Hello, and welcome back to d20diairies! August 2019 is a crazy month for d20 releases, so buckle up! We’re in for one exciting ride!
Dungeons & Dragons
Although there’s no big D&D releases this month, highlights from last month include the first two releases in the Young Adventurer’s Guide line: Monsters & Creatures and Warriors & Weapons! Both of my kids are huge fans of these books. For more information check out our review on the Young Adventurer’s Guides here.
Pathfinder
Last month marked the finale of the Tyrant’s Grasp Adventure Path with Pathfinder Adventure Path 144: Midwives to Death by John Compton. This was the final Pathfinder First Edition adventure to be released. But, as First Edition comes to an end, Second Edition begins. And WOW, there is a LOT of Pathfinder Second Edition products coming out this month!
First and foremost: The Core Rulebook (also available in a Deluxe Edition). This massive 638 page tome contains (almost) everything you need to get started playing Pathfinder Second Edition. With a highly intuitive gameplay system, and incredibly varied character development choices that can be made at every level, Pathfinder Second Edition is shaping up to be absolutely awesome. We’ve just finished reading the rules and can’t wait to get started playing some mini-adventures. GMs, like myself, will also need one other book to play: Bestiary! The Bestiary (also available in a Deluxe Edition) is 357 pages long and contains over 400 creatures with dynamic and diverse abilities. Coming out later this month is another hardcover I’m particularly excited for, Pathfinder Lost Omens World Guide, which advances Golarion’s timeline ten years and shows us what’s happening throughout ten mega-regions of the Inner Sea Region. There’s plenty of changes coming, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us.
It may be new, but there’s already plenty of exciting Third Party Publisher releases for Pathfinder Second Edition. Although we haven’t had a chance to read many, below are a few we’re particularly excited for.
Everybody Games
Everybody Games has two issues of their ‘Files for Everybody’ line out. Issue 1: Nashi, by Alex Augunas, brings raccoon-folk to Second Edition, while Issue 2: Acrobatics Feats, by Dustin Knight, contains ten new General Acrobatics Skill feats.
Fat Goblin Games
Fat Goblin Games has two great looking products already out. Fellow Travellers: Animal Companions by Taylor Hubler contains over fifty new animal companions, while Game Changer: Alchemical Tools by Matt Roth contains over one hundred new or expanded alchemical tools from levels one through twenty.
Rusted Iron Games
Rusted Iron Games recently launched Tombstone, a gritty alternate history wild west setting compatible with Pathfinder Second Edition rules that pits PCs against monsters, magic, and The Blight, a terrifying infection from beyond the stars. A mixture of western, fantasy, and occult horror, it’s shaping up to be a fun and quirky twist on RPGs. Current releases in this line include Ancestries of Tombstone: Chupacabra by Joshua Hennington, Ancestries of Tombstone: Jackalope by Jacob W. Michaels, and Ancestries of Tombstone: Rougarou by Dennis Muldoon, all of which are available on DriveThruRPG. Upcoming releases include more ancestries, and class feats. My daughter has decided to make at least five jackalope characters — one for each heritage — so my PDF is proving well worth the money.
And finally, WizKids! This month saw the launch of the Pathfinder Battles: Legendary Adventures Preview Pack, an 8 miniature sneak peak of the upcoming Pathfinder Battles: Legendary Adventures miniatures. Later this month D&D: Icons of the Realms: Baldur’s Gate: Descent in Avernus is scheduled to launch! This set of random booster boxes features 45 different plastic pre-painted miniatures.
And that’s what we’re touching on this month! Got a favourite release? I’d love to hear about it!
Early in July I participated in a mini-competition on Freelance Forge (a very welcoming private forum for freelancers in the tabltetop RPG industry that I highly recommend aspiring freelancers join!) that challenged participants with creating a Starfinder creature themed around the phrase ‘Red, White, and BOOM!’ — a topic meant to bring to mind Independence Day but, as a Canadian, I immediately thought of Canada Day (happily they both involve fireworks! Haha). The goal of the competition is not to win, but to get inspired, practise making creatures, and to give and receive feedback on each others creations, so that we improve our skills. It was a lot of fun — both the act of creating, and getting to read everyone else’s entries. With the competition over I decided to incorporate some of the feedback I received and post my newly-polished, explosive little creature on d20 diaries.
Introducing… the scintrix!
SCINTRIX
CR 5 XP 1,600
CN Medium fey Init +5; Senses low-light vision; Perception +11
DEFENSE HP 70; RP 4 EAC 17; KAC 19 Fort +9; Ref +9; Will +4 Defensive Abilities vanishing trick
STATISTICS
Str +3; Dex +5; Con +1; Int +0; Wis +1; Cha +2 Skills Acrobatics +11, Stealth +16, Survival +11 Languages Common, Sylvan Other Abilities aglow, compression
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Aglow (Ex) A scintrix increases the light level by one step out to a radius of 10 feet. This glow is suppressed while the scintrix is invisible.
Brilliant Bolt(Su) As an attack, a scintrix can shoot a brightly colored bolt of energy from its body at a single target, which explodes upon impact in a shower of sparkling rainbow-hued light. This attack has a range increment of 60 ft. and the aurora weapon special property.
Explosive Entrance(Su) A scintrix that uses its bite attack while under the effects of vanishing trick reappears with an explosive bang and a flash of scintillating colors. Any creature within 10 feet, other than scintrix, must succeed at a DC 13 Fortitude save or be blinded for 1d3 rounds; on a successful save the creature is instead dazzled for 1d3 rounds.
Vanishing Trick(Su) As a standard action a scintrix can cause its body to disappear, leaving only its eyes and mouth visible. This functions as if the scintrix were invisible. The scintrix can maintain this invisibility as long as they desire, though it ends immediately if the scintrix attacks, sleeps, falls unconscious, or dies. By spending 1 Resolve Point, a scintrix can instead activate vanishing trick as a move action.
ECOLOGY
Environment any forest, jungle, or plains
Organization solitary, pair, or flare (3–7)
Scintrix are the fey embodiment of shock, surprise, and sudden excitement – a burst of vibrant energy given life and shifting form. At home in forests, jungles, and plains, throughout the universe, scintrix are most commonly found on planets with particularly vibrant colors, wild magic, unpredictable weather, or thin planar boundaries. Where nature, physics, or magic defy logic, scintrix are sure to appear.
Scintrix are animalistic quadrupeds with a stocky, thick-set body, gleaming eyes, and a wide grinning mouth filled with white sharp teeth. Their bodies are a kaleidoscope of brightly colored, shifting streaks of light that crackle and burst with energy. Only their eyes, mouth, paws, the tips of their short, pointed ears, and the ends of their frazzled, bushy tail remain stable. Despite appearing as bursts of light and color, the body of a scintrix is squishy and pliable, capable of squeezing through spaces much smaller than their size suggests.
Cunning and clever, with an appetite for fun as well as meat, scintrix are pranksters that take great glee in surprising their prey before devouring them. Stealth hunters, scintrix can become unnaturally quiet and still at a moment’s notice, vanishing from sight almost completely, with only their eyes and mouth remaining visible. They stalk their prey, leaping out to attack only when their prey is completely unaware. Their appearance is marked by a loud bang, blinding flash of light, and bursts of scintillating color.
Vain and talkative, scintrix prefer to hunt intelligent beings. Playful, they enjoy toying with their food, bursting in and out of a fight with crackling laughter, only to vanish and surprise their prey again later. When faced with particularly entertaining prey, scintrix are known to draw their hunts out over weeks, engage their foe in conversation, or take their prey captive as pets. Unfortunately for such prisoners, scintrix are easily bored.
My kids love playing roleplaying games and, on occasion, they take the time to create monsters, locations, and adventures of their own. Yesterday I shared a critter created by my son for the Tails of Equestria: Storytelling Game called Mini Notes. Today, we’re taking a look at a creature made by my daughter: Sky Bunnies!
Tails of Equestria is a family-friendly RPG that’s accessible, engaging, and fun to play. Based on the popular My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic television show, Tails of Equestria emphasizes teamwork, kindness, and friendship. For more information on Tails of Equestria check out this blog post.
Sky Bunnies
Body: D6 Mind: D4 Charm: D4 Stamina: 10
Talents: Consume (D8), Fly (D8)
Quirks: Animal
Cute and cuddly but vicious, the nimble sky bunnies dance from cloud to cloud. They are constantly hungry and even though they love to eat ponies best they’ll swoop down from the sky and eat everything they see! They move around a lot, flying off to new places as soon as food or animals are running out.
My daughter hopes you love her ‘vicious cutie pie.’
Thanks for stopping by!
Jessica
(and family)
UPDATE:My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria has officially adopted my daughter’s Sky Bunnies for their Creature Feature!
My kids love playing roleplaying games and, on occasion, they take the time to create monsters, locations, and adventures of their own. Over the next two days we’re going to share a pair of critters they created for Tails of Equestria: Storytelling Game, a family-friendly RPG that’s accessible, engaging, and fun to play. Based on the popular My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic television show, Tails of Equestria emphasizes teamwork, kindness, and friendship. For more information on Tails of Equestria check out this blog post.
Today we’re showing off my son’s creation. He’s hopes you enjoy it!
Mini Notes
Body: – Mind: D8 Charm: D4 Stamina: 6
Talents: Teeny Tiny (D6), Creative flair: music (D6), Special skill: dancing (D6)
Quirks: Unliving
Special: Must sing instead of speak
Mini Notes are tiny creatures that love to sing and dance. Especially brainy, they are quick, clever, and always sing instead of speak. Their love of music usually brings them to towns and cities with lots of music and festivals. In the wild they are often found near birds or whales.
He’s very proud.
Thanks for stopping by!
Jessica
(and family)
UPDATE:My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria has officially adopted my son’s Mini Notes for their Creature Feature!
A new series of Dungeons & Dragons books aimed at children is scheduled to launch next week and we are absolutely thrilled to be in possession of advance copies of these delightful new books, which we’re going to share with you today!
The Dungeons & Dragons Young Adventurer’s Guide series is written by Jim Zub, Stacy King, and Andrew Wheeler. The series begins with two simultaneous releases on July 16th, 2019: ‘Monsters and Creatures’ and ‘Warriors and Weapons.’ There are two more books in development that are scheduled to be released in Fall 2019 (Dungeons & Tombs: A Young Adventurer’s Guide) and Spring 2020 (Wizards & Spells: A Young Adventurer’s Guide) and, if they’re popular enough, there may be more beyond that in the future. The D&D Young Adventurer’s Guide series is intended for middle-grade readers (ages 8-12) and meant to inspire these young readers to read, write, create, imagine, and of course, play D&D. The American cover price for each of the books is $12.99, with the Canadian cover price $17.50. Each book is 105 pages long.
Before we take an in depth look at each of the books individually, let’s talk first impressions…
These books look and feel great! They have high quality hard covers, sturdy glossy pages, tons of unique full colour art, and a design aesthetic that’s in line with the adult D&D releases. These books feel like they’re a part of the Dungeons & Dragons line — which is absolutely awesome! It makes my kids feel like these books are just as important as the rest of our D&D books, which in turn makes them feel included and a part of the hobby.
Taken on their own, the Young Adventurer’s Guides have a nice layout, easy to read text, beautiful art, and are well organized. They’re approachable, interesting, engaging, and clearly written for kids, but, at the same time, the books don’t talk down to the reader. These books are written with care, and meant to provide younger audiences an easy to understand introduction to the world of roleplaying games and storytelling, as well as inspire them to make the world and stories their own.
I have two children, a seven year old girl and an eight year old boy, making them on the young end of the intended audience for these books. Both of my kids have very good reading comprehension for their age. That said, both of my kids thoroughly enjoyed these books. My son had no problem reading the books and seemed to understand everything he read. My daughter, understandably, had more trouble, having to sound out a tricky word or two with each flip of the page, and often asking for definitions of words. Despite this, she was fully engaged with reading the books, and never got frustrated. As is typical with many fantasy books, the trickiest words are fictional names of characters and places. While many kids will stumble over these words once or twice before internalizing them, just as many will skip over them and move on. My son didn’t come across any content that he found inappropriate or too mature for him, while my daughter came across a few creatures she decided were a little ‘too spooky’ for her right now, so she skipped those pages and continued on enjoying the rest of the book. Considering the age and reading abilities of my kids, I think these books are well suited to the middle-grade reader level they’re advertised as. My kids loved them, and they definitely have room to grow with the books. We haven’t had them long and already my kids have read and re-read them more than a few times. They’ve already started utilizing information they picked up from the books in their play, storytelling, roleplaying, and gaming. These are the sort of books my kids get a ton of use out of, coming back to them often, and using different sections for inspiration at different times.
It’s important to note that these books are NOT a replacement for the D&D Player’s Handbook or the Monster Manual. The Young Adventurer’s Guides do NOT contain game mechanics or rules. They lay out the major concepts, roles, gear, and monsters in a way that is easy to understand, approachable, and engaging. They’re meant to inspire creativity, without overwhelming readers with rules. I highly recommend this series for for any kids who love adventure, fantasy, horror, monsters, roleplaying, storytelling, or who have exposure to RPGs.
Monsters & Creatures: A Young Adventurer’s Guide is an illustrated guide to the many beasts of Dungeons & Dragons. Featuring one-of-a-kind entries for some of its most memorable monsters, and over 60 brand new illustrations, this book is sure to ignite the imagination of young readers. This book begins with a short, one page introduction which gives the book some context and explains the books ‘Danger Levels,’ which is a 0-5 point scale meant to show how tough a creature is. Although similar to Challenge Ratings in D&D, these numbers are NOT equivalent. Beginning at 0, which denotes a creature that is essentially harmless, moving on to 1, which is an acceptable challenge for low-level or beginning adventurers, and ending at 5, which is a difficult challenge for high level heroes. There is one Danger Level higher than this: EPIC, which denotes a creature so powerful only the most legendary heroes could hope to triumph over it.
The creatures in this book are sorted by the regions they call home, beginning with underground creatures, which are found in ‘Caverns & Dark Places,’ moving up onto the surface with ‘Forests, Mountains, & Other Terrain’ dwelling creatures (which also includes a special sub-chapter on giants of all kinds). Following this is ‘Moors, Bogs, and Boneyards,’ a chapter which primarily focuses on undead creatures with a special sub-chapter on vampires, and ‘Oceans, Lakes & Waterways,’ which is packed full of aquatic creatures. Finally, airborne monsters can be found in ‘Mountain Peaks & Open Sky,’ which also contains a special sub-chapter on dragons. Each monster profile contains information on the size of each beast, its danger level, and tips for how to survive an encounter with one. There’s also lore, special abilities and powers, typical tactics, and a handy list of do’s and don’ts for dealing with these beasts. Finally, new art! This book is packed full of it!
Monsters & Creatures also features encounters, which are short, one page stories that introduce a famous D&D character, place them in a perilous situation involving one of the described creatures, and then ends, leaving each opening scene with a cliffhanger ending. Following this is questions that ask the reader what they think the characters should do next, what would happen in response to those actions, and what the characters should do afterwards. These encounters are meant to guide kids to roleplay their own endings to exciting stories, and question the ramifications of their actions. This problem-solving is a great way to introduce kids to RPGs as both a player and DM.
The book ends with a short chapter on how to use monsters to tell stories, and important questions to contemplate for kids who decide to make stories or engage in RPGs on their own. Things like, ‘who are your characters,’ ‘where does your story take place,’ ‘how do things change as the story proceeds,’ and so on. Finally, there’s a short blurb about Dungeons & Dragons, and how to get into the game.
So what creatures, exactly, are featured in Monsters & Creatures? Plenty! ‘Caverns & Dark Places’ includes the beholder, bugbear, carrion crawler, flumph, goblin, mind flayer, myconid, and the legendary Demogorgon. ‘Forests, Mountains & Other Terrain’ includes the centaur, displacer beast, owlbear, sprite, treant, unicorn, hill giant, stone giant, frost giant, fire giant, cloud giant, storm giant, and the legendary fire giant Duke Zalto. ‘Moors, Bogs & Boneyards’ includes the banshee, skeleton, vampire lord, vampire spawn, and the legendary vampire Count Strahd Von Zarovich. ‘Oceans, Lakes & Waterways’ includes the aboleth, dragon turtle, and merrow. ‘Mountain Peaks & Open Sky’ includes the griffon, pegasus, white dragon, green dragon, black dragon, blue dragon, red dragon, and the legendary Tiamat, Queen of Evil Dragons! Encounters are included for the frost giant, green dragon, myconid, skeleton, and unicorn. My son most enjoyed reading about unicorns, flumphs, blue dragons, and vampires. My daughter most enjoyed reading about the beholder, flumph, dragon turtle, dragons, and Tiamat. My daughter also came across a few creatures that she decided, either from the art or after reading the first few sentences, were ‘too spooky’ for her. She promptly skipped those monsters and moved on with the book. The monsters she skipped were the carrion crawler (she’s afraid of bugs), the aboleth (she thought it looked creepy), and the mind flayer (it had a giant brain behind it and she was pretty sure she didn’t want to know why).
The verdict:
As an adult reader, I was pleasantly surprised with the array of creatures featured in this book. There’s a lot of iconic monsters in here, a ton of fantasy staples, and some quirky creatures that most kids will be discovering for the first time. Some of the choices were a bit gutsy for a kids book — the mind flayer and demogorgon, for example — but I’m thrilled to see them included. I’m pleased to see that not all of the monsters are evil creatures, there’s plenty that can be befriended or negotiated with. The information included in the monster entries is absolutely wonderful. There’s integral information, great advice, and enough engaging descriptions to get my kids interested and curious. The encounters were a definite highlight of the book, as was the beautiful new artwork found throughout. The book is high-quality and sturdy, which is important since our copy is sure to take a beating. I’m far from the intended audience for this book, but I really enjoyed reading it. Even more than that, I loved sharing this book with my kids. I loved watching them discover and wonder over the creatures inside. Monsters & Creatures is a refreshing new take on the world and lore of D&D, sure to delight young readers, spark their imagination, and inspire them to tell stories of their own. Cover to cover it’s great fun.
My daughter: “I loved this book. It was fun to read and the pictures were beautiful! I give it two thumbs up! I think I will read it again and again. I really loved the flumph! It was the best creature in the book. That’s what I think.”
My son: “I think that I love this book. All kinds of kids should read it. I think most would love it, too! Especially if they already like D&D and RPGs and things. I think that it is fun and I’m going to read it a lot!”
“Monsters & Creatures is a refreshing new take on the world and lore of D&D, sure to delight young readers, spark their imagination, and inspire them to tell stories of their own. Cover to cover it’s great fun.”
Warriors & Weapons: A Young Adventurer’s Guide is an illustrated introductory guide to the many kinds of warriors you can create in Dungeons & Dragons, along with the weapons, armour, and adventuring gear that they’ll make use of. Featuring one-of-a-kind content and over sixty new illustrations, this book gives young adventurers the information and inspiration they need to create their own characters.
Warriors & Weapons begins with a quick introduction that makes it clear that this book is meant to help the reader and their friends make characters of their own. The rest of the book is divided into three major sections: fantasy races, character classes, and equipment. There’s a large array of fantasy races covered in this book — most I expected to see included, but a few were surprises that I knew of but didn’t expect to make the cut. Each race is covered in two side-by-side pages. It starts with new art and a few questions that can help kids figure out if they’ll like playing that race. You’ll also find information on their age, size, attributes, and a few paragraphs about the race and how they act or fit into the world. The races included in this book are human, dwarf, elf, gnome, half-elf, half-orc, halfling, dragonborn, kenku, tabaxi, tiefling, and tortle.
Warriors & Weapons is a book about warriors. It should come as no surprise then, that not all of the character classes are covered in this book. The martial classes are included. That means there are six classes covered in the chapter on classes: barbarian, fighter, monk, paladin, ranger, and rogue. Each class entry contains a few questions that can help kids figure out if they would enjoy making a character of that class, information on the class, its major low level abilities, and the weapons, armour, and gear they’re capable of using. Many also include information on the various archetypes, paths, and specializations available to those classes. After each class entry is a two page spread that takes a look at a famous example of that character class. These ‘legendary heroes’ include Wulfgar the Warhammer, Bruenor Battlehammer, Whey-Shu, Redclay, Minsc the Mighty, and Shandie Freefoot. The class section also includes a little flowchart that can tell kids what class they’re most like, and a short section on character backgrounds, attire, details, inspiration, and flaws.
The Equipment section takes a quick look at weapons (swords, polearms, other melee weapons, ranged weapons, and special weapons), armour (light, medium, heavy, and shields), survival gear, adventuring gear, tools, and some special packs for more specialized endeavours (burglar’s pack, dungeoneer’s pack, explorer’s pack, and vampire hunter’s pack). All of the weapon and armour entries talk about the pros and cons of utilizing items of that types, and showcases a few popular versions. The other equipment entries talk about the purpose of different kinds of gear, being prepared for your adventures, and why selecting the right equipment for your character is important. Finally, this section also contains a quick monster entry about the terrifying… rust monster!
The book ends with a few comments about how you can use your characters to tell stories of your own, and a quick blurb about Dungeons & Dragons and how to get involved in the game. Most of the information on these back few pages is the same as that contained at the end of Monsters & Creatures.
The verdict:
My kids both adored this book. They love flipping through the races and classes, answering the questions, and making up characters. My daughter particularly enjoys the flowchart that helps you pick out the class you’re most like, and has spent a lot of time making up her own quizzes to determine our race and class. She often sits down beside me, flips open her book, and announces, “Mama! Pick a race!” I cannot stress enough how much she enjoys using this book to make characters and character concepts. My son really enjoys reading about the legendary heroes, with both of my kids agreeing Minsc the Mighty and his hamster Boo are the coolest characters in the book. (I’m pretty sure Boo the hamster would win in a popularity contest between the two of them around here, haha). When it comes down to it, I think they enjoy the sections on races and classes more than the section on equipment. Warriors & Weapons is, without a doubt, a book that has sparked my kid’s imaginations. It’s inspired them to create characters, make stories, and share their ideas with the people around them. With a few flips of the page they imagine themselves heroes. And what could be better than that? This book is sure to have a place on my kids’ bookshelves for years to come.
My daughter: “I loved this book! Especially the little chart! It’s so much fun! It was a great book and I give it two thumbs up!”
My son: “Warriors & Weapons was pretty much as good as Monsters & Creatures, but I liked Monsters & Creatures better. I love how it lets you make your own characters with races and classes. The legendary characters were the coolest part. Especially Whey-Shu and Boo.”
“Warriors & Weapons is, without a doubt, a book that has sparked my kid’s imaginations. It’s inspired them to create characters, make stories, and share their ideas with the people around them. With a few flips of the page they imagine themselves heroes. And what could be better than that? This book is sure to have a place on my kids’ bookshelves for years to come.”
My family and I had an absolute blast with these books. Monsters & Creatures and Warriors & Weapons have both been read a lot by my kids, and I expect them to continue to see heavy use in the future. My kids have already decided they would each like their own copies, so they’re saving up their money to pick up an extra copy of each book. We’re very excited to hear there’s more Young Adventurer’s Guides on the horizon, and will definitely be picking up a copy (or two) of Dungeons & Tombs and Wizards & Spells when they come out.
We’d like to give a special thanks to Penguin Randomhouse Canada for sending us advance copies for review.
Thanks for stopping by d20diaries! We’ll chat again soon.
Today on d20 Diaries we’re taking a peek between the covers of one of the wonderful new products that came out at the end of last year: Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Construct Handbook. If you’re a follower of this blog you’ll know this was a book I was thrilled to get my hands on this past holiday season, and I was not disappointed.
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Construct Handbook is a thick softcover book that is 64 pages long. Although the Pathfinder Campaign Setting line typically contains world lore (for all players) and some extra material for GMs, this book is a bit different. Equally geared at both players and GMs, it contains detailed rules on creating constructs, class archetypes, magic items, and a lot of new golems and golem templates. The cover features some atmospheric artwork by Ignacio Bazán Lazcano, which depicts the iconic arcanist Enora giving commands to her adamantine golem, as it battles a quantium golem. (Talk about epic career goals! Haha).
The front inside cover shines a light on some famous construct innovators, providing an image and a paragraph of information on each. The crafters showcased are Sidrah Imeruss, founder of the Technic League and an expert in the robots of Numeria; Toth Bhreacher, founder of the prestigious Golemworks in Magnimar; and Hadia Al-Dannah, a world renowned Qadiran mathematician, former scholar of the Clockwork Cathedral in Absalom, and expert on clockwork construction. The information is brief but lends a face to the construct trade, which is really nice. It also serves to give any characters interested in crafting golems a famous mentor or role model to live up to. A nice bit of fluff and backstory for any characters interested in seizing it.
Icons of Construct History: Sidrah Imeruss, Toth Bhreacher, and Hadia Al-Dannah.
After that we have the table of contents, and then we hop right into the introduction. In addition to touching on what’s going to be in this lovely little tome, the introduction also discusses how the general populace of Golarion views golems and their crafters (both positives and negatives), and the difficulty in obtaining appropriate raw materials to craft a golem (which can often become an adventure in and of itself!). The Construct Handbook primarily focuses on clockworks, golems, and robots, but explains that there are may other kinds of constructs. For each of these major kinds of contracts it doesn’t touch upon, it contains a paragraph of information that lets you know where those constructs were first introduced, how compatible they are with the templates in this book, and where you can look for further information on them (if applicable). Constructs mentioned in this way are animated objects, colossi, and homunculi.
Leaving behind the introduction we hop right into the first chapter: ‘Crafting Constructs.’ This section of the book is six pages long and is really, really useful for anyone who wants to make a construct. Not sure I can stress that enough! Haha. It starts by taking a look at every step in the construct crafting process and explaining it fully and clearly. That includes everything from the requirements, cost, and finding materials, to time, and skill checks. It then details other methods that you could use to craft a construct, such as the use of the infamous golem manuals, purchase, and theft. After that it talks about construct modifications, which were first introduced in Pathfinder RPG: Ultimate Magic. It offers four new basic modifications (I particularly liked the movement and resistances modifications) and six really cool new complex modifications (be sure to check out construct shelter, mind link, and self-repair).
The next chapter is six pages in length and contains eleven new archetypes. Some of these archetypes fell into expected themes: those that create or destroy constructs, but others I found quite surprising. My favourite archetype was definitely the clocksmith, a wizard archetype that falls solidly in the ‘create construct’ category. This delightful archetype lets you create a magical clockwork familiar in place of your regular familiar, and gives you craft construct as a bonus feat at level one instead of scribe scroll. In place their arcane school powers, clocksmiths gain a bonus on saving throws against effects created by constructs, and increase their effective spell level when casting spells that target constructs. At later levels they can tinker with their clockwork familiars, granting them eidolon evolutions. Super cool and thematic! I love it!
Other archetypes that fall solidly in the ‘create construct’ category include the construct caller, an unchained summoner archetype that allows your eidolon to be a construct; the cruorchymist, an alchemist archetype that gives up its poison abilities and mutagen to have a homunculus familiar which he can heal or alter on the fly with his own blood. Although I enjoy the construct caller, I find the cruorchymist is really rough on your CON score, with one ability dealing CON drain and another dealing CON damage to your character. Ouch!
A construct caller. Illustrated by Alyssa McCarthy. Art courtesy of Paizo Inc.
Of the archetypes that focus on destroying constructs, I found that I liked the construct saboteur best. This rogue archetype swaps out knowledge (dungeoneering) and knowledge (local) as class skills in exchange for knowledge (arcana) and knowledge (engineering). They gain arcane strike at first level instead of trap finding, and gain a special kind of ability called an arcane sabotage, which is essentially construct hindering rogue talents accessible only though this archetype. My favourite of the arcane sabotage options are diminish senses (which can blind a construct for a turn) and magic vulnerability (which replaces a construct’s magic immunity with spell resistance instead). Most of the arcane sabotage options also allow you to extend of bolster their effects by giving up any sneak attack damage that you would deal. Super cool!
I was pleasantly surprised by the Forgefather’s seeker paladin archetype that enables pious worshippers of Torag to destroy dangerous artificial creations. They can smite constructs, cut through their DR with ease, and, at level 20, they even have a chance to automatically destroy a construct with a single blow. Not only was this archetype really solid and thematic, it was not something I expected to see. Construct killing paladins? I like it! The final ‘construct killing’ themed archetype was an arcanist archetype called the arcane tinkerer.
After reading the archetypes in this chapter, another theme became apparent: archetypes that can hijack or otherwise assume control of enemy constructs. Here you’ll find the construct collector occultist archetype, and the voice of Brigh bard archetype. The voice of Brigh was an interesting archetype. They have the ability to effect constructs with their bardic performances, which is very cool. But, most of it’s offensive performances have changed so that they only effect constructs. Essentially this means that you can use your bolstering music on allies of all kinds, including constructs, but that your hindering ones, like dirge of doom, fascinate, and frightening tune can only affect constructs. It’s a balanced trade if you’re going to be facing off against or allying with constructs on a regular basis, but otherwise is a rather large negative. However, their new bardic performance, Brigh’s Spark, allows them to reanimate a destroyed construct and force it to fight on your behalf. Each round they use this performance the construct regains more hp, and if it ever reaches full hp before they stop performing, it remains animated and under their control for 24 hours. So worth it!
I rather enjoyed the construct collector, as well, particularly because it gives up my least used of the occultist abilities for some cool new powers. They sacrifice magic circles, outside contact, binding circles, and fast circles, for the ability to temporarily halt a constructs destruction and control it for a turn (at the cost of some mental focus). At higher levels this ability’s duration is extended to a few rounds, and then a few minutes. They also gain the ability to harvest parts from broken constructs, which hold a point of generic focus. They can use the generic mental focus stored in these parts to fuel their focus powers on a one-for-one basis, which renders the parts useless. A nice touch!
The last few archetypes are much less focused and more easily used in a wide variety of games. The engineer is an investigator archetype that creates mechanisms that can aid them in a specific task for a few minutes. These mechanisms cost an inspiration point to create, grant the inspiration dice to the check it was made for throughout its duration, and can be shared with allies. They also gain a bonus on identifying constructs and on engineering checks. The scrapper is a fighter archetype that scavenges the parts from armour or broken constructs and uses them to augment their own armour. How much the makeshift modifications help and last depend on how powerful their source was. I found that archetype one of the most surprising I read! Really wasn’t expecting it, but I like it! Finally, there’s the wild effigy, a shifter archetype whose aspects and wild shape take on the appearance and consistency of stone instead of flesh and blood.
Chapter three is four pages of magic items, all with a very strong construct theme. It’s mostly golem manuals, but eight other magic items exist as well. I particularly like the chirurgeon cube and the oculus of magnetic fury.
Which brings us to our last and largest chapter: the bestiary. This thing is a forty three pages long, making it well over half the length of the book. In this chapter you’ll find fifteen new constructs and nine construct templates (each of which includes one sample stat block). Five of these constructs are a new intelligent kind of construct with ties to the Jistka Imperium, called an automaton. There’s also four new clockworks, three new robots, and three new golems. My favourite new constructs were the champion automatons (who can grab an enemy in their pincers and then whack another enemy with them! Hahaha! I love it!), clockwork songbird, dragonhide golem, and sand golem. My favourite construct templates include the energized golem, haunted construct, and recycled construct.
A steam powered clockwork dragon created using the new steam powered template with a clockwork dragon as the base creature. Illustrated by Graey Erb. Art courtesy of Paizo Inc.
Which brings us to the end of Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Construct Handbook. Overall I really enjoyed this book. It’s got some cool archetypes and a lot of awesome new enemies. New beasties for your players to battle against is always a great investment as a GM, so it was worth my money based on creatures alone. It’s an invaluable book for anyone who want to get into construct crafting. That said, it is very tight on its theme. Chances are if you’re a player who isn’t planning on crafting constructs or playing in a construct heavy campaign, you won’t find much of use in this book. It should be noted that although I’ll get the most use out of this book (as a GM), all of my family — my husband and my two young children — read this book and got inspired by the class archetypes. The three of them are now begging me to make them a construct themed campaign. (Do we not have enough campaigns?! Pretty sure we do!). I suppose it’s more use for players than I thought! Haha.
All in all, we’re happy to have this lovely little book on our shelf!
Do you own the Construct Handbook? Got some favourite creatures from it or stories about construct crafting you want to share? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear about it!
Like previous Alien Archives this book is going to contain over a hundred aliens for allying with or fighting against, as well as over a dozen which can be used as player races. Starmetal dragons, living holograms, ‘body-snatching flayer leeches’ and irokirois from Osoro have all been confirmed to be in the book. Playable alien races include an intelligent swarm of tiny insects and a bioluminescent cephalopod.
As an added bonus Alien Archive 3 is going to contain some other player options and gear, which is a nice change of pace. Best of all? Rule for pets, mounts, and combatant creature companions! My daughters dreams have just come true. Haha.
Pre-order for Alien Archive 3 is scheduled to begin in August 2019.
For my birthday yesterday my family gifted me a wonderful book I’ve been itching to get my hands on: Starfinder Alien Archive 2! And what better way to celebrate than to share it with all of you? So today we’re taking a deep dive into the latest Alien Archive! Ready?
Alien Archive 2 is an awesome supplement book for the Starfinder Roleplaying Game. This book has a hardcover, and is 159 pages in length. It’s got an American cover price of $39.99, which means that if you’re Canadian (like myself), you’re looking at a cost of around forty-five to fifty dollars for the book online, or up to sixty in your local game store. It’s currently on sale for around $32 Canadian on that handy link I posted, so I highly recommend picking it up cheap while you can.
At it’s core, Alien Archive 2 is a book of monsters. You’ll find a ton of creatures to fight and ally with inside this book, as well as some new player races. The book is easy to use, adaptable, and well organized. It also has some new character options, like new spells, equipment, and feats, scattered amongst the monster entries.
The Alien Archive features lovely cover art by Remko Troost which depicts a glitch gremlin, a mi-go, and a trox. The inside front and back covers feature an image of the Pact Worlds. After that we come to the table of contents. Alien Archive 2 has sixty-five distinct monster entries inside it, many of which have more than one stat block or variation of that creature, making the actual number of foes inside larger than it seems (around one hundred and twenty-six by my count). Of these, sixteen are playable as character races. There are also three starships, and twenty-six template grafts.
Combatant
After the table of contents we reach the introduction. This is where we learn how the races are oriented, and how to read a stat block. While most of this is basic information that only a player new to d20 games will need to read, some of the information is quite important. Of course, all of this will be business as usual for owners of the first Alien Archive.
Expert
Each of the stat blocks inside the Alien Archive is sorted into one of three categories: combatants (which excels in physical combat), experts (who are most effective with skills), and spellcasters (who rely on spells or spell-like abilities). These categories are represented by an icon in the left margin. These images are easy to distinguish and provide a quick and easy way for GMs to realize the role each monster plays in combat, which makes it super easy to find the type of creatures your looking for, or to quickly discern a creature’s tactics.
Spellcaster
There’s also a few interesting things to note about the stat blocks themselves. Very few of the creatures inside have Resolve Points and none have Stamina Points. A creatures ability scores aren’t listed, instead, their stats show their ability modifiers. This is a simple change that will make it easier for GMs — especially new GMs — to handle unexpected situations (like unlisted skill checks) in combat. Not all of a creatures feats are listed in their entry. Instead, only feats that grant new combat options will be shown. Feats that grant static bonuses (like improved initiative, or skill focus) are already factored into the stat block and will not be listed anywhere at all. This really streamlines the stat blocks, and makes it easier to find important information fast. Similarly, not all of a creature or NPCs spells will be listed in a stat block. Instead, it only features their most powerful spellcasting options.
Every one of the bestiary entries in this book is two side-by-side pages long. These entries include information on the creature, where they’re found, their use throughout the Pact Worlds, and their society — if they have one. Many of the entries include more than one stat block on a theme. For example, the Forman entry gives us stats for a CR 7 taskmaster, along with a CR 10 myrmarch. Similarly, the akata entry features the both the akata and the void zombie, which are controlled by its parasitic offspring. Some entries include many stat-blocks (such as the herd animals, predators, and dinosaurs) or include simple grafts that can be added to a featured creature to make it into other versions (such as metallic and outer dragons). Many of the archive entries introduce new gear, rules, or consumables. My personal favourites include the arquand horns found on the arquand gazelle’s entry, the glass skin of the glass serpent, and the apocalypse solarian weapon crystals from the living apocalypse.
Armour made from a Glass Serpent
After this we come to the meat of the book: the aliens archive itself. There are a ton of cool creatures in this book, and even some that I wasn’t sure I’d like on first perusal, I ended up really enjoying. Some of my favourites you should check out include the squox, a CR 1/3 or 1 creature which is utterly adorable and makes a fabulous pet. I also adored the adaptable entries on dinosaurs, herd animals, and predators, each of which comes with a sample stat block for a creature of each size, followed by simple rules for how to make an innumerable combination of custom creatures of those types. It’s simple, incredibly useful, and has awesome art. LOVE IT. Glitch gremlins were a fun low level challenge I also really enjoyed, as were the akatas, which I’m thrilled to see included. For a great high-level challenge check out the calecor and the living apocalypse.
Mixed amongst the monster entries are sixteen playable races. Each entry features two different CR stat blocks representative of their race, a bunch of interesting information on their societies and home worlds, and a side bar which include the rules for playing them as a race. Although many of these were ‘humanoid shaped’, with arms and hands or some sort, there were some which were not, most notably the mollusk-like embri, and the silicon-based quorlu. This was just awesome to see, and I really enjoyed it! Some of the races and monsters from old Golarion were up for selection, including aasimar, tieflings, ghorans, hobgoblins, orcs, and trox, but many were brand new. I honestly loved a TON of these races, but my favourite new additions are damai, osharu, pahtra, and the wolf-like vlaka.
Curious about the playable races available in this book? Well, look no further! The Alien Archive includes:
Aasimar: celestial blooded humanoids you’ll find under ‘planar scion’
Bolida: armoured burrowing arthropods with a wide array of senses
Damai: pale, scrappy humanoids forced to hide underground from the colossi they share their world with
Embri: masked, mollusk like aberrations with a rigid social order secretly controlled by the forces of hell
Ghoran: delicious plant beings from Golarion who have terraformed their own planet-paradise and genetically split into two subraces: oaklings and saplings
Hobgoblin: tall, war-mongering, militaristic humanoids with faces similar in appearance to goblins
Kanabo: a red-skinned oni, which is a type of evil spirit given a physical form
Orc: strong humanoids conditioned as slave labour by the drow of Apostae
Osharu: slug-like creatures that view religion and science as intertwined
Pahtra: asexual cat-like humanoids that adore music and battle
Phentomite: agile humanoids acclimated to thin atmospheres and high altitudes that live on a broken planet
Quorlu: silicon based quadrupeds with tentacle arms and eyestalks capable of digging through earth and stone
Tiefling: fiendish blooded humanoids you’ll find under ‘planar scion’
Trox: large, chitinous, gentle humanoids that have been magically transformed since their time on Golarion
Uplifted Bear: intelligent, bipedal bears that you’ll find under ‘bear’
Vlaka: wolf-life humanoids from a dying world often born deaf or blind
Past the statistics for all those snazzy new aliens we come to the Appendixes, of which there are eleven. Appendix One contains two pages of creature subtype grafts and Appendix Two contains two and a half pages of environmental grafts. Appendix Three contains rules for the polymorphing creatures. This section is around seven pages long and frankly, feels quite complicated to me. Definitely not something my kids could use. Appendix Four contains all of the universal creature special abilities. Appendix Five, Six, and Seven are very short, sorting the creatures in the Alien Archive 2 by CR, type, and terrain. Appendix Eight lists the template grafts and the pages they can be found on, while Appendix Nine lists the new character options and gear and the pages they can be found on. Appendix Ten contains a chart of average vital statistics for all playable races from Alien Archive, Alien Archive 2, and for the Legacy Races from the Starfinder Core Rulebook. Finally, Appendix Eleven is a list of the playable races and their page numbers.
That’s it. We’ve come to the end of the Alien Archive 2.
And what did I think?
In short: I loved it. Alien Archive 2 is packed full of a wide array of monsters and cool races. Many of the stat blocks are highly adaptable, there’s plenty of new templates and grafts that help with monster creation, summon spells, and polymorph. There’s content in here for players and GMs. I’m supremely happy to own Alien Archive 2, and highly recommend it to fans of Starfinder!
Want a sneak peek at some of the playable races? Check out the image below! Got a favourite creature from Alien Archive 2? let me know in the comments!
Just the other day we took a look inside the covers of the Starfinder Roleplaying Game: Alien Archive. I shared some of my favourite creatures, spoke about what the book contains, and touched on the easy and adaptable monster and NPC creation process. My children and I tested out the creation system, and today, we’re going to share what they made in order to emphasize just how fun and easy it is.
Now, it should be noted, that my children are young. My daughter turned six last month, while my son turned seven last month. This means that if they can do it, you can do it.
Now, where to start?
The first step is the concept and CR. My daughter immediately decided to make a colossal rabbit which flies through space, firing laser beams from her eyes, breathing fire from her nose, and feeding off the electrical energy of space storms, starships, asteroids, and even other living beings. It’s quite big and strong, so she’s hoping to make it a CR 10 or so. And my son? He made radioactive robots! As their creators and their societies were destroyed by nuclear war, some of the robots survived the devastation. Damaged from the blast and the centuries that have passed since, these robots have broken chassis, exposed wiring, and scratched and dented frames. Their solar panels no longer work, but they absorbed a huge amount of radiation, and function on nuclear power, instead. He’s aiming for a lower powered monster, making it CR 3.
The next step is to choose the creature’s array, which is its role in combat. Although my daughter strongly debated changing around her concept to make her space rabbits spellcasters, in the end she stuck to her original concept, and made her space rabbits a combatant. My son chose the same. Once you know your array you check out the associated charts and get all of your statistics for the creature. We wrote these down, and got ready for the next step: selecting a creature type. My daughter’s space rabbits were going to be magical beasts, and didn’t need a subtype. This means they’ll be getting dark vision, low-light vision, +2 to Fortitude and Reflex saving throws, and +1 on attack rolls. Meanwhile, my son’s radioactive robots were going to be constructs, which grants his monster a -2 to all its saving throws, a +1 to its attack rolls, and some snazzy traits including darkvision and construct traits. They would also have the technological subtype, which didn’t add any new abilities.
The next step is adding a class graft, which neither of my children’s creations needed. Skipping this step meant we would next be adding any any other templates they desired, which they also both decided against.
The next step they found the most fun: selecting special abilities and your creature’s attack forms. Their array and CR will determine how many abilities they can choose. In addition, some abilities are free. It should also be noted that this number is a guideline, and can be altered as necessary to make your monster concept come to life. The special abilities you can select include things like feats, universal monster abilities, and statistic increases. You can also select abilities that show up in other stat blocks.
So what did they choose? Well, our space rabbits already have darkvision and low-light vision from being a magical beast, but my daughter was very intrigued with the idea of giving them blindsight (voltage), which would allow them to detect and see electrical fields to a range of 60 feet. If she did choose to add this, it would count as one special ability. Attacks are necessary to the creature, so the natural attacks it would receive (a piercing bite and laser beam eyes) would be free of charge. Other free abilities creatures receive is anything that they require to survive in their environments. For our space rabbits this means they need immunity to cold and a vacuum, as well as the no breath ability. Because of her CR she’d get a third immunity, so my daughter chose electricity.
Which brings us to our second special ability! Space rabbits would get a breath weapon which shoots out a super heated blast of energy–fired from their nose, of course! She also contemplated taking the swallow whole ability, but was undecided. This would be their third ability, if she chose to select it. And lastly, they’d need a supernatural fly speed so that they can move around in space. Luckily, movement speeds (within reason) are also free. That left her with three abilities. Her chart suggested having two, but, as mentioned, you can go over within reason (or under, for that matter). There was one other ability my daughter thought they needed: the ability to land upon and leave planets safely. After all, how could they escape a planet’s gravity with only a 60 ft. move speed…? We left my daughter to mull this over, and moved on to help my son.
So what did our radioactive robots need? Well, unlike the rabbits, they didn’t need any special abilities to survive in their environment, nor did they need a fancy move speed. Just walking was fine. As a construct, they would already have plenty of immunities and snazzy traits, so he didn’t want to add to that. The robot’s natural attacks would be a slam attack. Originally this would have done bludgeoning damage, but my son adores the idea of them broken and crackling with electricity, so he decided it does bludgeoning and electricity damage. He also gave it the arc critical ability. To represent that the robots are already broken open and damaged, he gave them a weakness: vulnerable to critical hits. The first special ability he knew he wanted to give them was an aura of radiation. Due to their minor CR, it would only be low level radiation, which he thought was a little disappointing–especially since they would be found on a radiated planet and the PCs would likely already have their armour’s environmental protections up (which would make them immune to low levels of radiation). We decided to revisit the radiation levels later, and continue on with planning. For their ranged attack, he decided that they would shoot out a beam of their internal nuclear energy–an attack against EAC which would deal fire damage. He wants them to explode upon destruction, so we gave them the self-destruct special ability, but we were torn on whether to make it deal fire or electricity damage–fire to represent their minor nuclear explosion, and electricity to represent their sparking, glitching exposed wiring. In the end we decided to make it deal fire. There was one other thing he wanted to make his robots do: spark with electricity when touched in melee combat. We decided that this would do only minor damage, just a single zap of damage to anyone touching them with a manufactured or natural melee attack. And that was it! He was happy.
From there we chose which skills each creature would be best with, a simple step which was over in a flash. Then you select spells and spell-like ability–if your monster has a spell casting class graft or a special ability which grants them casting. Neither of our creatures did, so all that was left was to put it together and check it over.
DEFENSE HP 165 EAC 23; KAC 25 Fort +14; Ref +14; Will +9 Immune cold, electricity, vacuum
OFFENSE Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft. (Su, good); thermal flight (speed 6; maneuverability good (turn 1)) Melee bite +21 (2d8+18 P plus swallow whole) Ranged eye lasers +19 (3d4+10 F) Offensive Abilities breath weapon (70 ft. cone, 11d6 F, DC 17, usable every 1d4 rounds), swallow whole (1d6+15 F, EAC 23, KAC 21, 41 HP) Space 30 ft.; Reach 20 ft.
STATISTICS Str +8; Dex +5; Con +3; Int –2; Wis +2; Cha +0 Skills Acrobatics +24, Intimidate +19, Survival +19 Languages Sylvan (can’t speak any language) Other Abilities no breath, thermal flight
SPECIAL ABILITIES Eye Lasers (Ex): Galactic rabbits can fire laser beams from their eyes at a range of 120 feet. Despite having two eyes, both laser beams must be directed at the same target, and function as a single attack.
Thermal Flight (Su): Galactic rabbits can use the thermal energy stored in their stomachs to achieve incredible bursts of speed for a short time. This enables them to land upon and take off from planets without difficulty, and reach speeds equivalent to that of a spaceship. A galactic rabbit cannot activate thermal flight if they have used their breath weapon within four rounds. Once activated, the galactic rabbit gains shields as if it were a starship (20 shields, split evenly between its four quadrants), and a fly speed of 6 hexes (good maneuverability). This flight speed lasts for a number of minutes equal to the galactic rabbits CR (10 minutes for adult galactic rabbits). After activating thermal flight, galactic rabbits no longer have enough thermal energy to utilize their breath weapon, or thermal flight for 24 hours.
ECOLOGY Environment space Organization solitary, pair, or herd (2 galactic rabbits with 2–6 galactic bunnies)
GALACTIC BUNNY CR 4 XP 1,200 N Large magical beast Init +5; Senses blindsense (electicity) 60 ft., darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +15
DEFENSE HP 50 EAC 16; KAC 18 Fort +8; Ref +8; Will +3 Immune cold, electricity, vacuum
OFFENSE Speed 30 ft., fly 40 ft. (Su, average); thermal flight (speed 4; maneuverability average (turn 2)) Melee bite +12 (1d6+9 P plus swallow whole) Ranged eye lasers +9 (1d4+4 F) Offensive Abilities breath weapon (40 ft. cone, 5d6 F, DC 13, usable every 1d4 rounds), swallow whole (1d4 F, EAC 16, KAC 14, 12 HP) Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
STATISTICS Str +5; Dex +3; Con +1; Int –2; Wis +0; Cha +0 Skills Acrobatics +15, Intimidate +10, Survival +10 Languages Sylvan (can’t speak any language) Other Abilities no breath, thermal flight
SPECIAL ABILITIES Eye Lasers (Ex): Galactic bunnies can fire laser beams from their eyes at a range of 90 feet. Despite having two eyes, both laser beams must be directed at the same target, and function as a single attack.
Thermal Flight (Su): Galactic bunnies can use the thermal energy stored in their stomachs to achieve incredible bursts of speed for a short time. This enables them to land upon and take off from planets without difficulty, and reach speeds equivalent to that of a spaceship. A galactic bunny cannot activate thermal flight if they have used their breath weapon within four rounds. Once activated, the galactic bunny gains shields as if it were a starship (4 shields, split evenly between its four quadrants), and a fly speed of 4 hexes (average maneuverability). This flight speed lasts for a number of minutes equal to the galactic bunnies CR (4 minutes for galactic bunnies). After activating thermal flight, galactic bunnies no longer have enough thermal energy to utilize their breath weapon, or thermal flight for 24 hours.
ECOLOGY Environment space Organization solitary, litter (2-6), or herd (2 galactic rabbits with 2–6 galactic bunnies)
Galactic rabbits look surprisingly like their mundane counterparts—on a much large scale. Although capable of flying through any environment, galactic rabbits prefer to live in the void of space. They survive on electrical energy, and are capable of seeing it from great distances. They can devour any sources with electrical fields, including electrical devices, starships, satellites, asteroids, and even other lifeforms. They can also absorb it directly from space storms. Electricity is digested and stored as thermal energy in their stomachs. This thermal energy can be released in a superheated exhalation shot from their constantly twitching nose, or used to power extreme bursts of speed.
Although quite rare, galactic rabbits can wreak havoc on technologically advanced planets and starships and are often attacked with extreme prejudice when spotted. Because of their modest intelligence, Xenowardens often befriend galactic rabbits. In most cases, this is to protect them, or raise them as companions, while more violent xenowardens use them as a weapon against their enemies, releasing them upon corporate satellites, and exploitive colonies.
It is unknown how galactic rabbits came into being, although their ability to understand the language of the fey makes most scholars suggest that they are a beings of the fabled First World, or perhaps the result of fey experimentation upon the galactic rabbit’s mundane cousins. Whatever the case, galactic rabbits are here to stay, and are capable of procreating incredibly rapidly. Their offspring, galactic bunnies, are capable of living alone after only two months, and are full grown within a year. Galactic rabbits live for centuries, and can go for extended periods of time without feeding. They are capable of birthing two litters of young a year, if given even electrical currents to feed off of. Although this can easily overrun a planet, the galactic rabbit’s fondness for space means that this is rarely a problem. Even a horde of well-fed galactic rabbits cannot overpopulate the infinite solar systems.
There are rumours that a galactic rabbit exists deep in the Vast, so large it can devour an entire planet, and swallow the largest of starships whole. These rumours are unsubstantiated, and no reliable source has ever reported or proven such claims.
Radioactive Robot (Patrol Class) CR 3 XP 800
N Medium construct (technological) Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +8 Aura radiation (15 ft., DC 13)
DEFENSE HP 40 EAC 14; KAC 16 Fort +3; Ref +3; Will +1 Immunities construct immunities, electrified exterior Weaknesses vulnerable to critical hits
OFFENSE Speed 20 ft. Melee slam +12 (1d6+7 B & E; critical arc 1d4) Ranged nuclear beam +9 (1d4+3 F; critical burn 1d4) Offensive Abilities self-destruct (1d6+3 F, DC 12)
STATISTICS Str +4; Dex +2; Con —; Int —; Wis +1; Cha +0 Skills Athletics +8 Languages One local language (can’t speak any language) Other Abilities mindless, unliving
SPECIAL ABILITIES Aura of Radiation (Ex)
Due to the devastation of nuclear war or extremely radioactive environments, radioactive robots have absorbed extreme levels of radiation, and have evolved the ability to produce, store and redirect this energy without being harmed by it. A radioactive robot emanates low radiation out to 15 feet.
Electrified Exterior (Ex)
Radioactive robots are broken and damaged, and spark with electricity. Making physical contact with a radioactive robot can cause electrocution. Any creature that succeeds on a melee attack against a radioactive robot with a manufactured or natural weapon—even if this attack does not harm the radioactive robot—takes 1 electricity damage.
Self-destruct (Ex)
A radioactive robot is highly unstable and self-destructs when it is reduced to 0 HP, dealing an amount of fire damage equal to 1d6 + the robot’s CR to all creatures in a 10-foot-radius burst. A creature can attempt a Reflex saving throw to reduce this damage by half. This ability destroys any technological components that could have been salvaged from the radioactive robot.
Radioactive Robot (Enforcer Class) CR 7 XP 3,200
N Large construct (technological) Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +14 Aura radiation (30 ft., DC 17)
DEFENSE HP 105 EAC 19; KAC 21 Fort +7; Ref +7; Will +4 Immunities construct immunities, electrified exterior Weaknesses vulnerable to critical hits
OFFENSE Speed 30 ft. Melee slam +18 (2d6+12 B & E; critical arc 1d6) Ranged nuclear beam +15 (2d6+7 F; critical burn 1d6) Offensive Abilities self-destruct (1d6+7 F, DC 15)
STATISTICS Str +5; Dex +4; Con —; Int —; Wis +2; Cha +0 Skills Athletics +14 Languages One local language (can’t speak any language) Other Abilities mindless, unliving
SPECIAL ABILITIES Aura of Radiation (Ex)
Due to the devastation of nuclear war or extremely radioactive environments, radioactive robots have absorbed extreme levels of radiation, and have evolved the ability to produce, store and redirect this energy without being harmed by it. A radioactive robot emanates medium radiation out to 15 feet and low radiation for an additional 15 feet.
Electrified Exterior (Ex)
Radioactive robots are broken and damaged, and spark with electricity. Making physical contact with a radioactive robot can cause electrocution. Any creature that succeeds on a melee attack against a radioactive robot with a manufactured or natural weapon—even if this attack does not harm the radioactive robot—takes 1d4 electricity damage.
Self-destruct (Ex)
A radioactive robot is highly unstable and self-destructs when it is reduced to 0 HP, dealing an amount of fire damage equal to 1d6 + the robot’s CR to all creatures in a 10-foot-radius burst. A creature can attempt a Reflex saving throw to reduce this damage by half. This ability destroys any technological components that could have been salvaged from the radioactive robot.
ECOLOGY Environment any environment with high levels of radiation Organization solitary, pair, unit (3-4 radioactive robots attempting to complete a similar objective)
Radioactive robots are found in places where nuclear war or high levels of radiation have destroyed technologically advanced societies. The few robots who survive such destruction are battered and broken—sparking with electricity form their exposed, tattered wiring and circuitry. These robots have absorbed the radiation around them, and use it to power themselves. Mindless and glitching they wander aimlessly, sometimes attempting to continue their original purposes, and other times corrupted to the point of senseless violence. They never wander far from their radioactive environments.
Radioactive robots can be found in localized areas of devastation, like the ruins of exploded nuclear reactors, or the wreckage of crashed starships that were once powered by nuclear engines. They can also be found in large swaths of territories that have high radiation levels, like the desert wastes of a planet destroyed by nuclear war, or natural phenomenon. They are a common sight on the ghibrani homeworld of Elytrio, which was devastated by thermonuclear war, and Jasterax, a planet in the Vast wracked with fierce storms of radioactive rain.
I hope you enjoyed reading about our creations as much as we enjoyed making them. My kids and I had a blast, and they couldn’t be more proud with what they’ve developed.
Have any creations you’d like to share with us? Let us know in the comments!
or the 
As an added bonus Alien Archive 3 is going to contain some other player options and gear, which is a nice change of pace. Best of all? Rule for pets, mounts, and combatant creature companions! My daughters dreams have just come true. Haha.
in February, followed by #
in March, 
d20 Diaries 