Three Alt-Mesozoic Fantasy Dinosaur Archetypes

For this year’s bonus Secret Jackalope, I present Lexi with dinosaurs from a different, fantastical Mesozoic era.

AD&D Allosaurus, looking a bit bent.

Dinosaurs, as we know of them on earth, were once the apex examples of both predator and prey alike. The various eras of natural prehistory featured a menagerie of amazing creatures, but only the Mesozoic Era provided us with dinos, and we got zounds of them. Traditional dinosaurs have shown up in RPGs since their inception, with a number of supplements, adventures, locales, bestiaries, and whole campaign settings devoted to them or highlighting them prominently.

But what about less… traditional… dinosaurs? You know, with the sky as the limit for RPG theorycrafting, what new and exceptional silliness can we get into while dabbling with this subject? I love dinosaurs, and firmly believe that they should be showcased in every single RPG setting, regardless of context. That is, there ought to be a dinosaur somewhere in the region, adventure, or dungeon. Just put them in there. It will work out, I promise. I present to you three primary categories of alt-Mesozoic fantasy dinos, the crystal hulks, elemental lizards, and amber shapers.

Amethyst triceratops, courtesy of u/ralizhoffman

Crystal Hulks
“Expedition Day 34: The sun hit the back of the mighty one in such a way as to blind half of us with red-hued refraction.”
~ Jesper Thid, explorer (now blind)

It’s not clear how life was breathed into gemstones, but whatever lower lifeforms sprang up within the sharp planes and smooth ends of amethysts, rubies, diamonds, and other precious stones soon became scintillating beasts both large and small. Ankylodons formed of aquamarine guard their mates as they shudder with birthing pains, laying not eggs nor bearing live young, but splintering their plating into smaller extant offspring. Topaz tyrannosaurs focus the midday sunlight into intense beams of near-fire, roaring with a crackling keen as their prey is incinerated like so many ants under a magnifying glass. A pack of opaline compsognathus encircle a gem-hunting orc separated from his warband, their small legs grinding at the joints as they chitter and leap at once in unison.

Crystal hulks are the most similar in size and manner to traditional dinosaurs, but take on the curious qualities and timeless beauty of the most magnificent gemstones in our own world. Consider using bog-standard dinosaur bestiary entries while increasing armor class and lowering HP in kind. Any crystal hulk is vulnerable to bludgeoning and resonance of all sorts, but can readily bedazzle enemies with kaleidoscopic color and light, inflicting plenty of damage, status effects of the delirious sort, or both. They are also entirely unsubtle, given that a creature made of stone will make an inordinate amount of noise while moving, regardless of how stealthy their flesh-and-blood counterpart may be.

One of many thundersaurs.

Elemental Lizards
“I swear it--the tempest swirled above him while the damned earth split beneath his feet… but it wasn’t a storm or a quake, it was a creakin’ animal come to swallow him whole.”
~ Runple explaining how his linkboy died in spectacular fashion

The lore of many planets has much to say about the elementals, be they heralds of far-flung infinite planes, capricious taskmasters lording over their corporeal inferiors, or conniving mephits interested only in sewing chaos among those who fall under their purview. The primal forces of some worlds, however, take the form of monumental theropods vested with the potency of air, earth, water, and fire. A thunderstorm rips across the sky, lancing lighting at a hilltop which crackles into a hunting pack of blue-white electrical velociraptors. A brotherhood of dwarves invokes the ritual to summon the allosaurus of flame to lair in their forge. Three sailors cheer their luck as an aquan archeopteryx alights from still waters to bring desperately needed wind to their idle sails.

Elemental lizards are dynamos of the natural landscape. They are not the shapeless elementals of the AD&D bestiary but living, breathing manifestations of scaled hide and primal energy. They are both element and flesh at once, born from clutches of physical eggs swept up in storm, deluge, inferno, or avalanche. Consider adding elemental spellcasting to traditional dino stats, as well as affording these lizards the ability to seamlessly blend into their respective elements, like phasing into a breeze or crumbling into dust and stones. Any magic cast in the presence of these volatile creatures becomes wild and unpredictable, but it is also especially effective against them.

Is what we find entrapped in amber a true fossil, or just an unlucky adventurer?

Amber Shapers
“No! Please, I didn't mean to trespa--”
~ Dannick’s last words before being encased in amber

Sapience isn’t reserved for mammalian humanoids alone--this we know from many typical marsh-dwelling lizardfolk communities and draconic descendents--but a much older strain of reptilian culture has existed in the harder-to-reach corners of the world since time immemorial. Deeply mystical and even more insular, this saurian race of bipeds holds sole mastery over the evocation and control of amber, using it as a sort of slipstream reagent to manipulate and bind the world around them. Typically between four to five feet tall and slightly built, the amber shapers live in small sects of less than ten members apiece. Each is led by an elder shaper, whose abilities blur somewhere between the arcane and divine, drawing primordial power from the planet to fuel their dinomancy.

Amber shapers are neither clerics nor magic users, but something closer to a witch or shaman archetype. They are bound closely to the elements of the terrain in which they reside. Blend ideas of dino ecology and habits with a cross-section of cult or fey behavior--make them esoteric, unpredictable, capricious, and above all, alien to the expectations of adventurers. Provide them with spellcasting which is focused on physical restraint or control, such as levitation and binding magic. Alternatively, alter a cleric’s turn undead ability to repel any non-saurians as though they were divinely repelled by the shapers’ wills.

Below are three sample level-agnostic amber shaper dinomancy spells (L = level of player character or HD of NPC caster):

Time-Lock: L objects or creatures are encased in liquid amber, which hardens, preserving them against age and wear for Ld6 years. Save vs paralysis.

Blood to Amber (Amber to Blood): The blood of a creature hardens quickly, then transmutes into pure amber, destroying the body. Additionally, the amber-veined animus can be controlled by the caster with 2xL HD and Ld6 damage. Save vs death.

Avatar: Amber swirls around the target forming a malleable and deflective barrier construct with 1xL HD and 5(15) AC. Save vs magic.