Black Dog

AX.GHW.13.03.01

Type: Cryptid, Standard

Power Package: Standard (5D)

Veil Risk: Moderate, sightings are reported as "large dog" or "wolf," which suppression services can manage if kept to 1–2 witnesses

Size: Large (mastiff-sized, larger in dim conditions, appears to grow in darkness)
Attributes: Body 3D · Speed 2D · Wit 1D
Talents: Athletics 1D · Brawl 1D · Notice 2D · Stealth 2D
Health: 33 (20 + 3 + 10)
Defense: 2 (1 + (2+0)÷3)
Saves: Body 4D · Speed 3D · Wit 3D

Attacks

Bite (Primary Action): Body + Brawl vs Defense, 4 damage on hit; target is grappled (Body Save Threshold 3 to escape on subsequent turns)
Knockdown Charge (Primary Action, Close or Far to Close movement): Body + Athletics vs Defense, 3 damage; target is knocked prone

Special Abilities

Shadow Merge: In dim light or darkness, the Black Dog blends with shadow. All Notice and targeting rolls against it take -1D in low-light conditions and -2D in near-darkness. Artificial light (flashlight, floodlight) negates this ability entirely, the dog is visible normally.
Deathwatch Presence: Black Dogs have a documented association with death omens in regional folklore. When a Black Dog is encountered near a location, there is frequently a death in the area within 72 hours. This is ecological, not causal, Black Dogs appear to be drawn to locations where death-resonance is already elevated, similar to how vultures circle. Mediumship practitioners can detect the elevated resonance the Dog is responding to.
Pack Alert: Black Dogs encountered alone are scouts. If a character takes damage from a Black Dog and does not resolve the encounter within 3 rounds, a second Black Dog arrives from a different direction.

Tactics

Black Dogs operate at the edge of human perception; they are rarely seen clearly, more often heard or half-glimpsed. When they do attack, they are direct: charge, knock down, bite. They do not fight to the death; if significantly damaged they disengage and return to shadow. Their territorial range is large (several square miles) and they follow transit corridors (roads, fence lines, waterways).

Lore & Ecology

Black Dogs appear in British, American and Northern European tradition as enormous black canids with glowing eyes (typically red or green). They are documented across centuries of folklore as omens, guardians and predators depending on regional tradition. In the modern setting, they occupy rural and semi-rural areas, highway corridors, old rail lines, cemetery grounds, moors and fields. Urban Black Dogs are rare but not unknown near older neighborhoods with high death concentrations (old hospitals, execution sites).

Destruction/Banishment

Conventional firearms are effective with sustained fire. Black Dogs are tough (high Body) but not supernaturally resilient. High-caliber rounds are recommended. Black Dogs cannot be banished by ritual; they are animals. Removing their territory's death-resonance concentration (resolving whatever draws them) causes them to relocate, but this is a Mediumship undertaking, not a field solution.

Scene Materials

Investigation: track prints (impossibly large for a dog, with unusual stride pattern), livestock or small animal deaths, reports of a large dark animal near a site of recent violent death. Terrain: rural, low-light, near road corridors or cemetery grounds. Evidence management: Black Dog corpses are enormous, a dead Black Dog is extremely difficult to move and will attract attention if found.