Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

[Agamemnon]

With any game book, you must strike a balance between specificity in modeling, ease of reference, and actual page count required. With that in mind, what animals would you want/expect a game to have stats for?

This is a discussion about animals, mind you. Monsters and NPCs are an entirely different issue.

[Benedict]

Critters that will either you use as pack animals, or encounter as adversaries, or both.

A (not so very) Short List

• Bears
• Boars
• Crocodiles
• Elephants
• Great Apes
• Great Cats
• Pack animals (Horses, Camels, Donkeys, Mules, etc)
• Male Cattle that can fight (Bulls, Rams, etc)
• Sharks
• Snakes (both constrictors and venomous)
• Wolves & Dogs

And a note on insects and small vermin. If we are talking about regular specimens I'd prefer it if these were played out as environmental hazards/effects instead of actual critters with abilities and such. Ofc a 6' scorpion is another thing, but that falls better under monsters, not animals.

[thirtythr33]

Benedict has pretty much hit all the important categories.

Going further down the "these are cool but not necessary" list I have:
Colossal Squid
Ostrich/Cassowary/Emu
Anaconda
Komodo Dragon
Stag
Hippopotamus
Rhino
Orca
Electric Eel

Plus rules for the major categories of venoms (neurotoxin [paralysis], cardiotoxin [heart attack], hemotoxin [hemorrhage], myotoxin [necrosis]) so you can put them on your otherwise unstated spiders, snakes, frogs etc

Do dinosaurs count as animals?

[myanbar]

Horses, wolves, definitely bears

[DannyBoy]

- Preferably a couple different types of horses. There's a big difference between a Rouncey and a Clydesdale.
- Regular birds/birds of prey
- A few different types of canine, both wild and domestic.

Other than that, I can't think of anything else.

[Benedict]

- Preferably a couple different types of horses. There's a big difference between a Rouncey and a Clydesdale.

Totally. "Horse" is like saying "Dog", "Great Cat", or "Snake". That which I posted above are categories, not specific animals. Maybe you guys want us to post specific critters too? Or groups by species is enough?

[Agamemnon]

- Preferably a couple different types of horses. There's a big difference between a Rouncey and a Clydesdale.

Totally. "Horse" is like saying "Dog", "Great Cat", or "Snake". That which I posted above are categories, not specific animals. Maybe you guys want us to post specific critters too? Or groups by species is enough?

Have at. You lot can be as specific as you please. As I get to that section, I'll just pare down as necessary.

As a slight update, I'm about done with the character creation chapters entirely so we may have another raw-release like the last one just so you guys have something to chew on.

[thirtythr33]

As a slight update, I'm about done with the character creation chapters entirely so we may have another raw-release like the last one just so you guys have something to chew on.

That's great to hear.

With the revised attributes we might even be able to help statting some of these critters.

[thirtythr33]

So I spent a bit of time thinking about this

Here's what I would pick for 60 animals, taking into consideration:

• Anything that isn't a credible thread or won't attack a human doesn't need a statblock (No Rats or Whales)
• Unless it is an animal that is likely to be attacked by a human (A Guard Goose)
• Or you otherwise need to know a vital statistic for it (Speed of a Homing Pidgeon or carry capacity of a Camel)
• More diverse animals get separate entries (lots of dogs and horses)
• Most examples of more commonly encountered animal types (again, dogs and horses)
• Broad range of environments
• Broad range of animal types and body shapes (hit locations is probably the hardest part to make up on the fly)
• Some separation because of non physical characteristics (solo vs pack, price of palfrey, aggressive vs passive temperaments)
• Animals that are only a threat because of their venom don't need statblocks. Instead you just need an opposed roll of some kind (eg perception vs stealth) and some rules for venom types (see the categories I mentioned in earlier post)
• I used some relevant extinct species (eg Molossus and Lymer) that were around in the implied time period

Where I have listed something as Animal1/Animal2 it's because I think they should be statted the same, but I couldn't decide what name I liked more.

You wouldn't want to use 60 pages for all these either, you would have all the bears on 1 page and all the domestic dogs together on another for example. The way I laid them out here isn't necessarily the way I would group them out in the book either.

WORKING ANIMALS

BEAST OF BURDEN
Cattle/Cow
Camel
Auroch/Water Buffalo/Yak/Ox
Llama
Donkey/Mule/Reindeer
African Elephant
Asian Elephant

HORSE
Pony
Clydesdale/Draft Horse
Hackney/Other
Palfrey
Rouncy
Courser
Destrier

DOG
Running-Hound/Lymer/Bloodhound
Molossus/Mastiff/Alaunt
Terrier/Harrier/Spaniel
Greyhound/Whippet
Sled Dog/Herding Dog/Other

BIRD
Guard Goose
Falcon/Hawk
Eagle
Homing Pigeon (for travel speed)

WILD ANIMALS

AQUATIC
Great White/Large Shark
Blacktip Shark/Medium Shark
Tiger Fish/Goonch Fish/Small Shark
Orca
Colossal Squid
Electric Eel
Giant Moray

SEMI AQUATIC
Wulrus
Snapping Turtle
Hippopotamus
Caiman/Alligator/Freshwater croc
Saltwater Crocodile/Nile Crocodile

BEARS
Polar Bear
American Black Bear
Brown Bear
Asian Black Bear/Sun Bear/Moon Bear

FELINE
Ocelot/Lynx
Cheeta
Leopard/Jaguar/Puma
Lion/Tiger

HERD
Antelope/Gazelle
Moose/Stag
Cape Buffalo/Bison

CANINE
Wild Dog/Dingo/Fox/Cyote
Grey Wolf

HOMINIDS
Silverback Gorilloa
Chimpanzee/Baboon

SNAKE
Python
Anaconda

MISC
Komodo Dragon
Spotted Hyena
Cassowary
Rhino
Boar/Warthog

[higgins]

MISC
Komodo Dragon
Spotted Hyena
Cassowary
Rhino
Boar/Warthog

Someone's been playing Far Cry 3

And this looks like an outstanding plan, btw.

[thirtythr33]

Never have, actually. They are just all the weird dangerous bits that don't fit in anywhere else.

I did however consider putting on Smilodon, Woolly Mammoth, Dire Wolf and Mastodon since they are were contemporary with humans (for a short time), except they are basically going to be the same as Lions, African Elephants, Grey Wolves and Asian Elephants anyway. The less well known Pleistocene animals like the Giant Sloth and Giant Armadillo probably weren't really threatening to humans.