Converting "Real World" Animals and Vermin

Shade · Mar 31, 2008

Updated. Look OK?

freyar · Apr 1, 2008

I like it! Looks done, too.

Shade · Apr 1, 2008

Thanks to GrayLinnorm in another thread, we've got kangaroo stats to convert.

Kangaroo: A common herbivore of the grassy outback and lower hills outcroppings, this marsupial forms an important component of chameleon men diet. Skins can be sold to phanatons for 2d6 silver pieces (or equivalent barter value). AC 8, HD 2 (M), MV 240' (80'), AT 1 hind leg, D 1d8, NA 0(3-60), Save F1, ML 7, TT Nil, Int 2, AL N, XP 20. The kangaroo can leap up to 60'.

From Dragon Magazine #186 (1992).

Shade · Apr 1, 2008

While doing the pigalope conversion, we found the following:

Per Wikipedia, the largest kangaroo, the Red Kangaroocan be 6 ft. 7 in. tall and weigh 200 lb. Wallabies are 2-1/2 feet tall and weigh 30 lbs.

So shall we range from 2-1/2 to 4 feet tall (for Small) and 30-100 pounds?

+8 racial bonus on Jump checks

freyar · Apr 2, 2008

Small advancing to Medium, I think. Racial jump bonus makes sense. Do you think the AC should be due to Dex?

Shade · Apr 2, 2008

Spending some time at Wikipedia...

Western Grey Kangaroo: weighs 15-54 kg (33-119 lbs.) and its length is 0.9-1.4m (4 ft. 7 in.) with a 75-100 cm (2-3 ft.) tail.

Eastern Grey Kangaroo: male typically weighs around 66 kg (145 lb.) and stands almost 2 m (6 ft.) tall

Red Kangaroo: Males grow up to 1.8m (6 feet) tall and weigh up to 187lbs . Females grow up to 1.1m (3.6ft) tall and weigh up to 77lbs . Tails can be up to 1m (3ft) along.

Based on that, I'd say we stick with Medium. We can stat up wallabies/wallaroos as smaller, similar creatures.

Sound good?

freyar · Apr 2, 2008

Oooh, a two-fer conversion!

Sounds good.

Str 11, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 7? Just pretty arbitrary, but I'm taking the AC all from Dex.

Shade · Apr 2, 2008

That look reasonable, although maybe a tad stronger, since they kick with such force?

Some interesting bits from Wikipedia:

Kangaroos are the only large animals to use hopping as a means of locomotion. The comfortable hopping speed for Red Kangaroo is about 20–25 km/h (13–16 mph), but speeds of up to 70 km/h (44 mph) can be attained, over short distances, while it can sustain a speed of 40 km/h (25 mph) for nearly two kilometres.[14] This fast and energy-efficient method of travel has evolved because of the need to regularly cover large distances in search of food and water, rather than the need to escape predators.

Because of its long feet, it cannot walk correctly. To move at slow speeds, it uses its tail to form a tripod with its two forelimbs. It then raises its hind feet forward, in a form of locomotion called "crawl-walking."

There is also a link between the hopping action and breathing: as the feet leave the ground, air is expelled from the lungs; bringing the feet forward ready for landing refills the lungs, providing further energy efficiency. Studies of kangaroos and wallabies have demonstrated that, beyond the minimum energy expenditure required to hop at all, increased speed requires very little extra effort (much less than the same speed increase in, say, a horse, dog or human), and that the extra energy is required to carry extra weight. For kangaroos, the key benefit of hopping is not speed to escape predators—the top speed of a kangaroo is no higher than that of a similarly-sized quadruped, and the Australian native predators are in any case less fearsome than those of other continents—but economy: in an infertile continent with highly variable weather patterns, the ability of a kangaroo to travel long distances at moderately high speed in search of food sources is crucial to survival.

This would suggest a slower land speed that the original stats, but something similar to the cheetah's sprint ability, eh?

Also, the last paragraph seems to indicate Endurance as a bonus feat.