Fantasy Wildlife [Archive] - Wizards Community

Fantasy Wildlife [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Naderion
01-02-08, 01:53 PM Sometimes, you see fantasy with some animals, that don't exist in the real world, but are treated as completely mundane animals, that would be of the animal type and not magical beast type.
I think it's unfortunate, that D&D almost completely lacks such creatures. Ankhegs, Dire animals, girallons, and hippogriffs fit the bill, but that's about is it. So I'd like to see ideas for more creatures with IN 1 or 2, no supernatural abilities, and a CR of up to 6 or so.
Since most are likely just creatures of the animal type and varying HDs, statting them fully out is most probably not very useful.

So here are some of my own ideas I allready have:

Dragonhawk: (CR 2) A very large bird of prey that has a slightly reptilian appearence and can serve as an aerial mount. (Almost standard fantasy-fare today, I belive.)

Ice Hunter: (CR 5) A large and very strong wild cat with shaggy white fur that preys on almost anything save white dragons and remorhazes in the high mountains they inhabit. Like most wild cats, they can make punce and rake attacks.

Seawolf: (CR 3) Seawolves are a type of seal, similar to leopard seals, but much more agressive. Not much bigger than their relatives, they are surprisingly strong and consider humanoids and dolphins among their types of prey. They are faster in the water than most humanoids on land and often jump out of the water when prey comes near the edge of the ice. Comes also as a dire seal (CR 6).

Coldwood Render (CR 6) Closest related to rodents, these massive beasts are the size of the most massive races of bears with equally strong legs and much larger fangs and claws. Their shape is simmilar to badgers, but with longer legs in relation to their overall size. Their faces resemble those of slightly bloated wolves and their ears are more dog-like than bear-like. Similar to a mix of dire-badger and bear, these creatures are foul tempered and are very easy to provoke, but most are not interested in fights and have poor stamina and rarely follow those fleeing a fight for long.
Uless they are cuurrently looking for prey.
Space_Dragon
01-02-08, 02:32 PM I've actually done a bunch of these. Look for the "New Monsters Challenge" thread, by Ikyotogin (sp). Some of the ones I made (with his inspiration) include:

Dorpodon: Huge, cave-dwelling amphiban that can pull humanoids in with its tongue.

Bloodworm: Giant leech.

Dinoconda: Small viper with an arsenal of chemical weapons (acid, poison spray) for hunting larger prey.
Raptorial
01-02-08, 11:12 PM All three of those creatures are 3D models from DAZ 3D...didn't know anyone did stats of them. All three are neat critters. Anyway, I'll try to whip up some random stuff for your inspiration later.
sblaxman
01-03-08, 05:14 PM Wait, there used to be a seawolf in 2E, did they take it out? It was a seal w/ a wolf's head, some chimeric creature I guess, but I'm sure it was there in the monster manual

It also depends what you define as "wildlife", I always considered a lot more creatures as part of the wildlife such as oozes, unicorns, rocs, owlbears, hippogriffs, ... the horse-dolphin hybrid, forgot it's name, hippo-something, pegesus, wyvrens, rust monsters, shambling mounds, giant purple worms, etc etc, a lot of the "monsters" I've always viewed as part of the wildlife.

When it comes to passive herbavore wild-life, I agree, it's pretty much deer, cows and horses. Depends on your setting of course, darksun didn't really have any "earth" native creatures. If you want some creative wild-life creatures, find the old core darksun books, they had some REALLY neat things, a lot of plantlife too that could wipe out a party

I'm all for new creatures though, don't get me wrong :) I make up new ones all the time, keeps the players interested (how many times can you kill an ogre really before it gets boring)
ChimericPhase
01-04-08, 02:32 AM There is a Seawolf already. It was published in Stormwrack, it's pretty cool.
Naderion
01-04-08, 04:56 AM I think I've seen it, but it's an evil, intelligent magical beast I think, not that much what I had in mind.
Rohano
01-13-08, 01:57 PM I agree, there's a definite lack of interesting fantasy wildlife.
The inner rules lawyer told me to do this as an aberration but I fought down said lawyer and made this an animal just to make things interesting.
Inspired by a drawing by Fred KT Andersson.

Stonemouth
Size/Type: Diminutive Animal
Hit Dice: Ľ d8 (1 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 5 ft (1 square)
Armor Class: 18 (+4 size, +4 Natural), touch 14, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/-17
Attack: Bite +0 (1)
Full Attack: Bite (1)
Space/Reach: 1 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: -
Special Qualities: Blindsense 20 ft., Metalsense 10 ft., Freeze
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +2
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 4
Skills: Hide +14, Listen +8, Move Silently +6, Spot +8
Feats: Alertness
Environment: Any hills or mountains
Organization: Pod (5-20) or quarry (20-100 plus 10-20 tiny stonemouths and 1-5 small stonemouths)
Challenge Rating: 1/4
Advancement: 1-2 HD (Tiny), 3-4 HD (Small)
Level Adjustment: —

Stonemouths are rocklike creatures that eat metal to survive. The few specimens to ever have been examined over an extended period of time seem to hibernate for most of their lives, stirring only when sensing refined metals.
Young stonemouths spend up to one hour a day searching for food, often going unnoticed. When they are noticed, they resemble falling rocky debris, which does not draw much attention.
As they grow, - the rate is extremely slow, given that most stonemouths do not live near large caches of metals - stonemouths become even more sedentary. Tiny stonemouths are active only a half hour in any given day, while small stonemouths spend a total of fifteen minutes in a day not hibernating.
It is also noted that stonemouths seem to prefer precious metals over iron and other more commonly-refined elements.

Rumors exist in circles of experienced miners that larger stonemouths exist, but no specimen of any notable size has ever been observed.

Combat
Stonemouths do not acknowledge the presence of other creatures, unless they have large amounts of metal and they come close enough to a stonemouth for the stonemouth to attack (in an attempt to eat the metal. If attacked, a stonemouth will attempt to defend itself to the best of its ability.

Freeze (Ex): A stonemouth resembles a rounded piece of granite or stone native to the area until it senses food. A Spot check DC 20 is required to see that a moving stonemouth is alive (though, noticing moving rocks may indicate a strange occurence to observers). If a stonemouth is not active, there is no mundane way to define it as a living creature without attempting to break it.

Metalsense (Ex): A stonemouth senses all metal within 10 feet of its location, whether or not it is active. This ability transcends mundane barriers and water.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Naderion 01-02-08, 01:53 PM	Sometimes, you see fantasy with some animals, that don't exist in the real world, but are treated as completely mundane animals, that would be of the animal type and not magical beast type. I think it's unfortunate, that D&D almost completely lacks such creatures. Ankhegs, Dire animals, girallons, and hippogriffs fit the bill, but that's about is it. So I'd like to see ideas for more creatures with IN 1 or 2, no supernatural abilities, and a CR of up to 6 or so. Since most are likely just creatures of the animal type and varying HDs, statting them fully out is most probably not very useful. So here are some of my own ideas I allready have: Dragonhawk: (CR 2) A very large bird of prey that has a slightly reptilian appearence and can serve as an aerial mount. (Almost standard fantasy-fare today, I belive.) Ice Hunter: (CR 5) A large and very strong wild cat with shaggy white fur that preys on almost anything save white dragons and remorhazes in the high mountains they inhabit. Like most wild cats, they can make punce and rake attacks. Seawolf: (CR 3) Seawolves are a type of seal, similar to leopard seals, but much more agressive. Not much bigger than their relatives, they are surprisingly strong and consider humanoids and dolphins among their types of prey. They are faster in the water than most humanoids on land and often jump out of the water when prey comes near the edge of the ice. Comes also as a dire seal (CR 6). Coldwood Render (CR 6) Closest related to rodents, these massive beasts are the size of the most massive races of bears with equally strong legs and much larger fangs and claws. Their shape is simmilar to badgers, but with longer legs in relation to their overall size. Their faces resemble those of slightly bloated wolves and their ears are more dog-like than bear-like. Similar to a mix of dire-badger and bear, these creatures are foul tempered and are very easy to provoke, but most are not interested in fights and have poor stamina and rarely follow those fleeing a fight for long. Uless they are cuurrently looking for prey.
Space_Dragon 01-02-08, 02:32 PM	I've actually done a bunch of these. Look for the "New Monsters Challenge" thread, by Ikyotogin (sp). Some of the ones I made (with his inspiration) include: Dorpodon: Huge, cave-dwelling amphiban that can pull humanoids in with its tongue. Bloodworm: Giant leech. Dinoconda: Small viper with an arsenal of chemical weapons (acid, poison spray) for hunting larger prey.
Raptorial 01-02-08, 11:12 PM	All three of those creatures are 3D models from DAZ 3D...didn't know anyone did stats of them. All three are neat critters. Anyway, I'll try to whip up some random stuff for your inspiration later.
sblaxman 01-03-08, 05:14 PM	Wait, there used to be a seawolf in 2E, did they take it out? It was a seal w/ a wolf's head, some chimeric creature I guess, but I'm sure it was there in the monster manual It also depends what you define as "wildlife", I always considered a lot more creatures as part of the wildlife such as oozes, unicorns, rocs, owlbears, hippogriffs, ... the horse-dolphin hybrid, forgot it's name, hippo-something, pegesus, wyvrens, rust monsters, shambling mounds, giant purple worms, etc etc, a lot of the "monsters" I've always viewed as part of the wildlife. When it comes to passive herbavore wild-life, I agree, it's pretty much deer, cows and horses. Depends on your setting of course, darksun didn't really have any "earth" native creatures. If you want some creative wild-life creatures, find the old core darksun books, they had some REALLY neat things, a lot of plantlife too that could wipe out a party I'm all for new creatures though, don't get me wrong :) I make up new ones all the time, keeps the players interested (how many times can you kill an ogre really before it gets boring)
ChimericPhase 01-04-08, 02:32 AM	There is a Seawolf already. It was published in Stormwrack, it's pretty cool.
Naderion 01-04-08, 04:56 AM	I think I've seen it, but it's an evil, intelligent magical beast I think, not that much what I had in mind.
Rohano 01-13-08, 01:57 PM	I agree, there's a definite lack of interesting fantasy wildlife. The inner rules lawyer told me to do this as an aberration but I fought down said lawyer and made this an animal just to make things interesting. Inspired by a drawing by Fred KT Andersson. Stonemouth Size/Type: Diminutive Animal Hit Dice: Ľ d8 (1 hp) Initiative: +0 Speed: 5 ft (1 square) Armor Class: 18 (+4 size, +4 Natural), touch 14, flat-footed 14 Base Attack/Grapple: +0/-17 Attack: Bite +0 (1) Full Attack: Bite (1) Space/Reach: 1 ft./0 ft. Special Attacks: - Special Qualities: Blindsense 20 ft., Metalsense 10 ft., Freeze Saves: Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +2 Abilities: Str 10, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 4 Skills: Hide +14, Listen +8, Move Silently +6, Spot +8 Feats: Alertness Environment: Any hills or mountains Organization: Pod (5-20) or quarry (20-100 plus 10-20 tiny stonemouths and 1-5 small stonemouths) Challenge Rating: 1/4 Advancement: 1-2 HD (Tiny), 3-4 HD (Small) Level Adjustment: — Stonemouths are rocklike creatures that eat metal to survive. The few specimens to ever have been examined over an extended period of time seem to hibernate for most of their lives, stirring only when sensing refined metals. Young stonemouths spend up to one hour a day searching for food, often going unnoticed. When they are noticed, they resemble falling rocky debris, which does not draw much attention. As they grow, - the rate is extremely slow, given that most stonemouths do not live near large caches of metals - stonemouths become even more sedentary. Tiny stonemouths are active only a half hour in any given day, while small stonemouths spend a total of fifteen minutes in a day not hibernating. It is also noted that stonemouths seem to prefer precious metals over iron and other more commonly-refined elements. Rumors exist in circles of experienced miners that larger stonemouths exist, but no specimen of any notable size has ever been observed. Combat Stonemouths do not acknowledge the presence of other creatures, unless they have large amounts of metal and they come close enough to a stonemouth for the stonemouth to attack (in an attempt to eat the metal. If attacked, a stonemouth will attempt to defend itself to the best of its ability. Freeze (Ex): A stonemouth resembles a rounded piece of granite or stone native to the area until it senses food. A Spot check DC 20 is required to see that a moving stonemouth is alive (though, noticing moving rocks may indicate a strange occurence to observers). If a stonemouth is not active, there is no mundane way to define it as a living creature without attempting to break it. Metalsense (Ex): A stonemouth senses all metal within 10 feet of its location, whether or not it is active. This ability transcends mundane barriers and water.