Bestiary vs Advanced Race Guide Question


Pathfinder Society

Scarab Sages 2/5

1 person marked this as FAQ candidate.

Alright, currently the Kitsune, Wayang, and Nagaji are able to be made as characters. In addition, boons exist for all sorts of other races (goblins, tieflings, aasimar, etc), but I've come across a problem: I do not currently own an Advanced Race Guide.

From what I can see, racial traits are exactly the same in bestiaries as they are in the Race Guides, with the exception of alternate racial features. Is there a reason that I can't use one of the bestiaries as a sourcebook to make a character in Society, when for all intents and purposes its' giving me the same exact material to work with?

Scarab Sages 5/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.

You absolutely can use the bestiary as your source book of choice. You just won't have access to all of the alternate abilities, traits, etc.

You can also use any of the splat books that contain stat blocks.

Scarab Sages 5/5 5/5 *** Venture-Captain, Washington—Spokane

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Since the Bestiary entries for the races contain the information on how to create a character of that race, I would agree that you would have a valid source to play the race in question. You would, of course, not have access to information contained in the Advanced Race guide (alternate race traits, archetypes, equipment, spells, etc.).

As long as you have the applicable Bestiary and the race is legal (boon granted or no boon required), you can play that race.

Note: A lot of the race boons I have seen call out all the books that race appears in including the applicable Bestiary.

Hope this helps.

Edit: Darn, ninja'd. What I get for typing this on my phone.

Scarab Sages

As per the Additional Resources page:

Additional Resources wrote:

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary

Animal Companions: ankylosaurus, aurochs, brachiosaurus, dire bat, dire rat, dolphin, elasmosaurus, electric eel, elephant/mastodon, frog, goblin dog, hyena, monitor lizard, moray eel, octopus, orca, pteranodon, rhinoceros, roc, squid, stegosaurus, triceratops, and tyrannosaurus; Familiars: all familiars listed on pages 131-133; Feats: none of the feats are legal for play for PCs, animal companions, or familiars unless specifically granted by another legal source; Other: all creatures in this book are legal for polymorph effects (including a druid's wild shape ability) within the boundaries of each spell or ability's parameters. All languages found in this book are available for a character to learn with the linguistics skill, except aboleth and drow sign language.

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary 2

Animal Companions: baboon, compsognathus, gar, hippopotamus, manta ray, ram, giant snapping turtle, stingray; Familiars: brownie, compsognathus, lyraken azata, snapping turtle, voidworm protean; Feats: none of the feats are legal for play for PCs, animal companions, or familiars unless specifically granted by another legal source; Other: all creatures in this book are legal for polymorph effects (including a druid's wild shape ability) within the boundaries of each spell or ability's parameters. All languages found in this book are available for a character to learn with the linguistics skill.

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary 3

Animal Companions (p. 311): antelope, axe beak, dimetrodon, elk, giant chameleon, giant gecko, giant vulture, kangaroo, pachycephalosaurus, thylacine; Familiars: all familiars listed on pages 112-113 and the carbuncle and sprite; Feats: none of the feats are legal for play for PCs, animal companions, or familiars unless specifically granted by another legal source; Other: all creatures in this book are legal for polymorph effects (including a druid's wild shape ability) within the boundaries of each spell or ability's parameters. All languages found in this book are available for a character to learn with the linguistics skill, except flail snail.

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary 4

Animal Companions (p. 311): dimorphodon, giant seahorse, giant tortoise, giant weasel, stag, styracosaurus, trumpeter swan, velociraptor, and walrus are legal for play; Familiars: all familiars listed on pages 96-97 and the almirajes, giant flea, greensting scorpion, nosoi psychopomp, nycar, pooka, and scarlet spider are legal for play; Feats: none of the feats are legal for play for PCs, animal companions, or familiars unless specifically granted by another legal source; Other: all creatures in this book are legal for polymorph effects (including a druid's wild shape ability) within the boundaries of each spell or ability's parameters. All languages found in this book are available for a character to learn with the linguistics skill.

No races are listed as legal from a Bestiary, so you may not currently build any legal race from it. Race boons do, however, say you may use the relevant Bestiary to build your character, thus bypassing that with the 'Specific over General' ruling. I'm also including a quote from the Guide to play, bolding for emphasis:

Guide to Organized Play V7.0, page 7 wrote:

Step 3: Race and Class

Select your character’s class and race from the choices offered in the Core Rulebook. You may also select kitsune, nagaji, tengu and wayang as your character’s race with access to the proper Additional Resources book. Other races are not legal unless the character’s Chronicle stack includes a race boon. Additional class and race options from resources like the Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player’s Guide, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Combat, Pathfinder RPG Advanced Race Guide, and Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Inner Sea World Guide are generally available with few or no alterations, as well.

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ** Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden

Technically, Bestiary I doesn't have text saying you can use it as a source for Summon Monster. Or the Universal Monster Rules.

I'm not sure the Bestiary should be barred as a source for races. There are some things that are "common sense" or "implied" in the Bestiary and maybe playable races is one of them.

Scarab Sages 2/5

Kristen Gipson wrote:


You can also use any of the splat books that contain stat blocks.

Just to be safe; does this also apply to other boon-granted bonuses? Example: The Faerie Dragon is in Bestiary 3 and the bonus bestiary, but the boon that grants it requires bestiary 3 despite them having identical stats.

Scarab Sages

So, I spoke with a couple of my local VO's yesterday, regarding this thread. They agree that Bestiaries are not a legal option to build characters from except by Race Boon, which says you may use the Bestiary. Unless an FAQ or change to the Additional Resources page comes out, I'd not build a character from a source not listed as legal in the Additional Resources.

For your Faerie Dragon question, if the boon specifically states a resource, that's the resource you need to use. To your original question, Kitsune, Nagaji, and Wayang characters are currently legal from the following Resources:
Dragon Empires Gazetteer
Dragon Empires Primer
Advanced Race Guide

Ascalaphus, The spell itself calls out which creatures you may summon. The Bestiary is the only place to find said creatures. The only place to get the stats for such a creature is the Bestiary. Why would the Additional Resources be required to call out what can be summoned from it when the spell already does this? It is an extremely fine line you tread by stating "common sense". The PFS Guide to Organized Play requires us to play RAW, regardless of RAI, unless it is FAQ'd or Errata'd.

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