Dodoraptor90

First and foremost, I have to give a huge thanks for Sail for helping me flesh up the concept and for creating the dossier. You’re an amazing help! (link to him will come later) The cavernous terrain of Aberration is filled with slopes and cliffs, making traversal difficult with most creatures. While some creatures have gimmicks used to handle those obstacles, the Rock Drake is the only creature who traverses the terrain with ease. Gigantohyrax is meant to represent an alternative late game travel mount to the Rock Drake, with its own gimmicks and utilities, but not as a superior alternative. This concept takes inspiration from modern hyraxes, amplifying their characteristics to create its own niche in the game, as a travel mount, but also as a support creature. As a travel mount: Though considerably larger than the real animal, the Gigantohyrax won’t be a huge creature by Ark standards, with a size somewhere between the Sabertooth and the Thylacoleo. Like rock hyraxes will have an exceptional climbing ability, capable of quickly traversing near vertical surfaces, sprint on their side and move on zip lines. It may not be able to climb upside down nor glide in the air like a Rock Drake, but it’s faster and more agile than the larger reptile. To assist in climbing, it will also have a good jump and take little-no fall damage in case of a bad step. To further aid in the travels in Aberration, the creature will have a slot in its saddle for a shoulder mount, such as a light pet. The shoulder critter will be treated like a passenger rider, protected from most outside attacks. If a light pet, the rider will also be able to activate and deactivate the light as if it was on their shoulder. Combat wise, Gigantohyrax is not your choice, with low health but decent damage. Its left click attack will be a quick and weak nibble, whose primary use will be to gather berries. The right click attack is a powerful bite using the tusks, but it’s slow, resulting in modest DPS. A common reaction against threats will be escape, and it has an additional trick up its sleeve for that: Pressing “ctrl”, the hyrax will pose a threat display with its tusks, stopping small creatures from attacking for a handful of seconds and giving a window for escape. In addition, the creature will actually benefit from radiation, getting damage resistance and stamina drain reduction as buffs, helping you survive the many threats in the most dangerous part of the underground. Utility as a support mount: Hyraxes can sing, and surprisingly perhaps, actually have complex songs with patterns. In game, Gigantohyrax will have at least two separate songs, which it can switch between at will. The first song is the “Energy” song. This song give allied creatures improved stamina recovery while reducing stamina drain. A more niche use, fit for Aberration, it that the song will also fill up the charge of light pets, allowing them to continue glowing without a break, while also increasing their range. This also applies to light pets on the saddle slot, reducing the reliance of Plant Species Z to avoid getting attacked by a thousand Nameless. The second song is the “Recovery” song. This song heals allied creatures (though considerably worse than Daeodon and Snow Owls) while giving them some damage resistance. More uniquely though, the song will also help creatures “recover” from mating, by speeding up the drain of the mating interval. For example, the cooldown will drop two or three times as fast as it normally would. There could also be a third song, but we were undecided about what it should be. We considered something related to baby maturation or imprinting, but we first need to see what Gigantoraptor brings to the table. Gigantohyrax will only be able to sing while stationary. When moving around, the song will temporarily stop singing until the hyrax stays in place once again. One great advantage about the hyrax is that it could be set to sing while unridden, allowing it to indefinitely buff creatures in its vicinity - especially useful for breeders using the Recovery song. However, while you could have many hyraxes sing the same song next to one another, a creature that will hear different songs at the same time will have their effects nullified. How to obtain? In the wild, Gigantohyrax will be found in the green and blue zones of Aberration. When noticing danger (ie an aggressive creature, a player or a tame), it will run away, going to steep terrain most creatures will be unable to follow it to. However, if a small-medium actually hits one while other hyraxes are around, the escape will turn to attack. The threat will be ganged up by many pairs of tusks, giving a painful lesson to the attacker. However, a player will be able to pacify the creatures by playing drums. When playing the instrument, a hyrax will approach and play a note. The player must play the drums accordingly. If they succeed, the hyrax will allow for a feed before retreating again. Rinse and repeat until taming. To keep Gigantohyrax as a late game tame, it will only accept Extraordinary Kibble as taming food. This is to require players to get Rock Drake eggs beforehand, preventing the cheesing of the trench using the creature before a player gets a Drake themselves.