Hi Veeky Forums, I was setting up some stuff for a kind of 'fairy tale' campaign I'm gonna be attending in about a month.
I decided I wanted to roll a Ram-person in the role and trappings of a traditional Dwarf, and it got me thinking if sheep or goat people could really fill the role all that well, sure they work superficially, but would something bipedal with hooves be as sturdy and stable as a dwarf?
I don't know! So I thought I would ask Veeky Forums, also fantasy biology speculation thread in general.
Is this stable and sturdy enough? And pic related are a dwarf's best friends in my setting.
Speaking of biological speculation, the fact that goats climb trees despite not having a skeleton suited for it is an agument of how potentially incomplete are our deductions of dinosaurs, as they derive mostly from skeletons.
Justin Miller
Bipeds with hooves don't really work well, but I feel like that's one of those things rooted enough in the mythology/fantasy precedent (satyrs, minotaurs, etc.) that everyone sane is willing to ignore it.
Juan James
>Rams are a tough mountain inhabiter with a hardy stomach and high temper.
That is about all the dorf similarities I can generally find between the two. It's whatever you want so just run with it though.
>Kobolds took up mining, heavy industry and being the servants of dragons as their day job to best serve their dragon masters. Nowadays kobolds have developed a culture that prides itself on their willingness to do dangerous works that other races are hesitant to do.
Henry Mitchell
That's a pangolin right? I like the idea!
Also I know goats and the like are sturdy as hell, I was just curious if that sturdiness would remain if they were on two legs instead of four.
Charles Richardson
>The Local lord, upon noticing a nearby kobold population, offers them decent (by kobold standards) jobs and good pay >The local craftsmans guilds and general peasantry start losing out on things they used to have no competition for >The head of the guild contacts the party hoping to uh... >Take care of it.
This shit writes itself desu.
Justin Scott
Nope, that's an armadillo.
Blake Robinson
Should dragons exhibit parental care or would they lay swarms of eggs, most of which would not survive, like sea turtles do?
Tyler Diaz
Probably depends on the species.
Kevin Kelly
That's a good question actually. What needs to be answered is...
If most do not survive, what preys on baby dragons?
Are dragons intelligent? If so, do they lean towards benevolance or malice more?
And since dragons are innately magical, I could easily see it if dragons biologically COULD lay tons of eggs, but can't/can't do so often because of a magic related reason.
Jordan Lopez
Probably not. With the upright posture all that weight would bear down on the feet, which would be hard if it spends all day literally on it's toes.
Plantigrade feet is generally the more stable option for humanoid bipedals. Creatures with stances more like birds could get away with being digitigrade.
Caleb Walker
Most large dragons definitely strike me as K-selected: usually large, long-lived, fewer offspring but most offspring have a good chance of survival because they get extensive parenting. I basically think of crocodiles but with maybe even less eggs than they lay.
Now if you want to go for smaller, shorter lived, more common dragons that live in unstable environments and put more energy into reproduction, then you might go for r-selection, with the large numbers of offspring that get very little parental care and most will die. Really, it depends on the type of dragon you want to go with IMO
Landon Kelly
i would consider R-selection drakes rather than dragons, because a creature suiting to breeding and hunting because of a short life span wouldn't develop the mental capabilities of a fully sentient being
Julian Richardson
I've been working on anatomy for an avian race, going for more human than typical avian races, and a kind of weird way for wings to work. Part of the idea is that they could fly in a way that allows them to still use their hands put it would make their flight clumsy due to the awkward motion required.
How does this look for a race?
Brandon Richardson
Beak noses are dumb, though the split arm idea is interesting
Austin Taylor
I think it's fun, it was mostly to justify giving them the sharp beak advantage and encourage players to headbutt things.
I suppose wings and talons are enough animal traits, but I wanted them to feel more animal-like while still being human.
Thomas Perez
So Garfield's design is well done?
Angel Ross
Bump.
Jason Cooper
Okay enough smalltalk, time for the heavy question:
What is the best arrangement for 4-arms and why is it machamp-style?
Kayden Rodriguez
>Secondary set doesn't have nearly as much reach
Care to explain why your view is so favorable, user?
Colton Wright
It might work if the creature in question swung through the trees on the upper arms and manipulated objects with the lower ones. That would only be really viable in a densely forested area though.
Blake Rogers
reminds me of the goat "minotaur" race that they introduced in mtg amonkhet.
Landon Nguyen
>If most do not survive, what preys on baby dragons? Themselves, probably
Austin Gray
>its a human with a birthday bird mask on >they also have two mouths, a beak and a jaw
Bentley Long
I like it.
Nathan Watson
I can see that. If not for food, than probably in brutal trials for dominance and shows of prowess.
And perhaps dangerous mountain predators and savage cultures fighting the drakes for magical items, treasure, and what may be some VERY valuable meats, bones, and materials. I can see clans of giants hunting dragons and then barting the scales, claws, any part that's left intact really, away too dwarven holds or travelling caravans.
Isaac Edwards
this
Wyatt Foster
Biology Grab-Bag >How would elementals reproduce? What differentiates them from their element? >Do hydra live in aquatic environments because they would be pretty awful at swimming >How easy would cockatrice be to farm? Could they be trained as guard animals? >With their high reproductive rate and adaptability, would giant insects be the ultimate in invasive species? >What habitat is the chupacabra adapted for? >Let's be honest. Monster girls are less effective than full monsters. They wouldn't survive in the wild >Is having a single eye in any instance more beneficial than just having two? >How do centaurs pick up things on the ground? >Where do all of these half human- half animals keep coming from anyway? >Can scavengers eat the undead?
Evan Rodriguez
Hydras move through water like squids on a jet of water, ass first with their heads trailing behind.
Kevin Sanchez
This, I think of baby dragons as highly competitive among each other, and as they grow older into child stage territorial too. I wouldn't be surprised at all that the weaker ones end up dead or starving/Forced to starve by his stronger siblings, until probably 1 or 2 remain.
Alexander Nelson
>How do elementals reproduce? I don't see them as a race, rather an immutable force of nature, brought into existance during times of great enviromental change or disaster, with only the strongest of them surviving for long periods or developing a real identity.
Example being like, during a flood a great deal of water elementals would be surged into being, most would fade away and disappear around a week to a month after the flood, but if that flood produced a new river or a lake, then a greater elemental would be born and persist in that location.
>Can scavengers eat the Undead I'm assuming all but the weakest or most basic of undead would swat away a vulture or kick a starving dog off of them. But the idea that most mundane creatures would avoid the undead, or the de-animated corpses of undead unless there is nothing else too eat.
Jack Myers
It's not the most ridiculous thing ever, but I don't really expect they would evolve like that.
If it's fairy tales though then this could easily be a curse or divine intervention sort of thing, which is always how I've viewed goat men anyway.
The Charr from guild wars deux are technically cats, but where they've also got horns and funky legs and way too much muscle with that weird posture... they seem like a suitable ideas gold mine for goat people.
Jace Lee
>sure they work superficially, but would something bipedal with hooves be as sturdy and stable as a dwarf?
Does it really matter ?
As a GM, I don't force players to confirm to the stereotypes of their chosen race, so if you can make a character work mechanically and have it fit with the party, I'll let you run it.
The only problem you might have is that I'm hesitant to add new races to a game. But, if your GM is running the system I think he's running, that won't be an issue as both goats and sheep are playable races.
Kevin Baker
>Can scavengers eat the undead? I actually made a specialized predator of undead in my setting. It's basically a raven the size of a large dog, and is worshipped by the locals as an agent of the god of death
Ayden Moore
>>How do centaurs pick up things on the ground?
Bentley Anderson
...
Jacob Reyes
>Is having a single eye in any instance more beneficial than just having two? Moles don't have any eyes.
Some sort of creature that doesn't require peripheral vision, probably doesn't need two eyes. Something with tunnel vision, maybe a plant-like being.
Oliver Martin
Their friends help out.
John Martinez
>>How would elementals reproduce? What differentiates them from their element? They don't need to, since all elements are just Elementals broken into small, inert fragments. They are purposefully kept disparate and inert so the laws of physics can make sense. A caster can put the pieces back together and awaken the suppressed consciousness, but without magic as a binding force reality breaks them apart again.
>>Do hydra live in aquatic environments because they would be pretty awful at swimming. As long as you can get the heads to move as one unit I don't see the problem.
>>How easy would cockatrice be to farm? Could they be trained as guard animals? I would think it'd be like think domesticate a tiger. So some exceptionally crazy people might try it, but it'd never become widespread.
>>With their high reproductive rate and adaptability, would giant insects be the ultimate in invasive species? They probably wouldn't have the same reproductive rate when they're much more expensive to maintain.
>>What habitat is the chupacabra adapted for? Is there even a consensus on what a chupacabra is?
>>Let's be honest. Monster girls are less effective than full monsters. They wouldn't survive in the wild Parthenogenesis seems to work out for some reptiles and kleptogenesis has some options: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klepton
>>Is having a single eye in any instance more beneficial than just having two? >>How do centaurs pick up things on the ground? >>Where do all of these half human- half animals keep coming from anyway? Druid wildshaping gone horribly wrong.
>>Can scavengers eat the undead? Since it's actually moving about and defending itself, eating it is technically an act of predation, not scavenging. So by definition, no.
Logan Young
That is really upsetting.
Aiden Richardson
yeah you need at least 3-4 Toes
Andrew Parker
Ah well, I guess that's why it's fantasy then, huh? Does put a damper on it though.
>How easy would cockatrice be to farm? Could they be trained as guard animals?
I'd like too imagine yes, but only with the help of some people who are very in-tune with nature and multiple generations of selective breeding and careful training from birth.
Michael Morales
Hooves aren't bad, but they minimize your points of contact so they fuck up bipedal balance.
