Reddit reviews Pathfinder Pawns: Villain Codex Box
We found 6 Reddit comments about Pathfinder Pawns: Villain Codex Box. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Officially LicensedIncludes 20 Medium Bases & 5 Large BasesAges 3+Imported
If the thing holding you back from being a GM is minis, I suggest looking to Pathfinder's Battle Pawn series. They have a series where they print their monsters on hard card stock and insert them into plastic bases. Much cheaper than miniatures.
If you buy the Bestiary 1 box you'll get most of the most commonly used monster in RPG games. You could pick up the NPC Codex pawns for a variety of NPC "minis" and minis for players to choose from as well. Round it out with their Villain Codex set and you'll have a wide variety of pawns that will be capable of handling the cast majority of situations. If you don't have just the right Pawn, you'll at least have one that can make for a suitable stand in.
All total it's about $120, which is a lot, but to get even half the equivalent in miniatures, you'd spend hundreds more.
Sure they're not quite as fun as minis, but the thing about minis is, unless you have a lot of disposable cash, getting a good collection isn't easy. Minis are expensive, and prepainted ones even more so. So building up your collection at an affordable rate takes a lot of time and there are some minis that you'll never be able to get without spending hundreds of dollars on, because they were a limited time item. For example, the Colossal Red Dragon costs One Thousand Dollars if you want to own one. To put in perspective as to how much this minis price has changed when it was first released, it was sold for $74.99... Quite a big difference, huh?
OK I'll be straight with you. Your best bet is to either go on eBay or a similar site and pick and choose what minis you want, or if you're OK with cardboard tokens, I'd pick up something like the Villain's Codex. I do hear that eBay has gotten more expensive since D&D has taken off in the last couple years, but it's still probably cheaper than buying a brick and hoping.
But as a person who owns way too many miniatures, I get it. Here's what I'd say:
Avoid:
Avoid Skulls and Shackles unless you want a lot of pirate themed minis (and SHARKS THAT WILL NEVER BE USEFUL FOR ANYTHING ELSE). Shattered Star is super elemental heavy, so avoid that one as well. Rusty Dragon Inn is a fantastic set but it mostly has NPCs and furniture.
Caveats:
If you're OK with possibly getting Rasputin or a Russian soldier with a grenade or machine gun, Reign of Winter is a really good set. I love [Wrath of the Righteous] (http://www.pathfinderminis.com/gallery11.htm) but a lot of their heroic minis are demonic.
Best Sets for hero minis:
Either Legends of Golarion or the brand new Crown of Fangs set. Have a look at the gallery and see what you think.
Pathfinder Pawns can be a great alternative to 3D minis
EDIT: better set https://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Pawns-Villain-Codex-Box/dp/1601259255/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=pathfinder+pawns&qid=1569859851&sr=8-1
If you want to go all out I'd recommend these books:
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Monster-Rulebook-Roleplaying/dp/0786965614/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1549840456&sr=8-6&keywords=dungeons+and+dragons
https://www.amazon.com/Xanathars-Guide-Everything-Wizards-Team/dp/0786966114/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1549840456&sr=8-10&keywords=dungeons+and+dragons
https://www.amazon.com/Volos-Guide-Monsters-Wizards-Team/dp/0786966017/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1549840456&sr=8-14&keywords=dungeons+and+dragons
Enough dice for you and whoever you're playing with:
https://www.amazon.com/Wiz-Dice-Pack-Random-Polyhedral/dp/B01KN7REWQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1549840537&sr=8-4&keywords=1+pound+of+dice
If you want minis:
https://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Codex-Pawns/dp/1601254725/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1549840982&sr=8-4&keywords=monster+codex+box
https://www.amazon.com/Paizo-Inc-Pathfinder-Pawns-Bestiary/dp/1601255616/ref=pd_sbs_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1601255616&pd_rd_r=d89745e3-2d8a-11e9-bc59-4fcf3b72f982&pd_rd_w=Ip8Jz&pd_rd_wg=d87AF&pf_rd_p=588939de-d3f8-42f1-a3d8-d556eae5797d&pf_rd_r=CQ2TM4MZQSVKFXX2GYRS&psc=1&refRID=CQ2TM4MZQSVKFXX2GYRS
https://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Pawns-Villain-Codex-Box/dp/1601259255/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1549840982&sr=8-3&keywords=monster+codex+box
Miniatures weren't sold in a set that covered you. Even when they work with WizKids and have a set of the same name... they're still random blind boosters that have SOME of the stuff in it. It isn't a kit you can just buy.
For the WizKids lines here are the galleries:
There is NOTHING wrong with the Pathfinder ones. They're just extra variations (Pathfinder IS D&D 3e revised etc etc).
Anyway, what I would do is look at those galleries and note the set and creature you want.
Then go to eBay and check out sellers like Miniature Market, Noble Knight Games, etc etc and find the place that has what you want in the quantities you want. You're going to spend a pretty penny to get a workable set going.
Another option that I suggest is get the Pathfinder Pawns. You can spend $30ish per box (so about $100 for like 1,000 miniatures).
They are the cheapest way to get into it. Far cheaper than the pre-painted miniatures or investing in paints, brushes, and metal figures.
Then you can feel better splurging $30-50 on a cool dragon rare or go to Hero Forge and get a custom mini, etc.
If you got 34$ . Or make all the players chip in... Get one of these Pathfinder boxes. It's what we used to start for our minis and for the bad guys until we could afford custom minis
https://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Pawns-Villain-Codex-Box/dp/1601259255/ref=pd_aw_fbt_21_img_2/145-6248616-2512338?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1601259255&pd_rd_r=91edd721-f847-46b9-b08c-88d953c8405e&pd_rd_w=YWR6B&pd_rd_wg=FxX23&pf_rd_p=3ecc74bd-d08f-44bd-96f3-d0c2b89f563a&pf_rd_r=2YWZSVXZZMDP76J2H1ZQ&psc=1&refRID=2YWZSVXZZMDP76J2H1ZQ