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[Let's Read] Dr. Dhrolin's Dictionary of Dinosaurs
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<blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9231989" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/kz5QNR5.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>I’ve been taking it slow on Christmas and the upcoming New Year’s, so this post may be shorter than others. But progress is progress!</p><p></p><p>This chapter covers dinosaurs created or requested by people who backed a certain Kickstarter tier. Four out of six are real dinosaurs, while two are unique spinosauruses altered by magical energy.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/GIJ2KUl.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p><strong>Ancient Tyrannosaurus</strong> is a hypothesized maximum size to which a t-rex can grow based on recent studies challenging prior understandings of the largest sizes for land carnivores. Since only a miniscule amount of total life forms have been preserved as fossils, there could be all sorts of animals that existed with features otherwise thought impossible for their biology and ecology. The book brings up an example of Meraxes, a dinosaur that lived a lot longer than other predators at the time, and how predators larger than the tyrannosaurus such as the giganotosaurus were recently discovered in the 1990s.</p><p></p><p>Ancient Tyrannosaurus Rex is a CR 13 Huge or Gargantuan dinosaur, which is basically like the base monster but more powerful across the board. It has additional special abilities such as advantage on attacks with its bite against Huge and Gargantuan creatures, imposing the frightened condition on non-Tyrannosaurus beasts (no save, others have to make a save once per minute), and Legendary Resistance and a Legendary Action which can be used to make a Lunging Head Bash attack. Ancient T-Rex primarily fights with a multiattack Strongest Bite that deals piercing as well as force damage while also grappling, and an AoE-based tail slam that can knock creatures prone. Finally it has an AoE bellow that deals psychic damage and imposes the Frightened condition. Its Optional Magical Rules don’t alter its CR and are more for flavor, such as granting it sapience, can speak languages, and also has advantage on Wisdom save.</p><p></p><p><em>Player-Facing:</em> I’m of two minds when it comes to this entry. It reads much more like a unique creature, so in that case it wouldn’t be a viable Polymorph option. But as a CR 13 option, it can thus only be compared to other dinosaurs in this book. Ironically it is perhaps one of the most mentally resilient dinosaurs with a Wisdom save of +8. Its bite attack dealing force damage is great because it’s guaranteed to ignore resistance and immunity on that front in all but a few edge cases. The ability to knock prone and then grapple a target via a tail and bite multiattack is a great means of immobilizing enemies: prone requires half movement to stand up, and your speed is 0 while grappled. It is rather slow at 35 feet so one would have to be close to enemies in order to use the form. Ironically the Deinosuchus is much more sturdy given its universal damage resistance, albeit the Ancient T-Rex can potentially deal more damage per round if its multiattacks all hit.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/a3KW5kU.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ballad_of_Big_Al" target="_blank"><strong>Big Al</strong></a> is a unique subadult allosaurus whose fossils were found in Wyoming. Examination revealed her to have lived with a variety of debilitating conditions, from various broken bones to infected body parts. Although she was able to live on for some time, she was likely in pain much of her life.</p><p></p><p>Big Al is a Large CR 4 dinosaur, and is in fact stronger than the default allosaurus stat block found in the core rules. Comparatively speaking she has more hit points (90 vs 51), and cannot Pounce but she can multiattack with bite and claws which deal less average damage than a regular allosaurus. Big Al’s sorry state gives her several unique abilities such as resistance to necrotic damage, risks knocking herself prone and dealing damage each time she moves per round,* and the first Animal Handling check made against her each day auto-succeeds if food is offered as part of the attempt. Optional Magical Rules causes <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1yv7Pi78Og" target="_blank">orchestral music to play</a> while in combat or each time she awakens each day and only the PCs can hear it, and she doesn’t take lethal damage from any source besides her own tripping clumsiness. The book suggests removing the clumsy and subadult abilities (lower Wisdom and disadvantage on checks and saves for that stat) if Big Al becomes a recurring character in the campaign.</p><p></p><p>*I presume that this is only in combat, because otherwise she would’ve died long ago due to how probability works.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/AIapJif.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnotaurus" target="_blank"><strong>Carnotaurus</strong></a> bears a pair of horns on its brow, much like a bull. Like a cheetah its anatomy was optimized for short bursts of high speeds, and is believed to have hunted mostly in the forests or open plains. Its horns were primarily meant to be used against other carnoturuses rather than against prey.</p><p></p><p>The dinosaur is a Large or Huge CR 4 creature, with an average +2 Perception bonus that jumps to a massive +12 modifier for checks pertaining to smell, can Dash as a bonus action the first round in combat, has advantage on Survival checks to hunt prey, and multiattacks with two bites and a horn gore that can knock a creature prone. All carnotaurs treat others of their species as allies, and its Optional Magical Rules don’t alter its CR and are more for flavor: local people approach sleeping carnotauruses when they’re sleeping and adorn them with headdresses often adorned with expensive gemstones and silks. The dinosaur is unable to remove this offering due to its stubby arms, and those who steal the headwear from it can be automatically tracked by the dinosaur.</p><p></p><p><em>Player-Facing:</em> With 110 hit points, 14 AC, and a 50 foot movement speed, the carnotaurus is sturdy for a CR 4 creature. Its offensive capabilities are quite pitiful, however. The most use one can use for it as a shapechanging option is taking advantage of its supersmell and tracking others, or for PCs to mount the character as they charge into combat. But since there are other spells and abilities that can do similar tactics, this is kind of a gimmick option.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/4sQ8CYC.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilophosaurus" target="_blank"><strong>Dilophosaurus</strong></a> is a theropod that was originally believed to be a weak scavenger, but recent research points to it as a predator whose strong legs and bite helped it tackle and overcome prey. It lived in arid environments and fed on a wide variety of animals. In the Jurassic Park series the dilophosaurus has been portrayed as having a frill and spitting venom while also being small and delicate, all of which is entirely fictional.</p><p></p><p>The dilophosaurus is a Large CR 3 dinosaur with a speedy 60 foot movement and an equally graceful advantage on all Dexterity saves. The first time it would be reduced to 0 hit points, it is reduced to 1 hit point instead. As a bonus action it can grant itself advantage on Intimidation checks for 1 minute by flushing its crests with blood or grappling a target. It can either multiattack with a bite that can disarm foes along with claws it can’t use while grappling, or make a single AoE cone neck sweep. Its Optional Magical Feature increases its CR to 4, reflecting its inborn hatred for beings who believe that it spits venom. This grants it immunity to poison and acid damage, and all ranged attacks against it suffer disadvantage.</p><p></p><p><em>Player-Facing:</em> The dilophosaurus is both large and fast enough to effectively act as a horse or mount. It can deal roughly equivalent damage as an ankylosaurus if both of its multiattacks hit, and disarming a foe of their held item can be good in the right situation. Even beyond its 78 hit points and 14 AC, the once per day ability to not drop unconscious at 0 hit points is very useful. Overall a pretty good shapechanging option.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/IMqaMxh.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p><strong>Wretchglow, the Last Light</strong> may sound like the name for a Dark Souls boss, but it is in fact a spinosaurus whose form was warped by magic and has various undersea creatures infesting its body, turning it into a hybrid animal that lives in deep water caverns. So not far off from a Dark Souls boss.</p><p></p><p>Wretchglow is a Huge CR 10 dinosaur, and being far more intelligent than the typical animal it is capable of adopting advanced tactics. It is fast both on water and on land and has exceptional senses like 120 foot darkvision, 18 passive Perception, and 10 foot blindsight when in water. Its primary means of offense includes a multiattack grappling bite and claw attack that can move opponents much like a regular spinosaurus, but it also has a rechargeable attack where it emits a flashing light as an AoE that can blind foes for 2 rounds if they fail Dexterity saves. Finally, it can take 2 Legendary Actions each turn, choosing from a strobe light that can impose disadvantage on attack rolls and possibly the stunned condition, can detect up to 4 creatures in the water within 60 feet, or create a visual illusion taking a form designed to trick and lure people.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/wHqSZPb.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p><strong>Xu’thul, the Prismatic Terror</strong> is our second unique spinosaurus whose magical alteration comes from accidentally ingesting minerals from eating fish found in underground bodies of water. The crystals grew through its body in a most painful manner, some sticking out of its flesh and causing Xu’thul to remain in a state of perpetual ill-temperedness.</p><p></p><p>Xu’thul is a Huge CR 12 dinosaur, having the bite and claw of a spinosaurus but the former deals some additional force damage. Its rechargeable ability is an AoE blast that deals lightning and force damage, and as a reaction it can gain immunity to one damage type from a broad list of non-physical types. At the start of its turn it can surge, choosing from one of four abilities such as advantage on Strength checks and saves or a short-range AoE lightning blast. It can take 2 Legendary Actions each turn, choosing from an AoE breath weapon of slashing crystals, gaining immunity to one damage type on top of its reaction-based ability, and can create an aura of bright light that deals radiant damage to those close to it.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/LzblGcZ.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>This chapter contains 5 new sections for enhancing the bestiary options in one’s campaign. The first section is <strong>Behavior,</strong> covering random attitudes for carnivores and herbivores (omnivores let the DM pick either table). As most animals, dinosaurs included, won’t fight to the death in most circumstances and have various means of dealing with threats, Behavior is meant to provide options to let dinosaurs act in a more realistic manner when in combat.</p><p></p><p><strong>Mutation Tables</strong> is the next section, covering mundane and magical alterations to a creature’s physiology. Minor and Major Mutations are respective d100 and d20 tables that grant a single ability along with a common physical description in how the creature differs from others of its kind. As such additions are more an art than a science, the book recommends changing the CR of such a creature anywhere from 0 to 1 for Minor Mutations and 2 to 3 for Major Mutations if the options would make it more dangerous than it usually would be in the given circumstances. The tables also provide the environments in which such mutations would most likely occur. We have a lot of possibilities, with the Minor Mutations ranging from a stem cell reservoir (recover up to ⅓ total hit points once per day as an action), scales fused into a horn (bonus action horn attack when moving at least 20 feet), gelatinous saliva (attacks involving the mouth reduce a target’s movement speed by 10 feet), symbiotic spores (creatures within 10 feet take necrotic damage at the start of the mutated creature’s turn), and seismic organs (gains 30 foot tremorsense). The Major Mutations include such options as being an evolutionary pinnacle (add proficiency bonus to all saving throws, including ones they’re already proficient), draconic evolution (gain a rechargeable fire breath weapon), enhanced senses (advantage on Perception and gains +4 to passive Perception*), chameleonic skin (cast invisibility on self a number of times per day equal to proficiency bonus), and elemental immunity (immune to one of the common elemental damage types and adds +2d4 of that type to its attacks).</p><p></p><p>*Shouldn’t that be +5?</p><p></p><p><strong>Creature Naming Tables</strong> is a list of tables for generating prefixes, suffixes, and verbs to provide alternative names for animals. This is to reflect the fact that many fantasy worlds have more descriptive or flowery terms for monsters, and the Latin-sounding mouthfuls of real-world dinosaur names may not be appropriate for all campaigns.</p><p></p><p>One could get some rather creative results, such as the Whip Stomached Charger, the Blade Ringed Reaper, or the Screaming Crested Roamer. Personally speaking these combinations become a bit too predictable while also not being entirely appropriate for the dinosaur in question. I do like what Eberron and Planegea does for dinosaurs, just coming up with evocative descriptors that are two words like Swordtooth Titan for a tyrannosaurus in Eberron or the Tentwing for a pterodactyl in Planegea. Both of these names are short, to the point, and make perfect sense for the dinosaurs chosen for the titles rather than being randomly generated.</p><p></p><p><strong>Taming and Domestication</strong> is a new short sub-system. Basically each Beast has a Taming Score, and wild creatures start at 0 and need to have it increased in order to be tamed. The Beast must first be restricted in movement in some manner, such as being tied to a post or put in a cage or enclosure. A character can attempt a contested Animal Handling vs the Beast’s Survival check once per day, and the tamer requires food based on both the Beast’s size category and diet. Success increases the Taming Score by 1, but failure decreases it and causes the Beast to make a single attack at disadvantage against the Tamer. When a Taming Score exceeds the Beast’s Challenge Rating or Proficiency Bonus (whichever is higher), it is tamed. Tamed creatures become loyal to its tamer(s). Beyond Animal Handling there are other means of increasing a Taming Score, such as using enchantment magic and Speak with Animals to impose advantage/disadvantage/auto-success on checks.</p><p></p><p>Domestication is a far more involved process and is more or less worldbuilding-based DM Fiat. It is a multi-generational process of human involvement in the development and breeding of animals to serve particular niches. The book talks about using this for the dinosaurs in the book and applications to game worlds. For example, microraptors may have been used for pest control much like cats were, while paralititans may have served mounted cavalry like war elephants. The book notes that domesticated animals tend to have visually distinct differences from wild animals and aren’t as dangerous in combat (barring ones trained for it), and to not use the Behavior table as those are appropriate for wild animals.</p><p></p><p><strong>Howdahs</strong> are the final section, a new type of equipment for dinosaurs and other extremely large creatures in fantasy worlds. The book mentions that sauropods in particular are useful for such a device. Generally speaking, a howdah is a mobile platform whose cost and build time depends on the size category of the creature meant to carry it, whether they are pre-built or customized, and how many Amenities they have. Howdahs can have Amenities added to it based on size (2-4) which are basically unique accessories granting various benefits. We have 12 such choices, such as a Watchtower Crown (sauropod only) that lets a humanoid perched up there see up to many miles away; a Mounted Harpoon Launcher that is basically a siege weapon that can damage a creature, reduce its speed, and reel it in; Secure Storage consisting of various locked crates and chests with DC 20 checks to pick at minimum; or a Portal Nexus that lets one cast the Sending Spell an unlimited number of times with anyone else with a similar device, and once per day can create a portal to another nexus but requires expensive magical components of at least 250 gold.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thoughts So Far:</strong> Of the pledge-based dinosaurs, my favorite was the Ancient T-Rex and Wretchglow. What can I say, I’m a sucker for big “boss monster” style dinosaurs. The others were fine, although I would’ve preferred more variety between Wretchglow and Xu’Thul in that they’re both magically-altered spinosauruses. But as these were personal requests by pledgers, I can’t fault the authors for this.</p><p></p><p>As for the world-building tools, I already have more than enough random tables in my RPG collection, so I gravitate more towards the taming and howdah rules. The taming rules are brief and rather subjective based on the needs of a campaign: larger creatures need a lot of food to tame, and as it’s consumed even on a failed check this can make the sub-system more of a risk with sacrifice if in a campaign where survival is paramount like Dark Sun or Planegea. Additionally, spellcasters of certain kinds are all but guaranteed to win over animals in this subsystem: Goodberries should be able to feed most herbivores up to Large size,* and anyone with Dominate Beast and enough food <em>is</em> going to tame a beast eventually barring some outside disaster. As the checks are done daily, campaigns which make use of downtime between (or during) adventures can be an easy means of letting a PC amass a small army of loyal beasts offscreen, while campaigns that are faster-paced will making taming a much weightier option in that valuable time is being sacrificed that the PCs can use doing other activities.</p><p></p><p>*The book to its credit alters the requirements based on size over time, so you can’t just say you dump a million berries down a sauropod’s throat or something like that.</p><p></p><p>As for the howdahs, I like the idea and as they’re quite pricey they give PCs something significant to spend their money on. However, some Amenities are more for flavor like a shrine that is just a place of worship, while something like a Mounted Harpoon Launcher or Portal Nexus has immediate and obvious benefits to a party.</p><p></p><p><strong>Join us next time as we explore new playable races and NPC stat blocks in Sapient Species and Societies!</strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Libertad, post: 9231989, member: 6750502"] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/kz5QNR5.png[/img][/center] I’ve been taking it slow on Christmas and the upcoming New Year’s, so this post may be shorter than others. But progress is progress! This chapter covers dinosaurs created or requested by people who backed a certain Kickstarter tier. Four out of six are real dinosaurs, while two are unique spinosauruses altered by magical energy. [img]https://i.imgur.com/GIJ2KUl.png[/img] [b]Ancient Tyrannosaurus[/b] is a hypothesized maximum size to which a t-rex can grow based on recent studies challenging prior understandings of the largest sizes for land carnivores. Since only a miniscule amount of total life forms have been preserved as fossils, there could be all sorts of animals that existed with features otherwise thought impossible for their biology and ecology. The book brings up an example of Meraxes, a dinosaur that lived a lot longer than other predators at the time, and how predators larger than the tyrannosaurus such as the giganotosaurus were recently discovered in the 1990s. Ancient Tyrannosaurus Rex is a CR 13 Huge or Gargantuan dinosaur, which is basically like the base monster but more powerful across the board. It has additional special abilities such as advantage on attacks with its bite against Huge and Gargantuan creatures, imposing the frightened condition on non-Tyrannosaurus beasts (no save, others have to make a save once per minute), and Legendary Resistance and a Legendary Action which can be used to make a Lunging Head Bash attack. Ancient T-Rex primarily fights with a multiattack Strongest Bite that deals piercing as well as force damage while also grappling, and an AoE-based tail slam that can knock creatures prone. Finally it has an AoE bellow that deals psychic damage and imposes the Frightened condition. Its Optional Magical Rules don’t alter its CR and are more for flavor, such as granting it sapience, can speak languages, and also has advantage on Wisdom save. [i]Player-Facing:[/i] I’m of two minds when it comes to this entry. It reads much more like a unique creature, so in that case it wouldn’t be a viable Polymorph option. But as a CR 13 option, it can thus only be compared to other dinosaurs in this book. Ironically it is perhaps one of the most mentally resilient dinosaurs with a Wisdom save of +8. Its bite attack dealing force damage is great because it’s guaranteed to ignore resistance and immunity on that front in all but a few edge cases. The ability to knock prone and then grapple a target via a tail and bite multiattack is a great means of immobilizing enemies: prone requires half movement to stand up, and your speed is 0 while grappled. It is rather slow at 35 feet so one would have to be close to enemies in order to use the form. Ironically the Deinosuchus is much more sturdy given its universal damage resistance, albeit the Ancient T-Rex can potentially deal more damage per round if its multiattacks all hit. [img]https://i.imgur.com/a3KW5kU.png[/img] [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ballad_of_Big_Al][b]Big Al[/b][/url] is a unique subadult allosaurus whose fossils were found in Wyoming. Examination revealed her to have lived with a variety of debilitating conditions, from various broken bones to infected body parts. Although she was able to live on for some time, she was likely in pain much of her life. Big Al is a Large CR 4 dinosaur, and is in fact stronger than the default allosaurus stat block found in the core rules. Comparatively speaking she has more hit points (90 vs 51), and cannot Pounce but she can multiattack with bite and claws which deal less average damage than a regular allosaurus. Big Al’s sorry state gives her several unique abilities such as resistance to necrotic damage, risks knocking herself prone and dealing damage each time she moves per round,* and the first Animal Handling check made against her each day auto-succeeds if food is offered as part of the attempt. Optional Magical Rules causes [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1yv7Pi78Og]orchestral music to play[/url] while in combat or each time she awakens each day and only the PCs can hear it, and she doesn’t take lethal damage from any source besides her own tripping clumsiness. The book suggests removing the clumsy and subadult abilities (lower Wisdom and disadvantage on checks and saves for that stat) if Big Al becomes a recurring character in the campaign. *I presume that this is only in combat, because otherwise she would’ve died long ago due to how probability works. [img]https://i.imgur.com/AIapJif.png[/img] [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnotaurus][b]Carnotaurus[/b][/url] bears a pair of horns on its brow, much like a bull. Like a cheetah its anatomy was optimized for short bursts of high speeds, and is believed to have hunted mostly in the forests or open plains. Its horns were primarily meant to be used against other carnoturuses rather than against prey. The dinosaur is a Large or Huge CR 4 creature, with an average +2 Perception bonus that jumps to a massive +12 modifier for checks pertaining to smell, can Dash as a bonus action the first round in combat, has advantage on Survival checks to hunt prey, and multiattacks with two bites and a horn gore that can knock a creature prone. All carnotaurs treat others of their species as allies, and its Optional Magical Rules don’t alter its CR and are more for flavor: local people approach sleeping carnotauruses when they’re sleeping and adorn them with headdresses often adorned with expensive gemstones and silks. The dinosaur is unable to remove this offering due to its stubby arms, and those who steal the headwear from it can be automatically tracked by the dinosaur. [i]Player-Facing:[/i] With 110 hit points, 14 AC, and a 50 foot movement speed, the carnotaurus is sturdy for a CR 4 creature. Its offensive capabilities are quite pitiful, however. The most use one can use for it as a shapechanging option is taking advantage of its supersmell and tracking others, or for PCs to mount the character as they charge into combat. But since there are other spells and abilities that can do similar tactics, this is kind of a gimmick option. [img]https://i.imgur.com/4sQ8CYC.png[/img] [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilophosaurus][b]Dilophosaurus[/b][/url] is a theropod that was originally believed to be a weak scavenger, but recent research points to it as a predator whose strong legs and bite helped it tackle and overcome prey. It lived in arid environments and fed on a wide variety of animals. In the Jurassic Park series the dilophosaurus has been portrayed as having a frill and spitting venom while also being small and delicate, all of which is entirely fictional. The dilophosaurus is a Large CR 3 dinosaur with a speedy 60 foot movement and an equally graceful advantage on all Dexterity saves. The first time it would be reduced to 0 hit points, it is reduced to 1 hit point instead. As a bonus action it can grant itself advantage on Intimidation checks for 1 minute by flushing its crests with blood or grappling a target. It can either multiattack with a bite that can disarm foes along with claws it can’t use while grappling, or make a single AoE cone neck sweep. Its Optional Magical Feature increases its CR to 4, reflecting its inborn hatred for beings who believe that it spits venom. This grants it immunity to poison and acid damage, and all ranged attacks against it suffer disadvantage. [i]Player-Facing:[/i] The dilophosaurus is both large and fast enough to effectively act as a horse or mount. It can deal roughly equivalent damage as an ankylosaurus if both of its multiattacks hit, and disarming a foe of their held item can be good in the right situation. Even beyond its 78 hit points and 14 AC, the once per day ability to not drop unconscious at 0 hit points is very useful. Overall a pretty good shapechanging option. [img]https://i.imgur.com/IMqaMxh.png[/img] [b]Wretchglow, the Last Light[/b] may sound like the name for a Dark Souls boss, but it is in fact a spinosaurus whose form was warped by magic and has various undersea creatures infesting its body, turning it into a hybrid animal that lives in deep water caverns. So not far off from a Dark Souls boss. Wretchglow is a Huge CR 10 dinosaur, and being far more intelligent than the typical animal it is capable of adopting advanced tactics. It is fast both on water and on land and has exceptional senses like 120 foot darkvision, 18 passive Perception, and 10 foot blindsight when in water. Its primary means of offense includes a multiattack grappling bite and claw attack that can move opponents much like a regular spinosaurus, but it also has a rechargeable attack where it emits a flashing light as an AoE that can blind foes for 2 rounds if they fail Dexterity saves. Finally, it can take 2 Legendary Actions each turn, choosing from a strobe light that can impose disadvantage on attack rolls and possibly the stunned condition, can detect up to 4 creatures in the water within 60 feet, or create a visual illusion taking a form designed to trick and lure people. [img]https://i.imgur.com/wHqSZPb.png[/img] [b]Xu’thul, the Prismatic Terror[/b] is our second unique spinosaurus whose magical alteration comes from accidentally ingesting minerals from eating fish found in underground bodies of water. The crystals grew through its body in a most painful manner, some sticking out of its flesh and causing Xu’thul to remain in a state of perpetual ill-temperedness. Xu’thul is a Huge CR 12 dinosaur, having the bite and claw of a spinosaurus but the former deals some additional force damage. Its rechargeable ability is an AoE blast that deals lightning and force damage, and as a reaction it can gain immunity to one damage type from a broad list of non-physical types. At the start of its turn it can surge, choosing from one of four abilities such as advantage on Strength checks and saves or a short-range AoE lightning blast. It can take 2 Legendary Actions each turn, choosing from an AoE breath weapon of slashing crystals, gaining immunity to one damage type on top of its reaction-based ability, and can create an aura of bright light that deals radiant damage to those close to it. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/LzblGcZ.png[/img][/center] This chapter contains 5 new sections for enhancing the bestiary options in one’s campaign. The first section is [b]Behavior,[/b] covering random attitudes for carnivores and herbivores (omnivores let the DM pick either table). As most animals, dinosaurs included, won’t fight to the death in most circumstances and have various means of dealing with threats, Behavior is meant to provide options to let dinosaurs act in a more realistic manner when in combat. [b]Mutation Tables[/b] is the next section, covering mundane and magical alterations to a creature’s physiology. Minor and Major Mutations are respective d100 and d20 tables that grant a single ability along with a common physical description in how the creature differs from others of its kind. As such additions are more an art than a science, the book recommends changing the CR of such a creature anywhere from 0 to 1 for Minor Mutations and 2 to 3 for Major Mutations if the options would make it more dangerous than it usually would be in the given circumstances. The tables also provide the environments in which such mutations would most likely occur. We have a lot of possibilities, with the Minor Mutations ranging from a stem cell reservoir (recover up to ⅓ total hit points once per day as an action), scales fused into a horn (bonus action horn attack when moving at least 20 feet), gelatinous saliva (attacks involving the mouth reduce a target’s movement speed by 10 feet), symbiotic spores (creatures within 10 feet take necrotic damage at the start of the mutated creature’s turn), and seismic organs (gains 30 foot tremorsense). The Major Mutations include such options as being an evolutionary pinnacle (add proficiency bonus to all saving throws, including ones they’re already proficient), draconic evolution (gain a rechargeable fire breath weapon), enhanced senses (advantage on Perception and gains +4 to passive Perception*), chameleonic skin (cast invisibility on self a number of times per day equal to proficiency bonus), and elemental immunity (immune to one of the common elemental damage types and adds +2d4 of that type to its attacks). *Shouldn’t that be +5? [b]Creature Naming Tables[/b] is a list of tables for generating prefixes, suffixes, and verbs to provide alternative names for animals. This is to reflect the fact that many fantasy worlds have more descriptive or flowery terms for monsters, and the Latin-sounding mouthfuls of real-world dinosaur names may not be appropriate for all campaigns. One could get some rather creative results, such as the Whip Stomached Charger, the Blade Ringed Reaper, or the Screaming Crested Roamer. Personally speaking these combinations become a bit too predictable while also not being entirely appropriate for the dinosaur in question. I do like what Eberron and Planegea does for dinosaurs, just coming up with evocative descriptors that are two words like Swordtooth Titan for a tyrannosaurus in Eberron or the Tentwing for a pterodactyl in Planegea. Both of these names are short, to the point, and make perfect sense for the dinosaurs chosen for the titles rather than being randomly generated. [b]Taming and Domestication[/b] is a new short sub-system. Basically each Beast has a Taming Score, and wild creatures start at 0 and need to have it increased in order to be tamed. The Beast must first be restricted in movement in some manner, such as being tied to a post or put in a cage or enclosure. A character can attempt a contested Animal Handling vs the Beast’s Survival check once per day, and the tamer requires food based on both the Beast’s size category and diet. Success increases the Taming Score by 1, but failure decreases it and causes the Beast to make a single attack at disadvantage against the Tamer. When a Taming Score exceeds the Beast’s Challenge Rating or Proficiency Bonus (whichever is higher), it is tamed. Tamed creatures become loyal to its tamer(s). Beyond Animal Handling there are other means of increasing a Taming Score, such as using enchantment magic and Speak with Animals to impose advantage/disadvantage/auto-success on checks. Domestication is a far more involved process and is more or less worldbuilding-based DM Fiat. It is a multi-generational process of human involvement in the development and breeding of animals to serve particular niches. The book talks about using this for the dinosaurs in the book and applications to game worlds. For example, microraptors may have been used for pest control much like cats were, while paralititans may have served mounted cavalry like war elephants. The book notes that domesticated animals tend to have visually distinct differences from wild animals and aren’t as dangerous in combat (barring ones trained for it), and to not use the Behavior table as those are appropriate for wild animals. [b]Howdahs[/b] are the final section, a new type of equipment for dinosaurs and other extremely large creatures in fantasy worlds. The book mentions that sauropods in particular are useful for such a device. Generally speaking, a howdah is a mobile platform whose cost and build time depends on the size category of the creature meant to carry it, whether they are pre-built or customized, and how many Amenities they have. Howdahs can have Amenities added to it based on size (2-4) which are basically unique accessories granting various benefits. We have 12 such choices, such as a Watchtower Crown (sauropod only) that lets a humanoid perched up there see up to many miles away; a Mounted Harpoon Launcher that is basically a siege weapon that can damage a creature, reduce its speed, and reel it in; Secure Storage consisting of various locked crates and chests with DC 20 checks to pick at minimum; or a Portal Nexus that lets one cast the Sending Spell an unlimited number of times with anyone else with a similar device, and once per day can create a portal to another nexus but requires expensive magical components of at least 250 gold. [b]Thoughts So Far:[/b] Of the pledge-based dinosaurs, my favorite was the Ancient T-Rex and Wretchglow. What can I say, I’m a sucker for big “boss monster” style dinosaurs. The others were fine, although I would’ve preferred more variety between Wretchglow and Xu’Thul in that they’re both magically-altered spinosauruses. But as these were personal requests by pledgers, I can’t fault the authors for this. As for the world-building tools, I already have more than enough random tables in my RPG collection, so I gravitate more towards the taming and howdah rules. The taming rules are brief and rather subjective based on the needs of a campaign: larger creatures need a lot of food to tame, and as it’s consumed even on a failed check this can make the sub-system more of a risk with sacrifice if in a campaign where survival is paramount like Dark Sun or Planegea. Additionally, spellcasters of certain kinds are all but guaranteed to win over animals in this subsystem: Goodberries should be able to feed most herbivores up to Large size,* and anyone with Dominate Beast and enough food [i]is[/i] going to tame a beast eventually barring some outside disaster. As the checks are done daily, campaigns which make use of downtime between (or during) adventures can be an easy means of letting a PC amass a small army of loyal beasts offscreen, while campaigns that are faster-paced will making taming a much weightier option in that valuable time is being sacrificed that the PCs can use doing other activities. *The book to its credit alters the requirements based on size over time, so you can’t just say you dump a million berries down a sauropod’s throat or something like that. As for the howdahs, I like the idea and as they’re quite pricey they give PCs something significant to spend their money on. However, some Amenities are more for flavor like a shrine that is just a place of worship, while something like a Mounted Harpoon Launcher or Portal Nexus has immediate and obvious benefits to a party. [b]Join us next time as we explore new playable races and NPC stat blocks in Sapient Species and Societies![/b] [/QUOTE]
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