Ratholos [megafauna beast or elemental from Capcom's Monster Hunter]

[Sunder the Gold]

RATHOLOS



The following traits assume that you're introducing this beast into your game as a natural animal that a Lunar Exalted could take as a Totem or otherwise treat as a valid Heart's Blood target for the Sacred Hunt.

If you don't feel that a natural animal should have such firebreath attacks, you can leave those out or treat it as a magical animal invalid for Lunar shapeshifting.

But if you instead want to treat the Ratholos as a Fire Elemental, there shouldn't be any trouble raising the Essence level and either adding Charms or making certain abilities (like the firebreath) into Charms.


Essence: 1; Willpower: 7; Join Battle: 10 dice (base Initiative 5)
Health Levels: -0x5/-1x5/-2x6/-4x5/Incap. A Ratholos will attempt to flee upon suffering 12+ levels of damage, unless cornered or protecting their young.

Speed Bonus: +2. Actually training a ratholos to accept a rider is nigh-impossible without legendary skill, divine blessings, or the prowess of the Chosen.

Actions: Feats of Strength: 9 dice (11 for carrying loads into the air); Fly: 10 dice to Rush or dive, 6 dice to Disengage or ascend, 8 dice for anything else; Hiding At Higher Altitudes: 5 dice; Resist Poison/Disease: 10/5 dice; Senses: 6 dice (see Soaring Wyvern Eye and Keen Nose); Tracking: 5 dice (see Soaring Wyvern Eye and Keen Nose)

Resolve 3, Guile 1


Combat

Attack (Grapple): 8 dice (10 dice to control). The ratholos makes unopposed control rolls against enemies of smaller size, unless its victims use magic that allows them to clinch larger enemies, such as Dragon Coil Technique. A ratholos can indefinitely carry prey no larger than a man while flying. Clinched opponents twice as large as the ratholos cannot be be slammed or thrown; lifting such creatures into the air works only for an instant, ending the grapple at the end of their turn (which may cause falling damage if the ratholos ascended).

Attack (Talons): 13 dice (Damage 12, minimum 3, poisons when decisive, damage 2i/round, duration 3 rounds, -2 penalty). This is the only physical attack that a ratholos will use when diving from the air, which may also be used as a Smashing attack (p. 586).

Attack (Bite): 11 dice (Damage 16, minimum 5).

Attack (Slam): 12 dice (Damage 14, minimum 4). The ratholos can make a smashing attack by charging with its whole body or lashing out with its spiked tail.

Combat Movement: 8 dice

Evasion 4, Parry 2

Soak/Hardness: 12/3


Special Attacks

Fire Breath: Can be used up to Short range without Aiming; attacks at Medium or Long range require an Aim action. [No idea how the damage should be modeled.]

Terrifying Dragon Roar (Latent): The ratholos unleashes a roar that can be heard for miles, rolling its intimidation pool against all enemies and adding a number of dice equal to half its Initiative. Mortal bystanders and natural enemies automatically flee from the roar, as does any enemy whose Resolve is overcome unless they pay a point of Willpower to resist. Even if they do, they lose one point of Initiative for every success by which the ratholos’s roll beat their Resolve. After using this attack, the ratholos is reset to base Initiative.

Pinning Talons: Whenever the ratholos knocks an enemy prone with a diving talon attack, it may pay a point of Willpower to reflexively make a grapple attack that cannot be parried. If the enemy is smaller, the ratholos can reflexively restrain them while still taking savaging actions against them or making attacks against anyone else, but the ratholos cannot move from that spot without ending the clinch.

Deadly Meteor: As long as the ratholos is able to soar up to short range from the ground, it may dive down at an enemy with devastating force. The first time it moves down into close range with an enemy while airborne and makes a decisive attack, it enjoys a bonus depending on the altitude from which it dived. Diving from long range adds six dice to the attack roll and applies the double 8s rule on the damage roll; medium range adds four dice and doubles 9s; short range adds two dice and doubles 10s. Once it has used this special attack, it must regain altitude, returning back to at least vertical short range before it can do so again.

Growing Shadow of Death: A ratholos that flies downward to make a decisive surprise attack or ambush against an enemy adds three dice to the attack roll. Note that a ratholos soaring high in the sky is generally beyond the range of sensory detection for characters who lack superhuman sight, ensuring an ambush on first strike and providing the possibility of reestablishing stealth in combat by simply flying higher than enemies can see.


Merits

Legendary Size: The ratholos’s immense size makes it extraordinarily difficult for human-scale enemies to engage it in combat. It does not take onslaught penalties from any attack made by a smaller opponent, although magically-inflicted onslaught penalties still apply against it. Withering attacks made by smaller enemies cannot drop the ratholos below 1 Initiative unless they have a post-soak damage of 10 dice (although attackers can still gain the full amount of Initiative damage dealt). Decisive attacks made by smaller enemies cannot deal more than (3 + attacker’s Strength) levels of damage to the ratholos with a single attack, not counting any levels of damage added by Charms or other magic.

Keen Nose: A ratholos applies the double 9s rule on Perception-based rolls made using scent. It adds one automatic successes on any roll made to oppose an enemy’s (Dexterity + Stealth) roll using scent.

Soaring Wyvern Eye: While soaring high in the air, the ratholos receives two bonus dice on any visual Perception-based rolls made to notice things, and can make out major details of far-off objects even when it is flying potentially miles above them. It also adds three automatic successes on any roll to track a character while airborne.

Wyvern Wing Rush: A ratholos may rush enemies from long range above them, as long as the horizontal distance between them is still at short range.

Winged Wyvern Escape: With its great size, mighty legs, and powerful wings, a ratholos automatically succeeds in Disengage actions against smaller opponents who cannot fly.



I never even played Monster Hunter, so shame on all of you who have and who have not yet done this for us. Shame!

As should be obvious, I started out by mashing together Eagles and Tyrant Lizards, shaving back the greatest strengths of both, and thinking of the new strengths born of the combination.

There are still some numbers that need to be reduced from the Tyrant Lizard, and I don't currently have a model for the Fire Breath attack, but I'm hoping that the fans of that game who actually play it will chip in.