Real world animal, meet D+D monster

[Immak Antunel]

Octopi are darn clever... not only can they hide well, they can actually disguise themselves. Somewhere online there was a video of an octopus mimicking seaweed or coral wtih 6 of its arms, and walking around on the last 2. Done well, an octopus in DnD might even fool explorers into thinking it is an animate plant attacking, instead of a mollusk, prompting some useless spellcasting on the druid's part.

 

[Altalazar]

My vote is for the cookie monster - but before they made him eat vegetables.

 

[MonsterMash]

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.

Even worse what about the Tarrasque!

Quite a lot of apes will fling poo so that'd give them a ranged attack - not necessarily high on damage, but offputting all the same.

 

[MonsterMash]

Octopi are darn clever... not only can they hide well, they can actually disguise themselves. Somewhere online there was a video of an octopus mimicking seaweed or coral wtih 6 of its arms, and walking around on the last 2. Done well, an octopus in DnD might even fool explorers into thinking it is an animate plant attacking, instead of a mollusk, prompting some useless spellcasting on the druid's part.

This link at new scientist has the video linked to it.

 

[Numion]

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!

I'd think that the hydrogen would react with oxygen, and the platinum is just a catalyst. So, depending on the setup a platinum tipped arrow wouldn't necessarily do much harm beyound 1d6 or 1d8 - unless there's also oxygen in the tanks.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Armadillo - http://www.everwonder.com/david/armadillo/facts.html

Armadillo Facts
• Armadillos always give birth to four identical young -- the only mammal known to do so. All four young develop from the same egg -- and they even share the same placenta!

This is basicly cloning

• Armadillos are used in leprosy research because their body temperatures are low enough for them to contract the most virulent form of the disease. Some female armadillos being used for research have given birth to young long after they were captured -- up to two years afterwards, in some cases! These "virgin births" are a result of the female's ability to delay implantation of the fertilized egg during times of stress. This reproductive tactic is one reason why the 'dillos are so good at colonizing new areas (such as the United States!).



• Armadillos like to swim, and they are very good at it. They have a strong dog paddle, and can even go quite a distance underwater, walking along the bottom of streams and ponds. When they need to float, they gulp air into their intestines to make them more buoyant.

The bullet came from the water!

• Armadillos have a very low metabolic rate, which means they don't waste a lot of energy producing heat. This also means that they are not good at living in cold areas, because they can't keep warm very well! They do not have any fat reserves, so they must forage for food on a daily basis. Just a few cold days in a row can be deadly to a 'dillo. One way they conserve energy is through reta mirabila (Latin for "miraculous net")-- a system of veins and arteries in their legs. Hot blood going out through arteries is cooled by cold blood coming in through veins, and vice versa. This means that not much heat actually goes out into the legs, keeping it in the body. This also means they will get frostbitten very easily, since they have no way to warm their extremities through blood flow.

Invisible to heat vision?

• Baby armadillos have soft shells, like human fingernails. They get harder as the animal grows, depositing bone under the skin to make a solid shell.

 

[Zappo]

Am I the only one who is reminded of Terry Pratchett's swamp dragons?

 

[JimAde]

The horned toad (actually a kind of lizard) can shoot blood out of it's eyes. How cool is that? Now if you had a monster with caustic blood or something it can get really nasty.

Male Angler fish are tiny parasites on the females. They just attach themselves and atrophy, becoming little more than parasitic sperm producers. This could be a nice surprise to throw at PCs if the tiny parasite is actually the dangerous part. Maybe have the large, mobile partner be basically non-intelligent while the tiny parasite is magically or psionically powerful. So they fight the "monster" and defeat it (despite the combination of physical and mental assaults). Then just as they're patting themselves on the back the psionic attacks start up again!

 

[Gentlegamer]

Some of this reminds me of an article in The Dragon years ago about applying facts from medieval bestiaries to AD&D monsters.

 

[sjmiller]

I'd think that the hydrogen would react with oxygen, and the platinum is just a catalyst. So, depending on the setup a platinum tipped arrow wouldn't necessarily do much harm beyound 1d6 or 1d8 - unless there's also oxygen in the tanks.

Not only is platinum a catalyst, it is what scientists call the "perfect catalyst." Platinum is an amazing metal, incredibly difficult to smelt, due to its high melting point. A platinum tipped arrow, other than costing a great deal more than a regular one, should do no extra damage.