Monster Monday: Giant Camel and Two-Humped Camel

Today's Monster Monday is a twofer: both the two-humped camel and the giant camel, two sure-footed pack-animals specialized at living in harsh conditions.

Tang-Dynasty model of a Sogdian riding a camel, via Wikimedia
Modern camels aren't as big as that tiny rider makes this one look, but the scale is about right for someone riding a
prehistoric giant camel like titanotylopus. Also, the rider looks like a lawn gnome, which amuses me.

The two-humped camel is more commonly known as the Bactrian camel, but Bactria is a real place on Earth, so that name is probably not suitable for most fantasy campaign settings. The one-humped dromedary or Arabian camel has already been statted up, but I felt the need to stat up their hardier, stronger, and more wide-ranging two-humped cousins as well. Two-humped camels have higher Strength and Constitution scores, making them ideal for hauling heavier loads in harsher environments than dromedaries, and also making them more formidable in a fight - both of which are characteristics that adventurers in camel-country might want to look for in their mounts and pack animals.

Bactrian camels resting in Jiayu Pass, by Emcc83, via Wikimedia

Prehistoric North America was home to many species of camel, including the gigantic megacamelus, titanotylopus, and gigantocamelus (those last two are considered by some paleontologists to be the same). These giant camels could be roughly 12 feet high and weighed over 5,000 pounds, making them about twice the size of the largest modern camels. In your campaign, giant camels might be employed by wealthy merchants to ship large quantities of goods across the desert, or they might be ridden by desert giant warriors. They could even be used as fighting platforms similar to war-elephants; imagine a giant camel draped in scale barding armor, with two archers firing from its back and two pikemen fighting from armored baskets hanging on either side of the beast.

(Don't forget to check out the encounter ideas and adventure hooks for these camels below the stat blocks!)

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2017 Jonah Bomgaars.

This gigantic camel stands twice as tall as a horse, and is covered with matted brown fur

Camel, Giant (Gigantocamelus)       CR 3

XP 800

N Huge animal

Init +1; Senses low-light vision, scent; Perception +8

DEFENSE

AC 13, touch 9, flat-footed 12 (+1 Dex, +4 natural, -2 size)

hp 38 (4d8+20)

Fort +8, Ref +5, Will +2

OFFENSE

Speed 50 ft.

Melee bite +9 (1d8+12)

Space 15 ft.; Reach 5 ft.

Ranged spit (+2 ranged touch) 10ft.

STATISTICS

Str 27, Dex 13, Con 19, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 5

Base Atk +3; CMB +13; CMD 24 (28 vs trip)

Feats Endurance, Toughness

Skills Perception +8

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Once per hour, a camel can regurgitate the contents of its stomach, spitting the foul material at a single target within 10 feet. The target must make a DC 16 Fortitude save or be sickened for 1d4 rounds. The save DC is Constitution-based.

ECOLOGY

Environment warm desert, hills, and plains

Organization solitary or herd (3-10)

Treasure none

This tremendous camel stands twelve feet tall at the shoulder and weighs up to 5,500 pounds – twice the size of the largest dromedary camel. Although tamed giant camels are rare, they are sometimes used as mounts and pack animals by desert giants. Desert merchants sometimes add one or two giant camels to their caravans for their incredible carrying capacity. Tribes of janni occasionally employ giant camels as beasts of war, mounting multiple archers in special howdahs.

This sturdy camel has two humps and is covered with long, shaggy fur

Camel, Two-Humped    CR1

XP 400

N Large animal

Init +3; Senses low-light vision, scent; Perception +6

DEFENSE

AC 13, touch 12, flat-footed 10 (+3 Dex, +1 natural, -1 size)

hp 15 (2d8+6)

Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +1

OFFENSE

Speed 50 ft.

Melee bite +6 (1d4+9)

Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.

Ranged spit (+3 ranged touch) 10ft.

STATISTICS

Str 22, Dex 16, Con 17, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 5

Base Atk +1; CMB +8; CMD 21 (25 vs trip)

Feats Endurance

Skills Perception +6

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Spit (Ex)

Once per hour, a camel can regurgitate the contents of its stomach, spitting the foul material at a single target within 10 feet. The target must make a DC 14 Fortitude save or be sickened for 1d4 rounds. The save DC is Constitution-based.

ECOLOGY

Environment any desert, hills, or mountains

Organization solitary or herd (3-30)

Treasure none

Like their one-humped cousins found in hot sandy deserts, two-humped camels are hardy, ill-tempered beasts that have been domesticated as pack- and riding-animals. Two-humped camels are equally adept at surviving in hot and cold deserts or high mountain plateaus. They are sure footed, capable of eating tough, thorny plants, and able to go for days without water in conditions that would kill the hardiest of packhorses. They stand up to seven feet at the shoulder, reaching eleven feet in length and weighing up to a ton.

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Encounter Ideas and Adventure Hooks

• An unscrupulous merchant has heard tales of these giant camels and wants your party to capture one for him - either a wild one, or one of the ones belonging to the Janni tribes of the desert.
• You come across a two-humped camel wandering the wasteland. It is harnessed and saddled, but its rider is gone, and you find an urgent message in its saddlebag.
• Wanted: Strong adventurers to guard a caravan through the high mountain pass. Must be okay with camel stench. Experience is a plus, but not necessary.
• Giant raiders on the backs of huge armored camels have been disrupting trade routes in the area.
• Twelve-foot-tall camel skeletons rise up out of the dried lake-bed, scraps of tattered flesh hanging from their bleached bones as they clatter toward you menacingly. The remains of the lost caravan's precious cargo glitter in the muck just beyond them.

-your knobbly-footed d20 despot