Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Blackthorn1234 04-19-04, 10:43 AM	Im interested if any understand, or know about the conceptual ideas behind the names of Fiendish and Dire attributes, of normal born and raised creatures. I am understanding from reading DMs Guide and MM1 and 2 that: A Fiendish creature other then humanoid, is some natural or magical animal subject to experimentation or exposed to some intense evil for a prolong period of time. This warping/and or expanding of it mind to the darker side of neutrality over time has begun a path, to lust violence/and or meaningless destruction at which there is no escape short of seeking it own death. I ask this as would there be a way to cure such a creature driven by this madness. Such as say a Fiendish bear that has been terrorizing a local hamlet. Such that a druid may have asked for help in ending the needless violence without a meaningless destruction of the beast. Maybe the bear has been a long friend of this said druid? A Dire creature is not capable of being humanoid is any such manner, this trait tends to be seen more in creature that are native to the different wilderness available to there kind. Dire creature are creatures that tend to have the alpha gene, and are mostly males that have been driven to aggression from rare blood disorder. Not unlike those creature that may be rabid from a infected bite. The difference is that Dire creature are born with this natural aggression, and over there lifetime there body is subject to mutations from this gene resulting in larger sizes and/or strange boney growths of spurs or plates. I ask if this sounds right as my question is , under the rules humans and humanoids are not capable of being Dire tainted. Thus I have read that wolves with Lycanthrope infected blood could thus be Dire wolves. In this instance a human or humanoid infected with the Lycanthrope bite could turn into a said Lycanthrope, but would the Dire taint go through as well? Giving the Human/humanoid Dire traits while both in its human form or hybrid form? Blackthorn1234
Will Brandiman 04-19-04, 11:03 AM	I'm not sure where you are getting your information from to be honest. A fiendish creature is simply the equivalent of a normal creature but from one of the lower planes. As these lower planes are inherently evil it stands to reason that their inhabitants would be similarly evil. So a badger on the prime is neutral and would not attack without cause. A badger from the Abyss would be evil, has some supernatural qualities and would just as soon bite you as look at you. As for Dire creatures, these are simply more primal versions of normal animals. Bigger, stronger tougher but still just animals. Personally I think Dire should be a template. Save us having to have pages of Monster Manuals etc devoted to printing stats of dire animals that are already there in a non-dire form.