Dire Tiger
Dire Tiger (CR 10)
Dire Tigers are massive feline predators best known for their fearless ferocity and truly brilliant coloration.
Seriously. How nasty of a predator do you have to be to be colored bright orange with black stripes and STILL be a successful hunter?
Dire Tigers are dangerous ambush predators who do not require any special terrain to set up their deadly attacks. Dire Tigers can be encountered almost anywhere in the wild, their brilliant coloration never changing. In civilized settings, Dire Tigers are often found as attack pets and showpieces of more civilized creatures.
Dire Tigers can hide in less space than many would believe possible, leap impossible distances so suddenly nobody can react, and their massive fangs are so long some people even call them sabertooths.
Of course, real sabertooths are even meaner....
Dire Tigers congregate in loose social groups called dowts by those who survive. They tend to hunt in pairs and groups, although they have little in the way of pack tactics. Honestly, they don't need any.
GENERAL
CR 10 Hit Dice 15
XP 9,600
N, Large, Animal
Init +5; Senses low-light 120ft, scent, Perception +22
DEFENSE
AC 30, touch 19, flat-footed 25 (+6 armor, +5 dex, +5 natural, +4 deflection)
hp 175
Fort +10, Ref +13, Will +13
Aura: -
SR: -
Special Defenses: -
Immunities: -
Weaknesses: -
OFFENSE
Speed 50 ft., Climb 30 ft.
Space / Reach: 10 ft. / 5 ft.
Single Melee Tiger Bite +15 (2d8+3/x2) + Bleed 1 point
Full Melee Tiger Bite +15 (2d8+3/x2) + Bleed 1 point, 2x Claws +15 (2d6/x2)
Ranged None, but see Tiger's Pounce
Special Attacks Tiger's Pounce, Play With It
Action Points 0
STATISTICS
Str 20, Dex 18, Con 16, Int 2, Wis 15, Cha 16
Base Atk +10; CMB +16; CMD 26
Feats -
Skills Stealth +22, Perception +22
Languages -
SPECIAL ABILITIES
- Tiger's Pounce
A Dire Tiger may make a Charge attack and still get a full attack action.
- Play With It
If at any time during a combat a Dire Tiger takes a move action away from a creature suffering from its Bleed condition, it is Playing with its victim. The victim must make a Will save versus a DC of 19 or suffer the Anxious condition. After the first round, characters may roll a save each round to remove this condition at the end of your turn. If any Dire Tiger then uses Play With It on the victim while they are Anxious and they fail the DC19 Will save, they become Startled until the end of the encounter. No ongoing save is allowed against this Startled condition, but it may be removed by spells or class effects as normal.
TREASURE
sell value of approximately 5,000 gp
COMBAT TACTICS
Dire Tigers are not good tacticians, but they hardly need to be. They hide and attack from surprise, using Tiger's Pounce to get a full attack action after a charge. They can use Tiger's Pounce as often as they want, so they will frequently move away from their victim, so they have room to use Tiger's Pounce on them again. When they do so, their Play With It affects anyone they have bitten and given a bleed.
That's really all they do. But its a brutally effective combo, and dealing with an attack by a full dowt of Dire Tigers is no laughing matter.
If the fight is not going well, Dire Tigers will flee in all directions, scattering to the winds. There's always easier prey somewhere...