Real world animal, meet D+D monster

[alsih2o]

D+D monster, meet real world animal.

What odd traits, habits or behaviors could D+D monsters pick up form real world animals to make them more interesting? Please provide a link.

I was pushed to thinking about this by this discovery on the Tampa Zoo webpage about sloths- "Only pass urine and stool once every 3-8 days and can loose up to 30% body weight at elimination."

http://www.lowryparkzoo.com/html/l3/fact_sheets/l3_att_hab_fspri_twotoedsloth.html

Imagine a ragon acting this way. Or anything big. Heck, at this rate a manticore would leave a 300 lb. poo.

Amazing.

Have anything else form the realm of nature?

 

[der_kluge]

I watched that Discovery channel (or was it Animal Planet?) show about Dragons "A fantasy made real". In it, they applied science to the concept of a dragon and attempted to explain how they might have existed in the real world, and how they could fly and breathe fire. They showed real nature examples of some of the bizarre things that nature does to survive. I didn't care for their explanation on breathing fire. Their theory was that the dragon had a hydrogen bladder in their body, and digested food was converted to hydrogen. To fly, they filled their sacks full, and it lessened the weight of the creature. To breathe fire, they released the hydrogen. To ignite it, the creature had to munch of platinum, which it would find as raw ore in the mountaintops. The hydrogen and platinum reacted and caused fire.

But in talking, they mentioned the Bombardier beetle. Apparently it can create a hot liquid that is 200 degrees (F), and spew it out. Bizarre.

 

[Gez]

The bombardier beetle is an example of a natural chemist. It has two different (sets of) glands, which produce two different liquids. When both are mixed, it produces a strong exothermical reaction.

(If, when you were kid, you, like me, got a "Little Chemist" box with lots of chemicals and test tubes; and, like me, just mixed everything until the test tube became boiling hot and the mix erupted like a geyser, resulting in your parents confiscating the box and never letting you play again with it, then you'll know how this can happen.)

The beetle's trick, of course, is to not mix both reactive fluids within its body. It would kill it. Instead, our cunning beetle spits them both at the same time, and let them mix in mid-air.

In doing so, the beetle is a bit like a diminutive chitinous death star.

 

[dungeon blaster]

I think you'd need a LOT of hydrogen to have any affect on the weight of a creature. The dragon would look more like a zepplin than the serpentine shape we know and love. Also, platinum tipped arrows would be quite effective... KABOOM!

 

[Tonguez]

In doing so, the beetle is a bit like a diminutive chitinous death star.

you are a nerd! but yes Bombadier bettles are kewl.

anyway back to OPQ

I based the society of my gnomes on that of the East African Mole rat which is the only known eusocial mammal - and as burrowers they were perfect for a gnome burrow too

Goblins imc are amphibians and go through a tadpole stage before emerging into full goblin beauty

Manticores have two unusual traits 1. They are able to change gender (like Hyeana) 2. they are marsupials

 

[The Shaman]

Migration.

This is so simple, but it seems to get overlooked so often, and it has all kinds of in-game effects.

For example, big ungulates almost always need to migrate to maximize habitat productivity in meeting their caloric needs - they have a summer range, a winter range, and a migration route that they follow year after year. There might also be a separate calving ground where the young are born. Some animals migrate poleward from more equitorial regions - other short-distant migrants might move from lower elevation prairies in the winter to higher elevation meadows in the summer.

Predators will tend to either migrate with the herds or get all of their caloric needs met by attacking the herds as they enter the predator's home range.

In D&D terms, this means you could have griffons following herds of horses from their wintering grounds in the south to their summer range in the north, or rocs that prey on passing pods of whales heading south for the winter.

This also affects the distribution of humanoids as well - nomads need to move their flocks, hunters will follow the game, and so on. Temporary or permanent settlements may spring up along the migration routes, such as a whaling station or a tent-camp - these settlements may represent trading posts or even sources of conflict between different cultures.

Another ecological element to incorporate is the idea that animals use different habitats at different points in their life stages - the example of a calving ground where young are born was already given, and it could represent a different habitat from where the monster normally lives. Perhaps hippogriffs mate and give birth high cliffs to protect their young but forage on the lower elevation grasslands.

I've incorporated all of these ideas and more - food webs, K- v. r-selection, and so on - in my games over the years. Beyond adding verisimilitude to a setting, it often suggests conflicts that can be turned into adventures.

 

[Kilmore]

Animals play. Monsters can play too.

 

[Torm]

Animals play. Monsters can play too.

Right. One of the scariest moments for the party in a game I was running was when, as very low level characters (2nd level I believe), they encountered two wyrmling black dragons who were absolutely fascinated by them (they had never seen people, only heard stories from Mama) and wanted to play "Dragons and Knights" with them. They spent a WHILE playing, coming up with different games and getting the "little" dragons good and tired out, and getting a litte hurt up in the process, because the dragons were blackmailing them, saying they would go tell Mama if the PCs wouldn't play.

Smart PCs that they were, they ended up using the situation before it was over to get the little dragons to tell Mama about the tasty treasure to be found at the shantytown of a pirate company that had wronged them - which they later found had been laid waste to.

 

[Hypersmurf]

I think you'd need a LOT of hydrogen to have any affect on the weight of a creature. The dragon would look more like a zepplin than the serpentine shape we know and love.

It's similar to the theory used in the movie 'The Flight of Dragons'.

And yeah, when the dragons take off, they do look pretty blimpish and pot-bellied.

Love that movie.

-Hyp.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Animals play. Monsters can play too.

And if you have ever seen footage of giant octopi playing the idea of dire octopi doing so is nigh irresistable! Giant octopi are curious and gregarious - watching one being used as a frisbee by two divers, and coming back to keep playing, sort of ruins the scary giant octopus scenario.. the playful, curious giant octopus on the other hand...

The Auld Grump