A winged horror!

[Berzerker Jay]

n/a

[haunter12a]

that's a great idea it would also be great if they added the ranged weapons too so we could try shoot them out of the sky.

[Berzerker Jay]

Yeah, I was just posting in another thread about blocking animal attacks and I thought how it should be an easy difficulty to block any sort of flying snatch attempt, but once they're on the ground they should have an easier time getting hold of an opponent and lifting off. If a flying snatch fails they should clumsily hit the ground. Taking off should require a bit of space so that they can't just land and fly off again with ease, and players have a chance to interrupt the take-off.

This would bring the fight to the ground a little easier. They'd remain freaking nightmares to deal with, but it's less likely the players are going to be little more than bunny-prey when they enter these beasts' territories.

[swillo]

Or have the giant eagle just land on the target and start tearing them apart like they do in real life. Then you would have to attack it to drive them off. Don't need to have a lot of flying defenses and such, just fighting on the ground. Save your friend before the talons shred um or watch as the bird pecks them apart like the beak things do.

I'm getting scared just thinking about it.

[Berzerker Jay]

Totally, although then maybe a snatch attack might happen rarely. I like the idea of these beasts trying to feed us to their babies, the mad rush to get to the nest before this happens....

I may be just sadistic when it comes to videogames....

On the appearance of the beast, I kinda like the idea of something sort of reptilian or at least hairless, with winged membrances stretching between the rear and front legs. Big strong jaws for grasping prey. Diabolical eye-sockets. I kind of picture some sort of feathery-looking antennae...sort of a touch of beauty to the otherwise horrific nightmare.

[Berzerker Jay]

In terms of lore the antennae could help them home in on the biomagnetic signals of prey through the sandstorms, much the way sharks detect their prey.

[Berzerker Jay]

Suddenly I imagine I'd have a lot more turrets on my buildings!

[Berzerker Jay]

Here's a bit of visual inspiration, at least as far as how I envision this beast. I want to emphasize I picture it going more the pterosaur route rather than the dragon route.

This fish has an interesting look. I like its radial wings and how they orient to its mouth. Looking at this fish it looks like its jaws could hold a person if it was scaled up. Also note the claw-like fins near its jaws:

And here's the skeleton of a large-mawed pterosaur. The wings look a little too light to me:

Finally, this sketch just resonated somewhat even though it's fairly rough, mostly because the antennae look something like what I was mentioning earlier:

I think some sort of abominable amalgamation of all three would be sufficient for our nightmare.

[Berzerker Jay]

Something about this:

[Berzerker Jay]

And a lightweight bone structure might equate to low toughness. That would make them more balanced, I'd expect.

[Berzerker Jay]

I was just passing through the mountains in the Fog Islands, thought of these beasts and trying to make my way to the mountaintop where a nest is to obtain an egg.

It could open up a lot of gameplay options. I would wonder about them as pets, though, because I think it would be OP for a player to control them.

[Espa]

Great idea ^_^