DM Q&A: Setting: Malar animals? (What are...)

[fred]

Hi, everybody,

I asked Munroe this question, and he didn't know the answer

gasp!

because in PnP there is no such thing. Apparently these are unique to NWN and they have no proper definition.

I have a particular RP difficulty with Malar bears, because Mouse loves bears, and I don't know how she reacts to these things.

Are they

(a) Creatures that were born as bears, but have been corrupted by Malarites and are now evil?

(b) Evil creatures that just happen to have a shape that resembles normal bears, but aren't bears at all and never were?

(c) Something else?

In the toolset, these are NOT marked as having creature type animal. But, while it helps to know that, it doesn't really answer this question for me.

[ancientempathy]

BWAHAHAHAAAAAAA. I think I can answer this one!!!

Beast of Malar - found in the Monsters of Faerun

More info to come

[ancientempathy]

Beast of Malar:

Sacred to the deity of the savage hunt, the Beast of Malar shifts between three savage forms to run down, slay and even fly after its prey. Unlike a true animal, the Beast of Malar's sole purpose is to hunt and slay. At death, the beast rejoins its deity in his home, where it will be rewarded and reincarnated if it has hunted well.

All three of its forms have glossy black fur splattered with red marks on the muzzle, paws, and shoulders. The red markings resemble the pattern left by spraying blood.

In the sleek hunting panther form it prefers for locating its prey, the beast has high ears and glowing red eyes. The hunting panther form has keen senses and exceptional combat and movement speed, and enough savage fighting ability to slay most foes. The panther form is 5 feet long and weighs between 125 pounds and 150 pounds.

In the wide-bodied claw slayer form (bear, in the case of NwN), it uses for serious combat, the beast grows thicker and heavier, resembling a low-slung wolverine with an impossibly wide mouth and four paws with curved, scimitarlike claws. Its rear claws and hooks on the "elbows" of its forelimbs enable it to climb swiftly up trees and rock faces, depsite the fact that it weighs more than 500 pounds.

The beast's bat form is a poor flyer, but still capable of locatin and pursuing prey it is unable to catch on the ground. The beast lacks a true bat's echolocation abilities and is not comfortable in the air, so it nearly always shifts to one of its more combat-ready forms to engage nonflying prey.

Monsters of Faerun, pg. 20

[ancientempathy]

CEP has a wolverine animal appearance, although per description of the Beast of Malar it won't match

Why NwN called it a bear versus a claw-slayer is because they were probably just too lazy to make a wolverine.

Best solution is to just change the bear's form to a wolverine.

[ancientempathy]

So to answer Mouse, it'd just be option B, really

[ancientempathy]

www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mof_gallery/MonFaePG21.jpg

Other pictures from Monsters of Faerun

www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ag/20030805a

[Deleted]

Beast of Malar: Magical beast (shapechanger); 5 ft./5 ft.;
10/magic and silver. Type changes to magical beast (shapechanger);
Hit Dice change to 9d10+45 (94 hp); Will save changes to +5 (all
forms); add darkvision 60 ft. and low-light vision to special qualities.
Shapeshifting allows the beast of Malar to heal at its normal
daily resting rate (9 points per day).
Hunting Panther Form: +9/+11; Balance +18, Climb +5, Hide
+17*, Jump +25, Listen +11, Move Silently +17, Spot +11, Survival
+5, Swim +5; TrackB, Weapon FinesseB. Attacks change to 2 claws
+15 melee (1d4+2) and bite +13 melee (1d6+1).
Claw Slayer Form: +9/+19; Climb +21, Hide +5, Jump +7, Listen
+11, Move Silently +5, Spot +11, Survival +5, Swim +13; Improved
Critical (claws)B, Power AttackB. Attacks change to bite +19 melee
(2d6+10/19–20) and 4 claws +17 melee (1d6+5/19–20).
Bat Form: +9/+12; Climb +6, Hide +5, Jump –6, Listen +6, Move
Silently +5, Spot +6, Survival +0, Swim +6; Alertness, Combat
Reflexes, Flyby AttackB, Improved Critical (bite)B, Improved Initiative,
Multiattack, Weapon Focus (bite)B. Attacks change to bite +13
melee (1d6+4/19–20).

From the Monsters of Faerun 3.5 update

[ancientempathy]

*high fives Herald*

Go team triad of useless knowledge LOL

[Deleted]

Thats why us lesser deities of useless knowledge are here Mouse...nitpick away!

[fred]

Munroe had (of course) actually also found that Beasts of Malar description, but it didn't really seem to match up with what NWN had: we couldn't really come to a decision about what these "Malar Bears" were except "something NWN made up".

But I guess you're right, they may have intended (I guess) for those "bears" to be a "Beast of Malar in Claw-Slayer form".

Why did they have to call it a bear instead of a Claw-Slayer? That's what is causing this confusion! "Claw-Slayer" would have been a much better name, or even "Malar Slayer Beast".

Anyway, thanks, so they're not bears in any sense, really not even supposed to look like bears, despite NWN's poor choice of name and model. That's really what I needed to know!

[dmimmersion]

More CEP choice I beleive.

[Munroe]

This is the reply I sent on 15 May 2008. In the very short follow-up I mentioned that Malar bears are not animals in the NWN engine and have an evil alignment. I didn't think that left much room for confusion. They are EVIL magical beasts, and they clearly have "Malar" in their name. I'm not sure where there's any confusion.

So, to use your A, B, C choices, these are option B. They were never bears, they are evil beasts of Malar that look like bears. Nor are Malar panthers actually panthers, instead they are evil monsters that look like panthers. The Malar panther is one of the forms of the Beast of Malar, and it can be assumed that the Malar bear functions similarly. Basically, somebody who probably didn't know what a Malar panther was decided they would like to add a Malar bear model. That model later got added as a CEP model at some point.

Munroe,

When Mouse asks people in game what a malar animal is, she gets different and contradictory answers. I think this is something she probably should have learned growing up anyway, but her player does not know the correct answer!

I was gonna make a forum post but I thought I'd just get the different and contradictory (and wrong) answers again. Munroe! He of many sourcebooks! What is a malar animal?

Fred akadavid5
Mouse

Hmm... The source I'm currently finding has Beast of Malar, but not a more generic "Malar animal" entry.

(Monstrous Compendium: Monsters of Faerun, pg. 20)

Beast of Malar
Sacred to the deity of the savage hunt, the Beast of Malar shifts between three savage forms to run down, slay, and even fly after its prey. Unlike a true animal, the Beast of Malar's sole purpose is to hunt and slay. At death, the beast rejoins its deity in his home, where it will be rewarded and reincarnated if it has hunted well.

All three of its forms have glossy black fur splattered with red marks on the muzzle, paws, and shoulders. The red markings resemble the pattern left by spraying blood.

In the sleek hunting panther form it prefers for locating its prey, the beast has high ears and glowing red eyes. The hunting panther form has keen senses and exceptional combat and movement speed, and enough savage fighting ability to slay most foes. The panther form is 5 feet long and weighs between 125 and 150 pounds.

In the wide-bodied claw slayer form it uses for serious combat, the beast grows thicker and heavier, resembling a low-slung wolverine with an impossibly wide mouth and four paws with curved scimitar-like claws. Its rear claws and hooks on the "elbows" of its forelimbs enable it to climb swiftly up trees and rock faces, despite the fact that it weighs more than 500 pounds.

The beast's bat form is a poor flyer, but still capable of locating and pursuing prey it is unable to catch on the ground. The beast lacks a true bat's echolocation abilities and is not comfortable in the air, so it nearly always shifts to one of its more combat-ready forms to engage non-flying prey.

[Omitting statistics blocks and ability descriptions.]

in the Realms

Malar is the deity of the brutal hunt and bestial destruction. Shunned in civilized lands such as Cormyr and the Dales, he is popular in the north with barbarians, evil rangers, and some druids. The People of the Black Blood, a Malar-worshiping cult of lycanthropes, ritually marks Shieldmeet, the leapday festival of the Faerunian calendar that is added every four years, by hunting a unicorn using Beasts of Malar as hounds. On nonfestive occasions, the cult uses the beasts to hunt adventurers.

I'll update you if I come across a more generic Malar animal template.

[Deleted]

The Rhapsodist of Rules has spoken (again).

[ancientempathy]

*Merrily tosses around chicken wings of knowledge..?*

[Pookey]

*kills everyone and eats some flapjacks* I like these Malar beasts, actually... hmmm....

*goes to look for the 4th ed stats*

[Deleted]

Aug 10, 2008 7:41:58 GMT -5 Pookey said:

*kills everyone and eats some flapjacks* I like these Malar beasts, actually... hmmm....

*goes to look for the 4th ed stats*

Isn't Babe the blue ox a Malar Animal?

[Deleted]

Babe, the Blue Ox of Malar

[ancientempathy]

ROFL..

[Pookey]

Ancient Malar Dire Oxen, actually.

[Micteu]

*sigh* And he's not even Minnesotan.

[Munroe]

*bump*

And posting the picture again as an attachment, so it doesn't vanish if WotC decides to change their filesystem.

[deadbeatbert]

Quick question: Why do the Malar animals have regeneration?

I have no issue with it, I'm just wondering why they have it.

[Lady Frost]

Nov 20, 2016 13:42:01 GMT -5 deadbeatbert said:

Quick question: Why do the Malar animals have regeneration?

I have no issue with it, I'm just wondering why they have it.

Responding as a builder:

The default "Beast of Malar" hide has regeneration on it and it's never been changed.

[deadbeatbert]

Ahhh, thanks mate!

[Munroe]

Nov 20, 2016 18:24:55 GMT -5 Lady Frost said:

Nov 20, 2016 13:42:01 GMT -5 deadbeatbert said:

Quick question: Why do the Malar animals have regeneration?

I have no issue with it, I'm just wondering why they have it.

Responding as a builder:

The default "Beast of Malar" hide has regeneration on it and it's never been changed.

If I had to guess why the default Beast of Malar hide has regeneration, it would be one of two things:

1.) Shapechangers (Malar-beasts are shapechangers) normally heal when they change forms. In NWN they never change forms so it is possible they were given regeneration instead.

2.) It's possible they just have regeneration by default to make them tougher for no other reason than "Bioware did it." Some things in the default mechanics for NWN don't match exactly with the D&D stats. Sometimes standard NWN creatures are just tougher to make them a bit more challenging.

Sometimes FRC custom creatures are tougher to make them more challenging, though we do try to make them tougher in ways that don't give them powers the base creature wouldn't have. That's not always the case though. For instance, the ettins in the Steelfields have spell resistance. Did anyone else notice that? I find it weird, but maybe they're a less common ettin off-shoot.