Kobold Press' Tome of Beasts for 5E is now available

[ddavison]

Tome of Beasts had an amazing Kickstarter for Tome of Beasts last October and the print and PDF versions are just now rolling out. There are 400+ monsters, complete with images and tokens. It's a glorious compendium worthy of the name Tome.
You can get it here:
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store/product.xcp?id=KPTOB5EFG

The boring stuff for Kickstarter Backers (depending on your perspective)
I have granted this to all the accounts who backed it on Kickstarter and who either followed directions and supplied the username here on the forums (Yay!) or if you didn't provide a username but your email address for KS happened to match one in our system then I looked it up and linked it. It's nearly 3 AM here for me and I have to catch some sleep before Gen Con. If you think you should have got it but you don't see it when your run an Update, then please email me at [email protected]. My response time will be a little slow because I'll be at Gen Con through Sunday night; however, we will get you all squared away as soon as possible.

Note that if you were a Kickstarter Backer this won't show up in your order history or product listing but it will still download to your account and become available within your Module Activation screen through the process of subtle fey magic.

Known Issues:
I have 4 NPCs who refuse to parse and I didn't want to hold this up until that got fixed. I will patch that when I get back from Gen Con next week.
Liosalfar
Witchlight
Ostinato
Isonade

[timdog88]

Sweet! I'll be picking this up the minute I get back from gen con!

[FSHSchmo]

Updating now!

[drakonin]

Awesome! Will grab when I need some more monsters, likely in a few weeks. Who converted it to FG? How many hours did it take?

[kylania]

I have granted this to all the accounts who backed it on Kickstarter and who either followed directions and supplied the username here on the forums (Yay!)

Where were those directions? I'm not finding any messages or updates saying to do that on Kickstarter or here, even though my email is the same with both companies. Emailed you about access all the same.

[Myrdin Potter]

I started FG, there was an update available. Updated and now the proud owner of ToB on Fantasy Grounds. The artwork is glorious, and the monsters look well done. Available on FG before my physical book arrived and just a couple of days after the PDF was available. Happy I backed this.

[LordEntrails]

Awesome! Will grab when I need some more monsters, likely in a few weeks. Who converted it to FG? How many hours did it take?
From the product page: "Fantasy Grounds Conversion: Doug Davison"

I too will add this to my wish list :)

[JohnD]

Nice. Here's hoping Ultimate NPCs is next.

[rob2e]

Great work Doug & Team. This thing is awesome!

I know you guys are busy with GenCon. Wish I was going. But I thought I'd be the first to start in on bugs/correction. 'Cause that's the kind of fun guy I am...

* In the store (I was a KS Backer) the module does not show "purchased" for me, not a big deal, but thought you'd like to know.
* In the introduction, the first letter (W) of the first word is missing.
* Also in the first paragraph, there is an asterisk, but that reference is missing - "*The dread gazebo is not included in this volume."

I haven't of course, scrutinized over 400 monsters, HA!, but beyond that I don't find anything. This is tremendous! ThanX for all the work everybody.

[LordEntrails]

I imagine bugs are best brought up in the 5E bugs thread as that's where all product issues are tracked. Though SW might want it elsewhere. Do note, I noticed Doug said this about it not showing;

Note that if you were a Kickstarter Backer this won't show up in your order history or product listing but it will still download to your account and become available within your Module Activation screen through the process of subtle fey magic.

[kylania]

Note that if you were a Kickstarter Backer this won't show up in your order history or product listing but it will still download to your account and become available within your Module Activation screen through the process of subtle fey magic.



* In the store (I was a KS Backer) the module does not show "purchased" for me, not a big deal, but thought you'd like to know.


That's by design apparently.

[Reosoul]

I must have been one of the unlucky ones, because I am absolutely certain I filled out the Kickstarter 'backer kit' thing to make sure they had my forum name and e-mail, but I'm still stuck without the module.

I am sad.

[kylania]

Same here Reosoul. Email [email protected] and they'll get to it as soon as they can. :) Hoping mine will be available tomorrow.

[damned]

I think it will be post GenCon guys....

[ddavison]

I received an updated list from Kobold Press and managed to get a bunch more added to people's accounts that were not on the original list. Please check running a new update again now. We have a few backers who backed quite a few different levels but did not select one of the options that had the Fantasy Grounds versions. Please also verify the backer level and if there is an error, you can email us and/or Kobold Press.

I will try to check back each evening and catch any that still are missed. There are a number who didn't have the email or username listed still or don't have an FG account currently.

As for conversion, this was me. I didn't record how much time it took me, but it seems like I have been working on that thing forever. It took several weeks of work to reorganize from the PDF and get properly loaded the images shrunk down and tokens made.

[Reosoul]

Same here Reosoul. Email [email protected] and they'll get to it as soon as they can. :) Hoping mine will be available tomorrow.

I did. I only had the $39 pledge. Hoping the same, I reeeeally want to see what they came up with.


I received an updated list from Kobold Press and managed to get a bunch more added to people's accounts that were not on the original list. Please check running a new update again now. We have a few backers who backed quite a few different levels but did not select one of the options that had the Fantasy Grounds versions. Please also verify the backer level and if there is an error, you can email us and/or Kobold Press.

I will try to check back each evening and catch any that still are missed. There are a number who didn't have the email or username listed still or don't have an FG account currently.

As for conversion, this was me. I didn't record how much time it took me, but it seems like I have been working on that thing forever. It took several weeks of work to reorganize from the PDF and get properly loaded the images shrunk down and tokens made.

You're our hero. Try not to lose too much sleep over us needy people. Thank you for all your effort. :)

[Koreapsu]

You get the Tome of Beasts and the Book of Lairs in Fantasy Grounds VTT format, with at least 16 high-resolution battle maps and 340 monsters and matching tokens. Expand your Fantasy Grounds options!

Where do we find the Book of Lairs and battle maps?

[kylania]

I received an updated list from Kobold Press and managed to get a bunch more added to people's accounts that were not on the original list. Please check running a new update again now.

I must have been on that list! Thanks so much! :)

[Myrdin Potter]

Book of lairs is not out yet. The PDF has not been released from Kobold Press.

[demonsbane]

As for conversion, this was me. I didn't record how much time it took me, but it seems like I have been working on that thing forever. It took several weeks of work to reorganize from the PDF and get properly loaded the images shrunk down and tokens made.

I find remarkable to have images displayed inside the library module, along with the text. Very well done.

[JohnD]

I find remarkable to have images displayed inside the library module, along with the text. Very well done.
Yeah that looks smart.

[brad88]

Does anyone Here have the PDF? I want to View the PDF first before I buy the Book, I did the same for the CORE books ( I didn't buy sword coast adventures as the price was to high for so little content) can someone please help me with this.

[Myrdin Potter]

I have the PDF but there is no way for me to allow you to "view" the PDF without sending it to you and Kobold sells the PDF as part of their business.

They have disclosed example monsters and I can answer questions but no one should be sending you the PDF.

In theory you could connect to someone that owns the file in fantasy grounds and they could share it with you.

The book is huge with a lot of content.

[JohnD]

Is the content geared to high level stuff and the bizarrely fantastical or is there a mixture of lower level / common stuff that would work in a game that isn't fixated on burning to level 20 as fast as possible?

[Myrdin Potter]

Going by CR, about 1/3 of the 400+ monsters are CR 3 and below.

[Wolf118]

Downloaded mine today. Beautiful artwork, kudos to KP.

Doug, one NPC that didn't parse correctly: Flutterflesh. Specifically, under Traits, Combustion Touch shows "null Language Common, Darakhul"

Edit: Bandit Lord also has a problem. Under Traits, it has "Fire Breathn(Recharge 6)", with "null non-lawful alignment"

[Zacchaeus]

Downloaded mine today. Beautiful artwork, kudos to KP.

Doug, one NPC that didn't parse correctly: Flutterflesh. Specifically, under Traits, Combustion Touch shows "null Language Common, Darakhul"

Edit: Bandit Lord also has a problem. Under Traits, it has "Fire Breathn(Recharge 6)", with "null non-lawful alignment"
Can you report these and other bugs in the 5e bugs thread please and I'll catch them when I get back from GenCon (I noticed one or two others when Doug was demoing it today :))

[Wolf118]

ROger roger

[JohnD]

This hits a high price point (doesn't all 5e stuff...?) but it looks like you get a lot for your money.

[rob2e]

This hits a high price point (doesn't all 5e stuff...?) but it looks like you get a lot for your money.

It pays to kickstart. I paid $49 for BOTH the Tome of Beasts and the Book of Lairs (coming soon within days?). So that's pretty good.

[Myrdin Potter]

And the "add-on" for FG was even cheaper if you wanted the physical books anyways, which is what I did. The disadvantage with Kickstarter is that you really do not know exactly what the final result will be.

I have shown a few people (via FG) what this looks like. It is basically as large as the monster manual with art up to the same standards. I am quite happy with the final results although I am sure there will be more bugs in the convert that come out as people use it more and more. They'll get fixed and the reference will just get better.

[neologiker]

Will this be available on Steam? I haven't seen it yet, but maybe I'm missing something...

[Moon Wizard]

Yes, it will be on Steam. Probably late next week, or soon after. We're away working at Gencon this week/weekend.

Cheers,
JPG

[neologiker]

Great news! Thanks, Moon Wizard. Have fun at Gencon!

[BlueDrake]

I bought the hardcover/pdf combo for $49.99 and feel that there is a huge amount of content for the money here. The Tome actually has more pages the the Monster Manual and judging from the pdf will be a beautiful hard cover addition to my bookshelf. I'll be buying it in FG at some point in the future.

There are plenty of preview pages up at Kobold Press if you want to take a look. It's not really appropriate to ask for a copy of the pdf though. Please support the developer and buy your own copy if you're interested.

[Myrdin Potter]

The easiest way to see it is to connect to a GM within FG that has it. If they share the book you can look at it but the DRM model that FG uses protects it.

[Myrdin Potter]

From the Kickstarter update that was just posted.

"Fantasy Grounds Lairs: The Smiteworks crew is moving house, and it’s disrupting the work on setting up the Book of Lairs FG package a bit. They expect the Fantasy Grounds Book of Lairs version will be ready in mid-September. "

[rob2e]

Aaaaaaaah! Dammit. I rolled a 3 in patience. BOL!!! Can't wait. Ha!

[demonsbane]

Yeah that looks smart.

And I never saw it before. Perhaps there are new capabilities added to library modules.

[timdog88]

I must beissimg something. What are you talking about here? I haven't seen any difference in the presentation of time of beasts and the monster manual, am I missing something?

[ddavison]

They are talking about the very short reference manual and how the images are embedded in with text. It was some new functionality put together by ianward and damned and Moon Wizard rolled it into the official CoreRPG support.

I just wanted to pop in and point out that Tome of Beasts is currently outselling the official Monster Manual and is the #2 seller for the last 7 days, just behind the D&D Complete Core Class Pack which was recently on sale. It's a pretty rare thing that any of the official D&D products fall off the top seller list, even for a week.

[JohnD]

I bought this. The wife spent a lot of money on crap so I figured why not (and, it's a really good resource). Waiting for the NPC pack to be released soon.

[Myrdin Potter]

Not every monster is as good as the others and there is some repetition in the book, but overall it is quite good. Very high production value and the hardcover is well printed and the cardboard tokens are great. The FG conversion seems pretty solid as well.

[demonsbane]

They are talking about the very short reference manual and how the images are embedded in with text. It was some new functionality put together by ianward and damned and Moon Wizard rolled it into the official CoreRPG support.


Thank you very much for this clarification.

[Zephyros]

Bought but the only thing that I didn't like is the 3.5 bag that they brought to the monster.... really +2 , +4 to STATS with abilities?

[Zacchaeus]

Bought but the only thing that I didn't like is the 3.5 bag that they brought to the monster.... really +2 , +4 to STATS with abilities?

Sorry, what?

[Zephyros]

Sorry, what?

There is too much 3.5 mechanics in the stats blocks of those monsters... I read a monster trait that adds +4 of some stats in it if he meets some conditions, another one do 1d6 "Charisma DAMAGE!" Those mechanics are not from 5.0, its 3.5 for me and those could ruin your game.

[Myrdin Potter]

There is too much 3.5 mechanics in the stats blocks of those monsters... I read a monster trait that adds +4 of some stats in it if he meets some conditions, another one do 1d6 "Charisma DAMAGE!" Those mechanics are not from 5.0, its 3.5 for me and those could ruin your game.

Which monsters? I have not read every single page but I quickly went through and that does not look very common. Just about every one seems to be written in standard 5e form.

[kmfdm]

Which monsters? I have not read every single page but I quickly went through and that does not look very common. Just about every one seems to be written in standard 5e form.

Huh, he is right: mirror hag. That was poorly designed.

[spite]

Are monster tokens not showing for anyone else?

[Myrdin Potter]

Huh, he is right: mirror hag. That was poorly designed.

In the MM, Intellect Devourer, Shadows and Vampires all do a form of "attribute" damage. The rules do not preclude it and the spells Restoration and Greater Restoration seem to be able to fix it.

So, I agree that the ability should have specified when and how it can be recovered (5e seems to be based on long rest), and written it as a reduction in the attribute, but I don't see a huge sin there.

I have not found the pluses to attributes example yet.

I do know, and Kobold Press made no secret of this, that many monsters were originally designed for Pathfinder or 3.X and then converted, but the monsters are all pretty much written in very good 5e form.

[spite]

X-Posted from SKT thread because I was a dummy.

All the tokens are missing on NPC sheets. They show in the tokens folder but when opening NPC or dragging them to the combat tracker it remains blank.
example on a new campaign with no extensions
https://puu.sh/qQabf/ec7479a773.jpg

[Zacchaeus]

I can't reproduce this; it's working for me.

Try right clicking on the module in the library and selecting reverse changes; or downloading again. Can't think of any reason why it wouldn't work unless it hasn't installed properly.

[JohnD]

Working here as well. Tried the same NPCs.

[Zephyros]

Huh, he is right: mirror hag. That was poorly designed.

Look the Bone Collective too. The CR is off (he has Defensive and Offensive of minimum 9), do 1d6 CHA damage on a poison condition, that says in the end: "If the creature survives, the effect ends and the creature can heal normally.", but, was never mentioned before that the creature couldn't heal.

Abominable Beauty: DC 16 CON or PERMANENTLY deafened (no spells mentioned). She have a Trait ability under the Actions section.

Cambium: 1d4 damage to one of target's ability scores.

This is just some examples that I read in the first alphabetical index.

[Myrdin Potter]

The attribute damage in and of itself is not precluded by the 5e rules. From what I can tell from googling, Pathfinder seems to have gotten carried away with it which some players don't like at all. The new 5e rules only have a few monsters with those powers and no spells or player effects do it.

The 5e convention seems to be, unless otherwise stated, drops in ability scores are cured by a long rest.

[Trenloe]

X-Posted from SKT thread because I was a dummy.

All the tokens are missing on NPC sheets. They show in the tokens folder but when opening NPC or dragging them to the combat tracker it remains blank.
example on a new campaign with no extensions
https://puu.sh/qQabf/ec7479a773.jpg
This is working OK for me too. I've checked the token link entry in the module and it's showing correctly. i.e. pointing to the same module with the correct name - for example: <token type="token">tokens\shroud.png@Tome of Beasts</token>
What versions of the FG ruleset (CoreRPG and 5E) is being reported in the chat window when you first load the campaign?

[Myrdin Potter]

I think the Behtu is an example of the attribute addition that was mentioned. They can drink a potion and boost their strength and constitution (plus their speed) and they lose wisdom and intelligence. However, this is set up by a trait (ichor drinkers).

In the action/rule text I wish it was made clear what the to hit and damage boosts are and what additional, temporary HP are gained so I do not need to look it up, but I don't see an issue with the ability itself.

I was in the Kickstarter and followed the development then. They had a pretty large group of play testers and it appeared that a far amount of reporting and improvement happened. Even the core rules by WoTC have errata after the fact, and they had vastly more play testers. There are over 400 new monsters here. Some are bound to have some issues.

So these are good things for a DM to keep in mind before blindly using the book, but I would not mark down the book itself.

The value from the Kickstarter is very big, especially with the included pawns. The FG conversion is great. I wish the Book of Lairs was converted already as the PDF looks good.

After the shovelware days of OGL 3.0 and the growing amount of questionable DMS Guild material, it is good to see not only such a high quality product come out and that they had FG in mind from the very beginning. Kobold and Frog God both are major 3rd party publishers and Smiteworks has brought them into the FG fold.

[Zacchaeus]

. I wish the Book of Lairs was converted already as the PDF looks good.

It has been converted already; just QA to go before release.

[rob2e]

It has been converted already; just QA to go before release.

I rolled a 1 on patience skill, tripped and fell into a well.

[Myrdin Potter]

Fell on top of me in the well, you mean.

[rob2e]

Fell on top of me in the well, you mean.

Ha! :)

[JohnD]

Look out there's 300 lbs of me on the way down.

[Gwydion]

Look out there's 300 lbs of me on the way down.

C'mon DEX save! :)

[spite]

I have reverted changes and no joy. Going to try 3.1.7 and see if it's only 3.2.0 that it has the issue.

Aaaannnnndddd it's 3.2.0 related. Posting in relevant thread.

[Trenloe]

I have reverted changes and no joy. Going to try 3.1.7 and see if it's only 3.2.0 that it has the issue.

Aaaannnnndddd it's 3.2.0 related. Posting in relevant thread.
Glad there was a reason. ;)

Just as a reminder to anyone reading - if you're not using the main live version of FG and you encounter an issue (i.e. you're probably using the test channel), please mention this when reporting an issue. Thanks.

[spite]

*shuffles awkwardly*

[Myrdin Potter]

Kobold Press has published an official errata. Will the FG files be adjusted with the errata?

[Zacchaeus]

Kobold Press has published an official errata. Will the FG files be adjusted with the errata?

Didn't I just answer this somewhere else? Anyway, yes, I'm sure it will.

[Myrdin Potter]

I just wanted to make sure the new of the errata was in a thread for the people that bought the book vs. the big reporting that I know you read. :-)

[Zacchaeus]

Ah, ok. And I can confirm that there is awareness of the errata and it will be incorporated when DD finds the time to do so. Hang in there.

[gqwebb]

Tome of Beasts had an amazing Kickstarter for Tome of Beasts last October and the print and PDF versions are just now rolling out. There are 400+ monsters, complete with images and tokens. It's a glorious compendium worthy of the name Tome.
You can get it here:
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store/product.xcp?id=KPTOB5EFG

The boring stuff for Kickstarter Backers (depending on your perspective)
I have granted this to all the accounts who backed it on Kickstarter and who either followed directions and supplied the username here on the forums (Yay!) or if you didn't provide a username but your email address for KS happened to match one in our system then I looked it up and linked it. It's nearly 3 AM here for me and I have to catch some sleep before Gen Con. If you think you should have got it but you don't see it when your run an Update, then please email me at [email protected]. My response time will be a little slow because I'll be at Gen Con through Sunday night; however, we will get you all squared away as soon as possible.

Note that if you were a Kickstarter Backer this won't show up in your order history or product listing but it will still download to your account and become available within your Module Activation screen through the process of subtle fey magic.

Known Issues:
I have 4 NPCs who refuse to parse and I didn't want to hold this up until that got fixed. I will patch that when I get back from Gen Con next week.
Liosalfar
Witchlight
Ostinato
Isonade

Yes! HARDBACK IN HAND! And is it a thick one! Amazon was on the slow boat on this one.