One protects incursions between planes and the other keeps tabs on the forces of chaos.
Hope this helps Razz.
I am assuming the brine dragons from p. 94 of Bestiary 2 are the same creatures as the "brine drakes" mentioned on pp. 20-21 of The Great Beyond? From their descriptions they seem very similar.
The terms "warm" and "tropical" seem to be used interchangeably in both the Bestiary and Bestiary 2 when talking about what environment a creature lives in. Is one an artifact, or do they have distinct meanings?
P.S.: Favorite picture by far? The new picture for the marsh giant: nice and creepy.
Director of Narrative
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P.S.: Favorite picture by far? The new picture for the marsh giant: nice and creepy.
Yeah, that's super-gross and creepy.
My favorite art is for the Wendigo. Holy crap is that thing creepy! You guys have outdone yourselves again!!
I think the art for the one in PF #6 is way better, but I agree that the art in the Bestiary is suitably creepy. At my tables, however, I'm still gonna show the #6 artwork. Regardless of art, the critter is awesome!
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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New Planetouched
Fetchling (kayal) (shadow touched)
Ifrit (fire touched)
Oread (earth touched) (they don't have natural armor, I was surprised.)
Slyph (air touched)
Undine (water touched) (again, strangely enough, they can't breathe water)
Other 'X characters' monsters
Dhampir
Grippli
Templates: ogrekin, petitioner, ravener, worm that walks, juju zombie.
other notes
It's nice to see a non-epic neh-thaggu. Castle Amber fans rejoice!
surprised the suli-jann and half-jann didn't make it in.
Downloaded last night before bed and only got a cursory look through...but awesome so far!
The artwork and flavor are top notch! Love the reconcepting of some old classics, and the new critters are fantastic!
Pdf! Book will probably arrive for me sometime next week...just in time for Christmas!
To answer a couple of questions from the last few days:
We are currently processing subscriber orders and preorders; it'll take a few days to get through them all. The official retail release date is December 29, so any retailer who has it before that date is supposed to hold it until then.
Shipments have already gone out to our distributors, including international and book trade distributors, but we have no control over (or insight into) the shipping to individual retailers (including Amazon) from those distributors.
Just my 2 cp.
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Are you all looking at the PDF or do you have the actual book? I'm probably just daft, but I can't quite figure out if the print book is available yet ...
It is just the PDF at this point and time. As a subscriber, we get access to the PDF as soon as we get the shipping notice from Paizo. It is a perk of being a subscriber. We will soon have the book too as it should arrive before the weekend :)
New Planetouched
Fetchling (kayal) (shadow touched)
Ifrit (fire touched)
Oread (earth touched) (they don't have natural armor, I was surprised.)
Slyph (air touched)
Undine (water touched) (again, strangely enough, they can't breathe water)
Other 'X characters' monsters
Dhampir
GrippliTemplates: ogrekin, petitioner, ravener, worm that walks, juju zombie.
other notes
It's nice to see a non-epic neh-thaggu. Castle Amber fans rejoice!surprised the suli-jann and half-jann didn't make it in.
Probably because they're already PRPG (even if the look of the stat-block hadn't been finalised yet, if I remember correctly).
So what is the petitioner like?
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So what is the petitioner like?
They're all 2 HD outsiders, no ability score adjustments (so all stats 10 or 11), with a template for each Outer Plane's particular souls, such as
Heaven (Lawful Good): The “elect” appear similar to their mortal forms, save that they possess a golden halo and feathered wings. After spending enough time aiding heavenly tasks, the elect become archons. They gain a fly speed equal to their base speed (average mobility).
Most of the others add energy resistance to one or 2 types and +2 to an ability score.
I just got an email saying payment was successfully reprocesed. So it should be shipped to me soon. Such a wonderful present for my Yuletime celebrations.Har har, you think so?!? I've sent my imp squad to intercept and steal your shipment!
You sent me food for a few weeks in addition to my books? How kind!
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So what is the petitioner like?
The petitioner is an acquired template that is applied to any creature whose soul migrates to one of the Outer Planes after its death. Usually CR 1 (GM call for large or unusual petitioners).
Each petitioner has additional traits based on the home plane. Most can become outsiders if they survive or do enough deeds.
For example, neutral evil types who go to Abaddon become the “hunted”. They look identical to the bodies they had in life and are stalked and eventually consumed by the daemons that lust for souls. A hunted that survives long enough eventually warps and twists into a daemon. They get DR 5/— and fast healing 1 (helps make the hunt fun, for the daemons that is).
Two page spread, awesome art.
I'm downloading the pdfs of AP #40 now it was shipped last night with my copy of Bestiary 2. I pray the Morrigan will grant me the boon of having it arrive on Friday or Saturday of this week.
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Creative Director
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The terms "warm" and "tropical" seem to be used interchangeably in both the Bestiary and Bestiary 2 when talking about what environment a creature lives in. Is one an artifact, or do they have distinct meanings?
Mostly flavor—when we say warm, that means any warm environment, whereas when we say tropical, that means the creature specifically prefers the tropics (as apposed, say, to a volcanic cavern or a magically heated region in the arctic).
But in the end, the words are pretty much synonyms. We DO try to default to the use of "warm" since it's less restrictive, but it's not really an error to use variations on those words. The end result is more or less the same.
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Creative Director
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surprised the suli-jann and half-jann didn't make it in.
Those were what I sort of see as "semi-failed experiments." The Ifrit, Oread, Sylph, and Undine are pretty much meant to replace them, but we won't come out and say that in print, really, since that's not Paizo's style. Use the ones you want and prefer in your game—we'll do the same (and use ifrits, oreads, sylphs, and undines).
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Chief Technical Officer
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I must admit I was a bit disappointed on how the PDF was set up. I would of liked it to be like the first Bestiary with everything linked to the page/creature.
If you're talking about the hyperlinks, we only did those for the Core Rulebook and the Bestiary. The PDF format supports internal hyperlinks reasonably well, but cross-document hyperlinks are a horror story (meaning we can't easily link back to the older books in the line). And it'd be weird to have some words linked (because they're internal references) while other, more important words weren't linked (because they're external references), so... no links.
Congrats to Vic and the crew for doing it once again, I can't wait to get my hardbound copy. Keep up the great work.
Thanks, and we're glad you're enjoying it... though I have to add that I personally had almost nothing to do with it apart from a single cursory approval pass on the day it went to the printer. It's the other couple of dozen people listed on the credits page that deserve the praise.
I think you misunderstood what I was saying. I would of liked to have the creatures in the Bestiary 2 to have hyperlinks from the table of contents to the creature within the bestiary 2 book. I totally understand the difficulty in having the hyperlinks to other books so would never expect that.
Thank you all Paizo staff - the Bestiary 2 is spectacular, I really enjoyed browsing it; and will be digging into it properly soon.
I too would enjoy an updated PDF later some time that has (internal) hyperlinks, for example from content to creature, and for all the lists (creature by terrain, CR, etc).
The same goes for all the other major PDFs, such as the APG.
One protects incursions between planes and the other keeps tabs on the forces of chaos.
Hope this helps Razz.
Oh sweet! Yes, it does help. Thank you. I'm hoping more inevitables will be released in the near future, I really want to do some sort of small adventure path involving the forces of Law and Order :D So basically, the more Lawful outsiders, the better
New Planetouched
Fetchling (kayal) (shadow touched)
Ifrit (fire touched)
Oread (earth touched) (they don't have natural armor, I was surprised.)
Slyph (air touched)
Undine (water touched) (again, strangely enough, they can't breathe water)
Other 'X characters' monsters
Dhampir
GrippliTemplates: ogrekin, petitioner, ravener, worm that walks, juju zombie.
other notes
It's nice to see a non-epic neh-thaggu. Castle Amber fans rejoice!surprised the suli-jann and half-jann didn't make it in.
That's the answer to the missing Genasi and Shadowswyft race in Pathfinder? Meh...I use the Oread in Fiend Folio as is, a "mountain dryad", and the sylph from MM2, as an air sprite. But I guess if you name change them back to "genasi", all might be good. I really thought they were all fey except for the Ifrit (and they all should've remained fey).
I thought the planetouched races were interesting, especially since I use the Forgotten Realms setting a lot and these are all fine replacements for the genasi from that setting in my opinion. Dhampir I liked a bit less, since I've never liked the vampire/half-vampire PC, but I'm sure I'll have players who will like it enough to try it out.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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I thought the planetouched races were interesting, especially since I use the Forgotten Realms setting a lot and these are all fine replacements for the genasi from that setting in my opinion. Dhampir I liked a bit less, since I've never liked the vampire/half-vampire PC, but I'm sure I'll have players who will like it enough to try it out.
The negative energy affinity can make things problematic for a PC though.
"I'll use Danny Dhampir's wand. Yeouch!""Cause light wounds. Dhampir, remember?"
I thought the planetouched races were interesting, especially since I use the Forgotten Realms setting a lot and these are all fine replacements for the genasi from that setting in my opinion. Dhampir I liked a bit less, since I've never liked the vampire/half-vampire PC, but I'm sure I'll have players who will like it enough to try it out.The negative energy affinity can make things problematic for a PC though.
"I'll use Danny Dhampir's wand. Yeouch!"
"Cause light wounds. Dhampir, remember?"
True, I didn't think about that, that could be somewhat annoying for a character, especially in a group with a good cleric who forgets about the Dhampir before channeling.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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True, I didn't think about that, that could be somewhat annoying for a character, especially in a group with a good cleric who forgets about the Dhampir before channeling.I thought the planetouched races were interesting, especially since I use the Forgotten Realms setting a lot and these are all fine replacements for the genasi from that setting in my opinion. Dhampir I liked a bit less, since I've never liked the vampire/half-vampire PC, but I'm sure I'll have players who will like it enough to try it out.The negative energy affinity can make things problematic for a PC though.
"I'll use Danny Dhampir's wand. Yeouch!"
"Cause light wounds. Dhampir, remember?"
Hmm, that is a good point. Since a cleric can't normally channel for damage and heal his mates at the same time, is the dhampir going to be excluded like a skeleton would?
Hmm, that is a good point. Since a cleric can't normally channel for damage and heal his mates at the same time, is the dhampir going to be excluded like a skeleton would?True, I didn't think about that, that could be somewhat annoying for a character, especially in a group with a good cleric who forgets about the Dhampir before channeling.I thought the planetouched races were interesting, especially since I use the Forgotten Realms setting a lot and these are all fine replacements for the genasi from that setting in my opinion. Dhampir I liked a bit less, since I've never liked the vampire/half-vampire PC, but I'm sure I'll have players who will like it enough to try it out.The negative energy affinity can make things problematic for a PC though.
"I'll use Danny Dhampir's wand. Yeouch!"
"Cause light wounds. Dhampir, remember?"
Yeah, I think it would work like that. Just like if a negative energy channeling cleric was hurting his companions I wouldn't want it to heal the Dhampir. I was thinking more how if the cleric was facing undead and channeling to harm them it should harm the Dhampir too if the cleric forgets he's in range.
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You sent me food for a few weeks in addition to my books? How kind!I just got an email saying payment was successfully reprocesed. So it should be shipped to me soon. Such a wonderful present for my Yuletime celebrations.Har har, you think so?!? I've sent my imp squad to intercept and steal your shipment!
Uh... well, I'll send a *bigger* squad of sneakier and nastier imps! Who will distract you by showing naughty pictures of me dressed in ladies' underwear!
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Creative Director
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I thought the planetouched races were interesting, especially since I use the Forgotten Realms setting a lot and these are all fine replacements for the genasi from that setting in my opinion. Dhampir I liked a bit less, since I've never liked the vampire/half-vampire PC, but I'm sure I'll have players who will like it enough to try it out.
Not only are WotC's genasi all closed content... but their versions of things like sylphs and oreads and the like from Fiend Folio are ALSO closed content. So we can't use any of those things in that format at all.
But the idea of elemental PC-compatible races is just too good to ignore. And furthermore, using real-world mythology for the basis for those elemental races works VERY well since those words have similar "heft" to them as other PC races, like gnome or dwarf or elf. They're already established in mythology, and as a player of a sylph or ifrit or whatever, you can go to real-world myths or the like to get inspiration, just as you can for elves and dwarves and the like. That's a MAJOR reason why we tend to skew toward mythological, real-world names rather than making up brand new names out of nonsense words for monsters.
I realize that for folks who use the Fiend Folio or other non-open WotC content that we're setting up some conflicts, but that's not something we can afford to worry about. As Pathfinder grows more and more popular, and as more and more books come out to support it, it needs to lean on existing older 3.5 content less and less. This is a good thing. It helps to make the game more Paizo's, after all.
But it can create rifts between the Pathfinder/D&D hybrid people and the Pathinder-Only folks. One side is totally happy, the other side is going to always expect a way to tie things to a 3.5e product (I'm in the middle of them both, personally).
To those talking about the dhampir, it's not a template, I noticed. I'd have preferred the template, so one can be a half-vampire of any creature eligible to be turned into an actual vampire. What is the dhampir's outline? Is it half-human only, or is it a unique race that transforms into one no matter what becomes a half-vampire, like an elf, dwarf, or orc?
There's always the Half-Vampire template in WotC's Libris Mortis, which is what I prefer. There's another in one of the Dragon Magazine issues, but it grants more abilities than the Libris Mortis one.
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Pathfinder slowly sliding more away from DnD 3.5 is kinda required. Sadly to much of it is still closed content. So Paizo has no choice but to put their own spin on things. Or some things just need a new spin, like the monster revisited line. I agree I am a bit sad some of the stuff I liked about 3.5 is being left behind, but I realize Paizo has no choice on a lot of that.
I was expecting a template for the dhampir as well, but I am ok with how they did it.
Yeah I'm aware of the issues. It's all bitter-sweet when it comes to Pathfinder. If only WotC were smart by just simply licensing older editions of D&D and their material all to Paizo, that way everyone wins. Oh well.
I want the book. I must see the part on the dhampir. Just curious does it have a lvl adjustment unless that would break any rules then nevermind?
Dhampir are defined by class levels - they don't have racial hit dice.
I just love how they presented the dhampir and the added art really is thought provoking.
I am a happy reptile.
I'm personally hoping for the following beasties:
New Playable Races
Axim (descended from a ancestor with the Axiomatic template)
Cansin (descended from a ancestor with the Archanic template)
Dhampire (descended from a ancestor with the Half-Vampire template)
New Elementals:
Elemental, Magma (Hot! Hot! Hot!)
Elemental, Ice (Ice Ice Baby)
Elemental, Wood (Lumberjacks beware)
Elemental, Lightning (Shocking isn't it?)
New Undead Variants
Skeleton, Nova (skeletons that crackle with electricity)
Zombies, Ooze (zombies that are extremely resistant to damage)
New Angels
Movanic Deva (Angels tasked with patrolling the Ethereal and Astral Planes]
Monadic Deva (Angels tasked with patrolling the Positive and Negative Energy Plans]
Celestar (Angels tasked with eliminating fiendish threats on the Prime Material)
New Azata
Coure (Playful and cheerful fairy like Azata who love to spread joy wherever they go)
Noviere (Aquatic Azata who seek to make oceans of Prime Material Worlds safe from evil)
Shiradi (Knights of the Azata and champions of freedom)
New Agathion
Mustival (Tiny mouse like Agathion who act as information gatherers and spies for good)
Ursinal (Horse like Agathion with powerful abilities in battle)
New Animals
Ape, Tyrant (Megaprimatus) (Massive ape often found on remote tropical islands being worshiped by the natives)
New Chromatic Dragons
Brown Dragon (Line of Fire) (Chromatic Dragons of the desert who prefer isolation and hate intruders equally)
Grey Dragon (Line of Cold) (Chromatic Dragons often referred to as “Fang Dragons with a love for battle)
Yellow Dragon (Cone of Electricity) (Chromatic Dragons of the jungles and thoroughly crass and spiteful)
New Metallic Dragons
Cobalt Dragon (Line of Cold/Cone of Fear Gas) (Metallic Dragons that shepherd northern tribes of humanoids)
Iron Dragon (Cone of Electricity/Cone of Nauseating Gas) (Metallic Dragons that act as assassins of evil)
Orium Dragon (Cone of Acid/Cone of Rusting Gas) (Metallic Dragons that guard the ruins of the past)
New Planar Dragons
Abaddonian Dragon (Cone of Disrupting Gas/Cone of Will–Sapping Gas) (Planar Dragons who love to imprison others)
Abyssal Dragon (Cone of Flesh–Dissolving Gas/ Cone of Demon–Fever Gas) (Planar Dragons as demonic as Demons)
Axial Dragon (Cone of Pure Law/Cone of Dispelling Gas) (Planar Dragons who are uncompromising on issues of law)
Chaos Dragon (Cone of Pure Chaos/Cone of Confusion Gas (Planar Dragons widely [and correctly] viewed as insane)
Hellfire Dragon (Cone of Hellfire/Cone of Devil–Chills Gas) (Planar Dragons devoted to spreading Asmodeus’s rule)
Radiant Dragon (Cone of Heavenly Fire/Cone of Blinding Gas) (Planar Dragons as valorous and heroic as Iomade)
Umbral Dragon (Cone of Negative Energy/Cone of Rebuke Undead Gas) (Planar Dragons with negative energy powers)
New Templates
Axiomatic (example: Axiomatic Dire Tiger)
Archanic (example: Archanic Satyr)
Half–Dragon (Brown, Cobalt, Grey, Iron, Orium, Yellow) (CR +3)
Half–Planar Dragon (Abaddonian, Abyssal, Axial, Chaos, Hellfire, Radiant, Nirvanan, Umbral) (CR +3)
Half–Machine (CR +3) (from a certain Dungeon Magazine article)
Half–Vampire (Standard or Nosferatu) (CR +3)
Entropic (example: Entropic Oni [Ogre Mage])
Planar dragons just made this a must buy for me.
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Creative Director
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We decided not to make the dhampir a template mostly because templates have been, in my opinion, overplayed. The inspiration for our dhampir is one part mythology (which ONLY has human/vampire hybrids) and popular culture, like Blade or Vampire Hunter D (who are also specifically human/vampire hybrids). There really aren't a lot of half dwarf/half vampires, half gnoll/half vampires, half harpy/half vampires, half linnorm/half vampires out there to justify making the thing into a template, honestly.
The argument that we should have made dhampir a template is the same argument that says we should have made half-orcs, half-elves, tieflings, and aasimars templates as well. I can see and understand the logic behind that, but the point is that these aren't templates—they're intended to be actual races that could (and eventually will) have entire societies. It's really difficult to build a society around a template, since a template isn't an actual race of creatures.
One case in point: the ogrekin IS a template. In this case, we did go down that road. But I did spend a fair amount of time during development agonizing over that—the ogrekin came VERY close to being turned into a normal race rather than a template. In the end, I decided to keep it a template, since that's what it was in its original appearance (a point that the dhampir does not have as far as Pathifnder products go) and since it's not really based on any real-world or popular culture race, and thus there's no real preconceived image for the ogrekin.
meh....Libris Mortis.....half vampire....it's handled.
I about had a geek-gasm when I saw the new dragons, .... but ... you guys made the sarlac pit?!?!?!?! Where's mark hammel when you need to throw him into something!
BTW, thank you for doing the dhamper. I was considering doing that myself, but I was hoping you guys would do it.
I thought the planetouched races were interesting, especially since I use the Forgotten Realms setting a lot and these are all fine replacements for the genasi from that setting in my opinion. Dhampir I liked a bit less, since I've never liked the vampire/half-vampire PC, but I'm sure I'll have players who will like it enough to try it out.Not only are WotC's genasi all closed content... but their versions of things like sylphs and oreads and the like from Fiend Folio are ALSO closed content. So we can't use any of those things in that format at all.
But the idea of elemental PC-compatible races is just too good to ignore. And furthermore, using real-world mythology for the basis for those elemental races works VERY well since those words have similar "heft" to them as other PC races, like gnome or dwarf or elf. They're already established in mythology, and as a player of a sylph or ifrit or whatever, you can go to real-world myths or the like to get inspiration, just as you can for elves and dwarves and the like. That's a MAJOR reason why we tend to skew toward mythological, real-world names rather than making up brand new names out of nonsense words for monsters.
I realize that for folks who use the Fiend Folio or other non-open WotC content that we're setting up some conflicts, but that's not something we can afford to worry about. As Pathfinder grows more and more popular, and as more and more books come out to support it, it needs to lean on existing older 3.5 content less and less. This is a good thing. It helps to make the game more Paizo's, after all.
I understand that the genasi are WotC content and I was just trying to say that I'm happy with the sylph, ifrit, and all the other planetouched races, not that I thought they should be called genasi or anything like that. I don't see it as a conflict at all for me, these planetouched are great and I can use them as is in my Forgotten Realms and Planescape games rather than convert other PC races from 3.5e.
Basically, what I'm trying to say is y'all did an incredibly awesome job on this book. Pretty much every monster I read I want to use either as an opponent for my players or as part of a character or campaign concept, and all the outsiders have me itching to run a Planescape game again.
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I'm personally hoping for the following beasties:
Here's what you get:
New Playable Races
Dhampire (Part human, part Vampire)
New Elementals
Elemental, Magma (Hot! Hot! Hot!)
Elemental, Ice (Ice Ice Baby)
Elemental, Lightning (Shocking isn't it?)
Elemental, Mud (That might be kind of messy.)
New Angels
Movanic Deva (Angels tasked with patrolling the Ethereal and Astral Planes]
Monadic Deva (Angels tasked with patrolling the Positive and Negative Energy Plans]
New Azata
Coure (Playful and cheerful fairy like Azata who love to spread joy wherever they go) - Well, they're called Lyrakien, but pretty much.
New Planar Dragons
Umbral Dragon (Cone of Negative Energy/Cone of Rebuke Undead Gas) (Planar Dragons with negative energy powers) - Yep, updated from Pf #11, IIRC.
New Templates
Axiomatic (example: Axiomatic Dire Tiger) - Renamed to Resolute
Archanic (example: Archanic Satyr) - Renamed to Entropic
