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Message: <blockquote data-quote="A'koss" data-source="post: 1247400" data-attributes="member: 840">Cool thread... Dwarf, interesting little tidbits there, I'll be sure to pick that brain of yours when it comes time to finalize my campaign's ecology... Ranger Wicket, it's nice to see people actually taking the time to make a workable ecology for their worlds rather than just throwing every monster they can find into the mix.  My campaign has it's own unique species of animals, many of which have an "early mammal" feel to them. There are a large number that would be considered "monsters" by today's standards but they are still considered "animals" as they have no supernatural or magical abilities. They differ in that the most successful of these have evolved with a level of intelligence not seen in the animals of our world. The dominant species have unusually complex socieites and social structures. They possess intelligence scores generally ranging from 3-8 and are essentially only limited only by their biology. They've effectively driven human settlements into remote locales (cities and villages built into cliff-sides, towering pinnacles of rock, underground, atop isolated mesas, plateaus and islands). It's "safe" enough to roam around if you know what you're doing, but large groups tend attract large preditors. For the longest time there were very few real monsters other than giants and giant-kin, a few linnorms, giant avian creatures (birds, rocs) and a few others. But that has changed in the last 200 years or so with the appearance of the Dark Briar. This is how monsters are created in my setting.  This magical infestion appears randomly throughout the world and is actually an extension of the true Dark Briar which was created by the Norse goddess Hela in her prison-home. It has now reached Midgard where it grows rapidly where it springs up. When large enough, the Briar can lash out of it's own volition and entangle an animal (or person!) that has strayed to near to it. The venom from Briar's magically sharp thorns paralyze the victim and slowly twist the poor creature's mind and body.  The creature is first released apparantly none the worse for wear, but will now be addicted to the Briar's venom and will willingly return to the Briar's embrace for more. Eventually, the Briar mutates the animal (or if large enough - several animals) into larger and eventually twisted supernatural abominations of their former selves. This allows me to control the number and power of the monsters I want to introduce into the world. A lot of the monsters will appear as primal versions of monsters we already know and love. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> Kill the Briar where it crops up and you can control the monster population.  A'koss.</blockquote>

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