baldwin the merciful wrote:

If I buy hardcover do I get the pdf included? I could swear that is the case from other books that I bought but its not clear.

Only if you buy it as part of the RPG subscription. You can only get a PDF included with any Paizo product by subscribing.

Thanks. I'll settle for the pdf then.

You can start your Pathfinder RPG subscription with either the NPC Codex or the upcoming Ultimate Campaign.

You can start your Pathfinder RPG subscription with either the NPC Codex or the upcoming Ultimate Campaign.

Thanks for the heads-up. I cancelled my subscription after Serpeant's Skull since I'm still playing the Kingmaker campaign. I couldn't keep up. I buy a lot of Paizo gaming material and 3rd party items, so renewing the subscription commitment doesn't fit my plans at this time.

Shipped.

Waitan.

Liz Courts wrote:

You can start your Pathfinder RPG subscription with either the NPC Codex or the upcoming Ultimate Campaign.

Thanks for the heads-up. I cancelled my subscription after Serpeant's Skull since I'm still playing the Kingmaker campaign. I couldn't keep up. I buy a lot of Paizo gaming material and 3rd party items, so renewing the subscription commitment doesn't fit my plans at this time.

Entirely fine if it doesn't meet your needs and not trying to pressure you at all, but you're aware that the Pathfinder RPG subscription and Pathfinder AP subscription are two different things, right? Subscribing to the RPG line gets you the three-ish books per year in the rulebook/accessory line, not the monthly AP issues.

One more week! The pdf is available on my birthday :D

Downloaded my pdf. I've only skimmed it so far, but I have to say this book has some of the best character art I've ever seen. It's pretty much universally fantastic. I think there's one piece I remember seeing elsewhere, but it's great so I don't mind.

My only complaint about the art is that it doesn't always match the NPC that it's under. There can be a bit of a disconnect.

-Kcinlive

Stratagemini wrote:

When you say that we get Iconics from 1-20? Is that only the Core Iconics? or do we get Seytiel and his cohorts from the Non-CRB books?

Just the core class iconics.

If you want to get SUPER technical, Seytiel premiered as a Core Iconic as the iconic multiclass character.

Of course, he's almost exclusively used as the iconic magus now, so I'd be very surprised to see Seytiel in the NPC Codex.

Mikaze wrote:

Are all of the NPCs in the book straight-classed or are there some multiclassed examples available?

The prestige class characters are multiclassed, but the others are all single-classed.

There are PRESTIGE CLASS CHARACTERS in this book?

...

You care! You really DO care about Prestige Classes!

Downloaded my pdf. I've only skimmed it so far, but I have to say this book has some of the best character art I've ever seen. It's pretty much universally fantastic. I think there's one piece I remember seeing elsewhere, but it's great so I don't mind.

My only complaint about the art is that it doesn't always match the NPC that it's under. There can be a bit of a disconnect.

-Kcinlive

Lucky! I'm an East Coaster, so I usually have to wait longer for everything. :(

My only complaint about the art is that it doesn't always match the NPC that it's under. There can be a bit of a disconnect.

Can you give me an example of this?

Kcinlive wrote:

My only complaint about the art is that it doesn't always match the NPC that it's under. There can be a bit of a disconnect.

Can you give me an example of this?

Page 132 - Swamp Ranger

I think the problem here is that the picture matches the description of the NPC, but the NPC doesn't necessarily match the description of the "Swamp Ranger".

Page 177 - Ice Mage
Nothing in this picture says "Ice Mage". My first instinct would be druid.

Having looked over the book again, I think this is less of a problem then I had originally thought. I think it's simply a matter of personal taste.

-Kcinlive

Edit: Have a mentioned that the art is amazing? It makes me want to play these characters.

Yeah, it is odd that he'd have a shark companion in the swamp. But it would be pretty badass to have a shark in the swamp...

Hmm. The original art description for the ice mage (I assume you mean page 171, not 177)her was "water specialist," though her original writeup does focus more on ice.

Yep, those are weird. Some of this art did come in late, though—too late to make significant changes—so that may have been the case for these two illos.

Anyway, I'm glad you like the book and the art, despite weirdness like that. :)

Yeah, it is odd that he'd have a shark companion in the swamp. But it would be pretty badass to have a shark in the swamp...

salt water swamp or fresh water shark

I'll be picking this up in both PDF and in hard copy at the FLGS. I know I'm in the minority, but I love that these NPCs are built using only the Core Rulebook.

"Is that a frickin Numerian Shark with frickin Numerian Lasers an his frickin head?"-Dr. Evil

"Cannot wait to get the pawn collection with all this wonderful art!!!!"-me

I'll be picking this up in both PDF and in hard copy at the FLGS. I know I'm in the minority, but I love that these NPCs are built using only the Core Rulebook.

Sometimes having a small selection of toys in your sandbox forces you to be far more creative than if you had every color, size, make, and model of toy available.

I'll be picking this up in both PDF and in hard copy at the FLGS. I know I'm in the minority, but I love that these NPCs are built using only the Core Rulebook.

I hope you're in the minority, because I'd love to sell a ton of copies of an "Advanced NPC Codex" with all the bells and whistles some time in the nebulous future... ;)

bugleyman wrote:

I'll be picking this up in both PDF and in hard copy at the FLGS. I know I'm in the minority, but I love that these NPCs are built using only the Core Rulebook.

I hope you're in the minority, because I'd love to sell a ton of copies of an "Advanced NPC Codex" with all the bells and whistles some time in the nebulous future... ;)

Wait, you want to sell me MORE super awesome tools that reduce the amount of work I need to throw into preparing a game?

Shut up and take my money.

Kcinlive wrote:

My only complaint about the art is that it doesn't always match the NPC that it's under. There can be a bit of a disconnect.

Can you give me an example of this?

A number. Okay. There are a number of Sorcerers and Wizards wearing armor which isn't represented in their stat block:

Sorcerers:
The bramble sorcerer on 162

Storm Sorcerer on 163

the Azure Bolt Sorceror on 170 has some sort of ice axe and neither equipment or spell to explain such a thing (also she's electric themed and dressed for the depths of winter)

The Aforementioned Ice mage on page 171 is dressed for what seem like jungle adventures. or at least much warmer weather than I'd normally expect an ice mage to venture into.

Wizards:
the Deep Marshal wizard on 191 is wearing full plate and wielding a warhammer (the weapon at least is in her statblock).

The grand Necromancer on 193 seems to be clothed in bone armor of some sort, odd for a wizard, but at least fitting the theme of necromancer.

Monks:
The Cruel Devotee on 98 is wearing a blindfold over his eyes despite being unable to blind-fight.

The harrying Brute on 99 is weilding a Sai and a sword of some type, despite a dagger in his statblock, and no sword anywhere near it.

The cautious hunter on 101 has some sort of flaming fists and at least one spiked knuckleduster (also on fire), despite no ability to elemental fist, or flaming amulet of mighty fists.

Paladin:

The Forge Rider on Page 119. He's Dual Wielding Greataxes (two handed weapons) despite his statblock stating his has an Urgrosh. he looks incredibly awesome though.

There are some more here and there. but those were the most glaring to me. That said! The art as a whole in this book is extremely awesome! Aside from a few gnomes and halflings that look disturbingly like bobbleheads, I think I enjoyed almost every single picture in here. Especially the Fiery Dragonkin Sorcerer on page 174.

bugleyman wrote:

I'll be picking this up in both PDF and in hard copy at the FLGS. I know I'm in the minority, but I love that these NPCs are built using only the Core Rulebook.

I hope you're in the minority, because I'd love to sell a ton of copies of an "Advanced NPC Codex" with all the bells and whistles some time in the nebulous future... ;)

Why can't we be both? I love that this is a core only set and I would buy an "Advanced NPC Codex once you do it. I like that the tools keep giving me options rather than lock me into a single path.

I amend my earlier statement.

Revised statement: "I hope everyone is both."

Don't get me wrong -- I don't begrudge people an Advanced NPC Codex one bit -- but the choice to have separate books was inspired. It made this particular product into "must buy in hard copy" for me.

Oh lord, I just skimmed my pdf, and I'm loving this book. Tons of great NPC art? Check. Tons of great humanoid enemies? Check. Encounter Tables? Check. Congrats Paizo, this is my new favorite RPG line book.

When is the projected street date?

Nov 21.

Oh lord, I just skimmed my pdf, and I'm loving this book. Tons of great NPC art? Check. Tons of great humanoid enemies? Check. Encounter Tables? Check. Congrats Paizo, this is my new favorite RPG line book.

Cut it out! We peon non-subscribers can't buy it yet!

Ah! I waited all day to look at my PDF, and it is GORGEOUS. If the pawns use this art, I might have to get them. Its some of the best character art I've seen in a long time!

I would say that the only way this could have been better in my mind, is if more entries got the full NPC treatment with RP suggestions and background blurbs.

Sadly, it would have been impossible to fit them in without compromising some of the rest of the awesome (prestige class builds, art, encounter tables, etc.) crowded into this monster of a book.

Ok my two complaints about this book (now that I've read the PDF):

First, none of the advanced classes are here, which I can understand, you want to be able to just use the book without any of the newer classes in here, but it'd still be awesome if there's a future advanced NPC download or something like that. I'd love to see class builds for alchemists and summoners.

Second, and this is my biggest complaint that may not really be a complaint, but WHY are there no good NPCs? With the exception of the paladins and one ranger, there are no good aligned NPCs here. Granted I know you can just swap it on the fly, but it would have been interesting to say see clerics of good dieties, or good aligned rogues or something like that. Is it that heroes are the only good people in the world?

First, none of the advanced classes are here, which I can understand, you want to be able to just use the book without any of the newer classes in here, but it'd still be awesome if there's a future advanced NPC download or something like that. I'd love to see class builds for alchemists and summoners.

This would indeed be awesome for an NPC Codex II. :D

Second, and this is my biggest complaint that may not really be a complaint, but WHY are there no good NPCs? With the exception of the paladins and one ranger, there are no good aligned NPCs here. Granted I know you can just swap it on the fly, but it would have been interesting to say see clerics of good dieties, or good aligned rogues or something like that. Is it that heroes are the only good people in the world?

My guess is the following: 1) most PCs are good-aligned, or at least neutral with good tendencies or objectives, 2) you tend to only need full stat blocks for NPCs that the PCs are expected to fight, and because of that, 3) most PCs tend to get into fights with evil or neutral-aligned NPCs, and therefore statblocks for those NPCs are the most useful to the most GMs. PCs are not the only good people in the world, but the Codex is is not designed as a campaign's White Pages, but as a resource of PC antagonists.

4) It's easy to change the NPC's alignment to something good without affecting its abilities too much, as compared to reworking a "I'm fighting evil" good NPC, who'd require you to swap spells like holy smite.

Cover is only a mock-up? Aaah, I love the cover.

What a great resource! I'm such a busy GM. I love coming up with my own NPC's, but I welcome this with great anticipation!

Cover is only a mock-up? Aaah, I love the cover.

What a great resource! I'm such a busy GM. I love coming up with my own NPC's, but I welcome this with great anticipation!

The first cover we posted was a mock-up, but the one currently visible is the real deal. (And yeah, it's great!)

I really love this book and at first I didn't think that much of it but I am totally happy I got this. The ONLY thing I hope to see in the future (and I am not sure if anyone else mentioned this already, I only skimmed this forum a bit) is a second Codec for base classes and added prestige classes.

That would be utterly amazing to see. Besides, the other iconics need something like this for them too. If that would come out, I would preorder in a heartbeat. Thanks for this book, can't wait for more.

I have an interesting question.

Are there plans to adjust the rules in Pathfinder Society to allow us to use this book when we need a temporary character to play a higher tier session? Right now I think we are currently limited to the 4 basic iconics when we need to do this.

all 1st- and 7th-level pregens will be Pathfinder Society-legal with the caveat that any feat they may possess that is not legal for the campaign cannot be used (I think this only applies to Ezren, who gets Scribe Scroll as a bonus feat). There will be full details on how to use them as pregenerated characters in the November update to the Additional Resources page.

Hey, Valeros doesn't dump stat Wisdom any more! Yay!

OK, while I'm sort of in a ranting bent...

I was a little disappointed about the fact that it only had NPCs using the Core Classes. I would really like to see that "Advanced NPC Codex" that Erik was touting, but at this stage it's at least another year away which is very disheartening. I think that making them together (to follow one another that is, not actually releasing them together) would have been a much better proposition.

Sean K Reynolds wrote:

Kcinlive wrote:

My only complaint about the art is that it doesn't always match the NPC that it's under. There can be a bit of a disconnect.

Can you give me an example of this?

A number. Okay. There are a number of Sorcerers and Wizards wearing armor which isn't represented in their stat block:

Paladin:

The Forge Rider on Page 119. He's Dual Wielding Greataxes (two handed weapons) despite his statblock stating his has an Urgrosh. he looks incredibly awesome though.

There are some more here and there. but those were the most glaring to me. That said! The art as a whole in this book is extremely awesome! Aside from a few gnomes and halflings that look disturbingly like bobbleheads, I think I enjoyed almost every single picture in here. Especially the Fiery Dragonkin Sorcerer on page 174.

I noticed a lot of this as well on my flip through (I left the Paladin example in my Quote since it was one that I really raised my eybrows at...)

OK, while I'm sort of in a ranting bent...

I was a little disappointed about the fact that it only had NPCs using the Core Classes. I would really like to see that "Advanced NPC Codex" that Erik was touting, but at this stage it's at least another year away which is very disheartening. I think that making them together (to follow one another that is, not actually releasing them together) would have been a much better proposition.

Sure, but then we would have you happy but Bugleyman would be going on a rampage over Paizo shoving non-core material down his respiratory tract.

It's pretty much a "pick your poison" situation.

However, HeroLab will release the NPCs from NPCC for free, so as long as you have the relevant data files you can just swap things out.

flash_cxxi wrote:

OK, while I'm sort of in a ranting bent...

I was a little disappointed about the fact that it only had NPCs using the Core Classes. I would really like to see that "Advanced NPC Codex" that Erik was touting, but at this stage it's at least another year away which is very disheartening. I think that making them together (to follow one another that is, not actually releasing them together) would have been a much better proposition.

Sure, but then we would have you happy but Bugleyman would be going on a rampage over Paizo shoving non-core material down his respiratory tract.

Must. Bite. Tongue...

However, HeroLab will release the NPCs from NPCC for free, so as long as you have the relevant data files you can just swap things out.

As much as I want to, I don't own HeroLab. :'(

Actually, as long as all you need is to swap out spells and feats it all should be fine - after all, the big bad things you need to calculate (Skills, Saves) don't change.

Archetypes might take a bit longer.

flash_cxxi, the problem your suggestion is that putting out two books like NPC Codex in quick succession (which is how I understand your suggestion) would most likely kill the good folks at Paizo. Certainly two books the size of the NPC Codex. I can only imagine the time, effort, blood, sweat, and tears put into such a book.

flash_cxxi, the problem with your suggestion is that putting out two books like the NPC Codex in quick succession (which is how I understand your suggestion) would most likely kill the good folks at Paizo. Certainly two books the size of the NPC Codex. I can only imagine the time, effort, blood, sweat, and tears put into such a book.

No no, still the same release timeframe. Just instead of Ultimate Campaign next we'd get the "Advanced NPC Codex".

RAMPAGE!

Please note I've stayed completely out of the mythic threads, despite the fact that I perceive Mythic to be an akward, conceptually redundant bolt-on which is roughly as useful as a bucket of steaming hamster vomit. (Yes, this is silly hyperbole. However, I really do find Mythic to be a solution to a problem that, for me at least, simply doesn't exist).

Believe it or not, I have managed to piece together that not everything is about me. ;-)

Ravenmantle wrote:

flash_cxxi, the problem with your suggestion is that putting out two books like the NPC Codex in quick succession (which is how I understand your suggestion) would most likely kill the good folks at Paizo. Certainly two books the size of the NPC Codex. I can only imagine the time, effort, blood, sweat, and tears put into such a book.

No no, still the same release timeframe. Just instead of Ultimate Campaign next we'd get the "Advanced NPC Codex".

Expect that in several places Erik has expressed that they weren't totally certain that this book would be a sucess. If they had decided to dedicate the April slot to another NPC book and this had flopped (or tbh, even if it was a middling sucess), there would have been an entire year between books that were more than passingly interesting for players.

Expect that in several places Erik has expressed that they weren't totally certain that this book would be a sucess. If they had decided to dedicate the April slot to another NPC book and this had flopped (or tbh, even if it was a middling sucess), there would have been an entire year between books that were more than passingly interesting for players.

They still may not be totally certain whether this guy is a success. Part of the reason I'm buying it in both PDf and hard copy is to show support for this sort of product. :)

Build Error:
Expert Blacksmith, Dwarf Expert 6, Page 262

Has the feats:
Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Master Craftsman (Craft [weapons]), Skill Focus (Craft [armor, weapons])

This isn't possible before level 7, due to the requirements of Master Craftsman (5 ranks in a Craft skill) and Craft Magic Arms (level 5 caster, fullfilled by Master Craftsman).

(My gnomish expert blacksmith NPC in Kingmaker is eagerly striving towards his 7th level.)

I like some of the character concepts elsewhere in the book...

No no, still the same release timeframe. Just instead of Ultimate Campaign next we'd get the "Advanced NPC Codex".

That's still doing two stat block products back to back, which probably would give me a heart attack.

Got the PDF...looking through it has just reinforced my initial impression -- I love this book!