Publisher: Paizo Publishing

A DM can never have enough monsters, and a free baker’s dozen is useful to anyone.

Expectations

My initial expectations were batted aside by the full colour pages and original cover artwork. Before that first glance, all I really hoped for was a preview of the Pathfinder RPG and a few of the monsters that Paizo designers have implied were too crazy or limited to make the full Bestiary cut. Okay, I was hoping for the Yrthak.

At a Glance

Previews for the Pathfinder RPG have shown a new format for covers, but the Bonus Bestiary is the first time we get to see it in print. No letter boxes like the Pathfinder Chronicles series, Pathfinder RPG sourcebooks feature full cover artwork with the Pathfinder logo and the title of the book superimposed. I am not a fan of this style. The titles take away from the artwork and the artwork takes away from the title. By sharing the same space there is no focal point and so the eye just absorbs the entire cover as one solid piece. Compare that to comic book covers, where the artist usually leaves high headroom for the logo. Comics sometimes play with this space by having the artwork interact with the title or overlap it, but that only works because readers are familiar with the comic’s title through repetition. If the water naga on the cover were on top of the logos instead of behind, this sourcebook would seemingly be called the Bonu.

Putting the cover style aside, Tyler Walpole’s cover is appropriate and effective. A water naga springs out of an underground stream, catching Valeros the iconic fighter off-guard, but only slightly. In this piece of art, the monster has the advantage, as it should be since this is its book. Depicting an ambush reminds players that they never know what monster will jump out at them or from where. And the choice of a water naga –not a typically a cover-worthy monster- emphasizes that this isn’t a book about the big baddies or the boss fights, it’s the other guys that are getting a little extra attention because they just made the cut. Great details include the bed of rocks and skulls, with one skull flung upward by the water naga’s momentum, and the torchlight’s glow on the water naga’s stomach plates. Although the cover art is inconsistent with the water naga interior art, this is a nice piece lessened by poor layout.

Some interior artwork outshines others, but given the nature of the book it is impressive that every entry has art. Visual references help stir the imagination and make the monsters jump off the page. Highlights are the dragonne, one of the few illustrations of a composite monster that successfully blends the parts (dragon and lion in this case) while creating a unique feel. Also the shadow mastiff, with its smooth look despite its plates and protruding spikes, poised to leap. Comparing one to the other, both are clearly dangerous creatures, but the dragonne stoic posture versus the shadow mastiff’s attack pose demonstrates the difference between neutral and neutral evil.

Highlights

Decent Selection

The open-endedness of choosing monsters for encounters means that which monsters qualify as iconic is subjective. Sure every game has its share of orc or dragon encounters, but two gaming groups’ different perception on the importance of the axe beak can come down to one memorable encounter. Some of the monsters in the Bonus Bestiary, like the Allip or the Nixie, come straight out of 3.5’s Monster Manual, while others like the Ascomoid or the Caryatid Column, are from earlier editions or obscure 3.5 sourcebooks. There is also variety to the monster types and Challenge Rating, meaning DMs running a low-to-mid level campaigns have Pathfinder RPG options they can use already.

 

Free and Freely Available

Free RPG Day comes but once a year, and with it usually comes a variety of black and white rules summaries or canned adventures. Paizo went further than that with a brand new supplement printed in full colour for an RPG that wouldn’t be released for another two months. It may not have been the thickest book available but it was definitely the prettiest.

Better yet, those that could not attend Free RPG do not have to fear never having the statistics for a Fairie Dragon to put in their game. Paizo is offering a Bonus Bestiary PDF as free as the printed version was. For hands-on gamers that missed out, there is also a print version available for purchase, although for how long is undetermined.

 

Historically Significant Preview

Let the speculation begin. The inside cover of the Bonus Bestiary previews over 250 of the 300+ monsters that will appear in the Bestiary. However, subtracting the 13 listed monsters that appeared in the Bonus Bestiary, that leaves over 50 monsters unaccounted for. Click here for a list of the OGL monsters from the Monster Manual that were not listed in the Bonus Bestiary preview, along with a link to their Hypertext SRD entry.

The preview also shows how certain options like druid animal companions and summon monster spells will work. Rather than the definitive list of available animals and monsters like in the Player’s Handbook, it looks like the Pathfinder RPG will include such information on what level companion animals fall under and how they advance, and what level spell summons certain monsters in the Bestiary or in both the Bestiary and the Core Rulebook.

It is exciting to read the new Combat Maneuver Defense rules, or seeing the new format for poisons and diseases, but come August 13^th, when the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook is released, will the thrill of the preview be lost? Not necessarily. As the first official Pathfinder RPG release, the Bonus Bestiary is special. Even when the glossary is reprinted in the Bestiary, even if all 13 monsters are reprinted in adventure paths or canned adventures, the fact that the Bonus Bestiary officially kicked it all off for the Pathfinder RPG will give its significance weight when the library of Pathfinder RPG sourcebooks is much heavier.

Low Points

One Page Entries

Wizards of the Coast published 3.5 sourcebooks that included monsters flowed free-format. If a monster’s entire entry took up half a page, that is all it got and the other half of the page started the next monster’s entry. This may not have been the cleanest choice but it meant that monsters took up space proportionate to their significance.

This is not the case with the Bonus Bestiary. Being a CR 7 monster with a complex special ability, the dragonne has a lengthy stat block. Because it is a magical beast, it can be trained as a mount or used as an animal companion. Most of the dragonne’s entry is taken up by vital game information, leaving limited room for the creature’s backstory and tactics in combat. In fact, the dragonnes’ entry states they “spend the majority of their time on the ground, even in combat, since their wings prove somewhat ungainly”. Yet this is a creature with a fly speed and the Flyby Attack feat, meaning there are some airborne tactics that could be explored or at least suggested but aren’t.

Compare that to the nixe, a CR 1 fey. There is a section exclusive to the nixie entry that details how nixies are portrayed in mythology and outlines a few optional special abilities to make the Pathfinder RPG more mythologically accurate. It is an interesting section, but why don’t all monsters get similar treatment? It is space filler. In essence, the nixie gets more depth than the dragonne because the nixie takes less space to fully outline. Being such a niche creature, nixies make no appearances in most campaigns, let alone enough appearances to warrant a second type of nixie.

Since the highest CR creature in the Bonus Bestiary is the CR 8 lammasu, it can only be presumed that high level monsters in the Bestiary will have more than one page.

 

No High Level Monsters

There is variety to the challenge ratings of the 13 monsters in the Bonus Bestiary, covering as low as CR 1 and as high as CR 8. However, at least one creature with double CR digits would have been nice, if for no other reason than to preview more of the Pathfinder RPG rules. Not only are high level threats missing, but so are rules for advancing monsters. That CR 2 Huecuva will remain CR 2 forever, unless the Bestiary has a blanket system for advancing any Pathfinder monster.

 

Dull Title

This is a general complain for the Pathfinder RPG sourcebooks. The core rulebook will be called “Core Rulebook”. That lacks the dynamics of Player’s Handbook or Dungeon Master’s Guide. At least Bestiary is catchy and descriptive, but Bonus Bestiary sounds more like a subtitle. This sourcebook could have invoked the feeling of peaking inside a dungeon to get some idea of what threats are to beheld in the Pathfinder RPG. Between the poor names and unappealing covers, the Pathfinder RPG is a step backwards for Paizo from their Pathfinder Chronicles titles like Classic Monsters Revisited and adventure paths like Rise of the Rune Lords. For a company that has done such a good job marketing itself, its branding lately has been weak.

Juicy Bits

Ant lions can create sand traps. Rather than setting a DC and consequence of failure, the Bonus Bestiary includes a stated out trap, showing the fresh ideas Paizo brings to the 3.5 system.

The caryatid column is a different take on the gargoyle. Rather than being a magical beast that can sit as still as a statue in order to ambush prey, caryatid columns are construct that act as decoration most of their lives, but can become weapon-smashing guards that are immune to magic, making them very tough to beat.

Personal Experience

I have yet to use the monsters out of this book. I have encountered the 3.5 version of the allip as a player and found them to convey the horror of being mentally attacked by the restless soul of a suicide victim.

Overall

When I list the book’s title as a low point, you know I’ve run out of things to complain about. This book is free and it is of professional quality. Because of its length, it could be argued that it is great for a free book but not even worth the five dollars Paizo is currently charging for printed copies. Although five dollars is probably the upper limit for what this book should cost, having it in my collection is worth more than that.

Even without an Yrthak.

If You Liked This Book…

It is hard to pinpoint another sourcebook that compares to the Bonus Bestiary, given that a lot of its appeal is metagame. I guess I’ll just recommend you wait for the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary like the rest of us.

Date Released: June 2009

Date Reviewed: July 2009