# 13th Age Bestiary



## Morrus (Nov 15, 2014)

Product information... View for more details


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## Wolvercote (Nov 17, 2014)

*4 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

Some superbly designed creatures here for your 13th Age game.


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## GrahamWills (Nov 17, 2014)

*5 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

The stand-out features include the strong ties to the world, the lists of what icons would make use of the monsters and how, and selected plot hooks. Like all of 13th age, this book is aimed at not giving you anything unless it helps you make the game better, no bloat, no filler, nothing that you want to skip over. The only bad side of this book is that it is hard to just look a up a monster for something and just use it. You read the entry, get inspired, and soon have a completely different story because the text made you think of so sing even better ...


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## Alphastream (Nov 19, 2014)

*5 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

This book should be a reference for designers of any RPG, because it takes the traditional monster manual and re-invents it for maximum flavor and utility. You can't help but read these monster entries and want to use them in your game. Each entry is full of story and setting hooks, full of ideas you can put to use, and full of neat concepts a DM can use both mechanically and for story. Monsters often have variants or alternate mechanics that increase the utility. The book has sections where it encourages DMs to think about monster ecology and other important topics. It reinvigorates the idea of random monster tables with neat ways of grouping by types that suggest to the DM great story hooks and fun adventure encounter concepts.This is a must-have book for a 13th Age DM. It is a monster book against which other monster books should be measured.


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## Zaukrie (Nov 25, 2014)

*5 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

This is a great resource for 13th Age, 4e, and even 5e. You can really come up with great ideas, and either convert, or use almost as is. Super thrilled I bought this** I bought the pdf version, someday, these will be ebooks instead.....


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## Mage of Spellford (Nov 29, 2014)

*5 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

Masterfully written descriptions that make the creatures fairly leap off the page. Detailed encounter suggestions. Easy to use at the table and a welcome addition to the 13th age line of books. I have a shelf-full of monster manuals from all editions of D&D and from other games -- most of these with a few exceptions (Monsternomicon I & II for 3.5e) provide seemingly endless variations on a theme. I look at them for reference not to be inspired. The 13th age Bestiary is inspiring!


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## LewaKrom (Dec 3, 2014)

*5 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

As the authors state, designing monsters in 13th Age is easy, so to make this book worth picking up, they had to go beyond what most GMs would be able to pull off within a week (in addition to their other RL obligations). This book accomplishes that very well! Each entry is basically an advertisement begging you to put them in your campaign. (When the book first came out in PDF form, I MAY have had an encounter with a basilisk, a couple of rust monster, and chuuls because I wasn't able to control myself.) The monsters aren't always what is traditional. Any GM can open up their other RPG tomes to get something traditional. 13th Age comes up with quirky new ideas or alternative takes to these monsters that you have the option of using instead (or throwing away in favor of traditional). Though there are only 52 entries, each monster is given around 3-5 pages. These pages have a couple of stat blocks, but also have sections about building battles, the relationship between these monsters and some of the icons, names, adventure hooks, random loot that monster may be carrying.


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## Bera (Dec 8, 2014)

*5 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

The 13th Age bestiary gives some more depth and alternate backstories that can be stolen for commonly used monsters, even if you're not into the 13th Age rules. A few of the creatures get a little gonzo, but these have been rehashed so much that most are a welcome breath of fresh air.


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## Evilhalfling (Dec 13, 2014)

*5 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

I will be mining the ideas in this book for years to come.  The take on dragon varieties is particularly excellent, with different forms of each chromatic color, with different agendas and spins on their powers.


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## GeekNative (Jan 20, 2015)

*4 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

13th Age is a damn-fine roleplaying game in and of itself. I wholeheartedly endorse the 13th Age Bestiary, and encourage anyone who’s got the corebook to pick it up immediately…while it’s still in print.


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## Gamer XP (Jan 20, 2015)

*5 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

This is a recommended purchase for anyone running a classic fantasy adventure game in any system. What you get is a well-written, beautifully illustrated campaign sourcebook organized around classic fantasy gaming monsters, all with a new, modern twist. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some campaign Fronts to ponder.


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## Realms of Chirak (Jan 20, 2015)

*5 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

All in all the 13th Age Bestiary is a A+++ product. If you're even remotely into 13th Age you should get it. If you want a great read and don't mind extrapolating from the stat blocks for your preferred edition it might actually be worthwhile, although the Iconic elements of the 13th Age may require some consideration in other games.


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## Diehard GameFAN (Jan 20, 2015)

*4 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

Overall, the 13th Age Bestiary is a fun but flawed piece. It’s a bit lacking in creatures, is certainly overpriced and the authors have the occasional attitude problem, but each entry is exceptionally in-depth, well written and it’s a fantastic addition to a one of the best new lines from 2013.


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## Scrivener of Doom (Feb 15, 2015)

*5 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

I remember when I first read the AD&D Monster Manual back in 1981 and how I was blown away by the world it revealed. That's the same reaction I had (and have) to this book. It's more than just a bestiary; it's full of the seeds to grow hundreds of campaigns.


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## MoutonRustique (Feb 19, 2015)

*5 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

I've taken the time to really digest this book. I've read it at least three times from cover to cover and quite a few of the critters have seen me pour over them quite a few times.

The down side for me is the format (font choices, title spacing, "blank" space, etc) : it is ok. But I don't like it.

On the other hand:
1 - all the critters presented have a slew of information that is all potentially useful : adventure ideas, world building ideas, just a fun read, etc, etc. It is impressive.

2 - all the critters have a cool mechanical hook (or three!) and I've not seen one where the mechanics don't "jive" with the fluff. (As a counter example, the 5e ogre - out of the box, it can't do anything I imagine an ogre should be able to do; i.e. knock people around, throw huge objects, etc. As per the rules as presented, they don't have the tools to do any of that satisfactorily...)

3 - the art is slightly "toonish" (not in a silly way), and it also works well to show the critters. If "toonish" art is not for you, you might not like it, but the quality is there and the representations are excellent. I have another complaint here : the manticore shown is not the "main" manticore, but rather an "optional" variant. It looks really cool, but it's kind of strange to showcase that one... 

4 - you get great tie-ins into the default political structure of the 13th Age world. All of it is easy to rework, and having it presented is a font of inspiration.

5 - interesting critter twists. Most "standard" monsters have already been presented, and all those presented here have something new to offer - there is no "plain-Jane" in this book.


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## stefam (Apr 13, 2015)

*5 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

I have a closet filled with Monster Manuals and various books of beasts. The 13th Age Bestiary is one of the best! I read through it like I read through my original AD&D Monster Manual or Legends and Lore book. The 13th Age take on the various baddies is bubbling over with origin stories, plot threads and even alternate or competing backstories for some of the monsters.And the D20 mechanic really shines with the various powers and abilities of the creatures presented.  The simple stats hide multiple attack and defense options, nastier specials, and other oddities for your 13th Age game or for adoption into your current RPG.  Highly recommended.


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## boydstephenson (Jul 28, 2015)

*5 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

I love this thing!  It's like they've done 70% of the work on making monsters and then said, "Here are some ideas for the other 30%, but you'll figure out what you like best."  If monsters were recipes, this book would be every dish you could want with ideas for how to jazz your meal up with customizable options.  Check this thing out--you will love it.  While the stats are for 13th Age, 13th Age stats are simple and you can very easily use these things in any system.


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## Hand of Evil (Aug 2, 2015)

*5 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

theses are not just stat block monsters, you have variations and interesting hooks.


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## Endzeitgeist (Sep 7, 2015)

*5 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

...and not just for 13th Age - there is A LOT of great fluff to scavenge and great mechanic ideas!


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## Sizzlan (Apr 14, 2016)

*5 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

This Bestiary is hands down the most inspiring Bestiary for any D&D Variant on the market. It's impossible to read without hundreds of ideas popping up in your head to use the monsters in your adventures and campaigns. Moreover it even comes with a guide to quickly draw up the mechanics for your own monster or any monster you are missing from other f20 games. * * * * *


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## Pobman (May 2, 2016)

*5 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

There is not a word wasted in this book. The introduction tells you what the book is for and gives some advice on how to use the book and build interesting and thematic encounters. Then we get to the meat of the book, the beasts, monsters and villains. As with all things 13th Age this book gets to the nub of the matter, only presenting information that will be useful to you, whether that be the monster backgrounds, plot hooks or the stat blocks themselves, everything is geared towards being useful, and fun.  Each creature entry has the following: * Creature background / ecology / names * Building battles - using the creatures in combat encounters, usually suggesting pairings with other creatures that make thamtic sense, but may not be obvious * Relationship to the icons * Adventure hooks * Things that you find with the creature (in their lair/in their general environment/things they carry) * Stat blocks - usually multiple variants of a creature type (such as the four variants of the black dragon - Catacomb, Gorge, Void and Empyrean) * Nastier Specials - options to make creatures different from the norm and make them even nastier! (This is not present on all creature entries)  The creature ecologies and plot hooks are that awesome that even those that don't play 13th Age would find them useful (although I think it would be a bit of an expensive book just for those). The creatures feel like they are really grounded in a living breathing world, without it ever becoming too restrictive on the DM to have to use them in "one true way". The sidebars suggesting variants from what is presented, the suggestions of how to relate the creatures with other creatures and the adventure hooks, means that there is no way any two games are going to have exactly the same experience with any monster in this book.  The book ends with a detailled look at how GMs can create their own monsters. A brief description of reskinning monsters, a bit more in depth about how to tweak exisitng mosnters and then a detailled explanation of how to create your own monsters from scratch.  All in all, if you run 13th Age - buy this book. If you run 4th Edition D&D it would probably be useful as the monsters shiould be relatively straightforward to convert. If you run any other fantasy RPG, then it's certainly worth a look, but may be wait for a sale to buy it rather than purchase it at full price as while it is an awesome source of inspiration you may not get full use of the book.


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## jamche100 (Nov 25, 2016)

*5 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

Totally enjoyable


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## 76512390ag12 (Dec 25, 2016)

*5 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

An excellent bestiary with varied and imaginitive monsters, both the expected and the unexpected. The gem are the pages of advice on how to design or reskin monsters for exciting and new play at the table.


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## rabindranath72 (Feb 9, 2017)

*5 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

The Bestiary acts as a monster manual and campaign supplement. Each monster comes with scenario ideas. If get this book and you don't get your brain overwhelmed by crazy and weird adventure seeds, you are probably playing the wrong game!


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## Philip Francis (Oct 13, 2017)

*5 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

As others have said, the real value of this book is not really the monster stats or the special abilities (although some, like my favourite 'the Redcap', are begging to be used just to torment the players!) but in the inspiration that the over-worked GM can draw from them. By providing multiple suggestions on possible monster origins, or fully fleshed out descriptions of behaviour and tactics you can find yourself with just the hook you need to introduce the creature in ways that might be novel or that bring an interesting twist to the story.  The smallest detail that I found I missed more than I thought I would in Bestiary 2 and other monster manuals is the entry on certain monsters of 'what they might carry'.  These are brilliant little snippets of flavour showing the likely nature and pecking order for what might otherwise be mundane fodder, some of which suggest interesting subplots of their own e.g for Drow there is "Pictures of drow family. Picture of _your _family, a map, and certain instructions."


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## Enrico Poli1 (Apr 5, 2018)

*5 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Bestiary*

This is an excellent bestiary, one of the best.
Written in a witty, funny way; with consistently beautiful art; the true valor of this bestiary consists in the many creative ideas given with every monster. They are also provided with Icon connections, very useful within the system. 
If you play 13th Age, buy it at once - its quality is superior to that of the Core Book. If you just collect Bestiaries, this one will probably enter your Top 10.


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