Lycanthropes are pretty lame in PF.
A lycanthrope has to be a badass before contracting the disease in order to be a threat of a magnitude that most (IMO) envision lycanthropes to be.. based on past editions or common tropes anyway.
It just doesn't work for me at all!
The beast within really becomes quite tame when it's Farmer Bob that contracted it.
The only complaints I have is that some of the artwork needs to be scrapped and new visual designs created: aranea, dhampir, hobgoblin, kobold, nightmare, and troll. These are the biggest offenders.
I will say that the phase spider and bugbear look better than ever.
The only complaints I have is that some of the artwork needs to be scrapped and new visual designs created: aranea, dhampir, hobgoblin, kobold, nightmare, and troll. These are the biggest offenders.
I will say that the phase spider and bugbear look better than ever.
I love Aranea, Hobgoblin, Kobold and Nightmare art. Just goes to show.
Some of the evil outsiders seem far too strong. The edge they get for being potential bad guys and boss characters is too strong. Maybe its just me. The way to figure out something's CR is still majorly out of whack, and the guidelines in the first Bestiary help a bit, but it is still way more art than science.
outsiders and dragons were literally given CR discounts. they are clearly the 2 nastiest creature types. some fey and certain intellegent undead can make good secondary candidates. but spells matter when you build a main villain or boss.
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Lycanthropes are pretty lame in PF.
+1
At least they beat 4E lycanthropes HANDS DOWN!But yeah, PF were-creatures are pretty pathetic.
Also agreed on the Hobgoblins.
So lame looking. They look like a bunch of grey skinned, hairless down's syndrome monkeys. Really terrible, especially when compared to the greatness of the 1e and 2e Hobgoblins. (heck even the 4e ones!)
They shouldn't look so mentally challenged for a bunch of elitist, militaristic war-mongers. (instead they look like Derps.)
Phase Spiders also = LOL.
They'd be infinitely cooler as spindly-looking ethereal giant spiders.
The human heads are beyond fail.
Oh well. Nice thing is, I can house-rule em to look however I want, and since my players remember the COOL-looking versions, its not even really a House Rule.
i'd like to see an upgraded variant of the soulbound doll that has a pseudo constitution score (maybe charisma based), a decent charisma score and a series of bardic talents.
Actually I like it that the lycanthropes don't get superpowerful just by gettng rabbies. Farmer Bob is a good challenge for beginning party, sherrif Knob can terrorize his former village and be pretty undefeatable for anyone but experienced heroes and an infected elven ranger could be a terrible foe and tragic figure at once...
I wouldn't get turned off by hobgoblin pictures. Slightly malformed (biiig muscles even on their scalps ;)) or just as hairless greyskinned humanoids they can do the job just as well.
I don't like the Hydra anymore. It just isn't scary to me.
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Personally I love all of the new goblinoids. But I hated their appearance in pretty much all incarnations of D&D. Bugbears especially were improved in a way that fits their supposedly fierce natures.
Actually, I prefer almost all of the Pathfinder artwork to 3.5. I think my only disappointment was the Barghest; it looks far less menacing.
As for mechanical changes? I haven't noticed too much, other than weres being seriously nerfed.
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I really dig the Oni approach with the Ogre Mage. As soon as I saw it it was an "OMG IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW" moment, having grown up with the images of the 2E Monstrous Manual ogre magi that didn't immediately mesh with vanilla ogres at all.
Also, the new flumph flavor. Hell yes.
I really don't like the alignment change to Forlarren. They were easily my favorite fey from the 3.x era for a lot of reasons. They were perfect "alternate solutions/thinking" monsters due to their bipolar nature, and they hit that simultaneously sympathetic and scary vibe the Witch from Left4Dead has. The Bestiary just simplified them into straight-up evil creatures, and practically hits the reader over the head with it. Instead of a warring dual nature the PF version pushes it as mostly evil with just a hint of suppressed good that's not much more than a mechanical debuff. The really annoying thing is that anyone reading that version for the first time is going to have their perceptions colored by it and it'll be seen as just another evil creature to be killed first, ask questions later, rather than the walking/talking/crying/screaming plot hook they were before. Just don't understand the decision to simplify them and actively make them less interesting. Add that to the fact that the vast majority of them are born from rape, and the change gets a bit uncomfortable.
Pretty much just ignoring the new fluff and alignment in favor of the original Tome of Horrors.
The art was awesome though.