't this just a collection of mildly changed stat blocks? Nope.</p>
<p>Like the Pathfinder RPG itself, each monster is reworked to fit the improved OGL d20 ruleset. Broken monsters get fixed and monster creation & advancement are greatly improved.</p>
<p>I am already looking forward to Bestiary 2!</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>The easy complaint here is ... "Haven't I seen most of these monsters somewhere else before?" The answer is ... "Yes, but not like this!"</p>
<p>As always, Paizo hits it out of the park with their art direction and production value. The book is a visual stunner. Each illustration is familiar, but uniquely Pathfinder/Paizo. Information design is excellent, which is one of my major quibbles with other creature collections.</p>
<p>But what about game play? Isn't this just a collection of mildly changed stat blocks? Nope.</p>
<p>Like the Pathfinder RPG itself, each monster is reworked to fit the improved OGL d20 ruleset. Broken monsters get fixed and monster creation & advancement are greatly improved.</p>
<p>I am already looking forward to Bestiary 2!</p>NEONCON2009-10-20T23:39:54ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): I am overjoyed (4 stars)catman123456https://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2009-10-20T03:13:00Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>This book is what helped me decide to subscribe. All the pictures are in color and invoke awe. I would recommend getting this.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>This book is what helped me decide to subscribe. All the pictures are in color and invoke awe. I would recommend getting this.</p>catman1234562009-10-20T03:13:00ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): Great product (4 stars)GreenGrunthttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2009-10-19T06:51:25Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>The artwork is top notch for most of the book, with a few exceptions. It seems that in a few of the entries Paizo was cramped for space. I know it would have been pricier but it would've been nice if they devoted some more pages for some of the creatures. I still wish they had more stats for monster PCs as they did in the old 3.5 Monster Manual.</p>
<p>Regardless, the Bestiary is a great addition to the Pathfinder RPG. I was pleased with the final product.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>The artwork is top notch for most of the book, with a few exceptions. It seems that in a few of the entries Paizo was cramped for space. I know it would have been pricier but it would've been nice if they devoted some more pages for some of the creatures. I still wish they had more stats for monster PCs as they did in the old 3.5 Monster Manual.</p>
<p>Regardless, the Bestiary is a great addition to the Pathfinder RPG. I was pleased with the final product.</p>GreenGrunt2009-10-19T06:51:25ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): This is your new monster lab! (5 stars)Jason Soniahttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2009-10-15T09:10:51Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>What strikes me after flipping through the Beastiary...</p>
<p>1) I was hoping to see a few of the "monster races" portrayed in a playable format, without the extra racial Hit Dice and Paizo delivered! Want to play a ______ without the extra +1 ECL? You can. Paizo definitely balanced things, expanding options and playability in a unique and constructive way.</p>
<p>2) The art is, for the most part, top notch. Only a few monsters (Ankheg, Troll) left me wanting more. The majority of them were brilliantly drawn and colored. The Angels, Devils, and Genies really stood out!</p>
<p>3) The entire format is easy to use, with the pdf linked so that I can reference things quickly, at the table, when I need to. It's clear they aimed to simplify game play. </p>
<p>Good job Paizo!!</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>What strikes me after flipping through the Beastiary...</p>
<p>1) I was hoping to see a few of the "monster races" portrayed in a playable format, without the extra racial Hit Dice and Paizo delivered! Want to play a ______ without the extra +1 ECL? You can. Paizo definitely balanced things, expanding options and playability in a unique and constructive way.</p>
<p>2) The art is, for the most part, top notch. Only a few monsters (Ankheg, Troll) left me wanting more. The majority of them were brilliantly drawn and colored. The Angels, Devils, and Genies really stood out!</p>
<p>3) The entire format is easy to use, with the pdf linked so that I can reference things quickly, at the table, when I need to. It's clear they aimed to simplify game play. </p>
<p>Good job Paizo!!</p>Jason Sonia2009-10-15T09:10:51ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): WOW! (5 stars)ccastanhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2009-10-15T00:39:14Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>Wow, wow! I was speechless when I saw it, I was speechless as I was reading it. </p>
<p>The quality is great, the monsters are great, the writing is great. The appendixes organize monsters in with different types of characterizations. Best Bestiary ever. Wow!</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>Wow, wow! I was speechless when I saw it, I was speechless as I was reading it. </p>
<p>The quality is great, the monsters are great, the writing is great. The appendixes organize monsters in with different types of characterizations. Best Bestiary ever. Wow!</p>ccastan2009-10-15T00:39:14ZPathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL): INCREDIBLE! (5 stars)Mikhaila Burnetthttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8auu?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Bestiary2009-10-14T05:20:59Z<p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>Well worth the wait, the Pathfinder Bestiary is an incredible tome which scratches all of my deep-seated creature based needs. The illustrations are superlative. The proofreading rocks! (What can I say, I'm a pedant) And best of all, it's 100% PFRPG compatible. </p>
<p>With this, most of my favorite creatures are brought into this Brave New World of gaming. From the humble, yet deadly Goblin to the championing Solar every creature contained herein is given its due.</p>
<p>Bravo Paizo!</p><p><b>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary (OGL)</b></p><p>Well worth the wait, the Pathfinder Bestiary is an incredible tome which scratches all of my deep-seated creature based needs. The illustrations are superlative. The proofreading rocks! (What can I say, I'm a pedant) And best of all, it's 100% PFRPG compatible. </p>
<p>With this, most of my favorite creatures are brought into this Brave New World of gaming. From the humble, yet deadly Goblin to the championing Solar every creature contained herein is given its due.</p>
<p>Bravo Paizo!</p>Mikhaila Burnett2009-10-14T05:20:59Z