In a the thread Can we please have bigger bestiaries I shared an idea I had on a
different take on bestiaries. I was hoping to hear other peoples opinions on if this approach to bestiaries would work or not.
From the other thread:
"Perhaps instead of larger in general, bestiaries could be more focused on certain level ranges. The default bestiary has monsters with CRs ranger from fractions to 20+.
Usually the GM is only interested in monsters that are a sufficient challenge to the pcs, so in game prep they only need a small portion of those monsters.
How about having the bestiaries be focused to say CR up to 6, in the say heroic bestiary, CR 7-13 in the paragon bestiary, CR 14 to 20 in a Epic bestiary,
CR 20+ in another bestiary. Since they are more focused on their CRs you can have the same number of monsters per book, but the monsters will be more relevant to the
GM when they prepare for a game, since there will be more choices in the CR range relevant to the game they are preparing for."
Now I'm sure this approach has both benefits and drawbacks, so I'll list as many of both that I can think of:
Benefits:
More monsters in the desired CR range, assuming that each bestiary is the size of a normal bestiary.
Less issue with bindings since each book is normal sized.
Takes less bag space
More intuitive IMO, GMs just pick the book with monsters that challenge the PCs
Drawbacks:
Keeping track of the inventory of 3 different books would be more complicated, I'd assume
the up front cost of printing high CR bestiaries, since they may not sell as fast
PCs that are near the transition between books may require GMs carry/buy both books, although there is probably ways to minimize this
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This idea is interesting but I think the main problem is you won't get all the rules for monsters in one book. You'd have to buy two or three to play the game described in the core rulebook. You would have all the rules in one core book but the monsters spread across two or three books to play all 20 levels.
This idea is interesting but I think the main problem is you won't get all the rules for monsters in one book. You'd have to buy two or three to play the game described in the core rulebook. You would have all the rules in one core book but the monsters spread across two or three books to play all 20 levels.
D&D 1 Basic? Hehe...
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would not mind a split down the middle 0-12 and 13-20+
This wouldn't work. High CR by itself probably wouldn't make enough sales to make back the cost of printing it. And some monsters like elementals and dragons scale across the whole range.
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I'm also against this idea for two reasons, one high level play often has a bunch of low level monsters as minions of the more powerful enemies to go with, and I rather have all in one book that split in many. Secondly if we where to divide a bestiary up, I would rather have it divided in themes than CR. Monsters that say an adventure in the inner sea would encounter.
That means that Paizo would need to release 4 Bestiaries at the same time when the game launched to cover the same ground as 1. Not everyone starts their game at level 1, and different parties certainly don't level at the same pace. I just don't see this working well.
This idea is interesting but I think the main problem is you won't get all the rules for monsters in one book. You'd have to buy two or three to play the game described in the core rulebook. You would have all the rules in one core book but the monsters spread across two or three books to play all 20 levels.
I agree, if you play from level 1-20 you'd need all 3, but you wouldn't need them all at once. I'm not sure why you'd need more then 1 to start with, even when not starting at level 1, unless you start at a boundary line.
That means that Paizo would need to release 4 Bestiaries at the same time when the game launched to cover the same ground as 1. Not everyone starts their game at level 1, and different parties certainly don't level at the same pace. I just don't see this working well.
If you don't start at level 1, then you would buy the book relevant to the PC starting level. Faster leveling would mean you get less mileage out of low level bestiaries though, so it's something I hadn't considered.
I'm also against this idea for two reasons, one high level play often has a bunch of low level monsters as minions of the more powerful enemies to go with, and I rather have all in one book that split in many. Secondly if we where to divide a bestiary up, I would rather have it divided in themes than CR. Monsters that say an adventure in the inner sea would encounter.
Generally I've seen minions be about 3 CR less than the more powerful enemies, but YMMV. Bestiaries by theme would be interesting too.
Bestiaries with a strong thematic core are fine, but I don't think bestiaries separated by power level are viable at all.
Still hoping for a giant first bestiary tome that is the size of the core book, and I am willing to pay core book prices for it.
I'd say Pass on this idea.