Small request, when it comes to doing art for fey please don't have them all look like small or tiny versions of humans/elves/dwarves please be more creative, fey are monsters after all not player races.
Small request, when it comes to doing art for fey please don't have them all look like small or tiny versions of humans/elves/dwarves please be more creative, fey are monsters after all not player races.
Dunno... I absolutely loathe the shadar-kai and a lot of the other "creative" fey. Not that there's not a lot of latitude for creativity, as long as they still look fey in the end, rather than just emo/goth/silly.
I personally prefer a lot more Brian Froud, and a lot less Kiss!
Creative Director
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Small request, when it comes to doing art for fey please don't have them all look like small or tiny versions of humans/elves/dwarves please be more creative, fey are monsters after all not player races.
Actually... humanoid forms is one of the things that DOES sort of make fey what they are. They're "first drafts" of humanity in a lot of ways, more closely tied to the First World. If creatures from the first world start looking decidedly unmonstrous, they're actually magical beasts or aberrations or plants or dragons or whatever.
The jabberwock will be in Bestiary II, but it's a jabberwock, not a linnorm.
The jabberwock is whatever it wants to be, even a Snickers candy bar snack, if I remember my archaic literature correctly. So, I'm sure it could be a Linnorm, too.
Small request, when it comes to doing art for fey please don't have them all look like small or tiny versions of humans/elves/dwarves please be more creative, fey are monsters after all not player races.Actually... humanoid forms is one of the things that DOES sort of make fey what they are. They're "first drafts" of humanity in a lot of ways, more closely tied to the First World. If creatures from the first world start looking decidedly unmonstrous, they're actually magical beasts or aberrations or plants or dragons or whatever.
Fair enough, just so long as fey tend to have some physical features that set them apart. It just seems like a lot of the time fey just end up being depicted as one of the core races in miniature. Providing some variation in appearance goes a long way. For example the nixie in the Bonus Bestiary, sure she looks like a small elf until you notice her hands and feet, that was very well done, at least in my opinion.
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I just thought of a creature that would be neat to see in Bestiary II or III
Grendel from the epic of Beowulf
I know he could technically just be a troll, but I always felt he was a unique and powerful troll that was born of an old king and a daemon.
Advanced Giant Half-Fiend Troll? Add in some Barbarian levels, if you feel like it.
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ROTFLMAO @ smurfs
What I really want out of the Bestiary II:
1. A few more iconic D&D monsters, although when I research my most wanted list, most of them seem to be WotC owned. :(
2. More Lovecraftian goodness. You can never have too much Mythos.
3. But finally, and most importantly...NEW creations that Pathfinder can claim as its own...things that will hopefully become as iconic to Pathfinder as mind flayers and beholders have become to D&D.
More standard animal stats. Would also really help on the caster familiar front with the new Witch familiars.
Haven't you ever REALLY wanted to use a Giraffe or something of the sort and not had a bloody clue about it's stats?
More undead things would be nice too. Can never have enough undead things.
More standard animal stats. Would also really help on the caster familiar front with the new Witch familiars.
Haven't you ever REALLY wanted to use a Giraffe or something of the sort and not had a bloody clue about it's stats?
More undead things would be nice too. Can never have enough undead things.
In case it appeals to you, we've been fully statting out all variant forms of monsters mentioned in the bestiary as well as making pre-formatted stat blocks for familiars and summonable creatures on d20pfsrd.com. Check 'em out :)
In case it appeals to you, we've been fully statting out all variant forms of monsters mentioned in the bestiary as well as making pre-formatted stat blocks for familiars and summonable creatures on d20pfsrd.com. Check 'em out :)More standard animal stats. Would also really help on the caster familiar front with the new Witch familiars.
Haven't you ever REALLY wanted to use a Giraffe or something of the sort and not had a bloody clue about it's stats?
More undead things would be nice too. Can never have enough undead things.
Oh yes, we have this site on hand while we play. :D But more animals is always handy. Love the site by the way!
But more animals is always handy.
I agree! I'd like some research, too. For example, the RL jaguar's bite strength is far stronger than the leopard's, and the hyena's is one of the strongest in the animal kingdom, but none of the stats reflect this. Simply assigning the hyena something like Improved Natural Attack (bite) would be a sign that the folks at Paizo really do their homework, and don't just slap some stats down at random.
But more animals is always handy.I agree! I'd like some research, too. For example, the RL jaguar's bite strength is far stronger than the leopard's, and the hyena's is one of the strongest in the animal kingdom, but none of the stats reflect this. Simply assigning the hyena something like Improved Natural Attack (bite) would be a sign that the folks at Paizo really do their homework, and don't just slap some stats down at random.
Agreed. I'm arguing survivability of a bat familiar due to choosing a specific breed and eating habits. XD Aren't we detail-obsessive?
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Creative Director
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But more animals is always handy.I agree! I'd like some research, too. For example, the RL jaguar's bite strength is far stronger than the leopard's, and the hyena's is one of the strongest in the animal kingdom, but none of the stats reflect this. Simply assigning the hyena something like Improved Natural Attack (bite) would be a sign that the folks at Paizo really do their homework, and don't just slap some stats down at random.
We generally try to avoid giving the Improved Natural Attack feat to generic monsters. Instead, we just raise their base damage values higher, which leaves the Improved Natural Attack feat handy for unusual specimens of that specific type of creature.
In any case, we DO try to give animals more interesting stats and special attacks, but for pre-existing animals (like the leopard or hyena) we generally decided to maintain compatibility with previous editions of the game. This also helps to establish animal baselines, of course... leaving us free to give those extra types of attacks and abilities to other species of animals. This way if we DO decide to, say, do up stats for a jaguar, we can and it'll be different than the leopard stats.
We DID give the crocodile a death roll attack, though, for example. Or a stampede attack to the herd animals. We'll be doing the same for more types of vermin as we move forward as well (such as the giant mantis's lunge and sudden strike abilities).
AKA: I think that we do indeed do our homework and don't just slap down stats at random. ;-)
AKA: I think that we do indeed do our homework and don't just slap down stats at random. ;-)
Thanks! Consider me to be convinced. And accept my apology: my initial post was poorly-phrased.
P.S. I'm impressed with your logic re: INA as well. Consider me a "sold" customer for future bestiaries.
In case it appeals to you, we've been fully statting out all variant forms of monsters mentioned in the bestiary as well as making pre-formatted stat blocks for familiars and summonable creatures on d20pfsrd.com. Check 'em out :)Oh yes, we have this site on hand while we play. :D But more animals is always handy. Love the site by the way!
Thanks! Nice to hear it! (and I agree, the more animals the better...)
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2. More Lovecraftian goodness. You can never have too much Mythos.Gah...no more Lovecraft...
*runs away before James hits him*
Truly, there is something about adding more lovecraftian monsters that really causes them to become something less. They bloat on themselves and loose all the mystery, mystique, and alieness that they once had. If they do more, Paizo should do so sparingly IMO. That little bit of mystery is what keeps some of us wanting more.
Templates would be more useful to me at this point than more monsters. Especially if the templates were cultural or politically based - something a homebrew can use to differentiate one group of many races who stand together against another.
Templates would be more useful to me at this point than more monsters. Especially if the templates were cultural or politically based - something a homebrew can use to differentiate one group of many races who stand together against another.
I have to agree with Talonne Hauk here. I pulled a post from another thread I had commented on because it seemed morre appropriate to put it here (as this is what it applies to). If I breaking some unsaid rule of ettique, then somebody say so. *shrugs*
One of my biggest pet peeves about the 3.5 Monster Manual is the way they handled animals. First of all, they lumped them all in a boring appendix with no art; we fixed that in the Bestiary by alphabetizing the animals along with everything else and giving them art.
But another gripe I had was the fact that they spent so much room on what's essentially reprinted stats. I'm talking about the horse, here, and all its incarnations. Light horse, heavy horse, light warhorse, heavy warhorse, pony, donkey, mule, camel, warpony... that's a LOT of space taken up by what is essentially just two creatures: a Medium horse and a Large horse.
Our solution was to do just that; provide stats for a Horse (the Large version) and a Pony (the Medium version), so that Small and Medium creatures would have these classic animals around for mounts or pack animals.
We probably should have been more obvious about this in the write ups for the horse and pony in the Bestiary, I guess.
Light horse = horse
Heavy horse = advanced horse
Light warhorse = horse with combat training
Heavy warhorse = advanced horse with combat training
Pony = pony
Warpony = pony with combat training
Donkey = pony
Mule = advanced pony
Camel = horseThe camel's sort of a special case, since it DOES have some different characteristics from the horse. And as a result, I'm relatively sure that camels will be showing up in the Bestairy 2. But until then, just using horse stats should work fine.
In the end, when I had to make the call on "Four pages of repeated horse stats" verses "one page of horse stats and 3 pages of actual monsters" the choice seemed easy.
Just an idea, but I think something like that but ultra condensed for all the animals and some variant monsters seems super useful. Maybe put it into an appendix?
Example:
Horse = Camel, Light Horse, Heavy Horse^, Light Warhorse*, Heavy Warhorse*^
Pony = Donkey, Mule^, Pony, Warmule*^, Warpony** = Combat Training, ^ = Advanced Template
*Repectfully* With a few keystrokes the animlas that don't necessarily need 4 pages of stats are added into the book, people can look at the appendix and find that rarer animal varient that adds that much more flavor to their character. Add a couple more templates that make minor adjusts (adaptations to climate?), like a cold variant or such.
This goes right along with what Talonne Hauk was saying. If there's some other plan already in place, then I can respect that, I am a fan of Paizo's works. Any thoughts?
There'll be some templates in Bestairy 2. Probably something around 6 or so, like in the first Bestiary. Templates are cool... but they're also a lot of work and don't really lend themselves well to a bestiary. Now... a big book of monster templates? That'd be a different story...
Much appreciate! I figured the templates would require a lot of balancing and work, as Pathfinder is really well written. I can understand that you all at Paizo have a lot on your plates with trying to get everything out on schedule.
A Big Book of Monster Templates? Sounds like an interesting concept.
I want more Shades/Shadows/Wraith-like monsters that hate life and wish to destroy it.
I really like using energy drain and incorporeal monsters to add that lurking horror aspect to a session. Nothing strikes fear into the hearts of players like things that can attack from within the walls and drain energy. Good stuff...
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I didnt have time to read all of the posts so if its been mentioned before forgive me, but... Daemons? Whats bieng done with this new breed of truest evil? I love the concept of Abaddon and the Horsemen...(the old mercenary Loth's didnt do full justice to the notion of PURE evil IMO) But I was confused when I didnt see Daemons in the first Bestiary. Other than that Ill throw in my lot with more Undead menaces (skinsaw murders was a great new look at what a ghoul could be). Thanks!
-Attic
Ammendment- Just found it a page back Bestairy II will Have Ze Daemons!
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There'll be some templates in Bestairy 2. Probably something around 6 or so, like in the first Bestiary. Templates are cool... but they're also a lot of work and don't really lend themselves well to a bestiary. Now... a big book of monster templates? That'd be a different story...
*cough* Advanced Pathfinder Bestiary *cough* ? The AB is one of the best monster books in d20 history, despite being "just" a book of templates.
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There'll be some templates in Bestairy 2. Probably something around 6 or so, like in the first Bestiary. Templates are cool... but they're also a lot of work and don't really lend themselves well to a bestiary. Now... a big book of monster templates? That'd be a different story...
I know it's unlikely, but is there any way we can get an idea of what kind of templates. I'm just curious as to whether or not there will be a winged template in B2. It was a template from the Savage Species book and was one of my favorites.
My GM about 3 years ago ran a game for me where i played a winged elf (elf with winged template) and i stated up a fighter with nothing but archer feats. One - that was one of my favorite characters ever and Two - i would love to bring that character back into Pathfinder with new fighter!
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Creative Director
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There'll be some templates in Bestairy 2. Probably something around 6 or so, like in the first Bestiary. Templates are cool... but they're also a lot of work and don't really lend themselves well to a bestiary. Now... a big book of monster templates? That'd be a different story...*cough* Advanced Pathfinder Bestiary *cough* ? The AB is one of the best monster books in d20 history, despite being "just" a book of templates.
Advanced Bestiary is one of the best OGL books ever. We use it ALL the time in Pathfinder Adventure Paths and modules.
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Creative Director
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I know it's unlikely, but is there any way we can get an idea of what kind of templates. I'm just curious as to whether or not there will be a winged template in B2. It was a template from the Savage Species book and was one of my favorites.
My GM about 3 years ago ran a game for me where i played a winged elf (elf with winged template) and i stated up a fighter with nothing but archer feats. One - that was one of my favorite characters ever and Two - i would love to bring that character back into Pathfinder with new fighter!
We've got all the templates (and indeed, all the MONSTERS) picked out for Bestiary 2, but it's too early to reveal what they all are for sure.
That said, "winged" is not complex enough to warrant being an actual template. It'd be a good candidate for a simple template though, since all it would do is give a creature a fly speed. There will probably be several new simple templates in the Bestiary 2, in any event.
Advanced Bestiary is one of the best OGL books ever. We use it ALL the time in Pathfinder Adventure Paths and modules.
* sigh *
If only print copies were still available!|
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This may not be answerable at this time, but what the hell...
I had read that Paizo had something special planned for the titans in the bestiary II. I was wondering if *any* further info could be given...
What got me thinking about it is the fact that im playing through God of War II (again), and the titans in that game are just awesomely huge. Im talking like 250+ ft. tall, easily (probably alot bigger than that really). Anyways, aside from their extreme size, they also appear to be elemental in nature, with lava/rock bodies, or bodies with trees and rivers flowing off of them.
I was wondering if any of that will translate into Paizo's titans; elves are already similar in a way, what with the fact that if they stay in one area long enough they start to develope physical "traits", so to speak.
Perhaps there will be a paragraph on "greater titans", similar to how the balor lords and dukes of hell are touched on...
Anyways, figured I'd ask!
That would rock
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Creative Director
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Advanced Bestiary is one of the best OGL books ever. We use it ALL the time in Pathfinder Adventure Paths and modules.* sigh *
If only print copies were still available!
Yup. That does make me sad as well. :(
Which is why we always print full rules for template monsters when we use them, of course.
And I suspect that a Template Book for Pathifnder might some day hit the shelves, in any case. Not anytime soon though.
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Creative Director
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This may not be answerable at this time, but what the hell...
I had read that Paizo had something special planned for the titans in the bestiary II. I was wondering if *any* further info could be given...
What got me thinking about it is the fact that im playing through God of War II (again), and the titans in that game are just awesomely huge. Im talking like 250+ ft. tall, easily (probably alot bigger than that really). Anyways, aside from their extreme size, they also appear to be elemental in nature, with lava/rock bodies, or bodies with trees and rivers flowing off of them.
I was wondering if any of that will translate into Paizo's titans; elves are already similar in a way, what with the fact that if they stay in one area long enough they start to develope physical "traits", so to speak.
Perhaps there will be a paragraph on "greater titans", similar to how the balor lords and dukes of hell are touched on...
Anyways, figured I'd ask!
Titans will indeed be in the Bestiary. We've already revealed some information about titans in "The Great Beyond." They won't be 250+ feet tall, though—that's not really workable in Pathfinder, really. But the titans ARE going to be pretty tough customers... we haven't worked out the details yet though so no news to report yet. Ask again late next year, maybe?
More new dinosaurs and fellow mesozoic critters (icthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, pliosaurs, mosasaurs, and pterosaurs) as many as Jacobs can squeeze in without getting murdered by the rest of the Paizo staff, more post dinsaur creatures (indricotheres, terror birds, glyptodonts, megaloceros), modern deer (moose, elk, caribou (aka reindeer)), giraffe, hippopotamus, more devils, more daemons, more archons, more agathions, more azatas, more angels (monadic and movanic devas are open from tome of horrors), more proteans, inevitables, maybe a few more true dargons and linnorms (not too many but some), some mythological creatures (thunderbird maybe), also 1 page with 2 entries: whale, baleen and whale, cachalot.
More hybrids.
Duckbunny
Armadillephant
Squark
Monkeybees
Donkearwig
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Truly, there is something about adding more lovecraftian monsters that really causes them to become something less. They bloat on themselves and loose all the mystery, mystique, and alieness that they once had. If they do more, Paizo should do so sparingly IMO. That little bit of mystery is what keeps some of us wanting more.2. More Lovecraftian goodness. You can never have too much Mythos.Gah...no more Lovecraft...
*runs away before James hits him*
Actually, that pretty much sums it up for me. I have a lot of respect for all things Lovecraft (as I know Paizo's editors do too). Seeing many broken down in stats and mechanics breaks the horror and madness for me and they become into just another beast to slay...
Which is why we always print full rules for template monsters when we use them, of course.
And we love you for it!
Ooh! Here's one we need! Are diakka open content, or closed?
SquarkThat'll probably be in the 4e update of Dark Sun. Doubt WotC will want to see Paizo beat them to it.
That, or the "Surfing Druids of Golarion" module.
Scaeduinar and Jyoti. Two great tastes that mutually annihilate together.
And more daemons. ;)
Ooh! Here's one we need! Are diakka open content, or closed?
IDK... looked at this thread here. It is property of old TSR, and so WotC by proxy. Is old not updated products closed content by default?
Scaeduinar and Jyoti. Two great tastes that mutually annihilate together.
And more daemons. ;)
Absa-frikkin'-lutely! I'd love to see Scaediunar and Jyoti!