Converting prehistoric creatures

[demiurge1138]

Love chalicotheres. Should probably do more than 1d4 on a claw.

 

[RavinRay]

Ah, chalicotheres. They were like the ungulate counterpart of the ground sloths. If you watched Walking With Beasts (I bought a DVD on a US vacation), a chalicothere is in the indricothere episode. And those claws were vicious, like demiurge said, they can do more damage than 1d4.

 

[demiurge1138]

Ah, chalicotheres. They were like the ungulate counterpart of the ground sloths.

There does seem to be a certain bauplan that turns up a few times in the fossil record--forager/browsers that use long, clawed forearms to harvest food and for defense. In addition to the chalicotheres and ground sloths, therizinosaurs are similar.

 

[InsanePsychoRabbit]

This is flavor text I came up with a while ago for someone else's version of Moropus.

This creature looks like a cross between a horse and a bear. Its body plan is horselike, but it has huge bear claws on its hands and feet. However, it appears to be using those claws to pull down tree branches, not unlike a ground sloth. It still looks like it could defend itself if need be.

Moropus (meaning 'slow foot') was a chalicothere (a relative of the horse) and a contemporary of Dinohyus, a likely predator. Much like the giant ground sloths, chalicotheres were probably browsers that used their claws to grasp branches and forage for food.

Combat
Moropus do not like to fight, but will use their claws if their life is on the line.

 

[Shade]

Great stuff, all!

Let's figure out some ability scores for this fellow so we can get the Homebrews going. Should we use a heavy horse for the baseline?

 

[freyar]

If that seems reasonable to everyone else, sure!

 

[demiurge1138]

Use heavy horse for baseline stats seems reasonable.

 

[InsanePsychoRabbit]

That's fine by me. Let's get to work!

 

[Shade]

In that case, we're looking at Str 16, Dex 13, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6.

Stick with 4 HD?

1d4 bite, 1d8 claws?

 

[InsanePsychoRabbit]

Sounds good.