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Pathfinder Player Companion: Monster Hunter's Handbook (PFRPG)

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Pathfinder Player Companion: Monster Hunter's Handbook (PFRPG)
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Slay the Beast!

With claws, scales, muscle, and more, monsters hold an unfair advantage in the life-and-death confrontations between adventurer and adversary. Turn the tables on them with Pathfinder Player Companion: Monster Hunter's Handbook, which is loaded with cutting-edge techniques for tracking beasts, slaying behemoths, and outwitting otherwise-overpowering creatures. Whether you have to skewer a basilisk or splatter an ooze, this volume contains everything you need!

Inside this book, you'll find:

  • Techniques and tools for finding and neutralizing a wide range of aberrations, magical beasts, monstrous humanoids, and more.
  • New archetypes and other character options that help identify monsters' weaknesses and use their strengths against them.
  • Feats, items, and spells that enable you to harvest trophies from your latest kill and reap power from these mementos.

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: 978-1-60125-933-2

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

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Loads of Great Tips & Options

5/5 —

Pretty much every PC is going to fight against "monsters" at some point in their career. The Monster Hunter's Handbook, in a two-page introduction explains how "monsters" is a pretty broad term, and that for the purposes of the book, it's being applied to "creatures of primal dread and devastation such as black puddings, froghemoths, purple worms, wyverns, or even the terrifying Tarrasque." More specifically, the book will mostly focus on creature type like aberrations, animals, fey, magical beasts, oozes, and outsiders (not constructs, humanoids, plants, or vermin). The introduction includes four brief backgrounds for monster hunter characters (Challenger, Scholar, Stalker, and Survivor) and an associated trait for each one. The traits are all useful and very well done--the one for the Scholar, for example, gives you an extra piece of information when you identify creatures of some types, while the one for the Stalker gives a PC a limited type of the scent special ability against a particular creature type.

The front cover is great--remohraz are nasty--and the image is reproduced as the inside back cover (sans text). The inside front cover has capsule descriptions of monster-hunting organizations in Golarion: the Duskwardens, Fort Longjaw, the Knights of Ozem, the Pathfinder Society, the Order of the Pike, and the Mendevian Crusaders. There are references to other books with more information on each of these, and it's a good way to help players better integrate their characters into the campaign setting.

The body of the book is a series of two-page-long sections on a variety of topics. The interior artwork is fantastic.

* "Hunting Monsters" contains general tips and suggestions for tracking and finding creatures of different types in Pathfinder, with good suggestions of spells, abilities, and archetypes from other books that make the task easier. I always appreciate little "cheat sheets" like this that gather information on a particular topic in one place, because there's just *so much* material for Pathfinder out there. The section also has four new feats designed for hunters, rangers, and slayers--they look ok.

* "Aberrations" contains some general tips for fighting them, and also suggests feats and special abilities for builds focussed on hunting them. It goes through common aberrations by name (like chokers and will-o'-wisps) and why they're dangerous. The section introduces two new archetypes: the Abolisher (for Inquisitors) and the Green Scourge (for Druids). They look okay. There are two new feats, one of which (Resisting Grappler) looks great--it gives you an attack of opportunity if you're the subject of a grapple attempt by a creature with the grab special ability (and so many monsters have that!).

* "Animals" also has general tips, and then introduces a a trio of "Bull-Catcher" style feats. I found them pretty unimpressive. There are a couple of other feats and rogue talents of all things. My favorite new feat in this section is Pacify Animal, which allows a character to use their wild empathy against a hostile animal (which is usually when it would be most useful).

*"Fey" talks about the creatures' special defences and trickiness before introducing two new archetypes: Defender of the True World (for Druids) and Luring Piper (for Bards). The Luring Piper is a "Pied Piper" concept and does look to be pretty effective against fey.

* "Magical Beasts" contains tips, but less useful ones since magical beasts are such a diverse collection of creatures with little in common. The section has a new Cavalier archetype called Disciple of the Pike and a new order called Order of the Hero. I really like the archetype as it gives a pikeman alternative to the traditional mounted Cavalier. The new order is solid as well.

*"Monstrous Humanoids" contains the usual tips and seven new feats. A couple of the feats involve disguising yourself as a monster, something we all made fun of a player for doing years ago. Mea culpa!

* "Oozes" has a hilarious picture of the Iconic Alchemist trying to stuff one in a jar. Speaking of Alchemists, there's a new Oozemaster archetype that sounds kind of fun (though it gives up a lot). There are also new Alchemist Discoveries, one of which (Splitting Mutagen) could be pretty powerful!

* "Outsiders" focuses on creatures apart from the usual devils and demons. There's a new Paladin archetype ("Banishing Warden") and a few new feats. One of the feats, Anatomical Savant, is potentially cool--it gives you a chance to land critical hits against creatures that are normally immune to them!

* "Other Monsters" has general tips for fighting things like constructs, dragons, plants, undead, and vermin. This is the only four-page-long section in the book, and contains several new feats that are really good. I particularly like Creature Focus which essentially gives you the Ranger's Favored Enemy feature.

* "Trophies" contains feats for collecting monster parts and using them to craft magic items. It actually turned out to be fairly interesting. The section also introduces a new archetype, Psychodermist (for Occultists) that builds on the trophy idea. It has a pretty good feel, and I could imagine trying it out sometime.

* "Monster-Hunting Gear" has a collection of very minor (but cheap) items, most of which provide small bonuses to skill checks in very specific situations. Still, there are a couple of interesting ones.

* "Magic Items" introduces several new ones. I like the detecting dart (hit someone with it and you can track them for 24 hours) and the nest revealer (locates creatures of a specific type within 10 miles).

* "Monster-Hunting Spells" is the last section. Lots of good ones here!

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the Monster Hunter's Handbook. There's a ton of clever, useful, and balanced new spells, class features, and magic items. The tips on fighting monsters of different types would be useful to a relatively new Pathfinder player, and here's a lot here that helps even experienced players build their PCs to specialise in fighting monsters of particular types.

Not Great

2/5 —

I had a really long post, but the internet ate it.
Anwyays, briefer this time:
This book has a bunch of generic monster hunting stuff which would be useful for most characters, which is alright.
It has trophy rules and an Occultist archetype that uses them. These rules are very general, and are closely related to the Wondrous Item crafting rules.
It has some feats for outdoorsy types (the almost tactician for hunters seems alright).
It has an inquisitor archetype (actually decent if you're in the right campaign) and a druid archetype (average) for fighting aberrations.
It has a druid archetype and a bard archetype for fighting fey, both could probably be decent in a mostly fey campaign.
It has an unarmed combat style based around intercepting and grabbing foes, a feat that allows for combat relevant wild empathy, and two useless rouge talents.
It has a weird archetype for alchemists that downgrades bombs slightly (dot instead of aoe splash, acid damage only), that instead of getting brew potion can harvest goop from a dead ooze to make a better bomb. While this is a cool idea, the CR limitation of the bottled ooze extract ameks this ability super unreliable for players. The name is obnoxiously misleading.
It has a bad paladin archetype for fighting outsiders, and three legitimately good feats vaguely related to fighting outsiders.
It has some Order of the Pike content for cavaliers, specifically
an archetype and an Order. The Order is alright, but the archetype is terrible. A small bonus to AC vs large creatures is not worth trading in your mount.
It has some feats for specific favored enemies that are actually decent, trying to incentive rangers to have a favored enemy other than humanoid (human).
It has some magical and non magical gear that is pretty useful, even if none of it is going to change how you play the game or replace the standard kit.
It has some spells that seem pretty useful at lower levels, and one single spell that should help any GM having trouble with psychic characters.

All in all, most of the archetypes aren't terrible, but they should have either been more specific with stronger/more interesting abilities(the druid archetypes could learn to turn into their enemies or negate some of their more common powers, for example) or more general.
The Disciple of the Pike archetype is garbage, and the paladin one is only a bit better.
The trophy rules are alright. The only way to give people(like me) who want rules for monster recycling ala Capcom's Mosnter Hunter would be do devote a full Companion to making the rules

Three stars, minus one because of how much I hate the order of the pike cavalier archetype and the oozemaster archetype. This book unfortunately doesn't have enough unique content in it for em to really justify recommend buying it, as if you really want to do a Monster Hunter style game were you kill and harvest all sorts of different beasties the trophy rules won't cover it, and if you want to fight a specific type of enemy there's better books for that.

too short

3/5 —

A lot of the other reviews make a lot of very good points. After reading through it, I do like the number of mechanical options presented, although I do find many of them a bit on the weak side, not particularly useful in many cases, or too specific.

The end result being that I'm probably not going to actually using much, if any the material, but it was not outright bad or terrible either. I think my biggest complaint is just how little the different classes, or even general builds actually get here, and that there is just far too much to that could be done, that this book does really even scratch the surface on the subject matter, especially in areas like for fighting Undead or Dragons, that while they have their own books, they likewise just where not enough.

Spells where pretty standard for what you would expect. Same with gear. Nothing really jumped out as particularly genius or cool, but likewise was not "meh" or insulting either.

I was disappointed how little there was for a "Fey Hunter", really of any build or concept. There is a Bard and a Druid archetype, but that's basically it. Outsider Hunters likewise just felt like it wasn't really touched on much, although the Paladin Archetype looks amazing.

The fluff and flavor was readable, but honestly I have very little interest in that aspect of the books, and it, like everything else was just far too little in what it brings to the setting/game considering the focus. However, as a Pathfinder Player's Guide product, it could have been a lot, lot worse. All in all, it's a nice little item for a quick afternoon read, but not one I would say is essential to play.

It's a book about fighting different types of monsters

5/5 —

This book is either gonna be a love it or hate it item, and for me I love it. It contains numerous options for going after different types of creatures as well as advice on how to handle said creature types. Are these options "niche"? For the most part they are but that isn't necessary a bad thing, and the family of feats that gives you a lot of incentive to take a Favored Enemy other than Human are nice.

Some highlights,

A feat that lets you track with Perception.

A feat that lets you use Knowledge skills against their corresponding creatures' stealth and disguise rolls and to track them.

I f!#~ing love the Cavalier archetype because it is badass and gets rid of the horsey. I like Cavaliers, but I hate mounted stuff, so this is perfect for me, I can finally play a badass knight that hunts monsters.

There's a feat chain that let's you be a skinwalker (not the race, this is more of the I wear your skin to gain your power kind of thing).

A magical necklace that alerts you to the presence of the type of creature it is made from and gives different bonuses and abilities against depending on which body part it is made from.

A cheap magical whetstone that lets you bypass a certain amount of natural armor and makes your weapon deal more damage.

Super Specific Monster Hunter's Handbook

1/5 —

I think the best way to describe this book is "too focused". Not focused in the good way, where there's a strong thematic link between options and everything has a strong idea of what it’s supposed to accomplish, but focused in the same way Weapon Focus or Skill Focus is focused. Far too much of this book only applies against very specific creature types or situations (some of which you can even choose). Almost all the spells are either extremely situational or require you to specify a specific type of creature for the spell to work against, about half of the magic items and mundane equipment only functions against specific creatures chosen at the time of creation, and half of the archetypes become ineffective when not in a campaign that lets them fight very specific enemies. Even some of the options that aren’t super focused aren’t particularly great, like the Disciple of the Pike Cavalier which trades out their mount but for some reason still focuses super hard on charging with a lance/spear, and the vast majority of the feats which are either straight-up bad or just boring and not worth spending a feat on. Even the feats that SHOULD have been cool, like Dimensional Step-Up, completely falls flat outside of very specific circumstances. Tons of them function only if the monster attacking has a specific ability or uses a very specific tactic. Ironically, probably the best feats are the Focused Expertise feats which grant bonuses in every circumstance and grants an IMPROVED bonus against the chosen favored enemy type. Which is really how most of the options in the book should have functioned: grant a bonus that improves under a specific circumstance, not grant a bonus that only exists under a specific circumstance.

And speaking of bonuses that only exist under a specific circumstance, let’s talk about the trophy rules. The basic gist is that, after killing a creature, you can take its parts and create items (that fit into magic item slots) that grant you bonuses to a number of stats, and the bonuses increase based on the CR of the killed creature. Sounds pretty great, right? I agree. Oh, also it’s two feats deep into a chain, the first feat of which is really useless unless you’re an Alchemist or can otherwise craft things at super speed before the parts you collect rot into worthlessness. And the trophies themselves only last for a number of days, with a scaling DC which means having something last for a week is high-end skill focus. And the trophies themselves only grant a bonus against creatures of the same type. And if you didn’t craft them yourself (such as killing the creature, giving the bits to the party Wizard to craft, and then putting them on) you gain a reduced bonus and the trophies rot after 24 hours. And, again, they take magic item slots, which means you’re going to have to fight to fit them plus your other gear. Thankfully Monstrous Crafter exists, which can combine trophies with existing magic items and even makes the trophies last forever, right? Wrong. Unlike before the trophy benefits now become 1/day for one minute instead of constant, and it’s 4-5 feats deep since you require Monstrous Crafter, Grisly Ornament, Harvest Parts, Craft Wondrous Item, and (if you’re a non-caster type which is the kind of character that would MOST BENEFIT from the trophies) you also need to take Master Craftsman. At that point it’s half of your feats (or 1/4 of your feats for a Fighter), which is a huge investment for a character to make.

There are a few alright options, but it’s the minority in the book. Probably the most worthwhile thing is the Psychodermist, an Occultist archetype that can actually effectively use the incredibly underwhelming new trophy rules, but an entire book isn’t worth one archetype. Avoid this book.

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Alchemaic wrote:
Luthorne wrote:
Secret Wizard wrote:
Any info on Bull-Catcher Style? And Dimensional Step Up?

Bull-Catcher Style lets you ready an action to grapple under certain circumstances that allows you to shut down a pounce, only allowing them to make one natural attack at the end of a charge.

Edit: Bull-Catcher Toss and Bull-Catcher Wrangle are hilarious, though.
How hilarious are we talking here? And how super-specific is the Style feat in its use? Like, is it actually "when an enemy with pounce charges you, you can do this"? Or can you use it to grapple any charging enemy?

Well...trying to not be too specific, but it's a readied action, so you can grapple anyone who triggers it, but you get the benefits when a creature moved at least a certain distance before entering one of your threatened squares, and you gain a bonus on your grapple check if they were charging.

Hilariousness involves free repositions, shoving your target around, and being able to redirect a charge attack to hit someone else nearby.

Is the Armor Piercer rogue talent any good?
Dark Midian wrote:
Is the Armor Piercer rogue talent any good?

I think that depends more on the expecation you have, and the adventure (and common enemies) you play.

It does pierce natural armor, once (well, not really once, but realistically just once), until the end of the rogues next turn (so for everyone), at a cost.

It could be worth it in the right campaign, and with the right allies.
Silver Crusade
Luthorne wrote:
Secret Wizard wrote:

Dimensional Step Up allows you to combine Dimensional Agility and Step Up once a day, letting you follow someone who teleports away, though not if they're going to another plane. You don't get to know where they're actually teleporting to, though...

Err, is there a range limit on that or could a Shadowdancer follow a target using Teleport?

Dean HS Jones wrote:
Luthorne wrote:

Dimensional Step Up allows you to combine Dimensional Agility and Step Up once a day, letting you follow someone who teleports away, though not if they're going to another plane. You don't get to know where they're actually teleporting to, though...

Err, is there a range limit on that or could a Shadowdancer follow a target using Teleport?

Hmm, do shadowdancers qualify for Dimensional Agility? Well, there is explicitly no range limit, regardless - barring not being able to follow to another plane.

Dean HS Jones wrote:
Luthorne wrote:
Secret Wizard wrote:

Dimensional Step Up allows you to combine Dimensional Agility and Step Up once a day, letting you follow someone who teleports away, though not if they're going to another plane. You don't get to know where they're actually teleporting to, though...

Err, is there a range limit on that or could a Shadowdancer follow a target using Teleport?

Explicitly no limit. The feat is limited to grapplers and use on difficult terrain, though, because it's negated by the five-foot step that the target is going to take in order to cast more safely. If you use Step Up to follow, then you don't have your immediate action to follow the teleport with.

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
QuidEst wrote:
Dean HS Jones wrote:
Luthorne wrote:
Secret Wizard wrote:

Dimensional Step Up allows you to combine Dimensional Agility and Step Up once a day, letting you follow someone who teleports away, though not if they're going to another plane. You don't get to know where they're actually teleporting to, though...

Err, is there a range limit on that or could a Shadowdancer follow a target using Teleport?
Explicitly no limit. The feat is limited to grapplers and use on difficult terrain, though, because it's negated by the five-foot step that the target is going to take in order to cast more safely. If you use Step Up to follow, then you don't have your immediate action to follow the teleport with.

Pin Down would be a really good option for that, but I'm pretty sure Fighters don't qualify for Dimensional Agility, even with Teleportation Mastery.

Silver Crusade
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Aww, March 29th? I thought it said 22nd. Now a whole extra week of waiting.

Alchemaic wrote:


Pin Down would be a really good option for that, but I'm pretty sure Fighters don't qualify for Dimensional Agility, even with Teleportation Mastery.

Child of Acavna and Amaznen might.

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Dean HS Jones wrote:

Aww, March 29th? I thought it said 22nd. Now a whole extra week of waiting.

Alchemaic wrote:


Pin Down would be a really good option for that, but I'm pretty sure Fighters don't qualify for Dimensional Agility, even with Teleportation Mastery.
Child of Acavna and Amaznen might.

They unfortunately don't. CoAaA uses the Bloodrager spell list which doesn't have DimDoor.

Any feats/etc. that build on Rangers' favored enemies?
Redblade8 wrote:
Any feats/etc. that build on Rangers' favored enemies?

Only a full page!

(Okay, that's a lie, it's actually slightly more than that.)

There is a feat for each of a bunch of favored monster enemy types granting extra bonuses and giving a little incentive to pick something other than humanoid (human). The feats scale with their particular favored enemy bonuses.

Oooh, that's zesty stuff. Thanks!
Dark Archive
Luthorne wrote:
Edit: Bull-Catcher Toss and Bull-Catcher Wrangle are hilarious, though.

Ooh, does one of them allow you to grab the charger and use it's momentum to throw yourself into the air and land somewhere nearby (taking no damage from the attack you negated)?

Cause that would be both fun and historically appropriate!

Just judging from the names, I'd figure you're throwing the other guy, rather than moving yourself, but I don't have the book yet, so whaddoiknow. :-)

Having just read through the book, here's my thoughts on the topic of monster harvesting, comparing what we got to what I think we expected, and how it could've been reasonably achieved.

Repost from pathfinder reddit.
Somfunambulist wrote:

Having just read through the book, here's my thoughts on the topic of monster harvesting, comparing what we got to what I think we expected, and how it could've been reasonably achieved.

Repost from pathfinder reddit.

I consider it a place to start. It is definitely something to revisit. Perhaps a Monster Hunter Handbook 2? Then we might be able to get a breakdown on benefits from parts of specific creatures...perhaps.

I would really like to see what sort of magic we can add to items (like bard's instruments) and weapons and armor via specific species, eventually.
Fourshadow wrote:
Somfunambulist wrote:

Having just read through the book, here's my thoughts on the topic of monster harvesting, comparing what we got to what I think we expected, and how it could've been reasonably achieved.

Repost from pathfinder reddit.

I consider it a place to start. It is definitely something to revisit. Perhaps a Monster Hunter Handbook 2? Then we might be able to get a breakdown on benefits from parts of specific creatures...perhaps.

I would really like to see what sort of magic we can add to items (like bard's instruments) and weapons and armor via specific species, eventually.

I completely agree, there's no harm in testing the waters before delving deeper. Its a slippery slope, you dont want to just make -every last thing- a magic item that your players can carry. It also needs to be an amount of work, or they'll just be ubiquitous. Every single owlbear is a free owlbear hide armor, or at least a cheap one. There's a lot to consider.

That said, I have dozens of pages of notes on the kind of monster harvesting I'd like to see; all the different possible varieties of uses you can get out of them. If there was any book I'd want to write for Paizo, its that.
Paizo Employee Rule and Lore Creative Director
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Somfunambulist wrote:

Having just read through the book, here's my thoughts on the topic of monster harvesting, comparing what we got to what I think we expected, and how it could've been reasonably achieved.

Repost from pathfinder reddit.

Hey, I responded to you on Reddit, but I figured I would do so here, as well. (Two different communities can offer different insights!)

I was one of the freelancers that worked on this book. I didn't write the monster trophy rules, but I hope I can provide some insight as to what the thinking may have been for this book.

I've actually wanted to do a super thorough set of rules for harvesting all the bits and pieces of a monster and then making armor and weapons out of them ala Monster Hunter. However, I'm sure it's pretty clear that making such rules would require a lot of work, or at least, a lot of word count.

Deciding what is or isn't harvestable from a creature becomes a daunting task. It's easy to say for real world creatures like a deer or a rabbit. You get this much meat, this much fur, this many bones, etc. When you start delving into fantasy creatures, it's less simple. How many bones does a chimera have? What useful organs does an aboleth have? How many scales does a dragon have? Sure, it's easy enough to start deciding those or even come up with a general system as you mentioned. For example, all large magical beasts have A, B, and C while all large aberrations have X, Y, and Z. Once the general outline is there, then we can focus on unique creatures like the tarrasque. That's all great and actually something I would like to do. There isn't enough space in a Player Companion for that, though.

You can either get a book that has lots of interesting crunch to help with all the different monsters of the world and is good for all the would-be monster hunters or you can get a book all about bone harvesting and making armor from scales. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the beast, a companion won't have enough space for both. So, it falls on Paizo to decide to either create a giant subsystem that not everyone will use or make a smaller workable system that works as a jumping off point while still providing content for everyone else. We know which one they chose this time and I don't fault them.

The freelancers worked with the space available. Crafting trophies into wondrous items shows that they tried to open it up as much as they could. I even created the necklace of beast's might to try to give some of that crafting from the bones of my quarry kind of feel. There just wasn't enough space to give that kind of system the kind of space and attention you and I feel like it truly deserves. Rather than cut it out completely, at least we have the current trophy rules.

Now, does that mean you will never get the full part gathering rules to scratch that itch? No, but you gotta make it known that you want something like that. Start a calamity on the boards or even in the Thirdy-party product boards. With enough people asking for them, a full suite of part gathering and crafting rules might get their own Companion or even a hardcover. Maybe, you can even design such rules yourself for your home campaign. If the rules are extensive and work great, a 3PP might be interested in publishing them.

For now, we gotta live with what we got. Just remember that if Paizo or another company decides to make those rules, it will take some time to get it published. I'll happily brainstorm with you if you want to get started on something!
Luis Loza wrote:
Somfunambulist wrote:

Having just read through the book, here's my thoughts on the topic of monster harvesting, comparing what we got to what I think we expected, and how it could've been reasonably achieved.

Repost from pathfinder reddit.

Hey, I responded to you on Reddit, but I figured I would do so here, as well. (Two different communities can offer different insights!)...

Thanks again for the response! I replied on reddit (kind of a long one) but I wanted to reiterate that I bear no ill-will toward Paizo or its contributors. I'm a graphic designer and I can say from experience that books like this must be a nightmare as far as space management, so I completely understand the limitations. I mostly saw the post as a chance to air out my thoughts on what can reasonably be expected, and to see if other people agreed with me.

Paizo Employee Rule and Lore Creative Director

I am totally in favor of a book detailing different monster parts, how to get them, and what to do with them. Sign me up!
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 32
Luis Loza wrote:
I am totally in favor of a book detailing different monster parts, how to get them, and what to do with them. Sign me up!

You may want to check out some of Rusted Iron Games pdfs. Most of the products have a few of what are called 'natural items'. Bits you can harvest from dead monsters.

Grumpus wrote:
Luis Loza wrote:
I am totally in favor of a book detailing different monster parts, how to get them, and what to do with them. Sign me up!
You may want to check out some of Rusted Iron Games pdfs. Most of the products have a few of what are called 'natural items'. Bits you can harvest from dead monsters.

If we're discussing third party material, Creature Components, Vol. 1 might be worth considering.

Grand Lodge

Any info on Abolisher (Inquisitor), Banishing Warden (Paladin), Defender of the True World (Druid), Disciple of the Pike (Cavalier), or Green Scourge (Druid)?

Is there anything special from this book I can make from the corpse of a Wendigo?
Limas Venomscale wrote:
Is there anything special from this book I can make from the corpse of a Wendigo?

No, nothing special. The rules for using monster parts are general, and not specific to individual monsters. Powerful monsters provide larger benefits, though, and there's room for obvious things like making metal items out iron golems.

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Luis Loza wrote:
I am totally in favor of a book detailing different monster parts, how to get them, and what to do with them. Sign me up!

How to serve mankind?

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Gorignak227 wrote:
Any info on Abolisher (Inquisitor), Banishing Warden (Paladin), Defender of the True World (Druid), Disciple of the Pike (Cavalier), or Green Scourge (Druid)?

Green Scourge is really nice. It has the obligatory change-the-same-three-minor-bonuses-that-Druids-get-for-flavor, but you spontaneously cast Shillelagh or Flame Blade instead of Summon Nature's Ally. Higher level slots can be used to increase enhancement bonuses or add a narrow list of abilities to the weapon. Especially nice for any game where summons take up too much time (play by post or some virtual tabletops).

Defender of the True World gets bonuses vs. the fey, but can't summon them. You also grant your summons bonuses vs. fey.

Banishing Warden keeps smite and divine grace! It leans towards crit-fishing and obviously focuses on hurting/banishing evil outsiders.
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BigNorseWolf wrote:
Luis Loza wrote:
I am totally in favor of a book detailing different monster parts, how to get them, and what to do with them. Sign me up!
How to serve mankind?

No, there's some dust on the cover...

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Set wrote:
Luthorne wrote:
Edit: Bull-Catcher Toss and Bull-Catcher Wrangle are hilarious, though.

Ooh, does one of them allow you to grab the charger and use it's momentum to throw yourself into the air and land somewhere nearby (taking no damage from the attack you negated)?

Cause that would be both fun and historically appropriate!

Nope, instead it lets you do an extremely limited version of the Flowing Monk's level 1 ability, except you can only do it against things that move towards you that you successfully grapple with a readied action. At the cost of 3 feats.

Bull Catcher could have been so, so much more.
Grand Lodge Contributor
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Got my PDF. :) Thanks for the comments on the green scourge, QuidEst and everyone else.

I know my next PFS character will be a green scourge stacked with skinshaper from Ultimate Intrigue for some enhanced abilities while staying in a humanoid form, and IUS or natural attacks as a backup weapon. The question is, though, will he be a Small flame blade wielding badass or a Medium shillelagh wielding ascetic. In other words, Yoda or Chirrut? :D

So, am I reading Anatomical Mastery correctly in that with that feat you have a slim chance of dealing a crit/sneak attack damage to say, an amorphous creature?
Paizo Employee Pathfinder Society Lead Developer
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crono3453 wrote:
So, am I reading Anatomical Mastery correctly in that with that feat you have a slim chance of dealing a crit/sneak attack damage to say, an amorphous creature?

You're reading that correctly. With this feat, you have a small chance of being able to critically hit an ooze.

John Compton wrote:
crono3453 wrote:
So, am I reading Anatomical Mastery correctly in that with that feat you have a slim chance of dealing a crit/sneak attack damage to say, an amorphous creature?
You're reading that correctly. With this feat, you have a small chance of being able to critically hit an ooze.

Oh the wonderful things we find in Player Companion products! Lots of good stuff in this one. Feats I would love to add to existing characters...if I could find the room. :(

Dark Archive
Gorignak227 wrote:
Any info on Abolisher (Inquisitor), Banishing Warden (Paladin), Defender of the True World (Druid), Disciple of the Pike (Cavalier), or Green Scourge (Druid)?

Replying a tad late, but I'm mostly just venting here.

Abolisher: Play a normal inquisitor instead, unless you're playing a campaign focusing exclusively on aberrations, Super niche bonuses, but doesn't really trade out any major features.
Defender of the True World: You trade out some niche druid abilities for some anti fey abilities. Again, if you aren't playing a campaign in the Feywild or whatever we're calling it now, play a normal druid.
Disciple of the Pike: You trade mount for an super small defensive bonuses against creatures bigger than you. Everything else is a sidegrade, (pike bonuses and on land charging bonuses instead of the normal mounted charge bonuses and banner) but the big trade is a terrible one. Don't play this archetype.
Green Scourge: The usual minor powers are traded for anti abberation abilites, but there's a pretty interesting spontanteous spellcasting switcheroo. If you're fighting abberations, you could do worse.
Silver Crusade

I'm amused how views on Disciple of the Pike are split between those who hate it because it gives up mount related stuff, and those who love it because it gives up mount related stuff.

I'm in the latter group. Don't care for mounted stuff, and the different types of environments you go through most mount stuff I've seen is situational.

I wouldn't call the bonuses against bigger creatures "small" either, and you get Weapon Training. Which after reading the last line makes me wonder if you can qualify for the Advanced Weapon Training Feat with it?
Silver Crusade Contributor
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Rysky wrote:
I wouldn't call the bonuses against bigger creatures "small" either, and you get Weapon Training. Which after reading the last line makes me wonder if you can qualify for the Advanced Weapon Training Feat with it?

If I recall, it's missing a way to meet the fighter level prerequisite.

That said, I like it a lot (for similar reasons). I think it would be very effective for a Rise of the Runelords character with the Monster Hunter campaign trait.
Silver Crusade
Kalindlara wrote:
Rysky wrote:
I wouldn't call the bonuses against bigger creatures "small" either, and you get Weapon Training. Which after reading the last line makes me wonder if you can qualify for the Advanced Weapon Training Feat with it?

If I recall, it's missing a way to meet the fighter level prerequisite.

That said, I like it a lot (for similar reasons). I think it would be very effective for a Rise of the Runelords character with the Monster Hunter campaign trait.

YUS!

And aww, okies, it said you treated you cavalier level as your fighter level fro the WT advancement so I wasn't for sure.

... you can also pick Spears OR Polearms though... nah, I think you just get the choice the first time and don't have a secondary group you can trade out.
Grand Lodge Contributor
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Craig Tierney wrote:
Abolisher: Play a normal inquisitor instead, unless you're playing a campaign focusing exclusively on aberrations, Super niche bonuses, but doesn't really trade out any major features.

I'm a bit surprised to hear you think the bonuses are super niche and useful only in a campaign focusing exclusively on aberrations. However, that's useful feedback, so thank you. Below are some notes on the archetype.

abolisher:
Sworn to purity is there mostly for thematic reasons, but I'd argue that revealing gaze and escape corruption's grasp more than make up for having a limitation on domains.

Revealing gaze gives a boost to the game's most valued skill, Perception, which means you and your allies, if they're adjacent to you get to act more often in the surprise round. Aberrations are not the only creatures that use Disguise or Stealth, so I don't consider it terribly niche. Sense Motive and Intimidate are certainly very useful skills as well, but not even nearly as ubiquitous as Perception.

Expose aberration admittedly functions only against aberrations. It really depends on the campaign you're playing whether auto-detect & retroactively applying bane vs aberrations is more useful than being able to detect any alignment. It's worth noting, however, that this ability doesn't make your bane ability any weaker against other types of creatures, you're still as deadly as a standard inquisitor when fighting other monsters. (Some previously published monster hunter archetypes, such as the vampire hunter and cold iron warden, have a weaker version of bane when fighting particular creature types, and I took great care to avoid that.)

Escape corruption's grasp functions as freedom of movement, which means it helps the inquisitor in three very dangerous situations for x rounds / day: You're immune to being grappled (which also means a monster cannot do the grab-constrict-release routine). You're also immune to paralysis, so you won't get coup-de-graced so often or just stand there doing nothing. Lastly, you can fight normally underwater. None of these "you're totally screwed" conditions/situations are exclusive to aberrations, so it really isn't a niche ability in my opinion. Discern lies is nice in a RP-heavy campaign, but freedom of movement saves lives.

In other words, I tried to avoid making the archetypes too niche, but of course, having some abilities that interact specifically (or better) with aberrations was pretty much a requirement in a section for aberration hunters. Still, I think the flavor text makes some of the abilities seem more niche than they really are.

Craig Tierney wrote:
Green Scourge: The usual minor powers are traded for anti abberation abilites, but there's a pretty interesting spontanteous spellcasting switcheroo. If you're fighting abberations, you could do worse.

I'm glad you find the switcheroo interesting. :-)

Here, too, I'd argue that despite the aberration-themed abilities, the spontaneous switching (and scentlessness) can be useful even in a campaign without any aberrations. Any druid who cannot use wild shape as often as she would like (for example, an intrigue-based urban campaign) may find the spontaneous melee weapons useful. Scentlessness may be useful when sneaking past guard animals, for example.
Silver Crusade
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Yeah, I forgot to put it in my other post but I REALLY like the Stern Gaze tradeoff the Abolisher gets :3

Picked this up from the store this weekend. Really enjoying reading through it. I love the Hunter/Slayer series of Players Companions. I hope to see them continue.

can someone tell me if disciple of the pike alters tactician stuff or banner stuff please?
Silver Crusade
Chess Pwn wrote:
can someone tell me if disciple of the pike alters tactician stuff or banner stuff please?

Banner gets replaced.

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Rysky wrote:
Chess Pwn wrote:
can someone tell me if disciple of the pike alters tactician stuff or banner stuff please?
Banner gets replaced.

Really? Again?

I mean we have already had three actors playing the Hulk and I don't see how...

Oh.

Never mind.

>.>

<.<

*quietly leaves the thread*

So is Protection from Natural Attacks capable of granting benefits of multiple castings?
As in 1st cast DR against Claw, 2nd cast DR against Bite, 3rd cast DR against wing for coverage against a variety of attacks like a dragon with claw, bite, and wing attacks?

Or would it overwrite the initial benefit?
Contributor

I'm making a psychodermist occultist for an upcoming module, and am uncertain about the interaction between its 1st level Trophies implement alteration and the Grisly Ornament feat. Would a psychodermist with the Grisly Ornaments feat who selects one of the ornaments as his "trophy implement" be able to make ornaments that last indefinitely?

a convoluted ball of rules and design yarn:
RAW to me seems to say yes, but with limitations. The psychodermist can make trophies into implements, and those "trophy implements" last forever as long as they are in the occultist's possession; after all, a grisly ornament is subtype of trophy. That being said, ornaments take up magic items slots while "trophy implements" do not - my assumption would be an "ornament implement" would have to take up a magic item slot. The interactions between the archetype feature and the feat seem messy enough that the 'ol general vs specific line doesn't quite work, though.

I usually go for what makes the most sense in-world, but I could see flavor considerations pointing either way. From a game balance standpoint, however, my gut initially says the "no": while the "ornament implement's" physical substance is preserved, its morale bonus granting quality would decay. If that morale bonus quality lasted indefinitely, a higher level occultist could end up with a decent number, even if they were limited by having to be his "ornament implements." But they also might take up magic item slots, which would limits their usability, and they also only provide bonuses against specific types of monster.

I'd probably rule "no" in my game, but are there any thoughts from the designer, or from more accomplished rulespersons?

I'm not seeing anything in Green scourge that suggests they can't still spontaneously cast Summon Natures Ally. The ability text itself doesn't say it removes the SNA ability and it's listed as altering spontaneous casting not replacing it so the original spontaneous stuff is still there, right?
Sovereign Court
Pathfinder Starfinder Society Subscriber

Instead of spontaneous summon monster, the Green Scourge spontaneously casts flame blade or shillelagh. When an archetype says it alters an ability, it alters the relevant parts of the ability. It would have been more clear to say "replaces," but there might be some feat prerequisite or similar ability that works with a druid's "spontaneous casting."
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Andrew Mullen wrote:

I'm making a psychodermist occultist for an upcoming module, and am uncertain about the interaction between its 1st level Trophies implement alteration and the Grisly Ornament feat. Would a psychodermist with the Grisly Ornaments feat who selects one of the ornaments as his "trophy implement" be able to make ornaments that last indefinitely?

** spoiler omitted **

I'd probably rule "no" in my game, but are there any thoughts from the designer, or from more accomplished rulespersons?

Hey Andrew, thanks for your great question! I designed the trophies section, so I'll provide my two cents and see if I can give some guidance.

Your first spoiler paragraph is accurate: trophy implements do not take up magic item slots, but ornament implements do. I didn't state it outright in the original text, but in this case I would treat an ornament made permanent by the class ability function like the Monstrous Craftsman feat: it uses an item slot on its own, functions indefinitely as an implement, and can be activated as an ornament once per day as detailed in the feat. That way the psychodermist isn't penalized by the RAW, but there is still incentive to take the Monstrous Craftsman feat to better consolidate items, implements, and ornaments into the PCs' limited slots. I think that workaround best encompasses the spirit of the rules.

Hope that helps!
Contributor
Christopher Wasko wrote:

Hey Andrew, thanks for your great question! I designed the trophies section, so I'll provide my two cents and see if I can give some guidance.

Your first spoiler paragraph is accurate: trophy implements do not take up magic item slots, but ornament implements do. I didn't state it outright in the original text, but in this case I would treat an ornament made permanent by the class ability function like the Monstrous Craftsman feat: it uses an item slot on its own, functions indefinitely as an implement, and can be activated as an ornament once per day as detailed in the feat. That way the psychodermist isn't penalized by the RAW, but there is still incentive to take the Monstrous Craftsman feat to better consolidate items, implements, and ornaments into the PCs' limited slots. I think that workaround best encompasses the spirit of the rules.

Hope that helps!

Gotcha, that's a much more elegant solution. Thanks for the response!

I have a copy of this book and I was wondering, can someone explain to me just what the 'Baneful Judgement' feat does?

According to the write-up, if you can identify the creature you're facing with your Knowledge skills, you can spend one round of Bane and use a Judgement against it for 1 round plus 1 extra for every 5 points you beat the DC by.

What makes this any different than just using the normal Judgement class feature, and combining it with Bane for extra effect? According to the above, it costs uses of Bane to activate the feat and then you don't get to use it with the judgement.

Something just sounds odd about that feat. It it supposed to be that if you activate a judgement that way, it doesn't count against the normal uses per day?
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