Hyena

Hyenas are ugly dog-like beasts about the size of a large hound, with fur of tan or gold and black feet, belly and markings. Their short hind legs give them a lumbering look that is quickly forgotten once they attack.

Hyenas are cowards and attack only the helpless, the outnumbered or the dead. A pack circles its target and darts in from every side, each biting for 2d4. On a natural 20 a hyena clamps on and will not release until it takes 2 or more points of damage. A locked hyena deals no extra damage, but its weight drags at the victim, cutting movement by 6 per hyena. How many can lock on depends on the target's size: one on a tiny creature, two on a small one, more on larger prey.

Hyenas roam warm, grassy plains, usually shadowing a herd of zebra, antelope or similar beasts at about one hyena per ten herd animals. A pack needs one man-sized kill every three days, stripping it to bone quickly, and eats any carrion it finds. They know their place, giving way to lions and other stronger predators: they wait 50 to 100 feet off while the bigger hunter eats, perhaps darting in to steal a scrap, but readily challenge weaker or smaller groups of predators.

A pack mixes adults of both sexes and young about evenly. Mates do not pair for life but stay together for years, and fathers help raise litters of 2-4 cubs, which are fed regurgitated food rather than milk, as birds feed chicks. First-year cubs have 1 HD and flee to the pack instead of fighting; in their second year they gain another Hit Die and start hunting. Full maturity comes at three.

Hyenas live mostly on the leftovers of larger hunters, adding sick, old, young or small animals when they can. Tough stomachs let them eat even diseased meat safely. They are of little use: the hide makes bad leather, the fur sheds, and the meat tastes rancid. Cubs are hard to tame and usually go wild at maturity, though nomadic tribal peoples sometimes keep them as companions.

This giant hyena-like beast is no true relative but a prehistoric predator that evolved a similar canine shape. It is marked like a hyena with lion-gold fur and behaves much the same. Litters are 1-4 cubs, maturing in 4 years. Its bite deals 3d4 and locks on like a hyena's, but each attached hyaenodon slows the victim by 12. A pack eats one man-sized creature daily and can bring down oxen, buffalo and even elephants. If one takes 2 or more points of fire damage, it flees at once to lick its wounds.