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General Tabletop Discussion
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition (A5E)
Making Monsters Matter - Ecological Analysis
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<blockquote data-quote="Steampunkette" data-source="post: 8705055" data-attributes="member: 6796468"><p>This is incredibly cool and insightful. And it could be used to create Food Webs for given locations as well. Let's take a look at the "Rolling Grasslands" Tier 0 encounter table as an example.</p><p></p><p>You've got Bandits and Social Encounters standing outside the standard food-web because while Humans can be killed and eaten by animals we're largely considered outside the natural predator/prey setup due to our societal structure and unnatural alteration of environments to accommodate our existence. Same could be said for Giant-kin, Hobgoblins, Kobolds, and to a lesser extent Goblins and Gnolls which are presented as quasi-civilized but not -really-.</p><p></p><p>But look at every other creature on the list! Perytons and Hipogriffs and Stirges. Wolves and Stampeding cattle. Goats and Eagles and Bloodhawks and Ankhegs!</p><p></p><p>You could make a pretty great food-web out of those options, with Akheg Spawn holding one of the more important lower-levels in breaking down dead creatures and killing goats and stuff, and then higher tier creatures like the Hippogriff who doesn't really have many challengers or predators because he's a big flying monster who can either escape or kill pretty much anything else on that list.</p><p></p><p>Like... a Hippogriff might not be able to kill an Ankheg in a fair fight, but the Ankheg can't -get- the Hippogriff to eat it, and a group of Hippogriffs could stomp an attacking Ankheg to death in 6-12 seconds if it doesn't immediately flee into the ground.</p><p></p><p>But an Ankheg Spawning Season could deplete the goats that the Hippogriffs rely on, forcing them to attack more dangerous prey for a meal or to feed their young.</p><p></p><p>It could also result in goblins and kobolds raiding nearby settlements, or each other, for food that is suddenly scarce in the area through no fault of literally anyone. Creating a perfectly plausible and logical antagonistic encounter that can't be easily resolved, even by killing off all the Ankheg Spawn in the region since the goats can't be "Uneaten".</p><p></p><p>Who needs Evil for Evil's sake when you can create an ecological disaster that creates a more compelling story in 20 minutes of glancing at an encounter table?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Steampunkette, post: 8705055, member: 6796468"] This is incredibly cool and insightful. And it could be used to create Food Webs for given locations as well. Let's take a look at the "Rolling Grasslands" Tier 0 encounter table as an example. You've got Bandits and Social Encounters standing outside the standard food-web because while Humans can be killed and eaten by animals we're largely considered outside the natural predator/prey setup due to our societal structure and unnatural alteration of environments to accommodate our existence. Same could be said for Giant-kin, Hobgoblins, Kobolds, and to a lesser extent Goblins and Gnolls which are presented as quasi-civilized but not -really-. But look at every other creature on the list! Perytons and Hipogriffs and Stirges. Wolves and Stampeding cattle. Goats and Eagles and Bloodhawks and Ankhegs! You could make a pretty great food-web out of those options, with Akheg Spawn holding one of the more important lower-levels in breaking down dead creatures and killing goats and stuff, and then higher tier creatures like the Hippogriff who doesn't really have many challengers or predators because he's a big flying monster who can either escape or kill pretty much anything else on that list. Like... a Hippogriff might not be able to kill an Ankheg in a fair fight, but the Ankheg can't -get- the Hippogriff to eat it, and a group of Hippogriffs could stomp an attacking Ankheg to death in 6-12 seconds if it doesn't immediately flee into the ground. But an Ankheg Spawning Season could deplete the goats that the Hippogriffs rely on, forcing them to attack more dangerous prey for a meal or to feed their young. It could also result in goblins and kobolds raiding nearby settlements, or each other, for food that is suddenly scarce in the area through no fault of literally anyone. Creating a perfectly plausible and logical antagonistic encounter that can't be easily resolved, even by killing off all the Ankheg Spawn in the region since the goats can't be "Uneaten". Who needs Evil for Evil's sake when you can create an ecological disaster that creates a more compelling story in 20 minutes of glancing at an encounter table? [/QUOTE]
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