RSS RSS Facebook Twitter Email
Pathfinder / Rulebooks / First Edition

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary 2 (OGL)

4.30/5 (based on 18 ratings)
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary 2 (OGL)
Show Description For:
Non-Mint

Hardcover Unavailable

Add PDF $19.99

Non-Mint Unavailable

Facebook Twitter Email

Go beyond goblins with an army of fantasy's most fearsome foes! Bestiary 2 presents hundreds of different creatures for use in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Within this collection of creatures you'll find undead dragons and mischievous gremlins, shrieking banshees and unstoppable titans, the infamous jabberwock, and so much more! Yet not all these monsters need to be foes, as new breeds of otherworldly guardians, living shadows, and vampires all might take up adventure's call. In addition, new rules for customizing and advancing monsters and an expanded glossary of creature abilities ensure that you'll be prepared to challenge your heroes wherever adventure takes them!

The Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2 is the second indispensable volume of monsters for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and serves as a companion to the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook and Pathfinder RPG 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.

The 320-page Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2 includes:

  • More than 300 different monsters
  • Creatures both new and familiar, drawing upon the best-known beasts of legend, literature, and Pathfinder RPG adventures
  • Challenges for any adventure and every level of play
  • Hosts of new templates and variants, including simple templates for on-the-fly creature customization
  • Numerous lists of monsters to aid in navigation, including lists by Challenge Rating, monster type, and habitat
  • New rules for creating and running high-level menaces
  • Expanded universal monster rules to simplify special attacks, defenses, and qualities
  • New familiars, animal companions, and other allies
  • ... and much, much more!

ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-268-5

Errata
Last Updated - 7/16/2012

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.

Product Availability

Hardcover:

Unavailable

PDF:

Fulfilled immediately.

Non-Mint:

Unavailable

This product is non-mint. Refunds are not available for non-mint products. The standard version of this product can be found here.

Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at store@paizo.com.

PZO1116

See Also:

1 to 5 of 19 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | next > last >>

Average product rating:

4.30/5 (based on 18 ratings)

Sign in to create or edit a product review.

Excellent Addition

5/5 —

As its name implies, Bestiary 2 is the second full-length collection of creatures for Pathfinder. It's a big (320 page) book, and introduces, according to the back cover, over 300 different monsters. The vast majority of creatures get one page each (art, stat block, description), though there are a few pages with two monsters and a few monsters that get double-page spreads. In format, it's very similar to the first bestiary collection. Obviously, I can't review all the monsters individually, but I would like to list some of the creatures or new creature types that jumped out at me:

* Aeons: Embodiments of neutrality striving to maintain universal balance, these cosmic entities are hard to conceptualise but interesting and important for planar travel. Several varieties are included here. I particularly liked "bythos", monitors of disruptions to time or space.

* Agathions: Beastlike outsiders native to the neutral good plane Nirvana. The theme works surprisingly well, with each type having a distinct role. I've never really used these, but should.

* Aranea: Super creepy pic!

* Athach: Dumb, bizarre arm monster with no background.

* Crypt Thing: Special teleport ability is pretty cool.

* Daemons: Outsiders with a special desire to consume mortal souls. Still too similar to "demons" and I don't really see what distinct niche they fill.

* Primal Dragons: Elemental-themed dragons plus a shadow plane-themed umbral dragon.

* Elementals: Four new ones here (mud, lightning, magma, and ice)

* Elemental (playable) races: Ifrits, undines, etc., are introduced here.

* Giants: Four new ones, including rune and taiga.

* Golems: Six new ones, with adamantine and clockwork the best.

* Gremlins: New creature type, a good and suitably annoying addition to the game.

* Inevitables: Lawful Neutral outsiders implacable in their goals. Each has a good nice.

* Lycanthropes: Three new ones, with wereboars and weretigers having good, scary art.

* Megafauna: Four new ones.

* Nightshade: Introduced as a creature type, with a really cool description.

* Proteans: Chaotic neutral outsider type. Not particularly interesting, and not obvious how to use well in a game.

* Qlippoths: Pre-demon residents of the Abyss, they hate demons and mortals whose sins form them. A cool concept.

Generally speaking, there are a lot of high-CR and a lot of gargantuan- and colossal- sized creatures. The book fills in a lot of the classics that weren't included in the first collection, and I also noticed a lot that appeared in Rise of the Runelords (including art reproduction). However, there are also a lot I've never heard of before despite gaming for a couple of decades. A good mix! Overall, an excellent, high-quality expansion to a GM's toolkit.

My favorite book from Paizo.

5/5 —

This book so far has been my favorite purchase of ALL of my RPG books.
I don't know if I can explain the fervor I have for this book but I will try.

So first of all there is the cover, the ever feared Jabberwock(y) of Lewis Carroll legend. Having a tough SOB (CR23) on the cover is the best way to start things off I think. Lets me know im in for a ride with this book.

While the first Bestiary was the standard array of Monsters we have all come to know and love through years of them being reprinted for games the Bestiary 2 is where Paizo took off on its own with a whole slew of new monster and just general new ideas for monsters. A handful of new extraplanar monsters of various alignments were added such as The Aeons, Qlippoths and Daemons all have decently written history and offer a lot of inspiration for using them in games.

The two things I love best about this book are as follows.
One: New dragons, and not just more "coloured or metal" dragons, but a new type of dragon altogether: Primal Dragons. These bad boys have probably the best art in the whole book (magma, im looking at you) and they make for a nice change from the everyday.

Two: The art, while the art in Bestiary 1 is GOOD, its not near as sharp, crisp, and detailed as this book. The colours, the textures, the everything, all done very well. You will not be disappointed when looking through this book.

Great buy!

5/5 —

I really enjoyed the artwork and the monsters presented in this book, especially the Qlippoth! Must have for your pathfinder library!

Back to the Golden Age

5/5 —

Looking through the PDF of Bestiary 2, I find myself remembering the days in the 1980s when I'd sit in the back of the mall bookstore and leaf through the various gaming tomes I couldn't possibly buy all of.

Crystal Dragons, Aeons, and several others in this book remind of that golden era, when DMs had such a wide variety of unusual (and often new-age-y) creatures at their disposals, they couldn't possibly ever use them all.

Sure, some of the creatures are a little odd, but on the other hand, the vast variety will lead to some adventurer groups with a far different list of encountered monsters than the norm.

I personally can't wait to spring the Dullahan (aka Headless Horseman) and Animate Dream on my party!

Something does not add up...

3/5 —

Not as extensive as the first, yet the same price...

I do not mind the creatures in this book, but it does get less use than my other bestiary. However it still has the same problem as the first also. The use of generic rules for a creature type. For an actual hardcover book to be useful in a game (for creatures) you MUST be able to have all rules for the creature on the one page. The use of rules based on a type of creature that you need to leave the creatures page to reference is irritating and a waste of in game time.

Please fix this problem. I understand that constructs all have similarities but I need the rules on each constructs page to reference. Not have to skip to the end of the book to see if they have something relevant when they need it.

1 to 5 of 19 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | next > last >>
Search Thread

Search this Thread:

401 to 450 of 1,311 << first < prev | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | next > last >>
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber
FenrysStar wrote:
Green Ronin had a book full of lovely devils, Demons and Daemons that would just lovely to use in this respect. Heck part of it was even written by Erik Mona himself. But a book just on Oni would be nice.

Where do you think the qlippoth first saw print? The Book of Fiends. (Well, the 3.0 Armies of the Abyss that ended up being compiled as a part of the 3.5 Book of Fiends, but you get the idea.)

Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

I would like to see a book on Asuras, for a couple of reasons. the first is that I don't know a whole lot about them and it would seem like a new subject to me rather than a rehashing. The second is that I would be really excited to see what direction Sarah would take the art in that book.
Kvantum wrote:
FenrysStar wrote:
Green Ronin had a book full of lovely devils, Demons and Daemons that would just lovely to use in this respect. Heck part of it was even written by Erik Mona himself. But a book just on Oni would be nice.
Where do you think the qlippoth first saw print? The Book of Fiends. (Well, the 3.0 Armies of the Abyss that ended up being compiled as a part of the 3.5 Book of Fiends, but you get the idea.)

Book of Fiends, Pathfinder's book on devils, Pathfinder's upcoming book on Demons. Goodman Games's Demon Hunter Handbook adapted for Pathfinder...my what potential for an interesting campaign.

are there going to be more vorish plants??

A book on Oni would be nice, but I'm really just hoping there are more varieties of Oni in the Bestiary 2. I mean there's only the one Oni so far, right?
Scarab Sages

Hey Paizo Dudes & Dudettes,

Are there going to be more shadow-themed monsters/templates in Bestiary II? If I remember correctly, someone already stated that there might be more on fetchlings, but I was wondering if there would be anything else.
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32

I removed a post that randomly attempted to bait the edition war. We're all sick of that, thanks.
Paizo Employee Creative Director
Aberzombie wrote:

Hey Paizo Dudes & Dudettes,

Are there going to be more shadow-themed monsters/templates in Bestiary II? If I remember correctly, someone already stated that there might be more on fetchlings, but I was wondering if there would be anything else.

There will indeed be some more shadow-themed monsters in Bestiary 2.

Liberty's Edge

*Cough* Info on what templates will be in this please *Cough* :)
Paizo Employee Creative Director
Marc Radle wrote:
*Cough* Info on what templates will be in this please *Cough* :)

Patience. We'll be doing more previews later; this book is still months away, and as a result the time is hardly right to start really building anticipation with previews.

Liberty's Edge

Fair enough!!!

I was just thinking maybe I could trick you into revealing them with my cunning and subtle Jedi mind-like tricks ...
Scarab Sages
James Jacobs wrote:
Aberzombie wrote:

Hey Paizo Dudes & Dudettes,

Are there going to be more shadow-themed monsters/templates in Bestiary II? If I remember correctly, someone already stated that there might be more on fetchlings, but I was wondering if there would be anything else.

There will indeed be some more shadow-themed monsters in Bestiary 2.

Sweet! Thanks for the answer Mr. Jacobs. You're a great guy, and I never believed all the nasty things Sebastian says about you.

Are monstrous player character races in Bestiary 2 going to have alternate racial traits or favored class options like those in the Advance Player’s Guide or are these kinds of rules limited to the core player races?

HOLY CRAP are those a jabberwock and a gremlin on the cover?!

This is so awesome! I love you guys!

If thats a gremlin, are they going to be goblinoids? I always thought gremlins should be goblinoids, especially after the inspiration for current golarion gobbos came from the gremlins movies. (at least according to the classical monsters book)

EDIT: THREE gremlins actually. holy crap, but I guess theyre nt going to be goblinoids then. :/
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
ntin wrote:
Are monstrous player character races in Bestiary 2 going to have alternate racial traits or favored class options like those in the Advance Player’s Guide or are these kinds of rules limited to the core player races?

I don't think that that would be appropriate for the Bestiary.

A Savage Species style book down the line however...
The Exchange

All three little guys on the cover are kinds of gremlin. Pathfinder gremlins are fey.
MaTo wrote:
All three little guys on the cover are kinds of gremlin. Pathfinder gremlins are fey.

do they at least affiliate with goblins in any way?

The Exchange
Threeshades wrote:
MaTo wrote:
All three little guys on the cover are kinds of gremlin. Pathfinder gremlins are fey.
do they at least affiliate with goblins in any way?

I guess it's possible. But the pugwampis (the dog-like gremlin on the left) actually venerate gnolls as gods.

Paizo folks were pretty clear that they were satisfied with only 3 kind of goblins, each representing a different brand of evil (CE bugbears, NE goblins and LE hobgoblins).
MaTo wrote:
Threeshades wrote:
MaTo wrote:
All three little guys on the cover are kinds of gremlin. Pathfinder gremlins are fey.
do they at least affiliate with goblins in any way?

I guess it's possible. But the pugwampis (the dog-like gremlin on the left) actually venerate gnolls as gods.

Paizo folks were pretty clear that they were satisfied with only 3 kind of goblins, each representing a different brand of evil (CE bugbears, NE goblins and LE hobgoblins).

its kind of sad from my point of view, i always saw gremlins as a kind of goblin. I mean its already the similar name and then the fact that the most well-known gremlins look like goblins pretty much.

Jason Nelson wrote:
Woo! More high-level menaces to crush your PCs under their jack-booted heels!

Hmm...

You wouldn't perhaps be referring to a "jack-in-iron" (a type of faerie ogre from British folklore that is described as wearing chains and HUGE iron boots, I think...).
Of course, there's also "spring-heeled jack" (also from British folklore).
Or maybe a more oblique reference to redcaps??

Curiouser and curiouser...

Just wondering - thanks! :D

-- C.

so no more carnivorous plant beasties???
Dark Archive
Steelfiredragon wrote:
so no more carnivorous plant beasties???

Says who?

So is Paizo going to release a ToC now that GenCon is over? Didn't they show a ToC at GenCon?!
Paizo Employee Creative Director
Razz wrote:
So is Paizo going to release a ToC now that GenCon is over? Didn't they show a ToC at GenCon?!

Now that Gen Con is over, we're entering the phase of existence known as "Convention Recovery."

That phase should pass quickly, after which I enter the phase known as "Making 280+ pages of monsters each fit on one page," which is the point where things like ToCs and monster lists finally become etched in stone and unchanging forever. That phase can take a few weeks or more...

After that... THEN we can start thinking about posting Tables of Contents.
Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens Subscriber

I got a leak! (Ok, not much of one) from the Triceratops thread:

James Jacobs wrote:
deinol wrote:
I do think the better question is: What dinosaurs will get stats in Bestiary 2?

TOO SOON!

There'll be 4 dinosaurs in Bestiary 2, though. Well... 3 dinosaurs and one "close enough for the game" dinosaur, along the lines of a elasmosaurus. But bigger.

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8
deinol wrote:

I got a leak! (Ok, not much of one) from the Triceratops thread:

James Jacobs wrote:
deinol wrote:
I do think the better question is: What dinosaurs will get stats in Bestiary 2?

TOO SOON!

There'll be 4 dinosaurs in Bestiary 2, though. Well... 3 dinosaurs and one "close enough for the game" dinosaur, along the lines of a elasmosaurus. But bigger.

That's been floating around for a while now. My guesses:

Allosaurus
Spinosaurus
Pachycephalosaurus
Liopleurodon for the "close enough"

In my fondest dreams, a therizinosaur replaces the Allosaurus, but I'm not holding my breath.
Paizo Employee Creative Director

The therizinosaur looks too goofy these days, alas. A big sharp turkey.

Allosaurus, on the other hand... does not.

Allosaurus is, in fact, a strong contender for a Bestairy 2 dino.

A VERY STRONG CONTENDER.

As in: we ordered art for one.
Liberty's Edge

I like therizinosaur for the whole "what the heck IS that thing?" angle.
Liberty's Edge

Tylosaurus
Liberty's Edge
Heathansson wrote:

I like therizinosaur for the whole "what the heck IS that thing?" angle.

Yeah, he's an odd duck for sure.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

CONFIRMED DINOS:

Allosaurus
Tylosaurus (yeah, not a dino technically, but close enough for me!)

NOT CONFIRMED DINOS:
All the rest.
James Jacobs wrote:

CONFIRMED DINOS:

Allosaurus
Tylosaurus (yeah, not a dino technically, but close enough for me!)

NOT CONFIRMED DINOS:
All the rest.

We need more dinos.

Shadow Lodge
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
The therizinosaur looks too goofy these days, alas. A big sharp turkey.

But there's always room for turkey.

No wait that's Jell-O.
Liberty's Edge

I reckon Styracosaurus would be fun.

And something really, really big like Argentinosaurus or Sauroposieden, but I guess you can make those by advancing a Brachiosaur. Or go the other spectrum and put in something small and cute, like Troodon or even Microraptor Gui.
James Jacobs wrote:

CONFIRMED DINOS:

Allosaurus
Tylosaurus (yeah, not a dino technically, but close enough for me!)

NOT CONFIRMED DINOS:
All the rest.

I'd love to see the Pachycephalosaurus get in. Of course right now I'm using mainly stats from Broncosaurus Rex and adapting as necessary.

FenrysStar wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:

CONFIRMED DINOS:

Allosaurus
Tylosaurus (yeah, not a dino technically, but close enough for me!)

NOT CONFIRMED DINOS:
All the rest.

I'd love to see the Pachycephalosaurus get in. Of course right now I'm using mainly stats from Broncosaurus Rex and adapting as necessary.

+1

Me likes the Helmed Drake. Uh, I mean Pachycephalosaurus.
drkfathr1 wrote:
FenrysStar wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:

CONFIRMED DINOS:

Allosaurus
Tylosaurus (yeah, not a dino technically, but close enough for me!)

NOT CONFIRMED DINOS:
All the rest.

I'd love to see the Pachycephalosaurus get in. Of course right now I'm using mainly stats from Broncosaurus Rex and adapting as necessary.

+1

Me likes the Helmed Drake. Uh, I mean Pachycephalosaurus.

The only herbasaur with its own built in crash helmet.

Liberty's Edge

Is the Banshee in?
Paizo Employee Creative Director
Paladinosaur wrote:
Is the Banshee in?

A complete list of all the monsters going into Bestiary 2 will be appearing on the blog in a few months.

Scarab Sages Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
Paladinosaur wrote:
Is the Banshee in?

Ban-she nothin'; I wanna know about the Ban-he!

Scarab Sages
Enlight_Bystand wrote:
ntin wrote:


A Savage Species style book down the line however...

That was one of my favorite books. Used the monster races/classes so much

Liberty's Edge

Re:
"preorder expected Nov 2010"

are we talking early, mid, late, or I don't know yet?

(he asks through salivating jowls)...
Dark Archive

Barring any unforeseen delays, we're looking at mid-November.

right on...thanx!
Dark Archive

Will there be a playable undead race? I really want a playable undead race. Everyone wants one.
Paizo Employee Director of Narrative
xn0o0cl3 wrote:
Will there be a playable undead race? I really want a playable undead race. Everyone wants one.

Good news, there already are many, and you can play one with a simple two step process.

1. Get a GM who’s cool with it.

2. Play a regular PC race and get drained by a vampire, killed by a bodak, diseased by a ghast, ghoul, or lacedon, energy drained by a spectre, vampire or wight, strength drained by a shadow, study hard and become a lich, or get killed and turned into a mummy, skeleton, or zombie.

;)
Paizo Employee Creative Director
xn0o0cl3 wrote:
Will there be a playable undead race? I really want a playable undead race. Everyone wants one.

What Daigle says.

In other words, there will be undead in Bestairy 2, and if you have a lenient GM who allows undead player characters, any of them could work well as a PC race.
Silver Crusade
Adam Daigle wrote:
1. Get a GM who’s cool with it.

That's really the solution to everyone's PC build woes, though, isn't it?

Paizo Employee Director of Narrative
Shadewest wrote:
Adam Daigle wrote:
1. Get a GM who’s cool with it.

That's really the solution to everyone's PC build woes, though, isn't it?

Truly, but expanded into the sub-field, "Get a [group] who's cool with it." Everyone having fun is the true goal.

Dark Archive

I'm thinking something more along the lines of a basic PC race, a la WoW's Forsaken or Allods' Arisen. Kinda like Warforged, only undead.

I mean, if there's not, and it does not sound like there will be, one can always create one's own race. You guys at Paizo have come up with such a wonderfully simple template for PC races :]

Quote:
Everyone having fun is the true goal.

- Words of wisdom, truly. I wish more people could keep this in mind.

1 to 50 of 1,311 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | next > last >>
Community / Forums / Paizo / Product Discussion / Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary 2 (OGL) All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.