Converting "Real World" Animals and Vermin

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Beaver, Giant
# AP: 4-40
AC: 6
MV: 6, Sw 12
HD: 4
THAC0: 17
#AT: 1
Dmg: 4d4
ML: Average
SA: Nil
XP: 120

These docile animals, of low to average Intelligence, are about 6 feet long when fully grown (size M). They normally flee any attack, but will fight fiercely if cornered or if their huge lodge is attacked. They live in a lake created by their vast dam, and in its center is their lodge, a veritable castle of mud and logs with walls not less than 5 feet thick. The entire community live in this single dwelling, and when the alarm is sounded (a tail slap in the water), all beavers rush to this place to defend it and the young. For every adult, there will be a young one. Giant beavers sometimes trade, and if coins or other valuables are offered, they can sometimes be persuaded to undertake the building of dam-like constructions if there is water near the building site for them to work from. They prize highly certain bark and tender twigs, notably birch, aspen, and willow.

Originally appeared in Supplement II: Blackmoor (1975). This is the Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Two version.

BEAVER, Giant
FREQUENCY: Very rare
NO. APPEARING: 10-40
ARMOR CLASS: 6
MOVE: 6"//12"
HIT DICE: 4
Yo IN LAIR: 80%
TREASURE TYPE: C
NO. OF ATTACKS: I
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 4- 16
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Nil
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Low to average
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
SIZE: M (6' long)
PSlONlC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil

These intelligent but docile creatures will flee any attack if at all possible, but if cornered, or if their huge lodge is threatened, they will fight fiercely. Their habitat is a lake created by their vast dam, and in the middle of the body of water thus created, they build a veritable castle of mud and lags with walls not less than 5' thick. The entire community lives in this single dwelling, and if an alarm (tail slap on the water) is sounded, all beavers rush to this place to defend it and their young. For every adult beaver there will be a young one (roll percentile dice for size determination). Giant beavers sometimes trade, and if coins or other valuables are offered they can sometimes be persuaded to undertake the building of dam-like constructions if there is water near the building site, for they use such water to work in/from. They prize highly certain barks and tender twigs, notably birch, aspen, and willow. Their hides are worth from 500 to 2,000 gold pieces each. Giant beaver kits of under 8 hit points can be subdued, captured, and sold in the market for from 100 to 200 gold pieces per hit point.

This is the 1E Monster Manual version.

Giant Beaver - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
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You should have put up the stats from the 1e Monster Manual, too.

If we make them intelligent, like they were in 1e, then they would be magical beasts (a la the giant eagle and owl).
 


I like intelligent, Magical Beast giant beavers. We could do a prehistorical "actual" giant beaver in the prehistoric creatures thread as well, though.
 

I like that idea, since one did exist. So, "giant beaver" for the magical beast version (akin to giant eagles and owls), and "dire beaver" for the real, prehistoric one?
 



Let's just tackle 'em both in this thread. It would seem to make sense to do the dire beaver/Castoroides first, then tranfer it to magical beast and higher mental stats for the giant beaver. Any objections?
 

None here, although we very well may want to change the skills and feats of the intelligent version as well. I'm seeing them as having Improved Sunder, for some reason...
 

Sounds good.

Wikipedia said:
The Giant Beaver (Castoroides ohioensis) was a huge species of rodent, with a length up to 2.5 m (8.2 ft) and an estimated weight of 60-100 kg (130-220 lbs); past estimates went up to 220 kg (485 lbs).

That puts it just barely as size Large on lenght, and below minimum on weight. Start it at Medium or Large?
 

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