Re: Hearth Bears

    First off, thanks Flits3, I'm no expert at 3e rules, so I'm glad you
caught any of my goofs :)

    One more thing: I'm very seriously considering adding a "breeds"
section, so if anyone has some suggestions, feel free to say so! :)

> Hearth Bear
> Medium-Size Animal
> Hit Dice:  3d8+9 (22 hp)
> Initiative:  +2 (Dex)
> Speed:   40 ft.
> ==> Twice as fast as a Dwarf? Make it 30 ft.

    <shrug> A dog can outrun a human easy enough :)  Also, that was the
movement rate of bears & dogs, the two animals from the MM I was using as a
model (an a big animal can move quick; until recently I had two labs that
could easily move that fast ;)

> Attacks:  2 claws +4 melee, bite -1 melee
> ==> Off by +1  it must be 2 claws +5 melee, bite +0 melee

    I missed something?  +2 base, +2 strength, -5 for bite (secondary
attack).  No size modifier or anything else I'm aware of.

> Saves:   Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +2
> ==> Fort +6, Ref +3, Will +2

    Animal good saves are usually Fort & Ref, so Ref = +3 base +2 Dex.

> Abilities:  Str 15, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
> Skills:   Listen +4, Spot +7
> ==> You still have 6 skill points left. I propose Intuit Direction 3 (2
> points) and Wildernis Lore 5 (4 points)

    Ok, sounds good to me.  I went with what most animals had :)

> Treasure:  None
> ==> Make it standard as hey may have swallowed some items

    Er, more likely to have valuable collars than swallowed items.  Animals
that size don't tend to live long if they've swallowed anything that is
particularly large, and anything small, like a ring, would, um, "pass
through" in a matter of a day or two.

> ==>Improved Grab and Scent description????

    Hmm, I usually don't put in special ability descriptions unless they
vary enough to warrent it, but the descriptions you provided are pretty good
(and a bit different enough to warrent it :) )

> Bear Hug (Ex): When a Hearth Bear hits with both aclaws it can opt to
forgo its other
> attacks and put the opponent in a bear hug. It automatically deals 1d8
> +Strength Modifier points of damage for each attack it had left. The
> victim may escape by successfully passing a grapple check.

    I'll add "limited to small & medium sized foes".  For some reason, I
can't see them bear hugging a giant, nor a pixie-fairie...;)

    Anyways, I'll update the document & repost.  Thanks for the help! :)

Adam