Wolf

Wolves adapt to almost any climate, and their coats follow suit. Northern animals run from snowy white through gray to black, while southern ones are russet and brown. All share heavy jaws with broad, strong teeth, tall upright ears, bushy tails, and round pupils in gold or amber eyes that seem almost to read the onlooker's feelings.

Folk tales paint wolves as killers who slaughter for sport, but no healthy, uncharmed wolf has ever been recorded attacking a creature as smart as itself or smarter. A lone wolf has a 1% chance of being rabid and willing to attack anything.

Packs form in late fall and winter, when only big herbivores are available. Even then they prefer smaller game, since a long chase burns energy, and they pick off only the sick and weak. A pack usually takes just one large animal a week and can go days without eating. In summer, one wolf might eat more than 30 mice in a day.

Attacked by humans, wolves flee, glancing back to check for pursuit. Only when cornered with no way out do they fight, snapping at clothing, arms and legs until a gap opens to escape.

Wolves are as social as people, living, hunting and playing as families with a firm, unbroken pecking order. An alpha male leads, with his mate as alpha female. Only that pair breeds, but the second-ranked female often helps whelp and nurse the pups. Packs favor country free of other big predators, with boulders, fallen logs and streams to play among, and they move on once humans settle nearby.

Wolves keep wild lands in balance. Where fear has driven them out, rodent and deer numbers have exploded and wrecked the surrounding landscape.

Dire wolf: the ancestral form, bigger than modern wolves but otherwise much the same.

Worg: a branch of dire wolf stock that gained intelligence and a taste for evil. Worgs have a crude language and often carry goblins as mounts.

Winter wolf: the largest and most dangerous of the line, foul-tempered and found only in frozen lands. Once every 10 rounds it can breathe frost, dealing 6d4 to all within 10 feet, with a save vs. breath weapon for half. Cold cannot hurt it, but fire deals an extra point per die. Smarter than other wolves, it has a fairly rich language of its own and can also talk with worgs. Its silver or white coat and pale blue or silver eyes make it a striking animal, and a pelt in good shape fetches 5,000 gp.