Why are there dire animals?

I am working on a new campaign and I have a biological/ecological question for you: Where do dire animals come from?

The question has some relevance to me as I create wilderness encounter charts for various areas. These encounter charts help define the ecosystem of the area, so large predators must have appropriate amounts of territory to thrive.

The MM states:

MM said:

Dire animals are larger, tougher, meaner versions of ordinary animals. Each kind tends to have a feral, prehistoric, or even demonic appearance.

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So, I am stuck on the second sentence I quoted. Why do they have this different appearance? Do they originate from the base stock as mutant young? Perhaps affected by demonic taint? [sort of like chaos in WFRP]. Are Dire animals instead, different breeds entirely?

Who cares? I do. I kind of like thinking about these issues even if my players will not notice or care...

Anyone with an ecology or biology background know where I can find stats for how many acres it takes to support a large, predatory animal? Obviously, it varies, but if possible, give me something in the ballpark for say a meditteranean climate.

I think of dire animals as sort of being leftover holdouts from previous ages. From a real-world point of view, a sabertooth tiger is sort of a 'dire lion', a woolly mammoth is a 'dire elephant', an archaeopteryx is a 'dire eagle', and a megatherium is a 'dire sloth'. Animals aren't always even directly descended from their dire counterparts in the real world, but we still perceive a connection between them because of their similarities.

In my campaign, I would say that dire animals are separate species from their regular counterparts. In fact, they are almost all heading towards extinction (both because of the amount of resources they must consume to survive, and because adventurers tend to kill them) but evil wizards have a tendency to keep making more of them!

Dire animals originally came from the whole "Dire Wolf" animal, in earlier editions of D&D.

Basically, back in prehistoric times, there was an animal called a "Dire Wolf" (scientific name is probably different).

Because they created one Dire animal, they created a bunch more. And, of course, someone came up with a Dire template. (Sorry, don't remember where I saw that...)

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So, if you want to emphasize how tough the untamed, unexplored portions of your world are, but without bringing in the anachronisms of dinosaurs, just use dire animals.

After all, it's quite possible that the prehistoric animals (10k years ago, give or take) would still be around, if humans hadn't developed their hunting skills... (Australia and America, for instance, but also Europe and Asia; I think Africa was the only continent to have animals became accustomed to "humans = hunters" before the threat of extinction set in--prior to the invention of guns, of course.)

Note that wooly mammoths were smaller than modern African elephant.

The Dire template is in the Tome of Horrors.

They are a good vertebrate equivalent to the giant and monstrous vermins.

Gez said:

Note that wooly mammoths were smaller than modern African elephant.

The Dire template is in the Tome of Horrors.

They are a good vertebrate equivalent to the giant and monstrous vermins.

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The Tome of Horrors Dire Animals temple was updated to 3.5 and posted as a free download here:
http://www.necromancergames.com/pdf/ToHDire.pdf

BTW, weren't dire wolves considered Evil, and somewhat magical in origin in previous editions?

the MM doesn't really go into why they exist... they just do. You could go with the more feral, pinnacle of the species... might not be others.. .or it could be an creature blessed by a God of Nature or if it has Demonic traits, cursed/blessed by a demon... that may also modify it's behaviour.

the anime Princess Mononoke has them as intelligent, speaking creatures. Basically they are like the demigod of an animal and sometimes have semidemigodlings around it.

johnsemlak said:

BTW, weren't dire wolves considered Evil, and somewhat magical in origin in previous editions?

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No, those where Worgs.

- Wolf
- Worg
- Dire Wolf
- Winter Wolf

Just remember that Dire animals need way more food, they are stronger, faster, etc. So if there are Dire Wolves, changes are that there is a big herd of something around (maybe even Dire versions of normal animals).

As for why they exist? Why do ors or elves exist? Because we want them to exist, make up a reason that makes sense or is kewl in your world. Maybe legends say that they are the children of the animal lords, or that they were created by some mad mage, or a result of some demonic crossbreading, etc.

Silly rabbits....
When a mommy Dire Animal and a Daddy Dire animal love each other thats where other Dire Animals come from.


Sorry had to get that out there.

Dire animals could also be some sort of failed magical experiment or a divine joke as well.

Cergorach said:

No, those where Worgs.

- Wolf
- Worg
- Dire Wolf
- Winter Wolf

Just remember that Dire animals need way more food, they are stronger, faster, etc. So if there are Dire Wolves, changes are that there is a big herd of something around (maybe even Dire versions of normal animals).

As for why they exist? Why do ors or elves exist? Because we want them to exist, make up a reason that makes sense or is kewl in your world. Maybe legends say that they are the children of the animal lords, or that they were created by some mad mage, or a result of some demonic crossbreading, etc.

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Well, in the 1e Monster Manual, Dire Wolves and Worgs are the same things, and they're listed as Neutral (Evil)

johnsemlak said:

Well, in the 1e Monster Manual, Dire Wolves and Worgs are the same things, and they're listed as Neutral (Evil)

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Same entry statwise, different critters though.

MM1E p.101 said:

Wolf, Dire: This variety of wolf is simply a huge specimen typical of the Pleistocene Epoch. They conform to the characteristics of normal wolves.
(Worgs): Evil natured, neo-dire wolves are known as worgs. These creatures have a language and are often foundin co-operationwith goblins in order to gain prey or to simply enjoy killing. They are as large as ponies and can be ridden. They otherwise conform to the characteristics of
wolves.

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