The Battlezoo Bestiary is the long-awaited effort of the 2020 RPG Superstar contest , in which hundreds of monster fans and aspiring designers submitted their most creative creature ideas to be judged by both professional RPG Designers and the community. Following the competition's extended hiatus, Paizo licensed the maker of the long-running Roll For Combat actual play podcast to run this hallowed contest, with the final result in front of your very eyes, the Battlezoo Bestiary!
Award-Winning Monsters! Hundreds of vile creatures were submitted to the contest, and after a rigorous voting process, the best of the worst were carefully selected and ranked by their awfulness -- it was sort of like a beauty contest... you know, but for monsters.
In the end, over 100 monsters were selected, winners were declared, and there was much rejoicing. But here at Roll For Combat, we weren't done. Oh no, not by a long shot, there was much work still to be done!
Refining the Monsters! Yes, these monsters were terrible. Yes, these monsters were awful. Yes, these monsters could kill you with their breath alone. But we wanted more. So we hired the half-man/half-monster RPG Developer Patrick Renie to give them that extra spit and polish and make them the nastiest monsters they could be. Plus, we invited the top five winners to expand their entries further, adding yet more beasts to their family of wickedness. In the end, the final count was 114 monsters of all shapes, sizes, and smells.
But wait there's more!
So you fight these monsters and then kill them, but then what? Doesn't that seem like a big waste having all that monster meat, just sitting in the sun, rotting away, feeding the flies? That's why we hired RPG Designer Mark Seifter , who was one of the leads on the development of Pathfinder Second Edition, to create... The Monster Parts System! This brand-new system allows you to create and upgrade all your gear with monster parts! Crafting Gear from Monsters! Do you want to make a flaming sword made from the teeth of a tyrannosaurus? Do you want to craft armor from the slag of a defeated iron golem? Do you want to add dragon wings to your armor and fly around like... well, like a dragon? Now you can!
The Monster Parts System allows players to create custom weapons, armor, shields, items, and gear from any monster , including home-brewed monsters! This system is future-proof and will work with nearly any expansion or 3rd party ruleset.
As your character levels up, you can continue to add new monster parts to your gear, increasing its power and gaining new powers and abilities.
The gear customization options are near-infinite, allowing you to add dozens of imbuing categories to your gear, such as acid, bane, chaotic, cold, evil, electricity, fire, good, lawful, positive, sonic, spell, sturdy, wild, plus many more!
Plus you can choose from three different paths when imbuing magic into your items! Choose Magic to allow your gear to cast new spells, choose Might to make your gear much stronger, or add wicked Technique to dish out nasty debilitating effects over time.
The possibilities and combinations are endless!
Best of all, Mark did all the math for you! Mark made easy-to-follow charts for your GM so they know exactly how to hand out those disgusting monster parts so that you can make super-cool new weapons, armor, shields, skill items, magic items, and more. Plus, since Mark knows his stuff, this system is balanced with the Pathfinder Second Edition and 5th Edition rules that you know and love. And boy is this system easy to use!
Step 1: Slay Monsters!
You already know how to do this! Go out there and kill those monsters dead!
Step 2: Gather Ingredients!
That monster isn't going to get any deader, so gather those valuable monster parts!
Step 3: Refine Item!
Now it's time to take those monster parts and create your awesome custom item! The only limit is your imagination!
Step 4: Imbue Item!
Oh boy, here comes the fun part! Imbuing allows you to add thousands of cool properties to your item! You can add dozens of different types of elemental damage to your weapons! You can put yet more armor on top of your existing armor! You can create amazing skill items and add bonus points to your core stats, skills, or even cast new spells!Oh boy, here comes the fun part! Imbuing allows you to add thousands of cool properties to your item! You can add dozens of different types of elemental damage to your weapons! You can put yet more armor on top of your existing armor! You can create amazing skill items and add bonus points to your core stats, skills, or even cast new spells! Monster Hunting Character Options . But we didn't stop there! Oh no, we kept going! We added new backgrounds for characters who REALLY want to get into the whole monster hunting thing! But the pi?ce de resistance is the two new archetypes/subclasses - the Monster Mage (Azure Mage) and the Vestige Hunter (Monster Hunter).
After all was said and done, inside the Battlezoo Bestiary you will find:
114 RPG Superstar monster s separated by copper, silver, gold, platinum, and the grand prize winners
The Monster Parts crafting system
Monster Parts Quick Start Guide for PCs
Monster Parts Quick Start Guide for GMs
Three different variations of the system to best fit your game - light, hybrid, and full
Detailed rules on how to gather ingredients from slain monsters
Detailed rules on how to refine monster parts into custom weapons, armor, shields, skill items, magic items, and more
Detailed rules on how to imbue your items with magical powers
24 imbuing categories
3 imbuing paths for each category - magic, might, and technique
New character backgrounds
2 new archetypes/subclasses - the Monster Mage and Vestige Hunter
New magic items based on the RPG Superstar monsters
150+ illustrations
Adapted for Fantasy Grounds by: Jason Platt
Requires: An active subscription or a one time purchase of a Fantasy Grounds Unity license and any ruleset. Compatible with Fantasy Grounds Unity
Screenshots may differ from what you see in-game based on the extension and ruleset you have loaded.
Owned by Skyscraper Studios, Inc. Copyright (C) 2022. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Released on February 23, 2022
Designed for Fantasy Grounds version 3.2.1 and higher.
