Blink Dog featured image credit to Wizards of the Coast’s D&D 5e Monster Manual with background forest photo by Sebastian Unrau on Unsplash.
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Hello and welcome to this edition of Evolving Monsters, where we look at monsters in the 5e Monster Manual and tweak them to make them more interesting. Today we’ll be looking at Blink Dogs and how they interact with others in the planes, as well as how they can become a more detailed part of any world’s lore.
Blink Dogs: Pack Animals
The one thing that any story crafter will need to remember is that dogs are pack animals. By banding together, they have a better chance of surviving their natural environment, the Feywild. The other thing that requires consideration is the innate intelligence of the Blink Dog; with a base intelligence score of 10, any Blink Dog will be on par with average sapient creatures throughout the planes. This intelligence will affect every aspect of their daily routines and lives, and while they have the build and instincts of a dog, they will apply it through the lens of thought out application. Tactics will be a significant consideration of any encounter with a pack of Blink Dogs.
Ambushes, mobility, and strength in numbers are the name of the game when it comes to developing tactics for encounters using Blink Dogs. Developing this in a mechanical sense, I propose adding several base abilities to the pack hunters’ natural abilities presented in the Monster Manual pp 318. While this can seem overwhelming just looking at it, the powers are designed to work with each other symbiotically and will make for a better, challenging, and more engaging combat. I propose features that significantly change the lore of Blink Dogs in any setting; you can omit any detail that does not fit the flavor of your world.
Fey Creature – The many creatures of the Feywild have built up natural resistances to the magics that call the plane home. This creature has advantage on saves against charm and charm effects.
Fey Camouflage – The fur of the Blink Dog slowly shifts illusions around itself to adapt to its environment. If the creature doesn’t move for one minute, it can roll a Stealth check to hide. The Blink Dog reveals itself if it moves or takes an action. The creature can make this Stealth check even if it doesn’t have cover, and it makes the check with advantage.
Blink – When hunting in packs, Blink Dogs frequently attack from every angle and hide their numbers in superior mobility. As a bonus action, the creature can teleport to any creature in line of sight that also has this ability. Also, as a reaction, if the creature is the target of an attack or is forced to make a saving throw against damage, it may instead teleport to any creature in line of sight that also has this ability; when they do this, the damage dealt halved.
Pack Tactics – Working closely within a pack allows for better tactics through practice. The Blind Dog has advantage on attack rolls against a creature if at least one of the Blink Dog’s allies are within 5 ft of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated.
Tripping Attacks – Blink Dogs not only use mobility to fight, but they also limit the mobility of their prey. In addition to the damage on their bite attack, this creature also can attempt to trip the target (str save DC 8+str bonus+proficiency bonus).
Detect Illusions – Blink Dogs are sometimes referred to as Seer Dogs, given their ability to see through common Illusions, a great advantage when hunting Displacer Beasts. The creature is treated as always having Detect Magic active only for illusion magic. If an illusion requires a check to see if it is an illusion, the creature makes this check immediately and with advantage. The creature can see through visual illusions and bypass the effects of combat-boosting spells that rely on visual disorientation, such as Blur or Mirror Image.
Guardians of the Seelie
Any creature that finds itself in the Feywild will quickly learn that they are anathema to the nature of the plane. The dueling twilights of Seelie and Unseelie play their games through every grove, meadow, and forest of the plane. Creatures of twilight must, out of necessity, align themselves to one court or the other to survive. As a reward, the Feywild itself gives those creatures innate magic and abilities that become coveted throughout the planes. This is played out (in dramatic fashion) within the dichotomy of the Displacer Beast and the Blink Dog, sworn enemies engrained into the very nature of their respective species.
While their true origins are a mystery, it is widely known that Blink Dogs serve as respected protectors and scouts for the Seelie Court. They are given a place of honor by the Seelie Lords that work with them to hunt down creatures that the Unseelie corrupt. Unlike most Feyfolk, most Blink Dogs have an innate sense of fairness and good in them; they never hunt for pleasure, they only consume what is needed to survive, and they will not abide evil or selfish masters. An important note is that Blink Dogs cannot reproduce on any other plane except the Feywild.
Many of the wealthy affluent families of the material planes seek out the Seelie to win the favor of a lone Blink Dog to serve as a sentry against deceptive magic in their court. However, learning of a Feywild rift is difficult and only happens in the wild places of the material plane; for this reason, a Kingdom may opt to keep a large area of their territory wild. The other tricky part is winning the favor of the Seelie Lords, as they don’t crave treasure or title, and the appetites of any given Fey vary widely. Lastly, any who want a Blink Dog as a sentry would need to convince one to leave the Seelie Courts; these are usually older dogs ousted from a pack. When they get to their new home, they are generally treated better than much of the native nobility.
Stat Blocks for Variant Blink Dogs
You can reference several homebrewed versions of the Blink Dog below to suit different situations. I made these alternative Blink Dog stats to illustrate how they can be altered to increase their CR and make them more interesting to fight.
Stat Blocks: Domesticated Blink Dog
While this is essentially a direct pull from the Monster Manual pp 318, I added in the new abilities listed above, which will add a little to the CR just for the Trip, Blink, and Pack Tactics. Generally, this stat block will be used as a minion in a fight (I use min HP, not one HP for minion rules; so in this case, it would be eight HP). It would be reasonable that this would be a quick clean-up even for the most basic adventuring groups. I wouldn’t expect this creature to last more than the first or second round of combat, so it would be useful to reserve the Blink Dog for an opportunity to bother a control caster.
Medium Fey; CR 1/2
Proficiency +2
Stats
- HD – 4d8+4 (8-36 HP)
- AC – 13
- Speed – 40 ft
- Str – 12 (+1) Save +1
- Dex – 17 (+3) Save +3
- Con – 12 (+1) Save +1
- Int – 10 (+0) Save +0
- Wis – 13 (+1) Save +1
- Cha – 11 (+0) Save +0
Skills
- Perception +3
- Stealth +5
- Investigation +2
Senses
- Passive Perception 13
Languages
- Blink Dog, understands Sylvan
Passive Abilities
- Keen Hearing and Smell Adv on Perception**
- Fey Creature Adv vs Charm
- Fey Camouflage Adv on Stealth*
- Pack Tactics Adv on Attacks*
- Detect Illusions Detect and see through some illusions*
Actions
- Bite +5 Melee (5 ft) 1d8+2 piercing, plus Trip (Str DC 13)
- Teleport (Recharge 4-6) 60 ft Line-of-Sight
- Blink 60 ft Line-of-Sight
*Full description found previously in the article
**Full description found in MM pp 318
Stat Blocks: Feywild Blink Dog
This variation is a bit beefier but still no trouble for a low-level party if they are squaring off one on one with it. The difficulty comes into play when you add more and more to the pack, something that we’ll address later in the example encounters. I wouldn’t use these as minions, but I wouldn’t give the whole pack static HP. Varying up the durability of the pack will help make combat more immersive if that is your goal.
Medium Fey; CR 1
Proficiency +3
Stats
- HD – 8d8+8 (8-72 HP)
- AC – 14
- Speed – 50 ft
- Str – 15 (+2) Save +5
- Dex – 17 (+3) Save +3
- Con – 12 (+1) Save +4
- Int – 10 (+0) Save +0
- Wis – 14 (+2) Save +2
- Cha – 11 (+0) Save +0
Skills
- Perception +5
- Stealth +6
- Investigation +3
Senses
- Passive Perception 15
Languages
- Blink Dog, understands Sylvan
Passive Abilities
- Keen Hearing and Smell Adv on Perception**
- Fey Creature Adv vs Charm
- Fey Camouflage Adv on Stealth*
- Pack Tactics Adv on Attacks*
- Detect Illusions Detect and see through some illusions*
Actions
- Bite +5 Melee (5 ft) 1d8+2 piercing, plus Trip (Str DC 13)
- Teleport (Recharge 4-6) 60 ft Line-of-Sight
- Blink 60 ft Line-of-Sight
*Full description found previously in the article
**Full description found in MM pp 318
Stat Blocks: Feywild Alpha Blink Dog
Next is the Pack Alpha; we added an action to this creature as it would need to support the rest of the pack.
Medium Fey; CR 3
Proficiency +3
Stats
- HD – 14d8+28 (42-140 HP)
- AC – 15
- Speed – 50 ft
- Str – 16 (+3) Save +6
- Dex – 17 (+3) Save +3
- Con – 14 (+1) Save +4
- Int – 13 (+1) Save +1
- Wis – 14 (+2) Save +5
- Cha – 11 (+0) Save +0
Skills
- Perception +5
- Stealth +6
- Investigation +4
Senses
- Passive Perception 15
Languages
- Blink Dog, understands Sylvan
Passive Abilities
- Keen Hearing and Smell Adv on Perception**
- Fey Creature Adv vs Charm
- Fey Camouflage Adv on Stealth*
- Pack Tactics Adv on Attacks*
- Detect Illusions Detect and see through some illusions*
Actions
- Bite +5 Melee (5 ft) 2d6+2 piercing, plus Trip (Str DC 14)
- Teleport (Recharge 4-6) 60 ft Line-of-Sight
- Blink 60 ft Line-of-Sight
- Shroud 120 ft radius illusionary fog
- Alpha Blink Dogs act as support for the rest of the pack, giving orders, dictating tactics, and providing magical cover for ambushes. As an action, this creature creates an illusionary fog with a radius of 120 ft centered on itself, this ability lasts for up to 10/minutes, is non-concentration, and can be dismissed at will. The shroud presents as a fog bank and requires a DC 12 investigation check to determine that it’s an illusion, the shroud will not blow away in the wind. Creatures within the shroud have visibility out to 5 ft, sound cannot carry farther than 10 ft, and movement within the shroud is considered difficult terrain. This ability can be activated once per short rest.
*Full description found previously in the article
**Full description found in MM pp 318
Encounters
There are many encounters that a story crafter could develop to engage your players; the following are just a few examples using the new abilities outlined here.
Added minions
Adding Blink Dogs as minions to any fight could serve as an opportunity to distract a caster as they have to fend off the creature for a round or two. They could also be added at an affluent manor house or hired as illusionary sentries at a gala to prevent imposters. The scenarios to add minions to spice up a fight are endless. A single Blink Dog shouldn’t tip the scales too much as they are pretty weak when separated from their pack.
Rogue Pack
For parties in the low tier level of play, a small Blink Dog pack would be a good encounter for any scenarios that take place near a Feywild Rift with a less than virtuous party. The pack would be the size of the party plus 2-3 Dogs, as the pack would prefer to avoid being outnumbered.
Setup
An attack would occur when the party has limited mobility due to thick undergrowth or low visibility (most likely at dusk or dawn due to their lack of darkvision). Blink Dogs are intelligent and will not attack unless they feel they have a complete advantage. They also will not attack people who have demonstrated good intentions, preferring to engage with the party through parley or crude communication via one pack.
Surprise Round
If an attack is imminent, then the pack will attempt an ambush or a surprise attack. Preferably, they would attack while the party is sleeping or not yet fully ready for a fight. During the surprise round, the pack will target unarmored spellcasters. One Blink Dog will engage directly with the first target. Two or three will skirt the combat area’s edge while remaining within 60 ft of each other. This gives other pack members an escape against area-of-effect spells in case they are engaged directly. The goal is to trip the spellcaster and rush to attack with advantage. The Blink Dogs will teleport out to another pack member after attacking.
Subsequent Rounds
The following rounds are repeated similarly to the surprise round; 2-3 dogs stay out of combat to provide escape routes. Generally, they will cycle the injured dogs out to keep them alive. They will avoid martial archetypes, preferring to focus on the spellcasters. If the collective HP of the pack drops to half or they lose the advantage of numbers, the pack attempts to retreat, using their teleport ability to get out of any bad situations. They will typically leap-frog teleports with the pack allowing them to cover incredible distances even through difficult terrain.
Noncombat
If the party decides to parley with a pack, they need to determine the pack’s intentions. Maybe there is a hunting party of a Seelie Lord just inside the Feywild that the dogs are protecting, or they are there to serve as guides to good people so they can find a way to a carnival. Perhaps there is a Pride of Displacer Beasts nearby that they need assistance with disposing of. Blink Dogs do not have the same motivations as many of the beasts in the Monster Manual, and Storycrafters would do well to ensure that there are additional adventure hooks behind the pack encounter.
Organized Pack
For parties in the high/mid-tier play, an Organized Pack of Blink Dogs consists of 2-3 Pack Alphas and 3-4 times the party number in normal Blink Dogs (Example: a party of 5 would have 2 Alphas and 15-20 Normal Blink Dogs). HP for the group would be as follows (approximately): max HP for the Alphas, average HP for half of the Normal, minion HP for the rest.
Setup
Similar setup as above. Limit visibility, mobility, or both to maximize the natural advantages of the pack. An organized pack would not attack a good or near-neutral party, instead preferring to ignore or parley. Parties that display evil actions or intent would be the target of an attack. Due to the size of the pack, an attack may come in waves, with half of the pack attacking first and then retreating while fresh dogs make a secondary attack. A precursor of an attack would be the activation of the shroud by one of the Alphas, with the Alphas holding back for attack directions and dictating tactics.
Surprise Round
If an attack is imminent, the pack will attempt an ambush or a surprise attack, which will be easier with the shroud. Preferably, they would attack while the party is sleeping or not yet fully ready for a fight. During the surprise round, the pack will target any unarmored spellcasters first. With the shroud up, the Blink Dogs would be able to see with the prey being essentially blind; they will get advantage on attacks and isolate individual party members in the shroud. The goal is to trip the spellcaster, run in to attack with advantage, then blink out to another pack member.
Subsequent Rounds
Copying the template from above, they will target unarmored, low strength, and spellcasters first. If a Blink Dog drops below half HP, it retreats as another of the reserve dogs replaces it. A pack will generally not dedicate more than half of its numbers to a fight due to the prevalence of area spells and effects. If a caster dispels the shroud using Dispel Magic, then another alpha will use Shroud. If more than half the pack is injured (around half HP or less) or dead, the pack will attempt to retreat.
Subsequent Encounters
Blink Dogs don’t give up. They will attempt to wear their opponents down over time, engaging the party in minor skirmishes while resting. A portion of the pack will recuperate while healthy members ambush the resting party. This means the Blink Dogs can stay fresh while denying the party time to recoup. This wears down the party to be attacked with deadlier results than the first attack.
If the party avoids harassment while sleeping, engagements with the expressed purpose of picking off weak party members would be a preferable tactic. If that isn’t an option, then calling for backup from a Seelie Lord would be a good course of action if it is narratively available.
Noncombat
Same as above. In addition, there might be some independence on the part of the pack, or one of the Alphas is a Seelie Lord. Do what is needed to fit the narrative that you are driving.
Wrap Up
Raising the Blink Dog from the appendix of the Monster Manual is the intent of this article. Storycrafters need to remember the intent of a Blink Dog beyond a mindless monster made to die under the spells and blades of adventurers. Escape and harassment tactics could be applied where a frontal assault has failed. Keep in mind the yin-yang-style dichotomy of the Seelie and Unseelie and how that applies to the dynamic of the Blink Dogs and the Displacer Beasts. I’ve specifically set up the Blink Dogs in this iteration to counter the Displacers. I’ve also evolved the Displacer Beasts in another article with specific abilities that counter the Blink Dogs.
I hope that this has inspired you to be more creative with this monster. You can find additional DM resources from Flutes Loot right here.
Until next time.
Mike, RPG StoryCraft
Nice options!
Added to my Blog Database.