Fantasy Monster: Dire Dog

You can now support Shaper Of Worlds on Patreon.

Dog, Dire

A massive shaggy dog, large enough to be ridden by a human.

CR 7; XP 3,200
N Large Animal

Init +9; Senses low-light vision, scent; Perception +15

Defense
AC 20, touch 14, flat-footed 15 (+5 Dex, +6 natural, –1 size)
hp 85 (10d8+40)
Fort +10; Ref +12; Will +7

Offense
Speed 50 ft.

Melee bite +13 (2d8+10)

Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.

Special Attacks warning growl

Statistics
Str 24, Dex 20, Con 16, Int 2, Wis 15, Cha 13
Base Atk +7; CMB +4; CMD 16 (20 vs. trip)

Feats Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Toughness, Vital Strike

Skills Intimidate +11, Perception +15, Survival +6; Racial Modifiers +4 Survival while tracking by scent

Ecology
Environment urban, rural
Organization solitary, pair or pack (3–6)
Treasure standard

Special Abilities

Warning Growl (Ex) A dire dog gains bonus to Intimidate checks equal to its HD. It can demoralize a single foe within 30 feet that can hear it as a move action. A dire dog can select Dazzling Display feat without meeting its prerequisites.

These dogs were breed over generations, by carefully picking the largest and fiercest pups and  crossing them multiple times with dire wolves—the rumors claiming they were also hybridized with bears are definitely outlandish. What isn't outlandish, are the stories of those dogs being used to hunt actual bears, or even more powerful beasts, nor their occasional use as mounts by certain groups and cultures.

They are generally friendly toward humanoids and loyal toward those who raise and keep them, showing surprising amount of gentleness and prudence when dealing with pups and children—threaten their masters, their friends, or their wards, and they quickly turn into vicious guardians, though.

New Feats

Here are two new feats dealing with dogs in general and dire dogs specifically.

Dire Dog Companion

You keep a dire dog as your companion or even a mount.

Prerequisite: Animal companion or equivalent feature.

Benefit: You can have a dire dog as an animal companion or a mount. It uses dog animal companion statistics but is one size category larger (Medium at level 1-3, Large after level 4th advancement), adjusting its statistics in the following way: +4 Strength, –2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, increase natural armor bonus by 2, and its bite damage die size by one step (to 1d8 for Medium and 2d6 for Large). Your dire dog companion can select Dazzling Display feat by growling at the enemies.

Dog-Whisperer

You have a knack for dealing with canines.

Benefit: You can affect canines as if you had wild empathy feature with level equal to one-half your character level, or gain +4 bonus to existing wild empathy checks when using it on canids. You also gain +4 bonus to Handle Animal checks made on canids, and you can make Handle Animal checks to teach, rear, and train canids untrained.