[Geography] Apes in Forgotten Realms

[Vintrastorm]

Where can I find medium sized apes living in the wild in the forgotten realms? What apes would be medium sized? Would gorillas count as medium sized apes?

I'm making a revised ranger with an ape animal companion and I'm working on backstory and cultural aspects of my character etc.

Thanks!

[Kadesh]

Chult seems like a likely place to have found a Gorilla companion.

[WalterO’dim]

The Ranger in our party rescued a gorilla from captivity in a traveling caravan outside of Neverwinter...

[Tanarii]

According to XtgE Druid Tables, Apes can be seen in Forest terrains.

So clearly they can be found all over the Faerunian North, which is heavily forested.

[Fnissalot]

Apes, in the real world, use to refer to orangutans, chimpanzees, gorilla, bonobo, and gibbons if I am not mistaken? So gorillas should fit as medium sized apes.

[lperkins2]

Apes, in the real world, use to refer to orangutans, chimpanzees, gorilla, bonobo, and gibbons if I am not mistaken? So gorillas should fit as medium sized apes.

That is correct, Ape is a tailless monkey, divided into great apes and lesser apes. Great apes include chimps, gorillas, orangutans, humans, and a few others (including several extinct species). Lesser apes are mostly native to Asia, and I don't remember the species included. There is no canonical species named 'ape', so the entry in the MM is rather non-specific. In fiction, Ape usually refers to gorillas, but in the case of 5e, is probably an orangutan or chimp, as gorillas aren't 'medium' creatures.

[Fnissalot]

That is correct, Ape is a tailless monkey, divided into great apes and lesser apes. Great apes include chimps, gorillas, orangutans, humans, and a few others (including several extinct species). Lesser apes are mostly native to Asia, and I don't remember the species included. There is no canonical species named 'ape', so the entry in the MM is rather non-specific. In fiction, Ape usually refers to gorillas, but in the case of 5e, is probably an orangutan or chimp, as gorillas aren't 'medium' creatures.

There is no large ape released by WotC as of now though, so I would at least be ok with gorillas going under Apes. You could then say that it is a smaller gorilla if anyone wants to complain?

[Nifft]

Where can I find medium sized apes living in the wild in the forgotten realms? What apes would be medium sized? Would gorillas count as medium sized apes? "Humans are bloody everywhere these days." -- an elf, probably


I'm making a revised ranger with an ape animal companion and I'm working on backstory and cultural aspects of my character etc. Since the setting's apes include arctic yeti, it seems pretty reasonable to have apes everywhere from the sub-arctic to the tropics.

Unlike the real world, they presumably can feed off of magical plants & hunt magical non-hibernating prey animals in the winter of temperate and colder regions.

[Fnissalot]

After a quick trip to wikipedia and doing some comparisons; Gorillas(1.2-1.8m standing straight, 70-200kg) are closer to a black bear (1.2-2m standing straight, 40-250kg) than a polar bear (1.8-3m standing straight, 150-700kg) in size and height. Black bears are medium while polar bears are large; so medium should be fine for a gorilla.

[Finback]

The Ranger in our party rescued a gorilla from captivity in a traveling caravan outside of Neverwinter...

THIS. Solves several problems in one. A ranger would surely want to rescue a wild animal that was unfairly imprisoned. Maybe his goal is to return Mogo back to his homeland.