Why are there dire animals?

[Bendris Noulg]

I am working on a new campaign and I have a biological/ecological question for you: Where do dire animals come from?

As indicated, there is no "official" reasoning. I'll share my take on it though: Shortly after the dawn of time a great sin was commited (too long to explain, but let's just say a powerful deity attempted to unmake the cosmos). While disastor was overted, the act left great wounds upon the world. Even now, nearly 20,000 years later, EarthMother bares the pain of those scars. In the regions where these wounds exist, Dire Creatures tend to evolve, being physical representations of EarthMother's sorrow and agony.

In addition, I sometimes Dire-up a critter (using the template) but then give it a description that isn't a Dire [Anything]. For instance, Roomba Raptor Lizards are actually Dire Vultures with their Flight speed taken away and given a faster land speed, and Nagorian Blood Apes are Dire Tigrillas (see ToH: Templates, Abomination) that look like big apes with red fur rather than ape-tiger crossbreeds.

So I guess the answer is: Where ever you want them to come from.

G'day.

 

[pogre]

As for why they exist? Why do ors or elves exist? Because we want them to exist, make up a reason that makes sense or is kewl in your world. Maybe legends say that they are the children of the animal lords, or that they were created by some mad mage, or a result of some demonic crossbreading, etc.

IMC I do explain the origin of the major races. It's part of my campaign schtick. I agree I could just make up a reason, but I was looking for insight into the nature of dire animals. This factors into my explanation.

I never claimed it was not uber geeky

The consensus does seem to be these creatures are a different species, perhaps much older than the "regular" version. As rightly pointed out by Cergorach, this has definite ecological consequences. It also limits their ranges somewhat to areas where they have a steady food supply.

So, if you want to emphasize how tough the untamed, unexplored portions of your world are, but without bringing in the anachronisms of dinosaurs, just use dire animals.

This is probably how I will handle it.

 

[wolff96]

In one of my homebrew worlds, there is a system of leylines and other bits of magical power strewn throughout the world. (Think of them as the equivalent of magnetic lines of force.)

Where these meet, there is always an upwelling of power. Creatures that spend too much time around the magic fonts will end up mutating... and the mutations breed true.

Thus, this world has Dire Animals.

Just another homebrew explanation.

 

[pogre]

In one of my homebrew worlds, there is a system of leylines and other bits of magical power strewn throughout the world. (Think of them as the equivalent of magnetic lines of force.)

Where these meet, there is always an upwelling of power. Creatures that spend too much time around the magic fonts will end up mutating... and the mutations breed true.

Thus, this world has Dire Animals.

Just another homebrew explanation.

Excellent! I like the way that dovetails nicely with your other campaign concepts. That's the kind of consistency I am shooting for.

 

[Halivar]

In one of my homebrew worlds, there is a system of leylines and other bits of magical power strewn throughout the world. (Think of them as the equivalent of magnetic lines of force.)

Where these meet, there is always an upwelling of power. Creatures that spend too much time around the magic fonts will end up mutating... and the mutations breed true.

*mutters incantations over a pentagram*

I summon thee, KEVIN SIEMBIEDA!!! Go, and destroy those who would make good use thy work!

*cackles madly as flame erupts*

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

Here's a great link fo info on real-world megafauna (ie. dire animals). Click through some of the links to see size comparisons with a human. Some of these things were HUGE!

http://www.kokogiak.com/megafauna/default.asp

 

[wolff96]

I summon thee, KEVIN SIEMBIEDA!!! Go, and destroy those who would make good use thy work!

I'm guessing there is some kind of joke here... that or my homebrew idea hews closely to some work of fiction or someone else's world.

My name isn't Kevin, after all.

 

[beta-ray]

Random whimsical encounter idea:
Farmer employs the PCs to attack his dire chickens and dire cows, as they're too dangerous to slaughter himself.

Just tell em to wait for those rambunctious aliens to take care of them... or are those experiements what made them dire in the NWN situation?!

 

[beta-ray]

I'm guessing there is some kind of joke here... that or my homebrew idea hews closely to some work of fiction or someone else's world.

My name isn't Kevin, after all.

I think he is referring to Rifts RPG from Palladium.

 

[Kichwas]

I would make them definately unatural -most of the time-. Mamoths survived in a few isolated places until quite recently in history - places where humans didn't get until much more recently, so in a remote location you might have a few dire animals naturally (ignoring for a moment the Mamoth being a smaller not larger critter).

As for unatural origins, dire animals coming out of the woods can be an indication of an infestation of hags, bad fey, or goblin adepts and sorcerers - anybody wont to do unatural and dark magics which leave behind evil traces that animals wander into and leave -changed-.

Goblins at least, probably have the magical 'tech' to produce these creatures locked within their traditions - after all, at some point they managed to produce worgs which even if not dire wolves bear similarities that would make one thing their magic gone astray could have other results.

I would say the average dire animal is going to need around 5 times as much territory and food resources as it's mundane counterpart. The first indication of a dire wolf moving into the woods might be a pack of normal wolves showing up on the edge of the village - having been pushed out. On the other hand, if one wolf in a pack gets made dire by those dark magics - it could lead the others on a serious rampage, perhaps trying to challenge the local human or goblin village for 'dominance'.