Cattle
- Armor Class
- 6 [13]
- Hit Dice
- 2+2
- Attacks
- Butt or trample (1d6-1)
- Special
- charge/stampede
- Move
- 15
- HDE/XP
- 2/30
Description
Cattle are large mammals with cloven hooves and horned heads. Cattle are raised mostly for their meat (beef), leather, and milk. Cattle eat grass and are fairly gentle unless spooked, in which case they will stampede (run in a group). Anyone caught in the path of the stampede will suffer at least one trampling attack, as determined by the GM. Male cattle are called bulls, females are cows, and young are calves (calf is singular). If attacked, cattle will charge, generally using their horns to attack. Bulls are larger (+1 hit die), less easily frightened (use the second listed morale figure), and are quite aggressive in defense of the herd. A bull will likely attack if he sees quick movements from creatures he might be able to reach with a charge. Meanwhile, if unable to flee cows will usually assume a roughly circular formation with their heads outward, while calves will be kept in the center, though if the opponents are small enough they may instead charge en masse, trampling all creatures in their path.
A typical small farm with cattle will have a bull, 5d4 cows, and 2d10 calves (but not more than the number of cows).
Aurochs are wild cattle; they are shaggy and rough- looking. Bison are the largest species of wild bovines. All types of bovines tend to behave in the same general way, as described above.
An ox is typically a castrated bull used as a draft animal; females may be used, rarely, but males are preferred due to their greater size and strength. Oxen are usually paired as a team to pull a fully-loaded wagon (or the equivalent of 3,000 lb). Oxen require less food and water, being able to eat rough grass better than draft horses, which makes them valuable to merchants with large caravans going over semi-arid prairie.
Source note: This creature is converted from Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game, 4th Edition Release 142, © 2006–2025 Chris Gonnerman. The Basic Fantasy textual material is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International; this page adapts that creature to White Box.