Goat based abilities?

[Kobold-Bard]

I'm making a Chimera class in the GitP Monster Class Project, and I'm planning for it to get different abilities depending on which order it chooses each of it's four heads as a natural weapon.

The heads are Dragon, Goat, Lion & Snake obviously, and while the other 3 are easy the Goat is giving me some trouble.

I'm looking for offensive abilities, defensive abilities, any abilities you can think of.

Thanks in advance,
K-B

[Jair Barik]

How about some of those charge/ramming/horn attack effetcs you get with the minotaur or the binder? Alternatively if its more being 'goat like' than having a goats head then perhaps a climb speed on rocky surfaces or an ability that gives amazing balance (bonus to balance checks or doesn't suffer penalty for charging across uneven rocky surfaces)

[Kobold-Bard]

How about some of those charge/ramming/horn attack effetcs you get with the minotaur or the binder? Alternatively if its more being 'goat like' than having a goats head then perhaps a climb speed on rocky surfaces or an ability that gives amazing balance (bonus to balance checks or doesn't suffer penalty for charging across uneven rocky surfaces)

Well when you choose Goat you already get it's Gore attack.

Balance stuff is good, that'll be going into my "passive abilities" entry.

[Jair Barik]

Other possibilities (depending on obscurity you allow)

-Perform (panpipes) as class skill or music based SLA (refrence to Satyrs as goat men)
-Spot check to negate enemies flanking them (goats have good peripheral vision)
-Bonus to fort saves v ingested poisons/drugs/bad food (goats are known to eat all sorts of things out of curiosity, though not known for having such a resilience it would reflect the habit)
-Int bonus (goats are actually smart)
-Possibly some sort of rage/knight duel ability vs a single opponent in combat (known to establish dominance by headbutting one another) perhaps an offensive version of dodge or the stance that gives a large bonus v one opponent at the cost of AC
-Weapon proficiency pistols

[AslanCross]

...the ability to eat anything? (btw, I think in the original Greek myth version of the Chimera, the goat's head was the firebreathing one)

[Lord.Sorasen]

...the ability to eat anything? (btw, I think in the original Greek myth version of the Chimera, the goat's head was the firebreathing one)

Ah man beat me to it. Also maybe going up a mountain efficiently.

[randomhero00]

Ramming/slam/bullrush- expert
Digestive acid (being that they eat almost anything)- acid breath/vomit (or swallow whole)
Go the satan route (which is where that mythology actually comes from, treat it like a devil).

[Kobold-Bard]

Ah man beat me to it. Also maybe going up a mountain efficiently.

Thing about climbing stuff is that Chimeras already get a fly speed.

Are the any myths and stuff based on goats that I can poach stuff from?

[rayne_dragon]

Well, goats are traditionally stubborn, headstrong, and can eat anything. They also have associations with Aries, greek god of war and with infernal magic. So abilities that deal with the following may be good:

Fire/Acid attacks
Fire/Acid resistance
Concentration
Endurance/general health (hp, poison resist)
Eating stuff
Bite attacks
Charge attacks
Offensive casting with some kind of personal cost (ie: HP damage)
Combat buffs
Summoning devils/demons
Balance
Intimidate
Fear abilities

[randomhero00]

Thing about climbing stuff is that Chimeras already get a fly speed.

Are the any myths and stuff based on goats that I can poach stuff from?

yeah, see above, satan. Also the golden fleece (which I guess is more sheep but meh) makes wearer immune to normal damage. This could be DR, immune to non magic weapons, or whatever.

Also funny, maybe too silly for your game but
Bleat: "Bahahahah" a massive wave of exploding sheep come your way.

[Jair Barik]

Like I said earlier, you have the whole 'Pan' thing.

In various sources you either have the goat as clean or smelly (so either natural cleaning power or stench like a troglodyte)

Chinese zodiac the goat is creative (craft bonus?)

Norse mythology you have goats pulling thor's chariot (lightning breath? lightning damage applied to weapons?)

[arguskos]

I'm.... really curious where you're getting the four head thing from, actually. I mean, if you want to go for it, have fun, but in my study of myth, I've not found an account of the Chimera having four heads.

Classical Greek Myth (Homer, Hesiod) describes it as having the head of a lion with a goat's head rising from its middle back. The far earlier Neo-Hittite legend (on which it's believed the Greek myth was based) describes a being with a human's head on front, a lion's head on the chest facing forwards, and a snake's head on the end of the tail.

Where are you drawing on for the four headed Chimera, or is this just artistic license?

[742]

a goat, maybe it has the ability to shape metal? like a rust monster? or a sleep attack? or something anti-undead? or something anti-living? or better flying? or a fast burrow speed?

[Kobold-Bard]

...

Where are you drawing on for the four headed Chimera, or is this just artistic license?

Monster Manual Chimera:


One of many Chimera pics from Google:


The D&D one these monsters are based on has at least three heads, and having 4 makes things much easier design-wise (plus I much prefer the snake tail thing).

[arguskos]

The D&D one these monsters are based on has at least three heads, and having 4 makes things much easier design-wise (plus I much prefer the snake tail thing).

So, artistic license. Fair enough, though disappointing. I was really hoping for some new reading material.

[Kobold-Bard]

So, artistic license. Fair enough, though disappointing. I was really hoping for some new reading material.

Sorry to disappoint.

[AslanCross]

I'm.... really curious where you're getting the four head thing from, actually. I mean, if you want to go for it, have fun, but in my study of myth, I've not found an account of the Chimera having four heads.

Classical Greek Myth (Homer, Hesiod) describes it as having the head of a lion with a goat's head rising from its middle back. The far earlier Neo-Hittite legend (on which it's believed the Greek myth was based) describes a being with a human's head on front, a lion's head on the chest facing forwards, and a snake's head on the end of the tail.

Where are you drawing on for the four headed Chimera, or is this just artistic license?

The said goat's head being the flamethrower.

I'm not sure when popular fantasy started depicting chimerae with four heads, but looking at the Final Fantasy wiki page on it shows that the very first game had three heads (lion, goat, dragon/serpent), but eventually we start getting FIVE heads (eagle, lion, goat, dragon, with a serpent tail). Needless to say, this is artistic license, but I think the increasing number of heads comes from the use of serpent/dragon terminology.

(The FFVI version looks like it has six heads: dragon, eagle, lion, goat, and what looks like a boar's head behind the eagle head, as well as a serpent tail).

[Trekkin]

Slippery Mind, for their stubbornness?
Sonic AoE as bleating?
Perhaps a bite attack that counts as adamantine and magic for the purposes of overcoming DR?

[Asheram]

Iä! Shub-Niggurath! The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young!

I'm glad I don't have to face your monster, I'd freak out from the mental pictures.

And I agree with that the goat should breathe fire.

[Xiander]

So, artistic license. Fair enough, though disappointing. I was really hoping for some new reading material.

I would note that final fantasy 10 does the same thing, and though this is not proof of anything, the idea seems to be widespread, which might mean there is some common source.

[arguskos]

Sorry to disappoint.

'sall good. You know I still love ya.

Iä! Shub-Niggurath! The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young!

I'm glad I don't have to face your monster, I'd freak out from the mental pictures.

And I agree with that the goat should breathe fire.

Spoiler

Show

Shub-Niggurath.

Spoiler

Show

Chimera.

I sense some disconnection here. Also, Shub-Niggurath is totally awesome.

K-B, you should brew up Shub-Niggurath next!

[Hyudra]

I was the last person to take a stab at Chimera for the monster class. Thing is, I conceptualized it as a class with scads of bonus feats, allowing you to essentially design the individual parts to suit your tastes.

Thing is, it got complicated fast. I actually had a harder time coming up with lion abilities than goat ones.

• Headbutt. Bonuses when you deliver gore damage on a charge.
• Stubbornness. You resist being moved from your current location. At high HD, this becomes a resistance to teleportation and the like. At especially high HD, you have a dimensional anchor type effect in your immediate vicinity.
• Obstreperousness. You resist mind control. If you would be charmed, you don't follow orders or attack at the enemy's whim. You just stand at your current location and defend yourself until the effect wears off.
• Leap. Cross stretches of the battlefield, create shockwaves as you land.
• Fissure. You can slam your hooves against the earth, cracking it. A line attack affecting creatures on the ground, who might stumble, fall or be damaged as a consequence.
• Woolly hide. A way to reduce damage from cold, slashing and piercing.
• Bonuses or variations on bull rush, overrun or trample.

You could interpret the Chimera as a blending of the alchemical elements, with the dragon representing water, the lion representing fire, the goat representing earth. Class features drawn from the goat should stress toughness, stability, endurance.

I wouldn't take too much creative license with the Chimera. Coming up with unique abilities to make it more of a class and less of a monster statblock is good, but we want to stay fairly true to the original beast. Giving it an extra head may well mean it's deviating from the source material. At the very least, just make the snake tail an option (like I did with Medusa & serpentine lower body).

Half the reason I abandoned the Chimera is that I couldn't find a good pic for it. I took two stabs at photoshopping something together, but it was kinda meh on both accounts:

[Chambers]

Saw the thread title and thought this would be based on the G.O.A.T.

[Kobold-Bard]

'sall good. You know I still love ya.

...

K-B, you should brew up Shub-Niggurath next!

I'm thinking....nuh. I'm not a Lovecraft person tbh.

[Asheram]

'sall good. You know I still love ya.

Spoiler

Show

Shub-Niggurath.

Spoiler

Show

Chimera.

I sense some disconnection here. Also, Shub-Niggurath is totally awesome.

K-B, you should brew up Shub-Niggurath next!

*Chuckles* It was more meant as a joke. But it is a monstrous beast, the head of a dragon and goat protruding from the shoulders of a lion, its tail a venomous snake.
It's all up to what you associate it with first if you've never heard of the chimera before.