New Pathfinder release - Pathfinder Bestiary I package now available!

[Colen]

Hi everyone,

Mathias has been hard at work for the last few weeks, and the results are now available - the "Pathfinder Bestiary I" data package. This new data package includes all material from the Pathfinder Bestiary and Bonus Bestiary, with over 300 creatures and stock heroes ready for instant use in your games.

This optional add-on package costs $14.99, and can be purchased by going to the "License" menu within Hero Lab and selecting "Purchase Data Package...".

The updated Pathfinder files also include a number of bug fixes, and a new advanced tutorial which shows you how to create your own race. If you're interested in creating your own races in Hero Lab, I recommend you check it out - you can find it by clicking the "Help" menu in the editor.

Enjoy!

[Dragnmoon]

Same comment I put on the Paizo forums...

Other then adding a bunch of monsters, will this add any other functionality to Pathfinder in herolabs that is worth spending $15?

[Colen]

Same reply I put on the Paizo forums :)

The new package just adds the Bestiary monsters - it's most useful for GMs who want to use Hero Lab to build their own encounters. You can also export them to d20pro, as mentioned above.

If you're a Pathfinder player and you don't have any use for 300 new monsters, this probably isn't a package you'll be interested in - in that case, you can just keep using the Pathfinder files as before. But I know a number of GMs were clamoring for this addon a few months ago, so this package is targeted at them. :)

[Dragnmoon]

lol... Same post I put in the Paizo forums..

I am a GM, I just want to make sure with this new package I can build my own monster based on the rules in the Bestiary, will this package allow that? Can I add templates from the Bestiary?

[Colen]

The monster creation stuff in Hero Lab (see my previous reply for details) doesn't require the new package - the package just adds the prebuilt monsters from the Bestiary in a convenient, easy to use way.

If you want to make your own monsters, you can just go into the editor and start creating them, whether you have this package or not.

Finally, I believe the templates from the Bestiary are already included - you can find them after the list of prestige classes in the "Choose Class" list.

[Bigkilla]

Dejavu

[seeks4truth]

How do you justify the extra cost of $15 for the simple addition of monsters? To me the idea of Core is the Player's guide, DM guide, and monster manual (bestiary). Core should be covered by the initial $20 and the adventure paths should be extra. That would be a MUCH better licensing (money making) scheme.
Either way, $15 is too much for an optional addon. Its only $5 shy of a complete Hero Lab module yet its only an add on book for Pathfinder. Oh, I can add it to d20? Still not a value to me. This would be a much better sell if you used the scheme I mentioned above or this "module" was priced at $10. Maybe if you had put in more features geared towards a GM (NPC generators, encounter calcs, etc.) and packaged it as a GM module for Pathfinder, THEN, maybe I could see it being worth $15.

Until then, I'll be taking a pass on the bestiary.

[huntercc]

Actually, they spent a LOT of extra time implementing the Bestiary package. I'm fully comfortable shelling out extra cash for it.

[EberronKnight]

How do you justify the extra cost of $15 for the simple addition of monsters? To me the idea of Core is the Player's guide, DM guide, and monster manual (bestiary). Core should be covered by the initial $20 and the adventure paths should be extra. That would be a MUCH better licensing (money making) scheme.
Either way, $15 is too much for an optional addon. Its only $5 shy of a complete Hero Lab module yet its only an add on book for Pathfinder. Oh, I can add it to d20? Still not a value to me. This would be a much better sell if you used the scheme I mentioned above or this "module" was priced at $10. Maybe if you had put in more features geared towards a GM (NPC generators, encounter calcs, etc.) and packaged it as a GM module for Pathfinder, THEN, maybe I could see it being worth $15.

Until then, I'll be taking a pass on the bestiary.

I thought the price was going to be $20, so that was a nice surprise. I've messed with creating custom stuff and it's a lot of work. I'm a player but got my DM hooked and when he bought the add on before our game started on Friday. I lost track after 10 times on how many times he said awesome.

If I wasn't a player, I would have bought it as a DM. Again, a lot of time and long nights I would imagine to put this together... $15 is dead on for price.

[chiefweasel]

I think this will be great for runnign encounters. It can help players as well if you have any skill in monsters you can just look them up. And for $15.00, thats a bargin.

As for someone saying that it should be covered in the base product sinces its part of the core rules, I would have to ask you why do you pay for 3 books for Pathfinder when Piazo should put it all in one book?

The answer is simple, if companies dont charge for their work, they wont be able to make any products.

[rob]

How do you justify the extra cost of $15 for the simple addition of monsters? To me the idea of Core is the Player's guide, DM guide, and monster manual (bestiary). Core should be covered by the initial $20 and the adventure paths should be extra. That would be a MUCH better licensing (money making) scheme.

The Bestiary add-on is completely optional. Hero Lab includes all the mechanics to create your own creatures, and you can create whatever creatures out of the Bestiary when you need them. So you already have those capabilities in the core data files.

The value of the Bestiary add-on package all depends on how much money versus free time that you've got. For lots of users, they want the convenience of having all the creatures accessible with a few mouse clicks, and they don't want to spend the time entering those creatures themselves, so the $15 is a worthwhile investment. But that's not going to be true for all users, and there's no requirement the Bestiary be purchased.

Either way, $15 is too much for an optional addon. Its only $5 shy of a complete Hero Lab module yet its only an add on book for Pathfinder. Oh, I can add it to d20? Still not a value to me. This would be a much better sell if you used the scheme I mentioned above or this "module" was priced at $10. Maybe if you had put in more features geared towards a GM (NPC generators, encounter calcs, etc.) and packaged it as a GM module for Pathfinder, THEN, maybe I could see it being worth $15.

Everybody has their own cost/value comparison that they make for any product in existence. The only way we can make everyone happy is to make it free, but we have mortgages that need to be paid and the like. Things like the core data files are useful to *all* users, while the Bestiary is only useful to a small subset - GMs. Our goal with the Bestiary pricing is to make it a worthwhile value to the majority of Pathfinder GMs. Based on the comments we've received thus far, we've succeeded in that goal. For some users, they'll choose to skip on the Bestiary and add the creatures themselves, which is a perfectly valid option. For many more, the Bestiary add-on will be worth the investment.

[Baraccus]

I purchased the add on the day it was released and, I for one, think that it was well worth it. Great job! I know it was a lot of work. There are a few minor issues I see with the import to d20pro (which I brought forward to the d20 guys) that someone is going to need to sort out, but over all...Fantastic Job.;)

[chiefweasel]

ok, call me stupid, but I cant find the link to buy the Beatiary. Can someone post it please.

[Virtue]

Hey why cant I copy and edit the monsters from the bestiary in the Editor? (just learning to use the editor so I might be jacking somthing up)

[rob]

ok, call me stupid, but I cant find the link to buy the Beatiary. Can someone post it please.

From within Hero Lab, go to the License menu and select the Purchase Data Package option. Once you login with your license, you'll be shown the various options that are available and purchase the ones you want.

[seeks4truth]

The value of the Bestiary add-on package all depends on how much money versus free time that you've got. For lots of users, they want the convenience of having all the creatures accessible with a few mouse clicks, and they don't want to spend the time entering those creatures themselves, so the $15 is a worthwhile investment. But that's not going to be true for all users, and there's no requirement the Bestiary be purchased.


Thanks, Rob, for your response. I understand it is optional and I do understand that your team put a lot of work into this optional product.
I was merely expressing my opinion on the matter. I am a big supporter of capitalism and by no means think all your products should be free. I simply would have like to see it priced differently is all and clearly I am in the minority.
To be clear, I do enjoy the simplistic interface hero lab provides and the time savings it provides and promote Hero Lab any chance I get. Thus, GREAT work on the product so far and I guess I'll have to do a lot of thinking on whether the Bestiary and future add-ons will be worth the time and money.

Do you think that the Advanced Player's Guide will be considered an add-on when it is converted to Hero Lab?

[Mathias]

Hey why cant I copy and edit the monsters from the bestiary in the Editor? (just learning to use the editor so I might be jacking somthing up)

The contents of an add-on package can't be copied and saved.

[Virtue]

The contents of an add-on package can't be copied and saved.

What is the reason for this I want to make all age levels of the dragons since you guys only put three for each but It will take me forever without being able to copy the original dragons

and alot of abilities that I maybe could copy and edit now I cant

[Mathias]

Once a thing is copied, the information linking it to its package is lost.

Adding the dragon age categories that didn't have Bestiary statblocks is of course on my to-do list, but it may be a while before I get to that.

[Virtue]

Yeah because some of thouse Age catagories have special abilities that advancing them wont give them.

Are you guys going to do a servey on what we would like to see you guys do next on Pathfinder or are you guys going to tell what the plans on until the APG is ready to go

[rob]

Do you think that the Advanced Player's Guide will be considered an add-on when it is converted to Hero Lab?

We have no idea at this point. The reason is simply that we don't know what will be included in the APG, so we can't make a concrete assessment. My best guess is that the APG will include lots of new stuff that will entail lots of work on our part to add into the data files. We have to defray the cost of that work, so it's probable that we'll treat the APG as an add-on package. If so, the cost would depend on the complexity (i.e. work) involved. However, the APG add-on will be useful to everyone - not just GMs - so we can spread that cost over more users and ideally keep the price lower than we can for an add-on like the Bestiary. That's the hope, at least. We'll know more once we actually see the APG, and we don't know when that will be at this point.

[rob]

alot of abilities that I maybe could copy and edit now I cant

One trick you can use is to create a copy of a creature in the Editor and also create a new creature in the Editor. You can then bounce back and forth between them to systematically copy the pertinent details across.

If you want, you can open two copies of Hero Lab. Then open the Editor in each and put the windows side-by-side. Copy the creature in one and create a new creature in the other. Then you can use the technique above without having to switch between them.

Hope this helps...

[Virtue]

Thanks Ill have to give it a try

[Frodie]

Got it today,Great Job! Thank yall so much! Helps a lot!

[Knucklehead]

Only one question: I have a license for my desktop and one for my laptop. How does downloading and re-registering work with two keys?

[Colen]

Only one question: I have a license for my desktop and one for my laptop. How does downloading and re-registering work with two keys?

If you buy the Bestiary package (which I assume you're referring to, since this is the Bestiary thread), you'll be able to use it on both your licensed computers - it'll become available on each one as you download the new Pathfinder update.

Hopefully this answers your question - if not, can you explain exactly what you mean by "downloading and re-registering"?

[Knucklehead]

Hopefully this answers your question - if not, can you explain exactly what you mean by "downloading and re-registering"?It does, I meant "downloading the bestiary" and "re-activating the key" as instructed. Worked fine on my desktop, but wasn't sure since there's a unique key assigned to the laptop that there would be any fuss.

[sputang]

How can you use Herolab to make and run encounters? Up to this point, I've only used it to make single PC characters.

[huntercc]

The Tactical Console is what you want to look for, under View on the menu at the top. Or just press Ctrl-T.

You can then import characters or monsters from other saved portfolios.

[Tenkgard]

Is it just me, or did the wolf and tiger races get removed in the basic pathfinder module for animal companions and hirelings which could double as mounts? Did these and possible other animals get moved to the bestiary pack? I don't think that's fair since these basic animals are in the core rule book.

Edit. Ahh I see whats going on. I need to rebuild my character profile since its not reading my old profile correctly probably due to versioning. a PITA but still workable.

[rob]

How can you use Herolab to make and run encounters? Up to this point, I've only used it to make single PC characters.

You can add multiple characters to a single portfolio. So create a new portfolio and name it something like "Encounter #1". Add all the various NPCs and monsters associated with the encounter to the portfolio. Save the portfolio with everything in it.

During the game, when the PCs reach Encounter #1, go to the Portfolio menu and select the option to "Import Hero from Portfolio". Now select the "Encounter #1" portfolio you created earlier. All the NPCs and monsters for the encounter will be listed and you can import all of them with a couple mouse clicks. At this point, all of them are now accessible within the Tactical Console for use.

When the encounter is completed, go to the Portfolio menu and select the "Delete Multiple" option. Then delete the various creatures from Encounter #1, leaving the PCs in place. You're now ready to repeat the process for Encounter #2.

Hope this helps....

[djc664]

Will the new monster races or creatures from the Adventure Paths be added at any point in the future? If so, would there be conversions from the 3.5 APs?

[Mathias]

I do intend to add the monsters from the Adventure Paths that were published under the Pathfinder rules, although I don't know when I'll have the time to do so.

Conversions of the SRD adventure path monsters are not very likely - there are just too many judgement calls involved in the conversion process.

[RedBeardSean]

Is there a way to set up multiple-beastie encounters so that it calculates CRs?

[djc664]

Conversions of the SRD adventure path monsters are not very likely - there are just too many judgement calls involved in the conversion process.

Fair enough! Thought to check before I started on them for my game in August. :)

Thanks!

[Virtue]

Im making some of them my self if you want (the ones used during Second Darkness)