Avatar: Different Avatar Spirit Animals

[Aeromyre]

So I was wondering for the http://sites.google.com/site/avatard20/ if the Avatar was not a fire or airbender, what would their spirit animals be?
Feel free to be creative

[Xefas]

Well, it is stated a few times throughout the series that the first Earthbenders were Badger-Moles, just as the first Firebenders were Dragons, and the first Airbenders were Sky Bison.

So, I think its a safe assumption to say Badger-Moles would be good for an Earthbender.

Water is a bit trickier, since the first Waterbender was the Moon. Still, considering that the Moon's physical form was a white Koi Fish, one could extrapolate a spirit animal from that, such as the Elephant Koi native to the salt water surrounding Kioshi Island.

[Aeromyre]

Originally Posted by Xefas

Well, it is stated a few times throughout the series that the first Earthbenders were Badger-Moles, just as the first Firebenders were Dragons, and the first Airbenders were Sky Bison.

So, I think its a safe assumption to say Badger-Moles would be good for an Earthbender.

Water is a bit trickier, since the first Waterbender was the Moon. Still, considering that the Moon's physical form was a white Koi Fish, one could extrapolate a spirit animal from that, such as the Elephant Koi native to the salt water surrounding Kioshi Island.

Yes I was thinking Badger-Moles for earthbenders, but would that live up to a dragon or a sky bison? Perhaps I could make a giant badger mole

Yeah I think Elephant koi would be a good choice, i was also in between that, Onagi, and sea serpent

[Xefas]

Originally Posted by Aeromyre

Yes I was thinking Badger-Moles for earthbenders, but would that live up to a dragon or a sky bison? Perhaps I could make a giant badger mole

Badger-Moles are already rather sizeable. In D&D terms, they would be at least Huge sized judging by their few on-screen appearances. I would peg Dragons and Sky Bison at about the same size category.

As far as power/usefulness goes, I think they stack up rather nicely.

While flight is a definite advantage while traveling great distances due to the ability to completely bypass water (especially when traveling to the Northern or Southern Poles, which a Badger-Mole would most likely be incapable of doing), the ability to burrow as a form of transportation is not to be underestimated.

Burrowing has the advantage of stealth. As pointed out often during the show, a giant six-legged bison flying through the air is quite the spectacle. Passing underground leaves no trace at all for others above-ground to notice. This would have made things such as infiltrating Omashu and evading Zuko and Azula trivial in many cases.

Also not to be overlooked is the fact that flying and burrowing both take a substantial amount of energy to perform. However, once a flying creature becomes fatigued, it must land and become vulnerable. A tunnel already dug continues to be a safe haven, which would have made many ambushes, such as by the Rough Rhinos, a non-issue.

[Aeromyre]

Originally Posted by Xefas

Badger-Moles are already rather sizeable. In D&D terms, they would be at least Huge sized judging by their few on-screen appearances. I would peg Dragons and Sky Bison at about the same size category.

As far as power/usefulness goes, I think they stack up rather nicely.

While flight is a definite advantage while traveling great distances due to the ability to completely bypass water (especially when traveling to the Northern or Southern Poles, which a Badger-Mole would most likely be incapable of doing), the ability to burrow as a form of transportation is not to be underestimated.

Burrowing has the advantage of stealth. As pointed out often during the show, a giant six-legged bison flying through the air is quite the spectacle. Passing underground leaves no trace at all for others above-ground to notice. This would have made things such as infiltrating Omashu and evading Zuko and Azula trivial in many cases.

Also not to be overlooked is the fact that flying and burrowing both take a substantial amount of energy to perform. However, once a flying creature becomes fatigued, it must land and become vulnerable. A tunnel already dug continues to be a safe haven, which would have made many ambushes, such as by the Rough Rhinos, a non-issue.

Wow i really like that logic ;D
Turns out that http://sites.google.com/site/avatard20/badger-mole is CR 7 and the http://sites.google.com/site/avatard20/flyingbison is CR 8 so they're not terribly different