Spandrels From Mythic Beasts

This week, another sneak peek at some kinds of magical "treasure" that animal PCs can earn and effectively turn into Species Traits.

The following spandrels are based on rumored abilities of some lesser-known mythical beasts.

Bonnacon’s Hide (Pre-requisite: Must be a herd animal) 

You gain the burn-resistant ability of the legendary bonnacon, a herd beast with powers of acidic excrement.  This spandrel grants you resistance to acid and fire attacks; you only take half damage from such attacks, or one-quarter damage on a successful saving throw.

Bonnacon’s Scorching Dung (Pre-requisite: Must be a herd animal) 

The bonnacon is a mythical species of herd animal with a unique defense mechanism: when fleeing attacks, the bonnacon excretes a trail of acidic dung that scorches pursuers like fire. Some legends say a bonnacon could expel this dung in a stream or cone while passing gas, as well.

This spandrel grants you an area attack that spews from your anus, in a manner similar to a skunk’s musk attack.  It forms a 30 ft. by 30 ft. area of effect; all targets within this area must make Blast saves or suffer an amount of damage equal to your maximum HP on the first round of exposure.  Those who fail this initial saving throw must then make successful Tough Trauma save each round thereafter, or suffer the same damage again. This damage continues each round until the target makes a successful save. 

Targets who fail these saves can do nothing else on their turn except flail about in agony, until they succeed on a save.

Horns Of The Jackalope (Prerequisite: Must be a rabbit or other lagomorph) 

Three times per day, the rabbit can cause a pair of antlers, similar to those of a male deer, to appear on his or her forehead.  These antlers will behave in every way as though they were a normal part of the rabbit’s anatomy.  They inflict 1d7[1d8] hp of damage.  As long as the antlers are manifested, the rabbit can use them as her preferred arrack form, even if she chose another such attack for herself at the time of character creation.  In addition, Warriors can use the antlers as their specialized attack form, even if they normally use another attack form for this purpose.  The antlers manifest for 1 turn per Total Level of the rabbit.

Once per round, the bearer of the horns of the jackalope can emit a bone-chilling scream, like that of a human woman in agony.  Characters who fail an Average save vs. paralysis become so frightened by the sound of this scream that they suffer a –2 penalty on all core dice rolls for the next 1d5 [1d6] rounds.

Pantere’s Flowery Breath (Pre-requisite: Must be a cat of SZ Medium or above) 

You gain an unusual breath weapon, first displayed by the great cat of legend who served as a riding mount for decadent gods.  This spandrel enables you to belch forth a cloud of sweet-smelling gas that occupies a 30 ft. by 30 ft. space.  Any animal within this area of effect must  make a Challenging Charm save, or become enamored of you in a manner identical to the classic fantasy spell charm  person. This effect lasts for 24 hours.  You may use the flowery breath spandrel once per day for every 3 Total Levels you have achieved, to a maximum of three times per day.

Sneak Peek: Spandrels

As I've noted, animal PCs tend not to collect magic items, per se.  But under the Great & Small rules, I've given them the option of internalizing magic items or claiming Species Traits from other animals as adventuring rewards.  I call this system "spandrels," after a term from evolutionary biology that refers to "accidental" or "side effect" traits of naturally-selected adaptations.

Most of the writing I'm doing on the expanded rules right now centers on spandrels, and I thought you'd like a peek at some of them.  

Recall than many listed game stat of a species -- its attack type & damage, AC, MV, Species Traits -- can be used as spandrel rewards for animal adventurers of other species.  And animals will be able to claim magical items by eating them.

In addition, there will be several spandrels unique to animal PCs, that can be rewarded in place of standard magical items.  Here are some samples. 

Atavism, Greater

You can fully transform yourself into a member of one of your evolutionary ancestor species, gaining all of its inherent Species Traits for 1d5 [1d6] turns + 1 turn per level.  The form you assume must actually have existed in your species’ evolutionary history, and must actually have been ancestral to your species and not from a sister taxa or mostly-unrelated extinct taxa.  A monkey, for instance, cannot transform into a T. rex, but could assume the form of a dimetrodon or some other proto-mammal.

You may only assume a single form with this spandrel, which will be specified in its description; for instance, “Greater Atavism: Dimetrodon” in the above case.  However, you can switch between this form and your regular form at will for the duration of the effect.

A greater atavism can be used 1d3 [1d4] times per day.

Atavism, Lesser

You can manifest a Species Trait from your species’ evolutionary history, gaining all of its relevant game rule effects, for 1d5 [1d6] turns +1 turn per level.  The trait must actually have belonged to one of your species’ ancestor taxa and not a sister taxa or mostly-related extinct taxa.  A monkey, for instance, cannot manifest the wings of a pterosaur, but could manifest the bite attack of a dimetrodon or some other proto-mammal.

You may turn this manifested Trait “on” or “off” at will for the duration of the effect. This spandrel will always grant only a single Trait, specified by its description; for instance, “Lesser Atavism: Dimetrodon Bite Attack” in the above case.

A lesser atavism can be used 1d3 [1d4] times per day.

Man-Killer

You gain a +2 bonus on all attack rolls, lore checks, and saving throws you make while opposing the efforts of a longpaw, so long as she is within 20 feet of you.

Sprint Of The Cheetah Lords (Prerequisite:  Epic Sprint Species Trait or spandrel)

Once per day, you can run in a straight line up a vertical surface, or across a body of water or gases, at any speed up to your Epic Sprint MV, provided the distance traveled is equal to or less than your Epic Sprint MV score in feet.  If you find that the distance is greater than you anticipated, you cannot stop or turn, and must keep moving in a straight line until you’ve covered the maximum possible distance.  At this point, you suffer whatever consequences your miscalculation entails: falling into water and risking drowning, perhaps, or suffering falling damage if tumbling from a great height.

Warding Growl (Prerequisite: Must be capable of vocalizations)

Your growl (or hiss, shriek, etc.) becomes exceptionally frightening.  A character or creature who has up to, but not more than, 2 Total Levels or Hit Dice more than you must succeed on a Fear save vs. your Threat, or suffer one of the Fight or Flight effects described in Chapter 4.

This effect applies even to beings not commonly spooked by animals, such as aliens, demons, longpaws, monsters, robots, undead creatures, etc.

Weaponized Musk (Prerequisite: Musk Attack Species Trait)

In addition to its normal effects, your musk attack now inflicts damage on all creatures within its area of effect.  The damage is equal to your maximum HP; for instance, if you normally have 15 HP when fully rested and healed, your musk attack inflicts 15 HP damage, regardless of your current HP.  This means the damage your musk attack causes increases as your Total Level increases.

Creatures within the area of effect are entitled to Tough Poison save for half damage.

Halloween Setting Spotlight -- Ravenloft's Wildlands

Who says animal fantasy can’t be dark and gloomy with the best of them?

Islands Of Terror, the old AD&D 2nd supplement for the Ravenloft campaign setting, contained a fascinating domain called the Wildlands, which was populated entirely by talking animals, and ruled by a crocodile darklord.

The main problem with the domain is that it provided few Gothic horror role-playing opportunities for standard longpaw characters, and seemed designed to serve mostly as a meat-grinder where every creature you meet is out to kill you.

But the Wildlands can make an excellent Gothic horror-fantasy setting for animal player characters, whether native to the domain, or drawn in by the Mists.

The darklord -- Death Bringer, King Crocodile -- is actually pretty good, as throw-away one-shot villains go.  His backstory is a classic tale of greed and power-lust:  the other animals of the wilderness realm from which the Wildlands was formed made a pact with the Crocodile.  He vowed to slay all the "hairless apes" in the land, if each of the animals there would give him some of their power.  This, they did eagerly... and of course, when the slaughter was done, Crocodile refused to return the borrowed powers. Instead, he began hunting the other beasts. He was now the greatest animal in the realm, but his hubris and ambition doomed him to be claimed by the Mists.  Though not before a python prophesied that Death Bringer would die either by the hand of a "hairless ape," or from something he felt was beneath his notice.

Death Bringer can be greatly fleshed-out using Great & Small's spandrels system.  I'd start him as a standard crocodile Warrior (I'll post game stats for crocs in the next couple of days), then advance him by granting him a signature Species Trait from each of the animal types listed in his back story.  Say, Nine Lives from the lions, an increased SZ from the elephants, Brachiation from the monkeys, Scent from the apes, and so forth.  This makes him a much more versatile villain, something more like the monster from The Relic in terms of his capabilities, rather than just being the "smarty pants giant croc" he was in the original supplement. 

The land itself is full of potential adventure seeds, too, including:

• An elephant graveyard where elephant skeletons and ghosts walk at night, and the bones of the dead are rumored to turn into silver and gold
• A war for supremacy between lions and tigers (who weren't originally part of the land, but were apparently brought in by Ravenloft's Dark Powers for... reasons) that is consuming the savannah
• Colonies of gorillas who relish combat (especially with "hairless apes"), and try to enslave chimpanzees and monkeys
• A whole society of young crocodiles scheming to replace Death Bringer, the King Crocodile who serves as darklord of the realm
• The python's prophecy, and a total absence of snakes in the land (imagine the repercussions if a snake -- say, a snake player character -- arrived from beyond the Mists)

As a whole, the Wildlands exudes a "dark Africa" feel, a sort of Lion-King-gone-sideways ambiance where longpaws would come to dread an encounter with even the lowly monkeys.

But the Gothic horror elements -- especially the sense of foreboding, of isolation, of being trapped in a doomed realm, of looming curses and twisted fates -- can be ramped up even better with animal PCs.  Longpaws would be walking targets everywhere they went, and Death Bringer's agents would inform their master of the presence of any humans in the realm long before those humans became aware of their ultimate enemy's nature.

Animals, however, would have more freedom to roam, to interact with NPCs, to pursue side-quests unrelated to the Crocodile metaplot.  Their time in the Wildlands wouldn't (necessarily) turn into a gauntlet-running race against the clock, as it probably would with longpaws in the mix.

African animals would be most appropriate to the setting, of course, but any species -- especially prey species -- would find the place terrifying and alienating in all the classic Gothic horror ways that Ravenloft sought to evoke with longpaw characters. 

So, if you're in the mood for some old-school fantasy horror this Halloween, I challenge you to put away I6 for a while, and treat your players to a session or two of Great & Small set in the Wildlands.  You could adapt any of the short adventures from Ravenloft supplements like the Book of Crypts or Chilling Tales -- plot and all -- simply by replacing the human NPCs with animal ones.

In fact, I might try this myself...

Animal PCs for 5th Edition D&D -- Frog Wizard

Turns out, 5e has already gone a long way, quite inadvertently, to making animal player characters more viable than they've ever been in the D&D game. The Player's Handbook and Monster Manual both contain appendices full of critters statted out in a fashion similar to NPCs.

All you have to do to make them PCs is take them as written, re-roll their Intelligence (and in some case their Wisdom and Charisma), and add a character class.  Voila! Instant(ish) animal PC.

Source

Re-rolling Int, Wis, and Cha for animal PCs will almost certainly gift them with ability scores better than the ones assigned to them by the authors.  As an example, here is a frog wizard, for whom I re-rolled Int and got a 12.

Frog Wizard
Tiny beast, Lawful neutral

Armor Class 11
Hit Points 5 (1d6-1)
Speed 20 ft., swim 20 ft.

STR 1 (-1)    DEX 13 (+1)    CON 8 (-1)    INT 12 (+1)   WIS 8 (-1)    CHA 3 (-4)

Skills Perception +1, Stealth +3, Arcana +3, History +3
Senses darkvision 30 ft., passive Perception 11
Languages Common, Amphibian

Amphibious The frog can breathe air or water
Standing Leap As part of its movement and without a running start, the frog can jump up to 10 feet, and high jump up to 5 feet.
Spellcasting This frog is a 1st level spellcaster, and its spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 13, +3 to hit with spell attacks).  The frog wizard knows three cantrips from the wizard spell list, and can have 2 1st-level spells prepared.

You can do all the work yourself in just a few minutes, but I'll keep posting other 5e animal PC templates, because I like the work for its own sake, and I figure someone might find them useful.

The Familiar Niche

The concept of the magic-user's familiar has a long pedigree in fantasy tales and games.  In an animal fantasy campaign, the Familiar can become a protagonist in her own right.  While she largely plays a support role for a Magic-User, the Familiar is endowed with certain unique abilites of her own that make her a viable character option... especially if the Magic-User in question is an NPC.

This niche is optional, and intended for use in campaigns that feature "real"magic, such as a standard classic fantasy setting, or a modern fantasy setting.  It has no place in "reality-lite" campaigns where the supernatural is a subtle influence if it exists at all.  

The Familiar
Magic-Users are notoriously vulnerable at the starts of their adventuring careers, and often call upon arcane forces to protect themselves.  Some spells or rituals allow Magic-Users to call an animal into their service, with whom they share a magical bond that benefits both parties.  These animals, called Familiars, then embark on a life of adventure with their Magic-User partner.  And some learn from their "master," then go on to earn their independence.

Niche Ability:  When you take Familiar as your niche, you benefit from a handful of special abilities rooted in your bond to the Magic-User who summoned you. 

Your mystical bond with a Magic-User allows you to add her maximum possible hit points to your own total, giving you both a better chance at survival.  However, if your Magic-User is ever killed, you must permanently subtract these hit points from your own maximum possible total, which may lead to your own death.

Second, you share an empathic link with your Magic-User, and are always aware of her general location within 200 feet.  You may share your perceptions with her, and she with you, giving each of you a form of remote sensing, and you may speak to each other in your native tongues with perfect understanding.  You also benefit from any spells your Magic-User casts on herself.

Third, you gain a bonus Species Trait from your bond: a +1 bonus to any single lore outside your own (reflecting the fact that most Magic-Users are human, and you are thus sharing in their versatility).  If you become the Familiar of an Elf, you instead gain immunity to the touch of ghouls.  If the Magic-User who called you is a member of some other species, you gain a bonus Species Trait from them based on the BM's judgment.  (NOTE: In some settings, such as the Trucewood Vale, it is possible for animal Magic-Users to have longpaw familiars!) 

Finally, you receive a +1 bonus on all saving throws so long as you are in service to your Magic-User.

Beyond 0 level, this bond grants you further advantages.

At 1st level, a you become an arcane dabbler.  With a successful lore check, you can activate magical items normally only usable by Magic-Users as though you were a Magic-User of equivalent level.

At 2nd level, you become capable of delivering touch spells from your Magic-User to targets normally beyond her reach, as though you are an extension of her body.  And with a successful Familiar lore check on your part, the activation of this spell no longer depends on the will of your Magic-User.  She can cast another spell before you deliver the one you are carrying, and you are capable of changing the intended target to one of your own choosing.

And at 6th level, you become capable of storing extra spells within your mind, that your Magic-User can call upon as though she had remembered or prepared them for the day. The choice of which spells are stored in this way belongs to your Magic-User.  However, you're also able to activate these spells yourself, with a successful Familiar lore check!  You can store a number of spell levels equal to your Familiar level.  Thus, at 6th level, you could hold six 1st-level spells, three 2nd-level spells, two 3rd-level spells, or any other combination of levels that adds up to your total Familiar level (for instance, four 1st-level spells and one 2nd-level spell).

At 10th level or any time following, after years of loyal service, you have the option of gaining your independence from your Magic-User.  If you part ways amicably, you lose all of the above abilities except the extra hit points, bonus on saves, and arcane dabbling, and gain the spell-casting abilities of a Magic-User equal to half your level.  You may then continue to advance in spell-casting abilities by level as though you were a Magic-User yourself... even being able to summon a Familiar of your very own!

Other Abilities:  Add your Familiar level (plus your Familiar niche die result, if applicable) to all lore checks when attempting to intuit the function of magical items, recall or remember ancient mysteries, magic traditions, or cryptic phrases, or to deduce what kind of spell a Magic-User is about to cast by observing her gestures.

Saving Throw: Spells

Threat: Easy (+9). This increases to Average (+6) at 2nd total level, Tough (+3) at 5th total level, and Challenging (+0) at 8th total level.

Sylvestara, Queen Of Cats, Goddess Of Familiars

Source

Sylvestara is the goddess of small cats. She is also often portrayed as the familiar of the deity of magic, and her followers sometimes claim this status made her the first of the Eld-Beast Kings. The Cat Queen watches over all small cats who live in proximity to the races of Man, be they domesticated or feral. She also watches over familiars and animal companions of all species, and as such has picked up a handful of longpaw worshipers.

Queen Sylvestara values self-sufficiency, curiosity for its own sake, and the revelation of others' secrets. Though largely benign, she can be unspeakably cruel, and has a dark aspect who encourages followers to toy with their prey.

Priests of Sylvestara are encouraged to be nosy about other people's secrets while closely guarding their own.  They tend to be loners, but take a special interest in befriending wizards with familiars, druids or rangers with animal companions, and elves.  In small communities, they also serve as pest controllers, and sometimes have a pride of small cats who follow them wherever they go.

Holy Symbol: A housecat sitting in a pentagram.

OSR Notes
Clerics in service to Sylvestara often multi-class as magic-users or thieves, not least because doing so allows them to use easily concealed bladed weapons.  Even single-classed (usually human) clerics practice stealth and misdirection at every opportunity.

D&D 5e Stats
Sylvestara, queen of cats and goddess of familiars -- Alignment N; Suggested Domains: Knowledge, Life, Trickery; Symbol: housecat sitting in a pentagram.

Source

Pathfinder Stats
Sylvestara
Title: Queen Of Cats, Mistress Of Familiars
Portfolio: Small cats, familiars, animal companions, magic, secrets, stealth, deception
Alignment: Neutral
Typical Worshipers: Arcane magic users, awakened familiars or animal companions, thieves
Typical Worshiper Alignments: Chaotic Neutral, Neutral Good, Neutral Evil, Lawful Neutral, True Neutral
Domains (Subdomains): Animal (Feather, Fur), Darkness, Knowledge, Magic (Arcane), Trickery
Favored Weapon: Nekode
Favored Animal: Small cat

Anaxskylos, Patron Deity of Dogs

Anaxskylos, King of the Dogs, is a minor deity whose influence is more widespread than his name.  Closely associated with deities of agriculture, community, nature, the hunt, war,  protection, and the home, he is specifically the patron of the ancient sacred bond between man and dog.  Though rarely popular with adventurers, he is widely revered by common folk, thanks to the role of his priesthood.

Anaxskylos' priests are enjoined to provide healing support to a community's animals, especially domesticated ones, and those rare few to whom he grants actual spells thus serve as a sort of magical veterinary/rescue service.  They often also oversee the health of temple hounds, noblemen's stables, and other collections of domesticated animals.

Sometimes affectionately called "Rex" even by his human worshipers, Anaxskylos has many other names, as well: Garmr, Lykegenes, Wepwawet, Xolotl, and St. Guinefort being only a few.

All priests of Anaxskylos must adopt a puppy to raise and care for throughout the creature's life, and treat this dog's life and needs as equal to their own.  This dog serves as a living connection to their deity, and they cannot regain spells if the hound is absent from their presence.

Holy Symbol: A dog's paw extended in friendship.  However, the canine companion also serves as a living holy symbol; if priest and dog are traveling together, a cleric can channel her turning ability through the dog, who growls, barks, or otherwise frightens away such foul beings.

OSR Notes
Most priests of Anaxskylos aren't members of the cleric class, and don't have any spell-casting abilities. They are normally just community herbalists and such. Those few adventuring clerics of Anaxskylos are similar to standard clerics in every respect; however, they are noted for favoring the mancatcher as their weapon of choice.

D&D 5e Stats
Anaxskylos, god of hounds -- Alignment NG; Suggested Domains: Life, Nature, Trickery: Symbol: dog's paw extended in friendship

Pathfinder Stats
Anaxskylos
Title: First Dog, Friend Of Man
Portfolio: Community, loyalty, protection, play, the hunt, domesticated animals
Alignment: Neutral Good
Typical Worshipers: Breeders, farmers, hunters, paladins, rangers
Typical Worshiper Alignments: Lawful Good, Neutral Good
Domains (Subdomains): Animal (Fur), Community (Cooperation, Family, Home) , Protection (Defense)
Favored Weapon: Mancatcher
Favored Animal: Dog

Spandrels: A Kind Of Magic For Animal Characters

Spandrel is a term in evolutionary biology (borrowed from architecture) referring to a characteristic that arose as a side-effect of evolution, rather than as a direct product of natural selection.  They are traits that were not necessarily adaptive in themselves, but got passed on because of the adaptive traits they were associated with.  Some can get co-opted into new uses that themselves become targets of natural selection.  A classic example is flight in birds.  Flight is a side effect of having feathers (feathers appear in the fossil record millions of years before the first flying birds).  Feathers evolved in response to some other purpose, and only accidentally made it possible for bird ancestors to be better at gliding.  Over time, the advantage provided by this accidental by-product of evolution (gliding) was acted on by natural selection, and birds became capable of flight.

Source

In the Great & Small game, "spandrel" refers to secondary traits that animal characters can acquire through adventuring and experience.  In most cases, these will be the traits of other species, but in campaigns with classic or modern fantasy elements, they can also be magical "items" that become part of the character's biology.

Any time an animal character overcomes a significant (as defined by the BM) challenge posed by an NPC from another species, the BM can reward her by granting her one of that character's Species Traits as though it were her own, permanently adding it to her repertoire of abilities.

For example, a rabbit PC who defeats a dog that was trying to eat her or her friends could be rewarded with one of the dog's unique traits, such as Ultravision, Versatility, a +2 on lore checks to understand longpaw devices, or perhaps the dog's better base Movement Rate.

The in-game explanation for precisely how this transfer occurs is up to the BM.  Spandrels are a kind of "magic" or treasure for animal characters, and shouldn't be any more (or less!) of a hassle to acquire than standard magical items for longpaw characters.

Speaking of standard magical items, their powers, too, can be acquired as spandrels by animal characters who discover or encounter them, assuming the item cannot be used as-is by the animal.  For instance, animals can benefit from potions by drinking them, just as longpaw characters can (however, potions are subject to the Dosage & Target Size parameters described in the Herbalism document).  In settings like the Trucewood Vale, where sapient animals and humanoids interact on a fairly regular basis, collars can be enchanted with the same sorts of magic as rings, and suits of magical armor can be made for non-humanoid species.

In most cases, however, animal characters will have to gain a magical item or weapon's benefits by eating it, either partially or completely (depending on both the size of the item and the size of the character).  Standard magic items aren't entitled to a saving throw to resist being consumed in this way; it is simply how the gods have decreed that animals can access magic from longpaw-crafted items.  Artifacts and relics, however, are entitled to saving throws, and are difficult to digest in any case.

Eating a magic item or weapon does not alleviate an animal's hunger, so she will still have to rely on normal sources of food for that purpose. Nor does eating the item harm her in any way.  It does, however, transfer its powers to her as though she were carrying it as a normal part of her body (note that this does not increase her mass in any way).  Magical weapons transfer their effects to one of the character's natural attack forms, and magical armors improve her natural AC.

For instance, suppose a lion Warrior uncovers a cache of longpaw treasure that includes a sword +1, +3 vs. dragons.  If she eats this sword, the magical bonuses will be transferred to one of her natural attack forms of her choice... say, her bite.  Henceforth, one of her natural attacks will be bite +1, +3 vs. dragons.

Similarly, a snake Magic-User who recovers and eats a wand of magic missiles will gain the ability to cast that spell at will a number of times equal to the wand's charges.

The remnants of a partially-eaten magic item are no longer magical.  Their effects have been completely transferred to the animal who ate them.

Finally, magical spandrels can be claimed by foes who defeat their possessors, just as Species Traits spandrels can be.  Thus, an animal who defeated the lion Warrior described above could claim the bite +1, +3 vs. dragons as her own.  In these cases, however, the spandrel retains its current form and cannot be converted into a different natural attack; the magical bite attack remains a magical bite attack ever after, no matter which species claims it.

It should be emphasized that, for unknown reasons, longpaws cannot transfer or acquire magical spandrels in this fashion; they must rely on using magic items in their standard forms.  Similarly, longpaws cannot claim the Species Traits of other animals for themselves (without special rituals), nor can their Species Traits be claimed as spandrels by animals.  The BM is free to concoct any campaign-appropriate explanation for why this is the case, but it is a hard and fast rule of Great & Small.  Altering it will significantly impact the feel of an animal fantasy campaign setting.

Spandrels with permanent or continuous effects are hereditary, and pass from one generation to the next, just as family heirlooms do in human families.  Thus, a lionness can pass her bite +1, +3 vs. dragons on to one of her children if she chooses.  However, she will herself lose the benefit.

Even so, there appear to be exceptions to this rule. It is believed by some scholars that the spandrel process is the origin of chimeric creatures like gryphons, jackalopes, or owlbears, animals who combine the traits of divergent species in a way nature can't do on its own.