Animals, Plants, Vermin, by any other name

[Dannyalcatraz]

Real world critters are a lot more dangerous than most "city-folk" realize: Mother Nature has had hundreds of millions of years of an arms race going on.

In the water, you have archerfish who spit water to take down prey above their ponds' surfaces, and pistol shrimp who use cavitation to strike as hard as a .22 pistol.

In the air, there are critters who bombard prey with stones or grab them for a fatal drop on stone or impalement on sticks.

And in all environments, there are poisoners, ambushers, and pack huntersof all sizes.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Real venomous animals can be much more deadly than any of the ones in D&D. And with many cases involving various toxins, it's possible to be exposed and not know it.

 

[Ragmon]

Hm... I wonder if there are any swarms in the world that D&D could use?

I would like to point you to The Swarm of 1850-1880 .

Edit: Forgot the link...whoops.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ804ztWPNs

 

[Dozen]

I didn't want to post about this freakwonder of nature originally(since I used a slightly modified version of it in a campaign once), but there it is.
Take a gander at the sandbox tree, so named for being used to make pen sandboxes out of it's seed pods:

Doesn't look very impressive, does it? But get a few steps closer...

....Okay, so that's a lot of dem spikes. Climb checks are advised against. What's the deal?

Well, here is it's pod I mentioned. No, it isn't covered in spikes. It does, however, explode. Spreading it's seed at 150 miles per hour. In a 330 feet radius.
The seeds of course are essentially Diminutive chakrams, as Nature knows there is no kill like overkill.

Oh, while we're on a roll, the sap of the thing is deadly poison. Just in case some poor sod tried to eat it.

Yet, people keep sandbox trees around the house! And why? What benefit could that possibly prov- Right. Drugs.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I didn't want to post about this freakwonder of nature originally(since I used a slightly modified version of it in a campaign once), but there it is.
Take a gander at the sandbox tree, so named for being used to make pen sandboxes out of it's seed pods:

Doesn't look very impressive, does it? But get a few steps closer...

....Okay, so that's a lot of dem spikes. Climb checks are advised against. What's the deal?

Well, here is it's pod I mentioned. No, it isn't covered in spikes. It does, however, explode. Spreading it's seed at 150 miles per hour. In a 330 feet radius.
The seeds of course are essentially Diminutive chakrams, as Nature knows there is no kill like overkill.

Oh, while we're on a roll, the sap of the thing is deadly poison. Just in case some poor sod tried to eat it.

Yet, people keep sandbox trees around the house! And why? What benefit could that possibly prov- Right. Drugs.

Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' 'bout!!!

That reminds me of this:

Here's an interesting fact: Aspen Trees are a clonal species- they can spread by runners. One of the largest organisms on Earth is an Aspen grove in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains that has 41,000+ trunks.

That inspired this:

No Man's Land:

5000 years ago, a druid (whose name is lost to humanity...) of great power picked a large and remote island devoid of human life as his home, choosing a grove of aspen trees his most sacred space. At some point, he chose to cast Awaken upon one of the aspen...and the entire grove came to life! He had forgotten that Aspen spread by runners...the entire grove was actually one plant- and now it had a mind equal to his own. He trained it in the ways of the druids.

Eventually, death found the druid, but his greatest student lived on. Eventually, the Aspen grew enough in power that it began to experiment with Awaken itself. First, it made other Aspen and a few other mighty trees as self aware as it was, forming the Green Council, each a druid, cleric or mage in its own right. They, in time and in turn, granted awareness to some of the animals of the forest...bringing them into a society ruled by the Green Council, each day's food created by powerful magics.

As decades passed, the island became a great druidic haven, but still unknown to man.

1000 years ago, Man came...and he was not ready for what he found. The animals and trees welcomed those who resembled the one who had made their haven possible, but the ignorant sailors who found the island hunted for food for their journeys, and were driven back by the island inhabitants. The sailors returned to civilization to tell tales of the mysterious island to the East, where both animals and trees thought and fought as if men.

The Counci's research of the civilized world (directly and through its awakened, shapechanged agents) has brought them much information about the destructiveness of man...and also solutions as to how to fight back. Those shapechanged agents often lived lives among the so called civilized men, bringing their children, natural shapeshifters, back to the island. The Council did much the same.

Now, the island is inhabited by more than trees and awakened animals. Alongside them now live natural shapechangers and other curious hybrids of man and beast or beast and plant...all members of an insular society on the island.

And they are leery of Mankind's intent.

(In game terms, the island is inhabited by Awakened Trees of the Green Council (each with 20 levels of some combination of Druid, Cleric, Wizard or Sorcerer, some with Epic levels); Awakened animals (any class, Rangers and Druids most common); Anthropomorphic Animals (see WOTC's Savage Species); Shapeshifters (see WOTC's Eberron, but instead of being linked to Lycanthropes, they are linked to Druids); and Woodlings (see WOTC's Monster Manual III).

Cast Awaken on those Sandbox Trees and suddenly, the Druids have an interesting bunch of shock troops at their disposal!

 

[Dozen]

Cast Awaken on those Sandbox Trees and suddenly, the Druids have an interesting bunch of shock troops at their disposal!

Lord of The Rings's plot would indeed have spanned out quite differently. One day, Saruman sends his servants to cut trees. By the time the trio met Gandalf, Orthanc is littered with tiny wooden blades and uruk-hai blood spilling form their bodies through thousands of fun-sized holes.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

This thread has prompted me to look into unique animals. A few I'd like to see put into the D&D world:
Coconut Crab
Pistol Shrimp
Bumblebee Bat

...and penguins.

 

[Grazzt]

This thread has prompted me to look into unique animals. A few I'd like to see put into the D&D world:
Coconut Crab
Pistol Shrimp
Bumblebee Bat

...and penguins.

I'm thinking one of these (maybe more) might possibly, maybe, perhaps, appear in a future Tome of Horrors...if I had to guess

 

[Ahnehnois]

Pistol Shrimp

I'm thinking one of these (maybe more) might possibly, maybe, perhaps, appear in a future Tome of Horrors...if I had to guess

No guns in D&D!