[DF] Creating a Cave Bear

[Mehman]

Right then, I need another pair of eyes on this project. For whatever reason, I'm making an adventure reward for a shaman that involves him obtaining the ability to use Alternate Form to transform into a Cave Bear. (It's a really nice reward for defeating a demon-possessed Dire Cave Bear.) As usual, I have questions about whether my notes work out.

I'm utilizing Dungeon Fantasy 9: Summoners as the basis for this ability. When looking at the Embodied Animal-Spirit, it has several lenses to add to the base statistics, one of them being a Bear. My thinking is to keep the Advantages and Disadvantages lists for the Cave Bear, but utilize GURPS Bestiary statistics for Attributes and Secondary Characteristics. (This being a Third Edition supplement, the ST of the entry has been changed to Fourth Edition standards using the Update download.) That being said, here come the questions:

• Is this an optimal way to create a Cave Bear?
• Should I have started off using a blank template format (all attributes set at 10) and then go from there?
• Are there any other Advantages and/or Disadvantages that I should consider when scaling up the Bear lens to its gigantic ancestor?

Honestly, I've only skimmed the Alternate Form ability from Dungeon Fantasy 11: Power-Ups, so re-reading that is my next priority before this project continues.

[Phantasm]

How does the result compare to the bear stats in DF5: Allies? IDHMBWM, so I can't look to see if Allies has a cave bear lens.

[Sam Baughn]

There's no need to use 3rd edition numbers for cave bear stats; they are in the basic set (p. 456).

Most bear templates I found have No Fine Manipulators rather than the Ham Fisted suggested in Summoners or Ham Fisted and Bad Grip in Allies. I guess it's a matter of taste.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Sam Baughn

Most bear templates I found have No Fine Manipulators rather than the Ham Fisted suggested in Summoners or Ham Fisted and Bad Grip in Allies. I guess it's a matter of taste.

I think ordinary bears usually have No Fine Manipulators, but bears commanded with magic or possessing greater intelligence than normal animals (maybe because they are animal allies or shapeshifted heroes) can probably manipulate objects to some degree. It's just that normal bears don't tend to try much.

[JoelSammallahti]

Yeah, the animals in Allies are sort of off-the-wall fantasy super versions of their species. But I'd definitely use the bear from that book for this, with maybe an extra +3 to ST.

[Kelly Pedersen]

I agree with the others, that the bear in DF: Allies is the best basis to build an Alternate Form for a shaman. It will be pretty pricey, character point-wise - the basic Bear in Allies is built on 187 points, so it would cost 184 points (15 points for base Alternate Form, + the template cost -10%) to transform into. And that, of course, is just a "basic" grizzly bear, without the stat adjustments that a dire cave bear would suggest.

As to what those stat adjustments would be, I'd suggest checking Pyramid #3/76, the "Dire and Terrible Monsters" article, which adds a few new monster prefixes, including Dire.

There's no specific modifier for a "cave" creature that I know of, so here's how I'd do that:

Cave
Cave monsters are otherwise-normal animals, but representing a more primitive strain, adapted to a world that was harsher, redder in tooth and claw, and colder. They're bigger than their present-day counterparts, and usually look a bit bulkier and more unfinished, generally less sleek. They almost always have more fur or hair (when applied to a herbivore, you can change the name of this prefix to "Woolly").

Cave creatures aren't necessarily more aggressive than their mundane equivalents, but since they're bigger, they do need to eat more, and are willing to take on larger prey. This means that they are more likely to treat adventurers as reasonable targets. Their more primitive development means they're a bit less intelligent.

Monsters with the Cave prefix often also have the Berserker or Determined prefixes. To build a "saber-toothed" version of a common predator, add the Ravenous prefix.

Statistics: If the base creature is SM +1 or smaller, add +1 SM (always apply SM modifiers from other prefixes first, and don't raise SM for Cave if these other modifiers raises base SM to +2 or more). Increase ST and HP each by 3, or +30%, whichever is higher. Increase HT by 2, but reduce IQ by 1 (make sure to adjust derived skills by the same amount). Will and Per, however, are not reduced with IQ, remaining at their original levels. Increase DR by 2, or +20%, whichever is higher. Add 2 levels of Temperature Tolerance (Cold). Add Terrain Adaptation (Snow).

[Mehman]

I... uh... wow. Thanks very much for the awesome suggestions, everyone!

This project is really starting to shape up, especially with all the information y'all have provided. I'm going to tinker with this today and see what comes out of it.