Battlezoo Bestiary PF2 Foundry Release, Updated Bestiary, and Monster Parts System 5e Playtest!
over 2 years ago – Thu, Dec 16, 2021 at 12:39:53 AM

Lots of news items today, let's get to it!

Add a horde of award-winning creatures to your game today!

Battlezoo Bestiary PF2 Foundry VTT — The Foundry PF2 VTT module has been released! If you pre-ordered the module, you should have received your key and instructions for accessing the content via email. If you haven't ordered this module yet, get it now before the price increases!

Check out the package here: https://foundryvtt.com/packages/battlezoo-bestiary-pf2e

Buy it here: https://battlezoo-bestiary.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders/357454

Battlezoo Bestiary for Pathfinder Second Editon — We updated the PDF once again with several fairly large updates. We strongly recommend that everyone download this new version and replace your existing version. This should be the last update (we hope) in quite some time, but a few of the updates include:

Updated the awards banners on each monster to make them more clear
Updated the Blood Mouse, Dryad Husk, Kharozat, Semuvig, Senidaemon, Warp Wyrm, and Windborne Dead stat blocks
Updated the Mental and Positive Imbued paths
Updated the suggested monster parts for the Ghostwriter, Swarm Assassin, and Warp Wyrm
Updated the credits page
Small text updates throughout

Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons for PF2 Playtest — Wow... a LOT of people wanted to get into this playtest. A lot of people. We did what we could, but couldn't get everyone into the playtest, we're sorry if you couldn't get in, but we might have an additional playtest, so be on the lookout for that in the near future. Plus, we are just that much closer to finishing the book as the feedback has been fantastic so far!

Battlezoo Bestiary Monster Parts System 5e Playtest — Okay the big news! Yes, the Battlezoo Bestiary for 5e book is done and complete. However, we want to playtest the Monster Parts System to make sure the final product is as awesome as possible. If you wish to apply to take part in the Battlezoo Bestiary Monster Parts System 5e Playtest, please review the following directions:

1) You need to have pre-ordered the Battlezoo Bestiary for 5e. Only those who have pre-ordered the Battlezoo Bestiary for 5e can get into this playtest.

2) If you meet the first requirement, you must send an email to [email protected] that includes your full name, address, email, and proof of your order of the Battlezoo Bestiary for 5e. You must send your request no later than December 15h, 2021, midnight EST.

3) If you are selected for the playtest, you will receive an NDA sent to the email you provided in step 2. You must sign this NDA in order to participate in the playest.

4) Once you sign the NDA, you'll receive another email providing you details on where you can view the Monster Parts rules and an invitation to a private server to provide feedback.

5) NOTE: You will need to provide all feedback by December 31, 2021. Make sure you have the time to contribute to this project!

This playtest has all the rules necessary for you to slay monsters, refine custom gear, and then imbue that gear with custom magical powers! If you wish to play with a group of people, then each of those people should send a separate email in order to get into the playtest and let me know that you are part of a larger group (groups of people will have higher priority).

You can also discuss the rules with others in the private Discord and arrange private games online to test out the rules. We have done this with the Dragons playtest and it has worked well.

Good luck and send those emails!

Big Updates This Week for Battlezoo Bestiary 5e, Dragon Ancestries for PF2, and Foundry VTT!
over 2 years ago – Tue, Dec 07, 2021 at 04:10:47 AM

Several big updates this week! Let's start this party!

Battlezoo Bestiary for 5th Editon — The writing/conversion from the Pathfinder Second Edition book is complete! We started to playtest and edit the final files, as well as started to layout the book. The Monster Parts System for 5e is (obviously) very different from the Pathfinder version, yet very similar — both systems feel alike when compared to each other, but each is designed to work within their ruleset. Here is a sneak peek at what to expect for the Monster Parts System for 5e!

Imbuement Paths for 5e — This is where things get fun! After you kill a creature, gather their parts, and create your custom gear, you can imbue your items with unique magic that can change and grow with your gear as you increase in level. The following imbuements can be placed on your gear, plus each imbuement has 3 unique paths to allow for further refinement — Might, Magic, and Technique! As of now, we have 31 various imbuements, each with 3 unique paths, and 6 levels per path. That's a total of 558 unique abilities you can put on your gear however you wish!

We currently have the following paths available:

Weapon/Focus — acid, chaotic, cold, evil, fire, force, good, lawful, lightning, necrotic, poison, psychic, radiant, thunder, wild
Weapon Only — bane, thrown, sentient, thrown
Focus Only — spell
Weapon or Shield —defense
Armor Only — invulnerability
Armor/Shield/Focus — charisma, constitution, dexterity, energy resistant, intelligence, sensory, strength, winged, wisdom

Here is an example of an imbuement can provide your gear (still a work in progress):

Acid Imbuement Path

Type: Focus or weapon

Parts: The monster must have resistance or immunity to acid damage, or an attack or ability that deals acid damage.

Effect: You imbue your focus or weapon with corrosive acid.

Imbuement 1: You can cast the acid splash cantrip at your level from the item.
Imbuement 2: The item gains 3 charges. You can cast acid arrow from it.
Imbuement 3: The item gains 4 charges (7 total).
Imbuement 4: The item gains 5 charges (12 total). You can cast cloudkill from it. When you cast cloudkill in this way, the spell deals acid damage instead of poison damage.
Imbuement 5: The item gains 6 charges (18 total).
Imbuement 6: The item gains 7 charges (25 total). You can cast disintegrate from it. When you cast disintegrate in this way, the spell deals acid damage instead of force damage.

MIGHT PATH

Imbuement 1: Acid Critical. When you critically hit with this weapon, or when a creature rolls a 1 on a saving throw against a spell that deals acid damage, the target takes an extra 1d6 acid damage.
Imbuement 2: Acid Strike. When you hit with this weapon or deal acid damage with a spell, the target takes an extra 1 acid damage.
Imbuement 3: The target of Acid Critical also takes 1d6 acid damage at the end of its next turn.
Imbuement 4: The extra damage from Acid Strike increases to 1d4.
Imbuement 5: The damage from Acid Critical increases to 2d6 immediately and 2d6 at the end of the target’s next turn.
Imbuement 6: The extra damage from Acid Strike increases to 1d8.

TECHNIQUE PATH

Imbuement 1: Attacks and spells made with this item deal double damage to objects. You can use an action to weaken an object with acid. Attempts to break a weakened item are made with advantage.
Imbuement 2: Acid Spray. When you hit with this weapon or cast a spell that deals acid damage, you can choose up to two additional creatures within 5 feet of the initial target. Those creatures are sprayed with acid and take 2d4 acid damage. You can use Acid Spray three times per day, but only once per turn.
Imbuement 3: You gain resistance to acid damage. Acid damage dealt by this item ignores resistance to acid damage.
Imbuement 4: When you use Acid Spray, you can spray all creatures of your choice within 10 feet of the initial target, and the damage those creatures take increases to 4d4.
Imbuement 5: You can use Acid Spray five times per day, but only once per turn.
Imbuement 6: When you use Acid Spray, the initial target and all creatures you spray with acid must also make a successful Constitution saving throw or be blinded. A blinded creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. A creature that fails the saving throw three times before the effect ends is permanently blinded.

Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons for PF2 — The big news is that we have completed the rules necessary to create a dragon PC from levels 1-20, the various archetypes, horde rules, and everything needed to create your very own Dragon PC! What is even bigger news is that we are looking for people who are interested in performing a private playtest of these rules. If you have made it this far in the update, congratulations, you passed the first test. Next, you will need to meet these requirements — you'll need to have pre-ordered the Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons book for PF2, you'll need to sign a mutual NDA and keep everything shared with you top secret, and you'll need to contact me via private message. We will only select a few people for this private playtest and you'll only have access to the first 20 dragons, but it will be more than enough for you to build some dragon PCs and test the system and provide feedback.

Battlezoo Bestiary Foundry VTT — The Foundry VTT module testing is complete! We are simply working with Foundry on getting this module released to the public, so if you ordered this module look for an email providing you access to the module shortly!

Battlezoo Bestiary VTTs — As for Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds, those are being worked on as well and moving along well. As they get closer to release we'll provide you an update.

We are moving forward with the other projects as well (don't worry!). We just finished outlining the final new ancestry for the Jewel of the Indigo Isles Adventure Path and Player's Guide, the Kragrak! Check it out!

Battlezoo Bestiary Now Available on Pathbuilder 2e and The Wanderer’s Guide, Plus A New Book?!?
over 2 years ago – Wed, Nov 24, 2021 at 11:15:00 PM

Big news for Pathfinder players who want to utilize the new Battlezoo Bestiary archetypes and other character options, you can now do so with two of the most popular free character-building tools out there. Both Pathbuilder 2e and The Wanderer's Guide have incorporated the Battlezoo Bestiary directly into their tools and can be used today!

Now you can easily build your Monster Mage or Vestige Hunter online!

We are also working hard with The Pathfinder 2 Easy Library to incorporate the various creatures directly into their site as well as most of the monster building options! Look for the site to be updated shortly!

The other big news this week is that... we are releasing yet another new book! The Jewel of the Indigo Isles Player's Guide!

Just added to the Kickstarter for FREE to everyone who purchased the Jewel of the Indigo Isles Adventure!

As we were working on the Jewel of the Indigo Isles Adventure Path, we realized that there were so many player options being added to the adventure, that it wouldn't make sure to include those directly into the adventure itself. You know, the adventure with all those spoilers and such. So we decided to break the player content out into a separate book that you can now hand directly to your players if they want to take advantage of all the amazing new player content, created directly for the Indigo Isles.

If you ordered the Jewel of the Indigo Isles PDF or hardcover book you will receive this Player's Guide for FREE. There is nothing you need to do, you will automatically receive this book at the same time that the adventure is released!

Nothing will change in terms of the promised content outlined in the Kickstarter, it will simply be split into two books — one dedicated to the GM that outlines the adventure and what they need to know to run it (The Jewel of the Indigo Isles) and one outlining all the various player options (The Jewel of the Indigo Isles Player's Guide)

We are still determining exactly what will be in this book, but so far we are planning on including the following:

Ancestry outline for the G'mayun (pirate parrot people)
Ancestry outline for the Galtzagorri (flying mischievous fey)
Ancestry outline for Wildfire Leshy (charred plants brought to life)
Ancestry outline for the Orpok (hard-working pig people)
Ancestry outline for the Chochori (people created from living coral)
Ancestry outline for the Hardriggan (warrior ram people)
Ancestry outline for the Kragrak (spiritual rock people)
New archetypes
An introduction to the Battlezoo World of Alacar
An overview of the Gods of Alacar and its faith system — The Balance
A detailed gazetteer for the Indigo Isles
New player backgrounds
Class tips
History of the Isles
And more!

Plus I have a little sneak peek of what the Hardriggan look like!

Hardriggan — part Klingon warrior, part punk, all badass!

As for the rest of the products, here is this week's update:

Battlezoo Bestiary for 5th Editon — The final writing and conversion of this book is nearly complete. After everything has been converted we will need to proof everything and test it a bit to make sure our new systems work. We are also in the process of laying out the book as it will be fairly different than the Pathfinder version in many ways. I know it's taking a bit longer than I expected, but we are trying to add as many cool monster parts items as possible, with special attention on classes that don't usually get cool gear, such as monks and rangers. The extra time will be worth it as we want to make sure everyone has something to utilize from this book!

Battlezoo Bestiary VTTs — The Foundry VTT module testing is nearly complete. We have finished the first round and are starting the second round of testing which usually goes much faster. Meanwhile, the modules for Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds are also being worked on and we expect should be ready for release by January.

Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons — We are nearly complete with the full rules on 20 dragons (lore, playing them, and artwork). We also have the rules for all the new archetypes complete as well as the hoard system (which is really cool). We will be testing those 20 dragons in the near future. Once those go through testing, the remaining 35 should be developed fairly quickly as they will be based upon the original work done on the initial set.

Whew, that was a lot of news, have a great holiday everyone!

Project Update and Monster Creation FAQ Live Q&A Tonight!
over 2 years ago – Thu, Nov 11, 2021 at 11:03:30 PM

At this point, everyone who ordered the Battlezoo Bestiary Pathfinder Second Edition PDF should have access to it in their BackerKit account. If you don't, that means that you need to complete the survey so that you can receive your copy. Once again, you can access the survey here: https://battlezoo-bestiary.backerkit.com/

And for those of you out there who are enjoying the book and were thinking, "Wow, these monsters are so amazing! I wonder how I could get into next year's Battlezoo Bestiary book and get paid for my monster?" Well, wonder no more! The deadline for this year's RPG Superstar 2021 contest is fast approaching, where you can enter up to three monster designs, which will then be voted upon by the general public as well as professional RPG designers. If your monster is chosen you will receive a cash prize, recognition of your monster winning the contest, as well as inclusion in next year's Battlezoo Bestiary!

And for those of you interested in learning best practices on HOW to make a monster for any RPG system, make sure to tune into tonight, November 11, 2021, at 8 pm EST/5 pm PST to Nonat1s YouTube Channel for a live Q&A with myself, Mark Seifter, Linda Zayas-Palmer, and Nonat1s. There we will answer all your questions about creating monsters and help us build a monster LIVE on the air!

Tonight at 8 pm EST make sure to join us and learn how to build monsters for ANY RPG game and help us build a new monster live on the air!

As for the rest of the products, here is this week's update:

Battlezoo Bestiary for 5th Editon — Nearly everything from the Pathfinder version of this book has been converted to 5e and is going through final review and testing. Again, we are doing our best to release the PDF before the end of the year, but it will be tight as we want to make sure the product is as of high quality as possible. But nearly all of the work has been completed and we are in the final stages of development.

Battlezoo Bestiary Digital Assets — These were just released today for everyone who has the Battlezoo Bestiary Second Edition PDF and was expecting these assets. The bundle includes full images of all monsters from the Bestiary, tokens for each monster as well as images from the Monster Parts system for inclusion in your games. You can download this pack from the same location where you downloaded the Battlezoo Bestiary Second Edition PDF.

Do note that this isn't available to people who ordered the Battlezoo Bestiary for 5th Edition just yet, only for those who ordered and received the Pathfinder Second Edition PDF.

Battlezoo Bestiary VTTs — Each is being worked on by a different team and is through various stages of development and testing. The Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds modules are still being developed, while the Foundry module is complete for Pathfinder Second Edition, but it's undergoing testing and review currently. We hope to have the Foundry module released by the end of the month/early December as of now.

Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons — Nearly all of the artwork for the book is complete, and Mark is feverously working on finishing the book. As of now, we are continuing to order more artwork and dragons for the book while Mark continues to write. So the longer Mark takes, the more artwork that will be included in the final book! :) But we don't expect this book to be in your hands until early 2022 at this rate as the book continues to get larger as we just keep coming up with more and more cool ideas! Please be patient as we promise it will be worth the wait!

Jewel of the Indigo Isles — We actually have massive news coming up on this project in the near future... but for now a general update. The first book in the adventure, Search for the Missing Map by Patrick Renie, is nearly complete. But the big news is that we have managed to hire Jared Blando to create all the maps for the adventure. Those of you from the 5e world should be VERY familiar with his work as he created the maps for:

Descent into Avernus
Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Out of the Abyss
Storm King's Thunder
Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide
The Rise of Tiamat
Volos' Guide to Monsters
Strongholds & Followers
Acquisitions Incorporated
Rime of the Frost Maiden
Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft
as well as many others.

I wish I could post some of the maps here to just show you how awesome they look, but that would be spoiling the adventure! :) So instead, I'll show you a map he created for Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft

Pre-Order/Order Store — For those of you who missed out on the original Kickstarter, you can still order all the books and add-ons at the pre-order store at http://www.battlezoo.com/. And if you order the Battlezoo Bestiary PDF for Pathfinder Second Edition, you will be sent the PDF immediately after you complete your order!

As always if you have any questions whatsoever, please ask them here, or head on over to our awesome Roll For Combat Discord Channel where you can ask questions, talk with others from the community, and even play games online. Check it out!