A friend and I recently started playing old school D&D and I am preparing a solo adventure as a "Hunter-type" variant. (actually I'm a druid - but the 'build' mimics a WOW hunter.
Yep.. I am geeking out a bit here.
Anyway my pet of choice.. a Blink Dog! And I just felt I had to say - I would LOVE to see this in game as a pure DPS exotic pet.
Special abilty = something akin to a mages "Mirror image" perhaps "Summon pack"
| Mirror Image 10% of base mana 3 min cooldown |
| Creates 3 copies of the caster nearby, which cast spells and attack the mage's enemies. Lasts 30 sec. |
BLINK DOG
| Size/Type: | Medium Magical Beast |
|---|---|
| Hit Dice: | 4d10 (22 hp) |
| Initiative: | +3 |
| Speed: | 40 ft. (8 squares) |
| Armor Class: | 16 (+3 Dex, +3 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 13 |
| Base Attack/Grapple: | +4/+4 |
| Attack: | Bite +4 melee (1d6) |
| Full Attack: | Bite +4 melee (1d6) |
| Space/Reach: | 5 ft./5 ft. |
| Special Attacks: | — |
| Special Qualities: | Blink, darkvision 60 ft., dimension door, low-light vision, scent |
| Saves: | Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +4 |
| Abilities: | Str 10, Dex 17, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 11 |
| Skills: | Hide +3, Listen +5, Sense Motive +3, Spot +5, Survival +4 |
| Feats: | Iron Will, Run, TrackB |
| Environment: | Temperate plains |
| Organization: | Solitary, pair, or pack (7–16) |
| Challenge Rating: | 2 |
| Treasure: | None |
| Alignment: | Usually lawful good |
| Advancement: | 5–7 HD (Medium); 8–12 HD (Large) |
| Level Adjustment: | +2 (cohort) |
The blink dog is an intelligent canine that has a limited teleportation ability.
Blink dogs have their own language, a mixture of barks, yaps, whines, and growls that can transmit complex information.
COMBAT
Blink dogs hunt in packs, teleporting in a seemingly random fashion until they surround their prey, allowing some of them to take advantage of flanking.
Blink (Su): A blink dog can use blink as the spell (caster level 8th), and can evoke or end the effect as a free action.
Dimension Door (Su): A blink dog can teleport, as dimension door (caster level 8th), once per round as a free action. The ability affects only the blink dog, which never appears within a solid object and can act immediately after teleporting.
Blink dogs first appeared in the original Greyhawk supplement (1975) by Gary Gygax and Robert Kuntz, shortly after the original rules booklet for D&D had been published. Unlike many D&D monsters that had been inspired by creatures from mythology or fantasy literature such as dragons, lycanthropes and harpies, blink dogs were an original creation. They were originally described as closely resembling African wild dogs, except they are highly intelligent. They travel in packs and attack enemies from all sides in a coordinated manner. Their ability to randomly teleport during combat was called "blinking"; in game terms, this enabled the pack to materialize around an opponent; then each dog was able to "blink", disappearing and instantly reappearing in a different spot, attacking again as soon as it rematerialized. An inborn instinct prevented it from blinking into a solid object. If an opponent seriously threatened the entire pack, the pack would flee by blinking out and not reappearing. The blink dog was a natural enemy of displacer beasts. In this edition, its alignment was Lawful; Evil/Good descriptors did not exist in this edition.[1]
Oh man, I've always thought some sort of "Summon Pack" ability would be awesome (and appropriate!) for certain Hunter pets, but I'd forgotten all about Blink Dogs!
I played D&D and other pencil-n-paper RPGs in the late 70s-early 80s. Up until about a year ago, I still had all of my character sheets and dungeon modules! I bet I still have them in a box somewhere. I've moved so many times in the last 10 years though, they may have fallen by the wayside. My sweet "jewel" dice are long gone. I think I had 3-4 different sets in different colors. We traded them! Wow, were (are?) we all Super Geeks? 😉
Jewel dice FTW.
Oh those were the day's! I used to have a serious love/hate relationship with blink dogs back in my D&D days. Wouldn't mind the ability to have a blink dog in WOW.