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Pathfinder Pawns: Bestiary Box?
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36 reviews of this product found across Reddit:
For the DM: If you don't have the money or space for enemy minis for every encounter, consider getting your DM a set of Pathfinder Pawns. It's technically for another system but comes with over 300 cardstock pawns (full color, same image front and back) along with a pile of bases for a wide variety of creatures and sizes. There are several collections (I have the Bestiary Box and the NPC Codex) but you can get away with subbing in something that resembles your enemy instead of buying them all.
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It looks like to me he's using the pathfinder pawns, which happen to work very well for dnd and it's very cost effective compared to regular minis. There are three boxes of them that I'm aware of but here's a link to the Bestiary Box on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Paizo-Publishng-Inc-Pathfinder-Pawns/dp/1601255616/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477756090&sr=8-1&keywords=pathfinder+pawns
Similar to the MtG cutout idea, Pathfinder uses some nice looking printed stock pawns. Amazon link for example
My table personally uses Pathfinder Pawns from Amazon. 300 creatures in the box for 40 dollars. Easily stored as well.
I got the Pathfinder Pawns Bestiary box and I love it. Its 45 bucks and you get bases and cardboard cutouts of a ton of different creatures including PC/NPC type "models" in the box too. There are more options than I've ever used. Just an option. Here's a link to it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1601255616/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_enPqCbFD5SCHV
I was also in this boat recently, and I went with the Bestiary Box from Paizo. Basically, they're picture of monsters on sturdy cardboard that are held in these plastic holders. They feel a little cheap compared to actually 3D minis, but I feel they are the perfect balance between a large selection of monsters and affordability.
Painting minis is like going from racing cars to building race cars. It's very much a whole new hobby. It's fun, they look cool on the board, etc. But it's expensive and extremely time consuming.
I'd suggest just buying a box of Pathfinder Pawns. It's an excellent bargain. You spend ~$35 and you'll have minis for basically anything you need.* If I could only own three DnD products, I'd have:
- Players Handbook
- Dice
- That box of pawns
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*It's marketed for Pathfinder instead of DnD but the monsters are 90% the same and there's a 'close enough' option for most everything else.
Pathfinder has box sets of monsters/characters printed on plastic with a stand. A box is like $40 (cheaper if you have a half price books store near you) and it has a hundred or so in them. Edit: here is a link to them Pathfinder Pawns: Bestiary Box https://www.amazon.com/dp/1601255616/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_saTkAbJQYKKG8
pathfinder has some cardboard pawns that you could use, althgough i see that they may be out of stock. Reaper has their bones collection that is pretty cheap. Ebay would be your best bet. https://www.amazon.com/Paizo-Publishng-Inc-Pathfinder-Pawns/dp/1601255616
Mini's can get pretty expensive depending on your budget. If you're looking to drop a couple hundred dollars you can get a pretty decent setup, but if you're like me and want to go cheap you can check out these guys They're super high quality for cardboard cutouts and the set brings a lot. I use those for generic monsters and then I am going to attempt to 3d print the PC's and the important boss monsters.
To anyone who's interested, here they are on Amazon.
I recently grabbed them myself, and although I haven't used them yet, they seem pretty great to me!
Chessex mega-mat or similar is a very worthy purchase for quickly drawing battle scenes.
I used LEGO figures but I had a huge collection. I'd save your money until you're ready to buy proper figurines for everyone -- find a cheap or free solution in the meantime. Getting proper miniatures is a huge plunge.
You can also check out Pathfinder pawns.
A blank battle map would be very useful. you can draw in whatever you want. (note this grid is on metric unit paper)
http://atuan.com/forum-pics/maps/A4-grid.pdf
Pathfinder Pawns are cardboard minis.
https://www.amazon.ca/Paizo-Inc-Pathfinder-Pawns-Bestiary/dp/1601255616
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Well if you're interested here's the link to the first one on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Paizo-Publishing-Pathfinder-Pawns-Bestiary/dp/1601255616
Not sure if you want them pre-painted but I usually go to www.minisgallery.com to see what kind of miniatures are available and then look them up on ebay (some are even available on Amazon). Most minis usually end up only costing 2 or 3 bucks a pop and you can save on shipping if you buy like $25 worth at a time form the same vendor. I buy from Kingsoflight on Ebay a lot. They've got a good inventory and fair prices;
https://www.ebay.com/usr/kingsoflight?ul_noapp=true
The $15 booster blocks may seem like a great value but, in my opinion, you usually end up spending just as much on the specific ones. Plus, you end up getting a lot of duplicates you don't need.
Another cost-effective version of minis are pathfinder pawns. Between the NPC and Bestiary box, you pretty much have everything you need to get started. Each box will run you about 37 bucks but you get 300 cardboard minis in each;
Edit: Also, just realized you're specifically going after the Ravnica set. I don't think that's available yet but I would still follow the method above. You could always buy a $100 worth of boosters but there's no telling what you'll get.
u/wastelander1138 beat me to the punch with the Smiling GM Minis. They might not be the fanciest looking things, but they do actually look like monsters rather than just generic game tokens or M&Ms.
I'm going to through my suggestion in for Pathfinder Pawns! They aren't minis technically, but they come with bases that fit on a 1" grid just like regular minis and come in a wide selection. Some of the boxes are out of print, but you can buy the PDF versions and with a little bit of time, some paper, glue, thick card stock and a sharp knife, make your own. You can buy the pathfinder pawn bases separately if you need to. While the Pathfinder to D&D Monster Manual/Bestiary don't exactly line up, getting the Bestiary 1 box will give you almost everything in the Monster Manual and several things from Volo's, so its a great way to kickstart a collection and get SOMETHING on the board.
After that, I'd reccomend saving up a bit of cash and buying a large brick (8 boxes) of the wizkids D&D variety boxes. Pathfinder also has minis from the same company in similar boxes, for similar prices. (Example 1, Example 2. Both Pathfinder and D&D have lots of different series of these boxes so shop around.) You can find these on Amazon or Miniature Market. You can also buy individual minis on Miniature Market if you are looking for something specific.
Im not from the UK. But a quick look on the UK amazon site shows that they have a bunch of the pathfinder boxes
That monster codex is a bit steep for something "used"... I would suggest getting the beastiary boxes. They are smaller than the codex which has all of the monsters, they are more affordable and you can get what you need now, and gain more in the future. Or if you are able to, you can always find great pawn art online for paper pawns, and you can print them your self. Perhaps for both christmas and your birthday ask your Dm/players that you'd like nice minis for those celebrations.
Depends, are you looking for actual miniatures, or are you just looking for representations of monsters? Because Pathfinder makes a decent box set of bulk monsters for $50. They're called Pathfinder Pawns, and they're basically cardboard standees. This box is less than $50 for 300 paper miniatures, and is as cheap as you're likely to find, especially if you value your time.
As for bulk miniatures, the D&D board games like Wrath of Asharladon, Castle Ravenloft, and Legend of Drizzt are all fairly good sources of actual 3d miniatures, but they are unpainted. Aside from that, Reaperminiatures.com does have some cheap packs of unpainted miniatures, but overall, no miniature company truly sells in "bulk" that I've noticed.
For throwaway undead, I use these which are very useful to say "There's a TON of undead here." They're a bit smaller, but you can't beat that value.
Aside from that, if you're looking for actual painted miniatures, good luck! The only pre-painted ones I really see are either on E-bay as second hand, or the random "loot box" style of package such as here. Those are likely what you're talking about in your original post, and are usually themed after D&D modules.
I love painting miniatures, and do some quality work for hire. If you have any questions about commissions, how to get the best bang for your buck, or even about miniatures in general, feel free to ask!
I have found that the Pathfinder Bestiary Box offers great value for monster miniatures.
It might be worthwhile to spend a little more on player miniatures, as they are used more frequently. Reaper and some other sites offer a pretty good selection. (Players often buy these for themselves)
A battle mat is a great investment, although you can also use paper.
Sound like you already have the core rule books.
The rest of the game comes from the mental creativity of the players and the DM. Don't worry too much about the physical supplies. You could spend $10,000 and still run a terrible game. You could have nothing but pencil and paper and run an amazing game. I recommend that you just dive in and start playing. Not everything will be perfect, but you will figure things out as they come up.
I fully expect to hear about the flourishing Jeddah D&D scene in the coming months. Good luck and happy gaming.
Something cheap would be the Pathfinder Pawns. There's the Bestiary Box 1-5, NPC Codex, and Monster Codex. They don't take up much space and are easy to store. They pretty much have a large variety of everything.
If you're looking for 3D minis I would recommend Bones minis.
Take a look at these too. They are fantasy-themed. There is also Pathfinder Pawns.
If you look at miniature agnostic games, such as the well-regarded Rangers of Shadow Deep or 5 Leagues from the Borderlands 2e (3e to be released Q4), you can use whatever you want and play solo or co-op. If you join the FB groups for those games you will also see you are not alone.
- You can use pretty much anything for figures. You don't need actual minis to play. If you still want tot go that route, there's a couple options. The first option is to grab a box of Paizo's Pawns. They're meant for Pathfinder, but they're just pictures of monsters printed on card stock slotted into a plastic base. The Beastiary box is $36 on Amazon right now. The other option is to buy miniatures for creatures as you need them. There's no real "complete" set of minis and they are much more expensive than pawns or flat tokens for obvious reasons. If your players really want models of their characters, they can opt to have them made or find ones that are "close enough" for their taste. For maps/boards, you can draw your own on paper. Get a pad of 1" grid paper and draw your dungeons on that. Most pre-made D&D modules will have gridded maps that you can replicate on your own paper. A slightly more expensive option in the short term is to get a dry/wet erase battle mat. Use vis-a-vis markers to draw your map, then a damp paper towel to wipe the lines away when you want to put down a new dungeon. Battle mats are expensive on Amazon. Maybe try to find one in your local game shop?
- The core rulebook has options for this. Basically there's three ways to do stats: Array, Point Buy, and Roll. In Array, you are given a specific spread of stats from the book and you decide what attributes to put those values into. In point buy, you have a set number of points (27) that can be dropped into stats, but it isn't always a 1:1 increase. As stats get higher they cost more points to buy. You can use a Point Buy Calculator to plan characters. For Rolling, you roll a number of dice and that determines your stats. What dice you roll is up to you, but the two most common ways are 3d6 per stat with no re-rolling or 4d6 keep highest 3 with no re-rolling. For beginners, I would recommend the Array option for stats.
- Ok, so it sounds like you have nothing invested in the system so far, so here's the stuff you absolutely will need: The D&D 5th Edition Players Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master's Guide. These three books have everything you and your players need to play a full game. However, none of these have pre-made adventures for you. You will either have to make it up as you go along, or buy pre-made adventure modules. If you're worried about being able to tell a story on your own, I heartily recommend grabbing a pre-made adventure module and running that before you try anything homebrew (homebrew meaning made entirely by you) The two that are widely regarded as the best out so far are Storm King's Thunder and Curse of Strahd. Read their synopses and pick one to run.
- No, but a "Session 0" where you create characters and set the tone/expectations for the campaign is a very good idea, especially when you're just starting out. If you can, make the Player's Handbook available to all of your players before you begin the game, so that they can start getting an idea of what kind of character they want to play. Then, during Session 0, make your characters together as a group and talk about what each person wants from the game. What kinds of things interest them and what stories do they want to tell, that sort of thing. Pay *close* attention to what they say. As the DM, it's your job to help them tell their stories and explore topics they're interested in. Most players, however, will not tell you exactly what they want, instead they'll tell you something related to it. For example, if a player says that their character is descended from an ancient tradition of spellcasters and takes proficiency in the history skill, then they're probably interested in the history of the world even if they never told you that's what they're interested in. This is what game masters will typically refer to as a flag.
- Generally speaking, all of the classes in D&D are pretty well balanced, especially before you start adding extra supplements. The Dungeon Master's Guide has rules for awarding treasure to players. Use them. Keep in mind every player and their class when awarding magic items. For example, a +1 sword is a great, useful upgrade to a Fighter, but is nearly worthless to a Wizard. There's tables for awarding magic items in the Dungeon Master's Guide. Those are great guidelines to help you think of how to give out magical equipment, which will be the deciding factor of if a player gets overpowered or not. If you only hand out magic weapons and armor and one player in your group is a fighter, then they will naturally be overpowered. It's also really easy to fall into the trap of just handing out stuff that is really useful in combat but isn't very useful elsewhere. Keep utility items in mind and hand those out just as often if not more so than magical weapons. Give players utility items and support them using those items in weird situations.
- The Player's Handbook gives you a guideline for each class's starting equipment. After that, players may spend their gold in towns to buy additional gear (but not magic items!) As for quest rewards and other loot, the Dungeon Master's Guide has rules and tables for that sort of thing.
As for #7, I've got a whole list for you.
- Read the player's hadnbook and the dungeon master's guide cover to cover. Make notes in them, bookmark them. If you're making up your own scenario, read the monster manual too.
- Read adventures cover to cover before running them. Important advice for them may be further back than you might think. Read the adventure several times.
- During play, if there's a rules question, make a judgement call on it, then make a note to look it up later. Ruining the momentum and pacing for something just to make sure you're following the rules isn't fun for anyone.
- You are the final arbiter of the rules. If a rule in the adventure or rulebook is ruining your fun, toss it out. This is an RPG where you can just ignore encumbrance rules.
- Buy a Pound o' Dice. You'd be amazed how often having extra dice is useful. By buying one of these 100-die packs, you get at least one full set (1 each of 4/6/8/10/12/20) for each person in your group and extras for higher level rolls.
- Don't discount online tabletop services, even for in-person games. Having big maps is just not feasible in my apartment, but setting up a map to display on a TV works great.
Btw. This is what I'm talking about. https://www.amazon.de/dp/1601255616/?coliid=I100DD699K3IJL&colid=GWEI9E04HT3K&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
Paizo's Bestiary box for Pathfinder has 250+ unique creatures in, and I think a little over 300 total. Almost all of the creatures are found directly in the DnD 5e Monster Manual. It is a little bit of an expenditure but 35~ bucks for a solid base of creatures to build off of is worth it in my opinion.
Printable Heroes is an awesome option as well.
Reaper Bones are gonna be just about the cheapest plastic minis you can buy that are still good quality. Their bases are not based on 1" diameters however so be aware.
Hero Forge is an awesome mini designing website for when you need a truly amazing, customized mini to add oomph to your campaign.
^Pathfinder ^Pawns. ^Magic ^the ^Gathering ^Arena ^board ^game ^comes ^with ^some ^decent ^ones ^and ^the ^game ^is ^on ^clearance ^for ^the ^most ^part. ^Bulk ^meeples.
What do they already have? The DMG or a subscription to D&D Beyond. A box of Pathfinder Pawns + extra stands (which you can get cheaper outside of Amazon).
I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure these are from the Pathfinder Bestiary Box. I don't know where to buy the stands solo.
All the rules and supplements can be found online for free, as a lot of other answers says. For the 'essential' I'd say a set of die per players, and some extra D20 for you. Additionnal die are nice, a small box of ~ 10 D6 is cheap and always usefull. Character sheet (find the pdf for free and print it), pen and eraser (one for each players) are obvious.
For the extra stuff that is really nice to have but not essential : something to draw map and something that can be used as miniatures. There is a lot of choice for this, depending on your budget. You can either draw the map on a paper every time you need it, but I highly recommend buying a battlemat (you can find them on a lot stores), you could also build one yourself.
For the miniatures, the 'real' 3D one are pretty expensive. It's something that I only use as a player for a long campaign (I just buy one mini that look like my character). The pawn box are a cheaper alternative : monster , npc but it's still pricey. You can just use some stuff that you print, or build your own with some cardboard. Just be careful on the scale if you plan to use it with an 'official' map.
Want a big collection for super cheap to cover a lot of the monster manual:
https://www.amazon.com/Paizo-Inc-Pathfinder-Pawns-Bestiary/dp/1601255616
See when it goes on sale for like 60 bucks. Not minis, but super cheap for the quantity.
Pathfinder Pawns is probably the largest amount of pieces you'll get for your money. They aren't actually miniatures. just 2d pictures on stands, but they do work well for combat.
If you want a bunch of actual minis in bulk you can try to find a good set on ebay, people are always getting out of a mini hobby and selling their miniatures all at once. Just search "miniature lot" and see what you get. The other option is to just build up a big cart on an online retailer like Reaper Miniatures and get free shipping on it. The advantage there is that you'll pick everything you get and won't have as many unused minitures as you might with other bulk sets. If you're looking to build up a large collection of actual miniatures expect to spend a lot of money. It's not a cheap hobby.
Wow! This looks awesome. http://www.amazon.com/Paizo-Publishing-Pathfinder-Pawns-Bestiary/dp/1601255616/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1451672278&sr=8-1&keywords=pathfinder+pawns This box looks great - it says it has 300 monsters.
If you want to get some cheap mini's try the Pathfinder pawns. You can easily buy them on amazon.de
Popular alternatives to Pathfinder Pawns: Bestiary Box
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