Siege Beast

==Siege Beasts==
Siege Beasts are a large, heavily-armored bipedal monsters, used- or employed for destroying fortifications. Although described with a mallet as a hand replacement, they are even more powerful with both hands—using a maul, or attacking at range with crossbow, ballista, or in more advanced settings, cannon!
==Thematics==
* Siege beasts are thematically very similar to the armored, harnessed trolls in Lord of the Rings. Without their equipment, a siege beast would likely only have DR 4, with a punch attack. 
* Siege Beasts are quite different than trolls or ogres stat-wise—mainly in Strength, which Siege Beasts excel. Siege Beasts may be something outside of ogres and trolls entirely, maybe some sort of magical giant/ogre hybrid. 
==Fanon Tactics==
The Siege Beast by default is a melee build, relying mainly on their massive DR and HP to approach fortifications. Their main weakness in this regard is fantasy siege weapons--ones that are magitech-enhanced for accuracy. It'll take about 3d damage to reliably scratch a Siege Beast.
==Fanon Counter-Tactics==
A particularly ambitious or charismatic general may be able to arm their siege beasts with siege weapons like scorpionsThe 36" scorpion in particular and ballistaethe 1-lb ballista, giving them a powerful ranged attack. A fallen siege beast might drop a readily-loaded siege weapon, which could be a critical macguffin later in the battle...
=== Ranged Weapons ===
* 1-lb ballista -- does 4d+1 crushing, see Low-Tech, p.42
* Scorpion, 36" -- 4d impaling
* Scorpion, 45" -- 5d impaling. This one requires a stirrup setup be loaded
=== Reach ===
Don't forget to add the +1 Reach for all weapons! This allows a siege beast to poke their arm through a gate-breach and bonk anyone on the other side with decent range.
=== Other Quirks ===
Siege Beasts have a strangely high amount of FP, allowing them to fight and run a lot. This is probably mainly used to sprint towards castle gates, or to hold their breath while running through clouds of deadly magic gas.
== Trivia ==
* Described as the "idiot cousins of giants" in The Titan's House, Pyramid 89: Alternate Dungeons II
==References==
*DF 2: Dungeons, p.26
*See also: Dungeon Fantasy 2 Bestiary
Category:Statblocks