The Creature Codex: +1300 Monsters for Pathfinder 1e

[cbsadiecat]

Hi there. A few weeks ago, I started a thread where I was advertising a list of monsters from Arduin (an old-school third-party OD&D setting by the late David A. Hargrave) for use in Pathfinder 1e, made by possible by me going to this Tumblr blog called @thecreaturecodex (run by one Nicholas Herold, who has actually been writing up and converting monsters since at least D&D 3.5e, and even published a handful of small monster PDFs during Pathfinder 1e's earlier years)...okay, getting back to the point. I've been commissioning @thecreaturecodex to convert several monsters from Arduin over the years, and it was funny working with him. However, a couple days ago as of this writing, he suffered overwork-induced burnout (between writing up monsters and his real-life job as a teacher) and is currently on a indefinite hiatus. During these last couple of days of me moping around over this, I got to thinking last night...

To focus solely on these Arduin monsters would be doing a grave disservice to the monster work @thecreaturecodex has done over the years.

Now, don't get me wrong, Arduin has a lot of pretty neat monsters, and I still intend to commission more in the future. But I just remembered that the Creature Codex is so very, very, VERY much more than just that, and that, in a way, it was selfish of me to be advertising only these monsters (that originally belonged to Hargrave himself, no less) that I have personally commissioned at the expense of every other monster on @thecreaturecodex's list. Many other people on Tumblr has come forth and commissioned monsters of their own, and of course Nicholas himself has written up hundreds of monsters of his own discretion. Yet here I was, pushing all those other fellow commissioners and Nicholas himself aside and trying to hog the spotlight all for myself...well, I decided that'll be the end of that.

So now I wish to open this thread--this is no longer just about my commissioned work (using the Arduin label), but rather the Creature Codex as a whole. I want everyone who views this and still plays Pathfinder 1e to take a look at this list of monsters for use in their games. There are monsters from mythologies and legends; there are monsters from literary works; monsters from any and every edition and setting of D&D, converted for use in Pathfinder; monsters from other tabletop RPGs; monsters from video games, anime, B-movies, and more! All of these monsters are free to use as you please, of course. Of course, a list of +1300 may sound intimidating at first glance, so I thought I would provide a sampler list of what you can expect--creatures big and small, good and evil, lawful and chaotic, and everything in between, from CRs 1/4 to 30:

CR 1/4 - Bake-zori
CR 1/3 - Bulbasaurus
CR 1/2 - Aquib
CR 1 - Firenewt
CR 2 - Kill Kitten
CR 3 - Air Shark
CR 4 - Vroat (this is my first monster commission, period!)
CR 5 - Bonnacon
CR 6 - Ferec
CR 7 - Qasogonaga
CR 8 - Poison Bear
CR 9 - Willawaw
CR 10 - Namorroddo
CR 11 - Kalidah
CR 12 - Grue
CR 13 - Tricenatorus
CR 14 - Gummy Fiend
CR 15 - Burglestar
CR 16 - Slaad, Violet
CR 17 - Nightmare Beast
CR 18 - Butatsch-cun-ilgs
CR 19 - Repeater
CR 20 - Carcolh
CR 21 - Xixecal
CR 22 - Empyreal Lord, Glycon
CR 23 - Shito, Sahaquiel
CR 24 - Ultima Weapon
CR 25 - Herensuge
CR 26 - Infernal Duke, Saurafer
CR 27 - Great Old One, Cthugha
CR 28 - Great Old One, Kthanid
CR 29 - Kaiju, Zorah Magdaros
CR 30 - Great Old One, Kyuss

Oh, and I almost forgot--DRAGONS! Complete with different stats for different ages! (Although, at the time of this writing, there's just the yellow dragon and, to a smaller extent, this carp dragon.)

So...how's that? Do you want some more?! Then take another gander at the list and see what else may interest you! Oh, and if (and only IF) you actually have a Tumblr account, consider liking and more importantly REBLOGGING your favorite monsters you see. If you don't have a Tumblr account and don't want to make one, that's okay, I completely understand--I'm not trying to strong-arm anyone here to sign up for something they don't want to. This is mainly directed to anyone who ALREADY has a Tumblr account.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Great thread, have an Exalt! Love the Grue!

[cbsadiecat]

Sept 28, 2021 13:32:53 GMT -5 The Perilous Dreamer said:

Great thread, have an Exalt! Love the Grue!

Thanks! It felt like I should've started a thread like this in the first place, focusing on all sorts of monsters instead of just what I commissioned, and appealing to all tastes and needs. I'd also like to apologize for my first thread--it may be nice and all to see your favorite monsters for Arduin branching out beyond your old-school games, but I feel now that if I'm going to advertising someone else's Tumblr site, I need to show off everything else instead of just a specific audience. That being, Arduin fans are still more than welcome to check out whatever monsters did get converted--plus whatever other monster they happen up should inspire them to use said monsters in any game, whether it be Pathfinder or OD&D (though some adjustments may be required). I hope you understand.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Sept 28, 2021 14:41:37 GMT -5 cbsadiecat said:

Sept 28, 2021 13:32:53 GMT -5 The Perilous Dreamer said:

Great thread, have an Exalt! Love the Grue!

Thanks! It felt like I should've started a thread like this in the first place, focusing on all sorts of monsters instead of just what I commissioned, and appealing to all tastes and needs. I'd also like to apologize for my first thread--it may be nice and all to see your favorite monsters for Arduin branching out beyond your old-school games, but I feel now that if I'm going to advertising someone else's Tumblr site, I need to show off everything else instead of just a specific audience. That being, Arduin fans are still more than welcome to check out whatever monsters did get converted--plus whatever other monster they happen up should inspire them to use said monsters in any game, whether it be Pathfinder or OD&D (though some adjustments may be required). I hope you understand.

No apologies needed. Both threads are just fine. For example, an Arduin monster thread is fine, a Talislanta monster thread is fine, etc. Or a general thread is fine.

[cbsadiecat]

Sept 28, 2021 15:03:49 GMT -5 The Perilous Dreamer said:

No apologies needed. Both threads are just fine. For example, an Arduin monster thread is fine, a Talislanta monster thread is fine, etc. Or a general thread is fine.

It's not the fact that my original thread only focuses on monsters from Arduin that bothers me--as I've said before, Arduin has a lot of neat monsters that I thought would be cool for more modern players to see and play with. It's not easy to explain, but...what bothers me is mainly the fact that all I'm showing off are all my commissions of monsters originally designed by someone else (David A. Hargrave) to be converted for Pathfinder 1e by another someone else (Nicholas "@thecreaturecodex" Herold), with occasional artwork by yet another someone else (@tredlocity). I felt like I'm just taking all that hard work and just showing it off for a handful of thread views with minimal effort on my part, especially when there are hundreds of monsters that have been commissioned by other fans of the Creature Codex, and for that I felt I've been very selfish. I wouldn't be so self-conscious about it if some of those commissions were made by other people, but as it stands, it feels rather self-serving. This is why I started this thread, so I can correct course and direct others to experience a treasure trove of years of Nicholas honing his monster craft over the years, as oppose to me merely sating my selfish desires.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Sept 28, 2021 16:48:06 GMT -5 cbsadiecat said:

Sept 28, 2021 15:03:49 GMT -5 The Perilous Dreamer said:

No apologies needed. Both threads are just fine. For example, an Arduin monster thread is fine, a Talislanta monster thread is fine, etc. Or a general thread is fine.

It's not the fact that my original thread only focuses on monsters from Arduin that bothers me--as I've said before, Arduin has a lot of neat monsters that I thought would be cool for more modern players to see and play with. It's not easy to explain, but...what bothers me is mainly the fact that all I'm showing off are all my commissions of monsters originally designed by someone else (David A. Hargrave) to be converted for Pathfinder 1e by another someone else (Nicholas "@thecreaturecodex" Herold), with occasional artwork by yet another someone else (@tredlocity). I felt like I'm just taking all that hard work and just showing it off for a handful of thread views with minimal effort on my part, especially when there are hundreds of monsters that have been commissioned by other fans of the Creature Codex, and for that I felt I've been very selfish. I wouldn't be so self-conscious about it if some of those commissions were made by other people, but as it stands, it feels rather self-serving. This is why I started this thread, so I can correct course and direct others to experience a treasure trove of years of Nicholas honing his monster craft over the years, as oppose to me merely sating my selfish desires.

 IMO you are over thinking this. One, we would not know about any of this if you had not posted, as most of us are not on the Tumblr platform. Two, you have every right to showcase what you commissioned, showcasing what other people commissioned is icing on the cake and just shows you are a good guy. You are giving all this work by other publicity by spreading the word. I really don't think you have been selfish at all. That first thread told us about someone we did not know about. Spreading the word about these two guys gets their work more notice and someone might end up doing business with them because of it. Now if you took their work and put it in a book or pdf and charged for it, then you would have something to feel bad about, but only if they were not onboard with the project. Remember that they posted their stuff online where anyone can look at it without paying any fee, you paid for the Arduin stuff out of your own pocket. Nothing wrong with you highlighting what you paid for AND if we had found it on our own, one of our Arduin fans might have started that thread so we could all look at it. Be at peace, you have done nothing wrong AND once we get to one of those posts on Tumblr no matter how we found it, we can find all of the rest ourselves from that point.  You just saved us all a bunch of work. Now if you think you were selfish, you can work on that, but I don't think anyone here is seeing it that way.

I am really happy you started these threads.

[cbsadiecat]

Sept 28, 2021 17:33:52 GMT -5 The Perilous Dreamer said:

Sept 28, 2021 16:48:06 GMT -5 cbsadiecat said:

 IMO you are over thinking this. One, we would not know about any of this if you had not posted, as most of us are not on the Tumblr platform. Two, you have every right to showcase what you commissioned, showcasing what other people commissioned is icing on the cake and just shows you are a good guy. You are giving all this work by other publicity by spreading the word. I really don't think you have been selfish at all. That first thread told us about someone we did not know about. Spreading the word about these two guys gets their work more notice and someone might end up doing business with them because of it. Now if you took their work and put it in a book or pdf and charged for it, then you would have something to feel bad about, but only if they were not onboard with the project. Remember that they posted their stuff online where anyone can look at it without paying any fee, you paid for the Arduin stuff out of your own pocket. Nothing wrong with you highlighting what you paid for AND if we had found it on our own, one of our Arduin fans might have started that thread so we could all look at it. Be at peace, you have done nothing wrong AND once we get to one of those posts on Tumblr no matter how we found it, we can find all of the rest ourselves from that point.  You just saved us all a bunch of work. Now if you think you were selfish, you can work on that, but I don't think anyone here is seeing it that way.

I am really happy you started these threads.

Alright, you got me. Maybe I should just relax. If people are noticing this at all, then I'm good, and so will @thecreaturecodex. All I'm saying is don't just focus on what I'm commissioning. Take some time to look at some of the other monsters, too--I'm definitely not the first, and won't be the last, to support the Creature Codex. Just remember this is mainly catering to anyone who plays Pathfinder 1e (or 3e D&D, with some adjustments). I'll try to stop being so self-conscious and just focus on the bigger picture, or something like that. Thank you.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Sept 28, 2021 17:48:27 GMT -5 cbsadiecat said:

Sept 28, 2021 17:33:52 GMT -5 The Perilous Dreamer said:

 IMO you are over thinking this. One, we would not know about any of this if you had not posted, as most of us are not on the Tumblr platform. Two, you have every right to showcase what you commissioned, showcasing what other people commissioned is icing on the cake and just shows you are a good guy. You are giving all this work by other publicity by spreading the word. I really don't think you have been selfish at all. That first thread told us about someone we did not know about. Spreading the word about these two guys gets their work more notice and someone might end up doing business with them because of it. Now if you took their work and put it in a book or pdf and charged for it, then you would have something to feel bad about, but only if they were not onboard with the project. Remember that they posted their stuff online where anyone can look at it without paying any fee, you paid for the Arduin stuff out of your own pocket. Nothing wrong with you highlighting what you paid for AND if we had found it on our own, one of our Arduin fans might have started that thread so we could all look at it. Be at peace, you have done nothing wrong AND once we get to one of those posts on Tumblr no matter how we found it, we can find all of the rest ourselves from that point.  You just saved us all a bunch of work. Now if you think you were selfish, you can work on that, but I don't think anyone here is seeing it that way.

I am really happy you started these threads.

Alright, you got me. Maybe I should just relax. If people are noticing this at all, then I'm good, and so will @thecreaturecodex. All I'm saying is don't just focus on what I'm commissioning. Take some time to look at some of the other monsters, too--I'm definitely not the first, and won't be the last, to support the Creature Codex. Just remember this is mainly catering to anyone who plays Pathfinder 1e (or 3e D&D, with some adjustments). I'll try to stop being so self-conscious and just focus on the bigger picture, or something like that. Thank you.

You are welcome! Yeah, I know it is designed for newer editions, but I think the majority of us can easily convert to the edition we use, in my case OD&D and I would do it on the fly and not worry if someone thinks it is an accurate conversion, it would be what I as the ref want it to be. I like a lot of the art and I enjoy the writeups, even though I won't use them as they are, they are inspiration and usually will trigger ideas.