Converting "Real World" Animals and Vermin

[freyar]

Let's call it the Mythic Goanna. That has a nice sound to it. Agreed with pointing to the monitor lizard stats.

We could start with the monitor lizard stats, though the size and HD are wrong. Do we want to bump to Medium and 3HD or start with the original 1/2 HD and Small?

 

[demiurge1138]

Let's start at Medium, 3 HD.

Demiurge out.

 

[Shade]

Here's a start based on the monitor lizard:

Goanna, Mythic
Medium Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 3d10+9 (25 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), swim 30 ft.
Armor Class: 15 (+2 Dex, +3 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 13
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+6
Attack: Bite +6 melee (1d8+4)
Full Attack: Bite +6 melee (1d8+4)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: x
Special Qualities: Low-light vision
Saves: Fort +8, Ref +5, Will +2
Abilities: Str 17, Dex 15, Con 17, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 2
Skills: Climb +7, Hide +6*, Listen +4, Move Silently +6, Spot +4, Swim +11
Feats: Alertness, Great Fortitude
Environment: Warm forests
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: x
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 4–5 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: --

Skills: A monitor lizard has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line. Monitor lizards have a +4 racial bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks. *In forested or overgrown areas, the Hide bonus improves to +8.

 

[freyar]

Let's bump Int to 3 just because. Maybe Cha should be bumped, too, depending on SAs we want to give it.

Add tail slap as secondary natural weapon at 1d6+1.5 Str?

 

[Shade]

Let's consider those special abilities:

"A goanna is a rather swift mover, and when pressed will sprint short distances on its hind legs."

Sprint ability like cheetah?

"The debate whether goannas are venomous or not is growing. Previously it was thought that incessant bleeding caused by goanna-bites were the result of bacterial infection. Recent studies[1] suggest that monitor lizards (including goannas) are venomous and have oral toxin-producing glands."

and

"A common tale was that the bite of a goanna was infused with a powerful incurable venom. Every year after the bite (or every seven years), the wound would flare up again. For many years it was generally believed by herpetologists that goannas were nonvenomous, and that lingering illness from their bites was due solely to infection and septicaemia as a result of their saliva being rife with bacteria from carrion and other food sources. However, in 2005 researchers at the University of Melbourne announced that oral venom glands had been found in both goannas and iguanas."

Poison and/or wounding, as suggested upthread?

"Other dangers a goanna presents is from its hefty tail. It can swing this much like a crocodile if cornered. Small children and dogs have been knocked down by such attacks. Often victims in goanna attacks are bystanders, watching the person antagonising the goanna."

Modified tail sweep?

"Alarmed goannas can mistake standing humans for trees and attempt to climb off the ground to safety, which is understandably painful, as well as distressing for both man and beast."

Climb speed or racial bonus on Climb checks?

"Because the goanna regularly eats snakes (often involving a fierce struggle between the two), they are often said to be immune to snake venom. The goanna does eat venomous snakes, but no evidence found suggests actual poison immunity. Other stories say the lizard eats a legendary plant, or drinks from a healing spring which neutralises the poison. This is immortalised in Banjo Paterson's humorous poem Johnson's Antidote."

Immunity/resistance to poison?

"Possibly related to the above poison immunity, goanna fat or oil has been anecdotally imbued with mystical healing properties. Aborigines traditionally used goanna oil as an important bush medicine,and it also became a common medicine among whites in Australia's early days. Said to be a cure-all for all sorts of ailments, and possessing amazing powers of penetration (passing through metal as if it were not there), it was sold amongst early settlers like snake oil in the Old West of North America."

Flavor text?

 

[freyar]

Let's consider those special abilities:

"A goanna is a rather swift mover, and when pressed will sprint short distances on its hind legs."

Sprint ability like cheetah?

Yeah, I think so myself.

"The debate whether goannas are venomous or not is growing. Previously it was thought that incessant bleeding caused by goanna-bites were the result of bacterial infection. Recent studies[1] suggest that monitor lizards (including goannas) are venomous and have oral toxin-producing glands."

and

"A common tale was that the bite of a goanna was infused with a powerful incurable venom. Every year after the bite (or every seven years), the wound would flare up again. For many years it was generally believed by herpetologists that goannas were nonvenomous, and that lingering illness from their bites was due solely to infection and septicaemia as a result of their saliva being rife with bacteria from carrion and other food sources. However, in 2005 researchers at the University of Melbourne announced that oral venom glands had been found in both goannas and iguanas."

Poison and/or wounding, as suggested upthread?

I think definitely wounding due to the incessant bleeding. Don't know about the would flaring up. Poison that causes pain every time the character rolls a 1 on a check or attack roll? Maybe Dex drain poison?

"Other dangers a goanna presents is from its hefty tail. It can swing this much like a crocodile if cornered. Small children and dogs have been knocked down by such attacks. Often victims in goanna attacks are bystanders, watching the person antagonising the goanna."

Modified tail sweep?

I had just thought about a tail slap, but this does look like a downsized tail sweep. I think we've done that before, too.

Here it was from the echidna just above:
Tongue Sweep (Ex): The giant spiny anteater attacks by sweeping with its tongue as a standard action. The sweep affects a half-circle with a radius of 20 feet, extending from an intersection on the edge of the anteater's space in any direction. Creatures within the swept area are affected if they are one or more size categories smaller than the anteater. Affected creatures must make a DC X Ref save or become stuck to the tongue (see Drag below) and take 1d6 points of acid damage. The save DC is Constitution-based.

"Alarmed goannas can mistake standing humans for trees and attempt to climb off the ground to safety, which is understandably painful, as well as distressing for both man and beast."

Climb speed or racial bonus on Climb checks?

Sounds like a climb speed if it tries to climb when alarmed. Man, having my cats climb up me is painful enough, so I don't want to know what this would feel like.

"Because the goanna regularly eats snakes (often involving a fierce struggle between the two), they are often said to be immune to snake venom. The goanna does eat venomous snakes, but no evidence found suggests actual poison immunity. Other stories say the lizard eats a legendary plant, or drinks from a healing spring which neutralises the poison. This is immortalised in Banjo Paterson's humorous poem Johnson's Antidote."

Immunity/resistance to poison?

Probably a racial bonus to saves vs poisons, like +2.

"Possibly related to the above poison immunity, goanna fat or oil has been anecdotally imbued with mystical healing properties. Aborigines traditionally used goanna oil as an important bush medicine,and it also became a common medicine among whites in Australia's early days. Said to be a cure-all for all sorts of ailments, and possessing amazing powers of penetration (passing through metal as if it were not there), it was sold amongst early settlers like snake oil in the Old West of North America."

Flavor text?

Yeah, flavor.

 

[demiurge1138]

Yes to tail sweep, yes to poison (instead of wounding, have it do Con damage), yes to immunity to poison, yes to climb speed.

No to sprinting. The two-legged thing can easily be flavor text for the run action.

Since they're magical beasts, we could make something out of goanna oil. Especially that "passing through metal". Perhaps they can make their bite a touch attack 3/day?

Demiurge out.

 

[Shade]

OK, added to Homebrews.

I tried to incorporate everything we discussed, as well as pull in the flavor from Wikipedia and the original brief Dragon Mag entry.

Let me know if I missed anything, and offer suggestions for the "special bite" name.

 

[freyar]

I've been outvoted!

How about Penetrating Bite?

Probably still CR 2, maybe 3.

Goanna oil: immune to poison for 4 hours

Skins: phanatons purchase for 10gp? Quite a bit of inflation, but they should be worth something if it's going to be mentioned.

Digging around on Wikipedia, seems like the weight should be 30-45 lb for Medium sized ones.

 

[demiurge1138]

Ghost-oil bite?