D&D General Dinosaurs in your campaigns

[jmartkdr2]

I figure fae are just adapted to the high background magic of the Feywild, much like how Earth had high oxygen levels in the late carboniferous period. Soo they take advantage of that, but might actually be magic-starved in other places.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Yeah it is one of those anomalies of myth- do we just group Fae with other 'spirits' as just existing because they do or do we attempt a grand unifying theory of Fantasy Biology that allows for Magical metabolisms producing things like Hamadryads as sentient plants-woman, Gremlins as magically altered goblins, Naiads as elementals and Hoary Host as manifest weather 'spirits'.

perhaps it is a mix? some spirits start to become more conventionally biological for some reason thus allowing them a wider ranger and eventually, they produce the nearly totally organic, elf, goblin and orc?
gremlins are likely an industrial adaptation of the common ancestor of the goblin?

I figure fae are just adapted to the high background magic of the Feywild, much like how Earth had high oxygen levels in the late carboniferous period. Soo they take advantage of that, but might actually be magic-starved in other places.

but then what did fae come from? perhaps elementals?

 

[Oofta]

I've always assumed that biological beings of all types will incorporate magic into their systems, whether it has evident impact or not. For example, if humans evolved long enough with magic they could potentially heal more quickly from wounds that in our world would take weeks or months to recover from. The humans in that world wouldn't know they were healing more quickly of course, they just would.

But everything from dragons to hill giants to purple worms are all magical creatures that couldn't live in our real world. Meanwhile dinosaurs are just in my realm because some wizard decided to open a time portal that they didn't close because they became dino chow.

 

[Mind of tempest]

I've always assumed that biological beings of all types will incorporate magic into their systems, whether it has evident impact or not. For example, if humans evolved long enough with magic they could potentially heal more quickly from wounds that in our world would take weeks or months to recover from. The humans in that world wouldn't know they were healing more quickly of course, they just would.

But everything from dragons to hill giants to purple worms are all magical creatures that couldn't live in our real world. Meanwhile dinosaurs are just in my realm because some wizard decided to open a time portal that they didn't close because they became dino chow.

what dinos do you use?

 

[Oofta]

what dions do you use?

I don't use "dions" but I've used pretty much all the dinosaurs we have stats for and a few more. In a few cases deinonychus have been used as predators in deserts, T-Rexes in tropical areas, etc.. I've also included some hybrid dinosaurs that have been "upgraded" at the request of giants for their hunting grounds, giving me higher CR versions. Some lizardman tribes have learned to semi-domesticate some of the dinosaurs to use as mounts, because why not?

As much as I try to keep things somewhat grounded, it's still fun to have a group of dinosaurs charging the groups being lead by a shaman riding on a T-Rex.

 

[Mind of tempest]

I don't use "dions" but I've used pretty much all the dinosaurs we have stats for and a few more. In a few cases deinonychus have been used as predators in deserts, T-Rexes in tropical areas, etc.. I've also included some hybrid dinosaurs that have been "upgraded" at the request of giants for their hunting grounds, giving me higher CR versions. Some lizardman tribes have learned to semi-domesticate some of the dinosaurs to use as mounts, because why not?

As much as I try to keep things somewhat grounded, it's still fun to have a group of dinosaurs charging the groups being lead by a shaman riding on a T-Rex.

trex are built for savannahs and other warm steep environments up to temperate steep such as the great American grasslands they are built for walking and would suck in a rainforest or anywhere with too many tripping hazards.

if you want the optimal dinosaur for gladiatorial combat an allosaur would be your likely best bet. It is theorised to have the personality of a hawk meaning it will fight anything if given the chance, meaning it rates its jaws and claws E for everyone.

If you want to get mean, you bring out the spec dinosaurs to ruin whatever your players have planned and make all druids love you.

Sauria is also an option:

 

[Oofta]

trex are built for savannahs and other warm steep environments up to temperate steep such as the great American grasslands they are built for walking and would suck in a rainforest or anywhere with too many tripping hazards.

if you want the optimal dinosaur for gladiatorial combat an allosaur would be your likely best bet. It is theorised to have the personality of a hawk meaning it will fight anything if given the chance, meaning it rates its jaws and claws E for everyone.

If you want to get mean, you bring out the spec dinosaurs to ruin whatever your players have planned and make all druids love you.

Sauria is also an option:

Not all tropical areas are jungles, many are a mix. Whether it's accurate or not (I based it on an article I read long ago) juvenile T-rexes hunt in packs in the jungle, using either deinonychus or allosaurus stats in more mixed terrain to indicate "teenagers".

But yes, many of the biggest predators are in open grasslands, Jurassic Park should never be used as a guide to how dinosaus live.

As far as riding T-Rexes, I suppose you think I shouldn't attach lasers... umm staves of radiance*...to their heads either?

* I haven't actually used that yet. The group managed to enact a truce before all-out war broke out.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Not all tropical areas are jungles, many are a mix. Whether it's accurate or not (I based it on an article I read long ago) juvenile T-rexes hunt in packs in the jungle, using either deinonychus or allosaurus stats in more mixed terrain to indicate "teenagers".

But yes, many of the biggest predators are in open grasslands, Jurassic Park should never be used as a guide to how dinosaus live.

As far as riding T-Rexes, I suppose you think I shouldn't attach lasers... umm staves of radiance*...to their heads either?

* I haven't actually used that yet. The group managed to enact a truce before all-out war broke out.

t rex had a damn near insane biology from how they grow up, they worked sort like how the jobs worked in the days of my grandparents as they had almost age morph meaning they could stack the deck in how many an area could support and make certain the young do not compete with the old as much.
I would change the damage type of all trex to piercing as trex crush armour, making the ignore armour class that is not magic or based on agility.

 

[Oofta]

t rex had a damn near insane biology from how they grow up, they worked sort like how the jobs worked in the days of my grandparents as they had almost age morph meaning they could stack the deck in how many an area could support and make certain the young do not compete with the old as much.
I would change the damage type of all trex to piercing as trex crush armour, making the ignore armour class that is not magic or based on agility.

I envision T-Rex as the lion of the savannah, and the leopard and the serval of the jungle. Since they matured relatively slowly (compared to top mammalian predators) some think they were the primary predator for several niches in the late Cretaceous.

On a related note I rarely use lizardmen, but the actual grouping would be something along the line of dromaeosaurid sapiens or similar. Basically they're humanoid therapods, only distantly related to lizards.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

trex are built for savannahs and other warm steep environments up to temperate steep such as the great American grasslands they are built for walking and would suck in a rainforest or anywhere with too many tripping hazards.

if you want the optimal dinosaur for gladiatorial combat an allosaur would be your likely best bet. It is theorised to have the personality of a hawk meaning it will fight anything if given the chance, meaning it rates its jaws and claws E for everyone.

If you want to get mean, you bring out the spec dinosaurs to ruin whatever your players have planned and make all druids love you.

Sauria is also an option:

Sauria my beloved!

The lore of that setting just grabbed me instantly.