The sprite actually reminds me of the fairies in Victorian Fairy Paintings (and pre-Victorian) who were constantly sadistically torturing insects and small mammals. Perhaps because of the illustration...
Director of Narrative
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How does it work for the contriputors when you do a monster? do you get to choose anything or are you asigned something at random?
For a big tight book like this, it's all assignments. The Paizo crew pick out the list before any of us see it, and then we get to pick which ones we'd like to do. Then Sean (in this case) uses these preferences to assign us our list depending on how many pages we wanted/could handle. We basically see the whole outline and each entry has a size, type, target CR, and a brief description. (In cases of conversion or something from folklore, references are given.) From there we get to work and design the critters.
Thanks for the answers Mr Daigle.
I asked James Jacobs if there was any rule about contributors revealing what they have worked on. He said it was ok, but many times stuff they worked on gets changed about so much it might not resemble what they contributed.
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Director of Narrative
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Thanks for the answers Mr Daigle.
I asked James Jacobs if there was any rule about contributors revealing what they have worked on. He said it was ok, but many times stuff they worked on gets changed about so much it might not resemble what they contributed.
Right on. He's totally right that sometimes not everything survives development. Sometimes things get completely rewritten if one of us freelancers doesn't quite hit the mark or design with a different vision or just plain design weird mechanics. They end up stronger as a result, for sure.
I assume you're still interested, so here's the list of stuff I worked on in this book:
Crab(shark-eating and shipwrecker)
Crucidaemon
Vulnudaemon
Dybbuk
Faun
Ghul
Ash giant
Div intro
Div, aghash
Div, akvan
Div, doru
Div, ghawwas
Div, pairaka
Div, sepid
Div, shir
Penanggalen
Atomie
Azruverda
Baku
Globster
Gornych
Hungry fog
Jorogumo
Lizard
Magmin
Manananggal
Kangaroo
Thylacine
Lunar naga
Pukwudgie
Shedu
Siyokoy
Skunks
Spider eater
Sprite
Tanuki
Tzitzimitl
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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So I just got my pdf and have started flipping through it and have to admit confusion on one thing. If catfolk are indeed based on cats, shouldn't they be chaotic evil? If anyone's NG, it's dogfolk...
Based on my experience, Dogfolk should be lawful neutral. Loyal, reliable...
And Rocky clearly has the elite array of stats. He's one smart Chihuahua :-)
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6
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I thought that all the Dinosaurs and Megafauna were done by James Jacobs;)
I'm pretty sure he's a big part of deciding which ones make it in the book, but the stat blocks are another matter. I took care of the megafauna for Bestiary 3, with improvements done by the development staff of course.
I liked everything from that list except for the Siyokoy.
The Sprite I have issues with as know not I hate it. It wouldn't be so bad if had Int10+/Cha14+ and the art was female.
Azruverda is interesting but I do not like the art for it.
Not big on Divs but they needed to be in there completion's sake.
Love the Atomie, Tanuki, Faun, Hungry Fog, Lunar Naga, Jorogumo, Baku, and Gorynych.
So Mr. Daigle what did you contripute to the other two Bestairies?
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Creative Director
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James on the subject of Kaiju. It would be AMAZING if there was a Massive Threats sub-monster book like Undead Revisited. But covering the city wreckers, land shapers, and ocean lords of the monster books. Be a prefect place to debut the REALLY BIG guys. :)
Monsters that big don't actually work all that well in a game that tops out the size category at "30 foot square bases." A truly godzilla-style creature would require its own rules subsystem, which is another reason we cut the kaiju from this book—a bestiary is NOT the right place to introduce new rules subsystems.
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Creative Director
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I thought that all the Dinosaurs and Megafauna were done by James Jacobs;)
Legacy of fire, so you been working with Paizo for a while.
I developed almost every monster in the book (Wes jumped in and helped with 32 or so pages)... but I didn't design any of them.
As for authors revealing which monsters they designed... I've got no problems with that at all. Reveal away!
James on the subject of Kaiju. It would be AMAZING if there was a Massive Threats sub-monster book like Undead Revisited. But covering the city wreckers, land shapers, and ocean lords of the monster books. Be a prefect place to debut the REALLY BIG guys. :)Monsters that big don't actually work all that well in a game that tops out the size category at "30 foot square bases." A truly godzilla-style creature would require its own rules subsystem, which is another reason we cut the kaiju from this book—a bestiary is NOT the right place to introduce new rules subsystems.
Good, I never really liked the enormous mountain-sized monsters anyway, mostly dragon-size is more than enough for myself.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6
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Chipping in with my list..
akhlut
archon, harbinger and legion
bandersnatch
behemoths (thunder was a conversion)
brain ooze
carnivorous crystal
demilich (adapted from the Tome of Horrors)
fey creature template
giant, cave, desert, and jungle
golem, bone and fossil
graven guardian
gremlin, fauth
guecubu
herd animal, antelope and elk (elk was a conversion)
jubjub bird
kirin (a mostly new take on it)
leshy (fungus leshy was a conversion)
megafauna
myceloid
norn
owl, giant and great horned (a new take on giant owls)
sphinx (adapted from the 3.5 OGL versions)
vulture (and giant)
Yithian
zuvembie
We're given a lot of guidance on what to write, so due credit to the team putting together the outline, and then the developers improve on the turnover. In some cases that's really dramatic, like the myceloid. The descriptive text in the book blows away what I turned in. :)
Very nice list Russ Taylor, those are some cool and great critters you worked on! I'm jealous :P
Can you describe the Myceloid for me? I still haven't got the book (due to holland) and i'm rather curious at what is does and looks like!
Nice list Russ taylor
I like:
Bandersnatch, behemoths, Brain Ooze, Carnivorous Crystal, Fey Creature Template(wish the Int/cha nod was higher though), Giants, Golems, Graven Gaurdian, Fauth, Jubjub Bird, Kirrin, Leshy, Myceloid, Norn, Giant Owl, Sphinxes, and Yithian.
...
behemoths (thunder was a conversion)
...
Huh, I hadn't compared the thunder behemoth's stats to the ravener behemoth in the Council of Thieves bestiary. Why was the name changed? Was it because of the ravener template for dragons?
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Creative Director
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Huh, I hadn't compared the thunder behemoth's stats to the ravener behemoth in the Council of Thieves bestiary. Why was the name changed? Was it because of the ravener template for dragons?...
behemoths (thunder was a conversion)
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Yup; didn't want to confuse folks by having a ravener template and a ravener behemoth.
Are there any new planetouched races (like a lawful or chaotic one)? Besides catfolk, what other PC races are included?
How come Amazon won't ship my copy of this book for another week?
How come Amazon won't ship my copy of this book for another week?
We don't have any control over Amazon's ship date, but my guess is that they are awaiting stock from the distributor.
How come Amazon won't ship my copy of this book for another week?We don't have any control over Amazon's ship date, but my guess is that they are awaiting stock from the distributor.
Thanks. How does distribution work?
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Thanks. How does distribution work?How come Amazon won't ship my copy of this book for another week?We don't have any control over Amazon's ship date, but my guess is that they are awaiting stock from the distributor.
Paizo sells to Diamond/Alliance, which in turn sells to Amazon.
No, it can't go direct. Amazon is a big, picky beast and doesn't deal with "tiny" businesses such as Paizo directly. A large distributor must come in the middle.
And so, the whole chain is rather complicated. Also, Amazon treats RPG at rather low priority, so if you want your stuff promptly, order from Paizo.
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Additionally, here is an excellent post on the subject of amazon.com dates from our Finance Manager Chris Self.
As far as how distribution works: Paizo sends product to distributors all over the world. Those distributors deal with other retailers (from small places like local game stores, to larger retailers like Barnes and Noble to amazon.com).
Thanks for showing me how it works.
There are no planetouched races
Playable races are:
Catfolk-cat type humaniod, more human looking in the face then the other animal races.
Vanara-Race of humaniod Monkeys with a prehensile tail, climb speed, and a great choice for a monk.
Ratfolk-small rat type humaniod with rat empathy and swarming combat abilities.
Vishkanya-exotic humanlike but close up they have fine scales, body fluids poisonous.
Suli-jann blooded race, resistant to many energy types, can make arms/melee weapons deal extra energy damage.
I gotta say catfolk are done well I could almost see myself playing as one...almost.
Vendor - Fantasiapelit Tampere
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I really liked it! At first when I heard that the bestiary 3 was coming I was kinda worried. Paizo, you have proven me wrong yet again! Great art and cool monsters, especially the Bandersnatch, Jubjub bird and Bogeyman. Only disappointment was the Iku-Turso form finnish mythology. Cr 5? Medium? In Kalevala it's discribed as a huge monster.
But otherwise-amazing book. Better than the Bestiary 2.
Is vishkanya poison only an injury poison? Do you get poisoned by making out with a vishkanya or would he/she have to bite you?
And don't tell me I'm the only one whose mind has wandered away with the whole poisonous body fluids thing. This is the internet after all.
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Is vishkanya poison only an injury poison? Do you get poisoned by making out with a vishkanya or would he/she have to bite you?
And don't tell me I'm the only one whose mind has wandered away with the whole poisonous body fluids thing. This is the internet after all.
It's listed as an injury poison. I'm sure people will get creative with it though... :-P
Vishkanya Venom: injury save fort DC 10+ 1/2 HD + Con mod
frequency 1/round for 6 rounds effect 1d2 dex cure 1 save
usable 1/day per con mod (minium 1/day)
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Creative Director
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Yeah, but Hyenas act behavior wise more like canines even though their feliformsI've got one small problem
Animal Lord
Hyenas are not canines
They are Hyenas (and more closely related to a mongoose)
And since animal lords are more interested in behavior and appearance and mythology than they are in DNA and genetics... hyenas got lumped in with canines.
How many new undead are there?
There are 22 types of undead in the Bestairy 3.
Allip, Baykok, Berbalang, Bhuta, Deathweb, Demilich, Dybbuk, Ecorche, Festrog, Ghul, Graveknight, Guecubu, Hollow serpant, Huecuva, Jiang-shi vampire, Manananggal, Pale Stranger, Penanggalen, Sea Bonze, Tzitzimitl, Yuki-onna, Zuvembie
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Is vishkanya poison only an injury poison? Do you get poisoned by making out with a vishkanya or would he/she have to bite you?
And don't tell me I'm the only one whose mind has wandered away with the whole poisonous body fluids thing. This is the internet after all.
Don't have my book with me at the moment but IIRC, it can be applied to a weapon as a standard action(presumably so you can spit on or lick your weapon) or as a swift action IF you've taken at least 1 hp of damage(so you can just run your weapon over your wound).
IIRC of course.
I thought the sprite was fine.
I really liked behemoths, they are like mini-tarrasques. A side by side comparison of the thunder behemoth with the clockwork goliath, however, suggests they might be a bit underrated, or the clockwork is overrated.
I was very happy to see the divs...and the rakshasas, and the kytons, and the asuras, and the oni...so many creatures to terrorize my PCs with.
The linnorms are another huge win, as were the Norse monsters.
My favorite though was definitely the humbaba. I don't really think I can find something more awesome than them.
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Chief Technical Officer
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It did disappear, as I received an indication that it may not have been wholly accurate. Looking into it....Vic,
Thanks for the response (which now seems to have disappeared.)
My response was indeed accurate, so I'm reposting it:
On the spine of the book why was the color changed to red for "Roleplaying Game" when it is gold/yellow on every other book?
That was an error. The art department has two versions of the logo—the one with red reads better when it's large (as on the front cover), and the one with yellow reads better small (as on the spines). The Bestiary 3 spine should have had the yellow logo, and if this book gets reprinted in future, it will be corrected.
I Finally downloaded the PDF of this awesome book because holland is simply too slow.
I'm really happy with Bestiary 3 in general!!
1 - Alraune is now my favorite creature from all three books combined.
2 - The art is really REALLY awesome for most creatures!
3 - Various strange creatures from cool mythologies!! Such as the Rusalka, Vodyanoi and Leshy!!!
Bad points.
1 - Too many lizard/drake/snake based creatures, too many lizards in general and no new mantis creatures.
2 - Some creatures from Adventure path are 100 times as awesome as some of the Adventure path creatures that were put in the book, I would trade Vouivre and Bog Strider for Grootslang ANYTIME.
3 - Many artwork recycled, I would have loved new pictures of the following creatures which don't really have awesome artwork: Ahuizotl / Ascomoid / Caryatid Column / Brass Golem / Stymphalidies / Wolf in Sheep Clothing
Ahuitzotl has cool artwork but I'd like to see another one of it anyway.
Favorite Creature in book: Alraune
Worst Creatures in book: Iguanodon / Grootslang / Kongamato (can't deside which one)
FAVORITE 20: In random order
Alraune / Baku / Nuckelavee / Stymphalidies / Valkyrie / Ahuizotl / Adhukait / Girtablilu (don't really like the name but eath your heart out stinger) / Disenchanter / Ecorche (eat your heart out Quth-Maren)/ Baykok / Incubus (see username)/ Yuki-onna / Jubjub Bird (eat your heart out skindancer) / Kamadan / Kappa / Interlocutor Kyton / Fungus Leshy / Spider Eater / Crucidaemon
OTHER FAVORITES:
Adaro / Adherer / Allip / Annis Hag / Giant Ant Lion / Ascomoid / Aghasura (yuan ti eat your heart out) / Asurendra (rage walker eat your heart out) / Axe Beak / Bandersnatch / Baregara (barlgura eat your heart out) / Bogeyman / Carbuncle / Carnivorous Crystal / Catfolk (but I would like another name) / Cecaelia / Ceratioidi / Cerberi / Shark Eater / Deathtrap Ooze / Demilich / Tarry Demodand / Coloxus / Dimetrodon (no picture too bad...) / Pachycephalosaurus / Aghash Div / Akvan Div / Ghawwas Div / Pairaka Div / Sepid Div / Shira Div / Faerie Dragon / Forest Dragon / Sky Dragon / Dragonne / Dybbuk / Flail Snail / Jungle Giant / Globster / Bone Golem (but I rather saw it without muscle-tisue and more boneyard-like) / Cannon Golem / Fossil Golem (now that is an awesome bone golem!) / Hellwasp Swarm / Hungry Fog / Sapphire Jellyfish / Death's Head Jellyfish / Jorogumo / Kech / Giant Chameleon / Lukwata / Megalania / Mobogo / Myceloid (eat your heart out myconoid) / Norn / Rot Grubs / Phantom Fungus / Plasma Ooze / Pukwudgie / Raktavarna / Rusalka / Sabosan / Sagari / Deadfall Scorpion / Giant Sea Anemone / Sea Bonze / Shadow Mastiff / Shae / Siyokoy / Giant Skunk / Sleipnir / Hieracosphinx / Ogre Spider / Tanuki / Thriae / Hekatonkheires / Trollhound (mostly because of the picture) / Tzitzimitl / Jiang-Shi / Vodyanoi / Zoog / Wolf in Sheep Clothing / Kirin
NICE: Not favorite but close
Adlet / Akhlut / Animal Lord / Legion Archon / Atomie / Azruverda / Thunder Behemoth / Caryatid Column / Caulborn / Cerebric Fungus / Clockwork Spy (only clockwork that reminds me of the cool clockwork horrors) / Cold Rider / Shipwrecker / Vulnudaemon / Deathweb / Shaggy Demodand / Slimey Demodand / Shir / Derhii / Contract Devil / Doru Div / Sea Dragon / Sovereign Dragon / Underworld Dragon / Rift Drake / River Drake / Faun / Festrog / Garden Ooze / Garuda / Gore Weaver / Ghul / Cave Giant / Desert Giant / Graveknight / Fuath Gremlin / Grodair / Hodag / Huecuva / Jackalwere / Augur Kyton / Eremite Kyton / Lammasu / Giant Gecko / Magmin / Baluchiterium / Basilosaurus / Moon Beast / Lunar Naga / Royal Naga / Water Naga / Nixie / Nue / Giant Owl / Penanggalen / Peri / Giant Porcupine / Sargassum Fiend / Ghost Scorpion / Deep Sea Serpent / Shinigami / Simurgh / Androsphinx / Spider Crab / Terra Cotta Soldier / Tojanida / Jotund Troll / Giant Vulture / Yithian /
NOT BAD: But far from being my favorites
Giant Ant Lion Adult / Harbinger Archon / Tripurasura / Upasundra / Thalassic Behemoth / Bhuta / Brain Ooze / Clockwork Goliath / Clockwork Leviathan / Clockwork Servant / Clockwork Soldier / Great Cyclops / Spinosaurus / Dire Corby / Desert Drake / Flumph / Foo Creature / Ash Giant / Goblin Snake / Brass Golem / Gorynych / Guecubu / Humbaba / Iku Turso / Jinushigami Kami / Kodama Kami / Shikigami Kami / Toshigami Kami / Zuishin Kami / Gourd Leshy (because of art) / Leaf Leshy (because of art) / Seaweed Leshy (because of art) / Maftet / Manananggal / Archelon / Nephilim / Fire Yai / Ice Yai / Kuwa / Spirit Oni / Void Yai / Water Yai / Popobala / Dandasuka / Maharaja / Marai / Tataka / Ratfolk / Sasquatch / Shedu / Suli / Taotieh / Tatzlwyrm / Moss Troll / Tupilaq / Vanara / Vishkanya / Zuvembie
DISLIKE
Behemoth Tempest - I really like the Thunderbird too much, this is just a more powerful replacer for the thunderbird...
Berbalang - Really dislike them without the multiply ability.
Iguanodon - Always found it an useless dinosaur, rather saw Therizinosaurus, and also because this boring dinosaur stole away the dimetrodon picture which would have been much better.
Unfettered Eidolon - Just don't like it.
Animal Familiars / Antelope / Elk / Kangaroo (rather saw Procoptodon) / Thylacine / Great Horned Owl / Porcupine / Skunk / Snake Swarms / Vulture /
Graven Guardian
Grootslang - Dutch name is bad and creature looks silly.
Hollow Serpent - Too much serpent-creatures for me.
Kongamato - Too much dragon and it reminds me of a couple of other dragons + it doesn't have a special ability I find attractive.
All Linnorms - Because I think 2 or 4 linnorms is enough.
Pale Stranger - Don't like guns in Pathfinder.
Criosphinx - Never liked them, too silly looking.
Sprite - Much like atomie, pixie and grig.
Tophet - So much other adventure path creatures were left out for this much worse creature.
Voonith - Only because its just another lizard, there are too much lizards.
That was an error. The art department has two versions of the logo—the one with red reads better when it's large (as on the front cover), and the one with yellow reads better small (as on the spines). The Bestiary 3 spine should have had the yellow logo, and if this book gets reprinted in future, it will be corrected.
Thanks again for the response Vic!
Hey was This gonna be the kaiju art before it was cut?
Awww.No kitsune,nogitsune,pipe-fox, OR kama-itachi?!
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I just noticed something (apologies if this has been mentioned already)
Unlike the first Bestiary, Bestiary 2 and 3 do not have sections for things like:
Monsters by Type
Monsters by CR
Monsters by Terrain
Encounter Tables
Anyone know why? The lack of Encounter Tables, Monsters by CR etc is kind of a big omission, in my opinion.
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Hmmm, you're right! Monsters by Terrain are there as well ...
I was actually looking on the official Pathfinder PRD for these, but they are not there (they ARE there for Bestiary 1 however). I wonder why that is?
There are no Encounter Tables in the books though, which IS a pretty big omission.
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OK, according to the response to my post in the Website forum, they will be adding those Monsters by Terrain, Monsters by CR and by Type links the next time they do an update.
I'd still be very interested in hearing the reason(s) why encounter tables were included in the first Bestiary but not in the second and third. Hopefully someone in the know at Paizo can jump in ...
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Because encounter tables waste space and it is better used for more monsters in the book.