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Pathfinder Player Companion: Blood of the Beast (PFRPG)

4.20/5 (based on 13 ratings)
Pathfinder Player Companion: Blood of the Beast (PFRPG)
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Embrace the Beast Within!

Anthropomorphic animal races have been a staple of fantasy gaming for decades, and Pathfinder Player Companion: Blood of the Beast presents all the tools you need to play members of some the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game's most iconic bestial races. Packed full of character options for members of all classes, as well as some that members of other races can adopt, Blood of the Beast is sure to spice up any campaign!

Inside this book, you'll find:

  • New class archetypes including the tengu jinx witch, the catfolk serendipity shaman, the grippli war painter, and the vanaran fortune-finder.
  • Exciting new feats to accentuate beast-blooded races' inherent abilities, such as ratfolk's swarming ability and kitsune's shapechanging trickery.
  • Dozens of new spells, alternate racial traits, and favored class bonuses to customize characters of all stripes.

This Pathfinder Player Companion is intended for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Pathfinder campaign setting, but can easily be incorporated into any fantasy world.

ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-901-1

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

Hero Lab Online
Archives of Nethys

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4.20/5 (based on 13 ratings)

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Pretty Good (Needs More Lore, Less Filler)

4/5 —

When the Advanced Race Guide came out, the number of playable races in Pathfinder suddenly increased substantially. There’s an argument to be made that perhaps it was too much, too fast, with some of the new races competing (stats-wise) more than favourably with the classic Core Rulebook races. I frankly get tired of seeing nagaji bloodragers and kitsune swashbucklers, but I guess that’s neither here nor there. The value in Blood of the Beast is that it grounds these new races into the Golarion campaign setting, adding some information about where they come from and how they’re perceived. For GMs and players interested in a cohesive view of the setting, the promise is an important one. As with all of these Player Companions, of course, there’s plenty of crunchy new options for character building as well. The races covered here are catfolk, gripplis, kitsune, nagaji, ratfolk, tengus, and vanaras.

I really like the concept for the cover art, though the actual execution is a bit too cartoony for my tastes. The inside front cover is a zoomed-out map of the Inner Sea with coloured highlighting showing where the various races covered in the book originate. I think it’s too zoomed-out to be of a lot of real use though. The inside back cover is the cover art minus any text.

After a page for the table of contents, we then get a two-page introduction. There’s a new trait for each race covered in the book. Some of the traits are fine, but some are of the generic “+1 to a skill and it’s a class skill” type that are really just space-fillers and list-lengtheners.

Each of the seven races then get a four-page long entry with a brief overview, some favoured class options, an archetype or two, and often other options like new feats or spells. Although many of these new options are flavoured as tied to a particular race, most don’t actually have being a member of that race as a prerequisite to taking them. I’ll go through each of these entries briefly.

Catfolk get a few new archetypes, including the Prowler at World’s End for bloodragers (giving them medium spirits), the Ravenous Hunter for inquisitors (a specialist demon-fighter with an oracle revelation), and the Serendipity Shaman for shamans (gets some new hexes—one of them, Tweak the Odds, is really good!). There are some new, forgettable feats, and a new natural course for wildsoul vigilantes called “feline.” Of the new spells, bit of luck is really powerful since it can be used before or after the results of a die roll have been revealed (which is rather unusual).

The new favoured class bonuses for gripplis are interesting, and I really like a cool new archetype for mediums called the Fiend Keeper—it specializes in containing an evil spirit. The other archetypes are the Poison Darter for rangers and the odd War Painter for skalds. There are also some new feats and spells, but nothing that jumped out at me.

Kitsune get some alternate racial traits, new advanced versatile performances for bards and skalds, and a new archetype, the Nine-Tailed Heir for sorcerers (great artwork here!). There are some new feats for shapeshifters, a really clever new spell called contagious suggestion, and some new vigilante talents (I like the one called “obscurity”—-it’s basically the opposite of renown).

For Nagaji, there are new naga bloodlines for bloodragers and sorcerers. There’s a new cavalier archetype called First Mother’s Fang, which is a sort of governor/general concept; it’s pretty good in broadening the knowledge skills available to cavaliers, and who doesn’t want to ride around on a giant snake? There’s also some new mesmerist tricks and spells.

I love the new ratfolk archetypes, and might have to give one a try soon. There’s the Opportunist for fighters (a really cool, skills-focused alchemist mix), the Scavenger for investigators (a gadget type of alchemist with a great feel), and the Swarm Monger for druids (which is pretty much what it sounds like). There are several feats, all of which build off the Swarming special ability of ratfolk, and they’re quite good too. The only “meh” thing in the entry is a new psychic discipline, Warp.

Tengus receive several new feats (I like Lovable Scoundrel) and spells, as well as several new archetypes. Courser for swashbucklers makes for a super-mobile character, though they have to give up a lot. The Jinx Witch for witches provides for some interesting abilities to absorb and expend spells (and has some great art). The Red Tongue for skalds provides an odd mix of rogue talents. I think a lot of writers just don’t know what to do with skalds, but I can’t blame them—-I don’t know either.

I will always hold a special place in my heart for vanaras, since that’s the race of my favourite character (Goldcape) in the Curse of the Crimson Throne AP I’ve been running for a couple of years now. The race here gets some new alternate racial traits, including size changing, as well as the usual favored class options. There are then several new Meditation feats, but none of them are worth it. Fighters may be interested in the new advanced weapon training options. There’s one new archetype, the Fortune-Finder for rangers—-it’s frankly just kind of bland. Unchained monks get some new style strikes and ki powers (with freedom of movement particularly great). Last, there’s a new eidolon subtype for unchained summoners called Ancestor, but it’s not particularly interesting.

Pretty much every book in the Player Companion line is going to contain its share of filler mixed with some real gems of creativity. I thought Blood of the Beast is better than many in the proportion of wheat to chaff. I would have like more than just a couple of paragraphs on how each of the races fit into Golarion—-remember, that’s the value-add of the books (along with the art), as all the new rules options will be immediately stripped out and placed on the Archives of Nethys. But all in all, this is a worthwhile book to buy.

Aside from the Fan Boy/Girl factor, . . .

1/5 —

I really don't understand why this book got such good reviews. I was very hesitant to buy this one from the start. Both because past experiences with cramming in far too many things into one book have led to, well predictable results and the very, very thin theme of the focus here.

This is probably the first product I outright want my monies back. But probably worst of all is that this book probably kills any possibility that the few races involved here I actually do want a Player's Guide for are likely to never get a good one now.

It's pretty much as I feared, far, far, far too little on anything I'm interested in, except I'm struggling to actually find a single thing I find interesting, good, or something I'd use. Just too forced, and the actual goal seems to be to make sure a few snowflake things get in the game rather than focusing on each of the races, and it shows which of the race options where favored and which got options because they had to get something.

A lot of fun ideas to build around

5/5 —

Blood of the Beast does just what a Player Companion should, in my opinion, do: it provides a large number of options that would be interesting to incorporate into a character or build a character around.

Such beauty in being the beast

5/5 —

A great book that offers nice alternative new options for the animal-like races and even some that can be used by other races too.

While most of the options are restricted to the exclusive races for PFS play, you could probably go wild with a homebrew setting.

The art in the book is beautiful as well, having at least 2 pictures of each race to represent how they look like.

Better than I anticipated

5/5 —

I was ready for this book to be average. I was wrong. SO MANY OPTIONS! Feats, Traits, Archetypes, Spells. This book really delivers on the mechanical side.

The artwork, layout, and flavor text are all great too, especially the in the Nagaji and Kitsune sections.

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Dragon,

Maybe they're saving the gloom for Horror Realms?

Just Horror Realms, have you look at the covers for most of there books this year;)
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Anyhoo, something does disturb me about that kitsune..

...It uses bestiary design, but doesn't have the tattoo!

Jokes aside, something about face seems silly. I guess its perspective of snout that looks weird?

Also, is it just me or does that grippli(that seems colorwise like its based on bestiary one) have Kermit's face with "antenna" eyebrows added?

Like, okay, artistic liberties, but I'm pretty sure only tengu one looks cooler than the one in bestiary(though bestiary pic for kitsune seemed silly to me due to proportions, head is so large compared to the body, so this pic fixes that at least. Seriously, bestiary kitsune's body is rather creepishly thin)

For comparisons: bestiary kitsune, grippli, tengu
Dragon78 wrote:
Just Horror Realms, have you look at the covers for most of there books this year;)

Not extensively since I don't possess a photographic memory. I'm lucky I can remember where my shoes are in the morning! :p

But I only said Horror Realms as the APs didn't seem to count in the artwork since not all of it is dark/gloomy.
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Zaister wrote:
World's Okayest Fighter wrote:
Zaister wrote:
I just can't get my mind around that there are people who would want to play a frog.
What about a grippli monk?
Still a frog.

Frogs are Chaotically awesome!

Dark Archive
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
CorvusMask wrote:

Jokes aside, something about face seems silly. I guess its perspective of snout that that looks weird?

Yeah, muzzles can be tricky when it's looking full on.

Dark Archive
3 people marked this as a favorite.

The cover seriously turns me off - too anime/computer gamey for my taste, not enough classic fantasy.

I will buy the book none the less. ;-)

Looks like "classic fantasy" to me.
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Marco Massoudi wrote:

The cover seriously turns me off - too anime/computer gamey for my taste, not enough classic fantasy.

I will buy the book none the less. ;-)

See this is type of comments I was referring to, what the heck some people think classic fantasy(or even video games/anime) look like? :'D

2 people marked this as a favorite.

One man's classic is another man's boring. I'm blind and can't see it either way so I have no opinion. As for why would anyone want to play afrog, when I was a kid, I wanted to be Kermit. As he once said, it isn't easy being green.

I'm liking what I see so far, so I'll reserve judgement after its in my downloads. Racial feats and archetypes are always welcome, even if I usually only play humans.
Contributor
2 people marked this as a favorite.

Spoiler:
Three weeeeeeeeeeks!
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Alexander Augunas wrote:
Spoiler:
Three weeeeeeeeeeks!

Spoiler:
Is "Get ready for a surprise!" next?
1 person marked this as a favorite.

I don't want to get in a big debate about it, but for me, it's not the colors, it's the faces. The kitsune's mouth, grippli's mouth, and the tengu's eyes and a little bit the beak...I think for the kitsune, it doesn't have enough muzzle, so the mouth is more cat-like; I liked this and this more. For the grippli, I feel like the mouth should turn down a bit more; this is probably the one I like the most for Paizo grippli art. Also I think the muzzle should be a bit more defined, and the eyes should be a bit more up there...and for the tengu, I think the lower half of the beak should be bending down a bit more...this and this are probably the Paizo tengu pictures I like the most.

BUT.

This is just my personal opinion, combining animal and human features in a way that comes off as 'right' is both tricky and highly subjective, everyone having their own personal opinions on the subject. So, yeah, mostly made this post just because seriously, it is not the colors that bother me and I don't really enjoy being told that the only reason I could possibly dislike this is the color. I don't enjoy browns and greys myself.

So, yeah. The cover mildly bothers me (which is not the same thing as the cover being objectively wrong in some capacity, just doesn't suit my tastes) but I am still excited to get this book when it comes out.

Edit: And as to the origin of the grippli, I believe they were made up back in 1982 for TSR's Monster Cards, and made it into Monster Manual II in 1983, but they are somewhat distinct from lizardfolk (who have been part of D&D since 1975 via the Greyhawk supplement booklet) in that lizardfolk dwell in marshes and swamps, whereas grippli, while also dwelling in marshes, are more arboreal, and dwell in rainforests. As to whether you need both, I guess that depends on your world. I personally like having multiple races dwelling in various places since it can provide more nuanced interactions than just between them and the adventurers and such, but you know, to each their own.
Shadow Lodge

That Kitsune looks really odd and off-putting. I like the Grippli except for the mouth/face, and the Tengu looks pretty cool.

I'm still pretty skeptical, as I just don't see a lot of crossover material here, and the new product description seems to highly suggest even more that there will be very minimal options for all of the races covered.

I really don't like the idea of having to buy a book about a bunch of mainly unrelated races I'm not interested in just to hopefully get a few things for the one or two I am, (mainly Grippli and Ratfolk, with maybe a tad more Tengu). I guess one thing that could be pretty cool and might make this product work is if all of the races are given Racial options for shapeshifting not linked to Class (like Wild Shape or Transmutation spells).
Dark Archive
CorvusMask wrote:
Marco Massoudi wrote:

The cover seriously turns me off - too anime/computer gamey for my taste, not enough classic fantasy.

I will buy the book none the less. ;-)

See this is type of comments I was referring to, what the heck some people think classic fantasy(or even video games/anime) look like? :'D

Just google fox or frog and you'll see what i mean. The faces look very different.

Only the tengu has an ok look, but both the kitsune and the grippli look more like a cartoon character than a creature that developed out of an actual animal.
I actually like anime/manga, but i don't need it in Pathfinder. For me, these are two very different things which don't work well together.
But to each his own.

Hard to have a bite attack without a snout.

Go figure, but i like the more ferally looking ones. Snouts, digitigrade, and no hair or bust.
Silver Crusade
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I'm okay with mane/hair.
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I think hair looks kinda dumb on races that aren't primates <_<
Silver Crusade

But boobs are okay?
Rysky wrote:
But boobs are okay?

in any other context but this one sure..

Silver Crusade
1 person marked this as a favorite.

-_-
Rysky wrote:
But boobs are okay?

Mammaries on mammals... granted, they aren't the right type of mammaries, but Most Writers Are Human.

Humanized animals where the head is the most animal part and everything else including genitalia and hands and feet are a very old thing. Probably as old as humanity.

Reading the possible subtone of some posts, maybe it should be pointed out that not making them "full" humanoids might lead to even more weird and awkward things.

Perhaps the art is a personal taste thing, but certainly nothing to go crazy about in any direction. The book has a lot of awesome content to offer beyond that.
Hayato Ken wrote:

Humanized animals where the head is the most animal part and everything else including genitalia and hands and feet are a very old thing. Probably as old as humanity.

Reading the possible subtone of some posts, maybe it should be pointed out that not making them "full" humanoids might lead to even more weird and awkward things.

Perhaps the art is a personal taste thing, but certainly nothing to go crazy about in any direction. The book has a lot of awesome content to offer beyond that.

I think the females clothing, or lack thereof, is irritating to many.

and the extreme sexual dimorphism.
Zaister wrote:
World's Okayest Fighter wrote:
Zaister wrote:
I just can't get my mind around that there are people who would want to play a frog.
What about a grippli monk?
Still a frog.

There are people who want to play a fox, or a bird, or a cat, or whatever. There are people that like all sorts of things that we, ourselves, may not like. If you can wrap your head around one, you can probably do the mental acrobatics for the others.

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the female animals tend to be at least a half-notch closer to the "human" end of the Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism than the male animals. A few of them may even be very anthro compared to their male equivalents.

Because the female versions are "more evolved":)
Silver Crusade Contributor
3 people marked this as a favorite.

I suspect it's also because of artist preconceptions. There's a lot of expectations present in the industry, and no matter how clear you are about it... sometimes your art comes back sexier (or more human, or whiter) than intended. ^_^
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Rysky wrote:
I'm okay with mane/hair.

Some how I'm find that not unexpected, Rysky.

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Dragon78 wrote:
Because the female versions are "more evolved":)

EVOLUTION DOESN'T"T WORK THAT WAY!

BigNorseWolf wrote:
Dragon78 wrote:
Because the female versions are "more evolved":)
EVOLUTION DOESN'T"T WORK THAT WAY!

Tell that to the viruses that seem to get me every year...

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BigNorseWolf wrote:
the female animals tend to be at least a half-notch closer to the "human" end of the Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism than the male animals. A few of them may even be very anthro compared to their male equivalents.

{clearly marks "Trap" in large letters} Reminder: Trapfinding does not detect links to TV Tropes, nor help in checks to escape it.

Still excited about the content, but this cover is...well, not intriguing to me at all. Too cartoonish for my liking.

Really excited to see what is in here for the catfolk and grippli, my two fave non-core races. Tengu are intriguing as well, IMO.

I'm looking forward to kitsune, nagaji, and tengu material the most, since I have character concepts in mind for all three.

I am looking forward to catfolk mostly but still interested in the rest. I just hope that every race will get some new racial feats and alternate racial traits.
Silver Crusade
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Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

The cover is so trippy that it's awesome.

I agree, it is trippy and more positive, maybe to compensate for the grim dark covers of many other products.
Thomas Seitz wrote:
BigNorseWolf wrote:
Dragon78 wrote:
Because the female versions are "more evolved":)
EVOLUTION DOESN'T"T WORK THAT WAY!
Tell that to the viruses that seem to get me every year...

When your viruses come with long hair and high heels because thats what humans are and humans are allegedly more evolved than anything else THEN come tell me that's what the viruses are doing.

And bring some of whatever cold medicine you're on. That sounds like good stuff..

Wolf,

No I think I'd notice if that happened. So far they just seem to require more meds.

Also Dragon, I think the grim dark isn't as bad as DC-Cinematic Universe.

I'm pretty curious about what the new kitsune shapechanging feat does. Maybe something that helps them hide the magical auras of their shapechanging to make them harder to detect? A not 3rd party 'dire fox' style combat form would be pretty cool too.

Edit: Now that I think about it, I'm not even sure how supernatural abilities like kitsune shapechanging even interact with detect magic spells. Technically, detect magic only detects spells and magical items, so I guess shapechanging can't be detected even though it is magical?

I believe SP shows up but SU does not.
BigNorseWolf wrote:
I believe SP shows up but SU does not.

And if that is the case, then the Realistic Likeness feat is far more useful than I thought it was. It is basically better than a Hat of Disguise if you have time to switch out your clothes, lol. I can't believe that I never thought of this before.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see what the new shapechange feat's focus will be: combat or infiltration.

I'm still crossing my fingers for a spirit or kami sorcerer bloodline! The Kitsune seriously need this for thematic purposes.
Matrix Dragon wrote:


And if that is the case, then the Realistic Likeness feat is far more useful than I thought it was. It is basically better than a Hat of Disguise if you have time to switch out your clothes

Sleeves of many garments, 200gp , lets you swap out your clothes as a standard action. (and you can adventure in your underwear, or less, and still look good)

Please recant on this cover art! I must say, whenever a GM says "I only allow core races in my campaign.", this cover is basically the image running through his head. This is not going to do a good job selling people on the coolness of these PC options.
Silver Crusade
3 people marked this as a favorite.
Shaun wrote:
Please recant on this cover art! I must say, whenever a GM says "I only allow core races in my campaign.", this cover is basically the image running through his head. This is not going to do a good job selling people on the coolness of these PC options.

Adventurers are allowed to be whimsical.

Shaun wrote:
Please recant on this cover art! I must say, whenever a GM says "I only allow core races in my campaign.", this cover is basically the image running through his head. This is not going to do a good job selling people on the coolness of these PC options.

I have to admit that this crossed my mind as well, but considering that the book is probably already being printed it is a bit too late.

Dark Archive

The cover is super-silly.

That being said, most recent covers were great.
Rysky wrote:
Shaun wrote:
Please recant on this cover art! I must say, whenever a GM says "I only allow core races in my campaign.", this cover is basically the image running through his head. This is not going to do a good job selling people on the coolness of these PC options.
Adventurers are allowed to be whimsical.

Whimsical is a good word for this. It doesn't fit in with the other book covers as well; to me, it looks more along the lines of "The Happy TV Fun Hour Source Book!" than a Pathfinder supplement.

That said, I'm still buying it. I want the material .. maybe I can make a book jacket for it.
Silver Crusade
4 people marked this as a favorite.

I like the cover. Not everything has to be grim.
Rysky wrote:
I like the cover. Not everything has to be grim.

It isn't a matter of being grim -- at least for me -- but rather being more in line with the expectations that you set with the other covers in the line. It is certainly possible to be not grim while at the same time not being quite as .. garish, I suppose? As a one off, it's fine. If all the covers start to move in the same way I'd question the direction of the art a little more strenuously.

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