Big Beasts

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Best Of: These creatures have been in D&D for a long time now. What do you think about them? Here’s your chance to tell us!

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[Pencil-Monkey]

The Pleistocene epoch gives us plenty of real animals that can stand in just fine for the proliferation of dire animals in 3rd Edition, all of which have been part of the game since 1st Edition:

[*] Spotted lion (commonly a pet for cloud giants)

[*] Saber-toothed tiger

[*] Entelodon (giant boar)

[*] Mammoth and mastodon

[*] Hyaenadon (almost revered by gnolls)

[*] Irish deer (dire elk!)

[*] Wooly rhinoceros

Along similar lines, animals like crocodiles and sharks grew a lot larger in prehistoric times than they do today without really changing significantly, so we can present the megalodon and deinosuchus as simply oversized varieties of these other animals.

I think these animals are more interesting—visually and conceptually—than the “dire X” approach that got worse and worse as 3rd Edition went on. Do we need a dire hippopotamus? I don’t think so.

Of course we need a dire hippo! Otherwise, what would the half-dragon giffs ride? 😉

 

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