Foo Dog

  • Foo Dog Miniatures 02487 Reaper Miniatures Dark Heaven Line painted by Mark Tasaka
  • Foo Dog Miniatures 02487 Reaper Miniatures Dark Heaven Line painted by Mark Tasaka
  • Foo Dog Miniatures 02487 Reaper Miniatures Dark Heaven Line painted by Mark Tasaka
  • Foo Dog Miniatures 02487 Reaper Miniatures Dark Heaven Line painted by Mark Tasaka
  • Foo Dog Miniatures 02487 Reaper Miniatures Dark Heaven Line painted by Mark Tasaka
  • Foo Dog Miniatures 02487 Reaper Miniatures Dark Heaven Line painted by Mark Tasaka
  • Foo Dog Miniatures 02487 Reaper Miniatures Dark Heaven Line painted by Mark Tasaka
  • Foo Dog Miniatures 02487 Reaper Miniatures Dark Heaven Line painted by Mark Tasaka
Male Foo Dog Female Foo Dog
FREQUENCY: Rare Rare
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Any Land Any Land
ARMOUR CLASS: 5 or 2* 5
MOVE: 12 12
HIT DICE: 5 5
THACO: 16 16
NO. OF ATTACKS: 3 3
DAMAGE: 1-6/1-6/2-12 1-6/1-6/2-12 or 1-8/1-8/3-18*
SPECIAL ATTACKS: See Below See Below
SPECIAL DEFENCES: See Below See Below
MAGIC RESISTENCE: See Below See Below
INTELLIGENCE: Average to High Average to High
ALIGNMENT: Lawful Neutral Lawful Neutral
SIZE: L L

Foo Dogs, also known as Shi Dogs and Fu Dogs, are the guardians of temples and other holy places. The Foo Dogs typically stand watch outside of the entrance to a temple. The Foo Dogs always operate in pairs: one male and one female. The pair of Foo Dogs are a mated pair, and Foo Dogs mate for life.

A mated pair of Foo Dogs is able to form a telepathic bond with each other, and through this bond they are able to channel to their aspects on their mate (this will be discussed in detail later).

Physical Description

Foo Dogs are roughly the size of the Western Lion, and a fully grown Foo Dog will weigh between 400 to 500 lbs. Both males and females of the species grow long and full manes and both sexes are roughly the same size as each other. The distinguishing characteristics of Foo Dogs are their disproportionately large eyes, noses and mouths. In fact, the Foo Dogs large eyes grants them infravision up to 120 feet in the darkness and a number of special spell-like abilities, which will be discussed later on.

Language & Communications

Foo Dogs are highly intelligent creatures and are able to communicate complex ideas and instructions with each other through a combination of gestures, movements and vocal sounds. While the Foo Dog lacks the ability to produce the vocal sounds to produce humanoid speech, they are very capable of understanding humanoid speech. In fact, the Foo Dogs serving at human and demi-human temples have a full understanding of the words spoken by the residents of the temple.

Ecology

The Foo Dog's natural habitats are the deep forests and mountains of the Far East. However, Foo Dogs are rarely seen in their natural habitats by outsiders. Most adventurers see Foo Dogs sitting outside the gates and entrances of temples, and many assume that the temples are the Foo Dogs natural habitat.

Foo Dogs live extremely long life spans for mammals, which why there is much speculation about the origins of this species. Many believe that the Foo Dogs may have once been celestial beings who originated from the outer planes. Foo Dogs are known to live up to 500 years.

A Foo Dog reach maturity at around 30 years. A few decades after reaching maturity a Foo Dog will find a mate (this process of find a mate could take decades). Foo Dogs will mate for life, and the mated pair of Foo Dogs will form a telepathic bond with each other. The bond between the two Foo Dogs is so strong that often when one Foo Dog passes away, the surviving Foo Dog enter a state of grief so intense that they will pass away within hours of their mate's passing.

The Foo Dog's Aspect (please see below for more detail) will developed when they reach maturity. However, the Foo Dog will not gain the ability to chance their Aspect until they have found a mate.

Typically, a female Foo Dog will give birth to a litter of cubs twice each century. A female Foo Dog will have between 1 to 3 cubs per litter. The cubs will stay with their parents until the reach maturity, at which time the cubs will seek to find their own mates.

In their natural habitat, a mated pair of Foo Dogs will either live on their own, or with a larger group of Foo Dogs (typically a mated pair with join a group when the female is expecting or when their cubs are living with them). A group of Foo Dogs will have 8 to 18 (2D6+6) mated pairs of Foo Dogs. There is a 75% chance that a mated pair will have between 1 to 3 cubs with them. The HD of the cubs will be depend on their ages. A young cub with have 1 to 2 HD while an adolescent cub with have 3 to 4 HD. In addition to the mated pairs of Foo Dogs their will be a 50% chance that there will be 1 to 3 single adult Foo Dogs with the group (the single adult Foo Dogs will typically be visitors to the group seeking a mate).

A group of Foo Dogs is led by a mated pair of Foo Dogs, who are the wisest and most powerful among the group. This mated pair will have between 6 to 8 HD each (both the male and female will have the same number of HD as each other).

Foo Dogs are carnivorous and hunt mainly large mammals. Foo Dogs show a remarkable sense of conversation when hunting. For instance, it is common for Foo Dogs to avoid hunting animals who are pregnant or are caring for their young. When living in a group, the Foo Dogs will share their catch with the other members of the group.



Foo Dogs Defend Against Vile Troll

Foo Dogs as Guardians of Temples

The typical place where adventurers will encounter Foo Dogs are on the grounds of temples and other sacred places where the pair of Foo Dogs are standing watch and guarding the entrances to these holy sites.

It is very common for Foo Dogs to forge an alliance with human and demi-human temples. Quite often these alliances are centuries old. The most common terms for these alliances are regularly offerings of food to the Foo Dog group, protection of the Foo Dog's natural habitat or a promise that no members of the temple will enter the Foo Dog's sacred forest.

The Foo Dogs serving at the temples are typically selected by the Foo Dog group, and will serve at the temple for a certain number of years, after which another Foo Dog pair will replace them. For instance, the pair of Foo Dogs guarding the Qixia Temple will guard the temple of 8 years. Once the 8 years have passed, a new pair of Foo Dogs will replace them, allowing the original pair of Foo Dogs to return to their home in the White Lotus Forest.

It is very common to see multiple pairs of Foo Dogs guarding a temple. For instance, the Jokhang Temple has a total of 5 pairs of Foo Dogs standing watch and guarding the temple. In these instances where multiple pairs of Foo Dogs guard a temple, the Foo Dogs are drawn from multiple groups.

On rare occasions, a Foo Dog will allow a human or demi-human to ride them in battle. The warrior riding the Foo Dog must earn the complete trust of the Foo Dog. In these instances, the Foo Dog's partner will ride nearby (often mounted with a rider as well).

Aspects of the Foo Dog

Foo Dogs form a strong telepathic bond with their companion Foo Dog. Through this bond the Foo Dog is able to channel their aspect to their mate. How this aspect works is if the Foo Dog is within a 80 foot radius of their mate (line of sight is not required, as the bond between the two mates is telepathic), the Foo Dog is able to channel their aspect to their mate.

Aspect of the Male: The male Foo Dog channels his offensive aspect to his mate. This increase the amount of damage his female companion does. The female companion's damage increase to 1-8/1-8/3-18 points of damage on successful hits.

Aspect of the Female: The female Foo Dog channels her defensive aspects on her mate. This reduces her mate's armour class by 3 points (AC 2).

The aspects are automatic, and the bonus of these aspect are automatically granted when the pair of Foo Dogs are in proximity to each other. The Foo Dog's aspect could only apply to the Foo Dog's mate (channelling this aspect reflect a strong bond of love between the two Foo Dogs).

Sacrificial Healing

Another trait of the telepathic bond between the two Foo Dogs is that they have the ability to channel healing to their injured partner. However, this healing comes at a cost.

This ability has the same restrictions as the Foo Dog Aspects, in the sense that the two Foo Dogs must be in a 80 foot radius of each other (no line of sight is required due to the telepathic bond) and this ability could only apply to the Foo Dog's mated partner.

As a free action on the Foo Dog's turn, the Foo Dog is able to channel up to 5HD of healing (each HD of healing is 1D8). However, in order to channel this healing, the Foo Dog channelling the healing must sacrifice some of their life force to do so. Thus, for every HD of healing that the Foo Dog channels, they take 1 to 4 (1D4) points of damage.

For example, a Foo Dog channels 3HD of Sacrificial Healing to heal her injured companion. 3D8 are rolled for the healing and 3D4 are rolled for the life force sacrifice. The results of the 3D8 roll is 13, and the result of the 3D4 roll is 8. Thus, the Foo Dog heals her companion for a total 13 hit points, and takes 8 points of damage as a result of her sacrifice.

Foo Dog's Rage

When one Foo Dog is killed, and their companion remains alive, the surviving Foo Dog will enter into a state of Rage, determined to avenge their fallen companion. In the state of rage the surviving Foo Dog will gain 3 to 24 (3D8) temporary hits points and will receive a +3 bonus to hit (THACO 13) and to damage. The temporary hit points the Foo Dog gains from their rage are subtracted before their actual hit points are removed. The surviving Foo Dog will fight to the death. The Foo Dog's Rage will last until the combat encounter ends or the Foo Dog falls.


Foo Dogs Battle Namahage

Attacks

Foo Dogs receive 3 attacks in combat. They have two claw attacks (1-6 damage) and one bite attack (2-12 damage).

Combat

Foo Dogs are intelligence creatures, and employee strategy in combat. In combat, Foo Dogs will stay in close proximity to their mate, protecting each other's flanks. If there are multiple pairs of Foo Dogs, they will work together in combat (i.e. one pair of Foo Dogs will attack the enemy's front ranks, while the other pair of Foo Dogs will attack their enemy's flank).

Saving Throws

A Foo Dog will have the saving throw of the 5th Level Fighter.

Spell-Like Abilities

Foo Dogs have a number of natural spell-like abilities. Foo Dogs have a 90% chance to detect invisibility, magic, traps and secret doors. However, these hidden creatures or objects must be within the Foo Dog's line of sight for these abilities to work. As well, the Foo Dog will automatically know the alignment of any creature who is within a 60 foot radius of them (line of sight is not required).

Hit Dice Adjustments

While the standard Foo Dog has 5 HD, an adventurer could easily encounter a Foo Dog with more or less HD. When modifying the HD for a Foo Dog it is important to make the following adjustments: