Help identifying a monstger

[Jay R]

I'm very new to 3.5E, and last night, we bumped into a creature I'd never seen before. It was an extremely large (4+ man-heights, by the illustration) stocky greyish quadruped, with elephant-like tusks and large claws. I suspect that it can dimension door or teleport or some such, but I'm not sure. We found it in a cave high up in the freezing mountains.

We won't be returning that way, so my character doesn't need to know what it was, but could anybody satisfy my curiosity?

Anybody know what it is?

[The Viscount]

My first thoughts are the Thaskor from Miniatures Handbook and the Maelephant from Fiend Folio.

[Fenryr]

By the location I read again Frostburn and seems like you're talking about Tlalusk. Magical beast with no spell-like abilities.

[Jay R]

Of the three suggested, the Thaskor seems most likely. He certainly charged my character, knocking him out of a cave entrance 500 feet up. It was definitely not a tlalusk.

I only got to see the picture for a few seconds. It was clearly from a D&D book, but it wasn't the picture from the Miniatures Handbook.

I don't remember a trunk. It might have been there, but I doubt it.

Did it appear in another book, with a picture that included a very small man in the foreground for scale?

[Deaxsa]

Did it appear in another book, with a picture that included a very small man in the foreground for scale?

You are lucky to alive after that charge, that was a tarrasque. Not too smart, but pretty much like a dumb, flightless, magic less great wurm dragon. It has a dash ability.

[IZ42]

You are lucky to alive after that charge, that was a tarrasque. Not too smart, but pretty much like a dumb, flightless, magic less great wurm dragon. It has a dash ability.

The Tarrasque is much larger than "4+ Man-heights" as he probably meant it. The tarrasque also does not have tusks.

[Venger]

Of the three suggested, the Thaskor seems most likely. He certainly charged my character, knocking him out of a cave entrance 500 feet up. It was definitely not a tlalusk.

I only got to see the picture for a few seconds. It was clearly from a D&D book, but it wasn't the picture from the Miniatures Handbook.

I don't remember a trunk. It might have been there, but I doubt it.

Did it appear in another book, with a picture that included a very small man in the foreground for scale?

Now things are getting interesting.

of the options listed so far, I'd initiatlly thought maelephant. while he's bipedal, I figured your DM might've made a fluff adjustment. I checked his slas, and he cannot teleport, so he's out.

as mentioned, tlalusk does not have claw, so it's not him either.

the thaskor has no special powers at all, so it's not him.

the ability to teleport seems to be the most useful thing to focus on, since it's the most unique of these traits. were you able to identify its creature type through knowledge or similar abilities in the game? (is it an aberration, magical beast, etc)

if you remember seeing the picture that might be helpful. having a man for scale is pretty rare in the art. what was happening in the picture?

is it possible this is a pf monster? does your dm use their bestiaries in your game?

[Lorddenorstrus]

Now things are getting interesting.

of the options listed so far, I'd initiatlly thought maelephant. while he's bipedal, I figured your DM might've made a fluff adjustment. I checked his slas, and he cannot teleport, so he's out.

as mentioned, tlalusk does not have claw, so it's not him either.

the thaskor has no special powers at all, so it's not him.

the ability to teleport seems to be the most useful thing to focus on, since it's the most unique of these traits. were you able to identify its creature type through knowledge or similar abilities in the game? (is it an aberration, magical beast, etc)

if you remember seeing the picture that might be helpful. having a man for scale is pretty rare in the art. what was happening in the picture?

is it possible this is a pf monster? does your dm use their bestiaries in your game?

What bugs me is the man to scale image. The only image i recall with a man in it to help with height scaling is the Tarrasque. Which frankly at around 50ft tall is way more than 4 men high. And doesn't have teleporting abilities. I'm starting to wonder if the DM homebrewed the creature. Reskinning something existing. Adding abilities to a creature something along those lines.

[Jay R]

Definitely not a tarrasque. It was grey and mammalian. The DM described the creature based on my Listen check as "somewhere from Huge to Colossal." So my first guess is Gargantuan. We are in the mountains, very high up.

At night, it appeared on the ground, wandered around, and then disappeared. The tracks showed no indication of jumping or landing hard, and there was no secret door. My ranger spoke to an owl, who said that they "disappear and reappear". But it turned out that we were off the DM's quest due to a misunderstanding, and he was inventing random encounters. We had mentioned that since it was a wingless creature 500 feet up, there must be caverns leading up there. It's possible that the DM invented the teleporting just to get us to stop looking for a cave complex that didn't exist.

The DM has never used a PF monster before. But he has made no statement that he wouldn't. He showed me a picture of it from some book on the computer, and it certainly looked like a WotC book. The picture is clearly and unambiguously a quadruped, on all fours.

We see the monster from the front, charging. Near his left front foot was a man-sized figure.

If nothing else, you have satisfied me that there's nothing wrong with the fact that I couldn't identify it. The party has stopped in a nearby fort. I may ask IC if anybody can identify it at the next game, two weeks from now.

[ExLibrisMortis]

It could be a nalfeshnee? They have the size, teleport and tusks, but then they can also fly and aren't quadrupedal. Greyness is debatable. They are pictured in MM1 with a succubus for size.

[The Viscount]

It's possible it's the Gathra, there's a figure in the distance, and it has something tusklike. It's almost certainly not the kuldurath.

Might it be the Malastor? Not quite tusked, but gray and giant, with man for scale.

It sounds a lot like a Nightmare Beast. It's Huge and tusked, has a person for scale, and it can use dimension door.

[noob]

Well I changed my mind it really looks like an nightmare beast.

[ExLibrisMortis]

On looking it up, I second the nightmare beast. MM2 page 161 (or search for the picture).

[Jay R]

Yes, it's a nightmare beast. Thank you all for replying.