Plodfoot

Description

The Plodfoot, as its name implies, is a slow-moving creature, at least for a mount. It is a four-legged reptile about the size of a rhinoceros, except for its extended, snakelike, neck which terminates in a small head fill with blunt, flat, teeth. They are commonly used as draft animals and beasts of burden in civilized territories, as they are of little value in the savage wilds. Their main advantage is that they can move through thick muck and swampy terrain as easily as they can along dry ground. (They also can eat while moving, constantly scavenging for food — on long treks through the swamps, only a little extra food needs to be brought along for them.)

While it would be a very down-on-her-luck adventurer who would charge (well, plod) into battle on one of these creatures, they are nonetheless commonplace among the peasantry and are sometimes captured and used as labor by such races as orcs and kobolds, who will work them until they die.

(Those interested in some of the reasoning behind this critter, and the background on the world setting it’s part of, might wish to look at this essay. )