I have looked all over this site for these. They seem like an automatic money maker. They would make running them game so much smoother.
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It's come up from time to time, but hasn't been enthusiastically received (by either fans or staff, really).
One problem is they try to keep the cards largely system neutral (although that isn't a hard and fast rule), another is no doubt the size of some PF stat blocks - it may well be a real challenge to fit everything on the back.
FWIW, I'd grab these in a heartbeat. My preference though would be for them to be bigger (tarot sized) and to have escalating knowledge check results - I find it hard to judge what to say when a player attempts a knowledge check (plus keep forgetting which is the applicable skill).
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FWIW, I'd grab these in a heartbeat. My preference though would be for them to be bigger (tarot sized) and to have escalating knowledge check results - I find it hard to judge what to say when a player attempts a knowledge check (plus keep forgetting which is the applicable skill).
Knowledge checks would be much more useful to me than stat blocks. Love the idea, BTW.
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FWIW, I'd grab these in a heartbeat. My preference though would be for them to be bigger (tarot sized) and to have escalating knowledge check results - I find it hard to judge what to say when a player attempts a knowledge check (plus keep forgetting which is the applicable skill).Knowledge checks would be much more useful to me than stat blocks. Love the idea, BTW.
THIS.
Have the reverse have a description of the creature, then list the appropriate knowledge skill and DC to find out more, then list a set of pieces of information suitable for discovery.
I'd buy every one of these and add them to my 'must take' list for PFS games.
Count me in on these and I like the idea of tarot sized cards to have larger art and more space for text on the back side.
Toss them in a hat and have a nice random monster generator. Of course, if you don't pre-sort by challenge rating you could get some interesting mixes.
Chief Technical Officer
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So, the first problem is, as Steve pointed out, getting all the info you need in a consistent amount of space.
The next problem is scope, and price point. There are more than 300 monsters in the first Bestiary alone, and that's not even taking into account variations like the different age categories of dragon, the different sizes of elementals, the different giant spider variants, etc. You might notice that we generally sell 110-card decks for just under $20, so—assuming we could actually fit each monster on a single card—we'd be talking in the neighborhood of $60 just to cover the original Bestiary. (That's 50% more than the book costs!)
I know I'm not necessarily in the centre of the bell curve when it comes to pricing expectations, but that price point sounds fine to me.
FWIW, I wouldn't expect one massive deck of cards per bestiary, but rather a collection building up over time - breaking it up by monster type seems like the most logical to me (to avoid the problem of high level monsters not selling as well), or even alphabetically. In fact, if it were done by subtype it could span all bestiaries (or perhaps the first "test the waters" set might cover summonable monsters to broaden the appeal). I would see a complete set as a very long term goal.
I don't think the different age categories of dragon, etcetera would be a necessary inclusion, personally.
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I could see me picking these up for $60. They would be useful in play - like the Buff Deck and the Condition Cards.
Use cases:
- Putting it down on the table;
- Wandering monster deck
- Condensed source of info
Desirable features/info:
- Description
- Knowledge info
- Condensed stats? (Tricky to pack in some)
- Wipe clean to track current HPs
- QR code link to the online bestiary/lookup in local app
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Chief Technical Officer
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Wipe clean to track current HPs
Wipe-clean erasability on cards has been something we've sadly been unable to manage. Best we've been able to get is the "don't press too hard and you'll still be able to erase it" uncoated area on the Item Cards.
Plus, if we gave you that, then you'd need one card for *each* goblin in the battle...
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Plus, if we gave you that, then you'd need one card for *each* goblin in the battle...
I'm lazy, so my monsters typically act on the same initiative, so I have one initiative card for them (which I'd replace with a monster card) and I'd just write several HP tracks on.
That's why a condensed stat block including Init, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth, etc. would be useful.
No problem on the wipe clean by the way - I can always laminate them myself.
Use card sleeves if you want to write with dry/wet-erase markers on your cards.
While Bestiary cards might be cool, I would like to say I love the idea of the knowledge check information. Something like the Monster Lore entries that are found on d20pfsrd.com.
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
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Bestiary art on the front, with monster name, type, and knowledge DCs on the back would be purchased in a heartbeat!!
I've got stat blocks. I don't need them on a card. Sometimes its hard to describe exactly what they PCs are facing, plus, Knowledge DCs are a real game slower for me, as I have to figure out how much to give them...
Chiming in to say this is an awesome idea. I only own RotRL and UE and use everything else from the PRD at my home games. We only have one Core book in the group. But we absolutely love the cards (we have most of the decks, even for the campaigns we don't play). It adds a lot of flavor and helps people visualize something. Lots of NPCs from other campaigns make their appearance in our RotRL just so I can help attach a face to an NPC.
The bestiary would be wonderful to drop down a monster during battle. And this would make things flow a whole lot better as well with knowledge checks. A couple people echoed the sentiment of Knowledge checks on cards. And I see that as the most confusing "hard" part for the GM, to figure out what to reveal about a monster for a certain check. From the way the rules make it sound it is an all or nothing check and if you miss by one point you have no idea on what the creature is at all. And rolling 1 point above or 11 above equates to the same information. And I don't think knowledge actually works that way.
Even at a $60 price point I can see this working quite well. Especially since I think that the price per card (≈$0.50) is well worth the investment.
Front of the card is the name and picture.
Back has the Name and CR at the top (for easy organizing by CR) possibly the type as well to organize by.
List of appropriate knowledge checks from low to high.
The bottom corner has a QR code linking to the beastiary entry on the PRD and a BOOK/PG# under that for quick reference.
