Future Evolution: Brainstorming Creatures for "Three Worlds"

[Elemental_Elf]

The main problem with that is the main material that composes teeth (enamel and ceramic type compounds) are non-conductive, they really don't conduct electricity very well.

Really? Had no idea, ya learn something new every day.

Maybe the Eel has a small growth on the front of its muzzle that emits an electrical charge when it touches a conductive materiel, like prey.

[Xeviat]

Saliva conducts electricity exceptionally well, so they could have an organ in the mouth that discharges when they latch their jaws onto something (locking like a croc's). And their skin could be covered in a conductive mucus, which could shock things they slam into or when humanoids strike them with metalic weapons.

Definately a fun monster. Llum, you have the honors of naming it. I'll make a lurker version and a larger brute version (large females, bloated with eggs and very territorial). It will have evolved into an amphibian, but will still possess much of the eel's tendancies.

[Elemental_Elf]

You know what would be scary? A Komodo Dragon downsized to the size of a rat. Imagine a horde of Komodo Dragonrats charging you, each one harboring thousands of microbes. Each bite sends you closer and closer to a long and painful death.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Imagine a horde of Komodo Dragonrats charging you, each one harboring thousands of microbes. Each bite sends you closer and closer to a long and painful death.

You know, that's just a dire rat in the shape of a lizard. ;)

[Xeviat]

Or compies. By the way, I love the needlefang drake swarm (compies).

[Llum]

Alright, for an animal artillery creature I was thinking of two different ideas.

First Idea: Large bombardier beetle type creature, it can spray super heated chemicals to burn a creature (ongoing damage, maybe some effect as well). The creature could be an insect. This would probably be a low level Hero tier, maybe elite depending on how powerful you make its ranged attack.

The second idea was of a mammal/reptile/amphibian that uses a specially adapted jaw and muscles to spit acidic/poisonous saliva at a creature. This is similar to spitting cobras and the archer fish. This would be low-mid Hero tier, the saliva would most likely cause poison damage, and blindness (I don't know if that's even a condition in 4e).

For the humanoid pack creatures, I would see them as "soldiers" or "skirmishers" not really the brute type, but they work well in a pack. Depends on much mobility you give them.  Skirmishers would probably work best, low-mid Hero tier as well. They could potentially have a symbiotic behavioral relationship with some kind land creature, tiring out the prey then attacking it while its down, then the land creature comes along and finishes off whatever there hunting. I know this could possibly be a little too intelligent but I dunno.

On the octopus idea, how about a large shelled tentacle creature. Lives in freshwater lakes, large shell makes it hard to hurt, and tentacles give it reach and if large enough a good slam attack. This thing would be fairly large, maybe giant-sloth sized. mid-high paragon tier brute or controller (maybe elite) material. For controller-style abilities, grappling with its tentacles, ink shot to cause blindess (still not sure if its a status ailment). Would make for a crazy encounter, a giant shelled octopus plus some of the eel creatures.

Finally, for the honor of naming the eel creatures I have yet to come up with something I find suitable. I'm bad at naming stuff, so I'll probably come up with 2-3 names and hopefully you find one suitable.

Just for clarification, you wanted strictly non-magical animals/plants correct?

[Nomadic]

Do Octopi still roam the land?

I see what you did there...

[Xeviat]

I had only assumed E_E was refering to the land octopi in the discovery channel program "The Future is Wild". That site, though, is all lulz. Thanks for linking it.

There already is a bombardier beetle type creature in D&D. And yes, the blindness condition still exists.

I'm liking the humanoid pack creatures. I do have a group of humanoids called "Ferrals" that were originally created by the humans of our future (my setting's past) through genetically mixing humans with other mammals. This also gave rise to lycanthropy, which is caused by a retrovirus used in the process of turning adult humans into animal-hybrids. This was all done in the name of science and for millitary applications, so the 6 species of ferrals that exist were chosen for their applications: Bat, Bear, Cheetah, Dolphin, Rat, and Wolf. I still need a name for the Dolphins, but the others have already been named:

Bat: Visecrite
Bear: Usaril
Cheetah: Khan
Rat: Mite
Wolf: Lupinahk

The people of my setting believe that the Ferrals spread lycanthropy, but they do not. While they are of humanoid intelligence, it is much lower than that of humans (the mites and "dolphins" have full human intelligence, and are the only two species of ferrals that live amongst other humanoids in some form; mites often live in sewers and hide amongst slums while "dolphins" trade with and live amongst the Tritons).

But a proto-human would be very interesting. The cataclysms wiped out all of human civilization, so it is safe to say that the surviving humans could have evolved into something different. A savage human offshoot may still have a place alongside the various humanoid and ferral humanoid races of my setting.

Last point for this post: That shelled octopus creature is totally going to be a paragon tier solo monster, or maybe an elite that leads a colony of minions for one big encounter.

[Ghostman]

How about running some evolution on the flying fish? Beginning with improvements on body structure and the pectoral fins to allow much longer glides, they eventually develope lungs and the fins turn into true wings. Able to take to the skies like any bird, they eschew plankton as their primary source of food and evolve into predators, preying on insects, other fish, birds and eventually even land animals. Perhaps they even change their reproductive strategy from shedding a mass of gametes into water, to laying eggs or even birthing live offspring like many shark species do. This would enable them to abandon the seas entirely.

[Elemental_Elf]

I always liked the idea of Bird-like creatures being able to breath fire, like Dragons do in the movie Reign of Fire. I would love to see a Penguin who has the ability to shoot fire from its throat... Though that's just a personal 'OMG that'd be awesome' thing.

On a more serious note, you mention Humans have survived but have they survived unchanged? Are there separate Human races or are we still just one people?

[Xeviat]

Originally I was only going to have one "human", but also originally the demihumans were going to be related to humans (but they were forcefully evolved via magic). Now the demihumans have become something more, so having them be related to humans is out.

[Llum]

I think Elemental_Elf mentioned Terror Birds earlier. These could be a good possibility. The way i see them is evolved from ostriches. They would have a sharp beak, probably hooked for tearing. Their main attack would be a kick, and it would be vicious with their talons. The kick would also be fairly strong, real-life ostriches can knock a big man down quite easily. There's a series of books (Coyote Trilogy) where people colonize an alien moon, there are moa equivalents that are very dangerous. They live in long/tall grass areas, so they can sneak very easily. These things cause problems for the people even though they have guns and stuff. So prairie Terror Birds could be a good Paragon level animal threat, double so if they travel in packs (or flocks).

For the shelled octopus creature, maybe one it has a player trapped in its tentacles, it could slam them on the ground (slam attack+shift 2 squares in rage?). I was also thinking maybe the creature couldn't be hurt from behind.

Another idea I had is for large sea-turtle like animal that has lots of coral growing on its back. It would be large sized, and it could "protect" a medium or smaller creature, by hiding it in the coral on its back.

The idea I had for a solo creature was one of these Coral-Turtles with a Shelled-Octopus on its back.

For the name of the electric eel animals I have a few possbilities, take whichever one you like most (or mangle them, I'm not good at naming): Eelkoids, Voltins, Amphorins.

Just an idea but maybe the Dolphin Ferrals could be called Cetans or Cetahks?

[Llum]

Dunno if your still working on this stuff but I found a link that brought this thread to mind.

It's about Megafishes.

This one is the one that brought this thread to mind

[Drizztrocks]

Alright, since your familiar with The Future is Wild I'm going to guess you've seen most of the pages that link off it in wikipedia. Your bat creature is similar to something found in a show called Primeval, a creature from the future similar to what you describe makes it to present day England.

Alright for some ideas of my own, there is a species of in the Hydrozoa class named a Hydra. The creature has this name because it has true regeneration, it can regrow any part of its body (similar to starfishes) and it can go into a hibernative state where it goes to a previous stage in its life cycle, essentially it makes itself younger with no known side effects.

Creatures evolved from his could post a significant threat, being as they're almost impossible to kill. I know that they've currently infected every ocean/major sea in the world. Level ranges would probably start medium-high and could be in high Paragon or Epic tier due to their incredible regeneration powers.

I'm guess Valkyries are winged humanoids?

For the dragon I don't know if you're aware but Discovery(I think) did a special on how Dragons could have previously evolved. Initially it was a wyvern-like creature, then it gained 6 limbs and split into three sub species, water dragons which were very long and had vestigial limbs/wings. Forest dragons that live in bamboo forests and mountain dragons, large dragons who lived in the high mountains around Tibet and mated in the air like some Eagles and Falcons.

For others I would say something cephalopod-related could be a potential menace in waters, something medium level. Turtles and jellyfish I can also see possibly gaining a niche for low level creatures.

  I watch Primeval, and those highly evolved super predators are awesome. I was going to mention them anyway but you've already done it. yeah it was animal planet that had that special on dragons. To make dragons in a futuristic campaign more beleivable, perhaps they existed in the past, but they died out. Some eggs were preserved in the earth and then hatched millions of years later after being unearthed. They bred and bred and eventually became a species again.

 One of my theories about futuristic life is that colony based insects such as bees and ants could make massive progress in a future world. Maybe ants have evolved to the size of dogs and have become active hunters, attacking people and dragging them back into their giant ant hills. Just an idea.

  I like the idea about adding in terrorbirds, but I would keep them more like man sized hunters like the velociraptors in Jurassic Park, and hunting in packs. When the giant man eating birds are as intelligent as you are, it forces you to make quick strategic decisions. It is not so far fetched, either. Birds have been known to drop nuts they can't crack open themselves into streets. The cars run over the nuts, and amazingly, the bird learns the stoplight. Red means its safe to fly down and eat your nut, and green means to stay away. I saw it on national Geograpic Channel once.

[Drizztrocks]

I just thought of another idea. If you've ever seen the movie tremors, its about giant worm-like creatures terrorizing a town in a desert valley. The worm creatures got up to thirty feet long, were immensely thick and plated with scaled plates and had a gaping mouth equipped with a giant bonecrushing beak. Inside of the thing's mouth were four feeler tentacles. It traveled underground beneath earth and sand, and hunted using vibrations in the ground.It might be able to be used as a good solo monster in the Namibia or Gobi Deserts {assuming those are still deserts}.