Pathfinder Bestiary

Does anyone know if the interior art in the 2ed bestiary is all new or if some of the interior art is recycled from 1e bestiaries? Thanks.

At this point, between adventure paths, campaign settings, player's companions and core rulebooks, I must have about 300 1e PF books. Don't feel compelled to move to a simplification of rules. But if the books have new art, I am probably in for more than just the adventure paths.

Does anyone know if the interior art in the 2ed bestiary is all new or if some of the interior art is recycled from 1e bestiaries? Thanks.

At this point, between adventure paths, campaign settings, player's companions and core rulebooks, I must have about 300 1e PF books. Don't feel compelled to move to a simplification of rules. But if the books have new art, I am probably in for more than just the adventure paths.

The Bestiary contains all new art.

New Kobolds are interesting. Certainly adorable and cute, no arguing that. They do look a bit more... brutish, though? And I'm worried that will lead them to being the maniacs that Goblins once occupied. It makes sense, given that Goblins are no longer the prime enemy combatant at low CRs, but I'm a big fan of the trap-setting, sorcery-led, dragon worshipping 'bolds in PF1e and I'm just hoping that sticks around.

Though I will say the new art would certainly fit my 6 Int Kobold Paladin.

New Kobolds are interesting. Certainly adorable and cute, no arguing that. They do look a bit more... brutish, though? And I'm worried that will lead them to being the maniacs that Goblins once occupied. It makes sense, given that Goblins are no longer the prime enemy combatant at low CRs, but I'm a big fan of the trap-setting, sorcery-led, dragon worshipping 'bolds in PF1e and I'm just hoping that sticks around.

Though I will say the new art would certainly fit my 6 Int Kobold Paladin.

I doubt they're changing the culture and background. They've established too much of it for so long to retcon it now. Art changes are easier to justify. Art doesn't always match up with the descriptions anyway, and is often inconsistent. And besides, we do still have goblins for low-level psychos, while some are becoming civilized, there are still plenty of evil gobos out there to fight. And kobolds have a different low-level niche as you pointed out with their traps and planning and generally being subterranean.

The kobold look is new, as folks have noticed, but they're the same kobolds society-wise in the setting. Some worship dragons and think of themselves as dragons. Some are deep into devils. Some just wanna build traps. Some break free and find their own fates.

The kobold look is new, as folks have noticed, but they're the same kobolds society-wise in the setting. Some worship dragons and think of themselves as dragons. Some are deep into devils. Some just wanna build traps. Some break free and find their own fates.

Some just don't want to be typecast and fit into somebody's little neat boxes of what a kobold ought to be.

*prepares his inevitable Kobold Champion of Ragathiel*

One problem the old bestiary had was that monster with large statistics tend to suffer in the "description" department. A lot of dragons are a bunch of numbers, a nice pic and a sentence of description. I hope that doesn't happen too often in PF2. Looking at an old d&d 2e bestiary, monster had a lot of descriptive text, and that was quite cool.

I think the Paizonians working on monsters are painfully aware of this. I think one of their demands for PF2 would have been, please, please let me get more space to describe how great and GM-useful this monster will be.

And yes, they know very well that Dragons are the greatest culprits

The statblocks in PF2, especially at higher levels, are much smaller than PF1 statblocks, so there's hopefully more space for art and lore.

The statblocks in PF2, especially at higher levels, are much smaller than PF1 statblocks, so there's hopefully more space for art and lore.

Yessssssssss, this is something I actually like about the new rules and formatting.

The kobold look is new, as folks have noticed, but they're the same kobolds society-wise in the setting. Some worship dragons and think of themselves as dragons. Some are deep into devils. Some just wanna build traps. Some break free and find their own fates.

Wooh! Thanks for making my day.

Reading this conversation made me curious, so I just checked something. The shortest bit of flavor text for a dragon in the Bestiary is 20 lines of text.

I don't want to sound conflictive, because that's totally not my intention, but I don't think you are correct.

Looking at the green dragon I find

"Green dragons dwell in the ancient forests of the world, prowling under towering canopies in search of prey. Of all the chromatic dragons, green dragons are perhaps the easiest to deal with diplomatically"

I don't want to sound conflictive, because that's totally not my intention, but I don't think you are correct.

Looking at the green dragon I find

"Green dragons dwell in the ancient forests of the world, prowling under towering canopies in search of prey. Of all the chromatic dragons, green dragons are perhaps the easiest to deal with diplomatically"

I think he's talking about the final Bestiary. The Playtest Bestiary was just a quick and dirty way to get stat blocks into our grubby little hands.

I know he's talking about the 2nd edition Bestiary that only we in-house at Paizo have seen.

Lore was not a primary goal of the playtest.

I think he's talking about the final Bestiary. The Playtest Bestiary was just a quick and dirty way to get stat blocks into our grubby little hands.

Oh, well, 20 lines of flavor text sounds quite great.

Curious if theres catfolk and if they have settled on a look for them. (Sine they where one of the ones that were all over the place lookiwise in 1e)

Curious if theres catfolk and if they have settled on a look for them. (Sine they where one of the ones that were all over the place lookiwise in 1e)

I hope they’re still going with Carolina Eade’s style.

I hope they continue to go with several different styles so that we won't have to endure a furrrious battle of people who are a wee lil' bit too much invested emotionally in how their cat-people are supposed to look like.

Reading this conversation made me curious, so I just checked something. The shortest bit of flavor text for a dragon in the Bestiary is 20 lines of text.

Precious 20 lines of precious flavor... Great job! I knew things were in the right hands. I'm expecting nothing but greatness from this book.

Didn't they already settle on "catfolk look anything from catgirls to thundercats to khajit" thing in inner sea races? :P

Any word on if the PDF copies will be out on August 1st, and will the price point be similar to Starfinder? ($10 for the core books in PDF form).

PDFs are expected to drop on the day of release.

We have not yet announced PDF pricing, but will do so long before release.

Thanks, Erik. I know you're juggling lots of balls at the moment, but the subscription details (i.e. do the PDFs still come as a free perk, how does PF Advantage work, etcetera) would be good to hear too. Because I'm sure what your to-do list needs at the moment is more requests... :)

Didn't they already settle on "catfolk look anything from catgirls to thundercats to khajit" thing in inner sea races? :P

That was us giving up and making a decision to not make a decision. ;-)

An edition change is a chance to start fresh with things like this, and catfolk will have a much more standardized look that won't be as all over the place. We'll reveal that look in time, of course.

Well, I was certainly in the group that preferred khajit over "catgirls with more fur" design :p

Can't wait for Bestiary 2! (Bestiary 1 isn't really my thing with mostly D&D monsters, playable races and normal animals, so get this over with and I see ya'll in 3 years lol)

Can't wait for Bestiary 2! (Bestiary 1 isn't really my thing with mostly D&D monsters, so get this over with and I see ya'll in 3 years lol)

Not sure how you're coming to this conclusion when you haven't seen the first bestiary yet... unless you're in a tree outside our conference room looking through a window at the pages that are being proofed! :-P

Well, mostly Bestiary 1 gets the most popular monsters, Manticore, Medusa, Minotaur, Chimera, Hydra, Kobolds, playable races, horses, dogs and other such monsters out of the way, the most common of d&d demons and devils, remorhaz, rust monster, maybe wendigo if I'm lucky and there are still Native American monsters allowed in there. Also elemental giants, golems and such. And of course the D&D dragons, which I'm really a bit tired off, rather see the dragons from Bestiary 2 in the first 2nd edition bestiary 1...

I'm waiting on book 2 mostly because the more obscure mythology monsters (and obscure pathfinder monsters) will appear around there, Ahuizotl, Aklhlut, Almiraj, Alraune, Papinijuwari and much more like those, they will never make it in the first book with so much D&D competition.

I hope I'm wrong, but I can feel it in my blood, most people love such famous monsters most, so they all be in.

The mention of summoning creatures makes me very curious to see if we will get the "base stats + template" style of Starfinder, which has gone over very well at my tables.

Are the classic monsters like orcs and vampires presented any differently than the the were in the earlier bestiaries or are the pretty much the same?

How much of these 400 monsters are actually just normal animals?

5 if you count the T-Rex and Owlbear.

Shisumo wrote:

The mention of summoning creatures makes me very curious to see if we will get the "base stats + template" style of Starfinder, which has gone over very well at my tables.

Are the classic monsters like orcs and vampires presented any differently than the the were in the earlier bestiaries or are the pretty much the same?

Concept wise they should probably be the same, just like the kobolds (and orcs have been said to indeed get a new look). Rules wise they will change, of course, as it's a new game.

There're lots of vampires in PF1E and I hope to see them early in 2E, as I use them a lot in my own setting.

You should get the playtest bestiary to see how the rules have changed, but those can't be taken as the same rules we are getting in the final product.

It's a little over 16 weeks until release.
I hope we'll get one sample page/creature entry preview in the near future.
Even though i already ordered this & all other Second Edition products out in august.

Hey, I’m back! Did someone miss me? No?...
Ok then T_T
My comment about the bestiary: one of the things Pathfinder has/had unique to it was the fluff: darker and edgier than D&D. This was especially prominent in monster descriptions. I really hope they don’t hold down punches in this new bestiary, I love the darker depictions of evil monsters and such. Gives an aura of fear and caution.

I just really hope they will give their own twist to the D&D monsters, and use less of those. Also the Barghest, Salamander, Chimera and all those other Mythology monsters, should be Pathfinder versions, not D&D versions.

Now that the book is off to the press, I wish to see the following monsters which are yet to be confirmed as of now;

- All major outsiders of the 9 alignments at,
-- the lowest level possible (the PF1 Improved Familiar candidates at CR 2)
-- the highest level possible for non-uniques (the PF1 CR 20 ones)
- Imperial Dragons (to balance out "European" ones in body form)
- Pegasi
- Phoenixes
- Unicorns (balances with pegasi)
- Level 21+ setting neutral monsters (currently only the Treerazer is confirmed)

From the Paizocon reveal:

Bestiary is next: JB has the bestiary in hand. 400 monsters, 300 pages. Released 8/1/2019.

Angels, Deva, Vrock, Zombie, Flesh Worms, etc.

Talks about templates for monsters: like unkillable and whatnot.

Lich, Dragons, etc.

Thanks to Painlord!

I think they said it would be 360 pages.

Me<---can't help but keep smiling. That's all I will say...

From the Paizocon reveal:

Bestiary is next: JB has the bestiary in hand. 400 monsters, 300 pages. Released 8/1/2019.

Angels, Deva, Vrock, Zombie, Flesh Worms, etc.

Talks about templates for monsters: like unkillable and whatnot.

Lich, Dragons, etc.

Thanks to Painlord!

So the same old D&D cast, hopefully, they reveal some less known Paizo-ONly monsters soon.

So the same old D&D cast, hopefully, they reveal some less known Paizo-ONly monsters soon.

Treerazor is in there.

As is the Nilith, which seems new!

Awahoon wrote:

So the same old D&D cast, hopefully, they reveal some less known Paizo-ONly monsters soon.

Treerazor is in there.

Hmmm, unique monsters in the first book? Not a fan, they take up space and should be in their own book, just like templates, good-guys and animals.

Seeing there are 400 creatures in a 300 page book, I guess we see A LOT of normal animals in this one, well, let's get them over with so they are gone for the Bestiary 2. There probably will be a lot of unique monsters, a lot of lovecraft stuff, a lot of D&D monsters, a lot of Bestiary 1 and 2 (first edition) monsters, many Rainbow dragons, many elemental golems, drakes and giants, too many demons (+lords) and devils (+lords), some Kaiju and many robots. Which are all reasons I'm doubting of skipping the first Bestiary, and wait for the probably better part 2.

I'm talking about Daemons, Div, Alraune, Akhlut, Buggane, Coloxus, Pard, Kamaitachi, Papinijuwari, Nue, Nuckelavee, Deathtrap Ooze, Lovelorn, Leanan Sidhe, Abaia, Alp, Karkadann, Isonade, Almiraj, Hungry Fog, Bestiary 2 Dragons, Leafray, Lampad, Jorogumo.

I hope to see more of those type of monsters. But I'm sure I'll see them again around book 3/4... The cool stuff is always kept for last. However, in the first episode of Pathfinder, books 3, 4, and 5 were the best in my opinion, 6 was rather bad and random, mostly because the unique powerhouses I don't really care for, it had some fun ones like Ghole, Kamaitachi and lovelorn, but the bad ones outshined the good ones.

j b 200 wrote:

Awahoon wrote:

So the same old D&D cast, hopefully, they reveal some less known Paizo-ONly monsters soon.

Treerazor is in there.

Hmmm, unique monsters in the first book? Not a fan, they take up space and should be in their own book, just like templates, good-guys and animals.

Seeing there are 400 creatures in a 300 page book, I guess we see A LOT of normal animals in this one, well, let's get them over with so they are gone for the Bestiary 2. There probably will be a lot of unique monsters, a lot of lovecraft stuff, a lot of D&D monsters, a lot of Bestiary 1 and 2 (first edition) monsters, many Rainbow dragons, many elemental golems, drakes and giants, too many demons and devils, and many robots.

I'm talking about Daemons, Div, Alraune, Akhlut, Buggane, Coloxus, Pard, Kamaitachi, Papinijuwari, Nue, Nuckelavee, Deathtrap Ooze, Lovelorn, Leanan Sidhe, Abaia, Alp, Almiraj, Leafray, Lampad, Jorogumo.

I hope to see more of those type of monsters. But I'm sure I'll see them again around book 3/4... The cool stuff is always kept for last. However, in the first episode of Pathfinder, books 3, 4, and 5 were the best in my opinion, 6 was rather bad and random, mostly because the unique powerhouses I don't really care for.

I'm sure you're not alone, but I myself am happy to see unique creatures getting a place in the very first Bestiary.

I surely would love if we got a book covering demon lords and archdevils and empyreal lords separately from the bestiaries, but I'm unsure if it would ever happen.

The classic monsters and the most popular ones from First Edition would surely make their appearance in B1, but I was really surprised to see Treerazer among them. I hope this foreshadows the inclusion of even more unique monsters on earlier bestiaries.

...Seeing there are 400 creatures in a 300 page book, <snip>

The Bestiary is 360 pages, according to the information released at the banquet.

Awahoon wrote:

...Seeing there are 400 creatures in a 300 page book, <snip>

The Bestiary is 360 pages, according to the information released at the banquet.

Well, a 360 page book covering 400 monsters, with legenda's, information pages and other such things not counting, I'm sure this book will have a lot of 2 page animal things... Only the animals share a page, no other creatures share pages. And knowing the Dragons, Elementals, Unique creatures all take up 2 pages each, that means even more 2 page vermin/animals.

I'm happy about the vermin (hopefully they make an interesting choice though, I mean, nobody cares about a tiny scorpion with a red stinger... Just put two very different very awesome scorpions in there.)

Seventh Seal wrote:

Awahoon wrote:

...Seeing there are 400 creatures in a 300 page book, <snip>

The Bestiary is 360 pages, according to the information released at the banquet.

Well, a 360 page book covering 400 monsters, with legenda's, information pages and other such things not counting, I'm sure this book will have a lot of 2 page animal things... Only the animals share a page, no other creatures share pages. And knowing the Dragons, Elementals, Unique creatures all take up 2 pages each, that means even more 2 page vermin/animals.

I'm happy about the vermin (hopefully they make an interesting choice though, I mean, nobody cares about a tiny scorpion with a red stinger... Just put two very different very awesome scorpions in there.)

Not at all. We could see that some creatures are taking more than two pages to cover and other are covered in half a page. The zombies, for example, were all four covered in two pages.

I hope we see some creatures connected to the Elder Mythos in there!

I'd think that's pretty much guaranteed, considering Paizo's creative director.