Converting prehistoric creatures

[Shade]

Sounds good.

Moving on...

BEAR, SHORT-FACED
FREQUENCY: Rare
NO. APPEARING: 1-3
ARMOR CLASS: 6
MOVE: 15.
HIT DICE: 7+7
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2 claws and 1 bite
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-8/1-8/1-8
SPECIAL ATTACK: Hug for 2-12 if both
INTELLIGENCE: Semi-

All bears in the AD&D game rule books also lived in the late Pleistocene. Brown and black bears roamed temperate and boreal forests, polar bears the arctic, grizzlies the plains, and cave bears the mountain valleys. Cave bears were almost totally vegetarian, despite what the Monster Manual says, but that did not lessen their ferocity if disturbed.

There was a little-known bear that roamed the subglacial plains of the Pleistocene: the short-faced bear, Arctodus simus. It stood twice a grizzly's height, mainly because of the bear.s long legs, and had a short muzzle. If encountered, it fights down to -9 hp, as does a cave bear.

Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #137 (1988).

Arctodus simus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[demiurge1138]

I wouldn't call them "little known"...

Modding the last one might be a good idea. Reduce the HD a bit (let's say... around polar bear level), but keep the speed and gnaw. There's the hypothesis out there that they engaged in a lot of kleptoparasitism, scaring other predators away from their kills.

Fun fact! The small, unassuming spectacled bear in South America is the closest living relative of the short faced bears.

[Shade]

So, 8 HD, like polar bear? Large?

[demiurge1138]

8 or 10 HD. Definitely Large.

[freyar]

If encountered, it fights down to -9 hp, as does a cave bear.

Ferocity as dire boar?

[demiurge1138]

Ferocity sounds good. The kleptoparasitism thing suggests the Roar ability, which I gave to Nefundusaurus, which we used as the baseline for some crusotarsan conversions over in the first version of this thread, but ditched roar. So, again...

Frightful Roar (Ex): As a standard action, a nefundusaurus can give a mighty roar. All creatures within 30ft of the roaring nefundusaurus must make a DC 13 Will save or be frightened for 1 round and shaken for 1d4 rounds after that. On a successful save, the creature is merely shaken for one round.

[Shade]

Sounds fun to me. It fits the usual "scary bear" fantasy niche.

[freyar]

Works for me too.

[InsanePsychoRabbit]

How about 10 HD?

I like the Frightful Roar ability.

Edit: Yay! My 100th post!

[Shade]

Originally Posted by InsanePsychoRabbit

How about 10 HD?

I like the Frightful Roar ability.

Edit: Yay! My 100th post!

Sounds good, and congrats on the milestone!

Let's figure out ability scores for this fella.

We gave Agriotherium Str 31, Dex 15, Con 21, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 10.

Dire bear has Str 31, Dex 13, Con 19, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 10.

Polar bear has Str 27, Dex 13, Con 19, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6

[InsanePsychoRabbit]

I think we should go with either the dire bear's or the Agriotherium's ability scores over the polar bear's, and for whatever reason I'm leaning towards the dire bear's.

[Shade]

I'm fine with that. The scores are extremely close .

[demiurge1138]

I think polar bear. It sounds like they were actually pretty gracile (slender and fragile) for their size. We should bump the Dex up to 15 and the Cha to at least 10, though.

[Shade]

Added to Homebrews.

Skills: 13
Feats: 4

[demiurge1138]

Ability Focus (frightful roar), Endurance, Multiattack, Track

Points in Listen, Spot and Survival. 4, 4 and 5, respectively?

[freyar]

Skills and feats sound right.

CR 6? Advancement: 11-15 HD (Large), 16-20 HD (Huge)?

[Shade]

Updated.

Environment?

Organization: Solitary, pair, or family (3-5)?

A giant short-faced bear is x feet long and x feet tall at the shoulder, weighing around x pounds.

Anyone want to writeup some descripition, flavor text, and tactics?

[InsanePsychoRabbit]

OK, what information I can scare up on the size of Arctodus simus states that it's a bit over 5 feet tall at the shoulder on all fours, and when upright is 11 feet tall or more. It also says it weighs 1,800 pounds. Can't find anything about its length on all fours right now, but based on the pictures I can find I guess it's about 8 feet long from nose to bum.

Cold and temperate plains for environment?

Here's the flavor text I've come up with:

This immense, long-legged bear has a face like that of a mastiff. It rears up on its hind legs, standing as tall as a fire giant, and lets out a mighty roar.

Among the bears, the giant short-faced bear is second only to the dire bear in sheer size and ferocity. Other animals know to stay out of the way of one of these beasts - its roar alone is usually enough to drive smaller carnivores from their kills, and anything that refuses to heed its warning faces its deadly claws and teeth.

Combat
Before entering combat proper, a giant short-faced bear attempts to scare off any smaller creatures with its roar. A giant short-faced bear attacks by tearing at opponents with its claws.

[Shade]

Looks great. Updated.

Finished?

[demiurge1138]

I think so.