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Message: <blockquote data-quote="D.Shaffer" data-source="post: 3227572" data-attributes="member: 8918">Black Hodag - CR 5 Magical BeastA smell like that of dead vulture mixed with skunk musk overwhelms your senses as a strange, lizard-like creature crawls out of the bush.  It is covered in short, black fur and its large head features a pair of bull-like horns and sharp fangs. Its squat feet are heavily muscled and feature large claws. A row of thick bodied spines run down the length of its back, with a single spine tipping the end of its whipping tail. It's face has an uncomfortable similarity with a smiling man's as it stares at you with green eyes. With a sudden snort from its nostrils, it charges at you.Black Hodag CR 5Usually Neutral Medium Magical beastInit +0; Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Lowlight Vision, Scent; Listen +1, Spot +1Aura Stench---------------------------------------------AC 20, touch 10, flat-footed 20(+10 natural)hp 51 (6 HD); DR 5/MagicFort +8, Ref +5, Will +3---------------------------------------------Speed 30 ft. (6 squares), Climb 10 ft. (2 squares)Melee 2 Claws +11 each (2d6+5), Bite +9 (1d10+2), Gore +9 (1d8+2), and Tail Spike +9 (1d8+2)Atk Options Rake +11 (2d6+2)Special Actions Pounce, Powerful charge (Gore-2d8+2)Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with Tail)Base Atk +6; Grp +11---------------------------------------------Abilities Str 21, Dex 11, Con 16, Int 1, Wis 13, Cha 6Feats* Endurance (B), Improved Natural Attack (Claws), Leap of the Heavens, Multi-AttackSkills Climb +13, Jump +14 (+18 with running start), Listen +1, Spot +1Advancement 7-9 HD (Large)---------------------------------------------Pounce (Ex) If a hodag charges a foe, it can make a full attack, including two rake attacks. Powerful Charge (Ex) A hodag deals an extra 1d8 points of damage with its gore attack when it makes a chargeRake (Ex) 2 Claws +7 melee each (2d6+2).Stench (Ex) The powerful musk of a hodag in overwhelming at close range. Living creatures within 10 feet must succeed on a DC 16 Fortitude save or be sickened for 1d6+4 minutes. A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected again by the same ghast’s stench for 24 hours. A delay poison or neutralize poison spell removes the effect from a sickened creature. Creatures with immunity to poison are unaffected, and creatures resistant to poison receive their normal bonus on their saving throws. The save DC is Constitution-based. ---------------------------------------------*Leap of the Heavens is a feat from Players Handbook 2. If this source in unavailable, you should  replace the feat with Skill Focus (Jump). The following lines will replace those above.Feats Endurance (B), Improved Natural Attack (Claws), Multi-Attack, Skill Focus (Jump)Skills Climb +13, Jump +17, Listen +1, Spot +1The hodag is a fierce forest predator that preys on anything that it can catch. It is notorious for its foul temper and even fouler smell.  Locals fear it as the reincarnated spirit of a legendary ox and say it is the incarnation of all the curses and ill wishes tossed at it by irate lumberjacks and farmers. It is not known for being the most intelligent of beasts, but this hasn’t kept it from being dangerous.STRATEGIES AND TACTICSThe hodag is a simple minded and uncreative attacker.  It will jump into the middle of a group and target as many people as it has attacks in a greedy attempt to take as much prey as possible. It doesn’t appear to be concerned with its own health and will usually attack until dead. The hodag is afraid of fire and will back off if confronted with it. It has a strange preference for dogs of all types and will concentrate on these first if they are present.ECOLOGYHodags are forest predators and are often the top animal in the local food chain.  They are gluttonous creatures and will kill even if full, storing the bodies in trees for later consumption. The hodag's thick hide and spines give it incredible protection.  Combined with its supernatural ability to shrug off damage, fierce nature, and horrible smell, most creatures that could prey upon it chose not to.  Hodags often depopulate their area of useable game and then migrate to fresh territory making them unpopular with most fey and druid.Hodags mark their territory with their scent and are fiercely protective of it.  Hodags mate every few years, this being the only occasion they can tolerate each others presence.  Young hodags are born fully alert and are driven off after a few days.Environment: Hodags prefer to live in thick forested area with lots of prey.Typical Physical Characteristics: A hodag is a mammal with short black fur. Its shape is roughly like that of a squat lizard with a low lying body, four legs and a long, thick tail.  It head seems large in proportion to its body and is topped with a pair of long bull horns.  Its face resembles that of a human with a perpetual grin due to a mouth filled with oversized fangs. Its legs are wide and heavily muscled with each foot ending in foot long claws, 3 facing forward and 1 facing rear.  A row of curved spikes, resembling bull horns, starts at its neck and ends at its tail. The tail tip has a single spine on the end.Alignment: Hodags are too stupid to truly have an alignment.TYPICAL TREASURE Hodags do not store treasure, although they have been known to contain gems and other hard to digest items in their gullets, the remains of past victims.CREATURE LORECharacters with ranks in Knowledge (Arcane), Knowledge (Nature) and Knowledge (Local) can learn more about the hodag. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.Knowledge (Arcane)15 This foul smelling beast is a hodag, a fierce predator. This result reveals all magical beast traits.20 The hodags defensive array of spines and thick hide make it hard to hit to begin with, but it seems to shrug off non magical damage. 25 The hodag's stink is enough to overpower the strongest individual, leaving them hard pressed to defend themselves from its devastating set of attacks. The hodag is afraid of fire, but nothing else will drive it off once it attacks.Knowledge (nature)18 This is a hodag, a supernatural animal that eats almost anything.23 The hodag will destroy its territory's population of animals if left unchecked, making it unpopular with druids and nature loving creatures.Knowledge (Local)18 The legend of the hodag? They say the hodag is a fierce, smelly beast. It was born from the ashes of the funeral pyre of the meanest bull around, the living embodiment of all the curses and ill wishes tosses at it since it was born. The only thing the brute loved was its master, and it died when he did. They say they had to burn it because it was to smelly to bury, and it took 7 days for its corpse to burn away. Not that it helped as the ashes gave rise to the hodag. If we thought that bull was bad, that hodag is even worse! We kill hodags now and then, along with baby hodags, so I don’t put much belief in that story, but it's certainly a mean little beast.NOTESThis took a lot longer to complete then I though it would, and I'm not completely happy with it but I find it passable at this point.  It's dedicated to Wisconsinites everywhere. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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