Why are there dire animals?

[rounser]

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

 

[johnsemlak]

Same entry statwise, different critters though.

Oh, my bad, I had completely forgot all that.

 

[Cergorach]

Oh, my bad, I had completely forgot all that.

You could have been right, i was thinking of my translated D&D game, not the earlier 1E AD&D MM book...

 

[johnsemlak]

You could have been right, i was thinking of my translated D&D game, not the earlier 1E AD&D MM book...

blows dust of his 1e MM Naw, you're right on the money. Worgs are a separate creature. I had forgotten about them.

 

[alsih2o]

d'uh! cause of jerry garcia!

Dire Wolf, from "the reckoning" by the grateful dead....

In the timbers to fennario, the wolves are running round,
The winter was so hard and cold, froze ten feet ’neath the ground.
Don’t murder me, I beg of you, don’t murder me. please, don’t murder me.

I sat down to my supper, ’twas a bottle of red whisky,
I said my prayers and went to bed, that’s the last they saw of me.
Don’t murder me, I beg of you, don’t murder me. please, don’t murder me.

When I awoke, the dire wolf, six hundred pounds of sin,
Was grinning at my window, all I said was come on in.
Don’t murder me, I beg of you, don’t murder me. please, don’t murder me.

The wolf came in, I got my cards, we sat down for a game.
I cut my deck to the queen of spades, but the cards were all the same.
Don’t murder me, I beg of you, don’t murder me. please, don’t murder me.

In the backwash of fennario, the black and bloody mire,
The dire wolf collects his dues, while the boys sing ’round the fire.
Don’t murder me, I beg of you, don’t murder me. please, don’t murder me.
No, no, no don’t murder me. I beg of you,
Don’t murder me. please, don’t murder me.

 

[Nifft]

If anyone's seen Princess Mononoke (or the Midnight setting), you could consider Dire animals to be spirit-inhabited.

-- N

 

[physicscarp]

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

If you own Neverwinter Nights, then check out the Penultima series of fan created modules on Neverwinter Vault. The fourth module in the series has a farm where the power of Kaos has turned the livestock in to nasty dire chickens, cows, and roosters. It was a hoot to play through!

Carp

 

[Wraith Form]

I tried to bite my tongue...

a sabertooth tiger is sort of a 'dire lion'

Wouldn't a sabretooth tiger be sort of a.....oh, I don't know....dire TIGER?

 

[Aeolius]

Why are there dire animals?

Dire Brunswick Stew

I did actually add a PrC whose members eat the flesh of dire animals, to gain the animal's powers and become more feral.

 

[Buttercup]

Perhaps affected by demonic taint?

This is where the dire animals IMC come from. I've got a region that has been abandoned for about a hundred years, ever since the mad baron got involved in demon worship, and things got out of hand. The actual demons went back to the nine hells after devouring most of the people and animals, but anything they missed gave birth to mutated young. Hence dire chickens, rabbits, goats, pigs and cows as well as the more traditional dire animals like rats, wolves and so forth.

In fact, a dire goat nearly killed two party members when they were 1st level. They couldn't imagine a goat would be dangerous....