D&D General Dinosaurs in your campaigns

[Vaalingrade]

My thing is, magic is a naturally-occurring force in the D&D world that would have an effect on the course of evolution as an environmental factor. Creatures could evolve in response to magic (as well as other fantastic elements such as adamantine and mythral as trace minerals) without actually being magical themselves.

 

[RoughCoronet0]

What I did to compensate is make most megafauna magically resistant and it really jacks up the danger.

like the Hyaenodon has become one of the iconic monsters of the Hodgepocalypse because it's big, sneaky and when you drop a fireball on it, it has a tendency to laugh at your actions before biting you.

I've started doing similar things with higher CR beasts I've made to give them a more supernatural feel. Many of the very dexterous beasts are given Evasion, and for particularly big and bulky beasts like dire elephants I make it so they can't be knocked prone or effected by forced movement.

I also like to give a lot of my bigger beasts attacks the send targets flying a few 10s of feet away from them alongside a charge or pounce ability, allowing the beast to rampage around instead of being stationary.

 

[Mind of tempest]

My thing is, magic is a naturally-occurring force in the D&D world that would have an effect on the course of evolution as an environmental factor. Creatures could evolve in response to magic (as well as other fantastic elements such as adamantine and mythral as trace minerals) without actually being magical themselves.

given magic is likely some form of background energy field I would put money on some type of life form evolving to use it to make calories we have radio-tropic fungi why not arcane tropic life?

 

[Frozen_Heart]

given magic is likely some form of background energy field I would put money on some type of life form evolving to use it to make calories we have radio-tropic fungi why not arcane tropic life?

So like a group of lifeforms which get their energy from the weave, rather than sunlight? Ngl that's actually a really cool idea, and probably a realistic one in most dnd settings.

 

[Tonguez]

given magic is likely some form of background energy field I would put money on some type of life form evolving to use it to make calories we have radio-tropic fungi why not arcane tropic life?

dont we already call those Fae?

although its also a good explanation of what allows all those gigantic amoeboid predators that slurp through dungeons waiting for Adventurers to stumble in to them

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Thanks for the reply, @Frozen_Heart .

 

[Mind of tempest]

So like a group of lifeforms which get their energy from the weave, rather than sunlight? Ngl that's actually a really cool idea, and probably a realistic one in most dnd settings.

That is probably how the Underdark has air and food.

dont we already call those Fae?

although its also a good explanation of what allows all those gigantic amoeboid predators that slurp through dungeons waiting for Adventurers to stumble in to them

I meant like a plant a sort of bottom of the food web thing.
also, how do fae use magic in their metabolism?

 

[Tonguez]

also, how do fae use magic in their metabolism?

well I have done any extensive studies on Fae metabolism but we do know that they are inately magical and their forms ephemeral, some of them like Naiads are more elemental. We do have the fact that killmoulis have no mouths or apparent reproductive mechanisms - so perhaps they directly absorb Magic for sustenance?

 

[Mind of tempest]

well I have done any extensive studies on Fae metabolism but we do know that they are inately magical and their forms ephemeral, some of them like Naiads are more elemental. We do have the fact that killmoulis have no mouths or apparent reproductive mechanisms - so perhaps they directly absorb Magic for sustenance?

it would be one option but how are fae formed some seem to just start existing when set conditions are met thus they might not have a biology at all?

 

[Tonguez]

it would be one option but how are fae formed some seem to just start existing when set conditions are met thus they might not have a biology at all?

Yeah it is one of those anomalies of myth- do we just group Fae with other 'spirits' as just existing because they do or do we attempt a grand unifying theory of Fantasy Biology that allows for Magical metabolisms producing things like Hamadryads as sentient plants-woman, Gremlins as magically altered goblins, Naiads as elementals and Hoary Host as manifest weather 'spirits'.