You're In Charge: A New SR Bestiary, If you were in charge, what critters would you keep/kick? Options

[Colin Chapman]

Hey,

So, you've just been placed in charge of deciding which critters from previous editions of SR make it into a brand spanking new SR Bestiary, and which ones get kicked because they're just too freaking lame to keep and drag SR down under the weight of their sheer crapitude. You can keep or kick any critters from any SR supplement and any edition (Critters, Paranormal Animals of Europe, PA of North America, etc.). So, what does your new SR Bestiary look like in terms of critters you'd include (and which would you delete from SR canon with a shout of unadulterated glee)? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

cheers!
Colin

[Rasumichin]

Blackberry Cats are a must.
And Juggernauts, of course.

Besides that, I'd like to see some more biodrones, especially warforms, templates for mutated and toxic critters, stuff for beastmaster adepts and material on the infected.

[Siege]

Tough call. A lot of the McNasties in games I played in were improvised on the fly without strict attention to the published rules.

I can't honestly recall a scenario where the critter book was essential for anything except flavor.

Things I have taken shots at:
Ghouls
Vampires
Devil Rats (near and dear to my heart)
Shapeshifters

Possibly a stronger focus on urban-based critters as being common to Seattle. The published material always seemed to provide critters as an afterthought and not a reality in daily life.

-Siege

[Fortune]

I just can't believe the slackness of the vaunted Drop Bear Brigade. You would think that at least one of them would have been chomping at the bit for the chance to promote their fuzzy little rodent idols, but I don't see any of them speaking up.

[bibliophile20]

I just can't believe the slackness of the vaunted Drop Bear Brigade. You would think that at least one of them would have been chomping at the bit for the chance to promote their fuzzy little rodent idols, but I don't see any of them speaking up.

I'm sure they'll drop in sooner or later...

[jmecha]

Why would anyone have to suggest Drop Bears? They are a given.

[toturi]

Why would anyone have to suggest Drop Bears? They are a given.

Given that they be dropped?

[bibliophile20]

Given that they be dropped?

Nice. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Teulisch]

i wouldnt drop anything- if it wont fit in the books page count, you can always put a few things online for free download.

i think a proper beastiary should include many things, but give more details on the ones you encounter more often. a section on metahuman infection (ghouls, vampires, wendigo, ect), a section on pre-sentient races(harpy, naga, merman, ect), and your varieties of magical beasties. and some normal beasties too. sometimes i just want sharks with frickin lasers! lions, tigers, bears... attack dogs and gorillas.

if anything, we need to add more stuff, to represent the continuing increase in magic. We need some kind of natural-technomancer critter in there as well. dual-natured cockroaches that get into commlinks, that sort of thing.

[FrankTrollman]

Shapeshifters are a substantial part of the storyline and aren't in the basic book.

We need:

• Basilisks
• Behemoth
• Chimerae
• Cockatrice
• Garuda
• Gorgons
• Griffins
• Hydra
• Juggernauts
• Ocezotl
• Sphinxes
• Unicorns

-Frank

[Kagetenshi]

Some stuff that must needs be kept, just from a skim through PAoNA:

Agropelter
Behemoth
Blood Kite
Century Ferret
Devil Jack Diamond
Devil Rat
Devilfish
Fideal
Firebird
Gargoyle
Gloaming Owl
Greater Armadillo
Greater Wolverine
Gyre
Hell Hound
Hoop Snake
Incubus
Juggernaut
Lesser Thunderbird
Megalodon
Mermaid
Mist Lynx
Nomad
Novopossum
Piasma
Rockworm
Stormcrow
Torpedo Shark

From… "other sources", if the inspiration strikes (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) :
Baggi
Qural'lotectica

~J

[nezumi]

I'd list drop bears twice. Maybe three times, to be sure. And diversify them based on rank. The only problem is they'd eat all the other critters (or at least the ones that aren't smart enough not to hide under trees).

I wouldn't mind more random critters to throw at runners in the sewers/wandering through the barrens/whatever. The book has a lot of random critters you'll never use because you're never in that biome.

Oh, and drop bears. Or did I mention those already?

[Pyrius]

We need (more) awakened plants!

There are lot´s of awakened animals, but only 3 or 4 plants (if I didn´t miss anything).

[Jhaiisiin]

Seeing not just awakened animals, but also awakened insects and as mentioned above, plants, would be nice. Hell, an awakened bullet ant that actually did sonic damage when it shrieked could be even more scary, for instance.

[Kyoto Kid]

I just can't believe the slackness of the vaunted Drop Bear Brigade. You would think that at least one of them would have been chomping at the bit for the chance to promote their fuzzy little rodent idols, but I don't see any of them speaking up.

...and they're Order Diprotodontia (Family: Phascolarctidae) not Rodentia. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Prime Mover]

As many critters as possible should be crammed in, as normal with me , like to see lots critter art. Also Warform biodrones for sure. Touching on other other awakened oddities as mentioned above as well would be interesting insects,plants etc... And of course lots of extras! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[crizh]

A lot more mundane critters would be nice. Both Biodrones and Shapechange/Critterform spells require stats for the base creature. SR4 only contains about half a dozen such stat-blocks, way, way fewer than previous editions.

[WearzManySkins]

How about these for awakened plants

Habenero
Jalepeno
Tabasco
Chili
Kudzu Vine
Paprika
Cinnamon
Vanilla

Animals
Awakened Fire Ants*shudders* something to make a Devil Rat Cry.

WMS

[bibliophile20]

Awakened Fire Ants*shudders* something to make a Devil Rat Cry.

I don't even wanna think about Awakened Army ants.

On the other hand, Awakened Africanized honeybees don't sound as bad; they would probably just set up a magical Compulsion to avoid the hive; telling intruders to go away and having them listen is a better approach than having to fight them off.

[Whipstitch]

I heartily second the inclusion of more Awakened Plants, even if they're mostly immobile and just act as really amped up enviromental hazards with things like poisonous pheromones and suggestion powers. Has there ever been any kind of Awakened/dual natured banyan? Because they'd be terribly appropriate candidates for a type of plant that would be common to certain Domains in India. Hell, what am I saying? Sacred trees are common to all sortsa cultures. Crap like people claiming to have found Yggdrasil are exactly the kinda thing that probably causes gigantic schisms in the Awakened community all the time.

To keep with the Eastern theme though, Frank's suggestion of a Garuda type creature would definitely be cool, since by Buddhist mythology they're enemies of the Naga. Perhaps there'd be a way to make one magical "birdman" shapeshifter stat template and have both the Garuda and the Tengu split off from them as metavariants with different behaviors and apperances? I realize that such a thing would be almost criminally reductive, but frankly, when you're dealing with such terribly old mythological beings it's kinda hard not to shortchange them a bit. I definitely do think they should be included though; they'd be weaker than dragons but easily powerful and iconic enough that a GM could easily turn their presence into a real "Welcome to Awakened Japan/India, bitch!" kind of moment.

As for insects, Lampyridae, aka, the firefly or lightning bug has some real potential if you start taking their nicknames rather literally...

[Lyonheart]

Everything that's ever been in a Sci-Fi Original movie, Dino-Croc, the Snake-Head Terror, Etc.

[crash2029]

Dasypus praegrandis [Juggernaught]
Carcharodon neomegalodon [Megalodon]
Homo saevitias [Dzoo-noo-qua]
Gargoyle saxi [Gargoyle]
Heloderma diabolis [Gila Demon]
Dasypus major [Greater Armadillo]
Gulo impii [Greater Wolverine]
Incubus praetexti [Incubus]

[Kyoto Kid]

...Phascolarctus Hodgsonii [Drop Bear]

[Jhaiisiin]

Need stats on awakened Pyracantha (Firethorn bush). If you've never experienced the joy of this abomination of nature, let me assure you it could stop a raging troll at full run. That's the unawakened version, mind you. And he wouldn't stop by running into it. He'd see the 3 meter tall abomination, stop his rage, decide he has less terminal pursuits he could do (like parachuting without the chute for instance) and then go the hell home. The awakened version would just be frightening. And flame retardent, I'd bet.

[hermit]

Most important: rules and/or guidelines to convert existing critters to SR4, as well as each and every critter power ever published in a nice list. a bunch of critter generation rules would also be nice.