Beast
A beast usually refers to a creature that, for the most part, has the typical features of an animal.
Mythical Beasts
A beast may be a mundane beast with no special qualities beyond its obvious properties. Animals in Mythic Europe sometimes possess Mythic qualities as described in medieval bestiaries. For example, a weasel's touch may heal poison and a crow might see beyond mere appearances.[1] Such creatures are called Beasts of Virtue and are aligned with the Magic Realm.
There are other supernatural beasts, affiliated with any of the Realms of Power. For example, Polandrus is an Infernal wolf: a demon whose material form is that of a wolf. Beasts aligned with a Realm almost always have some mythical powers associated with that Realm. It mostly depends on the creature's nature and personality whether it readily reveals such powers.
There are also mythical beasts in Mythic Europe that are quite obviously not mundane creatures. Dragons, griffins, and pegasi would be examples of such creatures that (more or less) clearly do not belong to the mundane world. In such a case, a responsible scholar might prefer the term "creature" instead of "beast".
Statistics for Beasts
Players might need the game statistics for beasts if their characters have a heartbeast or animal companion, if they are shapechangers, or if they simply ride horses or keep hounds.
Beasts are usually of animal intelligence and hence have Cunning as a Characteristic instead of Intelligence.[2]
Statistics for mundane animals were omitted from the ArM5 core book, but were published as a Web supplement called the Book of Mundane Beasts. This was also printed as an appendix to Realms of Power: Magic.[3]
Rules for several kinds of hounds[4], horses[5], and hawks[6] are presented in Lords of Men.
Between Sand & Sea: Mythic Africa has a Mundane Bestiary Appendix of about eight pages, covering several new beasts:
- Camel (Jamal)....................................136
- Camel, Dromedary (Camelus)..........136
- Dog, Painted (Kalb)..........................137
- Dog, Painted (Lycaon)......................137
- Fox (Tha’lab).....................................138
- Goat (Maa’ez) ...................................138
- Goat (Capra).....................................138
- Hyena (Dhubba)...............................139
- Hyena (Yena) ....................................139
- Jackal (Wawi)....................................140
- Jackal (Thos).....................................140
- Lizard (Waral)...................................140
- Lizard, Waral (Varanus) ....................140
- Ostrich (Na’aam)...............................141
- Ostrich (Struthio) .............................141
- Scorpion, Monstrous (al ‘Aqrab).......141
- Scorpion, Monstrous (Scorpio).........141
- Unicorn, Eastern (Karkadann)..........142
- Unicorn, Eastern (Monoceros) .........142
- Vulture (Nasr) ...................................143
- Vulture, Egyptian (Vultor) ................143
Rules for designing beasts' characteristics are found in HoHMC.[7] This includes rules for beasts' Characteristics, inherent Virtues and Flaws, Abilities, and the weapon statistics for natural weapons such as claws and teeth.
References
- ↑ Ars Magica Fifth Edition, p. 184, "Magical Creatures"
- ↑ Ars Magica Fifth Edition, p. 191, "Creature Format"
- ↑ Realms of Power: Magic, pp. 140-144, "Book of Mundane Beasts"
- ↑ Lords of Men, pp. 49-50, "Varieties of Hunting Hounds"
- ↑ Lords of Men, pp. 55-57, "Horses"
- ↑ Lords of Men, p.59, "Hawks and Falcons"
- ↑ Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults, pp. 38-43
Past Editions
The Medieval Bestiary Revised Edition (for Fourth Edition) provided a large assortment of animals, including much Mythic information about them. While some mechanical aspects might be better treated under the HoHMC guidelines, the book contains many descriptions and examples that can serve as inspiration as well as suggestions on the other uses of animals in the saga.
Legacy Page
The history of this page before August 6, 2010 is archived at Legacy:beast