Blaze Hound 3 (9)

Early Access

A blaze hound is a generic term for any sort of dog- or wolf-like predator augmented with a kind of energy such as cold, fire, or radiation. It usually has one strange or exceptional physical feature, such as flame-red fur, glowing eyes, or breath like dry ice. They hunt alone or in packs. The following are iconic examples of blaze hounds in several common roleplaying genres.

• Hell hound (any fantasy): A fiendish creature native to a dimension of evil and flame. Used by demons to track down intruders and escaped souls, it is cunning and cruel, and uses its fiery breath to torture prey.
• Icewolf (superhero): A beast created by injecting a specific nanoserum into a dog or wolf, granting it resistance to cold and the ability to create bursts of supercooled air.
• Radwolf (postapocalypse): Contaminated with fallout, this mutated beast has glowing green eyes and a craving for human flesh. Its hacking cough sprays radioactive saliva.
• Voltmutt (hard science fiction): A cybernetically augmented dog trained to work in low- and zero-gravity environments. Magnetic implants in its feet allow it to climb metal structures, and it can release focused bursts of electricity from its mouth.
• Zunk (space opera science fiction): A hardy wolf-like predator from the caustic planet Cloros IV. It can vomit gouts of concentrated acid to begin external digestion of its prey.

Motive: Hunger for flesh

Environment: Anywhere, alone or in packs of three to ten

Health: 10

Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound

Armor: 1 (10 against their relevant energy type)

Movement: Long

Modifications: Dodge, perception, and intimidation as level 4

Combat: A blaze hound bites its foe, inflicting a moderate wound. It can run a long distance and make a bite attack on its turn.

Every few rounds, a blaze hound can release a burst of energy (according to the kind of hound) in an adjacent immediate area, inflicting a moderate wound.

A pack of blaze hounds uses speed and coordinated tactics to confuse and take down prey. Every round, one individual in a pack uses its action to move about erratically, easing its defense by two steps and ending up a short distance away. If a foe pursues it, the entire pack chases and turns on that foe.

Interaction: Blaze hounds are animals, although some are especially clever compared to common beasts. Sometimes, an intelligent creature who is immune to a hound’s specific kind of energy may train it to be a guardian, hunter, or pet—devils for hell hounds, mutants for radwolves, and so on.

Use: A pack of blaze hounds has been preying on livestock (or pets) in a particular area. Emboldened by their success, they’re starting to stalk lone human travelers as well.

GM Intrusion: The blaze hound’s area attack creates a runaway chain reaction on the character, automatically inflicting a minor wound each round on the hound’s turn until someone uses an action to suppress it (the exact means to do so depends on the kind of energy afflicting the character).

GM Intrusion: The hound flares with energy and the character must succeed on a Might defense task or go blind for ten minutes.