Jason Bulmahn

I haven't carefully dug through everything here, but it strikes me as, in most fashions, what you would expect from Pathfinder's "Monster Manual". A few minor things jump out; for one, the aasimar pictured is hot. (Can I take the out that it is the very first monster in the book?) Comparing the SRD monster list to the book's list seems to show that one out of every five or six monsters in the first was dropped; goodbye allip, azer, blink dog, grimlock and titan. I'm not sure the space show more devoted to animals was worth the loss of old friends. There's a few new creatures tossed in, primarily from the Tome of Horrors: the yeti, vegepygmy, dracolisk, a couple new golems, etc. While the changes can be debated, the selection is overall pretty conservative.

My biggest problem with this book is the lack of description. One extreme example is the bronze dragon; after the generic stats, stats for the young, adult and ancient bronze dragons, we get the description of their behavior: "Bronze dragons have been known to ally with travelers and adventurers if the cause and reward is right and just." That's all. With rare exception, the length of the description seems dictated by the amount of space left by the stats, so the succubus, vrock, and dragons get a few lines of description, where as the hill giant has plenty of space discussing them in detail. Breaking the monsters up by page makes things neat, but made it impossible to move space around much.

Overall, I'm not thrilled. It might have helped, or really hurt, if it hadn't so simply emulated the Monster Manual. As it is, it feels like the Monster Manual with some numbers changed, and the lack of description makes me worry that I may have to refer to older volumes for more than just pure stats on the creatures. show less

Dungeonscape reminds me in many ways of the film The Emperor's New Groove: it shares a great deal of art and text with its producers' other works, but they are executed in such a different voice that one wonders how it slipped past the managing editors. But perhaps one should expect Dungeonscape to take a radical approach to the mechanics of dungeoneering, considering one of the authors is Rich Burlew, creator of the D&D-riffing webcomic The Order of the Stick. Many gamers will divide a show more supplement's contents into "fluff" (flavorful description of the fantasy world) and "crunch" (the game rules that make it happen): what Bulmahn and Burlew have created here is technically 90% crunch, but with such clear purpose and utility that it seems 95% fluff. As they offer new rules for architecture, traps, monsters, and character classes, the authors simultaneously acknowledge the strange and arbitrary nature of "the dungeon" and celebrate it as the venue for D&D adventures. Where else could one get away with shark-filled acid pools? And what other book would so generously grant them? show less

I've honestly only played one real session with this setting, but found it to be one of the most satisfying platforms I've ever used. Your character feels both powerful and powerless, and the system has steep penalties for power gaming (as compared to D&D 4E, which basically allows any character to do anything they want, totally destroying the feeling of being a unique asset to the party). The rogue rogues, the fighter tanks, the cleric heals, and not everything every character can do is show more combat related.

If you find yourself longing for an updated D&D 3E or 3.5E, this alternative breaths just enough new life into the style and mechanics that you'll want to play all night. show less

It's a game rulebook! It's a massive weight and exercise tool! It's both!

In all due seriousness, Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook is now ensconced on my permanant shelves of game books to refer to often. A very very well done expansion of the OGL D20 licence, Pathfinder further refines and updates the rules in many good ways.

Whether you're new to fantasy role-playing or an old gaming dinosaur like myself (playing since 1982), there's much to love and enjoy about Pathfinder. Give it a look, show more regardless of whatever rules you normally use, as I'm sure you'll find something worth adopting into your own games. show less