Megafauna don’t enjoy the name recognition that even the more obscure dinosaurs do. But they’re ideal as exotic herd animals, dire beasts, Norse companions, arctic and jungle wildernesses, Lost Worlds, and any situation where a dinosaur would just seem silly—or where a GM’s inner five-year-old protests mixing people and the Mesozoic.
To become an adult in the Two Horns clan, young men must travel with an arsinoitherium pack for a season, without being gored or trampled.
Hobgoblins respect a good defense as much as a good offense. In the arena of Baked Sands, the wagers are flying fast and furious over the upcoming bout between an ankylosaurus and a glyptodon.
The daimyo of the Osua District’s pride and joy is a glyptodon whose plates are painted with scenes of cranes and bridges, and he walks it daily on a silk lead. The ninja clan recently paid to assassinate him is aware of this fact as well.
—Pathfinder Bestiary 2 186
I totally have the paleontology problem. I don’t blink at basilisks, chimeras, linnorms—even owlbears. But put a dinosaur in a module outside a Lost World context, and part of me spits out its tea in horror: “That’s just ridiculous!”
ReplyDeleteAnd prehistoric mammals really need a new agent. They get no respect. (Can you name one that’s not a smilodon or dire wolf? How about five?) I remember that when the Smithsonian redid their exhibits to include prehistoric mammals, it was a revelation to me. Truly cool beasts.
Finally, it is thoroughly bizarre the glyptodon has no tail attack. It’s shaped like a giant morning star! Really, Paizo?