[Creature] MOOOOOOOOO....

The moo started off low and rose slowly. It was a visceral sound that rolled across the ancient tundra and told early man that here came dinner or death...


Aurochs

http://www.lord-of-the-rings-online..../concept/9.jpg

Large Animal
Hit Dice: 9d8+45 (85 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 50 ft. (10 squares)
Armor Class: 17 (–1 size, +8 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 17
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+19
Attack: Gore +14 melee (2d6+9)
Full Attack: Slam +14 melee (1d8+13) or Gore +14 melee (2d6+13)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Stampede, trample
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, scent
Saves: Fort +11, Ref +6, Will +3
Abilities: Str 28, Dex 10, Con 20, Int 2, Wis 11, Cha 8
Skills: Listen +9, Spot +7
Feats: Alertness, Endurance, Improved Bull-Rush, Power Attack
Environment: Any plains
Organization: Solitary or herd (6–30)
Challenge Rating: 6
Advancement: 10-19 HD (Large), 20-24 HD (Huge)
Level Adjustment: —

The aurochs is an enormous, agressive oxen, predecessors of modern cattle, standing over seven feet tall at the shoulder and is 14-18 feet long. Great lyre-shaped horns spread forward from the heads of both males and females, coming to sharp points. These horns are normally cut from the dead and used as trophies, for it takes great courage to face these mighty beasts.

Combat
Aurochs are exceptionally fierce, letting out deafening bellows before charging at anything that they feel threatens them or the herd, reguardless of size or make.

Stampede (Ex): A frightened herd of aurochs flees as a group in the direction of the perceived source of danger. They literally run over anything of Large size or smaller that gets in their way, dealing 4d6 points of damage for each five aurochs in the herd (Reflex DC 23 half). The save DC is Strength-based.

Trample (Ex): Reflex half DC 23. The save DC is Strength-based.

I like this creature. Makes a good tundra setting doodad creature that is an actual threat.

This creature will be good for the following things:

1. play the valuable prey that the NPCs and PCs can harvest for parts
2. play the rite of passage beast that a new warrior needs to slay before accepted as a warrior of a tribe.
3. perhaps a mount for some of the more abled animal handler tribes.

My brother owns that deck.

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Originally Posted by Were-Sandwich

My brother owns that deck.

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wha...what? Thats got nothing to do with... WHAT?

...i don't get it...



Nice beast, VT. Just why did trample change from 1d12 to 4d6? sure this poses more of a threat, but 2d12 whould be heaps cooler. Rights for d12's!
Mind you, by the time you get 6-30 of these things together, thats at leat EL 12, up to EL 16ish, no? 4d6 damage from the whole lot dosn't seem to much. But thats more of a quarm with the stampede thing, not this creature. Stampede jus seems weak to me.

Aslo, when this thing tramples, whats the damage? A slam attack? A hoof? there are no hoofs listed... surely a kick from the rear of these things is killer...

Considering the Aurochs aren't actively trying to stomp on you, and would probably rather not trip on an armored buffoon, 4d6 for every 5 Aurochs is a rather generous dose of damage. (24d6 for a full herd.)

Then again, it says they "flee" "in the direction of [...] danger", so maybe they are trying to trample everything in their sight.

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Originally Posted by magic8BALL

Nice beast, VT. Just why did trample change from 1d12 to 4d6? sure this poses more of a threat, but 2d12 whould be heaps cooler. Rights for d12's!
Mind you, by the time you get 6-30 of these things together, thats at leat EL 12, up to EL 16ish, no? 4d6 damage from the whole lot dosn't seem to much. But thats more of a quarm with the stampede thing, not this creature. Stampede jus seems weak to me.

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*points to the Bison*

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Aslo, when this thing tramples, whats the damage? A slam attack? A hoof? there are no hoofs listed... surely a kick from the rear of these things is killer...

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You would think, but no horse, bison, or any other creature like that has one. Tramples are always equal to slam damage + 1 1/2 strength mod. I put it the way they put it in the monster manuals.

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Considering the Aurochs aren't actively trying to stomp on you, and would probably rather not trip on an armored buffoon, 4d6 for every 5 Aurochs is a rather generous dose of damage. (24d6 for a full herd.)

Then again, it says they "flee" "in the direction of [...] danger", so maybe they are trying to trample everything in their sight.

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Aye, the stories of these things say that they would actively go after creatures that threatened them. These are literally 'dire cows' with attitudes to match.

They still lived until, what, the 1400's, so there are plenty of records.

Cows are already large creatures. These should probably be Huge...

This would definitely add loads of detail and flavor to any campaign world involving some form of hunter-gatherer plains tribe...which mine does! woohoo!

Until the 1600s, actually.

And much like the cape buffalo, their primary defense strategy was to crush and gore anything that looked remotely dangerous. Calves and pregnant cows to the rear, while everything with a sharp horn smashed into whatever had them spooked.

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Originally Posted by magic8BALL

wha...what? Thats got nothing to do with... WHAT?

...i don't get it...

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Aurochs are a creature from the Ice Age setting of Magic: The Gathering. The more you have in play, the more powerful they are when they attack. And they all have trample.

I like this interpretation. It seems really true to the spirit. Well done!

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Originally Posted by ShneekeyTheLost

Cows are already large creatures. These should probably be Huge...

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They weren't quite the size of elephants.

Ooh, nice. This one comes in to the plains of Greenmarch.

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Originally Posted by RMS Oceanic

Aurochs are a creature from the Ice Age setting of Magic: The Gathering. The more you have in play, the more powerful they are when they attack. And they all have trample.

I like this interpretation. It seems really true to the spirit. Well done!

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They are also a real-but-extinct animal, which is where the confusion came in.

You really gotta watch out for cape buffalo... if they see you they'll sneak up behind you to try to kill you. I like! Very dangerous, for a cow.

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Originally Posted by The Vorpal Tribble

You would think, but no horse, bison, or any other creature like that has one. Tramples are always equal to slam damage + 1 1/2 strength mod. I put it the way they put it in the monster manuals.

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It's odd that the bison doesn't seem to have a source for its stampede damage; you'd think it'd work like a trample, but I suppose not. I guess they figure, like Demented did, that they're not really out to trample you, you're just in the way, so it's area damage that doesn't have to correspond to a specific attack form.

Elephants have slams and tramples, so the trample works off the slam as should be expected. Horses have hoof attacks, which I assume are in the 'slam' category of natural attacks; they don't have either stampede or trample attacks (and the Trample feat doesn't work quite like a trample special attack), but they're a useful comparison.

Further confusing the issue, the elephant's trample damage seems to be wrong. It's listed as 2d8, which is its gore damage. Its alternate full attack is a slam and two stamps, both at only 2d6. So an elephant trample should deal 2d6+15 damage! Am I right?