Stag

Wild stags are the combative males of a deer herd. Summer coats are reddish brown or pale gray, darkening in winter, with a white underside to the tail that flashes when the animal runs. Long legs end in sharp hooves, and the narrow head has a keen nose, big dark eyes, and swiveling ears that catch sound from every side.

Branching antlers of velvet-covered bone mark a stag's rank and serve in mating duels and against predators. Stags in cold lands may shed them each winter and regrow them in spring.

Usually calm and timid, a wild stag stands firm against all but the most terrifying threats to its herd. It charges head-down to gore with its antlers for 2d4 and can lash out with its front hooves for 1d3 each.

Stags roam temperate woods and meadows almost everywhere, keeping no fixed lair and wandering between pastures to feed or avoid predators. A few herds migrate hundreds of miles, but most stay in one region for life, grazing and sunning by day and bedding down in brush or tall grass at night. There are 2d4 does and fawns per wild stag. Each doe bears a single fawn or twins somewhere secluded, and the young stay out of sight until they can run with the herd.

Stags eat grass, seeds, fruit, and twigs, and are hunted by wolves, people, and other predators. Wild elves tame them as mounts.

Giant stags are oversized wild stags, often over seven feet tall and above 1,500 pounds. Their antlers deal 4d4 and each front hoof 1d4; otherwise they match the wild stag.

The white stag is a wild stag enchanted by the good gods as their messenger, sent to guide or aid favored mortals. It is the size of a giant stag, with a pure white coat that glows softly at night and eyes that blaze red in anger. It speaks telepathically, but only to good-aligned creatures. It attacks like a wild stag, but its strength and size make its blows far deadlier. For good-aligned allies it can use find the path at will to steer them around danger or by the fastest route, speak with animals at will to gather news it may share by telepathy, and bless three times per day. It keeps typical stag habits but is mostly nocturnal.

No one can take the white stag alive; it fights to the death if cornered. Its body vanishes the moment it falls, and black thunderclouds gather over each killer for seven days, during which that killer adds +1 to his Armor Class.