Basic Fantasy Field Guide Volume 2

Creating game materials? Monsters, spells, classes, adventures? This is the place!
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AlMan
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide Volume 2

Post by AlMan »

While editing Estates of the Eliari found some creatures that didn't have all attacks listed in the stat area. May want to do a look through for any in this book.
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chiisu81
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide Volume 2

Post by chiisu81 »

No reason it should be, here's the original: https://basicfantasy.org/forums/downloa ... hp?id=4116
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Solomoriah
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide Volume 2

Post by Solomoriah »

Huh. No idea what happened there... can't find a final art image on my computer, so I'm assuming someone else inserted it. When I add art, I always size it to the exact width at 300 dpi and save it with either "1col final" or "pagewide final" at the end of the name to tell me it's the one to use.

But who knows. Doesn't matter. James found it and I have snagged the good version to insert into my R45 currently in progress. Touched it up a bit for printing (needs to be a hair darker for proper reproduction).
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AlMan
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide Volume 2

Post by AlMan »

Dragophant (page 28) has a breath weapon but no mention on the dimensions of the steam cloud that are produced.
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Solomoriah
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide Volume 2

Post by Solomoriah »

Does ANYONE have any idea what the Dragophant's breath weapon was supposed to be? Or should I just make something up?
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Dimirag
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide Volume 2

Post by Dimirag »

arcbolt21 is its creator, but hasn't been around since 2016, go ahead and make something up.
Sorry for any misspelling or writing error, I am not a native English speaker
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chiisu81
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide Volume 2

Post by chiisu81 »

I would remove it and give it a tail attack instead.
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Dimirag
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide Volume 2

Post by Dimirag »

I don't know, the steam is part of his dragon inheritance....
What I find weird is that Dragonphants do not need to check morale while attacking whatever the Alpha is attacking, but the Alpha does check morale.
I would give the Alpha a 12 Morale, and impart a bonus on his herd's Morale (or only rolling for the Alpha and using that result for the herd, maybe doing that the herd gets a Morale penalty if the Alpha is slain).
Also, the monster description is kinda lackluster...
Sorry for any misspelling or writing error, I am not a native English speaker
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Solomoriah
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide Volume 2

Post by Solomoriah »

As a general note (not to be made part of any style guide etc.), I feel like descriptive bits that effectively say a chimerical monster's origin is unknown can just be left out.

I also don't like "alpha" as a descriptor. These days it implies belief in a theory of wolf behavior that has been debunked, or worse, a theory of human behavior I find repellent. "Bull" is the established, historical and traditional term for a dominant male in a herd.

And I don't like the idea of a male-dominated herd. There is strong evidence that the elder females in an elephant herd serve as its leaders, with the bull not really in charge of anything. Bulls fight to defend their dominant breeding position in a herd, and will fight to defend the herd as well. If we assume these monsters get their male-dominated social order from their dragon heritage, that imposes a male-dominated social order on dragons which is not present in the core rules.

The text is indeed lackluster. There is no description of their appearance. Their stats imply their overall form is elephantine, but evidently they must have wings like an extra-large pegasus. Unless we assumed they flew like Dumbo, but Disney might not like that.

Looking at the stats, I see other problems. Number appearing, for one. Why would a lesser dragophant be encountered in a dungeon environment? A bull (alpha) might be, if that dungeon is where the herd's treasure is stored.

If we assume a herd is 1d4 normal individuals plus one bull, that's just 2-5 creatures. I'd expect on the average a herd might have about half as many young as adults, but the young of this species honestly would be pretty big. Juveniles (other than perhaps newborns) should have combat statistics as well; perhaps they don't have breath weapons yet, and they would have lower armor class, hit dice, and less damage capability, but they might still be formidable.

If we're keeping this monster at all, we need to get out the big hammer and go over it first. I'll take a crack at it for the next release, and you guys need to remember when I put it out to go over that part carefully.
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Solomoriah
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide Volume 2

Post by Solomoriah »

... I've partially sorted it, but now I'm wondering why they get two special ability bonuses. Other than the breath weapon, what do they have that's special?
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