From the creators of the original Tome of Beasts! Kobold Press is wrangling a new horde of wildly original, often lethal, and highly entertaining 5E-compatible monsters to challenge new players and veterans alike.

The Tome of Beasts II will bring 400 new monsters to 5th edition, from angelic enforcers, sasquatch and shriekbats, to psychic vampires, zombie dragons, and so much more. All Tome of Beasts II  Kickstarter backers at the $25 level and up can submit an original monster design for possible publication. 

In addition to the Tome of Beasts II hardcover volume and PDFs, this Kickstarter will fund the creation of monster pawns, VTT versions, monster lairs with beautiful maps, and more!

We Kobolds love to make bestiaries and monster books! However, it takes time and funds to create a high-quality, art-heavy, playtest-honed, rules-crunchy volume of 5th edition monsters—and printing a product of this size calls for some financial clout. We're Kickstarting it to make sure we have the funding necessary for a small, medium, large, huge, or even gargantuan print run, as required.

With your support, we expect to deliver a big hardcover book, a juicy and useful PDF, and plenty of extras! Thanks to our prior outings with the original Tome of Beasts and the Creature Codex, we have a seasoned team of skilled 5E monster designers and testers, so you can expect even more innovation and fresh ideas to challenge your players, no matter their level.

The Tome of Beasts II Lairs book provides quick, one-map encounters with creatures from the Tome of Beasts 2! Playable as standalones, each lair describes a mini-adventure with hazards, terrain maps, adventure hooks, and more to showcase the Kobold Press creatures (and some standard ones too). For a similar book from a prior project, see Creature Codex Lairs. 

This Kickstarter is focused on doing what we do best: making great monsters. Once that's accomplished, we'll partner with other companies and use their digital expertise to deliver these monsters to you in other formats.

We will provide in-depth digital support for this book with Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds.

The kobolds are offering both preview and playtest material for those who want it--and skipping that extra layer of material for those who just want it when it is done.

What's the difference between the two?

• A playtest involves running at least one encounter (ideally several) and sending in a short report about the results. Playtesters are acknowledged in the book's credits, and have a real say in the difficulty, balance, and playability of the final creatures. We'll send backers information on how to sign up.
• A preview just means an early look at a few monsters, without providing any formal feedback and without a listing in the credits. No signup or reports required.

We're offering a limited edition run of the Tome of Beasts II with a leatherette cover, foil title and spine stamps, ribbon bookmarks, and as much soul-shredding, monstrous style as we can muster--far more than any mere mockup can contain! (Ok, you got us, we have not yet commissioned the cover art for this edition yet.) 

This edition will be produced to order based on interest; we estimate only 400 to 500 copies will ever be printed. We will not accept pledges for this edition after the Kickstarter ends.

 A handbound leather edition will also be created for TOB2, in an edition of roughly 25 copies. The last TOB handbound book featured a wyvern hide cover; we hope for something equally striking this time around, plus possibly a strap closure or black leather corner treatment.  We will not accept pledges for the handbound edition after the Kickstarter ends.