Cloning dinosaurs for use as a theme park attraction is an objectively bad idea. However, if pop culture has taught us anything, it’s that if something goes horribly wrong the first time, you should probably just keep trying until you get it right, regardless of common sense, logic, or the wretched screams of terrified innocents as they’re torn limb from limb by angry prehistoric monsters.
Dinosaurs can be a great addition to any role-playing game, but are particularly well suited to superhero stories. Whether the cloned experiments of some mad scientist, denizens of some hidden land untoched by millennia, or the result of a time-travel accident, nothing says we need a hero like terrible lizards rampaging their way through the downtown core. That’s why every day for Dinosaur Week, the Gamer Nation Blog is presenting stats for two different dinosaurs for use in your Mutants & Masterminds 3E games.
Triceratops
Name: Three Horned Face
Size: 3 m x 9 m
Diet: Herbivore
Habitat: North America
Age: Late Cretaceous
Triceratops is easily the most recognizable of the ceratopsid family of horned and frilled dinosaurs. Fossil evidence suggests that the horns were used for combat, and that triceratops were even a match for the tyrannosaurus rex.
The triceratops build focuses on high damage, with a thick hide to help it shrug off attacks. Defensive Attack, Power Attack, and Improved Aim give the beast options, allowing it approach fights based on the nature of its attacker.
Triceratops • PL 10, MR 4
Str 12 Sta 9 Agl 2 Dex -3 Fgt 5 Int -4 Awe 1 Pre 0
Powers: Strength-based Damage 3 [Horns], Growth 9 (Innate, Permanent), Protection 3, Senses 1 (Acute Smell)
Advantages: Defensive Attack, Great Endurance, Improved Aim, Power Attack
Skills: Athletics 6 (+18), Intimidation 2 (+6), Perception 4 (+5)
Offense: Init +2, Horns +5 (Close, Damage 15)
Defense: Dodge 0, Parry 8, Fortitude 9, Toughness 12, Will 3
Totals: Abilities 8 + Powers 26 + Advantages 4 + Skills 6 + Defenses 11 = Total 55 points
Tyrannosaurus Rex
Name: Tyrant Lizard King
Size: 4 m x 12.3 m
Diet: Carnivore
Habitat: Western North America
Age: Late Cretaceous
Driven by a need to consume enough calories per day to fuel a body that could weigh up to 6.8 metric tons, and an all consuming hatred of all creatures with functional forelimbs, the tyrannosaurus rex is probably the most storied dinosaur discovered. Wether it’s fighting King Kong on Skull Island, rescuing the hapless humans stuck on Jurassic Park, or hunting down the players characters in your RPG campaign, there’s something undeniably awe inspiring about this real life monster.
Most paleontologists subscribe to the theory that tyrannosaurs rex was both a predator and a scavenger, indiscriminate about where it’s food came from. The structure of its jaw reveals it would have been capable of exerting one of the largest bite forces of any land-going animal. While there is no direct fossil evidence that tyrannosaurus had feathers, it is believed that they likely had feathers as juveniles. There are even some indications that larger specimens may have been feathered as well, perhaps due to changes in the environment.
The tyrannosaur build is fairly straight forward. It’s large. It’s powerful. It will destroy anything that gets in its way. Two ranks of Improved Initiative will allow the beast to act first in most circumstances, and the combination of All-out Attack and Power Attack mean that first hit could also very well be the last. As an apex predator, the t. rex is Fearless. After all, who’s going to be dumb enough to mess with it? Lunch, that’s who.
Tyrannosaurus Rex • PL 11, MR 6
Str 10 Sta 11 Agl 2 Dex -1 Fgt 7 Int -4 Awe 3 Pre 1
Powers: Damage 9 [Bite], Growth 10 (Innate, Permanent), Protection 2, Senses 3 (Acute Smell, Tracking)
Advantages: All-out Attack, Improved Initiative 2, Power Attack
Skills: Athletics 7 (+17), Close Combat: Bite 6 (+13), Intimidation 4 (+10), Perception 5 (+8)
Offense: Init +10, Bite +13 (Close, Damage 9)
Defense: Dodge 2, Parry 9, Fortitude 11, Toughness 13, Will 3
Totals: Abilities 18 + Powers 35 + Advantages 4 + Skills 11 + Defenses 12 = Total 80 points
