Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Reviewing, Revising, and Finalizing Prehistoric Animals and Dinosaur Ecology
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Cleon" data-source="post: 4983087" data-attributes="member: 57383"><p>That looks like it covers everything important.</p><p></p><p>I'm not sure what's the point of statting as many different theropods as we've got in the index. In game-mechanical terms there is often very little to distinguish between different genera or even families of dinosaur - a 30 foot long <em>Allosaurus fragilis</em> would probably be identical to a 30 foot long <em>Acrocanthosaurus</em> <em>atokensis</em> as far as its D&D stats go, or nearly so. We could probably boil it down to a few representative types of theropod, something like:</p><p></p><p><strong>Standard Carnosaur</strong>s (e.g. <em>Allosaurus</em>) - largish, fairly fast, slashing bite, medium-sized claws. Includes other Allosauridae up to the size of <em>Giganotosaurus</em>. We could probably lump Ceratosaurs in here as far as their stats go.</p><p><strong>Gracile Carnosaur</strong>s (e.g. <em>Dilophosaurus</em>) - slim, fast, smallish head, medium-small claws.</p><p><strong>Clawed Carnosaurs</strong> (e.g. <em>Baryonyx</em>, <em>Megaraptor</em>) - Carnivorous theropods with unusually large arms & claws, may be piscovores, not necessarily closely related to other Clawed Carnosaurs.</p><p><strong>'Velociraptors'</strong> (e.g. <em>Deinonychus</em>) - fast & agile, well armed with claws, talons & teeth.</p><p><strong>Gracile Velociraptors</strong> (e.g. <em>Troodon</em>) - slimmer and faster than above, but not as strong.</p><p><strong>Tyrannosaurs</strong> (e.g. <em>Tyrannosaurus</em>) - large & strong, bigger brains, powerful crushing & tearing bite, tiny claws.</p><p><strong>Gracile Tyrannosaurs</strong> (e.g. <em>Albertosaurus</em>) - faster than the above, with less powerful jaws.</p><p><strong>Abelisaurs </strong>(e.g. <em>Abelisaurus</em>) - slow but powerful, short skull may have allowed for a pit-bull like wrestling with larger prey animals, tiny arms.</p><p><strong>Therizinosaurs</strong> (e.g. <em>Therizinosaurus</em>) - bizarre barrel-bodied theropods with huge claws. Probably herbivores.</p><p><strong>Ornithomimids</strong> (e.g. <em>Ornithomimus</em>) - fast, with long 3-clawed arms but a negligible peck. Maybe omnivores.</p><p><strong>Oviraptors</strong> (e.g. <em>Oviraptor</em>) - small, fast, medium claws, beaked. Maybe omnivores.</p><p></p><p>Then you just need stats for each size category, and if you want a <em>Majungasaurus</em> you simply use a "10 HD Large <em>Abelisaurus</em>".</p><p></p><p>I think that about covers all the theropod bodyplans, except for a couple of the bizarre ones like <em>Avimimus</em> or <em>Incisivosaurus</em>, which would probably need statting up separately - assuming we consider its worthwhile, since neither represent a threat to adventurers, although they may represent a meal...</p><p></p><p><em>Deinocheirus</em> is also strange enough it deserves its own stats, and we can always add some hypothetical traits to create odd 'sports' such as venomous Coelophysids, chameleon-skinned Velociraptors and the like.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cleon, post: 4983087, member: 57383"] That looks like it covers everything important. I'm not sure what's the point of statting as many different theropods as we've got in the index. In game-mechanical terms there is often very little to distinguish between different genera or even families of dinosaur - a 30 foot long [I]Allosaurus fragilis[/I] would probably be identical to a 30 foot long [I]Acrocanthosaurus[/I] [I]atokensis[/I] as far as its D&D stats go, or nearly so. We could probably boil it down to a few representative types of theropod, something like: [B]Standard Carnosaur[/B]s (e.g. [I]Allosaurus[/I]) - largish, fairly fast, slashing bite, medium-sized claws. Includes other Allosauridae up to the size of [I]Giganotosaurus[/I]. We could probably lump Ceratosaurs in here as far as their stats go. [B]Gracile Carnosaur[/B]s (e.g. [I]Dilophosaurus[/I]) - slim, fast, smallish head, medium-small claws. [B]Clawed Carnosaurs[/B] (e.g. [I]Baryonyx[/I], [I]Megaraptor[/I]) - Carnivorous theropods with unusually large arms & claws, may be piscovores, not necessarily closely related to other Clawed Carnosaurs. [B]'Velociraptors'[/B] (e.g. [I]Deinonychus[/I]) - fast & agile, well armed with claws, talons & teeth. [B]Gracile Velociraptors[/B] (e.g. [I]Troodon[/I]) - slimmer and faster than above, but not as strong. [B]Tyrannosaurs[/B] (e.g. [I]Tyrannosaurus[/I]) - large & strong, bigger brains, powerful crushing & tearing bite, tiny claws. [B]Gracile Tyrannosaurs[/B] (e.g. [I]Albertosaurus[/I]) - faster than the above, with less powerful jaws. [B]Abelisaurs [/B](e.g. [I]Abelisaurus[/I]) - slow but powerful, short skull may have allowed for a pit-bull like wrestling with larger prey animals, tiny arms. [B]Therizinosaurs[/B] (e.g. [I]Therizinosaurus[/I]) - bizarre barrel-bodied theropods with huge claws. Probably herbivores. [B]Ornithomimids[/B] (e.g. [I]Ornithomimus[/I]) - fast, with long 3-clawed arms but a negligible peck. Maybe omnivores. [B]Oviraptors[/B] (e.g. [I]Oviraptor[/I]) - small, fast, medium claws, beaked. Maybe omnivores. Then you just need stats for each size category, and if you want a [I]Majungasaurus[/I] you simply use a "10 HD Large [I]Abelisaurus[/I]". I think that about covers all the theropod bodyplans, except for a couple of the bizarre ones like [I]Avimimus[/I] or [I]Incisivosaurus[/I], which would probably need statting up separately - assuming we consider its worthwhile, since neither represent a threat to adventurers, although they may represent a meal... [I]Deinocheirus[/I] is also strange enough it deserves its own stats, and we can always add some hypothetical traits to create odd 'sports' such as venomous Coelophysids, chameleon-skinned Velociraptors and the like. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Reviewing, Revising, and Finalizing Prehistoric Animals and Dinosaur Ecology
Top