PDA

View Full Version : THIS Was Based Off Of Something Real?



AmberVael
2008-04-26, 12:23 AM
Remember the roving mauler? The lion that doubles as a pinwheel that is found in the Tome of Magic?
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ToMagic_Gallery/96075.jpg
Well, for various reasons (mostly I'm looking for an interesting name for a new character) I was looking through a list of demons in true mythologies. Lo and behold, I found the reaping mauler.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Buer.gif
Apparently his name is Buer, which also is the name of a vestige.
For more on Buer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buer

How weird is that? I mean, I thought someone came up with it in the bowels of some DnD slum house after ingesting some particularly potent mushrooms, but apparently...

Wooter
2008-04-26, 12:26 AM
You mean you didn't know that already? Huh.

Anyway, old mythology has all sort of crazy stuff, some of even more rediculous thatn that. Like fish popes, of example.

Nohwl
2008-04-26, 12:29 AM
how does it walk and if it falls over, how does it stand back up? it looks like all of the joints on its legs bend up and down, but not forwards and backwards.

FlyMolo
2008-04-26, 12:34 AM
how does it walk and if it falls over, how does it stand back up? it looks like all of the joints on its legs bend up and down, but not forwards and backwards.

I dunno. It might have ball+socket joints where the legs connect with the body. If I was designing a lion wheel, that's what I'd do.:smalltongue:

It probably scrabbles pathetically until it finds a wall or something, then pushes itself up it, using it as a crutch.

Sstoopidtallkid
2008-04-26, 12:34 AM
how does it walk and if it falls over, how does it stand back up? it looks like all of the joints on its legs bend up and down, but not forwards and backwards.It rolls. I wish I were kidding.

Nohwl
2008-04-26, 12:35 AM
so if i push it over, i win?

Jack Zander
2008-04-26, 12:40 AM
Trips builds: The bane of buer.

Chosen_of_Vecna
2008-04-26, 01:03 AM
Awh Vael. Does this mean you've never played Castlevania?

Beur are my favoritest enemies, mostly because they can't change direction very fast.

Aquillion
2008-04-26, 01:07 AM
I remember fighting that thing in La-Mulana, too. It gets around. Ha-ha-ha.

SadisticFishing
2008-04-26, 01:09 AM
Actually, the monster is based off the Vestige Buer. There are lots of connections from Vestiges to mythology!

Which is kind of awkward, because several Vestige names are used again as Devils in the Fiendish Codex II. Sigh.

Xuincherguixe
2008-04-26, 01:19 AM
Personally, I'd have been impressed if it was an original creation, rather than being drawn from mythology.

Not knowing how it came into existence, I can't say for certain if it's origins are impressive or not.

Turcano
2008-04-26, 01:22 AM
So what, does this monster kill things by making them die of laughter?

SadisticFishing
2008-04-26, 01:29 AM
Rofl.

Teehee.

Attilargh
2008-04-26, 01:30 AM
And for the question not yet asked: Probably like the Beholders.

Jayngfet
2008-04-26, 01:34 AM
You mean you didn't know that already? Huh.

Anyway, old mythology has all sort of crazy stuff, some of even more rediculous thatn that. Like fish popes, of example.

care to verify that, think I read a folk tale or legend or somesuch the catholic church claimed that fish people had no souls, then they took potshots at satyrs for good measure.

monty
2008-04-26, 01:34 AM
Tasha's Hideous Laughter as a supernatural ability?

The_Snark
2008-04-26, 01:37 AM
So what, does this monster kill things by making them die of laughter?

By rolling over them until they die, in fact. The sharp claws are what kills them, but the sheer absurdity of the attack is what keeps the victim's friends laughing instead of intervening.


Actually, the monster is based off the Vestige Buer. There are lots of connections from Vestiges to mythology!

Which is kind of awkward, because several Vestige names are used again as Devils in the Fiendish Codex II. Sigh.

Yeah... Geryon is of course intentional, but there's a Malphas as a unique servitor of Tiamat, a Focalur with Mammon, two Zapans, an Amon as an outcast devil formerly in Geryon's service, an Agares with Levistus, and a Buer on Nessus. Oh, well.

Khosan
2008-04-26, 01:53 AM
What would it look like if you hit it with an irresistable dance?


And for the question not yet asked: Probably like the Beholders.

Foot beams?

Rutee
2008-04-26, 02:26 AM
I remember fighting that thing in La-Mulana, too. It gets around. Ha-ha-ha.
I'm contractually obligated to stab you now. No hard feelings, but..

skywalker
2008-04-26, 02:29 AM
If I was designing a lion wheel, that's what I'd do.:smalltongue:

Sigged.

@Khosan: The question was(I'm almost positive) "how does it poop?"

Godna
2008-04-26, 02:51 AM
What would it look like if you hit it with an irresistable dance?

In the name of science we must find out

Eldariel
2008-04-26, 05:11 AM
Trips builds: The bane of buer.

Don't forget that it's got more than 2 legs so it has a resistance to Trips :o The book never says anything about more than 2 of them having to touch ground!

Yeril
2008-04-26, 05:57 AM
You mean you didn't know that already? Huh.

Anyway, old mythology has all sort of crazy stuff, some of even more rediculous thatn that. Like fish popes, of example.


1,930 years ago (77 AD), some famous Roman by the name of Pliny the Elder included something known as the Bonnacon in his list of animals found in Ancient (but at the time Modern) Greece. The Bonnacon is a bull that fires explosive, burning poop from its rear end. According to Pliny, it could "release a trail of dung 3 furlongs in length".

With love from http://www.headinjurytheater.com/article73.htm

Starshade
2008-04-26, 07:08 AM
One of the demons from the Lesser key of solomon, yes. I do not think its supposed to look AS a wheel, it got feet to "walk in all directions", thus id think it originally would stand on ALL feets, and remind of the seraphim creatures in angelic mythology.

F.L.
2008-04-26, 07:25 AM
I think the ultimate thing would be to build a chariot with 2 of these things as the wheels. You wouldn't even need horses to pull it!

StoryKeeper
2008-04-26, 07:26 AM
Outsiders can be pretty easily traced back to mythological (or religious depending on your faith) origin. There's actually a lot of little nods to mythologies in D&D that I love to point out to my group. For instance, there's a legacy item that comes straight from celtic mythology (although they had to refer to the BBEG as a fiendish fire giant rather than Balor to avoid obvious confusion.) Balor's probably get their name from Balor from celtic mythology. A whole slew of monsters are from mythology. There are, of course, more than that, but that's what comes to mind off the top of my head.

Squash Monster
2008-04-26, 10:08 AM
How weird is that? I mean, I thought someone came up with it in the bowels of some DnD slum house after ingesting some particularly potent mushrooms, but apparently...
Potent mushrooms were probably still involved, they were just ingested by the ancients rather than the D&D developers.

Chronos
2008-04-26, 10:48 AM
Tasha's Hideous Laughter as a supernatural ability?No, that's Andromalius, a different vestige. Who actually doesn't look all that odd, aside from having way too many forearms.

Wooter
2008-04-26, 11:38 AM
care to verify that, think I read a folk tale or legend or somesuch the catholic church claimed that fish people had no souls, then they took potshots at satyrs for good measure.

Okay, no fish popes, but they did have fish monks (http://www.thefeejeemermaid.com/seafriar2.htm) and fish bishops (http://www.thefeejeemermaid.com/friarmerman.htm).

I was close, anyway.

Chosen_of_Vecna
2008-04-26, 12:01 PM
No, that's Andromalius, a different vestige. Who actually doesn't look all that odd, aside from having way too many forearms.

And the fingers.

OverWilliam
2008-04-26, 02:20 PM
The horrible, horrible fingers...

_Zoot_
2008-04-27, 01:18 AM
This is a bit like that;


I was looking through the monsters in the epic level handbook. And the name "Hagunemnon" sounded familiar to me, but I couldn't place it. So I read about them. They shapechange almost constantly and have a deep centered hatred of solid creatures. That also sounded familiar to me. So, I went to my room, put in a tape of the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy radio series while I tried to remember. "Hagunemnon, where have I heard that before?" I asked myself. Then Arthur says, "What was the name that he said? Hagunemnon? Why don't we look it up in the book?" Hagunemnons, in the radio series, are a species that have a chromosome that's so chronically unstable that they tend to evolve several times over lunch, but they do this with such reckless abandonment that, say, were they unable to reach a coffee spoon, rather than get up to get it, they would evolve into something with far longer arms, but which is probably quite incapable of drinking the coffee. This produces a terrible sense of personal insecurity and a jealous resentment of all stable species, or, "filthy-rotten-stinking-samelings," as they call them. Wizards of the Coast made a monster from the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy!!

This is from http://www.geocities.com/whoisceres2/dndquotes.html it really is worth looking at:smallsmile:

The Necroswanso
2008-04-27, 01:33 AM
Aaaah the roving mauler. The most confusing of magical beasts, yet the easiest to defeat. All it requires it a succesful touch attack from the clumsy character of the group. Gravity takes effect, and the monster starves to death.

Animefunkmaster
2008-04-27, 02:07 AM
wow this is awesome.

xPANCAKEx
2008-04-27, 06:37 AM
i want to see it doing star jumps

Starshade
2008-04-27, 06:57 AM
I like the IDEA of that method of walking, tho that freak looks ridiculous :smallbiggrin:

Imagine, say, a tripod. Could not a H G Wells like creature walk as a wheel? All you need for it to work, is a 'normal' alternative method, in same way a Icelandic horse can do Tölt, but still can walk ordinary. Or a locust or grasshopper can jump, but also walk.