Monster Core for Pathfinder 2nd Edition Review!

[@FireBowProductions]

I like what they did with the Clay Effigy. Definitely fits in line with their "make it closer to the source material" goal.

[@HowItsPlayed]

Agreed!

[@shaundickey4598]

I do like that they made the low level play experience easier by adjusting creature statistics, it will definitely help newer player trying out the system.

[@TheRulesLawyerRPG]

Interestingly enough, that Sargassum Heap ability also seems to borrow from another monster that appears in D&D and PF2, the Yellow Musk Creeper (charming creatures with its pollen)!

[@HowItsPlayed]

Good catch!

[@MikeLemmons]

Appreciate the pathfinder 2 content review! It's cool to see some of these monsters return more to source materials.

[@jacobwilliams6545]

The book is beautiful! Got mine last week and have not left it alone for a day yet.

[@lettermania]

I have been waiting for your review. Have listened to others which make me get interested, i come to your videos for unbiased understanding hw this could influence my table.

[@HowItsPlayed]

This is a brief one, so I hope it gives you what you need! If not, feel free to share any questions you have about the book.

[@travisbaggett2813]

I love all How It's Played videos!

[@HowItsPlayed]

Thanks so much!

[@misterwire1331]

I just started getting into Pathfinder this month and I've been looking forward to the remasters and the Starfinder 2e playtests.

[@benw.3848]

Thank you for this! I'm new to Pathfinder, and this sounds phenomenal. An immediate buy!

[@Classic_DM]

Great deep dive! Looking forward to getting hands on a copy.

[@Keovar]

In other remaster books, I've run into errors seemingly caused by rushed, incomplete edits. I get PDFs because they're more accessible to my low vision, but I'm also glad to have versions which can be updated! --- Example --- In the Cursed Items section of GM Core, the Cloak of Immolation is given as an example. Basically the cursed individual that wears it will catch persistent fire the next time they suffer fire damage. However, at the end of the entry, it says “Once the curse has activated for the first time, the boots fuse to you.”

[@CharlieDeux]

Great video, love your content. I agree, overall, Monster Core is a good value. Would have been helpful if they added clarification in the first few pages to rules that have commonly or are currently misunderstood and I do wish they would have split Player Core 1 and Player Core 2 differently. For example, putting all common rarity stuff in Player Core 1 and everything else in Player Core 2.

[@davidwilliams4837]

GREAT channel! PF2E is, BY FAR, my favorite system [I got hooked playing the Beginner Box with my children] due to balance and scalability. It just "makes sense" to me in a way D&D always left me wanting. The consistent "math" makes homebrewing much easier as I tend to write most of our adventures. Thank you. I do like the changes, for the most part, on the Remaster. I think they were needed due to Wizards OGL fiasco. And I've never liked alignment as a mechanic. One should be "true" to one's character, but the alignment system seemed more confining than DEFINING [to me]. I own the original Bestiaries and was not sure how I would feel about the redesign. Now, I see the reasons more. One can live stories in a world and even perhaps write about one's characters [my daughters are invested in their characters to that degree] without concern for the OGL issue. Paizo "gets it", despite the [usually paid, or ignorant] detractors [D&D cultists]. Once skeptical, I'm now excited for this book. Thank you!

[@toboraton]

Thanks for this video! It is great and i cant wait to watch the mext one!

[@marioaf27]

Do you know if the Foundry VTT bestiary tokens module will be updated?

[@TheFartKing87]

Most likely after the book is officially released. Probably take them a little bit to get everything updated similar to PC1 and GM core.

[@jackeldridge4225]

In the very beginning of 2e grab was always a bit of a head scratcher. Grab I always thought you make a skill check, Improved Grab meant you only had to hit

[@HowItsPlayed]

Improved meant that you didn't need to spend another action. Originally, Grab meant you could automatically grab the target, but it cost another action to do so.

[@DoubleCritFail]

Do you feel it's still worthwhile to buy if we own the original PF2e Bestiaries? The fact that many of the rethemed monsters seem different enough from their OGL monsters to be new monsters in and of themselves makes me think it might be. Is any of the material identical to what's been previously published? Or has every entry been modified?

[@HowItsPlayed]

I think that depends. If you're committed to running purely the remaster edition, then you might want Monster Core. If you feel good about continuing to use the Bestiaries, then you may not want to invest in Monster Core too.

[@jar8240]

I intend to use both. As far as I'm concerned , metallic and chromatic dragons still exist

[@DoubleCritFail]

@@jar8240That's what I'm considering, too.

[@RicardoPM777]

👏👏👏

[@Zixor_]

I’m curious if this book includes guidance for the GM on PC knowledge of monsters. If a PC had previously encountered a clay golem and succeeded at Recall Knowledge checks to learn about it’s spell invulnerability, the next time a remastered clay golem shows up should the GM give them the remaster changes for free or let them act on outdated monster knowledge?

[@HowItsPlayed]

No, I don't recall it providing such guidance but I believe GMs should feel comfortable deciding this. Technically, "Clay Golems" and "Clay Effigies" are not the same. Clay Golems didn't "turn into" Clay Effigies within the narrative, but moving forward the official Paizo adventures won't be mentioning Clay Golems. If I had a player who had previously succeeded on Recall Knowledge with a Clay Golem, and they encountered a Clay Effigy, I'd probably tell them that it reminds them a lot of that golem they previous fought, but it's not identical.

[@KaZlos]

while the new designs are closer to folklore, its ashame some are lost their fanstastic twists though. I loved the original concepts of barghest or basilisk, and im defiently mixed about their redesigns.

[@adamkotucha6805]

Wait, what happened to barghest?

[@KaZlos]

@@adamkotucha6805 looks like a pitbull dog

[@RomLoneWolf23]

I just want a basic fire-breathing dragon. What's the best option for that in the new dragons?

[@Gibbons3457]

Diabolic dragons are the baseline big red fire breathing monsters now.

[@HowItsPlayed]

I think the easiest answer for that is to use the stats for Red Dragons as they're still valid and can be found through Archives of Nethys or PF Easy Tools. That said, Diabolic Dragons breathe hellfire, which may fit your needs too.

[@davidriggs538]

Why doesn't the Vordine (CR5 devil) do extra Spirit damage to PCs with the Holy trait? The Barbazu in Beastiary (CR5 devil) does an extra 2d6 Evil damage. I'm running Abomination Vaults and the cleric is sanctified Holy. But the Vordine doesn't do any extra damage if it attacks the cleric even though the cleric could do extra damage against the devil with the Holy/Unholy mechanic. I was expecting melee attacks from the Remastered fiends to do extra damage to targets against targets with the Holy trait. Strange.

[@icalculi]

is there a difference from bestiary 1-4 and this?

[@Enkidu659]

So did all metallic and chromatic dragons just disappear from Golarion? or are they like Drow where its "dont worry, theyre still there, well just never mention or acknowledge them again!"

[@HowItsPlayed]

No, nothing "disappeared". They're just not going to appear in future published adventures.

[@yuven437]

It bother me that diabolic dragon has weakness to Holy, but the Empyreal dragon soes not have weakness to Unholy :/

[@jeffreykershner440]

I wish they had left the name Golem on those constructs. My players know the general idea behind Golems just from hundeds of uears qorth of folklore. I thought those names were safe from copywrite issues.

[@zachariahmerry2396]

The change of golem names wasn't a change for legal reasons, but one from the suggestions of sensitivity consultants.

[@Wunder]

I’m curious how you can say it’s a polished and refined product while also stating that errata is already coming for a product that isn’t even available for purchase digitally yet! $20 is a reasonable price and I am curious about picking it up but I can’t help but wonder if they could have structured this remaster in a more digestible way. At least playing primarily online, it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster with foundry, archives and other places all handling it differently and at slightly different times. I’m sure a year or two down the road it will be water under the bridge but for now it is a bit of an annoying problem

[@jar8240]

I dislike not grouping golems and making things cuter. I understand why they ditched alignment, but the only problem with alignment was people being too stringent in their interpretation.

[@louisbabycos106]

Someone needs to have a supplement for players to play monsters as PC characters.

[@melorbode]

My problem with Paizo has always been they play 'theater of the mind' and never play real pathfinder rules. So plague stone has part of it's first encounters what I call the weed whacker encounter that will kill the entire party if you are not careful. They have writers that never play as well. They don't know how to play pathfinder and you can watch official games and see they don't know how to even handle darkness or the perception checks. So the grab thing has always been a bit harsh to me. Also if you get a crit result the monster pinns? So they way it works now I don't get, does the monster have to expend a second action to do the grab? HELP ME

[@CraigSteinhoff]

Grab with no athletics is just strength?

[@HowItsPlayed]

Yes, but if a creature has Grab as a key part of one of their attacks, then they likely should have some proficiency with it. In all likelihood these creatures were not given an Athletics score in the original version because there was not a perceived need for it, whereas now there is a need for it. So, likely, they should get their level added as a bonus plus trained/expert/master.

[@jar8240]

I'll probably just keep grab as automatic for monsters if there is no athletics entry

[@weylins]

I see requiring an Athletics check and some monsters not being Trained or higher with it as allowing more variation.... some creatures may be even better at Grab than they are at a regular attack, and some may be poor at their Grab but hit much more often, meaning they can make that check more regualry.

[@Olimar92]

The Dragons are not based on the Magic Traditions, just vaguely connected.

[@commenter1430]

That's what I thought originally, but it does look like based on the pages shown here that the dragons are very much linked to the arcane traditions. For example, not only does it refer to the fortune dragons as and "arcane dragon" in both the diabolic and fortune dragon it marks the dragons with the spell school tag they are associated with.

[@eamk887]

No, they are categorized between the magic traditions, it makes it clear in the book.

[@artpaul8909]

Poor artwork and White pages. The artwork is really kind of bland. Lots of average to below artwork. Yeesh Look at the ghoul with the sword behind his hand, which is obviously done on a computer and the sword cut and pasted. This is a time where computer generated artwork is fantastic and becoming better and better. I dont know the artists and if they dont up their game i certainly dont care if they are replaced for superior imagery. Using white pages is just a personal pet peeve as it is harsh to look at, could they not just put a bit of beige in the page to make them less harsh. Great book otherwise. Just up the game on the artwork Paizo, Images are crucial to insperation and they are dropping the ball. I know everyone will get defensive at me attacking their beloved game but really, how else do you demand better. Dont believe me just go to pintrest and check out all the new computer imagery there posted and usable for free.

[@louisbabycos106]

They aren't Boris Vallejo. Bring sexy female monsters back .