Bestiary Box or Beginner box?


4th Edition


OK here's the scoop, new 5E group coming together and decided I do want to use pawns / mat for select battles.

I don't want to spend $$$ on this stuff, but do want some basics and don't want to use paper / dice / doritos for battles (insert Bill Cosby routine here).

Most cost effective way is Pathfinder pawns. Bestiary Box 1 seems hard to find, box #2 is $48 on chapters (Canadian version of Amazon). I'd have to pick up the basic flip-mat which is $17 so looking at around $70 with tax. I'd have monsters etc to spare and would never have to spend any more $.

Then I realized the beginner box comes with 80 pawns and a re-useable double sided flip mat and goes for $42. One side of the map is for the adventure that comes with the box (which I would easily convert and use in 5E). I'd also get more dice . . . except I'd also have some pathfinder books that I wouldn't use, aside from the adventure. Obviously beginner box way more limited selection although I don't necessarily care about using the correct pawn for every single battle. That being said more is always better . . .

Trying to decide if I would be happier spending the extra $25 . . . or not. Beginner box pawns also include quite a few that would work well for the PC's whatever they choose.


The Beginner's Box is, in my opinion, hands down one of the best ways to start playing a fantasy role playing game that money can buy. It has everything you need to learn Pathfinder, and about half of the things you would want to have even if you decide to play something other than Pathfinder.

Good selection of introductory monsters

Good selection of Player Character Tokens

Dice

Cool flip map

Right there it is worth the money you spend on it.


With the Beginner Box you get a flip mat with a dungeon and a "blank" side that just has a grid and a grass texture which you can draw on and erase with most types of markers. Youget a selection of pawns to use for PCs

Your monster selection is quite a bit more limited though, and it doesn't come with the huge size pawns you find in the bestiary boxes. You also only get very basic stands for your pawns while the bestiary boxes have proper bases that cover the actual space that a creature occupies, so there is that consideration.

The bestiary box gives you the better selection of monsters, good bases, and you have a few pawns in there that may serve adequately as improvised PC pawns, like the aasimar cleric, dark stawlker or vampire sorcerer


I really like the Beginner's Box, even though I find 5E is a little easier to teach to new players. You get a lot of nice stuff for the price. I haven't purchased any of the Bestiary boxes, so I can't comment on those.

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