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Starfinder Alien Archive

4.10/5 (based on 24 ratings)
Starfinder Alien Archive
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Strange aliens both friendly and fearsome fill this tome of creatures designed for use with the Starfinder Roleplaying Game! From the gravity-manipulating frujais and planet-killing novaspawn to space goblins and security robots, the creatures in this codex will challenge adventurers no matter what strange worlds they're exploring. What's more, player rules for a host of creatures let players not just fight aliens, but be them!

Inside Starfinder Alien Archive, you'll find the following:

  • Over 80 bizarre life-forms both classic and new, from the reptilian ikeshtis and energy-bodied hallajins to robotic anacites and supernatural entities from beyond the realms of mortals.
  • Over 20 species with full player rules, letting you play everything from a winged dragonkin to a hyperevolved floating brain.
  • New alien technology to help give your character an edge, including weapons, armor, magic items, and more.
  • A robust NPC-creation system to let Game Masters build any aliens or creatures they can imagine.
  • New rules for magical monster summoning, quick templates to modify creatures on the fly, and more!

ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-975-2

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

Hero Lab Online
Fantasy Grounds Virtual Tabletop
Roll20 Virtual Tabletop
SoundSet on Syrinscape
Archives of Nethys

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One Small Step for Starfinder

4/5 —

Like the core book, this is a fairly well executed book even if it isn't perfect. Unfortunately, unlike the core book, this is absolutely required material to play Starfinder. I can't really take off points for the book coming two months after the release of the game (though I will point out Starfinder is the only system to my knowledge to do that), but it's still not good planning for potential players. That point is moot at this point though.

The book itself has a good amount of imaginative monsters, ranging from gelatinous cubes made of devouring nanobot swarms to starship-sized Devils (who can also turn into starships), and a shockingly large amount of monsters in the book are also statted as possible PC races, which is a nice surprise for any potential player who wants to be something really weird and out there, like a giant floating psychic brain. The book also has a number of quick building rules for monsters and encounters, which with a bit of practice should speed up on-the-fly adjustments for groups who need a bit more of a challenge.

Unfortunately, the book is also very, very short. It clocks in at just over 160 pages total, under half of a normal Pathfinder bestiary. And, unlike Pathfinder, Starfinder doesn't have an expansive previous system it's based on to use for encounters. I have to assume that the book is short mostly due to an unfamiliarity with the Starfinder rules on the part of the writers, but given the extra two months between the book's release date and the core rulebook's release, the book shouldn't have been anywhere near this small, especially as the only real source of encounters currently available for the game. The small size of the book may not be an issue to everyone, but it IS an issue to be aware of, especially if buying the hardcover copy.

Not Half bad

3/5 —

Overall, it's a good book, the entries are creative and interesting. I like that there is a lot of new equipment, and also like that some setting information is included in the descriptions. But a few things knock it down from 5 stars to 3 stars.

For my tastes:

1. Book is too short for the price. $40 for 160 pages? Compare to PF Bestiaries at nearly same price and almost double pagecount. I got a subscriber discount so it made it slightly cheaper, but if AA2 is same pagecount, i'll probably skip the hardcover and just get pdf.

2. Too many races, not enough monsters. The core rulebook already has 7 races, plus all old PF races, I would prefer more monsters, and then slowly add in races as the game evolves. (Perhaps a larger page count could have kept the same # of races and added more monsters too).

3. Artwork is of slightly lower quality than PF products. Just my personal tastes here. I know Skittermanders are the new hotness, but to me the artwork is ridiculous and can't take them seriously at all.

4. Lack of statblocks for dragons, elementals etc. Having to create these means a decent amount of work. I'm sure it will get easier as I build more and more but if they add in another 16 pages and then you could save the customers the work of having to generate these.

So, I give it 3/5.

Not wowed, plus A lot more prep work for GMs

3/5 —

I was hoping for more from this book.
Most of the monster content we have seen from the Pathfinder Bestiaries has been replaced with a smaller number of examples, and the monster creation appendix.
I was hoping for something like a listing of "Desert world creature animals and examples" or similar, something that could be used as a more 'plug and play' or 'reskinning' like could be done with Pathfinder (slapping a different name on a creature with the same numbers) and there simply are not enough examples to do that here.
The creation rules are great, but are not easy and not quick. A GM who is writing a home game shouldn't have to spend a ton of extra time building monsters, which from some testing it would seem you would need to. And I am wondering how this will look for organized play and modules - will everything be statted in the pre-made modules, or will GMs have to do the monster construction?
It's worth at least the .PDF copy, for the content, but GMS should beware of the prep time they will need to do.

Resistance Is Futile...

5/5 —

...All will be assimilated.

First of all, you won't find space orcs here.

But you will find a dragon, some goblins and of course, somewhere handy and tentacled to store your brain, and in the end, isn't that what's really important (I'm seriously asking).

Overall a great book with a lot of fun aliens that make great enemies or a really f%!!ed up crew for the Enterprise.
Playable races run the gamut of intelligent space jellyfish (Barathu), Contemplatives (floating brain people), Dragonkin (dragon people), Nuar (space Minotaur), Urog (silicon based mutable worm people), to space goblins, Skittermanders (Stitch) and reptoids.

While smaller then a typical Bestiary, they pack a ton of inspiration, adversaries, and imagination into those 160 pages, well worth the money, especially if you love Starfinder as much as I do.

As far as Paizo's customer service, I've been a subscriber for two years now (and a customer through my local FLGS before that) and I've had nothing but great experiences with them, even when didn't make it easy on them they handled all requests and questions with class and aplomb.

And yes, the spine is great. :-)

So, grab your lightsaber, check your tricoder batteries, make sure you have a towel and keep a wary eye on your crew (anyone could be a Cylon) because it's only gonna get better!

Book Contents Aside, This Product Represents Poor Customer Appreciation

1/5 —

If you really need to buy a physical copy of this book, get it on Amazon. It is cheaper and has more/better shipping options. Buy the PDF here if you want that.

I pre-ordered this book, and not only was it cheaper on Amazon, I would have acquired the book by now. Everything about the value of purchasing it here has been worse than what I would have gotten through the Paizo Amazon store. If at least one thing had been better, I would have gladly accepted the extra cost to support Paizo, but my loyalty has been met with indifference, and I can't recommend my decision to anyone else.

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Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

I see. Thanks, I was curious where you got this. Nice to see people talk about this stuff who aren't under NDA. :)
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Uh, yes, if someone who was under a NDA was talking about this that would be bad :3
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

I know :)
Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:
Also, underwater bat people.

Since you talked about them, Rysky, how much did the kalo appearance change from PF to SF? You can use the sarcesians as an example if you want.

1 person marked this as a favorite.
The Gold Sovereign wrote:
Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:
Also, underwater bat people.
Since you talked about them, Rysky, how much did the kalo appearance change from PF to SF? You can use the sarcesians as an example if you want.

Their head appears to be slightly less Cthulhu in appearance.

Slightly.
3 people marked this as a favorite.
Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:
Uh, yes, if someone who was under a NDA was talking about this that would be bad :3

Indeed.

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Isabelle Lee wrote:
Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:
Uh, yes, if someone who was under a NDA was talking about this that would be bad :3
Indeed.

*glomps Isabelle*

Are Skittermanders evil? If not, what's their general alignment?
4 people marked this as a favorite.
IonutRO wrote:
Are Skittermanders evil? If not, what's their general alignment?

Hyper.

2 people marked this as a favorite.

I'm really hoping paizo makes skittermander and space goblin plushes. They need to be a thing.
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Archmage Variel wrote:
I'm really hoping paizo makes skittermander and space goblin plushes. They need to be a thing.

Not before they make gremlin plushies!

Speaking of, where are our Space Gremlins? Huh?
Liberty's Edge
3 people marked this as a favorite.
Cthulhudrew wrote:
Archmage Variel wrote:
I'm really hoping paizo makes skittermander and space goblin plushes. They need to be a thing.

Not before they make gremlin plushies!

Speaking of, where are our Space Gremlins? Huh?

They were going to but accidents in the factory kept happening.

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Archmage Variel wrote:
I'm really hoping paizo makes skittermander and space goblin plushes. They need to be a thing.

They should come in many colors... And now I need one of each color. XD

Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:
IonutRO wrote:
Are Skittermanders evil? If not, what's their general alignment?
Hyper.

Hyper like this?

Paladinosaur wrote:
Cthulhudrew wrote:
Speaking of, where are our Space Gremlins? Huh?
They were going to but accidents in the factory kept happening.

And the gremlins who survived that still faced the even worse accidents on the launchpad.

Hunt, the PugWumpus wrote:
Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:
IonutRO wrote:
Are Skittermanders evil? If not, what's their general alignment?
Hyper.
Hyper like this?

Ye.

I find no Aliens or creatures in the core book. For once I wish they would include a few or a GM way of creating a few of there own. I get tired of waiting on Monster manuals.

If they did that it would take out other stuff people need from the Core book. I'm okay with there being a Playing book and a Monster book.
Colonel Volstov wrote:
I find no Aliens or creatures in the core book. For once I wish they would include a few or a GM way of creating a few of there own. I get tired of waiting on Monster manuals.

It is industry wide, every monster manual or bestiary came out after the Core Rulebook or DMG.

Monsters take a while to do as you need all the artwork in addition to the rules, which you can't make if the rules aren't done.

Credit to Paizo for at least putting out free bonus bestiaries and first contact so at least there's something to play with. :-)

There are also six pathfinder bestiaries just waiting to ravage the cosmos. :-)
3 people marked this as a favorite.

Oh, also, the Greys are playable and they still have their Probe ability :3
Silver Crusade
captain yesterday wrote:
There are also six pathfinder bestiaries just waiting to ravage the cosmos. :-)

Does the Core Rulebook have rules for adapting them to Starfinder?

Fromper wrote:
captain yesterday wrote:
There are also six pathfinder bestiaries just waiting to ravage the cosmos. :-)
Does the Core Rulebook have rules for adapting them to Starfinder?

Kinda but not really, it mentions tweaking the AC but the rest of the numbers might not sync up with how Starfinder handles monsters and CR.

I'm just saying they should have at least a dozen or so Aliens or Creatures to hold you over until the Alien Manual is released or a few pages of generalized stats for NPC's/Aliens with some type of templates to add on to make robots or creatures with until then. It wouldn't hurt them to help the customer out once in a while but paizo and others seem to think everyone likes to wait months for creature books.

I gave away all my Pathfinder stuff so I don't have that to use anythow, besides the way Starfinder works I really don't see how the KAC & EAC's will work with PF AC system.
4 people marked this as a favorite.

Um, they did just that with the (FREE) First Contact and volume 1 of Dead Suns, there's a bunch of monsters in there.

The brood?
Colonel Volstov wrote:
I'm just saying they should have at least a dozen or so Aliens or Creatures to hold you over until the Alien Manual is released or a few pages of generalized stats for NPC's/Aliens with some type of templates to add on to make robots or creatures with until then. It wouldn't hurt them to help the customer out once in a while but paizo and others seem to think everyone likes to wait months for creature books.

They made this available - it has just what you're looking for (a dozen aliens/creatures). It's a free download or $5 if you want it in print. I believe several of them will also appear in the Alien Archive.

Colonel Volstov wrote:
I gave away all my Pathfinder stuff so I don't have that to use anythow, besides the way Starfinder works I really don't see how the KAC & EAC's will work with PF AC system.

It won't help in your situation, of course, however with regard to the latter:

Page 501 of the Starfinder Core book suggests using a PF monsters AC as KAC (adding one if it functions in a combat role) and to set it's EAC as AC-1.
Sovereign Court

This Starfinder stuff looks pretty awesome. Do you guys think that some of the creatures in this book (that have just now appeared, so space goblins don't count) could be adapted to pathfinder?
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:
Fromper wrote:
captain yesterday wrote:
There are also six pathfinder bestiaries just waiting to ravage the cosmos. :-)
Does the Core Rulebook have rules for adapting them to Starfinder?
Kinda but not really, it mentions tweaking the AC but the rest of the numbers might not sync up with how Starfinder handles monsters and CR.

There is more than that.

In addition to the new aliens, I hope we see some conversions of common, iconic Pathfinder monster. I'm not really thrilled with straight conversions of something like a Succubus, which has issues with energy resistances and sky high DCs (compare to a Necrovite 6 CR higher) that make it way too tough. Basic outsiders and dragons would be nice.

I'd also like to see tech adapted/using outsiders. There's no reason the libraries of Hell and Heaven should use be using technomagical computers overseen by outsiders with abilities not entirely dissimilar to relevant technomancer spells.
Acquisitives
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I'm very excited about this, having almost killed my technomancer ysoki several times, and needing some aliens to fill out replacement characters.

NEED A TRIAXIAN. NEED IT.

amazon has it scheduled for nov.7, are we still talking oct or is amazon correct?
Pandoir00 wrote:
amazon has it scheduled for nov.7, are we still talking oct or is amazon correct?

Amazon is its own entity with completely separate often unrelated release dates. For some reason, this is particularly bad with Paizo products. It’s something on Amazon’s side. Unless they change the date on here, October 18th is still the release date.

Paizo estimates that they'll start shipping to subscribers October 2nd.

May I ask how much "legally creative" Paizo can be with aliens?

Ok, so in Pathfinder, they clearly inspired themselves for modern/sci-fi fictional works for some monsters, such as Mogaru (Godzilla) and the Hive (Aliens' xenomorphs). However, thoese were fantasy versions, and thus aren't "carbon copies" of the actual creatures.

For aliens, it feels a little... trickier... as it's an existing modern/sci-fi creature converted into a new modern/sci-fi setting. While I don't think that Paizo would publicly announce that Toho Entertainment and/or 20th Century Fox sued them for making similar monsters in a fantasy setting, it remains a possibility :S

So... for instance, how legally "in the clear" is Paizo for creating aliens that look and feel like Chozos (Metroid), Lombaxes (Ratchet & Clank) or Locusts (Gears of War)? or Kryptionians (Superman; DC), the Symbiotes (Venom/Carnage; Marvel) or the Utroms (Krang; TMNT)? or Vulcans (Star Trek), Ewoks (Star Wars) or Na'vis (Avatar)?
Silver Crusade
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I could answer, but that would be 100$/hour.
Gorbacz wrote:
I could answer, but that would be 100$/hour.

It would take you a whole hour to answer?

Silver Crusade
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Depends.
Gorbacz wrote:
Depends.

Uh no thanks I prefer huggies.

Ah ah... very funny for a bag of jokes...
Silver Crusade
3 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
JiCi wrote:
Ah ah... very funny for a bag of jokes...

That wasn't a joke. You asked a question that requires legal and factual research, takes a heap of time and is best handled by somebody who's a lawyer with experience in gaming, comics and movie industry, and those don't just grow on trees. And since we're talking about gray IP law zones where lawsuits fly like a swarm of stirges, it's best handled carefully. And best not answered publicly, else somebody takes such advice, runs with it, gets sued and comes back to sue me because I said they could and now they found out the brutal way that actually, they couldn't.

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
captain yesterday wrote:
Paizo estimates that they'll start shipping to subscribers October 2nd.

What a birthday present that will be :D

8 people marked this as a favorite.
Gorbacz wrote:
Depends.

If ever I doubted you were an attorney, that doubt has been laid to rest.

Gorbacz wrote:
JiCi wrote:
Ah ah... very funny for a bag of jokes...

That wasn't a joke. You asked a question that requires legal and factual research, takes a heap of time and is best handled by somebody who's a lawyer with experience in gaming, comics and movie industry, and those don't just grow on trees. And since we're talking about gray IP law zones where lawsuits fly like a swarm of stirges, it's best handled carefully. And best not answered publicly, else somebody takes such advice, runs with it, gets sued and comes back to sue me because I said they could and now they found out the brutal way that actually, they couldn't.

They might have been referring to the handy haversack of hilarity right beneath you.

Silver Crusade
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
bugleyman wrote:
Gorbacz wrote:
Depends.

If ever I doubted you were an attorney, that doubt has been laid to rest.

Phew. I can die in peace now.

Gorbacz wrote:
JiCi wrote:
Ah ah... very funny for a bag of jokes...
That wasn't a joke. You asked a question that requires legal and factual research, takes a heap of time and is best handled by somebody who's a lawyer with experience in gaming, comics and movie industry, and those don't just grow on trees. And since we're talking about gray IP law zones where lawsuits fly like a swarm of stirges, it's best handled carefully. And best not answered publicly, else somebody takes such advice, runs with it, gets sued and comes back to sue me because I said they could and now they found out the brutal way that actually, they couldn't.

No... I asked a question that requires 5 minutes from a designer/author for him or her to write an answer back.

1 person marked this as a favorite.
JiCi wrote:
Gorbacz wrote:
JiCi wrote:
Ah ah... very funny for a bag of jokes...
That wasn't a joke. You asked a question that requires legal and factual research, takes a heap of time and is best handled by somebody who's a lawyer with experience in gaming, comics and movie industry, and those don't just grow on trees. And since we're talking about gray IP law zones where lawsuits fly like a swarm of stirges, it's best handled carefully. And best not answered publicly, else somebody takes such advice, runs with it, gets sued and comes back to sue me because I said they could and now they found out the brutal way that actually, they couldn't.
No... I asked a question that requires 5 minutes from a designer/author for him or her to write an answer back.

No, regarding IPs and shoutouts to such it's kinda like Gorbacz described.

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:
JiCi wrote:
Gorbacz wrote:
JiCi wrote:
Ah ah... very funny for a bag of jokes...
That wasn't a joke. You asked a question that requires legal and factual research, takes a heap of time and is best handled by somebody who's a lawyer with experience in gaming, comics and movie industry, and those don't just grow on trees. And since we're talking about gray IP law zones where lawsuits fly like a swarm of stirges, it's best handled carefully. And best not answered publicly, else somebody takes such advice, runs with it, gets sued and comes back to sue me because I said they could and now they found out the brutal way that actually, they couldn't.
No... I asked a question that requires 5 minutes from a designer/author for him or her to write an answer back.
No, regarding IPs and shoutouts to such it's kinda like Gorbacz described.

Ditto. I don't know that many lawyers that work with the gaming industry, but I've talked to lawyers that worked with contracts. If I had prepaid legal insurance again, I could get a simple question answered quickly without having to pay $100 an hour. I don't think the question asked was simple.

RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32
3 people marked this as a favorite.
JiCi wrote:

May I ask how much "legally creative" Paizo can be with aliens?

Ok, so in Pathfinder, they clearly inspired themselves for modern/sci-fi fictional works for some monsters, such as Mogaru (Godzilla) and the Hive (Aliens' xenomorphs). However, thoese were fantasy versions, and thus aren't "carbon copies" of the actual creatures.

For aliens, it feels a little... trickier... as it's an existing modern/sci-fi creature converted into a new modern/sci-fi setting. While I don't think that Paizo would publicly announce that Toho Entertainment and/or 20th Century Fox sued them for making similar monsters in a fantasy setting, it remains a possibility :S

So... for instance, how legally "in the clear" is Paizo for creating aliens that look and feel like Chozos (Metroid), Lombaxes (Ratchet & Clank) or Locusts (Gears of War)? or Kryptionians (Superman; DC), the Symbiotes (Venom/Carnage; Marvel) or the Utroms (Krang; TMNT)? or Vulcans (Star Trek), Ewoks (Star Wars) or Na'vis (Avatar)?

You're talking about the area of (American) Copyright law usually called 'Fair Use', which is a broad concept, and like 'Obscenity', it's an 'I know it when I see it' situation.

It really is a grey area, with any solid definitions being provided mostly defined by precedent rather than statute. "What can I get away with' is counterbalanced by the IP holder wondering 'what can I successfully fight', and also the optics of who is being sued.

There is no fast and clear answer. Lawyers earn their money for a reason.

I hope the previews for this one come out earlier. This is like Starfinder's first bestiary, so a bit of expectation management would be welcomed.

I have a question. All creatures in the book were said to be described in two pages, and also get two pictures. So...

Are each of the two pages getting one of the two illustrations or are the two pictures on the same page, just like was done in the Core Rulebook for the core races?
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