Cooshee
Tuesday, July 01, 2003 (04:09:09)

Posted by Neo987

Cooshee
Medium-sized Magical Beast
Hit Die: 3d8 +3 (17 hp)
Initiative: +3 (Dex)
Speed: 50 ft.
AC: 15 (+1 size, +3 Dex, +1 natural)
Attacks: Bite +6 melee, 2 Claws +4 melee
Damage: Bite 2d4 +3, Claw 1d4 +1
Face/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Improved grab (special, see text)
Special Qualities: Scent, Sprint (special, see text)
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +5, Will +2
Abilities: Str 15, Dex 17, Con 16, Int 4, Wis 14, Cha 8
Skills: Listen +6, Spot +6, Swim +6, Hide +10*, Move Silently +10**, Wilderness Lore +2/+6**
Feats: Multiattack

Climate/Terrain: Any Wood, Wild, or Moon Elf lands, though Moon elven kennels are very uncommon.
Organization: Solitary, Pair, or Pack (3-8)
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: As owners (if any)
Alignment: Usually Neutral Good or True Neutral
Advancement: 4-6 HD (Medium-sized)


The cooshee, or elven hound, is a huge, long-lived dog. They are most commonly found in the company elven races that commonly reside in the forests (wood and wild elves), who use them for hunting and guard duties. Occasionally, grey elves will keep kennels of these dogs, but these are generally few and far between. Even between wood and wild elves, they are more common with wood elves.
The cooshee has a thick, greenish coat, often spotted with large brown spots or patches. The animal itself commonly weighs between 160 and 300 pounds. Their huge paws house equally huge claws, which are curved to insure better traction in the soft loam of the forest. Their tails generally arc over their backs (much like the uncropped tail of a common terrier), though they hang between their legs when they are being scolded. Their ears come to a point on the top of their heads, giving the cooshee an attentive, intelligent look.

Combat: In combat, the cooshee is a fearsome opponent. Its powerful jaws are enough to frighten any normal person; coupled with its fierce claws and demeanor, the cooshee is a very effective fighting machine. With a party of elves providing distraction with their arrows, the cooshee can become a creature from a nightmare for its prey. Elves say one cooshee is worth five orcs.
Improved Grab (Ex): As normal, but is counted as a large creature when determining what it can grapple, gains a +4 to grapple checks, and can only be performed while sprinting. This counts as a full round action.
Once an opponent is so grabbed, the cooshee can be commanded to subdue instead of harm, at which point it will close its jaws over their victim’s throat, resting their teeth against the skin.
Sprint (Ex): Once an hour, as a free action, a cooshee can move ten times its normal speed (500 feet).
Skills: *When in forests a cooshee’s coat helps to camouflage the animal, granting a +10 bonus to hide checks.
**Due to its natural upbringing, a cooshee’s Wilderness Lore skill is increased from +2 to +6 in wooded areas and gains a +10 to Move Silently checks. Cooshee do not suffer any penalties when running through forests. When tracking by scent, Wilderness Lore checks become +14 in wooded areas, +9 otherwise.

Habitat/Society: Cooshee mate for life. If one of the pair is killed, the other generally wastes away. Puppies bond strongly to their parents, and the parents are highly protective of their offspring. Only a fool comes between a parent and its children.
Cooshee tend to avoid other “normal” dogs, seeming to find them inferior. In this regard, the cooshee echo their elf masters, refraining from much contact with other races.
The cooshee have an incredibly loud bark that can be heard more than a mile away. However, they only bark to warn their masters or packmates. In almost no other circumstances will a cooshee emit a noise.

Ecology: No one seems to know whether cooshee are a naturally occurring creature or if they are a creation of the elves. The cooshee seem almost too perfectly designed for their tasks to be anything but created beasts. However, their affinity with nature, closely mirroring that of the elves, leads one to believe that they are, in fact, entirely natural.
Although elves have had much success in gaining the trust of the cooshee, few other races have been able to establish a rapport with the hound. Even experienced animal handlers of other races find it incredibly difficult to approach on of these magnificent creatures. Thus, unless a cooshee is magically charmed (it gains a +3 bonus vs. any charm spell), it will only be found in the company of elves, or very rarely, in the wild.

Converter’s Note: (Reference book: The Complete Book of Elves) The Cooshee, was my first attempt at converting a 2nd Edition monster. I converted my old Bladesinger from 2nd Edition and needed to convert his pet, familiar (the following elven cat) and his daughter's "pet" (the ring-worm below). Personally, I think I did a half-decent job. Really, I just used the existing 3e dog as a template, followed the Conversion Guide, and expanded on it. There wasn’t too much to change other than “elf-ing” it up a bit. As far as the sprint goes, following the guide’s formula it would’ve been 600 ft. Faster than a cheetah? One word: NO! Equal to a cheetah? Eh, I’ll playtest it.
Reason for conversion: Campaign necessity