Liz Courts Webstore Gninja Minion |
Alex Smith 908 |
Okay I have just recently gotten ahold of my final backer copy of this and it is a really excellent book. All of the typos and weird rules that I noticed in the preview prints seem to have been cleaned up, the rules are all really flavorful and evocative, and the art is gorgeous. If someone is to only get one 3rd party book it really should be this one. I will likely be putting up a more full review in a few days.
Owen KC Stephens |
Okay I have just recently gotten ahold of my final backer copy of this and it is a really excellent book.
Thanks!
All of the typos and weird rules that I noticed in the preview prints seem to have been cleaned up, the rules are all really flavorful and evocative, and the art is gorgeous.
I'm really glad to hear that. We decided to give it more than one extra editing pass. As Chris Pramas says "A print book is only late until it comes out. If it's wrong, it's wrong forever."
If someone is to only get one 3rd party book it really should be this one.
High praise indeed!
I will likely be putting up a more full review in a few days.
I look forward to it!
Owen KC Stephens |
Is it possible to get a estimated release date?
The general updates for all GR products is the best we currently have, and it's here.
Short version regarding Adv Bestiary:The PDF is available now. Kickstarter backers already have access to it.
The print book should be in from the printer by the end of the month. There will be a pause as it is shipped to KS backers first, and then it'll go through regular distribution.
Legendarius |
I supported the Kickstarter and am really enjoying the PDF. There are some really great pieces of art and I like a lot of the templates. I can't wait until the physical book arrives at the house. I assume the physical quality/materials for the book will match other recent Green Ronin products like DC Adventures.
Alex Smith 908 |
My only complaint about the product is that Paizo has already updated many of the templates in the Bestiaries and elsewhere. I'm still getting AB. Just wished that GR would not have taken so long to update the book
Owen thanks for the update.
None of the templates completely updated by Paizo were included.
Eric Hinkle |
It's true Paizo updated about five templates in Bestiary 4. They used many many more, but without printing the templates themselves. So we simply didn't republish the templates Paizo had in a Bestiary. We added new things instead. :)
Silly question, were either the Manimal or Bipedal templates redone for this book?
Owen KC Stephens |
The HL files are, as you might expect for templates, pretty complicated. We have the first draft of them done but found some issues we are working on fixing. I don't, in fact, know when we'll have a release draft.
And sadly no, we're not linking KS copies to Paizo. I love Paizo, but the publisher management tools for things like overseeing and mkonitor8ing pdfs we send out are much, much better at DriveThru/RPGNow. Also, it would be much more work for us to offer the Kickstarter pdfs through the three major sales sites people use (DriveThru, Paizo, and Shop.d20PFSRD.com) than sticking to the one that makes it easy for us, especially since we've already sent out surveys and have that data in one place.
JiCi |
My short review:
+ Awesome convertion there guys, great work ^_^
+ Love the new templates
+ Great fluff for the creatures too
+ Thank you for the Monstrous Lycanthrope's ability to use both the speed and special abilities to the transformed creature
- Still not fond of having the Bramble's prickle whip a temporary weapon; yeah, I would have prefered if the whip was simply a natural weapon that can be use with iterative attacks at will without being screwed after an hour.
- I'm surprised that the Jotunblood Giant doesn't grant mental ability scores increases... One would think that a Jotunblood Hill Giant wouldn't be as dumb as a regular one, for instance.
- The Limbjack template... seems to lack some rules, especially concerning the Upgradable Limbs ability. For instance, while an adamantine arm gives the same weapon properties, what about the armor properties? Does having an adamantine arm grants you DR 1/- like a regular adamantine shield? Does having an alchemical silver arm bestow you with a -1 penalty to damage rolls?
- I would have made the Negative Energy-Charged's Searing Darkness an at-will ability to be honest. If it's overflowing with it, I don't see why it couldn't dish it out more often.
- For the Pyrokenitic, I would have given it the Fire Creature's Fire Bolt ability instead of produce flame as a SLA.
- The Shadow-Traced kobold... seems to have a lower CR than expected. Shouldn't it be CR 4? I'm calculating 0 (Kobold) + 2 (magus 2) + 2 (template)
- I feel like the Swarmblooded template could have been applied to Construct and Undead as well, using the idea that a swarm has nested inside them. On a sidenote, a Treant hosting a swarm isn't too "wrong" come to think of it.
- I would have added vermins to the Teratocephalos's options. Also, I would have given a fish-headed creature the amphibious quality instead of replacing air with water breathing.
Aside from that, great work people ^_^
Jeffrey Hersh |
My short review:
+ Awesome convertion there guys, great work ^_^
+ Love the new templates
+ Great fluff for the creatures too
+ Thank you for the Monstrous Lycanthrope's ability to use both the speed and special abilities to the transformed creature- Still not fond of having the Bramble's prickle whip a temporary weapon; yeah, I would have prefered if the whip was simply a natural weapon that can be use with iterative attacks at will without being screwed after an hour.
- I'm surprised that the Jotunblood Giant doesn't grant mental ability scores increases... One would think that a Jotunblood Hill Giant wouldn't be as dumb as a regular one, for instance.
- The Limbjack template... seems to lack some rules, especially concerning the Upgradable Limbs ability. For instance, while an adamantine arm gives the same weapon properties, what about the armor properties? Does having an adamantine arm grants you DR 1/- like a regular adamantine shield? Does having an alchemical silver arm bestow you with a -1 penalty to damage rolls?
- I would have made the Negative Energy-Charged's Searing Darkness an at-will ability to be honest. If it's overflowing with it, I don't see why it couldn't dish it out more often.
- For the Pyrokenitic, I would have given it the Fire Creature's Fire Bolt ability instead of produce flame as a SLA.
- The Shadow-Traced kobold... seems to have a lower CR than expected. Shouldn't it be CR 4? I'm calculating 0 (Kobold) + 2 (magus 2) + 2 (template)
- I feel like the Swarmblooded template could have been applied to Construct and Undead as well, using the idea that a swarm has nested inside them. On a sidenote, a Treant hosting a swarm isn't too "wrong" come to think of it.
- I would have added vermins to the Teratocephalos's options. Also, I would have given a fish-headed creature the amphibious quality instead of replacing air with water breathing.
Aside from that, great work people ^_^
JiCi,
Thanks for the feedback. Feel free to modify the templates as you want them for your game. :)
Jeffrey Hersh |
Yeah adjusting CRs with templates is more art than science. I usually compare a templated creature with one of the same CR so see how they compare. Also, there are electronic tools (like Hero Lab), that have modes which dynamically tell you what the various average stats should be for a specific CR. I find those very helpful as well.
JiCi |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Yeah adjusting CRs with templates is more art than science. I usually compare a templated creature with one of the same CR so see how they compare. Also, there are electronic tools (like Hero Lab), that have modes which dynamically tell you what the various average stats should be for a specific CR. I find those very helpful as well.
Well... let's try it out with what I said:
- At-will prickle whip: +0 CR, doesn't sound OP if you can use it all the time.
- Mental boost to Jotunblood: +1 CR, more skills, better Will save, better tactics... provided the GM knows what he or she's doing :P
- Limbjack limbs: that... sounds like missing rules than actual adjustments here.
- At-will searing darkness: +1 CR, you're giving an undead creature a laser cannon, hurtful to your PCs, which are 100% living.
- Pyrokenitic's Fire Bolt: +0 CR, if it's to replace produce flame, I don't see much of a balance issue here.
- Shadow-traced: like the Limbjack, that sounds more like an errata.
- Construct/Undead Swarmblood: +0 CR, the ability itself doesn't change, only the vessel.
- Various changes for Teratocephalos: +0 CR, so many possibilities, so little space to list them all... no change to that.
lastgrasp |
Jeffrey Hersh |
Jeffrey Hersh wrote:Yeah adjusting CRs with templates is more art than science. I usually compare a templated creature with one of the same CR so see how they compare. Also, there are electronic tools (like Hero Lab), that have modes which dynamically tell you what the various average stats should be for a specific CR. I find those very helpful as well.Well... let's try it out with what I said:
- At-will prickle whip: +0 CR, doesn't sound OP if you can use it all the time.
- Mental boost to Jotunblood: +1 CR, more skills, better Will save, better tactics... provided the GM knows what he or she's doing :P
- Limbjack limbs: that... sounds like missing rules than actual adjustments here.
- At-will searing darkness: +1 CR, you're giving an undead creature a laser cannon, hurtful to your PCs, which are 100% living.
- Pyrokenitic's Fire Bolt: +0 CR, if it's to replace produce flame, I don't see much of a balance issue here.
- Shadow-traced: like the Limbjack, that sounds more like an errata.
- Construct/Undead Swarmblood: +0 CR, the ability itself doesn't change, only the vessel.
- Various changes for Teratocephalos: +0 CR, so many possibilities, so little space to list them all... no change to that.
Looks good. I am working on a rules errata right now. So if folks see anything they think is broken or needs further explanation, let me know and why.
Liz Courts Webstore Gninja Minion |
Shem |
Shem wrote:I got mine today and when through it. I do not think Paizo should be allowed to use this book...
Too late. Several copies were hand-delivered to staff throughout the building.
To those PCs that are about to die, we salute you.
That is unfortunate.
Justin Sluder |
Liz Courts wrote:That is unfortunate.Shem wrote:I got mine today and when through it. I do not think Paizo should be allowed to use this book...
Too late. Several copies were hand-delivered to staff throughout the building.
To those PCs that are about to die, we salute you.
Please explain.
Tinkergoth |
Shem wrote:Please explain.Liz Courts wrote:That is unfortunate.Shem wrote:I got mine today and when through it. I do not think Paizo should be allowed to use this book...
Too late. Several copies were hand-delivered to staff throughout the building.
To those PCs that are about to die, we salute you.
It's a joke. They're saying that the staff are now able to use the horrors in the book against players. Not actually unfortunate, but played that way for laughs... unless he really does think it's unfortunate for some reason, in which case I have no idea.
Shem |
Yes, a joke. Paizo made good use of the previous version even though it was a 3.5 book. Also, Paizo has actually converted some of those 3.5 templates in Bestiary 4.
The previous book has been one of Paizo's favorites as they have created monsters to torture us in modules and APs.
Jeffrey Hersh |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
FYI, for those who have been asking. The 1.0 version of the Hero Lab files has been submitted to Lone Wolf for their approval process. I do not know how long it will take to get the files in the store since there is a great deal of custom work with these files beyond data entry to make the templates work like they are supposed to.
This first version will not have the Augmented and Eldritch templates which require some very difficult and specialized coding which I am still working on. However, every other template and its variants are in the HL files as well as all the sample creatures.
Jeffrey Hersh |
Shem wrote:I got mine today and when through it. I do not think Paizo should be allowed to use this book...
Too late. Several copies were hand-delivered to staff throughout the building.
To those PCs that are about to die, we salute you.
I am really looking forward to see what the designers at Paizo will make from these. Personally, I am looking forward to an implementation of the Dread Blood Knight. Its slithering blood form is full of WTF.