Dinosaur fans come in two main types – people who are absolutely fascinated by the careful scientific reconstruction of their species and behavior, and people who just love giant stompy monster lizards with big teeth and scales. Professor Primula’s Portfolio of Palaeontology, an upcoming third party supplement for DnD 5e and 2024, has something for both types of fan, combining real paleontological research with plenty of fantastical flare, such as the new Path of the Tyrannosaur Barbarian.
The Portfolio is the second DnD book by PalaeoGames, a “team of expert research scientists, paleo-artists, and game designers” who previously released Dr Dhrolin’s Dictionary of Dinosaurs. Like the first book, the Portfolio packs in dozens of DnD monster stat blocks for a variety of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, plus a variety of other palaeontology themed content.
The supplement is currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter. Pledges start at $32 (£25) for a PDF copy of the supplement, or $58 (£45) plus shipping for a printed copy. The campaign is open until 9am PT / 12 noon ET / 5pm BST on April 7.
The monster descriptions are accompanied with illustrations and behaviour descriptions based on available scientific evidence. “You can expect to see detailed descriptions of animal integument (skin/scales/feathers/hair etc.) instead of “(Natural Armor)” for the AC”, according to the Kickstarter, “as well as bonuses to saving throws, skills, and attacks that are not based on the ability score and proficiency bonus”.
Not that this is purely a paleontology textbook. The portfolio will include some interesting variants on DnD classes, including the Path of the Tyrannosaur Barbarian, Ancient Beast Warlock, School of Taxonomy Wizard, and College of Education Bard.
The Path of the Tyrannosaur subclass lets the DnD Barbarian fight like a T-rex – with their mouth. This barbarian subclass gains a Maw weapon, a monster skull that you attach to your head. You get to make a free grapple against the target of your bite attack, which is particularly hard for your target to break free from, and which allows you to keep gnawing them turn after turn.
YouTuber Bone Wizard, who actually helped to design all the subclasses, explains the full details of the Path of the Tyrannosaur in this video:
The Portfolio also adds in several new DnD races: Pterosaur Folk, Sabretooth Catfolk, Neanderthals, Trilobite Folk, Sauropod Folk, and Tyrannosaur Folk. There are no details of the Tyrannosaur Folk yet as they’ve just been confirmed as a stretch goal, but they do mean you’ll be able to play a T-Rex Barbarian following the Path of the T-Rex. Tyrannosaur squared.
Even with these fantasy elements, this is very much a supplement designed to delight science nerds. The Portfolio adds rules for fossil harvesting, adding a museum display to your DnD bastion, and dealing with the butterfly effect when time travelling.
If you lean more towards the monster-hunting pulp end of the spectrum, you should look at ‘A Time Traveler’s Guide to Dinosaur Hunting’ – you can learn more about it in this article.
Source: Wargamer
