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Anyone else think the Moon Dog looks like Christopher Lee as Dog Saruman?
Anyone else think the Moon Dog looks like Christopher Lee as Dog Saruman?
Please tell me it doesn't look like a poodle...please? I loved the D&D Moon Dogs!
Anyone else think the Moon Dog looks like Christopher Lee as Dog Saruman?Please tell me it doesn't look like a poodle...please? I loved the D&D Moon Dogs!
Sorry. But that is far from the worst thing in there, the worst thing in there is called Female Model Anemoi.
On the positive note, the Mngwa is really freaking awesome! The Karkadann and Cherufe and Pyrausta and Scitalis too! Really happy with their versions!
That nobody mentioned them in here before is strange.
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This is again a fairly solid book in paizo's library. The combination of interesting creatures and races helped to expand on catagories of materials that came before, while also adding new things. The emotion oozes can be fairly dangerous if you are unprepared. Imagine the set up where the party just starts becoming over emotionally driven, becoming more jealous, scared, angry, crushed or zealous than they naturally would over smaller things.
And the roiling oil and gunpowder ooze are nasty examples of the potential power of component materials.
Also a player race you want to start as being venerable, since you then reincarnate into a deep one.
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Got my copy! Here's my review ^_^
+ Love the art, again ^_^
+ More Aeons, finally!
+ Reprints, which are cool, even if I own Inner Seas Bestiary ;)
- The Exscinder Archon without either the Pyrokinetic Blast or Scorching Rays is... weird :P
- The Dire Polar Bear doesn't have an real-world name, like other dire animals... was it an omittion?
+ Bone Ship... Oh my O_O
+ Many monsters from WotC's 3.5 Psionic Handbook
+ More Dragons :D
+ Grim Reaper :D
+ Lots of aquatic creatures
+ Two new outsider groups (Manasaputras and Sahkils)
- Nothing about a Manasaputras-blooded Aasimar and a Sahkil-blooded Tiefling
- The Skinwalker doesn't have the 8 standard bloodlines... I feel like it should have been 2 pages
- Why did they make Thriae Constructors mindless? The Thriaes have a species that relies on unity, so there's no fear of rebelling from these beings. They should have gotten Int 8 or 10, because they look like "big, lovable giants".
- I feel like the Veela should have been reformated to have a single stat block, but with little descriptions to make all 4 variations, similar to the Wysp.
+ Loads of high-level creatures and giant creatures ^_^
I'd give it 4.5/5 if I would review it normally, but it's too fanboyish so I'll keep myself to this post :P Overall, great work to everyone ^_^
I can't believe I never saw the Plankta thing! As I know them as Symplegades or Planctae I just missed this creature entirely.
It was my very first wish I made on this forums, together with the Bestiary 4 Argus.
I made this wish of Symplegades which were twin-golems that crush creatures between the two of them, but this creature is also very very awesome!
The more I read through Bestiary 5 the more I starting the like it! SO yeah, good work everywhere!
I also hope the artist of the Heikegani, or Paizo itself will post the FULL picture of this creature, its one of the only creatures that isn't fully complete on the picture, its legs are missing, the artist of the Erlking already posted the full picture for me, so I hope I can find the artist for the Heikegani.
The heikegani is really awesome in this book! Love it.
I can't believe I never saw the Plankta thing! As I know them as Symplegades or Planctae I just missed this creature entirely.
It was my very first wish I made on this forums, together with the Bestiary 4 Argus.
I made this wish of Symplegades which were twin-golems that crush creatures between the two of them, but this creature is also very very awesome!
The more I read through Bestiary 5 the more I starting the like it! SO yeah, good work everywhere!
I also hope the artist of the Heikegani, or Paizo itself will post the FULL picture of this creature, its one of the only creatures that isn't fully complete on the picture, its legs are missing, the artist of the Erlking already posted the full picture for me, so I hope I can find the artist for the Heikegani.
The heikegani is really awesome in this book! Love it.
Yeah, the Planktai are the wandering rocks rather than the clashing rocks, so they wander and not clash, but I happen to think our take on them is pretty cool.
Also, I see from your longer spoiler post round-up that when you read the annunaki yourself, you agreed with me that the creature's flavor and abilities allow you to blend the myth and sci-fi to whichever level you prefer (either way or a mix, to fit your game), art notwithstanding.
Anyone else think the Moon Dog looks like Christopher Lee as Dog Saruman?Please tell me it doesn't look like a poodle...please? I loved the D&D Moon Dogs!
Nope, more like an Afghan.
Creative Director
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I kind of wish we could get the 3.0 Kaiju template back, but it's not Open Content.
Being the author of both (Dragon's kaiju template and all the kaiju in Bestiary 4), I can confirm that the switch to doing specific kaiju rather than a template is a very conscious design choice by me. For the same reason we don't have a dire animal template... crafting a kaiju shouldn't be something that can be standardized. Each kaiju needs to be hand-built.
My philosophy there was actually the same, pretty much, for the Dragon template... which is why that template is like 5 pages long.
I can't believe I never saw the Plankta thing! As I know them as Symplegades or Planctae I just missed this creature entirely.
It was my very first wish I made on this forums, together with the Bestiary 4 Argus.
I made this wish of Symplegades which were twin-golems that crush creatures between the two of them, but this creature is also very very awesome!
The more I read through Bestiary 5 the more I starting the like it! SO yeah, good work everywhere!
I also hope the artist of the Heikegani, or Paizo itself will post the FULL picture of this creature, its one of the only creatures that isn't fully complete on the picture, its legs are missing, the artist of the Erlking already posted the full picture for me, so I hope I can find the artist for the Heikegani.
The heikegani is really awesome in this book! Love it.
Yeah, the Planktai are the wandering rocks rather than the clashing rocks, so they wander and not clash, but I happen to think our take on them is pretty cool.
Also, I see from your longer spoiler post round-up that when you read the annunaki yourself, you agreed with me that the creature's flavor and abilities allow you to blend the myth and sci-fi to whichever level you prefer (either way or a mix, to fit your game), art notwithstanding.
Yes, ignoring the modern artwork, I can see these awesome creatures fitting in ANY time or setting. I hope Pathfinder uses them in an AP someday, and uses artwork that fits a more traditional fantasy setting, but the fluff and abilities already fit, i'm just also a collector of artwork, and a cool painting of a less modern Annunaki is on my wishlist.
When I wished for the Symplegades, I hadn't heard from the Planctae or Wandering Rocks yet, but in the end the wandering rocks are more my thing than the lifeless Symplegades, somebody on these forums once made Symplegades for me in some wish-and-create topic, there he made my Symplegades wish but also the Planctae creature, which I had never heard of before back then, he made the Planctae into a land-based version of the aquatic Symplegades, they were cool too, but this Plankta steals the show.
And while nearly nothing was a surprise anymore for me as I already seen the entire Bestiary 5 list, the PLankta was still there to surprise me! Which was awesome! Also the beholder-like creature on the very first page was a real surprise as I thought it was a spaghetti based monster.
I also really hope to once see the artwork for the: (Maybe for the Pawn collection)
- Advanced human-sized Akaname which is mentioned.
- Desert based Mantis Shrimp
- Blood Lily
- Greater Pyrausta
- Elderwizard Shackle (or something like that)
- Water Mauler (Water Leaper evolution or adult form)
- Raven form of the Vilderavn.
- All other Veela, especially the Air Veela.
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*reads*
.... a group of lead golems is called a curtain. Nicely done.
That's a cool concept! B5 should have some content to help you out with that (not that you should buy a monster book solely to find content that helps refine the philosophy of a PC, naturally, but I love when we find space to explore those things in monster entries and intro pages for a monster type).The OA planes stuff isn't even Golarion-specific; it's an occult take on the multiverse, and it actually conflicts with the arcane/divine take on transmigration in Golarion (see the River of Souls article in the back of Mummy's Mask, which is also a really great article). The intention was that it's not the truth on the planes, but it is a truth, and it's the one that some occult scholars believe to be a hidden underlying truth (that's why there's an awesome art of Enora and Rivani in a nerdrage argument about the way the planes work, which I really enjoyed). Giving the opportunity for multiple interpretations of the multiverse and underlying mysterious truths to reveal is part of the theme of OA, so that's what the book did. It also made the Boneyard available for naming, which before it had to be called Purgatory (as I know from writing a 3pp book that referenced it), which is pretty cool!I really loved that part of OA. Among other things, it presented a worldview which offers a real alternative to the "but you have to worship a god because of the afterlife" arguments that have been around for a very long time. I've been toying with the idea of an Esoteric Magus who has chosen to follow the paths of the manasaputras. I think it would be interesting to have a character that views the gods merely as powerful allies or enemies rather than as beings which should be worshiped. I would expect there to many interesting roleplaying opportunities beyond just "nerdrage" arguments. (And I hadn't noticed the topic of conversation in that picture. That is hilarious.)
The Manasaputra section is even better than I had hoped. Beings with the power of gods (or more) who don't care about being worshiped. The potential to become such a being yourself. I love this conceptual framework! The connection to the Samsarans was something I was wondering about. I'm considering playing a Samsaran for the first time now.
Manasaputra section is even better than I had hoped. I love this conceptual framework! :)
Fantastic! I like coming on here and talking about things in the books I worked on that I thought were cool. I know I'm obviously biased, but I also try to be at least somewhat objective and generate excitement for things that I think are genuinely cool or interesting, so in that vein, it's always great for me when things turn out even better than you hoped!
I do like the moon dog's design especially since I had Afghan dogs growing up.
i feel like the twilight pitri has too low an attack bonus for its CR. also, the muse is damn ugly, and not even close to "beautiful"
Yeah, twilight's primary attack routine is its rays rather than punches, which are quite accurate for its CR particularly against touch AC. Even not against positive-haters it deals 28 per hit too. It's damage against undead and such is extremely high for its CR.
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I've seen a couple people mention the bone ship so I'm glad people are digging it. Along with the death coach, can't go wrong with some vehicular undead.
I really like the Manasaputra Subtype's abilities. I'll probably be houseruling Subjective Appearance onto a few creatures.
I've seen a couple people mention the bone ship so I'm glad people are digging it. Along with the death coach, can't go wrong with some vehicular undead.
I imagine the Death Coach* can run over you, but what exactly can the Bone Ship do, especially if you're a passenger on it? Sail roughly to make you seasick?
* -- And this is from real-world myths, isn't it? I vaguely recall something about this in connection with Irish folklore.
I imagine the Death Coach* can run over you, but what exactly can the Bone Ship do, especially if you're a passenger on it? Sail roughly to make you seasick?
* -- And this is from real-world myths, isn't it? I vaguely recall something about this in connection with Irish folklore.
Why would you be a passenger on the Bone Ship?
Contributor
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I kind of wish we could get the 3.0 Kaiju template back, but it's not Open Content.Being the author of both (Dragon's kaiju template and all the kaiju in Bestiary 4), I can confirm that the switch to doing specific kaiju rather than a template is a very conscious design choice by me. For the same reason we don't have a dire animal template... crafting a kaiju shouldn't be something that can be standardized. Each kaiju needs to be hand-built.
My philosophy there was actually the same, pretty much, for the Dragon template... which is why that template is like 5 pages long.
I had heard you mention that decision before. I understand... I just like templates. Something about how my mind works. ^_^
Manasaputra section is even better than I had hoped. I love this conceptual framework! :)Fantastic! I like coming on here and talking about things in the books I worked on that I thought were cool. I know I'm obviously biased, but I also try to be at least somewhat objective and generate excitement for things that I think are genuinely cool or interesting, so in that vein, it's always great for me when things turn out even better than you hoped!
Well, this book definitely made this customer very happy. And that's without even considering all of the other neat things in there.
Chuspikis.... they are FREAKING ADORABLE AND I WANT ONE!
Is it just me, or are they the talking wind mouse character from Wild Arms (the original/Alter Code F)?
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A small "flavor" question regarding the manasaputras: would it be in keeping with their flavor to make the Seven Kumaras demigods? The article on the Agnishvattas seems to vaguely equate the 7 of them actually active in the multiverse with the Kumaras.
I am aware that with rule 0 I can do anything I'd like, but I would like to know what the intention of the authors was since the text was unclear to me.
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Got my copy! Here's my review ^_^
** spoiler omitted **I'd give it 4.5/5 if I would review it normally, but it's too fanboyish so I'll keep myself to this post :P Overall, great work to everyone ^_^
Thraie constructors are mindless, because they are a total subservient hive mind. They only build and maintain according to the queens will, and will generally only attack in self defence. In comparison to the rest of the soldiers, queens, and dancers(which are all require a greater level of sentience and independent thinking outside of the hive mind), constructors are simply the workers. Now sometimes 1 or 2 might develop the sentience to think outside of the hive mind for itself, but in a similar manner to a bee colony, if a constructor falls out of line and starts to compromise the hive structure, they face the risk of a swift and brutal death from the queens troops to set an example. Not quite lawful evil levels, but still quite jarring to the average civilised race.
As for the reason for not having more of the bloodlines from blood of the moon, or similar set up with the aasamar and tieflings, it's probably because of how they sourced some of the races from other guides/bestiaries as well as how much room they had in the book. With more creatures and rules comes more space filled, leaving less room for other bloodlines and races.
I've seen a couple people mention the bone ship so I'm glad people are digging it. Along with the death coach, can't go wrong with some vehicular undead.
Those two + the Wraithwyrm and Polong are probably my favorite undead in the book, i'm glad you kept away from the more humanoid undead!
Tiyanak, Saxra, The Grudge Like Japanese Monk, Grim Reapers, Duppy, and Caller in Darkness are also nice and awesome.
I love ships and chariots, they are just too cool to miss!
Also it is rare for me to like an entire group of new outsiders, I always have some I don't like but with the Sakhil, there is something strange going on, I just love them all!
can't wait to see more Sakhil being created for AP and future bestiaries.
I'm not so much of a fan of the Wind Mouse, I rather seen the mythology Wind Weasel from Japan.
I really like the Turul, it is nice to get creatures from the positive energy plane though I am not all that fond of the Manasaputra.
On the positive note, the Mngwa is really freaking awesome!Ooh, very cool. The Mngwa is my favorite mythical beast/cryptid! I even played a superhero character based off of that critter!
Too bad it didn't get the silence abilities you once gave it, I found that a very cool approach for this creature!
But the Bestiary 5 version is also very cool, it only exists at night and disappears completely during the day, only to reappear the next night to wreck havoc again.
One of my favorite critters in the book, i'm also very happy with the awesome artwork!
Anyone else think the Moon Dog looks like Christopher Lee as Dog Saruman?Please tell me it doesn't look like a poodle...please? I loved the D&D Moon Dogs!
They look more like Afghans honestly. They look cool, in a weird way.
Sorry. But that is far from the worst thing in there, the worst thing in there is called Female Model Anemoi.Anyone else think the Moon Dog looks like Christopher Lee as Dog Saruman?Please tell me it doesn't look like a poodle...please? I loved the D&D Moon Dogs!
The art actually look great for the anemoi. And considering in the myths, they could be a guy, a girl, or a horse, that's not bad at all. Really the only two artworks I dont like are the Muse's uncanny valley face and the Cassowary Moa.
CassowaryMoa.
I should say that my next hunter Will have a Cassowary Moa animal companion, and that I like the art.
Btw, how can a Xiao have only 4 strength? Weaker than an insect sized Pyrausta or Tooth Fairy?
Isn't that an error?
Well i'm not a fan of caroonist,s so all the cartoon-like artwork is ugly for me, like the Moa, Flytrap Leshy ect ect.
Also i'm not a fan of paintings in a bestiary (like the urchins) all artwork should be just the creature without environment.
I guess i'm just a fan of some artists, and others I find unfitting.
Anemoi I find both ugly artwork and not suiting at all, I hate them being girls just for the sake of being girls. I always seen them as zeus-like humans made from wind and clouds.
Moon Dogs not poodle-like? Good and thank you for your input, all of you. More like Afghan Hounds? That is definitely acceptable. Poodle? Not in my Pathfinder!
I really don't see anything wrong with the Anemoi being female. In mythology the Anemoi were a group of four (or eight) gods who happened to be male. If they're expanded into a race there's really no reason why they couldn't have females. And besides which, considering the pretty-boy Veela and the deliberate genderswapping of some of the angels, there's no grounds to complain here.
I will say I really don't like the moa artwork either. Simply put, that's not what moas look like, Moas are real animals. They aren't subject to interpretation and a degree of accuracy is to be expected.
All in all, now that I have the book, I'm extremely impressed. Absolutely awesome. I'll post a list of favorites once I get a chance to sit down and read it.
Edit: What is the origin of the Saxra? It seems like something from mythology, but I can't find any details on it.
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The Flytrap Leshy art reminds me of one of the garbage pail kids.
I really don't see anything wrong with the Anemoi being female. In mythology the Anemoi were a group of four (or eight) gods who happened to be male. If they're expanded into a race there's really no reason why they couldn't have females. And besides which, considering the pretty-boy Veela and the deliberate genderswapping of some of the angels, there's no grounds to complain here.
I will say I really don't like the moa artwork either. Simply put, that's not what moas look like, Moas are real animals. They aren't subject to interpretation and a degree of accuracy is to be expected.
All in all, now that I have the book, I'm extremely impressed. Absolutely awesome. I'll post a list of favorites once I get a chance to sit down and read it.
Edit: What is the origin of the Saxra? It seems like something from mythology, but I can't find any details on it.
So you all can complain about a male Veela, but I can't complain about ugly female artwork for the Anemoi, she looks like some model who went jobless and turned into a hobo, nothing royal or CR 18 about that artwork. (i'm also tired of all the pretty female monsters, enough of them in Bestiary 4 to spend your life without any wife.)
Anyway, this is the only Saxra thing i've ever seen --> Saxra Picture. I knew it was some wind skeleton and I really wanted to find it, but when I found in online it turned out to be some all-powerful Jean Grey/Professor X type of monster, that doesn't only has things to do with Wind, but with everything, the all powerful South American skeleton monster, so I lost interest. This Paizo version is nice, not my favorite myth creature in th book, but its nice I guess.
Another myth creature i'm kinda disappointed in is the Nuno, why not like in the real myth? Or did the artorder went wrong? This is just Myceloid/Fungus Leshy #3, and we also have the polevik who turned into a toadstool thingie. Nuno are about ants, they sometimes wear toadstool caps, but they aren't full toadstools like in that picture, hope to see it changed in the Pawns.
The Flytrap Leshy art reminds me of one of the garbage pail kids.
Yay! It can hang with the Pickled Punk:-D
I wished the cover-artist made artworks for both the Gray and the Grim Reaper, those cover artworks are much better than the artworks for the creatures pages, while they aren't bad.
But that gray on the cover looks so much more freaky, and that grim reaper is so awesomely detailed.
Also did you see that both the Witchcrow and Guardian Scroll are on the cover? Just noticed that :-p Thought it was with the Reaper.
I never complained about male Veela, but I have better things to do with my time than whine about the genders of creatures that don't actually exist lol
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And staying on topic, I love a lot of the Japanese, Hindu and Phillipino themed monsters in the Bestiary. It's always awesome to see real world myths brought into the game. And the creatures from medieval bestiaries really make this book feel like, well, a bestiary.