March 2nd, 2009
As promised, some Blink Dog stats for 4e.
| Blink Dog |
Level 8 Skirmisher |
| Medium Fey Magical Beast |
XP 350 |
|
| Initiative +9 |
Senses Perception +7; low-light vision |
|
| HP 89; Bloodied 44 |
| AC 22; Fortitude 20, Reflex 21, Will 20 |
| Speed 8; see also Blink |
| M Bite (Standard; at-will) |
| +13 vs. AC; 1d8 + 5 damage. |
| m Blink Dog Pack Tactics (Standard; at-will) |
| Requires a flanking ally; the blink dog and its flanking ally each make a melee basic attack against the target. |
| Blink (Move; recharge 456) ? Teleportation |
| The blink dog teleports up to 12 squares. |
| Defensive Blink (Immediate Interrupt; recharge 6) ? Teleportation |
| (when an attack would hit the blink dog) The blink dog teleports up to 12 squares. |
| Alignment Unaligned |
Languages - |
|
| Skills Athletics +13, Endurance +12 |
| Str 18 (+8) |
Dex 20 (+9) |
Wis 17 (+7) |
| Con 16 (+7) |
Int 6 (+2) |
Cha 12 (+5) |
|
And an advanced version:
| Blink Dog Alpha |
Level 13 Elite Skirmisher |
| Large Fey Magical Beast |
XP 1,600 |
|
| Initiative +12 |
Senses Perception +15; low-light vision |
|
| HP 262; Bloodied 131 |
| AC 27; Fortitude 25, Reflex 26, Will 25 |
| Saving Throws +2 |
| Speed 8; see also Blink |
| Action Points 1 |
| M Bite (Standard; at-will) |
| +18 vs. AC; 2d8 + 6 damage. |
| m Blink Dog Pack Tactics (Standard; at-will) |
| Requires a flanking ally; the blink dog alpha and its flanking ally each make a melee basic attack against the target. If the blink dog alpha hits, it makes a second bite attack against the same target. |
| a Harass (Standard; recharge 6) ? Teleportation |
| Area burst 2 within 12 squares. The blink dog makes a bite attack with a +2 attack bonus against each enemy in the area it can see. |
| Blink (Move; recharge 3456) ? Teleportation |
| The blink dog teleports up to 12 squares. |
| Defensive Blink (Immediate Interrupt; recharge 56) ? Teleportation |
| (when an attack would hit the blink dog) The blink dog teleports up to 12 squares. |
| Alignment Unaligned |
Languages - |
|
| Skills Athletics +16, Endurance +15 |
| Str 20 (+11) |
Dex 22 (+12) |
Wis 19 (+10) |
| Con 18 (+10) |
Int 7 (+4) |
Cha 13 (+7) |
|
Blink Dogs are benevolent fey creatures, great enemies of the displacer beasts. They are typically found in small packs, sometimes led by a much larger and stronger blink dog. They have been known to blink in seemingly from nowhere to assist good creatures in times of need; most often, they blink away just as abruptly once the danger is past. Individual blink dogs will sometimes choose to accompany a hero as a companion.
Though blink dogs cannot speak, they are highly intelligent, and most can understand Common and Elven. Rare blink dogs of greater intelligence can acquire knowledge of additional languages.
Tactics: Blink dogs rely on their teleportation powers to surround and overwhelm enemies. Most often, a pack will delay to act on the same initiative, then blink into flanking positions and employ Blink Dog Pack Tactics. A blink dog will typically save its Defensive Blink until it is bloodied, and then attempt to flee. If hard pressed, the entire pack will blink out at once, using their teleportation powers to effect an escape. Blink dog alphas fight in the same ways, except that they will use Defensive Blink more often, and that they will Harass clustered enemies when they can.
Metagame thoughts: Individual blink dogs are fairly weak in combat, but paired up, they double their number of attacks and become a force to be reckoned with. As good creatures (lawful good in previous editions, but I wasn’t sure that fit any more), they are well-versed in teamwork. I always modeled their fighting style on wolves, but with added, fairly intelligent use of frequent teleports.
A couple of blink dogs would make a good addition to an eladrin encounter. Blink and Fey Step complement each other pretty nicely. If the eladrin are rogues, it could get fairly vicious. Of course, blink dogs are good… but there’s nothing saying they couldn’t be dominated or corrupted somehow.
I’ve also got downloadable PDFs of the blink dog and blink dog alpha statblocks.
Related posts:
- A Pack of Vicious Grithiks
- Fox Magic: Allies and Adversaries
- I’m a Monster! Rawr!
- Fox Magic: Martial Feats
- Shadows in the Shadows
Tags: 4e d&d, monsters
Categories: Original Game Content | Comments (4)
Excellent! Thanks for that
Your timing is impeccable. I was just looking for Blink Dog stats for my game this past weekend. You’ve done a great job capturing the feel of the Blink Dog from previous editions in 4e mechanics. The Alpha Blink Dog looks intriguing. I can’t wait to use them in my game.
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