Tagean Hound

Medium beast, neutral

Armor Class 12
Hit Points 16 (3d8+3)
Speed 50 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
12 (+1)	15 (+2)	12 (+1)	10 (+0)	13 (+1)	11 (+0)

Skills Perception +3, Stealth +4
Senses darkvision 30 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Limited Telepathy 1,000 ft.
Challenge ¼ (50 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Keen Hearing and Smell. The hound gains advantage on all perception checks involving hearing or smell.
• Protective. If the hound sees its master take damage, and its next attack is against the creature that caused the damage, it has advantage on the attack roll and does an additional 3 (1d6) damage on a hit.
• Telepathy. Tagean hounds can communicate telepathically with their masters up to 1,000 feet. The master can receive images, sounds, smells, and even taste, although they cannot “see” through the hound. Because of this link, the master has the same connection to an item or place that the hound does. For instance, if a wizard’s hound has seen a room, he could teleport into that room using the hound as a conduit.

ACTIONS

• Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (2d4+2) piercing damage. In addition, the target must make a Strength save (DC 11) or be forced prone.
• Throat Strike. If the hound attacks a prone opponent it automatically strikes for the throat. Make a normal bite attack. However, if it hits, the hit is a critical and does triple damage on the dice.

ABOUT

Tagean hounds are large, barrel-chested canines. Their frames are compact, with straight backs, stout legs, and large paws. These shorthaired dogs range in color but are mostly black or deep brown. They almost always have a lighter shade on their muzzles, chests, and paws. Their wide snouts contain powerful jaws, narrow eyes set far back on their skull allowing them a wide range of vision and long, thin ears. Their fangs are thick and long, extending into the upper and lower jowls, giving the tagean hound the appearance of always snarling.

Domesticated. Tagean hounds are rarely found in the wild. They are bred and sold on the open market as guard and war dogs. Litters are carefully picked over and only the largest are allowed to live; smaller pups being set aside in the wilderness to live or die on their own. They are specifically bred for the size of their teeth and paws and their intelligence. Their litters have 1-2 pups and they breed once a year.

Bound for life. They are empathetic to the point of telepathy and for this reason, they are highly sought after battle companions and familiars. Tagean hounds can communicate telepathically with their masters up to 1,000 feet. The master can receive images, sounds, smells, and even taste, although they cannot “see” through the hound. Because of this link, the master has the same connection to an item or place that the hound does. For instance, if a wizard’s hound has seen a room, he could teleport into that room using the hound as a conduit. For these reasons, along with their rarity, the tagean hound is almost always in high demand. A standard hound can bring up to 5000gp on market, but the strongest have sold for up to 25,000gp. They never turn on their masters and will fight by their side until they are killed or the master falls. If the master should fall, the tagean hound is often thrown into confusion and will guard the body of its fallen master from friend or foe. When this occurs, there is nothing short of death that can remove the hound from its master. It will stay there until it dies of starvation or is killed.

Master of the Tagean Hound. Any person wishing to become a master of one of these hounds must partake in 2d6 months of training with the hound under the tutelage of a tagean trainer. This is always part of the purchase price as the hounds are not sold to just anyone.