Starfinder Alien Archive 2

4.50/5 (based on 12 ratings)
Starfinder Alien Archive 2
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Alien Invasion

Outer space is full of alien species both benign and malevolent. Starfinder Alien Archive 2 presents a host of new creatures designed for use with the Starfinder Roleplaying Game! From the laser-breathing tashtaris and starship-eating stellar protozoans to dust mantas and undead bone troopers, the creatures in this codex will challenge adventurers no matter where in the galaxy they may travel. What's more, player rules for a variety of species let players not just fight aliens, but be them! Inside this book, you'll find the following:

  • Over 100 bizarre life-forms both classic and new, from the voracious akatas and silicon-based quorlus to radioactive pluprex demons and void-dwelling vermin.
  • More than a dozen species with full player rules, letting you play everything from an uplifted bear to a sentient slug.
  • New alien technology to help give your character an edge, including armor, weapons, magic items, and spells.
  • New rules for magical polymorphing, environmental template grafts to modify creatures to fit any world on the fly, and more!

ISBN-13: 978-1-64078-075-0

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

Note: This product is part of the Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscription.

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Average product rating:

4.50/5 (based on 12 ratings)

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4/5

This AA has a lot of the fantasy stand-bys that got passed over in AA1. Orcs, Oni, Hobgoblins, etc.

Man that Hobgoblin art is bad. 4 stars.


Good Addition to the Game

4/5

With the Alien Archive 2, Paizo introduces another 65 species (plus variations) to the Starfinder universe. The book is very similar in nature to the first Alien Archive. Each species gets a two-page spread with some gorgeous, full-colour artwork, and many entries include little bonus gameplay elements such as new pieces of technology that PCs might get their hands on. Because Starfinder stat blocks are relatively short, there’s a lot of room for background and description of each of the species. Obviously, I can’t go through them all here, but there’s a lot more I found interesting and fun than there were ones I thought needed work. Things like bodysnatcher slimes, dreamers, glitch gremlins, plupex demons, and velstracs are all worthwhile additions to the game in different ways. GMs who liked the first Alien Archive will likely be happy with what they find in this one.

Players, of course, will be most interested in the sixteen new playable races. Ready? There’s aasimar, bolide, damai, embri, ghoran, hobgoblin, kanabo, orc, osharu, pahtra, phentomite, quorlu, tiefling, trox, uplifted bear, and vlaka. Some of these are familiar to fantasy fans (aasimars, hobgoblins, orcs, and tieflings), some are brand new concepts (embri, phentomites, etc.), and some are Starfinder versions of “animal people” (pahtras are cat people, uplifted bears are . . . bear people, vlaka are wolf people, etc.). The last category in particular will thrill a lot of fans, even though it’s not really my thing.

We shouldn’t overlook the appendices, as they help define the characteristics of the different species and give GMs some room to play. Most of the appendices here reprint and supplement the appendices from the first Alien Archive, but there’s one important new one. Appendix 3 presents eight pages of rules on polymorphing and introduces it as a spell option at each level for mystics and technomancers. The rules are very detailed, but I *really* like how the shape has to be predetermined (when the spell is selected by levelling up) so there’s not a ton of recalculation in the middle of a session.

My recommendation would be that if you’ve run or played Starfinder for a while and are getting pretty familiar with what it has to offer, buying Alien Archive 2 would be a good way to introduce some fresh characters and threats. Like the first one, it is pricy for the relatively-slim page count, and that should be a factor to consider.


Space Aliens

5/5

A great book with many more Aliens, that one can play, and rules for your spell casters.
Very useful.


Fantastic!

5/5

Better than Alien Archive in every aspect. Better illustrations, more content (also due to the fact that the monster creation rules were already presented in the previous book) and more polished. The addition of the polymorph spell and mechanics is amazing and super fun. You have bought AA1 because it's good but mostly because you need it... Then, I promise you'll buy this AA2 because you will WANT it!
5 stars!


5/5


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Alexander Augunas wrote:
2) Whomever ordered the art of Quid getting baleful polymorphed into a rat is the best kind of genius. Props!

Sorry, I'm getting what now?


Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Joe Pasini wrote:
Gaulin wrote:
Can anyone let us know how many new augmentations there are in the book, and maybe some favorites? Im sure there aren't a ton but augmentations are my fave
There are about half a dozen new augmentations. My fave is glass skin (from the glass serpent entry), which makes you shimmer like a rainbow and turn invisible sometimes! I imagine the several tashtari (laser wolf) augmentations will also be popular choices...

Ummm wut. Laser wolf? Arghhh I need this book

Contributor

3 people marked this as a favorite.
QuidEst wrote:
Alexander Augunas wrote:
2) Whomever ordered the art of Quid getting baleful polymorphed into a rat is the best kind of genius. Props!
Sorry, I'm getting what now?

You're getting a copy of Alien Archive 2 so you can check out this hilarious picture of Quig, the Iconic Mechanic!

*mutters* Pesky typos....*


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I'm taking a stab at several polymorph forms. Can any of you who have the book help to check my work?

Opsylum wrote:
They’ve also got entries and grafts for creating generic herd and predator animals.

And Vermin!

Robert G. McCreary wrote:
Nighthorror888 wrote:
I'm legitimately dumbfounded that the Ghorans actually made it in. Dumbfounded, but very happy.
They're the perfect crew members to have when you're adrift in space and run out of food!

(☉_☉)

I wonder how many ghoran and khizar crew members it would take to support a crew of non-plant members of a given size without life support.

In short, how many X and Y would it take to support Z?

Is this one of the ways Xenowarden ships live in eco-harmony? :D


Are there any new creature subtype grafts?

Contributor

Ravingdork wrote:
They're the perfect crew members to have when you're adrift in space and run out of food!

(☉_☉)

I wonder how many ghoran and khizar crew members it would take to support a crew of non-plant members of a given size without life support.

In short, how many X and Y would it take to support Z?

Is this one of the ways Xenowarden ships live in eco-harmony? :D

If someone in the Pact Worlds ever wrote a book about why the ghorans abandoned the Golarion system, these two tweets would be the only pieces of information on page 1, and every other page would be blank.

Wayfinders

I think he was asking in the context of oxygen/carbon dioxide balance. In which case I recall having read somewhere that it is a one to one ratio.

Dark Archive

2 people marked this as a favorite.
AmbassadoroftheDominion wrote:
Anything related to the Dominion of the Black or Aucturn?

The "Shipmind" from the Iron Gods Bestiary section get's an update.

There are also stats for the "Dominion Seeder" starship, the most common large Dominion starship (a large Tier 13 destroyer), which has a shipmind that can take 5 crew actions each round.


Raia of Jabask wrote:
I think he was asking in the context of oxygen/carbon dioxide balance. In which case I recall having read somewhere that it is a one to one ratio.

Yeah, they cancel each other out.


Joe Pasini wrote:
Farlanghn wrote:
Are we going to see Tieflings in this book? I would love to see some space tieflings added to the Starfinder universe.
That would be cool...

Joe! What happened to the Tieflings? Come on man! Can we get something official?


1 person marked this as a favorite.

A few questions, since the store I frequent won't be getting copies for another two or three weeks

Is there anything new with the Gray subtype?

Are any of the creatures part of the Azlanti Star Empire?

Are there any details on what the aberrations are? (my tentacled overlords are curious)

Did Space Linnorms or Giant Psionic Starship-eating Hamsters make it this time? (fingers crossed on this one)

Are the pictures for the Mi-Go enough to make me say "Adios! aaaah! Mi-Go!"? (sorry I should be PUNished for such a terribly written pun)


2 people marked this as a favorite.
Farlanghn wrote:
Joe Pasini wrote:
Farlanghn wrote:
Are we going to see Tieflings in this book? I would love to see some space tieflings added to the Starfinder universe.
That would be cool...
Joe! What happened to the Tieflings? Come on man! Can we get something official?

They're in, along with their goody two shoes neighbor.


Sooo we are as I type 15 and a half hours into wednesday.. how much more wednesday do we need for the release of the PDF?


Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Telemnar wrote:
Sooo we are as I type 15 and a half hours into wednesday.. how much more wednesday do we need for the release of the PDF?

The PDF usually becomes available at midnight Pacific time, or just over two hours from now.


Telemnar wrote:
Sooo we are as I type 15 and a half hours into wednesday.. how much more wednesday do we need for the release of the PDF?

You are a little early, my friend. It's still 9:57 PM in the time zone that Paizo Headquarters is in, and Midnight of Tuesday where I am in the Central Time Zone of the United States.


Thanks for the heads up... somtimes I forget how far behind (time wise) thr U.S. is

Sovereign Court

Yeah, for us in the east, we have to wait for the next day effectively.

Dark Archive

2 people marked this as a favorite.

-Is there anything new with the Gray subtype?
No.

-Are any of the creatures part of the Azlanti Star Empire?
No.

-Are there any details on what the aberrations are? (my tentacled overlords are curious)
Akata, Dreamer, Embri, Embri Speaker, Haeshi-Sha (haeshi form) & Haeshi-Sha (sha form).
The last is a priestly caste of the Dominion of the Black, which is CR 12 in it's large liquid form and CR 16 in it's incorporeal form.
Another Dominion race, the chyzaedus, is mentioned.

Creatures which could also be of interest to your overlords are:
Bodysnatcher Slime, Color out of Space, Living Apocalypse, Mi-Go, Moonflower & Moonflower Titan & Shantak.

-Did Space Linnorms or Giant Psionic Starship-eating Hamsters make it this time? (fingers crossed on this one)
Sadly, no.

Are the pictures for the Mi-Go enough to make me say "Adios! aaaah! Mi-Go!"? (sorry I should be PUNished for such a terribly written pun)
Don't know, but there is a picture of a Brain Cylinder next to it (with stats). ;-)


Ooh, love the feat for the I-can't-believe-it's-not-a-familiar! (It doesn't have any scaling, and you'll probably want to spend an armor slot holding it safely out of combat.)


5/5 star book in my opinion. Seriously, plane touched, cat and wolf people? Not to mention the many other great designs. Must buy.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Got my copy, really liking it :)

There are a few nitpicks though...
1) There is no Uplifted Template Graft. We have a bunch of entires to create animals, butnothing for uplifted versions.

2) Some of the aliens' names are tongue twisters. Would be it too much to ask to have a "common name", or a reference for easy naming?

But aside from that, it's pretty good :D


Marco Massoudi wrote:

-Is there anything new with the Gray subtype?

No.
Marco Massoudi wrote:

-Are any of the creatures part of the Azlanti Star Empire?

No.
Marco Massoudi wrote:

-Are there any details on what the aberrations are? (my tentacled overlords are curious)

Akata, Dreamer, Embri, Embri Speaker, Haeshi-Sha (haeshi form) & Haeshi-Sha (sha form).
The last is a priestly caste of the Dominion of the Black, which is CR 12 in it's large liquid form and CR 16 in it's incorporeal form.
Another Dominion race, the chyzaedus, is mentioned.

Those Haeshi-sha are something I've been waiting for since Iron Gods, And I've been waiting for Embri since Distant Worlds. I'm glad they made it.

Do Akatas come with Void Zombies in their entries?
Do Dreamers have updated Art, or is it the same art from Occult Bestiary?

Marco Massoudi wrote:

Creatures which could also be of interest to your overlords are:

Bodysnatcher Slime, Color out of Space, Living Apocalypse, Mi-Go, Moonflower & Moonflower Titan & Shantak.

My tentacled overlords are grateful for your generous offer of extra information, when my copy arrives, I shall read those entries first after my first perusal. I might have to have my character purchase a Living Apocalypse trapped inside a Bag of Holding :D

Marco Massoudi wrote:

-Did Space Linnorms or Giant Psionic Starship-eating Hamsters make it this time? (fingers crossed on this one)

Sadly, no.

I hope Space Hamsters don't turn into Starfinder's Beholder/Mind Flayer problem ;)

Marco Massoudi wrote:

Are the pictures for the Mi-Go enough to make me say "Adios! aaaah! Mi-Go!"? (sorry I should be PUNished for such a terribly written pun)

Don't know, but there is a picture of a Brain Cylinder next to it (with stats). ;-)

Brain Cylinders! I know what I want to do to my fellow party members in the next evil campaign :D


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I have to bring something up here regarding the Aasimar and Tiefling:

The fact they have grafts as well as a functional race is fantastic. That said, would most GMs let someone play (for instance) a Vesk Tiefling or a Skittermander Aasimar in a standard party, or would do you think they'd be (or even should be) relegated to just using the race which assumes a human background?

On a differing note: Glad to see velstracs being listed as velstrac. I guess it took an entire gap to convince mortal races to start using the right term?

Dark Archive

@AmbassadoroftheDominion

-Yes, Akata also have the Void Zombie included in their two page entry, along with the Void Death disease & Void Zombie template graft.

-Yes, the (Liavaran) Dreamer gets new artwork, even though it is similiar. The new one is better imo, as it has richer colors and is bigger.
There are also entries for the "dreamsnuff" drug & the synesthetic weapon fusion.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

@ JiCi - We don't really need an uplifted template. If it had one it'd probably just say 1. it has hands or other way to grasp tools 2. Smart enough to have a language 3. can speak a language and 4. upright posture optional.

I love that the Outer Dragons are available! Because that was the one thing I was trying to figure out with Alien Archive 1 was how to make appropriate graphs for them. I am surprised that none of the subtype graphs add to CR (especially Aeon), but that might require a GM call. Some stuff would boost the CR at lower levels but not at higher encounters.
Orcs as a min-max magnet for players is interesting and easy for a GM to control, since they are a slave race with little chance for upward mobility or getting off planet.
Oh, and "Barney" from the cover of Pact Worlds is in the book! The Nyssholora is essentially a Castrovallian T-rex with a sonic breath weapon. CR 4/CR 11 (Juvenile/Adult)


Hate to be annoying... but has the hardcover book been released yet? My FLGS doesn't and hasn't had it, and coolstuffinc.com and gamenerdz.com still list it as a preorder. I've been waiting on this for a while and wondered if something has gone wrong.

thanks.

david


It was released about a month ago.


Hmm. I wonder why none of my normal sources for hardcopies have gotten it yet?

I knew the pdf was released based on comments in this thread, but was wondering if something untoward happened to the hard cover.

thank you.


What's your guess for the next big rules book following this one?

I would like either:

1) Book filled with starships and deckplans, like those we get in the adventure paths.

2) Book focused on magic, expanding the options for the mystic (i would love some new connections) and the technomancer.

3) NPC Codex, or something more akin to the villain codex, but not exclusively focused on evil guys, but rather the many different factions/organizations of starfinder or of the science fantasy genre.


Do we have any incentive boons yet for Organized Play like we saw for AA1?

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

So woo :3 This is in roll20 now. Would still be nice if they got extra pictures from pawns though, roll20 doesn't really seem to add those

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