Not a big deal - but the entry for Ghoul (which comes up in Council of Thieves) is lacking an explanation for its paralysis attack which is clearly defined in the 3.5 MM. Thanks.
Universal Monster Rules, page 302. Paizo changed how many monster abilities are listed in the book by placing common abilities at the end of the book in its own appendix so as to save space and not repeating them many times over.
It's gonna take some getting used to. Did you know that celestial animals aren't magical beasts anymore? Sucks.
threadjack
I am loving the organization of the Bestiary!
/threadjack
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The Ghoul's description specifically says that "elves are immune to this paralysis." Does that mean that half-elves are immune also per their elven blood description (immune to anything that an elf is.) or due to the specific wording, are elves only immune?
This was brought up in another thread which I can't find right now. But at first James said that half-elves were not immune, but later decided they were.
That is; Half-elves are immune to the ghoul paralysis just as elves are.
Maybe someone else can find the exact post.
It was easier in the old MM simply because now you have partial special attacks listed (Ghoul fever)and have to go hunting for the other half, and then under paralysis it says check the monster for the DC - ugh. It's not that bad, just a little sloppy.
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It was easier in the old MM simply because now you have partial special attacks listed (Ghoul fever)and have to go hunting for the other half, and then under paralysis it says check the monster for the DC - ugh. It's not that bad, just a little sloppy.
I actually like because I don't have to read the same description of an ability over and over and over and over. Just get the DC of the ability, flip to the back of the book. Since now most abilities have be "universalised" after you learn how it works it will be the same for every monster with that ability.
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It was easier in the old MM simply because now you have partial special attacks listed (Ghoul fever)and have to go hunting for the other half, and then under paralysis it says check the monster for the DC - ugh. It's not that bad, just a little sloppy.
I doubt that Paizo would be able to keep the book in the 1 monster per page format while having to reprint Improved Grab or Regeneration 50 times over ...
Count me among the folks who like the presentation of the universal monster rules. The current presentation frees up a lot of room for flavor text, and I am pleasantly surprised to see how much flavor is attached to most of the monsters as a result.
I understand the concerns with the "back of the book" format for these rules, but the space saved and 1-page monster entries is worth it. I just printed out the universal monster rules (from the PRD) and I'm ready to go. When prepping for a game, I build stat blocks for the monsters and copy over the universal rules in the block.
Creative Director
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Yeah; the cool thing about the universal monster rules is that they'll only get easier to use as you game. The rules stay the same for every monster, so once you learn, for example, how paralyze or pounce works... it ALWAYS works that way. It's kind of similar to how whenever we stat up a rogue we don't reprint all the rules for sneak attack or the like.
Printing out a copy of the universal monster rules and keeping that printout handy is a great idea.
Yeah; the cool thing about the universal monster rules is that they'll only get easier to use as you game.
Er...isn't that a little like saying "The cool thing about printing the Bestiary in Klingon is that the rules will only get easier to read as you game"?
:-) Just kidding. I agree that it's a good thing to have all breath weapons work the same, all frightful presence work the same, etc.
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Creative Director
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Yeah; the cool thing about the universal monster rules is that they'll only get easier to use as you game.Er...isn't that a little like saying "The cool thing about printing the Bestiary in Klingon is that the rules will only get easier to read as you game"?
:-) Just kidding. I agree that it's a good thing to have all breath weapons work the same, all frightful presence work the same, etc.
It'd be like saying: "It's like printing the whole book in Klingon, when the previous edition sometimes switched to Romulan or Gorn or even Borg at times to describe things they could have just described in Klingon."
It'd be like saying: "It's like printing the whole book in Klingon, when the previous edition sometimes switched to Romulan or Gorn or even Borg at times to describe things they could have just described in Klingon."Yeah; the cool thing about the universal monster rules is that they'll only get easier to use as you game.Er...isn't that a little like saying "The cool thing about printing the Bestiary in Klingon is that the rules will only get easier to read as you game"?
:-) Just kidding. I agree that it's a good thing to have all breath weapons work the same, all frightful presence work the same, etc.
BTW, the Frightful Presence entry isn't clear on the effect. It just says: "Opponents within range who witness the action
may become frightened or shaken." Does that mean fail = frightened while save = shaken, or does it mean that fail = shaken and a second fail = frightened?|
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Yeah; the cool thing about the universal monster rules is that they'll only get easier to use as you game. The rules stay the same for every monster, so once you learn, for example, how paralyze or pounce works... it ALWAYS works that way. It's kind of similar to how whenever we stat up a rogue we don't reprint all the rules for sneak attack or the like.
Printing out a copy of the universal monster rules and keeping that printout handy is a great idea.
yes, but ... Assuming the "back of the book" is used is fine provided it provides all required info: Paralysis under Universal rules is *either* (Ex) or (Su).
In an Antimagic Field, (Su) abilities are suppressed while (Ex) are not - so it matters which is used.But the Ghoul/Ghast entries do not list this aspect!
(In 3.x, they were (Ex) abilities, so I generally go with that)
Yeah; the cool thing about the universal monster rules is that they'll only get easier to use as you game. The rules stay the same for every monster, so once you learn, for example, how paralyze or pounce works... it ALWAYS works that way. It's kind of similar to how whenever we stat up a rogue we don't reprint all the rules for sneak attack or the like.
Printing out a copy of the universal monster rules and keeping that printout handy is a great idea.
yes, but ... Assuming the "back of the book" is used is fine provided it provides all required info: Paralysis under Universal rules is *either* (Ex) or (Su).
In an Antimagic Field, (Su) abilities are suppressed while (Ex) are not - so it matters which is used.But the Ghoul/Ghast entries do not list this aspect!
(In 3.x, they were (Ex) abilities, so I generally go with that)
That's a good poi...(look at the date difference)wait what!?