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 JertMenner |
Bloodhounds |
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Posts: 119 (04/01/07 03:22:52) Spooky |
In the real world dogs are useful guardians and were sometimes used in battles in medieval times. But because the riding dog of the MM is a bit weak in the long run, I thought about adding the frenzy ability (similar to a barbarian's rage) to riding dogs and changing their CR in 2.
What do you think about that? 
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Tiburon Silverflame |
Re: Bloodhounds | ||
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Posts: 8490 (04/01/07 10:53:26) Enigma |
Make a War Dog variant for the battle-capable ones, which has Scent. Probably easier in all ways.
How effective *were* these dogs in combat? Also, against what kinds of foes...what D&D levels would you assign to the grunts of a historical army, accurate from the *historical* perspective, regardless of whether it'd be able to stand up to much of anything in the D&D setting? And was it bloodhounds in combat, or something even bigger and heavier..and was it just a single dog or two, or a pack of em? Bear-baiting, IIRC, used a pack of mastiffs. Another aspect: the translation problem is the whole hit points issue, and the fact that in order to reflect attack bonuses or skills, we're also forced (in D&D) to boost hit points up to the point where the dog's attacks are basically meaningless; we can't separate the two. So, a solo dog *does* become useless *except* as a form of alarm. |
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DerekDyer |
Re: Bloodhounds | ||
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Posts: 7366 (04/01/07 12:59:19) Just showed up |
Just because there is no advancement entry doesn't mean you couldn't. Heck you could even consider trained war (riding) dogs as having a level of warrior, or Fighter even.
Also, you could use the Wild Cohort feat from WotC. Give each dog a handler and give them the feat. |
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JertMenner |
Re: Bloodhounds | ||
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Posts: 119 (04/03/07 23:37:59) Spooky |
My intention is that a 'fighting dog' (I thought bloodhound was the right expression) is not really dangerous even at first level.
This wild cohort looks interesting. |
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Eldric IV |
Re: Bloodhounds | ||
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Posts: 10366 (04/04/07 00:27:02) Resident Paladin |
A bloodhound is a tracking dog with an excellent nose. They were bred to track humans and are one of the few, if not only, hounds that do not attack their quarry.
**Final Words, before the battle with Demogorgon: My life does not matter. It was given to me to better the lives of my people. Please give the Pureblade to my son so that he may finish what I start here today.**
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madfox |
Re: Bloodhounds | ||
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Posts: 7023 (04/04/07 01:14:46) That's a lot of posts. |
I remember that the medieval war-trained dogs where mastiffs, but since I am not much of a dog breed expert I am not betting anything on it.
I would say that treating a typical wardog from the MM as not very dangerous beyond 1st level is a bit simple. PCs use them effectively up to APL (average party level) 4 without a problem in Living Greyhawk. Above those APLs the dog becomes a bit sensitive to area of effect spells or one hit by a heavy-hitter opponent. They are certainly not much less effective than horses. Still, if you want to add some oomph within the standard rules, the magebred and harrid templates from Eberron work reasonably well. |
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Ahzzyouwish |
Re: Bloodhounds | ||
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Posts: 1 (10/20/09 17:19:29) |
Also, Don't forget that you could still add the "warbeast" template from MM2. some might argue that riding dogs already
have this template, but because of the size change between riding dogs and normal dogs, I figure they are just bigger. the template adds (Don't have the
book, so this is from memory) +3 str, +3 con, +2 wis +1 hit dice, and a few other minor things, enough to give the dog some life.
My other suggestion is a piece of cheese I thought up for a Champaign I was running: Add the "Dungeon Bred" Template (Dungeonscape) to a Dire Wolf (Dungeon bred makes the creature one size smaller while keeping most of it's Cr and powers/abilities) this resulted in a Cr 4 7HD dog who could stand up to a hit or two at higher level adventuring and with around 20 str could still rip a minor baddies face off. If you use this as a base, adding templates like Mage Bred onto it, you could have a serious power house of a Dog who could adventure with the party into some rather high levels. |
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