Table didn't paste well Non-humanoid species moving speed:
Different movement styles may generate totally wrong BMRs. To correct this problem these tables have been made. Humanoid BMRs are reasonable and do not need correction. After considering some species I came to conclusion that movement speed needs three new categories: flyers, quadrupeds / swimmers and wormers (snakes etc.)
This data allows one to produce most real animal speeds with reasonable accuracy. When creating monsters there may be need to build unrealistic fast beasts. In that case example 7 gives hint how to correct problem.
It would have been possible to give more realistic BMRs using multiplication factors but to make these tables more like humanoid BMR table in HARP (p.29) only subtractions and additions have been used.
Two limitations were necessary to generate realistic BMRs: flyers (winged) horizontal max pace is limited to x3 as is wormers max pace. Speed in chart is horizontal speed.
Key factors in building BMR are body length and racial talents as before.
Body length (BL) in feet [ft]
• Flyers BL is 1/3 of wingspan (for gliders 1/4).
• Quadrupeds BL is 2x withers. (in extreme cases like giraffe average hind and back withers and round down).
• Swimmers and wormers BL is trivial.
• For creatures with more legs than four (e.g. centipedes or Marsian dogs) but less than hundred (e.g. millipedes) GM has to decide whether to use quadruped or wormer table. Suggestion: for legs up to 10 quadruped table should be used and BL could be 2x leg length.
• Total creature length may be used as BL for many legged creatures like millipedes using wormer table.
Winged Flyers Quadrupeds / Swimmers Wormers
max pace x3 max pace x5 max pace x3
BL BMR BL BMR BL BMR
5 + 34 20+ 20 40 + 10
4 - 5 32 15 - 20 18 30 – 40 9
3 - 4 30 10 - 15 16 20 – 30 8
2 - 3 28 8 - 10 14 10 – 20 7
1,5 - 2 26 6 - 8 13 8 – 10 6
1 - 1,5 24 5 - 6 12 6 – 8 5
0,5 - 1 22 4 - 5 10 4 – 6 4
0,25-0,5 20 3 - 4 10 2 - 4 3
- 0,25 15 2 - 3 8 1 - 2 2
1 - 2 6 - 1 1
0,5 - 1 4
- 0,5 2
NOTE adding length does
NOT add speed over maximum speed presented in table.
Quickness modifiers from HARP core rule book p. 29 apply except for wormers. For calculating wormers BMR divide mod by three and round up.
New species talents:
Fast species: +1' wormers; +10' quadrupeds and swimmers; +20' flyers
Very fast species: +2' wormers; +20' quadrupeds and swimmers; +40' flyers
Slow species: -1' wormers ; -5' flyers quadrupeds and swimmers; (BMR has to be at least 1'. In case of flyers use reason).
Very slow species: -2' wormers; -10' quadrupeds and swimmers; (BMR has to be at least 1'. Flyers can’t be this slow and be able to fly).
Fast and very fast species are not cumulative. However blazing speed is cumulative with both talents. Fast individual in examples corresponds to individual for that species with Qu-stat of 100 (that adds 5’ to movement speed).
Examples of some species that would have had totally wrong BMR using esp.using HARP 2nd edition (2002/2003) and MaFG (2004) movement table. BMR 10’ corresponds to max speed of 5m/s for flyers and wormers and 7,5m/s for quadrupeds and swimmers
1: Red-throat divers are one of fastest horizontal flyers. Measured max speed for max speed has been 30-35 m/s. That corresponds (at x3 pace) to around BMR 65'-75'. Now BMR using data presented in this writing: Very fast species, BL about 2 feet (wingspan about 5’), fast individual +5': 40' + 26' + 5' = 71'. Compare to closest equivalent - medium raptor in MaFG BMR 15'.
2: Ostrich: fastest individuals have been able to run up to 20 m/s. For a runner species that corresponds to BMR of 25' - 30'. BMR using this method: legs are 4-5 feet long --> BL 8-10 --> BMR 14, Fast species, fast individual +5': 14 + 10 + 5 = 29'.
3: Black mamba is the fastest snake. It has been seen to move 5 m/s. For a wormer species (max pace x3) that corresponds BMR of 11'. BMR using this method: Black mamba is around 8 ft long (up to 10 ft), very fast species, very fast individual 7'/3 round up --> +3' BMR: 5 + 2 + 3 = 10' (if max length 11').
4: Elephant runs up to 14- 15 m/s that corresponds BMR 19'. Elephant is not especially fast species. BMR using this method: Elephants stand up to 10' at the withers --> BL 20' --> BMR 18' or 20' depending on choosing size (BL 15-20 or 20+).
5: Sword fish - some are able to swim 20 -25 m/s. For a swimmer that corresponds to BMR of about 25' - 30'. BMR using this method: sword fish is 8 to 15 feet long, fast species fast individual: 14/16 + 10 + 5 = 29' - 31'.
6: Ocras max recorded speed are up to 17 m/s. For a swimmer that corresponds to BMR of about 23'. Lets calculate the BMR: Ocras are around 20 feet long (up to 30), they are fast whales: 20 +10 = 30' that is a bit too much but compared to 70' in MaFG (new addition: or what would come from extrapolating Ocras speed from Gr White Shark’s BMR this method produces better real life results). ...
7: Spine tailed swifts are fastest horizontal flyers with record around 45 m/s. For a flyer that corresponds to BMR of 100'. BMR using this method: these birds have BL of a bit more than 0,5 feet, very fast species, it is the fastest - blazing speed, very fast individual (Qu-stat 102). BMR: 22+40+5+7 = 74' this corresponds about 35 m/s (78 mph), not quite enough but compared to BMR 7' presented in MaFG (fastest small birds). This could call yet another species talent: fast horizontal flyer: allows 4x BMR or blindingly fast species +60’ for flyers... These special species talents could be usable when building other special species like killer rabbits etc.
8: Sloth is the slowest mammal with top recorded speed a bit over 1m/s (2 mph). For a quadruped that corresponds to BMR of 1.5'. Lets calculate the BMR: Sloth ‘hands’ are about 1,5 feet long --> BL 3' --> BMR 8 or 10, it is very slow -10', hard to say about measured individual but presumably moderately fast. BMR: 8 - 10 + 2 to 4 = 1' - 2'.