Dinosaurs - Do You Use Them?

[Strigon]

So, as we are all well aware, the Monster Manual quite clearly gives mention to several species of dinosaur - even going so far as to suggest that they're still around.
To DMs and players alike, I ask: do your worlds have dinosaurs? If so, where? And how common are they?
Do they have a place among the Beholders and Manticores that populate the world, or were they, as in our world, wiped out long ago?

Personally, I typically keep them, but they are exceptionally rare. Maybe only one or two locations in the world have a population, and they are rarely encountered, beyond a few minor side quests (or, on one occasion, a truly awesome mount for a villain.)

[AnachroNinja]

I keep them in my game, but only in areas that make sense. It's important to remember they are an apex predator. They will occupy and mostly control a territory miles across. Any area with other predators to dangerous to allow that, they would be driven out and just not be there.

I think they provide good upper tier animals. I don't always like having the bears just turn into due bears to make the wilderness encounter a threat, sometimes it's a T-Rex instead.

[Malimar]

I use dinosaurs. They're mostly found on the wild continent of Here There Be Monsters, but they can occasionally be found in inhabited places.

My only problem with dinosaurs is that they fill kind of the same conceptual niche as dragons do, as big lizardy things (http://badgods.com/view/mm-ceratosaurus/). Which is only a problem because dragons and dragony creatures are already overrepresented in the D&D canon. Giving them feathers makes the theropods stand out a bit, but I don't think most other dinosaurs/dinosaur-like critters are historically feathery.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Without any hesitation at all. The ecology of D&D is fantastic nonsense. If I feel like dinosaurs would be cool in the area the party is adventuring, I'll throw them right into the mix.

[Strigon]

My only problem with dinosaurs is that they fill kind of the same conceptual niche as dragons do, as big lizardy things (http://badgods.com/view/mm-ceratosaurus/). Which is only a problem because dragons and dragony creatures are already overrepresented in the D&D canon. Giving them feathers makes the theropods stand out a bit, but I don't think most other dinosaurs/dinosaur-like critters are historically feathery.

Well, beyond the appearance, they don't have much in common.
You can reason with a dragon, a dragon will - presumably - have a more in-depth goal than simply to get lunch, and in combat they couldn't be more different.

Really, dinosaurs are kind of like the barbarian to the dragon's Wizard - they might look similar, but don't treat one like you would the other.

[SwordChucks]

I had a whole world in a spelljammer campaign full of dinosaurs. The players even found three explorers shipwrecked there during their routine expedition.

[Malimar]

Well, beyond the appearance, they don't have much in common.
You can reason with a dragon, a dragon will - presumably - have a more in-depth goal than simply to get lunch, and in combat they couldn't be more different.

Really, dinosaurs are kind of like the barbarian to the dragon's Wizard - they might look similar, but don't treat one like you would the other.

Right you are. But for all the smart True Dragons that've been printed, you've also got your dragonnels, wyverns, felldrakes, various other drakes, that horse-like dragon that you ride on but whose name I forget, and so on. And that's just creatures with the Dragon type -- you've also got kobolds, lizardfolk, dragonborn, abishais, spawns of Tiamat, and so on. The canon is jam-packed with dragony critters, many of which are comparable to dinosaurs in intelligence and/or reasonableness.

On this subject, I had a DM once who pulled a bit of a bait and switch -- we went to an island that had a name like "Dragon Island" or something, that we were told was populated by tons of dragons, so we girded ourselves for dragons, and when we got there all the "dragons" were dinosaurs.

[torrasque666]

that horse-like dragon that you ride on but whose name I forget,
Drakkensteed. How do you forget a name that is literally what it is?

[Malimar]

Drakkensteed. How do you forget a name that is literally what it is?

Haha, I have no idea. Thanks! That was bugging me.

[Strigon]

On this subject, I had a DM once who pulled a bit of a bait and switch -- we went to an island that had a name like "Dragon Island" or something, that we were told was populated by tons of dragons, so we girded ourselves for dragons, and when we got there all the "dragons" were dinosaurs.

Could have been worse; the other way around would be a massacre :smallbiggrin:

[Thurbane]

In games I run, I like to keep them for special "Land of the Lost" type settings, or time travel adventures...

[gorfnab]

In Eberron dinosaurs are sometimes used as beasts of burden or transport, especially by Halflings. Otherwise in my campaigns I will throw them in every once in a while if the group is traveling through a geographically isolated area. In sea going adventures I will put mosasaurs, ichthyosaurs, and plesiosaurs as random encounters.

[TheCrowing1432]

Much like Psionics and Eastern Culture, I feel that Dinosaurs do not fit the Western fantasy that most DND settings are based on.

Only in specific circumstances would I put dinosaurs in (Time travel, a wizards experiment, etc) and only then would it be a one shot.

And I certainly wouldnt let a Druid have one as an animal companion, Core be damned.

[erok0809]

They definitely exist in my universe, but they're pretty much confined to their island. Druids can't wild shape into them unless they've studied them first though, but they appear on SNA lists and so they can summon them, and use that to allow them to wild shape. Occasionally if it makes sense for the area I'll throw one at the party (or at least a skeleton of one) just to throw them off some, since it's not something they'd be expecting, but for the most part they're confined to their island.

[Svata]

You know, I've heard the "unless they've studied them" argument a lot. My only question is, what else are all of those ranks in K. Nature?

[erok0809]

You know, I've heard the "unless they've studied them" argument a lot. My only question is, what else are all of those ranks in K. Nature?

They tell you about animals and stuff that are common, that could have possibly been studied and written out in books and things. If no one in the areas you've been to has seen a dinosaur to write a detailed book about them, and you've never seen a dinosaur, there's no reason for you to know about it just because you've studied nature. If you happen to run into a dinosaur, you can totally use the Knowledge ranks to make some quick judgments about what it can do in combat based on your knowledge of other animals, but before you see it or study it either via a book or in person, you don't know it exists.

[The Smallest]

Drakkensteed. How do you forget a name that is literally what it is?

There's another, similar, monster in Draconomicon caled the Dragonne.

[Milo v3]

I have them in the planes (since there were a lot and now they're all dead), in time travel adventures as ancestors to dragons, and possible undead.

[Coidzor]

They're in the planes and on alternate material planes/worlds.

In my Riptide setting they died off on the originating world of Meirdun through a combination of divine meddling(mostly in the form of hastening evolution of raptors into chickens and the like) and what happened on Earth, whatever that was.

Their fossils and bones are highly prized by necromancers. One notably eccentric professor of necromancy has a small menagerie of all the species he could find and used divinations and illusions to recreate their habitats and appearances.

A few transmuters and conjurers have a handful that they've either remade using divinations or hauled in from the planes for research purposes as well.


There's another, similar, monster in Draconomicon caled the Dragonne.

That's the Dragonnel.

The Dragonne is a winged, scaly, liony critter.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/dragonne.htm

It's just plain weird. Magical Beast type, too, instead of being a non-True Dragon. But it speaks Draconic naturally.

[Bullet06320]

we play in the forgotten realms mostly at my table, and in published lore you can find dinosaurs in Chult and Malatra. We have one group of characters that has been herding dinosaurs recently for "experiments" with taming and breeding various breeds for various purposes.

[Bronk]

I use dinosaurs. They're mostly found on the wild continent of Here There Be Monsters, but they can occasionally be found in inhabited places.

My only problem with dinosaurs is that they fill kind of the same conceptual niche as dragons do, as big lizardy things (http://badgods.com/view/mm-ceratosaurus/). Which is only a problem because dragons and dragony creatures are already overrepresented in the D&D canon. Giving them feathers makes the theropods stand out a bit, but I don't think most other dinosaurs/dinosaur-like critters are historically feathery.

Last I heard, paleontologists had discovered feathers in dinosaur precursors, so they all had the possibility of having some feather-like structures...

[ComaVision]

Sure, I don't think too much about how evolution works in a setting. I can't recall a time I actually used one myself but I didn't have a problem with a druid in the game having a dinosaur (even if it was a damn fleshraker...).

[Toilet Cobra]

Well, beyond the appearance, they don't have much in common.

Read a book once (I believe it was Bearing an Hourglass but I'm not positive) where the ghost of a dragon-slayer recounts how he was hired to kill a dragon, only to find out too late it was actually a dinosaur.

As for my game, you better believe there are dinos. But then it is set on Castrovel, where megafauna rule the jungles. I might make them a rarity in a standard D&D world, but then I might not. It seems like something that big and dumb would be easy prey for intelligent monsters and trophy hunters. They'd probably be edged out of the ecosystem before too long.

[Afgncaap5]

I definitely use them. Lost caves, jungle continents, the exotic pets of aristocrats or researchers of the bizarre, the odd time traveling adventure, there's all sorts of reasons to use them.

They aren't *common*, of course, but they exist. I think the thing that really sells them is the fact that the vast majority of characters won't know what they are even if their characters do.

(Unless I'm in Eberron. If I'm in Eberron, hardly an adventure will pass without them thanks to Halflings, Q'Barra, and Xen'Drik.)

[Strigon]

Read a book once (I believe it was Bearing an Hourglass but I'm not positive) where the ghost of a dragon-slayer recounts how he was hired to kill a dragon, only to find out too late it was actually a dinosaur.


Well, there are certainly settings in which they're quite the same, but in D&D they're quite disparate.

[Albions_Angel]

I dont. It just doesnt make sense. I know, I know, its a fantasy game, blah blah blah, but you know what I mean.

Crafted this lovely 900AD style nordic world full of european animals, other lands across the sea had climate appropriate animals, not a dinosaur in sight. Never once have my group used them either.

So imagine my upset when the druid, who has played a druid before and never done this, turned himself and his bear into a fleshraker. Had to let him do it. I never said he couldnt in the background. But I was really upset that the feel of my world ended up shattered because now suddenly DINOSAUR. Pissed me off so bad.

[Florian]

I actually do use them and they are quite common, no "Hidden Valley" involved. No significant ice age happened, so they are still around but evolution has been on the fast track, so there simply are "better" mamal versions around.

[unseenmage]

Without any hesitation at all. The ecology of D&D is fantastic nonsense. If I feel like dinosaurs would be cool in the area the party is adventuring, I'll throw them right into the mix.

Exactly this.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

I usually have them somewhere, whether its a steamy lost valley or deep under the earth. I am an unabashed fan of dinos. However, I've been cooking up a campaign where a region is under a druidic curse that Awakens all dinosaurs in the region. Oh yeah, I loved Dinotopia too. Except here its more of a feudal kingdom; velociraptor rogues, and the king is a tyrannosaur barbarian, made king by his own tiny little hands.

[fishyfishyfishy]

My campaign is set in Eberron, and makes extensive use of Dinosaurs. Whether it's tribal Halflings riding into battle on Deinonychus, a Glidewing used as a taxi like transport in a city, or a Battle Titan used as a living siege weapon, they appear in many places in my campaign.

[P.F.]

Dinosaurs - I use them.

They are rare, but can be summoned, obtained as companions, or encountered under the "local fauna" entry in a remote locale.

[Âmesang]

Remember Dino-Riders (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dino-Riders)? If EBERRON™ doesn't handle it already, I suddenly want to make a campaign based on it. :smalltongue:

…either that, or at the very least a warforged druid wild shaping into a raptor, pterodactyl, or a t-rex. Are were-dinosaurs a thing?

[raygun goth]

…either that, or at the very least a warforged druid wild shaping into a raptor, pterodactyl, or a t-rex. Are were-dinosaurs a thing?

Werecreatures are literally just adding the animal hit dice and ability score adjustments onto humanoids, so there can totally be were-dinosaurs.

I use dinosaurs extensively. They're part and parcel required for the weird fantasy on which D&D is based.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Remember Dino-Riders (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dino-Riders)? If EBERRON™ doesn't handle it already, I suddenly want to make a campaign based on it. :smalltongue:

…either that, or at the very least a warforged druid wild shaping into a raptor, pterodactyl, or a t-rex. Are were-dinosaurs a thing?

Dinobots, roll out!

As for lycanthropy, literally any animal with a bite attack can be the base animal.

[Thurbane]

…either that, or at the very least a warforged druid wild shaping into a raptor, pterodactyl, or a t-rex. Are were-dinosaurs a thing?

From memory there was an Iron Chef entry based on Grimlock...

[AlanBruce]

I have introduced dinosaurs once, and it was a little side quest for the party as they headed from point A to point B, an undead ruled valley.

Along the way, the party happened across a circus caravan which hosted extravagant creatures such as a Flumph, a winged dire boar, and Betsy, the gentle dino.

The dino was a triceratops, and the circus had a hired ranger to domesticate it and give children rides. However, during their last stop at the undead filled valley, the animals got spooked and refused to leave their cages. When the party met up with the circus, the animals had fled by breaking their confines and split amongst the vast plains.

The job was easy: herd the animals back, but do not hurt them, and the circus owner would pay handsomely.

The party paladin, flying on his winged chariot, tried a Handle Animal on the dino, but to no avail, as Betsy kept grazing without a care.

The party beguiler tried to charm animal on it, but a set of lucky die rolls on my behalf kept Betsy comfortable and grazing.

It would be the party conjurer, who decided to use a Silent Image of a red dragon to scare the wits out of Betsy, who rampaged straight towards the circus caravan.

The circus owner and his crew jumped out of the way in time- you could see the stampeding beast several yards away in an open field. As a result, the dino crashed against her cage and the circus resident animal trainer, a ranger with a wooden arm- the result of trying to feed a gravbeast while drunk- was quick to feed her a strong tranquilizer which allowed the entire party to shove the 2 ton beast back into her cage and then pursue the other animals.

Sadly, the Flumph was never found.

[nedz]

No - though you can summon them.

They are not a part of the fauna in any part of my setting - which is important, to me, for verisimilitude. If I had a part of the world where they fitted then I wouldn't hesitate to use them.

Also, they don't add much. They are just big Bag o' HP type monsters and we have enough of those already.