Beasts of Legend: Coldwood Codex (PFRPG) PDF

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A fantastical bestiary of fey and undead!

This supplement contains 10 creatures suitable for use in any campaign set within or traveling through the cold, desolate woods of the northern wilds. While ideally suited for adventure paths like Kingbreaker or the Witches of Winter, these creatures add a delightful bit of novel menace equally split between fey spirits bursting with the raw and wild energies of life and vile undead seething with the power of death. Drawing upon real-world folklore, classic fantasy tropes, and the design skills of two of the top creative minds in the business, the Coldwood Codex is an indispensable addition to any GM’s monster toolkit. This 35-page monster product includes not only full-page color player-friendly handout portraits but also foldable paper miniatures for every creature!

This is not the first monster product that Legendary Games has produced, and it will certainly not be the last. The Construct Codex for our Gothic Adventure Path Plug-Ins has been lavished with praise for its quality and inventiveness, and we hope to bring you many more chapters in our ongoing Beasts of Legend series that will equal or exceed it. The Legendary Games tradition is to combine rich story and background, innovative layout, beautiful aesthetics, and excellence in design that is second to none. This product is the latest in that tradition, and we hope you enjoy using it as much as we enjoyed making it, and that you’ll keep coming back again and again to Make Your Game Legendary!

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An Endzeitgeist.com review

5/5

This bestiary for the Kingmaker-AP is 35 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/SRD, 1 page how-to-use, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 31 pages of content, so let's take a look!

First, we get a page of introductory text and after that we dive in - here's a peculiarity of the book: Each entry of a monster comes with a one-page massive full color artwork as well as a read-aloud text to properly portray it, offering essentially some awesome hand-outs to show the players. And we kick off with the CR 13 Amadans - saggy, somewhat maggot/mole-like fey that can only be seen by those under a curse: As these disturbing fey are creatures of pure unluck, they come with a rather lethal accelerated aging curse, can weep accursed tears and shroud themselves in stolen luck. Rather awesome!

The second critter would be the Bokereyder, a CR 2 goat-like humanoid fey who can ride goats and turn domesticated animals feral with a gaze. Oh, and they come with stats for feral goat companions.

On the others die of the power-scale, there is the massive CR 18 Chernobog-fey, which are almost demonic-looking foes of the divine, impeding the connection of casters to their deities and offering a massive area of control about plants. Worse, these dreadnoughs may implant iron thorns into foes , making them rise as an undead-like servitor once the deadly seed germinates.

The Faleich-wyrm, at CR 13, is an undead tatzylwyrm also have an interesting angle - apart from their breath weapon, they are also hosts to hordes of leeches that transmit maddening murderous commands. Disturbing!

The Naekk, a CR 7 shapechanging fey inhabitant of bogs and waters are a fey water spirit that may emit despair-inducing wails and the bites of their unhinging, sharp-toothed jaws may go phantasmal killer on their victims - especially unpleasant since they may fascinate foes. Cool creature, though honestly, I think we have enough alluring/disturbing water-fey.

Sloughs (the example coming at CR 14) are druids who have forsaken their paths and now sap the vitality from the land. They come with a withering curse, rejuvenation, a stench aura, undead wild shapes and their template clocks in at CR +2. Can you say "defiler lich" with me? (Dark Sun fans should be smiling...) Well, almost - their magic per se does not blight the land - a minor lost chance here.

At CR3 the Totemoq are some of the weirder creatures I've seen in recent time: Tiny bodies with oversized totem-mask-like heads, these fey of winter roam the frigid wilds, luring travelers to their doom via their nonlethal cold sighs while being cloaked in protective whispers and snow.

The Ugrother, an undead pixie-like fey at CR 5 fights with needles imbued with spell-like abilities and may use weapons usually not suitable for their size - nice one, especially when combined with redcaps...

Barrow Wights are yet another new undead, this one having the only artwork in the book I wouldn't consider stellar and only good - at CR 11, these undead are driven by greed and may locate treasure stolen from them and haunt the dreams of the grave-robbers. They are lawful, though, so negotiation might actually be an option.

The Boreal Wight (at CR 4) has perhaps one of the best artworks I've ever seen for a monster - overgrown by prickly vines, they may embrace foes and root themselves with them, fuse with trees to replenish their life and unleash deadly needlestorms. Awesome!

The pdf also features 3 pages of cardstock-minis that cover each of the creatures herein.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are top-notch - as I've come to expect from Legendary Games, I noticed NO GLITCHES. Layout adheres to the beautiful full-color two-column standard of their Kingmaker-plug-ins. Artworks, as I've come to expect from Legendary Games, are up to paizo-quality and perhaps partially beyond - Jason Juta, Tanyaporn Sangsnir and Steve Wood have created awesome art indeed. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience as well as the good (i.e. helpful!) type of hyperlinks to d20pfsrd.com, but no printer-friendly version.

Tim Hitchcock and Jason Nelson are talented designers - thus it should come as no surprise that this pdf, in the best of Legendary Games tradition, is all killer, no filler - there indeed is not a single creature herein that feels like it's uninspired, boring or bland - they all BEG to be used. With sharp implements held to your face.

Sooo...the price-point. Someone's gotta address the elephant in the room. Yes, this pdf is not cheap - especially when adding toner/ink-cost, for you'll want to print this out. BUT. And this but deserves its capital letters, I consider this pdf well worth every cent. Why? Because these critters come with more fluff, with superb production values - whereas I buy Paizo bestiaries mostly for crunch and not inspiration (I prefer the chronicles-books for exactly that reason and love those to death), this pdf's monster-entries not only feature multiple signature abilities and superb artworks, they also come with deliciously-inspiring fluff that goes beyond what Paizo can offer in their bestiaries - and this, to me at least, vastly increases the value of this book. Dripping old-world flair and oozing not only Kingmaker-compatibility, but also feeling right at home in e.g. the Margreve or the Midgard Campaign Setting, this bestiary once again manages to cement Legendary Games' status as one of the companies that just doesn't seem to be able to fail - worth every cent, brimming with imagination, this is well worth 5 stars + seal of approval.

Endzeitgeist out.


The Coldwood Codex: A Colossal Creature Collection

5/5

The latest offering from Legendary Games for their 'Kingbreaker' AP plug-ins, the Coldwood Codex is a set of undead and fey monsters for use in almost any wilderness campaign.

Be warned, I'm basing this review on an earlier version of the PDF. A redone one was released after I got my copy with a shorter page count and new formatting. One or two observations I make here may well have been changed.

First monster is the Amadan, a creepy little horror that is basically an avatar of misfortune, with a collection of cruel spell-like abilities and curses for use, along with a nasty bite, great resistance to injury (its body is basically a bag filled with liquid curse!), and a very nice and odd talent: it can only be seen by someone who's under a curse. So in order to see it, you have to let it put a curse on you! And then it can become a giant and smash you into a pulp. Weird, original, and very nasty.

Next is the Bokereyder, a little goat-man fey with the ability to drive tame animals wild and for some odd reason the HD and BAB of a monstrous humanoid. They can be nasty in a fight but these guys are threats more in the sense of what they can do a community under your care -- by driving the goats, sheep, horses and whatnot berserk they can cause a LOT of damage to farm folk and herders. They're very folkloric fey.

The Chernobog should be familiar to anyone who ever saw "Fantasia". They are staggeringly powerful fey warlords who represent nature's stark and coldblooded cruelty. This combined with a god complex and a raft of potent powers, including a druid-like ability to swap out uses of their spell-like abilities to cast summon nature's ally like a druid, make them memorable. Oh, did I mention the horn that when blown not only traps you with vines, they burrow into your body? And the chernobog can turn enemies into a non-necromantic zombie (complete with template)?

The undead Faleich-Wyrm is a primitive and feral undead dragon-kin, sort of like a great worm infested with undead leeches that drive their victims mad. It is not a glorious undead draconic tyrant, but a maddened rotting crawling horror that can devastate enemies between its attacks and the lingering madness its leeches leave behind. Very nasty and rather different, it's a grave-wyrm in the truest sense of the phrase.

Jenny Greenteeth joins the roster in the form of the Naekk, a lovely water-woman that lures you close with its tinkling riversong, blasts you into helpless despair with its cry, and then eats you whole! A new take on the classic murderous water-spirit, and very well done.

A Slough is a druidic lich with a tendency to establish savage cults and that maintains itself by use of accursed weirdstones and by draining the life from the land. A rotting, stinking, lord of marshes and wastelands, this is probably the best take on the 'undead druid' I've ever seen.

The bizarre Totemoq is an amoral fey wants to bring the glaciers back and cover all the world in ice. They're nasty spirits that can be a real menace to anyone wandering in the cold; and their appearance is truly unique! These are not your standard fey.

The pain-loving Ugrohter are undead fey who inflict pain on others to collect prime memories of agony and torment. They mostly do this by some nasty powers, like imbuing needles with spell-like abilities to cause suffering. Very creepy little guys.

The Barrow Wight is a true lord of the grave-mound, an undead miser and warlord that can track a grave-robber to the ends of the earth, inflict horrifying nightmares with a touch, and control a small army of superior wights created by its energy drain. This one is nasty indeed, a vicious enemy who can be used to set up any number of adventures with its greed, vengefulness, and power to act on both.

The prickly Boreal Wight is the remains of someone who froze in the northern forests. This left its mark on them, as they can root themselves and use the plants around them to seize and sicken their enemies. They also have a rather unusual yet very appropriate weakness, as well as a nasty habit of sending their wight-spawn back home to kill their still mortal loved ones.

The PDF also contains stand-ups for all the monsters they include, which is a nice touch. This is a wonderful collection of well-done themed monsters and it'd be a great addition to any wilderness campaign set in the frigid north. Five stars for a purchase you will be glad to make.


Webstore Gninja Minion

Now available!

Scarab Sages RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4; Contributor; Publisher, Legendary Games

Woo! Come and get it!


Well, I gave it a review; hopefully it gets more, and soon.

Scarab Sages RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4; Contributor; Publisher, Legendary Games

Thanks for the great review, Eric! Glad you are enjoying the monsters and I look forward to seeing more, More, MORE reviews from folks excited by what they see. Just wait until you see the next batch of monsters brewing!

Shadow Lodge

Hey guys! Just got my hands on this about 2 weeks ago and I have to say so far excellent job. The Bodyeker, Chernobog, and the Slough are at the very least creatures that are soon going to be making an appearance in my home games.

That being said I have a quick question about the Slough. Is the weirdstone supposed to weigh 4000 lbs? As written the thing seems like something you would want to carry around so that it can feed on new terrain and at that weight would just end up sitting in one location, consuming all the life from the area, and then be just rendered inert.

Scarab Sages RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4; Contributor; Publisher, Legendary Games

Glad you are enjoying the product, doc. The Slough was one of Tim Hitchcock's monsters, so I'll ping him by email and see if he'd like to weigh in with his thoughts.


And again, that's ten times as heavy as the heaviest stone that exists in the real world.

Liberty's Edge Contributor

doc the grey wrote:

Hey guys! Just got my hands on this about 2 weeks ago and I have to say so far excellent job. The Bodyeker, Chernobog, and the Slough are at the very least creatures that are soon going to be making an appearance in my home games.

That being said I have a quick question about the Slough. Is the weirdstone supposed to weigh 4000 lbs? As written the thing seems like something you would want to carry around so that it can feed on new terrain and at that weight would just end up sitting in one location, consuming all the life from the area, and then be just rendered inert.

Well, I can definitely admit when I'm wrong.

This is a prime example, the text should read 400 lbs. I actually wanted the weirdstone to be a bit lighter than normal stone so the slough could tote it about, but heavy enough that the slough couldn't just flee a combat with it without a certain amount of effort.

That said, a clever slough could certainly gather enough minions to haul around a 4,000 pound chunk of stone, especially if it suited her dastardly plans.

Scarab Sages RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4; Contributor; Publisher, Legendary Games

If any of you really liked what you saw in the Coldwood Codex, check out the latest news on our website: Tim and Jason (and Matt Goodall) are at it again as the Boreal Bestiary will be coming your way soon!


Reviewed first on Endzeitgeist.com, then submitted to Nerdtrek and GMS magazine. Also posted it here, on OBS and d20pfsrd.com's shop!

Next LG-product in the queue: Ultimate Rulership, potentially even this week. Cheers!

Scarab Sages RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4; Contributor; Publisher, Legendary Games

Thanks for the great review Endy! Looking forward to seeing your comments on Ultimate Rulership!


Bokereyder is based on the Bokkenrijders from dutch mythology right? :-p

The name is even the same a bit. :-p

Cool ability, I just may use that.


So which of these guys are from mythology. Bokereyder, Chernobog, and Amadan I know, but which others?

Also, ****ing epic.

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