Real life beasts that need more attention

[Andor]

Because an animal is found in a tolerant mood one day, this does not necessarily mean that it will be in this frame of mind the following day. Moods may change from day to day and, along with this, so may the animal’s warning signals. This once again highlights the fact that ethology is a dynamic disciple with our perceived understand of animal behaviour changing continuously. Never rely on having one experience repeated.

That's the truth. Quick example, when I took the mammal handling class at the zoo a couple of weeks ago the Kinkajou (a frugivorus raccon relative) placidly accepted a dozen people handling her. When I went to take her out yesterday she was in a cranky mood and actually make a real attempt to bite me.

 

[Jesus_marley]

the thing about wolf packs, barring the ubiquitous fireball, is that they are indeed a formidable enemy. The thing with running a wolf pack as an enemy that many GMs forget is the pack tactics. Wolves will actively seek to separate and surround prey and will use guerrilla tactics to do so. It is very rare that a wolf or group of wolves will remain in a stand up fight. They will use flanking maneuvers, and false charges to distract their target from the real threat coming up from behind. the other thing to remember is that they will target the weakest first and may be satisfied with eliminating one target from the group... at least for the time being.

 

[Nyeshet]

Recently caught a showing of Walking with Prehistoric beasts,

While I had the volume to far down to here names their are a number of awesome critters to be had just by looking at that show. A distant relative of a horse that walked like a gorilla, and had sharp claws. A pig-dog which was the size of a wolf, and as carnivourisly vicious.
One of the coolest shows I have seen in a long time.

Alright went and found the names and some pictures

I've seriously thought about making some of these creatures the normal 'animals' of the world I am constructing. I have both the book and the DVD series, but I have not seen the image you posted. Where exactly did you find it? Do they have such for the other creatures as well?


[Edit] Very true. A well run wolf pack should be a serious threat at least until levels 5 - 6. The problem, of course, is that not all GMs tend to run wolf packs realistically - or other animals, for that matter. The ancient world had a variety of mythical beasts, but the majority of the peoples back then worried more about the carnivores living near them than dragons and such that - in their minds - were something told by their great grandfathers and were as common as tornadoes, if not rarer.

Look how many stories in Europe involve wolves. Look how many stories in India involve Tigers - or how many stories in Arabia and North Africa involve Lions. Large, dangerous carnivores that lived near by were a serious worry. In the bible there are several who were considered especially brave, strong, daring, etc because they took on a lion and survived. Similar stories of great heroes taking on tigers (in India) also exist. I can't recall if stories involving great heroes gaining acclaim from single handedly taking on a large wolf exist in Europe's legends and myths or not, but I would not be surprised. Wasn't one of the Norse deities always wearing a wolf pelt as a sign of his strength, or am I recalling the wrong pantheon?


[Edit] Here's a book that does rather well with animals: Beta-Bunny's "Beastiary: Predators"

http://enworld.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=15051

 

[Klaus]

Another thing that could be thought about:

Detailing what real-world animals would be like if the folklore about them was actually true. For instance, legend says that if a hyena's shadow fell upon a dog's, the dog would be paralyzed (or rendered mute, I can't recall now).

 

[Slife]

Cats.


Cats always need more attention.

 

[Nyeshet]

Another thing that could be thought about:

Detailing what real-world animals would be like if the folklore about them was actually true. For instance, legend says that if a hyena's shadow fell upon a dog's, the dog would be paralyzed (or rendered mute, I can't recall now).

Interesting - both the idea and the bit about the hyena's shadow.

I like the idea of making the folklore a part of the animals' abilities, although in most instances this would requiring changing the animals into magical beasts instead.

But then I've done something similar in the past. I once took the stats for a leopard, gave it the ability to see perfectly to 120 ft in normal darkness (half that for magical darkness), +2 magically enhanced claws which allowed it to climb up even stone walls with ease (more or less spider climb at will along vertical surfaces, but not across ceilings, as an SU ability, along with the increased damage and ability to ignore DR / magic), an aura that decreased sound and light w/n 20 ft of it (more or less a +10 to Move Silently and Hide along with Hide in Plain Sight (Su)), and Camouflage. Its coat was changed to pure black - as were its eyes as well. Indeed, the easiest way to tell at a (short) distance if you were facing a black panther or *this* beast was by making a Spot check (DC 20 + 1/10 ft) to see if its eyes were completely black orbs. If so you had a problem. This presumed it hadn't snuck up on you before you noticed it, for it was an ambush predator.

Most of what I did was just enhance the traits typical to felines: stealth, keen senses, climbing, sharp claws. Nothing else, really, but it was enough to significantly increase the threat of the creature.

Once I created a serpent whose bite required both a Fort save vs Stun (1 round) and a Will save vs Modify Memory (forget the last 10 rounds). Against diminuative creatures the stunning allowed it a chance to swallow whole as a coup d'gras, but against larger creatures the modify memory and stun gave it a chance to escape. Often a human thus stung would find themselves coming to their senses not quite sure how they got where they were - sometimes just assuming that they had got lost in thoughts as they walked along the path or into the room. ^^ The serpent was considered something of a ghost by commoners because no one ever saw it, but in fact they just forgot that they had seen it.

Sometimes adding just a single ability - or enhancing an ability already present and commonly associated with the beast - can be enough to notably increase how interesting and useful a creatures may be.

But I like the idea of granting folkloric abilities to some animals - even if these beasts are just the magical beast paragons of their species (not in the template sense).

 

[Mark Plemmons]

Just so you know - Goods & Gear has text and/or statistics for the following animals, only a handful of which are not found on Earth:

Alpaca
Ape
Ape, Trained Pack
Avledor
Baboon
Bat
Bat, Svimohzish Yellow-winged
Bear
Bison
Boar
Bull
Camel, draft
Camel, racing
Camel, riding
Cat, Big Hunting (cheetah)
Cat, Big Hunting (jaguar)
Cat, Big Hunting (leopard)
Cat, Big Hunting (lion)
Cat, Big Hunting (puma)
Cat, Big Hunting (snow leopard)
Cat, Big Hunting (smiladon)
Cat, Big Hunting (tiger)
Cat, Domestic
Cat, Small Hunting (civet)
Cat, Small Hunting (fishing)
Cat, Small Hunting (golden)
Cat, Small Hunting (leopard, clouded)
Cat, Small Hunting (lynx)
Cat, Small Hunting (margay)
Cat, Small Hunting (ocelot)
Cat, Small Hunting (pampas)
Cat, Small Hunting (serval)
Chicken (laying)
Chicken (roasting)
Cow
Cow, Calf
Deer
Dog
Dog, Guard
Dog, Hunting
Dog, Riding
Dog, Saaniemian War
Dolphin
Donkey or ass
Duck
Eagle
Elephant, Labor
Elephant, War
Falcon, Trained
Falcon, Untrained
Ferret, Trained
Ferret, Untrained
Fox
Goat, Common
Goat, Kid
Goat, Trained Pack
Goose
Guinea Hen
Hare
Hawk, Trained
Hawk, Untrained
Horse, Draft, Team
Horse, Drhokkeran Charger
Horse, Dwarven War
Horse, Gaketan Mare
Horse, Heavy
Horse, Heavy War
Horse, Highland Dancer
Horse, Light
Horse, Light War
Horse, Middling (Medium)
Horse, Middling (Medium) War
Horse, Miniature
Horse, Riding
Lamb, coarse wool
Lamb, fine wool
Lizard, common
Lizard, Monitor
Llama
Mammoth, Wooly
Monkey, Trained
Monkey, Untrained
Mule
Otter
Owl
Ox
Partridge
Peacock
Pheasant
Pig
Pigeon
Pigeon, Carrier
Pigeon, Homing
Pony
Pony, War
Ram
Rat
Raven
Rhinoceros
Rooster
Sheep, coarse wool
Sheep, fine wool
Snake, Constrictor
Snake, Giant Constrictor
Snake, Tiny Viper
Snake, Small Viper
Snake, Medium Viper
Snake, Large Viper
Snake, Huge Viper
Songbird
Swan
Toad
Weasel, Trained
Weasel, Untrained
Wolf
Wolverine
Zamulbah

 

[Peni Griffin]

Although the Goods and Gear list is more extensive than the MM one, it shares all of its faults.

Does anyone know of occasions on which weasels have been trained? I wouldn't think they were suited to the exercise. Ferrets and dachshunds can do everything a weasel can, and are a lot easier to handle.

 

[DarkKestral]

Although the Goods and Gear list is more extensive than the MM one, it shares all of its faults.

Does anyone know of occasions on which weasels have been trained? I wouldn't think they were suited to the exercise. Ferrets and dachshunds can do everything a weasel can, and are a lot easier to handle.

Well, I just saw on Project Gutenberg a treatise on ratcatching written by a Victorian ratcatcher which mentioned using ferrets, weasels, and dachshunds to catch rats (and he had different animals for different purposes. All three had their specialty in his mind.. which makes me thing they aren't ALL the same, but there is significant overlap in what they can be trained to do.) so I would assume that they can be trained for that purpose.

 

[Huw]

Partridge

I now have an overwhelming desire to stat-up a Dire Partridge