Animal Motifs for Supers

[Badger]

I've found inspiration watching the Animal Channel's Most Extreme.

[Space Cadet]

Originally posted by Bengal:

 

And of course, Sheep Man: The Man who can turn you into a sheep.

 

Well, if nothing else, we've gotten at least one villainous NPC for a

Western HERO campaign...

 

Space Cadet

[Kintara]

And the Golden Codfish. You know what codfish have going for them? They are tasty and numerous. I have found absolutely nothing else mythological or particularly interesting about them.

[Lord Liaden]

In the old German/Scandinavian folktale of the fisherman who caught a talking fish who promised him three wishes if the fisherman released him - wasn't that a cod?

[Kintara]

Originally posted by Lord Liaden

In the old German/Scandinavian folktale of the fisherman who caught a talking fish who promised him three wishes if the fisherman released him - wasn't that a cod?

Alas, the only one I could find was one with a flounder.

 

Edit: Anyway, I suppose Golden Codfish could be a local Massachusetts superhero. They are big fans of the Codfish down there.

[BNakagawa]

Go Flaming Capyberas!

[Bengal]

Originally posted by Kintara

Alas, the only one I could find was one with a flounder.

 

Edit: Anyway, I suppose Golden Codfish could be a local Massachusetts superhero. They are big fans of the Codfish down there.

 

 

Hehe, here in Mass we call Cod and Halibut by the same name: Scrod. Why? Whothehellknows, I just eat clamcakes.

 

Edit: A Cod is what you send ya mudda on ha birt day.

[Rechan]

Oh come on! There are some interesting stuff, even for critters that aren't very impressive in the predatory sense.

 

First of all, let us look at herbivores: Bison/Ox. This just radiates Brick right here.

 

Deer/Gazelle; while they may be seen as prey, they have some Nasty hooves and horns, and make a Perfect speedster/Martial artist.

 

Bull: Perfect powersuiter, especially a Minotaur.

 

Rhino: 'nuff said.

 

Omnivors:

Raccoon: You may laugh, but they are SAVAGE fighters when you corner them, and this would be best for a ninja or professional thief.

 

Badger: You do Not corner a badger, because they will tear you up; a perfect Brick with enraged.

 

Hedgehog: Maybe not a speedster, but a good brick or powersuiter.

 

Armadillo: (Yes, I know a powersuiter in CU) Perfect powersuiter idea, or simply a Collosus type hero. Also, Armadillos are the mascot for the national Archaeological society here; perfect for a gadgeteer's background.

 

Rodents are great too; not only for diseases/contagins, but for stealth, getting into places, or perhaps a character with a duplication power. Or a "swamp rat" character, who sticks to the wilderness and knows his way around.

 

Carnivores:

Praying Mantis: Martial artist? Powersuiter with cloaking powers and blades?

 

African Wild Dog: Wild Dogs hunt in packs, chase prey down, and literally tear it a part; a good concept for a Duplicating pocket brick.

 

Bolas: There's a species of spider that uses a web-lasso. This... could be interesting.

 

No one's mentioned crabs yet. o.o

 

[Haven Walkur]

No scales yet.

 

In our Champions-based "Legion of Superheroes" game, my first character was Hidden Dragon, a martial artist with invisibility. She wasn't Asian, despite the name and the fact that she spoke fluent Mandarin. Her mentor and teacher in the martial arts was the Chinese dragon Lio Shiu Long--the Willow Dragon. Later (of course) it turned out that the Willow Dragon was my character's father. I should have been expecting that, since Chinese dragons are natural magicians and shapeshifters.

 

Hidden Dragon doesn't have any draconic physical features--not yet, anyway--but she has an inhuman DEX and SPD, and an incredible mastery of Tao Lio Shiu Long, "the Way of the Willow Dragon." It's a dragon-style martial art modeled on the movements and powers of the Willow Dragon himself. He invented it and of course trained his daughter in it; it's a 5000-year-old style, and the two if them are now the only living practitioners. So Hidden Dragon _moves_ like a dragon and _fights_ like a dragon, but so far, no scales. (And in traditional style of Chinese legends, Hidden Dragon's arch enemy--back in the 20th Century--was a drug lord and sorcerer calling himself Kevin Wing...who turned out to be half-dragon as well, and her older half-brother!)

[Pegasus]

Let's see...I once created Moosehead , a weremoose with three forms: full human, full moose, or, you guessed it...human with a moosehead. He was from Canada, wore a flannel shirt, and weilded an axehandle in combat. Gee, I never really got around to playing him for some reason...

 

Maybe no sheep, but what about rams? Great motif I've played with before.

 

As far as rodents, there was a Rat-Man in the Elementals who was actually pretty cool, and very tough. He was a were-rat, but rats lend themselves well in other ways, too. (Willard, anyone?) Personally, I'd like to see more ferret-based characters. But I find the image of a duplicator with lemming powers most inspiring.

[oberon]

Originally posted by Blue

I've been thinking about something dog related. Not wolf related, but more like a junyard dog kind of thing, but I couldn't think of a good name

 

Mastiff?? This was a brick character I had once. Pretty standard (basically The Thing, with hair instead of rock)

 

oberon

[Haven Walkur]

Ferret-based?

 

No ferret, but I did have a Mechwarrior character whose Enhanced Attribute: Dex was due to having mongoose DNA spliced in to her code. She had a tendency to chatter when upset, and she did bite...but her mech bit a lot harder!

[proditor]

Any time I hear Animal motifs, I think surprising of TORG. We had a Nile Empire LOONEY hero who wanted to basically be Batman. He was a core earther who flipped so he was a little grittier. However, he was kinda...dense. So after the flip, he's sitting in his mansion thinking about how criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot, and a beam of moonlight strikes the open dictionary on his reading lectern. It illuminates the following:

 

Wombat: (Not in moonlight) stocky burrowing Australian marsupials of the family Vombatidae, resembling (not in moonlight) bear and feeding (Not in moonlight).

 

Actual text: (Wombat: Any of several stocky burrowing Australian marsupials of the family Vombatidae, somewhat resembling a small bear and feeding mainly on grass, leaves, and roots.)

 

There was a picture too. From what he could read and see, he figured a Wombat was a ferocious creature, about 12' tall. Thus was born...

 

The Dark Wombat!!!

 

Subsequently someone actually got him a real Wombat and after that he was heard to continually mutter "It looked a lot bigger in the picture..."

[Siberian Tiger]

Originally posted by Crisis

Maybe no sheep, but what about rams? Great motif I've played with before.

 

Of all the players that I have GM'ed, it was a pleasure to game with Richard Mealing and his character Battering Ram. Ram was a good ol' boy from Alabama - high school football star whose father fell in with Viper and used his son for experimentation. Ram was a brick with speed and growth powers, and an eye for the ladies hence the nickname "Big Boy" (we were only 18/19 at the time).