Mammal

Mammals, the most common backboned animals, are hairy, warm-blooded and usually born live. Most are harmless to humanoids, and many are trained for specific work.

Carnivorous apes eat anything they can kill and get +2 on surprise rolls. Wild baboons are big, long-limbed, dog-muzzled herbivores with sharp canines. Dakons are smart apes who speak common reasonably well and attack at +2. Gorillas are shy and peaceful but fight hard when cornered.

Banderlogs are green-skinned, brown-furred baboon types who throw coconuts (1d4+1 damage) or retch plant fruit, which splashes a 5-foot radius. Anyone splashed retches for three rounds and has Strength halved for an hour, no save.

Hsing-sing are reclusive, nature-loving ape-folk, yet each year their males raid border villages, good and evil alike, in a war season of 2d6+4 days, rarely hitting the same village twice running.

Losel, tree-dwelling orc-baboon crosses that look like primitive humans, throw stones 20 yards for 1d4 damage. Taer, nasty primates of cold mountain caves, hurl spears before closing to melee. Chatturs, the primate-rodent space bandits, fight only to guard nests, kin or friends.

The bhaergala pounces from heights of up to 60 feet, dealing maximum damage plus 1d6 per 10 feet of drop. It heals 2 hit points daily, gets +3 on saves vs. poison, and can turn spells four times a day like a ring of spell turning.

Tyrgs, crosses of tiger and dog, gain +2 against surprise and have a 75% chance to move without a sound. Their battle howls leave victims at +2 to initiative and -2 to hit for three rounds, no save.

A desert scavenger bred from baboon and hyena can stamp a slow rhythm until its fur sparks, causing two rounds of fear. Hyenas, often mistaken for dogs, taunt foes with a shrill howl. Timid jackals dart in to bite and back out, and packs attack with little teamwork.

The sleek, an ermine-like hunter, surprises foes on a 1d6 roll of 1-5. With an attack roll of 19 or 20 it slices a major vein for 2d6 damage, and the victim loses 1d6 more each round until the bleeding is stopped by tourniquet, pressure or magical healing.

Wolverines fight at +4 to hit. Weasels, cousins to stoats and minks, are hunted for fur or kept as pets.

Wild boars and warthogs keep fighting until brought down to -7 hit points (giant boars are also called alotheres). A charging goat gets +2 to hit and +1-2 damage. Docile wild stags still guard their herds against most foes. Cooshee, the elven dogs, bark only to warn their masters and can knock down man-sized or smaller bipeds with their forepaws.

Rothe, the subterranean cattle, are light-shy musk ox types living underground near moss and lichen. Stench kine, the livestock of the lower planes, are immune to cold, fire and poison. Close to them, their reek forces a save vs. poison or the effects of a stinking cloud, with a new save every three rounds of exposure.

Badgers prefer flight, but cornered ones go for the throat. Porcupines cannot throw quills; a pursuer simply ends up with a mouthful. A skunk's musk fills a 10-foot cube: fail a save vs. poison and suffer 1-4 rounds of nausea that halves Strength and Dexterity.

Inch-long monkey spiders fight only their own size. Against bigger foes one bites an eye, and the agony costs the victim a round clutching it while the monkey flees. They leap 10 feet down or 5 feet ahead and climb like spiders.

Minimals are half-sized versions of normal animals with the same habits. They usually have half the Hit Dice (with THAC0 to match), +2 worse Armor Class, -2 morale, and half damage.

Giants are double-sized breeds with the same habits, usually with twice the Hit Dice, improved THAC0, 2 points better Armor Class, +2 morale, and double damage.