kangaroo's stat block

[Xaryo]

I was thinking it would be cool ( fluff-wise) to play an "Australian" aborigene druid. and of course, its beast shape would have to be a red kangaroo.

is there somewhere stats for that? most likely homebrew, because no Skippy in the PHB or Volo.

[Grog Logs]

What about an Ape with subtracting the Climb speed and Rock Throw as well as adding Leap from Female Steeder?

Or starting with an (Giant) Elk and replacing Charge with a permanent Jump spell?

Or, re-fluffing a Lion, which has Pounce and Running Leap?

[Malifice]

Id just use stats for a Deer.

Maybe upgrade the attack to Claw: 1d6+Str

Those things can disembowel you with a lucky rake. More aggressive than a Deer.

Probably even more stupid as well.

[Lalliman]

I think the deer is too weak. Red kangaroo are well-adapted to fighting, while deer are built to flee at the slightest provocation.

I agree that the ape is a good match, I could see a red kangaroo being approximately equally matched against a chimpanzee. Just replace the climbing and rock throwing with increased jump distance, as Grog Logs said, and increase walking speed to 40 feet. You could also change the multiattack to be one claw and one kick, with the claw doing slightly less damage than the ape's punch and the kick slightly more.

The usability is kind of tough though. If you're not a moon druid, you won't be able to use the CR 1/2 ape until level 4. You could perhaps use a reskinned goat as a wallaby before that point, though as a CR 0 those are only really useful for utility purposes.

If you are a moon druid, the ape will be a suboptimal choice right away. In that case you'll have to refluff various stronger creatures, perhaps calling a lion a giant kangaroo and a giant elk a mega kangaroo (or better, a kangasaurus roo).

[Finback]

a lion a giant kangaroo

That would be the marsupial lion, Thylacoleo carnifex. Or alternately, the 'killer kangaroos' like Propleopus or, and I kid you not, Balbaroo fangaroo.


a giant elk a mega kangaroo

We can offer you a Procoptodon goliah or perhaps a Diprotodon optatum.

[Finback]

I was thinking it would be cool ( fluff-wise) to play an "Australian" aborigene druid. and of course, its beast shape would have to be a red kangaroo.

is there somewhere stats for that? most likely homebrew, because no Skippy in the PHB or Volo.

May I make a different recommendation? Refluff the war ostrich from Kobold Press' Tome of Beasts as a cassowary. Australian, and terrifying.

[Malifice]

I think the deer is too weak. Red kangaroo are well-adapted to fighting, while deer are built to flee at the slightest provocation.

I agree that the ape is a good match, I could see a red kangaroo being approximately equally matched against a chimpanzee. Just replace the climbing and rock throwing with increased jump distance, as Grog Logs said, and increase walking speed to 40 feet. You could also change the multiattack to be one claw and one kick, with the claw doing slightly less damage than the ape's punch and the kick slightly more.

The usability is kind of tough though. If you're not a moon druid, you won't be able to use the CR 1/2 ape until level 4. You could perhaps use a reskinned goat as a wallaby before that point, though as a CR 0 those are only really useful for utility purposes.

If you are a moon druid, the ape will be a suboptimal choice right away. In that case you'll have to refluff various stronger creatures, perhaps calling a lion a giant kangaroo and a giant elk a mega kangaroo (or better, a kangasaurus roo).

A human has next to no chance against adult chimpanzee in a fight.

An adult human could take on an adult kangaroo.

[Finback]

An adult human could take on an adult kangaroo.

Even then, it's not going to be an easy fight for the human.

Roger the Buff Kangaroo (http://metro.co.uk/2016/02/08/roger-the-buff-kangaroo-is-back-and-more-muscular-than-ever-5669058/)

[Ninja_Prawn]

May I make a different recommendation? Refluff the war ostrich from Kobold Press' Tome of Beasts as a cassowary. Australian, and terrifying.

Maybe even a 'greater war emu', eh? :smalltongue:

[Lalliman]

A human has next to no chance against adult chimpanzee in a fight.

An adult human could take on an adult kangaroo.
That's probably true, statistically speaking, which is why I said approximately. But a kangaroo is still dangerous. To give it the stats of CR 0 deer with 4 HP and an attack that deals 2 damage would be underselling it.

Of course, it's hard to back this up because it's nigh-impossible to match the real-world feats of these animals to any kind of game statistic. You could argue that 4 HP is accurate because a kangaroo is likely to die from being stabbed with a dagger, but so will most other creatures, including humans, who can have hundreds of HP.

So really, all you can do is take a general estimate of a creature's combat ability and turn that into a stat block which has appropriate power relative to other creatures. For that purpose, a CR 1/4 or 1/2 makes sense for a kangaroo. CR 1/4 probably more so, admittedly, though I couldn't find an animal that is easily comparable in that category.