D&D 5E Marbari warhound 5e?

[Kelly Kellogg]

Was thinking about playing a war hound in 5th edition, as a race, and wondered if anyone already homebrewed a mabari from dragon age? If not, what would be some ideas on homebrewing a mabari?

 

[Leatherhead]

They are just exceptionally intelligent mastiffs.
A novel idea is to be a beastmaster ranger, and play as the dog instead of the ranger.

Alternatively, here is a spitballing:

Marbari.
Age. Marbari reach adulthood at 18 months. Though they keep getting bigger until they are age 3. They have a life expectancy of 12 years.
Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Constitution, and +1 Intelligence. Marbari were bred by mages to be bigger and smarter than other breeds of dogs.
Size Medium.
Speed 40 ft.
Skill Training. Perception.
Keen Hearing and Smell. The Marbari has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell.
Quadrupedal Body. Marbari lack hands for fine manipulation or holding objects. If they must manipulate or hold an object, they can do so with their mouth.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: 1d8 + STR piercing damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. The DC is based on your Strength modifier.
Pack Tactics. The Marbari has advantage on attack rolls against a creature if at least one of the Mabari's allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated.
Beast Speak. Through sounds and gestures, you can communicate simple ideas with beasts, or any other kinds of creatures with an intelligence of 5 or more.
Languages. You can understand spoken Common and one other language of your choice, but you cannot speak or read them.

Is it balanced? Heck no, it's a dog.

 

[Slit518]

I'd also give the Marabi Advantage on Acrobatics checks that deal with Balance since it has 4 legs.

It's let it pick 1 of a couple classes, either a Barbarian, Fighter, Ranger or Rogue.

You might want to get armor for your dog.

If you go Ranger "Beast Master," see if you can get a little Halfling or Gnome that rides around on your back shooting sling bullets.

 

[Satyrn]

They are just exceptionally intelligent mastiffs.
A novel idea is to be a beastmaster ranger, and play as the dog instead of the ranger.

Alternatively, here is a spitballing:

Marbari.
Age. Marbari reach adulthood at 18 months. Though they keep getting bigger until they are age 3. They have a life expectancy of 12 years.
Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Constitution, and +1 Intelligence. Marbari were bred by mages to be bigger and smarter than other breeds of dogs.
Size Medium.
Speed 40 ft.
Skill Training. Perception.
Keen Hearing and Smell. The Marbari has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell.
Quadrupedal Body. Marbari lack hands for fine manipulation or holding objects. If they must manipulate or hold an object, they can do so with their mouth.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: 1d8 + STR piercing damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. The DC is based on your Strength modifier.
Pack Tactics. The Marbari has advantage on attack rolls against a creature if at least one of the Mabari's allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated.
Beast Speak. Through sounds and gestures, you can communicate simple ideas with beasts, or any other kinds of creatures with an intelligence of 5 or more.
Languages. You can understand spoken Common and one other language of your choice, but you cannot speak or read them.

Is it balanced? Heck no, it's a dog.

I'd drop the Int bonus and pack tactics, and consider it balanced.

 

[Tormyr]

Someone just posted homebrewed monstrous races for everything in the monster manual. I have to imagine the mastiff is in there and can be modified to be more like the war hound.
http://www.dmsguild.com/product/230312/Monstrous-Races

As a funny aside, when I first played Dragon Age, I took the noble background and named my war hound "Puddles" because I thought it was a funny name for a highly trained dog. This was before I realized it got a bonus for marking its territory.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Someone just posted homebrewed monstrous races for everything in the monster manual. I have to imagine the mastiff is in there and can be modified to be more like the war hound.
http://www.dmsguild.com/product/230312/Monstrous-Races

As a funny aside, when I first played Dragon Age, I took the noble background and named my war hound "Puddles" because I thought it was a funny name for a highly trained dog. This was before I realized it got a bonus for marking its territory.

Nice. I was suprisingly dissapointed in the lack of Mabari in DAI.

Anyway Mastiff works great for a wardog, or if you want something tougher you could use the stats for other Canines, like Wolves etc.