Kensha Beasts and Humans

It came to my attention that it doesn't make a whole lot of sense that Kensha Beasts pose such a big threat toward humans. For starters, Kensha Beasts are pack animals, so a group of humans and such isn't going to provide much sustenance. Maybe more so to a rare lone one or maybe a pup, but it still wouldn't be very filling. If anything, would it make more sense that Kenshas pose a greater danger to humans as they can be provoked easily? Under normal circumstances, a pack would not attack a party of humans, as they seem to pose no threat, though if they are attacked, they will strike back, which is why they are such dangerous beasts. Thoughts?

I beg to differ actually. Kensha beasts are what, 6 times our height? How full do you get after eating a footlong? Something like that, I think. Though they have more mass comparatively, if we were at their height, but its not as much about the size of their whole body, as it is the size of their stomach. In the case of a party of adventurers, I'd think Kenshas would attack.

The reason why normal wolves don't attack humans as much, even if we are by ourselves, is because they all fear us as a species. They're [wolf mentality] always trying to act in such a way so that one of their pack doesn't get hurt. But in felarya, things are different...

Regular wolves prey on rodents and other way smaller creatures if they have the chance to, so i don't see why Kenshas shouldn't bother with hunting humans

I think another factor here is total deadliness being deadliness of the individual X population. Kind of like how in Minecraft even though Ghasts are more deadly individually, creepers are more feared and kill more people due to being more common. In a similar sense there are a lot of Kensha beasts but not too many Dryads or Dimensional Chimeras for example.

Huh, Kensha Beasts got a height increase. They're about 30' tall now as opposed to 20'. A Human would only be about 1/5th the way up, so what I was originally going to post (they're about rabbit-sized to them) is now irrelevant. They're still in the "worthwhile energy return" range, but not like they were.

And Sean's right here, in the fact that Kensha Beasts probably wouldn't favor them as prey. For a variety of reasons:
1) Pack of Kensha Beasts. You make an example Archmage of them being like a footlong. Maybe so, but with a pack that's a footlong split up between 4-12 people. Already this isn't a good sign, as it means they need to hunt groups of people.
2) Humans aren't defenseless. Be it a mage who throws fireballs / lightning, a gunslinger ready to show them his boomstick, or a Hoktuo Shinken master, hunting people has risk. And if there's a pack of Kensha Beasts hunting a group of humans, odds are the human group is at least sort-of decently equipped. This would lead to Kensha Beasts associating humans with pain, and not the optimum choice of prey (as opposed to other creatures, anyways). Something like a Glouteux, Drakewillow Nexolt, Mumansi young, or even a Balbakh would be seen as more preferential prey, both having greater returns and (possibly) less dangerous.

Mind, this depends a lot on locality. If the Kensha Beasts are in an area that most Demi-Humans passing through are seasoned adventurers, armed warbands, or so-on, they're going to associate Demihuman w/ Bad News, and swiftly pick a better target. Meanwhile, if they're in an area with a high dimensional instability that loves to suck up clueless dancers and office workers, or all the native fauna is more dangerous than the worst humans they've encountered (typically a good time to move the pack, mind), they're going to be much more reckless in their hunting of human parties.

3) Returns. As mentioned in 1 and 2, but expanded on here, hunting small groups of humans doesn't offer much in the way of return. If a food of convenience, yeah, they'll gobble them up. But when you have to comb a large area of territory and your only return is a half-dozen unlucky Nekos, two Nexolt and a Glouteux, there is zero reason to completely ignore the Nexolts and Glouteux to banzai-rush the Nekos.

Point 2 also applies to Giant Predators. Average human male is 70", average Wolf is 26-32" tall. Crisis is 103 feet tall, with most developed Giant Predators about 100'. Kensha Beasts are about 30-33" tall. Put another way, Wolves are 37-46% the height of a Human, and Kensha Beasts are... 30-33% the height of a Giant Predator. Humans are already (somewhat) physically intimidating to a Wolf, and a Giant Predator is even taller (let alone that many varieties are also much larger), and they can cast magic just as well as any Human / Neko / Elf. They wouldn't be quite the sign of desperation as Demi-Humans (since there's the territorial nature to take into account now), but you still wouldn't see Kensha Beasts homing in like they're carrying a beacon.

Hmm... I didn't consider the idea of location. Point to Malahite. This does raise another thing. Since Negav is quite close to Tolmeshal, it isn't impossible to assume that Kensha Beasts of Tolmeshal ignore humans because of the ease of weapon acquisition there. As their primary hunting method is to send one or two scouts ahead to more or less lure preys back to the pack, this makes humans more difficult to successfully supplant. Yes, while they are much bigger and could easily stomp or snap a man in two with ease, remember that if this happen, it means part of the catch has been wasted. Second, a properly trained adventurer will travel in a group. Combine this with how easy it is to acquire a weapon and the possibility of magic users in the group, this means that these two scouts will face more difficult odds than if the whole pack was present.

Kensha Beasts who are "accustomed" to the presence of a dense human habitat most likely would see the adventuring party more as preys. In fact, the scouts may see them as free food while they seek more substantial preys. This behavior could also occur near Negav, though the more likely scenario is that they encountered an unprepared group.

Why would stomping on a human prevent them from eating them? Last time I checked, animals eat of the ground quite often, and failing that, they'll still tear, since that's what wolves do. Still, like normal wolves, I bet they go after what's least deadly to the pack.

Archmage_Bael wrote:

Why would stomping on a human prevent them from eating them?

Probably because here the size difference is important. Yes, a Human is about rat-sized to the Kensha Beast (if that)... but the human's going to be paste after being stomped on. It's a 30' tall Wolf that's most probably longer than it is tall. Stomping down on a human would probably be little better (if at all better) than being stepped on by an elephant.

When crushed, they're not going to turn into jelly. it'll crush bones and organs, but they wont be inedible. Besides, animals eat whatever they can.

I personally feel Kensha beasts should have a size increase. I think the Fauna should be a bit more dangerous for giants too (it is the Jungle), thats my take on it >__<

It isn't like pack animals only hunt large game and only eat together.

Humans would be roughly the equivalent of a large rodent to a kensha beast. Not a full meal, but certainly a snack. Most predators are fairly opportunistic. If an individual kensha sees an easy snack along the way, it's probably going to stop to snap it up real quick. If anything, them being pack animals makes them even more dangerous to humans. It isn't often they get an easy meal all to themselves, especially kenshas that may be lower on the totem pole and usually eat last. They'd likely try to snap up any humans they came across before a pack-mate beats them to it and does the same.

It isn't like pack animals always move as a solid group too. They fan out, they kind of do their own thing at times. If they need help they can signal the others to come to their aid.

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I personally feel Kensha beasts should have a size increase. I think the Fauna should be a bit more dangerous for giants too (it is the Jungle), thats my take on it >__<

I think they're still a threat.

They may be comparatively smaller now than they used to be, even with the size-boost... but they are still very quick, they still hunt in groups, and they are still venomous. If anything, this gives their venom a much clearer purpose. It isn't to help hunt things in their size-range, it's to help them defend themselves against much larger creatures. They may not have to size to outright overpower a giant pred, but they can hit-and-run and slowly wear them down with their poison.

They're still a pretty big threat to mid-sized wildlife in general though.