I am unhappy with the mountain lion. Eyes too big. Too close together. Jaw not strong enough. Whiskers missing. Gaaah.
On the one hand, I like using less strokes and leaving more to the imagination, on the other hand I have a hard time letting go and leaving it half finished. My wife tells me it’s good and I’ll take that as the stop sign I seem to need. Stop!! Ok. Mountain lion, take two.
Anyway...
Large cats are a bit of a strange thing. On the one hand, I can think of tigers, lions and pumas having a special significance for the local population (and the killing of them). But in my games, they rarely come up. I guess I’d use them as court animals? This is the first entry where I felt the need to list three sizes (and I picked panther, lion, tiger – no mountain lion and no sabre tooth tiger; also no jaguar).
That’s quite a lot for a monster that hardly ever shows up in my game. Actually I do remember a campaign set in the *Wilderlands of High Fantasy*, in *Lenap*, *Dangerous Forest*, where crossing rivers always involved a special roll on the random encounter table listing crocodiles and some sort of large cat. I should have had hippos on that list.
#Monsters #Old School #RPG
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There is always the old gladiatorial standby.
Remember lions used to be relatively common in Western Europe in historical times until driven out by human expansion. Although mostly their role is taken by bears now. And wolves in Eastern Europe. Tigers were also quite common in the caucacus. Mountain lions make good encounters for lone prospectors/explorers in the wilderness, and jaguars are the apex predator of the south american jungles (and they *already* like monkeys).
Dealing with predators is often the job of the lord of the manor.
Then there are the cats that realise that most humans are easy prey – the legendary mankillers. I read some of the journals of big game hunters to get a feel for their life (late 19th, early 20th Century). Hunting a mankiller cat is not a trivial exercise. There was one leopard that knew what a boomstick was for and would stalk the hunter, ensuring that they kept terrain between them and the hunter, and would pick off bearers and askari. These big cats are invariably stealthy and cunning, and quite willing to retreat when the odds are against them. Stealth, ambush, and surprise are the weapons of the big cats. They really aren’t into head on confrontation.
With a lot of animals it’s not so much the D&D stats but how they interact with the targets. Wolves will harry targets as a pack, taking turns darting in and biting from the flanks. Boars will charge past and make use of terrain that is impassable to hunters (also there are recorded incidents of boars treeing people – wolves, bears and cats will get bored after a while and go away, but if you managed to piss off a herd of swine they will take turns guarding the tree until you fall out of it). Bears don’t need subtlety. Cape Horn Buffalo will actually hunt you down and kill you if they perceive you as a threat! Hippos kill more people than lions when they are foraging at night. And they are very territorial if you end up in the same water as them. Crocodiles don’t stay anywhere around hippos.
All fun and different approaches.
– Ian Borchardt 2016-10-18
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Lions in Western Europe? I thought of the lynx and that’s it – at least for the recent two thousand years? I really should add more small side-treck adventures involving animals.
– Alex Schroeder 2016-10-18
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Spain had lions in Roman times. The Caucasus had tigers until quite late (when people had rifles it began to get unfair for the big predators).
– Ian Borchardt 2016-10-18
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In RPGs, they should prefer eating people and their demi-man friends.
– Scott Anderson 2016-10-18
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You forget cheeta, Gepard in German. The fastest cats and very social. These were kept as pets and hunting animals in ancient times and in medieval and late medieval times, both in southern Europe and in Africa and Asia.
– Jennifer Hartogensis 2016-10-18
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Oh and don’t forget the mythical qualities either.
The Lion has a roar which causes fear in all creatures, can hide it’s trail with the sweep of it’s tail, sleeps with its eyes open so can never be surprised, gives life to it’s cubs (who are born dead) by licking them and breathing on them, and is the embodiment of Christ on Earth.
The Panther [Pard] is a gentle creature whose coat may be of many colours and who befriends all other creatures (save the Dragon). It’s sweet breath draws all manner of creatures to it in peace, save the Dragon, which flees in terror.
The Leopard (the unnatural offspring of a lion and a pard [panther]), delights in slaughter and uses the beautiful breath of its heritage to lure other creatures into its deadly embrace.
The Tiger, swift as an arrow, will not cease its hunt until it has taken vengeance for any wrongs done to it. There is no escape and no way of distracting a vengeful tiger. Judgement will be rendered (if you will excuse the pun).
The Lynx, spotted like the pard, is actually a wolf. It’s urine hardens to a precious stone, which, knowing the greed of men, the lynx tries to hide. It’s eyesight is so sharp it can see through walls.
[I really must play *Ars Magica* again.]
– Ian Borchardt 2016-10-18
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Fun facts i just learned:
The two main genera of big cats are Panthera and Puma. The big distinction is that members of Panthera (tigers, lions, jaguars, and leopards) roar, while Pumas (mountain lions, pumas, and cougars, which are basically all regional variants of the same animal) are more closely related to house cats than they are to members of Panthera.
The extinct sabre tooth cats are actually a separate subfamily and genus that is closer to hyenas than to any of the other cats. This also means hyenas are closer to cats than they are to wolves or dogs.
– Matthew B 2016-10-18
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I live and learn.
– Jennifer Hartogensis 2016-10-18
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Now I just need to distill the essentials into the monster manual entry without giving in to my zoologist predilections.
– Alex Schroeder 2016-10-18