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<blockquote data-quote="James Jacobs" data-source="post: 6681006" data-attributes="member: 23937">Being the guy who developed the Pathfinder T-Rex (SHOCK!), there's specific reasons I gave it the feats it has. The Skill Focus (Perception) bit is a nod to the fact that fossil records indicate that they had incredible senses, from binocular vision to olfactory capabilities matched by few living animals today. And I gave it Run because of evidence/theories that it was a sprinter that could move quickly at times.In addition, I tend to try to give animal intelligence creatures feats that don't require much in the way of decision making or tactics. Which is why I didn't give the T-Rex Power Attack—I'm not all that convinced that an Int score of 2 is enough to allow you to make decisions on whether or not to Power Attack or not... maybe so, maybe not, but I erred on the side of picking feats that are &quot;always on.&quot; And as it works out, the number of &quot;always on&quot; feats are pretty slim, so when&nbsp; you have a high HD critter like the T-rex, you start running out of feat options. Hence... things like Run, which might not be the sexiest feat, but it's an easy one to use and is, as a bonus, kinda supported by some fossil evidence as well.FURTHERMORE: I tend to think that feats that improve stats are kinda silly to give baseline monsters. Things like Toughness and Improved Natural Attack are classic examples here. If you want a monster to have better natural attacks, you can just GIVE them better attacks; no need to waste a feat there. Likewise, if the monster's hp are low, just increase its Constitution score a little bit or give it a few more HD. Don't make it waste a feat on Toughness. The saving throw feats technically fall into this category as well, but in some cases increasing a stat is kinda silly, so rather than give the T-Rex a wisdom of 18... it gets Iron Will.Anyway.Someone mentioned a dinosaur, so I got kinda chatty.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="James Jacobs, post: 6681006, member: 23937"] Being the guy who developed the Pathfinder T-Rex (SHOCK!), there's specific reasons I gave it the feats it has. The Skill Focus (Perception) bit is a nod to the fact that fossil records indicate that they had incredible senses, from binocular vision to olfactory capabilities matched by few living animals today. And I gave it Run because of evidence/theories that it was a sprinter that could move quickly at times. In addition, I tend to try to give animal intelligence creatures feats that don't require much in the way of decision making or tactics. Which is why I didn't give the T-Rex Power Attack—I'm not all that convinced that an Int score of 2 is enough to allow you to make decisions on whether or not to Power Attack or not... maybe so, maybe not, but I erred on the side of picking feats that are "always on." And as it works out, the number of "always on" feats are pretty slim, so when you have a high HD critter like the T-rex, you start running out of feat options. Hence... things like Run, which might not be the sexiest feat, but it's an easy one to use and is, as a bonus, kinda supported by some fossil evidence as well. FURTHERMORE: I tend to think that feats that improve stats are kinda silly to give baseline monsters. Things like Toughness and Improved Natural Attack are classic examples here. If you want a monster to have better natural attacks, you can just GIVE them better attacks; no need to waste a feat there. Likewise, if the monster's hp are low, just increase its Constitution score a little bit or give it a few more HD. Don't make it waste a feat on Toughness. The saving throw feats technically fall into this category as well, but in some cases increasing a stat is kinda silly, so rather than give the T-Rex a wisdom of 18... it gets Iron Will. Anyway. Someone mentioned a dinosaur, so I got kinda chatty. [/QUOTE]

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