NPC Codex Preview #1

I removed a post. Not helping.

I was unsure until I saw this preview. I now have it on my Buy list.

This looks real nice.

Crispy3ed wrote:

More like it has never been done to this level. I got my first NPC book when it was AD&D. I love my copy of The Rogues Gallery with all that great Earl Otis art!

Right. That book was clearly an inspiration, but even there you had stats basically on a chart, with tons of blanks you had to fill in yourself. This book is an attempt to give you everything you need, including full stats, a color illustration, etc.

True, there are only a few fully fleshed out NPC's in the book and they are the player characters of the game designers and artists.

This book is leaps and bounds beyond what has been put out for NPC's! It is for stat blocks what Masks is for Personalities. Heck you even throw in a bit of personality and some killer art!

I...I dunno. At present, even after the preview, I can't justify the money for this product.

We'll see. ;)

I'm really excited about this product and torn between getting the hardcover or the pdf... Dang it, I'll get both.

I might actually pluck this up since there is a history and backstory as well to the NPCs presented. Besides then there will be less work for me when I have NPC villians to be fought. Its only a moment's work to change a race or add a template if they have to be something else.

This! Very considerate of all these GMs with a RL to boot.

Ruyan.

What I would really like as a supplement to this....

Herolab files of the NPC's.

That would make archetype swapping and tinkering really handy and neat. This would make a good bundle with the PDF, since I'll probably get this as part of my subscriptions.

I imagine Lone Wolf Development will sell the HeroLab file separately, as they do for all their other products. Seems like it would be hard to "bundle" products from two different publishers, especially since no other HeroLab data packages are available from Paizo.com and no other Paizo PDFs are available from Lone Wolf.

I wasn't excited for this product till this post. It was more of a "handy to have around" type feeling. The detail in the short flavor and rp suggestions is just fantastic and makes me incredibly excited.

What I would really like as a supplement to this....

Herolab files of the NPC's.

I imagine Lone Wolf Development will sell the HeroLab file separately, as they do for all their other products.

I think everyone will be very happy, and possibly even a bit surprised, when they read our October newsletter next week. :)

Well, I really would have liked to have seen some summoners, but here's hoping to "one day" Otherwise, this looks like it will be great and be very fun to read and provide tons of pc and npc ideas, storylines etc.
Hmmm, and come to think of it, the CRB was what converted me to PF in the first place and I daydreamed over all the character possibilities back then. So, it will be very nice indeed to see how some of these core personas come to life! =)

Looks nice. This might be the first "Bestiary" that I buy from Paizo.

A little bummed that both the druids have wildshaping built into their tactics, yet we don't see wildshaped stats anywhere. Guess you had to draw the line somewhere. :-(

I’m sure one other utility hasn’t lost itself on many either: converting old adventures from any system all the way back just got that much easier. I mean it was always a cinch to swap out an old goblin or owlbear with a new one, but who usually has a 6th level gnome rogue and a 7th level elf barbarian just laying around? This book is going to see huge use at my table.

LazarX wrote:

What I would really like as a supplement to this....

Herolab files of the NPC's.

Joana wrote:

I imagine Lone Wolf Development will sell the HeroLab file separately, as they do for all their other products.

I think everyone will be very happy, and possibly even a bit surprised, when they read our October newsletter next week. :)

Ooh, I can't wait! :-)

I...I dunno. At present, even after the preview, I can't justify the money for this product.

You don't need to. I'll buy two.

...who usually has a 6th level gnome rogue and a 7th level elf barbarian just laying around?

Pimps of Golarion?

Informative preview and looking forward to the Codex release next month!

I also am fine with it being CRB only.

Since I can apply an Archetype if it matters all that much, but usually it does not matter. Since feats, spells, and skills will be done I will have a much easier time. Even more so as gear will mostly be settled as well so I do not have to sort out what gear they are carrying.

I recognize about 85% of what's on those character sheets. As I'm planning on using this for my 3.5 campaigns, that's pretty good. But what are those numbers after the base attack? CMB? CMD? What do those mean?

I recognize about 85% of what's on those character sheets. As I'm planning on using this for my 3.5 campaigns, that's pretty good. But what are those numbers after the base attack? CMB? CMD? What do those mean?

CMB is combat maneuver bonus, and CMD is combat maneuver defense. The rules for those are here in the PRD.

I recognize about 85% of what's on those character sheets. As I'm planning on using this for my 3.5 campaigns, that's pretty good. But what are those numbers after the base attack? CMB? CMD? What do those mean?

If you're playing 3.5, CMB (Combat Maneuver Bonus) is the NPC's bonus on grapple checks.