Pathfinder RPG Bestiary LST Standards

This page collects some standards for use in coding creatures for the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. These standards should be implemented in all data sets detailing creatures for the Pathfinder RPG game mode.

File Location for Creatures

All creature definitions should go into the file pathfinder_rpg_bestiary_races_*.lst appropriate to the first letter of the creature as named in the Bestiary, with the following exceptions:

• Dragons go into pathfinder_rpg_bestiary_races_dragons.lst.

• Creatures with no racial hit dice - ususally associated with a "X as characters" paragraph - go into pathfinder_rpg_bestiary_races_base.lst.

• Template creatures go into pathfinder_rpg_bestiary_races_templates.lst.

Files for starting kits and unique creature abilities are named appropriately.

Creature Naming

Creatures with Subspecies

These creatures are usually named something like Demon, Succucbus or Giant, Stone in the Bestiary. For the names of these creatures, please use the main name plus the subspecies in parentheses and an OUTPUTNAME tag as appropriate, using [NAME]. In the corresponding starting kit, use the result of the OUTPUTNAME tag for the NAME tag. This also applies to creatures named like Centipede, Giant.

Examples

• Demon (Succubus) <> OUTPUTNAME:[NAME]
• Giant (Stone) <> OUTPUTNAME:[NAME] Giant
• Centipede (Giant) <> OUTPUTNAME:[NAME] Centipede

Variant Creatures

Some creatures use variants, possibly for bigger or aquatic versions. For the names of these creatures, please use the name of the original creature plus the name of the variant creature in parentheses and add OUTPUTNAME tag as appropriate, using [NAME]. In the corresponding starting kit, use the result of the OUTPUTNAME tag for the NAME tag.

Examples

• Centipede (Great Forest) <> OUTPUTNAME:[NAME] Centipede
• Ghoul (Lacedon) <> OUTPUTNAME:[NAME]

Ability Scores

In the races files, always use even ability score bonuses for BONUS:STAT tags. If a monster has an odd score in an ability, use the starting kit to set this value: ability scores with even values should be set to 10, those with odd values to 11. Usually a creature has three odd scores and three even scores. If a creature has the same bonus for several abilities, combine them like this: BONUS:STAT|xxx,yyy|z. BONUS tags are never necessary for ability scores of 10 or 11.

The exception to this rule is if a creature has an ability score of 1 - In this case use BONUS:STAT|xxx|-9 in the races file and xxx=10 in the starting kit file.

Class Skills

In the Pathfinder RPG, class skills for monsters are determined by their creature type. In PCGen, these are already defined in the monster type classes and need not be defined in the races file via MONCSKILL. The exception to this rule are outsiders, who have four individual class skills in addition to those defined by their creature type. Only these monsters need MONCSKILL.

Starting Kits

For the sake of consistency, please use the following line order for all starting kits. Lines that are not appropriate for a certain kits should be left out.

• STARTPACK
  • This line should contain the following tags, where XXX is the name of the creature as defined in the race file:
    • STARTPACK:XXX Default
    • TYPE:DefaultMonster.YYY (YYY is the creature type)
    • VISIBLE:QUALIFY
    • EQUIPBUY:0
    • PREMULT:1,[!PRERACE:1,%],[PRERACE:1,XXX]
    • SOURCEPAGE:p.ZZZ
• RACE
  • This line should contain the following tags:
    • RACE:XXX
    • !PRERACE:1,%
• NAME
  • This line should contain the friendly name, i.e. the result of OUTPUTNAME if present, otherwise it is the same as RACE.
• ALIGN
• STAT
  • The stats should be listed in order: STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, CHA. For normal creatures they should be 11-11-11-10-10-10 (not necessarily in this order). Creatures with levels usually have 13-12-11-10-9-8, or even 15-14-13-12-10-8.
• CLASS
• SKILL
• FEAT
• GEAR