Help Me Homebrew Animal Special Abilities!!

[wayfare]

I'm trying to flavor up animals in a 3.5 setting by adding a few new special abilities to their repertoire. These should be abilities like Improved Grab or Constrict that can be accomplished without magic, but are nevertheless very useful.

I'm putting it to you playgrounders -- no idea will be rejected, no whim will be unheard! Break out your homebrewing caps and lets empower the animal kingdom!

[Mulletmanalive]

not rally clear what you're asking here...

Do you want help making actual animal abilities beyond Improved Grab, Constrict, Pounce and the wolfs' Trip ability?

Or are you just wanting us to throw random power ideas at you for you to add to critters...for whatever reason...?

[flabort]

I'm assuming the former.
Pounce, as is, is pretty powerful, but do you want to try your hand at a Greater Pounce?
How about... Powerful Kick, Dive Bomb (for fliers), or Belly Slide?

Or did you want us to make them, too? :smalltongue:

[wayfare]

not rally clear what you're asking here...

Do you want help making actual animal abilities beyond Improved Grab, Constrict, Pounce and the wolfs' Trip ability?

Or are you just wanting us to throw random power ideas at you for you to add to critters...for whatever reason...?

Both are welcome.

The goal is to give animals a few more options in combat. This will dovetail with a druid variant i am working on that learns special abilities from his animal companion.

[Xefas]

An example to others might help. How about this for a Wolf special ability?

Flanking Maneuver (Ex): Whenever a Wolf succeeds in dealing damage to an opponent that they are not flanking, one ally within 30 feet may move up to their speed, so long as they end their movement in a position that would flank the Wolf's target. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

[Mulletmanalive]

I'd keep that wolf one for pack alphas...giving it to multiple creatures in a single encounter would get messy [and probably give you a headache].

The excellent one from the 4e Hyena:

Harry [ex]: Any target that is threatened by 2 or more Hyenas counts as flanked against all enemies that threaten him.

Barrelling Pounce [Ex]: When making a charge, the lupine may accept a penalty of up to his BAB on his defence in place of the penalties of a normal charge. He adds this penalty to his critical threat range for his bite atack. if the attack confirms a critical, the target is knocked prone in addition to other effects.

Circle [Ex]: If the creature moves at least 10ft while remaining in a position where it threatens the target, the target suffers a -2 penalty on defence against all other creatures as he focuses his defences on the creature.

Worry [Ex]: As a Standard action, the creature may shake a grappled victim, pulling his flesh open around its teeth. Doing so requires it to win a Grapple check against the target and deals double the creature's Bite damage to the victim, as well as inflicting one point of Bleed damage per 5 HD the creature possesses.

[wayfare]

Thanks for the help guys! These are a big help! Keep em coming!

[DracoDei]

Both Vorpal Tribble and I have created rules for skunk spray... I may have gotten the recharge times very VERY wrong. My rules can be found in my Mepholk entry. Would you like me to re-post them here, and/or link you to Vorpal Tribble's work?

[flabort]

Ok, I get it. We make the abilities, you make the creatures to showcase them!

Hit and Run (Ex): After making a full attack, <This creature> may move at half it's base speed. If it has Pounce or a similar ability that allows them to take other actions at the same time as a full attack, they may not use this ability in the same round.

All Terrain Charger (Ex): When making a charge attack, <This creature> may pass through squares that slow but do not block movement or over difficult terrain, and not lose speed. <This creature> may also make a 5 foot step during a charge, but takes a -2 penalty to attack at the end of the charge if it uses it, negating the bonus granted by charging.

Ariel Pounce (Ex): When <This creature> makes a dive attack (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#fly), it may make a full attack at the end of the dive, as a creature with pounce may make at the end of a charge.