127
votes
Accepted
Why isn't a magical obligate parasite living in a wizard library exterminated?
Regarding:
There is no benefit for a wizard or mage to keep this creature around.
I disagree.
The parasite feeds on remnants of magic power used from experiments or
spell casting. Often, it ...
- 5,845
87
votes
Accepted
What clothes would flying-people wear?
Everyone else is speculating when there are proper reality check examples.
Flight suits that allow for free movement of wings, legs and tail are a thing. Some also contain diapers, so that your bird ...
- 142k
85
votes
Anatomically Correct Succubus
Warning - answer below might not be suitable for some readers.
Sounds to me like a parasite is the most likely evolutionary track. We can imagine a creature like Cymothoa exigua - but instead of an ...
- 2,308
82
votes
Accepted
Why is clothing turned inside-out my weakness?
Totally different perceptual system.
Mythical creatures clearly don't prey on humans because they have to; they do so because they can. They have not evolved with human beings, they often come from a ...
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80
votes
How would tiny dragons strike TERROR?
Cities in the Middle Ages were flammable. Like, really flammable. London suffered from two devastating fires and several smaller ones before the Great Fire of 1666 that destroyed most of the inner ...
- 14.2k
78
votes
What Purpose Would a Unicorn's Horn Serve in the Wild?
It could be an organ for communication.
As we know, Dolphins and Whales communicate by sonar sound waves. The teeth of dolphins are arranged in a way that makes them act like sonar antennae (read ...
- 15.8k
74
votes
Accepted
How do I keep my slimes from escaping their pens?
Bundt cake pen.
Frisky slimes gotta move! If it hits a dead end it will start looking for cracks or go up the wall. But if there is a path of least resistance the slime will take it. It will head ...
- 305k
68
votes
Why isn't a magical obligate parasite living in a wizard library exterminated?
Easy. They can't.
Why are rats not exterminated easily? Cockroaches? Pigeons (in big cities, I remember an anecdote about one city that had a population of 50k pigeons, killed 120k over a few years, ...
- 3,289
68
votes
Accepted
Plausible reason for gold-digging ant
Why would ants unearth pieces of gold? What evolutionary purpose would
this behavior serve?
It makes their chimneys work better.
The workers gather the gold and bring it to the colony. The soldiers ...
- 26.9k
66
votes
Physically, how do dragons grasp and *transport* the contents of their hoards?
If you're a dragon, why are you gathering coins one at a time?
If I'm a dragon, the biggest baddest dude on Middle Earth or Faerun or wherever, I'm not going to pick-pocket people. I'm not robbing ...
- 85.7k
63
votes
How would tiny dragons strike TERROR?
just to add to the other answers: Tiny dragons setting an entire city on fire not only is realistic, we have something similar in our world too:
Let me introduce you to the Australian Firehawk Raptor
...
- 1,001
60
votes
How to not starve gigantic beasts
The creatures eat rocks. The excreta from this is fertile loam that is ideally suited to farming.
They can be trained to eat from rock formations in such a way as to create walls and fortification.
...
- 49.5k
59
votes
Accepted
How do I scientifically explain a specific type of wood piercing through armor when not even bullets can?
The monster doesn't have armor - it has blubber.
Bullets don't bounce of the monster - instead they penetrate, but not deep enough to pass through the protective layer of blubber. The blubber ...
- 7,390
59
votes
Accepted
What kind of deadly ranged weapon can pixies use against humans?
Don't bother killing humans, kill their stuff!
When you kill a human they go crazy. Humans with weapons and blue flashing lights appear with big scary dogs that can smell pixies and chomp them down, ...
- 44.3k
57
votes
Werewolves have the same fur color as their human form's hair color. What gave humans the idea that they're all gray?
It was night time
Werewolves are smart and deadly predators. It's rare for someone to see one and survive, and actual colours are hard to tell when all you see is a flash in the moonlight. They're ...
- 47.8k
56
votes
Shapes for an infinite animal?
You specify "creature", but would a fungus fit your requirements? Taking inspiration from Armillaria ostoyae, one example of which is the largest living organism, covering 3.4 square miles of the ...
- 1,186
55
votes
Kaijuu-like monsters killing humans: What is their viable reason to do so?
They don't need one. Let's say you take a walk. You're killing millions of microorganisms every time you breathe. You might step on ants and hardly notice. Crunch a snail when you aren't looking.
...
- 8,083
53
votes
How do I keep my slimes from escaping their pens?
Glass jugs
Make them big enough to accommodate your slimes; the slime should fill the bottom few inches and most of the jug should be empty space to prevent escapes.
A slime that climbs up the wall ...
- 85.7k
51
votes
Why isn't a magical obligate parasite living in a wizard library exterminated?
The librarians like them.
Wizards don't like the creatures, but librarians like them.
For one thing, it keeps the wizards from casting spells in the library. Any librarian will tell you that spell-...
- 12k
51
votes
What Purpose Would a Unicorn's Horn Serve in the Wild?
Display.
A peacock's display feathers have no practical function and exist solely to demonstrate the animal's fitness as a potential mate. From a practical perspective, its display feathers are ...
- 1,080
46
votes
How could a magical, sentient library defend itself?
Since the library can manipulate memory by making people forget itself, I would just use that. Make people forget any plans the library (or whoever set the protection spell) does not approve of before ...
- 43.3k
45
votes
Anatomically Correct Sleipnir
Something that evolution very seldom does is create extra limbs. One of the best reasons for this is that there's no viable intermediate forms; you have to grow the new limbs to the same length as the ...
- 20.1k
45
votes
Accepted
How to not starve gigantic beasts
We have a historical precedent for a world with monsters the size of houses.
The difference was arguably higher carbon dioxide, and tropical temperatures, leading to richer and more vibrant plant ...
- 11.3k
45
votes
Accepted
How Do You Get Wood in a World Where Monsters Defend The Forests?
By farming it.
Leave the natural forests alone, and plant your own tree farms, just like we do for Christmas trees and paper. For firewood, staves, bows, wicker, and small beams, use coppicing to ...
- 42.4k
44
votes
What danger would a mummy pose if resurrected where they need to cover/protect its body?
It could rule.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramesses_II
Your nation is a shadow of what it was. Foreigners walk your streets and command your kings. The ancient pharaohs conquered many lands and ...
- 305k
43
votes
How would you design a dragon-like creature so it could sew?
You did not provide the specs for your dragons, so I imagine their build would fit along the classical european, D&D chromatic dragon shapes and sizes.
Let me tell you about Iguanodons. They were ...
- 142k
43
votes
How would medieval people defend themselves from Simswines?
They would hunt them to (regional) extinction.
If they bring pointy teeth, you bring pointy sticks. If they bring a pack, you bring a warband. If they put one of yours in their belly, you put their ...
- 7,806
41
votes
Physically, how do dragons grasp and *transport* the contents of their hoards?
Become a god, make your worshippers carry things for you.
Dragons are clearly too important to do manual labor, let alone the menial transfer of wealth from one location to another.
Step 1: Attack a ...
- 32.9k
40
votes
Accepted
What effect does a fireball have on a being of pure ice?
The problem I am having is this. Ice (frozen water particles) should melt in layers, which would then need even more energy (heat) to vaporize. So, in theory, Fire shouldn't be 'super effective' ...
- 30.2k
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