Codex isn't for letting players be a monstrous race, it's for your players battling monstrous races without you as GM having to make tonnes of NPC stats.
Basically, bestiary is full of monsters and monstrous races but if you want monstrous NPC's you have to take the bestiary and then modify them to add on levels and feats etc. to create that NPC, while the codex has some NPC stats for various monster races pre-made.
Still I prefer bestiaries as I am fine making my own NPC's, but codex count spare a Gm a decent amount of time if they are using one of the races covered in the book as antagonists.
Codex isn't for letting players be a monstrous race, it's for your players battling monstrous races without you as GM having to make tonnes of NPC stats.
Basically, bestiary is full of monsters and monstrous races but if you want monstrous NPC's you have to take the bestiary and then modify them to add on levels and feats etc. to create that NPC, while the codex has some NPC stats for various monster races pre-made.
Still I prefer bestiaries as I am fine making my own NPC's, but codex count spare a Gm a decent amount of time if they are using one of the races covered in the book as antagonists.
Pretty much this.
Although the monster codex does have some character options/items/new monsters, so its probably also of use if you allow characters to play "enemy" races (plus lizardfolk and ratfolk, which I don't really view as enemy races).
I'll put it this way: did you like having NPC monsters in Monster Manuals 4 and 5? If not, Monster Codex is for you.
Yeah, bascially, the Monster Codex takes a creature, mostly a tribal one, and offers multiple NPC stats for it. You have a basic society ready to use instead of you planning everything in advance hoping the players won't skip it.
That... happened to me. I planned several encounters inside an enemy camp for the PCs... until they sneak passed every single one of them. I do praise their approach (no, seriously, I do), but... if I have gotten the Codex sooner, I wouldn't have spent time making NPCs on my own.
On a sidenote, the Codex has monsters for their most roles. You're not gonna find an ogre tribe led by a mind flayer (or similar mind-controlling creature) or a lizardfolk tribe living in the jungle and using wasps as guard creatures.
I really don't understand that people like trillion humanoids over a mixed book of awesome creatures.
Rub-Eta must hate mythology.
Except that wasn't what Rub-Eta said. When was the last time you used a sword weird crab? Or a Mi-Go? Three-headed sharktopus? Heck, even high level good outsiders?
I'd rather face them than boring humanoids. Never make fun of Heikegani and Lusca in my face, they are my limbs darling. I will always pick their side.
Things are only as boring as you make them.
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Are the heroes about to attack a camp of goblins/orcs/giants? Monster Codex has got you covered for any number of those situations from levels 5-15 easily.
Are the heroes travelling across various wilderness hinterlands with a variety of dangers? This is where the bestiary serves well.
Personally, I like the Monster Codex as it can effectively create an occupied dungeon with a nice tight theme. Add a called outsider or a captured magical beast to provide some variety along with a trap, and you have the rest of the statistics in one concise spot.