Bestiary

[Dmbmedic]

When will the PF 2 Bestiary be available on FG?

[Trenloe]

When will the PF 2 Bestiary be available on FG?
Probably September - there's a lot of behind the scenes parsing tools we need to put in place to do the Bestiary.

In the meantime, there is a community SRD bestiary being put together: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?50267-SR-Bestiary

[Dmbmedic]

hey thx for info and quick reply.

[shadelon]

Probably September - there's a lot of behind the scenes parsing tools we need to put in place to do the Bestiary.

In the meantime, there is a community SRD bestiary being put together: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?50267-SR-Bestiary
So what about the Lost Omens World Guide? It's releasing soon in a little under 2 weeks.

[Trenloe]

So what about the Lost Omens World Guide? It's releasing soon in a little under 2 weeks.
Subject to Paizo approval, it should be released on August 28th. But, I'l be away and not contactable (no Internet at all) for that week, so I need to discuss with the powers that be to see if they want to release something when the developer is away and not contactable - all to do with risk management...

[shadelon]

Subject to Paizo approval, it should be released on August 28th. But, I'l be away and not contactable (no Internet at all) for that week, so I need to discuss with the powers that be to see if they want to release something when the developer is away and not contactable - all to do with risk management...

Great to hear, thanks!

[StevenP]

Trenloe I just want to thank you for all your work on pathfinder second edition.

[PoohPuss]

Does the Beastiary contain Orc Ancestry Feats?

[Trenloe]

Does the Beastiary contain Orc Ancestry Feats?
Non-PCs don't really have feats and so there are none in the Bestiary.

The Orc Ancestry feats are found in the Core Rules -> Human Ancestry - as part of the Half-Orc Ancestry Feats. If you have the Core Rule FG DLC, filter feats on the "Orc" trait, or open the "By Trait" feats grouped list and scroll down to the "Orc" section.

[UltimateGM]

Does the Beastiary contain Orc Ancestry Feats?

There will also be things like the Lost Omens Character Guide which adds a few races like lizardfolk, leshy, and Hobgoblins just to name a few as well as 10 new heritages. So there are some things in the pipeline that will expand the number of races you can play and I wouldn't doubt that orc will be in there or another book down the road. Might even be in the Lost Omens World Guide who knows.

[Trenloe]

Might even be in the Lost Omens World Guide who knows.
Nah. I think I'm OK mentioning this as Erik Mona posted the info on a Facebook group. The Lost Omens World Guide contains 7 or 8 backgrounds plus feats/focus spells for one archetype relevant to each of the 10 regions. Also a small number of items, feats and spells throughout the book. Nothing directly related to Ancestries. So my guess would be the Lost Omens Character Guide due the middle of October will have stuff like that in it.

[shadelon]

There will also be things like the Lost Omens Character Guide which adds a few races like lizardfolk, leshy, and Hobgoblins just to name a few as well as 10 new heritages. So there are some things in the pipeline that will expand the number of races you can play and I wouldn't doubt that orc will be in there or another book down the road. Might even be in the Lost Omens World Guide who knows.

The orc ancestry will be in the Advanced Players Guide, in August 2020.

[MaxAstro]

There will also be things like the Lost Omens Character Guide which adds a few races like lizardfolk, leshy, and Hobgoblins just to name a few as well as 10 new heritages. So there are some things in the pipeline that will expand the number of races you can play and I wouldn't doubt that orc will be in there or another book down the road. Might even be in the Lost Omens World Guide who knows.
I imagine we won't be getting very many new orc feats until the Advanced Player's Guide, which is due next July and confirmed to include full ancestry rules for orcs.

EDIT: Oops, didn't see shadelon already posted that.

[robert4818]

Just a request for the Bestiary.

The bestiary has a section for making elite/weak adjustments. I think that this would be great to implement as a toggle on creatures as opposed to needing to make a copy of a creature and applying the changes (or adding a keyword/effect)

[Transbot9]

Just a request for the Bestiary.

The bestiary has a section for making elite/weak adjustments. I think that this would be great to implement as a toggle on creatures as opposed to needing to make a copy of a creature and applying the changes (or adding a keyword/effect)

I'm guessing that is part is what is covered by this:


Probably September - there's a lot of behind the scenes parsing tools we need to put in place to do the Bestiary.

[UltimateGM]

Just a request for the Bestiary.

The bestiary has a section for making elite/weak adjustments. I think that this would be great to implement as a toggle on creatures as opposed to needing to make a copy of a creature and applying the changes (or adding a keyword/effect)

I know in Pathfinder 1 you could apply templates, as they were called, would be nice to have something like the forge in D&D where you drop a creature and a template then merge them and have an elite version. The forge is for magic items though.

[robert4818]

I know in Pathfinder 1 you could apply templates, as they were called, would be nice to have something like the forge in D&D where you drop a creature and a template then merge them and have an elite version. The forge is for magic items though.

The part I'm talking about is a bit more straightforward though, which is why I'm looking for a simple toggle:



Sometimes you’ll want a creature that’s just a bit more powerful than normal so that you can present a challenge that would otherwise be trivial, or show that one enemy is stronger than its kin. To do this quickly and easily, apply the elite adjustments to its statistics as follows:
• Increase the creature’s AC, attack modifiers, DCs, saving throws, Perception, and skill modifiers by 2.
• Increase the damage of its Strikes and other offensive abilities by 2. If the creature has limits on how many times or how often it can use an ability (such as a spellcaster’s spells or a dragon’s Breath Weapon), increase the damage by 4 instead.
• Increase the creature’s Hit Points based on its starting level (see the table below).

[Trenloe]

I'll look at something like this when I get to finalising the Bestiary. But this won't be a toggle - as I image that future products will introduce future adjustments, and so I want to make the process of applying adjustments flexible.

[robert4818]

I'll look at something like this when I get to finalising the Bestiary. But this won't be a toggle - as I image that future products will introduce future adjustments, and so I want to make the process of applying adjustments flexible.

No Toggle is fine. I'm just wanting something simple that can be applied quickly/on the fly.

[Dmbmedic]

Any news on a release date??

[Trenloe]

Any news on a release date??
Nothing firm yet.

[Dmbmedic]

Any further update on release??

[Trenloe]

Any further update on release??
Nope. Still working on it, there's a s**t load to do! No ETA.

[Dmbmedic]

ok thanks. Good luck.

[Larsenex]

Greetings Trenloe,

I know this is resurrecting a past thread. I figured its been a month since the last post here. I also understand how much needs to go into the Bestiary to bring it to Fantasy Grounds.

Do you think it will be closer or after the New Year for a release date? I am looking at various things I really want and I can see 3 things arriving near the same time next year > Unity, Lost Omens Player Guide and hopefully the Bestiary. I am figuring about 350 or around there for those.

[Trenloe]

Do you think it will be closer or after the New Year for a release date?
It'll be into the New Year I'm afraid. My plans to get it out earlier have changed (more on that in the future) and there's still a lot of work to do to get it ready. Lost Omens Player Guide will be the next main release (other than adventures and critical/fumble decks).


I am looking at various things I really want and I can see 3 things arriving near the same time next year > Unity, Lost Omens Player Guide and hopefully the Bestiary. I am figuring about 350 or around there for those.
You should be able to do it for cheaper than that.

[Dr0W]

We're getting critical/fumble decks? Awesome!

[Dmbmedic]

Any idea on time line for release?

[Trenloe]

Any idea on time line for release?
Nope.

[Bolstaf]

So here we are in March and still no PF2 Bestiary. Any idea on a release date yet?

[Trenloe]

So here we are in March and still no PF2 Bestiary. Any idea on a release date yet?
Nope. Hopefully fairly soon, but there are many moving parts.

Basically, we're not going to commit to any specific release date until it's basically released. I know that's frustrating, but we're not going to commit to anything until the final step of being approved by Paizo has been passed - and it will be released ASAP after that. But we're not up to that point yet.

[Dmbmedic]

Would rather have Bestiary than Lost Omens players but that's just me I guess.

[Krugus Runeblade]

Its not just you Dmbmedic :)
Bestiary is very important but for now all we can do is use the one that the community put together (thanks a bunch for that guys!) :)

[DrakoVongola1]

I don't think it's quite that simple, the Bestiary has a lot more to implement than all of the Lost Omens books. At least we have the super helpful community version for now :)

[Milke]

Shaderaven's Bestiary is a lifesaver. I've been using it this whole time. I'll still buy the official one when it comes out.
The LO Character Guide will be good. But it's fairly easy to create your own backgrounds in the rules set.
I've also been using the community creature parser extension (by Darrenan). I just copy and paste the stats for the NPCs from basically anywhere. The GMG. PFS modules. And I paste them in, and they are parsed right into their own FG sheet.

[Trenloe]

So... there's a lot of work going on in the background, with slow progress made towards getting this product to Paizo for QA review. It's a huge task, but we're making headway... We have lots of plans for automation within the Bestiary records, but the initial release will have the same level available in the base ruleset - with updates forthcoming to add in more NPC automation functionality (which will lead to more PC ability functionality too).

A couple of screenshots. The refman entry (and related image) for an Axiomite. Plus the 3 tabs of the NPC statblock.

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=32069

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=32070

[Larsenex]

This is really nice to see. This kind of visual on the work being done really assures me that it is coming along nicely. Thank you for the update Trenloe!

[Oathbreaker]

I mean... This is all cool and everything but for real - I came by to look into purchasing FG to move my group to an online format to start our new PF2 game but... 8 months in and you don't have the Bestiary completed? No, not only that, you don't even have a timeone for it?? This does not inspire confidence in your ability to add new content. Going to have to look at other providers now. This is a bummer FG.

[Trenloe]

I mean... This is all cool and everything but for real - I came by to look into purchasing FG to move my group to an online format to start our new PF2 game but... 8 months in and you don't have the Bestiary completed? No, not only that, you don't even have a timeone for it?? This does not inspire confidence in your ability to add new content. Going to have to look at other providers now. This is a bummer FG.
Welcome to the FG forums. Sorry this gives you a lack of confidence. The main holdup has been making this with the in house tools that SmiteWorks uses. This would have been out months ago if these tools didn't need to be developed first before we could make the Bestiary module. Plus we've been on-boarding another DLC developer. This all takes a lot of time and effort. The silver lining to this cloud is that it will allow us to produce products quicker in the future.

There is already more official Pathfinder Second Edition content for Fantasy Grounds than any other virtual tabletop. For example, 16 Paizo products in the FG store vs. 4 in the Roll20 marketplace. And each FG Pathfinder Second Edition product contains the statblocks needed to run the material.

There's a very good community bestiary module available if not having creature stats is your main issue.

Yes, I'm disappointed that the bestiary is not out yet too. But I wouldn't let that cloud your judgement and make a decision to move elsewhere. Personally, I think you'll be making a mistake and will end up with less material available to you, both now and in the future; not to mention a lot less functionality. Your choice, but I'd recommend you don't just jump because of the lack of an official Bestiary at this stage...

[Willot]

Ive been using the Pathfinder 2e stuff in FG since Pathfinder 2e came out, and honestly its not really bothered me. Ive been getting along fine with it as is.

My Current Game screenshot(conversion of old Pathfinder AP to PF2e) (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gffqbUixq6YmwCPGUx8B6N07TixMcpdt/view?usp=sharing)

[DrakoVongola1]

I see that progress is being made on the Bestiary so that gives me hope that that'll release relatively soon (Very much appreciate the update, Trenloe), my main concern now is the APG releasing in August. Are we gonna have to wait an extra 8 months to make a Catfolk Swashbuckler or an Aasimar Oracle? Or use whatever else gets added in the book? I don't wanna seem pushy or anything, I appreciate all the effort being put into the system's development and I really do love Fantasy Grounds, and I realize this stuff isn't easy especially for one person to be doing alone, just hope this new dev and everything else you're doing helps out a lot so that the 8+ month wait we've had for the Bestiary doesn't carry over to other major books

[Trenloe]

You'll never know what real-life will throw at you, so I'll never commit to anything. The massive time sink that real-life has been for me the last 6 months won't happen again, at least not for the same reason (that can only happen once).

But.. unless there's a bunch of new "stuff" in the APG, then the SmiteWorks development tools are already in place (I created them for the Core Rules module). So we shouldn't have anything like an 8 month delay for the APG.

And, once we have the Bestiary done, I'll be full steam ahead on the Lost Omens Character Guide, Lost Omens: Gods and Magic, the GMG and the APG. The Bestiary 2 will be picked up by the new DLC developer.

[Milke]

Those of us who follow these boards on a regular basis know that Trenloe had to completely revamp much of his work (or start from scratch) when PF2 released, due to all the changes from the Playtest version. And he got the changed rules basically right before release.
Between his real life job, and him trying to even have a personal life, the fact that he puts out updates and posts on these boards, graciously answering questions.. it's a miracle he's gotten all that done (basically by himself).
The community has created a lot of mods and extensions that have greatly lightened his load (community bestiary and creature parser, notably).
I am so grateful for all the effort everyone puts into our hobby every week.

[Olliebird]

(that can only happen once)

Don't tempt fate, Trenloe. :p

But seriously, PF2 is a monster of a project with a ton of moving parts. You're doing good work and the community has done an amazing job filling in the blanks. Take your time, man.

[DrakoVongola1]

You'll never know what real-life will throw at you, so I'll never commit to anything. The massive time sink that real-life has been for me the last 6 months won't happen again, at least not for the same reason (that can only happen once).

But.. unless there's a bunch of new "stuff" in the APG, then the SmiteWorks development tools are already in place (I created them for the Core Rules module). So we shouldn't have anything like an 8 month delay for the APG.

And, once we have the Bestiary done, I'll be full steam ahead on the Lost Omens Character Guide, Lost Omens: Gods and Magic, the GMG and the APG. The Bestiary 2 will be picked up by the new DLC developer.

thanks for taking the time to reply :) Glad to know things are starting to speed up lol. Like I said I'm not trying to pushy or anything like that, I understand how big of a task this is and appreciate all that you and the other devs do for it :)

[Alkenix]

Any release date for the beastiary in fantasy grounds?
need it to create my own world..

[Trenloe]

Any release date for the beastiary in fantasy grounds?
need it to create my own world..
The last two pages of this thread will give you the latest info.

There is a community OGL bestiary available that has the creatures in a FG module. See the Modules sticky thread at the top of the Pathfinder 2.0 forum.

[Alkenix]

Ok.. If thats all. Then I'll stay at 5e till there are good themes, the official beastiary and other usefull things out for FG. ^^ Thx

[DrakoVongola1]

Ok.. If thats all. Then I'll stay at 5e till there are good themes, the official beastiary and other usefull things out for FG. ^^ Thx

The community module has most of the creatures from the official Bestiary anyway, I can't imagine you'd run out of content with it before the full one releases

[Larsenex]

Ok.. If thats all. Then I'll stay at 5e till there are good themes, the official beastiary and other usefull things out for FG. ^^ Thx

The Community module by Shade Raven is amazing.
I have been using both FGC and playing the Ashes pathfinder campaign since September. Seriously, the functionality and stats are fine. The only real thing missing is the beautiful artwork. In place of that we have letter tokens which I replace with my abundance of monster tokens anyway.

[MaxAstro]

Since this seems to be the official "pester Trenloe" thread - at least for the sake of avoiding spreading the pestering across multiple threads... :P

Are there plans to convert the anniversary edition of Kingmaker to FG? And recognizing that nothing you say now can possibly account for the future, is it something that is planned to be available relatively concurrently with the release, like APs, or something that will likely come later?

P.S. You have the patience of a saint Trenloe. :)

[Trenloe]

I mean... This is all cool and everything but for real - I came by to look into purchasing FG to move my group to an online format to start our new PF2 game but... 8 months in and you don't have the Bestiary completed? No, not only that, you don't even have a timeone for it?? This does not inspire confidence in your ability to add new content. Going to have to look at other providers now. This is a bummer FG.
I'm sure this poster is long gone (their last time on the forums was basically to make this one post and leave - didn't even look at any response). But, for those who are here now - as of today we now have 22 PF2 Paizo products available in the store, vs. 5 in roll20. At the time of this poster's post (March 15th) there were 16 PF2 products in the FG store - hardly something that "does not inspire confidence"... I hope @Oathbreaker found what they were looking for, shame they walked away from the VTT with the best official Pathfinder Second Edition support out there.

[Trenloe]

Are there plans to convert the anniversary edition of Kingmaker to FG?
Sorry I missed this. I'm sure we'll look converting it. Timeline etc. will rely on a lot of things out of our hands, and also on it being *HUGE*!

[StevenP]

I'm sure this poster is long gone (their last time on the forums was basically to make this one post and leave - didn't even look at any response). But, for those who are here now - as of today we now have 22 PF2 Paizo products available in the store, vs. 5 in roll20. At the time of this poster's post (March 15th) there were 16 PF2 products in the FG store - hardly something that "does not inspire confidence"... I hope @Oathbreaker found what they were looking for, shame they walked away from the VTT with the best official Pathfinder Second Edition support out there.

And ive bought every single thing you all have put out.

[Trenloe]

And ive bought every single thing you all have put out.
Thank you!

[StevenP]

Thank you!

No thank you and the team. You arenphtting out some of the best FG modules I've seen. I will continue to support you and the team with every release.

[Bolstaf]

I'm sure this poster is long gone (their last time on the forums was basically to make this one post and leave - didn't even look at any response). But, for those who are here now - as of today we now have 22 PF2 Paizo products available in the store, vs. 5 in roll20. At the time of this poster's post (March 15th) there were 16 PF2 products in the FG store - hardly something that "does not inspire confidence"... I hope @Oathbreaker found what they were looking for, shame they walked away from the VTT with the best official Pathfinder Second Edition support out there.

Yes, it has been a frustrating wait but I would much rather wait until the product is good and in this case the final product quality was well worth the short delay. I would much rather wait until the product is good and useable. Well done!!!

[Milke]

FG has become an integral part of my PF2 experience. I'm grateful for the dedication of the team members.

[MaxAstro]

Sorry I missed this. I'm sure we'll look converting it. Timeline etc. will rely on a lot of things out of our hands, and also on it being *HUGE*!

Oh, that's awesome to hear. :D

I'm planning on running Kingmaker a second time but as an evil campaign when the 2e version comes out, and it's going to be my first fully-online game. Having Fantasy Grounds support for it would be a godsend.

[Larsenex]

Ok Illl bite.. what is Kingmaker?

[Trenloe]

Ok Illl bite.. what is Kingmaker?
https://lmgtfy.com/?q=kingmaker+pathfinder+2e ;)

[Raelysk]

Not sure if this is right place to ask - and sorry for a bit of necroposting.

Will official Bestiary NPCs have Abilities/Powers automated just as in SR Bestiary? As far as I understand, it is created by kind of same people, and it's kind of lame to buy Bestiary and see that it has less automation then unofficial SR :(
I can always simply copy powers here from SR, but it is not comfortable, really.

Would really like to have some answer.

[Trenloe]

Not sure if this is right place to ask - and sorry for a bit of necroposting.

Will official Bestiary NPCs have Abilities/Powers automated just as in SR Bestiary? As far as I understand, it is created by kind of same people, and it's kind of lame to buy Bestiary and see that it has less automation then unofficial SR :(
I can always simply copy powers here from SR, but it is not comfortable, really.

Would really like to have some answer.
Welcome to the FG forums.

To do what we want with NPC automation is taking quite a significant redesign of the ruleset code in the NPC records. If you noticed the change in ability format in release 14 (info here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?56227-PFRPG2-Ruleset-Release-14-April-14th-2020) - that was the first step in adding in NPC ability automation in a more manageable way for NPCs, both in the statblock and in the Combat Tracker.

It's still in the development phase, but it's coming along nicely. Soon it'll be ready for ShadeRaven to start entering in all the automation... The second time he's done it! Hopefully he keeps his sanity... :o

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=36165

[Surge]

That looks awesome!

[Raelysk]

Looks really great!

Thanks for quick answer, definitely want to see how it will be in more final version!

[MaxAstro]

Oh wow that is incredible. That's a much higher level of automation than I'd been expecting. The ability to tie an attack and an effect together like that in particular is awesome.

Is that something we might see for PCs at some point?

[Trenloe]

Is that something we might see for PCs at some point?
The syntax is a bit technical, so I don't know if it's such a good idea to have it on PCs. I think we'll probably keep the actions similar to what they are on spells, but have them on a separate actions tab. But a lot of this work I'm doing on NPCs will be re-used in PCs.

[Illian]

This may be common knowledge, but I just noticed this tonight...so thank you for making full trait descriptions available from monster stat blocks (when they are double clicked). PF2 normally requires searching around for infomation so much, that it can slow down play, and this helps a ton.