[I’ve done a number of retrosaurs in the Codex, and I’ve taken a few approaches. I’ve made them true dinosaurs and I’ve made dino-mimicking lizards. These draw inspiration from the composite nature of Waterhouse Hawkin’s designs as well as classic D&D hybrid monsters like owlbears and sea cats.]
Crocophant This
massive creature has a crocodile-like jaw, a humped back and four stout,
muscular limbs. It drags its tail behind it as it moves.
Dinosaurs are creatures that
captivate humanoids in any land where they dwell, and many where they don’t. Mages
have attempted to reverse engineer dinosaurs in areas where they do not exist,
magically hybridizing animals to create a pseudo-dinosaur. The crocophant,
formed from a combination of elephant and crocodilian, is one of these
imitation dinosaurs.
Many crocophants are found in captivity
as guards or showpieces, but they have escaped into the wild in some places. They
are carnivores with a slow metabolism—a sizable meal can keep a crocophant full
for about a month, making them easy to care for as guard beasts go. In the
wild, crocophants prefer swampy, flooded terrain for basking and swimming,
although they do most of their hunting on land.
The elephantine ancestry of
crocophants shows not just in their pillar-like limbs, but their strong social
ties. Crocophants live and hunt cooperatively in groups, and together they can
take down massive prey, even giants and dragons. When captive, a crocophant
without others of its own kind to socialize with will often be listless and
engage in neurotic behavior—which can be very dangerous in a predator the size
of a cottage. Crocophant congregations are frequently nomadic, wandering over
wide areas in order to avoid competition with other predators.
A crocophant stands about ten feet at
the shoulder and grows to 30 feet long.
Crocophants are found in the jungles of central Koll, including parts of the Kingdom of Rowras. They were bred in ancient times to act as guards against powerful water-borne predators like the mokele-mbembe.
Shores of Swords 