Inktober Day 1! “Swift” its a demonic pottery bunny, inspired by someone I saw on tumblr, I will try and find the post. it was a bunch of ceramic bunnies with their faces kicked in. this thing haunts my damn nightmares now.
[There were some complaints about this one when this PDF released. People wanted a killer rabbit ala Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but the whole appeal to me of Night of the Lepus is that the rabbits are 100% ordinary except for their size. And their occasional, inexplicable bloodlust. The original version had a kick attack that did Str x. 2 damage, but that’s been removed in favor of an ordinary bite. Both because real rabbits bite when cornered, and because I had a cavalier player with a dire rabbit mount whose mount was positively broken at high levels.]
Dire Rabbit
CR 1 N Animal
The only thing out of the ordinary about this rabbit is its size—the animal stands half as tall as a man at the shoulder.
Overgrown relatives of ordinary rabbits, dire rabbits are inoffensive but can prove dangerous if cornered and destructive in numbers. Like their smaller brethren, they are strict herbivores and eat grains, roots and leaves. Diurnal creatures, they are most active during the day and return to their burrows once the sun sets. Dire rabbits are not very stealthy, relying on their keen senses and great speed to avoid predators. They will, however, fight savagely if cornered or confronted in their burrows. Dire rabbits tend to live communally in warrens, the burrows of which can extend for miles. These burrows contain a number of individual rabbits or mated pairs that live in loose association with each other and with no hierarchy.
Dire rabbits grow to maturity very rapidly and are extraordinarily fecund. Predation and disease generally keep the populations of dire rabbits in check, but massive surges in dire rabbit populations are not unknown. During such outbreaks, dire rabbits can blacken the plains with their numbers and do massive damage to croplands and grain stores. A dire rabbit stands about two feet high at the shoulder and weighs seventy pounds. Dire rabbits can be found in grasslands, forests and tundra. Arctic dire rabbits have the ability to shed their brown summer coats and grow thick white fur during the snowy winters—these dire rabbits gain a +4 racial bonus to Stealth checks made in snowy conditions.
Dire Rabbits as Animal Companions
Starting Statistics: Size Small; Speed 50 ft., burrow 5 ft.; AC +1 natural armor; Attack bite (1d3); Ability Scores Str 11, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 5; Special Qualities leap, low-light vision.
A dire rabbit is a suitable mount for a Small cavalier of at least 4th level and can be called using the divine bond class feature of a Small paladin.
Dire Rabbit CR 1
XP 400
N Medium Animal
Init +2; Senses low-light vision, Perception +8
Defense
AC 13, touch 12, flat-footed 11 (+2 Dex, +1 natural)
hp 11 (2d8+2)
Fort +4, Ref +5, Will +0
Offense
Speed 50 ft., burrow 5 ft.
Melee bite +3 (1d4+3)
Statistics
Str 15, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 2, Wis 11, Cha 5
Base Attack +1; CMB +3; CMD 15 (19 against trip)
Feats Run
Skills Acrobatics +6 (+14 when jumping), Perception +8; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception
SQ leap
Ecology
Environment temperate and cold plains and forests
Organization solitary, pair, trace (4-7) or warren (5-20 plus 200% noncombatant young)
Treasure none
Special Abilities
Leap (Ex) A dire rabbit does not halve the distance traveled on a standing long jump. If a dire rabbit makes a long jump with a running start, it gains a +4 bonus on the Acrobatics check.