Paizo Starfinder Alien Archive

First off, this book is beautifully rendered like all Starfinder books. The information is well laid out, and every monster listed,as well as the other information is well laid out. My biggest problem with this book is how short it is, it doesn't feel like a complete product with only 60 monsters listed. Also, some of the "playable" races are pretty laughable. If you make a giant floating brain playable, why not make the sentient robots playable too, or the mountain eel for that matter? The D&D 5e monster manual was easily twice as thick and didn't contain the fluff. Pathfinder has such a rich assortment of monsters, Paizo could have easily taking the most commonly known ones (and many lesser known ones) and made space versions of them too (Space cyborg vampires anyone?) and this book would have felt bulky enough for the price. As it is, it feels a little overpriced for what you get.

The content and production are what you expect from Paizo. I gave it three stars because the book is half the size of the Pathfinder Bestiaries, but still around the $40 price point. Buy the PDF for $10 at Paizo’s website and spend a few more bucks of printing and binding.

What little information the Alien Archive had was very good but for most people the PDF will suffice. One other user accurately describes this book as having half the content, same cost. Not having summoner or druid type classes will thin out a bestiary book for understandable reasons, but I had expected more deep space horrors and fewer playable races. The playable species in the Alien Archive are neat but not as balanced or interesting as the Core Rulebook species. Paizo needs to up it's game a bit for the next Alien Archive.On the upside I think the rules for creating your own monsters is easier than Pathfinder. With decades of excellent horror and sci-fi fiction in our culture, I hope to see lots of homebrew and pop-culture monsters emerge soon. I've already created "Critters" from the old 80s movies.

There are three reasons to love this book:1) Enemy aliens!There of tons of interesting, creepy, and classic aliens here to add some spice to your game. There’s weird rock eating space worms, electric liches, Space whales so big they count as spaceships, and so much more. A good mix of enemy types and CR’s helps make sure that there is something for every party to tangle with.2) Playable races!Wanna be a space Minotaur? A classic grey alien from Area 51? A shape shifting lizardman? You can do it!3) GM resourceThis is the real reason for the 5 stars. There are tables and instructions in the back for how to create your own enemy according to the balance of the game. This alone makes the book a must have.In short, get this book if you’re GMing a game of starfinder. It’s a lot value for the money.

This is by the same people that make the Pathfinder Role-Playing game. This is a bestiary of sorts. In Pathfinder a bestiary is $5 more, but gives you twice the page count. I don't mean there are half the number of monsters, I mean the book is half the size, yet almost the same price.The races inside weren't all that inspiring. I didn't look at any of them and thing "can't wait to play that". Any of the ones that were mildly interesting were given horrible characteristic bonuses or penalties. Overall a very disappointing book.

This is the Monster Manual for Starfinder. If you read that and understand what it means, then you're good to go. Nothing to see here, move along.If you're new to table top role playing games, however, you might need to know that this contacts a whole bunch of new aliens for your Starfinder game. Most of them are going to be things you shoot/stab/negotiate with/at, but more than a few of them are available races that you can play as. In fact, I would argue there are more playable races here than in your standard Monster Manual, which is pretty sweet.Bonus: There is an alien in this book that is, more or less, Stitch.You're welcome.

For the price, this book is not as good of quality and does not offer as many monster options as I would expect to see for a game like this. They have a second and third Alien Archive (possibly more?) so I guess you have to pay 3 x as much for the same number of monsters you would get in say Pathfinder or D&D

It's a bit short (to be expected since a part two releases soon or just did) but it's a wonderful book with very detailed information and paintings. Recommended for RPG fans and even sci-fi fans who grew up reading books like from the Terran Trade Authority series. Some of the monster descriptions have TTA vibes, tbh. A science fiction author could use this to spark some creativity. Who wouldn't want to read a story about a swarm of creatures that resemble Deh-Nolos?