Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary 4 (OGL)

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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary 4 (OGL)
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Untold Horrors!

Confront the creatures that go bump in the night! Bestiary 4 presents hundreds of new monsters for use in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Within this tome of terrors you'll find pitiless psychopomps and blood-drinking nosferatu, insectile formians and faceless nightgaunts, and even unique mythological horrors like Spring- Heeled Jack and Grendel himself. Yet not every creature need be an enemy, as mighty empyreal lords, primeval outer dragons, and valorous swan maidens enlist you in their epic battles!

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary 4 is the fourth indispensable volume of monsters for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and serves as a companion to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook and Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary. This imaginative tabletop game builds upon more than 10 years of system development and an Open Playtest featuring more than 50,000 gamers to create a cutting-edge RPG experience that brings the all-time best-selling set of fantasy rules into the new millennium.

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary 4 includes:

  • More than 300 different monsters
  • Creatures from classic horror literature and monster films, including the colour out of space, elder things, and kaiju
  • New player-friendly races like changelings, kitsune, and nagaji
  • Entities of mythic might, from despotic demon lords and alien elohim to terrifying Great Old Ones—including Cthulhu!
  • New creatures you can construct, like clockworks and juggernauts
  • New familiars, animal companions, and other allies
  • New templates to help you get more life out of classic monsters
  • Appendices to help you find the right monster, including lists by Challenge Rating, monster type, and habitat
  • Expanded universal monster rules to simplify combat
  • Challenges for every adventure and every level of play
  • ... and much, much more!

ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-575-4

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

Hero Lab Online
Fantasy Grounds Virtual Tabletop
Archives of Nethys

Note: This product is part of the Pathfinder Rulebook Subscription.

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The Horror Takes Center Stage....

5/5

This edition of the Bestiary series brings all the worst nightmares, not found in a traditional fantasy setting alive! Despite the horror feel, they work in any genre you might be playing. By far my favorite of the Bestiary series! The sheer creativity of the Paizo team explodes in this awesome collection of crazy!


An RPG Resource Review

5/5

Herein is a fine and fascinating array of monsters, most with supernatural aspects and worthy of songs and legends... indeed it is suggested that to make the most of them you should be also using the Mythic Adventures rules. Fitting adversaries for those who fancy themselves as such legendary heroes, perhaps...

The Introduction is mainly explanation of how each monster entry is presented, complete with handy icons used to enable you to tell at a glance the creature type and the terrain and climate that it favours. These are supplemented by appendices that list them by CR, terrain and so on thus enabling you to populate a chosen area with ease. Other appendices deal with special abilities and other details, including a fascinating section on monster creation, another on monster advancement and one on monsters as player-characters.

The main bulk of the book is composed of an alphabetical listing of the monsters. Each comes with a colour illustration and stat block, with plenty of detail and description to enable you to work out suitable uses for it and how it will behave when encountered by the party.

Beginning with the abaia, an eel with a strong regard for the environment which acts as guardian to a body of water... and turns quite nasty if you do not respect the lake it inhabits (it doesn't mind people who take only what they need, it is those who abuse nature that upsets them), there follows a fascinating array of creatures.

The almiraj, for example, looks like a cross between a rabbit and a unicorn, but it's no fluffy bunny! If nothing else, anything slain by its horn is turned to stone so if the poor almiraj wants to eat whatever it has attacked (it's apparently a carnivore), it has to eat its prey alive.

One of the weirdest is the colour out of space. This is an eerie radient incorporeal ooze that leaches life out of its surroundings until it reaches maturity, at which time it departs into the interstellar depths from which it came. If that's not enough for you, the Great Old Ones are here, so if you wish to combat Cthulhu or Hastur or the like, now you can... if you dare. Most have cults associated with them, details of which are also given.

If it's monsters out of legend that you want, there are beings such as Grendel, if you prefer more mundane ones there are gremlins or even giraffes! Undead too, and an alchemist's error called a hungry flesh, a giant ooze. To cap it all, how about an immortal ichor, which is an intelligent mass of blood from a dead evil deity...

This is indeed a collection of monsters rich and strange, ones whose very being deserve a song or story, never mind those that will be written when heroes defeat them in battle!


Lots of fun new monsters!

4/5

Read my full review on Of Dice and Pen.

Bestiary 4 contains over 300 new monsters. All the monster types are represented, although some more than others. There are many of the standards found in every Bestiary—new dinosaurs, devils, dragons—but also many unusual and bizarre creatures. It has provided me with lots of new options to throw at my players, and that’s always a good thing.


5/5

The Bestiary 4 for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game has been one of the more favorites of the Bestiary series for me and I'd like to take a moment to tell you why.

To start, the Bestiary 4 has added everything from new types of fey to additional golems as well as the more prominent and popular Kaiju, Great Old Ones, and Empyreal Lords. Paizo's inclusion of these creatures that've gone on to become pop culture legends in their own right is a direct result of the designer's dedication to getting their monsters right. The Bestiary 4 is an awesome sourcebook and stands right up there with the Bestiary 3 in terms of 'fantasy verisimilitude,' hardening gamers resolve against such villainous foes as Cthulhu himself.

Not every book is a perfect image of idolatry however and the Bestiary 4 is no exception. While it's true that this book is littered with new baddies for your players to chase and new races for their characters to face, it is also bogged down with what seems to be an over-saturation of multiple page monsters. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it does seem as if several of these creatures could've used a proverbial trimming before being posted.

If you don't mind a bit of length though and you want more vile beasts for your players to square off against then the Bestiary 4 is yet another wonderful book to add to your collection and one that comes Five-Star recommended by your Severed Ronin.

Robert Beasley
"The Severed Ronin"


You probably know if you need this

5/5

This is a good Bestiary. I'd personally put it up with Bestiary 3, with both having a good mix of classic, mythological, and completely new monsters.

There's a bit of a horror them and a bit of a mythic theme, but neither is overwhelming. If you're looking for a whole book of mythic monsters, this isn't it. If you're worried the whole book is mythic monsters, there aren't that many in practice.

For me, the evocative flavor on the high CR creatures pushes it over the top. The demon lords, empyreals, and great old ones really feel like epic creatures.

If you're sure you don't need any more monsters... don't buy this book. That said, I wasn't sure if I needed any more monsters and was definitely impressed by this.

Short Version: These are sweet monsters, but only you know whether you want more monsters.


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James Jacobs wrote:
Matthulu wrote:
In the AP where the star spawn of Cthulu is found there is a blurb about Great Cthulu that says that he would be as powerful to a star spawn as a star spawn is to a normal person. That would put his CR at 400..... I would love to see that stat block! (Assuming a CR 1 character)

That was written before Mythic Adventures was anything more than a distant future possibility.

Cthulhu is CR 30. The maximum CR we can really do in the game, pretty much.

I figured as much. Just thought that would be funny. Also I need to learn to spell Cthulhu.


Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
Zaister wrote:
Tooth fairy sounds a bit silly to me.
Check out Hellboy 2.

Actually, I'd rather not, because I didn't even like the Hellboy character and mythos in the comics in the first place. Besides, I'm rather skptical about del Toro. Making trash like "Blade II" is a serious disqualification in my eyes.

I guess this "tooth fairy" thing is too American and too far removed from my European mindset.


Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Alexander Augunas wrote:
Are there any other CR 30s? Or is Great Cthulhu in a class of his own?

Baba Yaga is CR 30 according to a recent Twitter tease photo.


Zaister wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Zaister wrote:
Tooth fairy sounds a bit silly to me.
Check out Hellboy 2.

Actually, I'd rather not, because I didn't even like the Hellboy character and mythos in the comics in the first place. Besides, I'm rather skptical about del Toro. Making trash like "Blade II" is a serious disqualification in my eyes.

I guess this "tooth fairy" thing is too American and too far removed from my European mindset.

I'm european and I like me some tooth-faeries, and the only thing very American to me is the Kaiju, never seen much people from Europe beg for those big monsters anywhere, and i've been on a lot of game/monster/movie forums from europe, this forum also learned me about Lovecraft, never heard about that author on any european forum.

Skymetal is too Inner Sea Bestiary, it won't make it into the bestiary me thinks.


Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Quote:
I'm european and I like me some tooth-faeries

What I meant is that the myth of the tooth fairy doesn't seem to be something told to kids here. At least I never heard of tooth fairies when I was a kid. Probably these days, this has been imported from the US, like many other customs that were never observed of here thirty years ago, such as Halloween etc.


Sincubus wrote:
...this forum also learned me about Lovecraft, never heard about that author on any european forum.

I don't doubt for a second that your only exposure to the Cthulhu Mythos has been through paizo.com, or that the forums you've visited have contained little or no discussion about the Cthulhu Mythos, but the works of H.P. Lovecraft has quite a following in Europe as well. Every gamer I've met during my 20-some years as a gamer has had some kind of interest in or knowledge of Cthulhu and his cosmic brethren. For many, the exposure to this horror subgenre has been through the Call of Cthulhu RPG released by Chaosium Inc (myself included), but for many others the Cthulhu Mythos has revealed itself to them directly through the writings of Mr Lovecraft and other writers.

So yeah, H.P. Lovecraft isn't just an American thing. Not in my experience, at least.


Zaister wrote:
What I meant is that the myth of the tooth fairy doesn't seem to be something told to kids here. At least I never heard of tooth fairies when I was a kid. Probably these days, this has been imported from the US, like many other customs that were never observed of here thirty years ago, such as Halloween etc.

I don't know where in the world you're from, Zaister, but here in Denmark the tooth fairy is a common story told to children. Whenever a child loses a tooth, the tooth is put under the pillow. The parents then replace the tooth with a coin at some point during the night and blame the switch on the benevolent tooth fairy. Of course, this is a child-friendly version.


Not sure if we called it the tooth fairy back then, but 25 years ago in northern Germany, we certainly had the tradition of putting teeth under your pillow and it would be replaced by a coin the next morning. And my parents really weren't the kind of people who'd be running after any foreign fad.

Grand Lodge

Sincubus wrote:
Zaister wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Zaister wrote:
Tooth fairy sounds a bit silly to me.
Check out Hellboy 2.

Actually, I'd rather not, because I didn't even like the Hellboy character and mythos in the comics in the first place. Besides, I'm rather skptical about del Toro. Making trash like "Blade II" is a serious disqualification in my eyes.

I guess this "tooth fairy" thing is too American and too far removed from my European mindset.

I'm european and I like me some tooth-faeries, and the only thing very American to me is the Kaiju, never seen much people from Europe beg for those big monsters anywhere, and i've been on a lot of game/monster/movie forums from europe, this forum also learned me about Lovecraft, never heard about that author on any european forum.

Skymetal is too Inner Sea Bestiary, it won't make it into the bestiary me thinks.

If by American, you're saying that it's the Americans who've requested it more than anyone else, then maybe. But if you're saying Americans are the originators of Kaiju, well that's not true. That's a Japanese thing (see: Godzilla). The word Kaiju translates to "strange beast"


Master Cthulhu alone made me decide firmly to buy this one. Even better if 2nd printings of UC and/or UE were out by the time this one came out too, though, for I plan to buy those 2 when as such.

Anyways, the more epic monsters the better!


Zaister wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Zaister wrote:
Tooth fairy sounds a bit silly to me.
Check out Hellboy 2.

Actually, I'd rather not, because I didn't even like the Hellboy character and mythos in the comics in the first place. Besides, I'm rather skptical about del Toro. Making trash like "Blade II" is a serious disqualification in my eyes.

I guess this "tooth fairy" thing is too American and too far removed from my European mindset.

Blade II was terrible, but trust me when I say he's definitely made up for it in his movies.


Pagan priest wrote:

Mmm, not to nit-pick, but in the Celtic myths, they ARE deformed giants. Oops, I guess that I am nit-picking...

However, in the sense that the write up in D&D is closed and you'd have to totally reinvent them I suppose that it would be of questionable value to put forth all that effort.

European lore (both Celtic & Scandinavian) uses the term "giant" more as a racial designation....not a reference to size (as we do now).

Many beings are refered to as "giants" and then described as being the same size as mortals.

Although some Fomori/Giants are described as being "ugly".. many are not.
It often seems to be more a case of their physical form reflecting their attitude.


Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

Anyway, I'd rather see Cthulhu in a Bestiary than Santa Claus.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Zaister wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Zaister wrote:
Tooth fairy sounds a bit silly to me.
Check out Hellboy 2.

Actually, I'd rather not, because I didn't even like the Hellboy character and mythos in the comics in the first place. Besides, I'm rather skptical about del Toro. Making trash like "Blade II" is a serious disqualification in my eyes.

I guess this "tooth fairy" thing is too American and too far removed from my European mindset.

Then you'll need to gird yourself, I guess, for that monster being one of the monsters in the book you don't like.

No monster book is perfect to everyone. I can do without leshys, for example, but that doesn't make Bestiary 3 any less cool.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Odraude wrote:
Zaister wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Zaister wrote:
Tooth fairy sounds a bit silly to me.
Check out Hellboy 2.

Actually, I'd rather not, because I didn't even like the Hellboy character and mythos in the comics in the first place. Besides, I'm rather skptical about del Toro. Making trash like "Blade II" is a serious disqualification in my eyes.

I guess this "tooth fairy" thing is too American and too far removed from my European mindset.

Blade II was terrible, but trust me when I say he's definitely made up for it in his movies.

I disagree. I loved Blade II; and that movie is, incidentally, why sinspawn look the way they do.

Shadow Lodge

Kajehase wrote:
Starmetal-based oozes, perhaps?

Actually we get one of these in shattered star book 6.


James Jacobs wrote:
Odraude wrote:
Zaister wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Zaister wrote:
Tooth fairy sounds a bit silly to me.
Check out Hellboy 2.

Actually, I'd rather not, because I didn't even like the Hellboy character and mythos in the comics in the first place. Besides, I'm rather skptical about del Toro. Making trash like "Blade II" is a serious disqualification in my eyes.

I guess this "tooth fairy" thing is too American and too far removed from my European mindset.

Blade II was terrible, but trust me when I say he's definitely made up for it in his movies.
I disagree. I loved Blade II; and that movie is, incidentally, why sinspawn look the way they do.

I don't remember anything that looked like that. All I remember is Ryan Renolds and the girl with the silly iPod product placement.


James Jacobs wrote:
Zaister wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Zaister wrote:
Tooth fairy sounds a bit silly to me.
Check out Hellboy 2.

Actually, I'd rather not, because I didn't even like the Hellboy character and mythos in the comics in the first place. Besides, I'm rather skptical about del Toro. Making trash like "Blade II" is a serious disqualification in my eyes.

I guess this "tooth fairy" thing is too American and too far removed from my European mindset.

Then you'll need to gird yourself, I guess, for that monster being one of the monsters in the book you don't like.

No monster book is perfect to everyone. I can do without leshys, for example, but that doesn't make Bestiary 3 any less cool.

You mean the leshies from mythology or the leshies from pahtfinder?


Ryan Renolds was in Blade 3, if your going to bash someones work make sure it is actually there's.

Society is based on lies, but without lies there wouldn't be an imagination.


Huh, so you're right. Somehow missed the second Blade movie then.

Not a lie dragon, a mistake. Chill.


Odraude wrote:
Not a lie dragon, a mistake. Chill.

I'm fairly certain Dragon78's mention of lies is in relation to a discussion a few posts above this one in which Zaister ranted about the various stories told to children (tooth fairy, Santa, etc.), not specifically aimed at you. :)


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Zaister wrote:
Anyway, I'd rather see Cthulhu in a Bestiary than Santa Claus.

If I had my druthers, they'd both be in there along with the Krampus.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Yes Odraude, Heine Stick is right, that part about the lies wasn't aimed at you.

How do we know Santa Claus isn't in the Bestiary 4;) I mean some evil winter fey that looks like a jolly fat human with a bag of holding, who forces Gnomes to make toys all year round as slave labor sounds cool to me.

Hopefully the Bestiary 4 will have most of the Lovecraftian creatures from AP#46 and AP#64. Well except for the Dimensional Shambler, Gnoph-Keh, and Dark Young since they can't reprint them without permission.


Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
James Jacobs wrote:

Then you'll need to gird yourself, I guess, for that monster being one of the monsters in the book you don't like.

No monster book is perfect to everyone. I can do without leshys, for example, but that doesn't make Bestiary 3 any less cool.

The monster can still be cool, I trust you guys on this. It's just that this myth seems somewhat silly to someone who didn't grow up with it.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Dragon78 wrote:

Ryan Renolds was in Blade 3...

Huh. That explains why I don't remember those things from Blade 2, I guess. ;-P

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Sincubus wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Zaister wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Zaister wrote:
Tooth fairy sounds a bit silly to me.
Check out Hellboy 2.

Actually, I'd rather not, because I didn't even like the Hellboy character and mythos in the comics in the first place. Besides, I'm rather skptical about del Toro. Making trash like "Blade II" is a serious disqualification in my eyes.

I guess this "tooth fairy" thing is too American and too far removed from my European mindset.

Then you'll need to gird yourself, I guess, for that monster being one of the monsters in the book you don't like.

No monster book is perfect to everyone. I can do without leshys, for example, but that doesn't make Bestiary 3 any less cool.

You mean the leshies from mythology or the leshies from pahtfinder?

I mean the leshies from Pathifnder. As far as I know, there are no actual real mythological leshies in any Bestiaries. ;)


I actually like the pathfinder version of the Leshy.

Shadow Lodge

5 people marked this as a favorite.
Sincubus wrote:
... the only thing very American to me is the Kaiju

Yes, I'm sure such a concept would never appeal to other cultures. For example, the Japanese.


James Jacobs wrote:
Sincubus wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Zaister wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Zaister wrote:
Tooth fairy sounds a bit silly to me.
Check out Hellboy 2.

Actually, I'd rather not, because I didn't even like the Hellboy character and mythos in the comics in the first place. Besides, I'm rather skptical about del Toro. Making trash like "Blade II" is a serious disqualification in my eyes.

I guess this "tooth fairy" thing is too American and too far removed from my European mindset.

Then you'll need to gird yourself, I guess, for that monster being one of the monsters in the book you don't like.

No monster book is perfect to everyone. I can do without leshys, for example, but that doesn't make Bestiary 3 any less cool.

You mean the leshies from mythology or the leshies from pahtfinder?
I mean the leshies from Pathifnder. As far as I know, there are no actual real mythological leshies in any Bestiaries. ;)

Which is sad, as the Russian Leshia (spelling is off but plural of Leshy) are actually fairly interesting nature spirits. I for one would like seeing more Russian and Eastern European mythological beings in Pathfinder. it's part of why I am so fond of Midgard (well, that and Kobolds ;-) )

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Leo_Negri wrote:
Which is sad, as the Russian Leshia (spelling is off but plural of Leshy) are actually fairly interesting nature spirits. I for one would like seeing more Russian and Eastern European mythological beings in Pathfinder. it's part of why I am so fond of Midgard (well, that and Kobolds ;-) )

It's only sad for me, since I'm the one who doesn't like how they work in Pathfinder! :-P

And if you're looking for more stuff from Russian and Eastern Europe... you really REALLY need to check out the Reign of Winter Adventure Path. That thing is FILLED with stuff from those myth cycles and folklore.


Zaister wrote:

I'm from Germany, too, although it's now been almost 40 years since i was the age relevant for tooth-fairy tales (or similar stuff), I didn't know something like that was even a fairy tale until, I guess, the early 90s when it came up in some TV show I was watcheng.

<rant>Besides, I really don't understand why parents tell their kids crappy lies like that. Tooth fairies, easter bunnies, Christkind or Santa Claus. I think lying to kids is not cool. Kids are more intelligent than that and deserve better. </rant>

At the very least it will tech kids how to detect lies and not to trust anyone. That is a important life lesson.

My question is....why do you like PF at all? I mean pretty much you are lieing to yourself and well it really does seem silly to people not playing. I just find it strange for a fan of RPG not be a fan of myths in general.

Not trying to judge you...just never really ran into a opinion that matches yours before.


Leo_Negri wrote:

I mean the leshies from Pathifnder. As far as I know, there are no actual real mythological leshies in any Bestiaries. ;)

Which is sad, as the Russian Leshia (spelling is off but plural of Leshy) are actually fairly interesting nature spirits. I for one would like seeing more Russian and Eastern European mythological beings in Pathfinder. it's part of why I am so fond of Midgard (well, that and Kobolds ;-) )

I use the leshi from Dragon 290 as the real one, other plant leshy are grown as their servants.


Hopefully there will more types of Leshy in this one and I mean the plant Leshy not the "real Leshy".


It would be interesting to see some more attention given to monsters from the Southwestern United States. I would love to see what Paizo would do with La Llorona.


I hope some Hindu based monsters like the Apsarases, Yakshas, Gandharvas, Bhogavati, and Preta.

I really hope for some more Japanese mythical creatures like Bakeneko, Nekomata, Chochinobake, Heikegani, Hitodama, inugami, Kasa-obake, Kiyohime, and more kami.


Dragon78 wrote:

I hope some Hindu based monsters like the Apsarases, Yakshas, Gandharvas, Bhogavati, and Preta.

I really hope for some more Japanese mythical creatures like Bakeneko, Nekomata, Chochinobake, Heikegani, Hitodama, inugami, Kasa-obake, Kiyohime, and more kami.

Yes, more kami, I can get behind that.

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