NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jdrakeh" data-source="post: 3696174" data-attributes="member: 13892">I'm not certain why I never noticed this before (it could be a sign of forthcoming suspension of disbelief issues on my part). Why are imaginary worlds millions of miles removed from Earth populated with creatures native to our planet? It seems to me that, rather than North American Black Bears, straight-up Owlbears (or other creatures of pure fantasy) should fill the niches that mundane animals do in our own mundane world. There simply isn't (so far as I can tell) any good reason for why mundane animals in Faerun or Eberron should be mirror images of those that my neighbor keeps cooped up in his apartment all day. Should Carrion Crawlers not usurp Rattus Rattus in the foodchain of Waterdeep's many sewers? Should the skies over Sharn not be populated by something a bit more fantastic than pigeons? For some reason, this has really bothered me for the space of an afternoon. Why isn't there a guide (or multiple guides) to fantastic beasts of burden or commonplace creatures of fantasy for D&D. I think that when I run my next D&D game, I will make an effort to avoid using any creatures native to Earth -- instead replacing them with dire versions of the same or, better yet, fantastic alternatives. For example, rather than Equus Caballus, the common horse, I will populate my setting with those cool wild horses from Krull that can run hundreds of miles in an hour and whose hooves produce flames when they strike the ground. That kind of thing. That just seems far more appropriate for fantasy.</blockquote>

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