Bear, Hearth

Medium Animal

Hit Dice: 3d8+9 (22 hp)

Initiative: +2 (Dex)

Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares)

Armor Class: 15 (+2 Dex, +3 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 13

Base Attack/Grapple: +2 / +5

Attack: Claw +5 melee (1d4+3)

Full Attack: 2 claws +5 melee (1d4+3) and bite +0 melee (1d4+1)

Space/Reach: 5 ft. / 5 ft.

Special Attacks: Improved Grab

Special Qualities: Low-Light Vision, Scent

Saves: Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +2

Abilities: Str 17, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6

Skills: Climb +4, Listen +3, Spot +3, Swim +5^*

Feats: Endurance, Run

Environment: Arctic to sub-tropical mountains and hills

Organization: Solitary or pair

Challenge Rating: 2

Treasure: None

Alignment: Always neutral

Advancement: 4-6 HD (Medium)

Level Adjustment: —

As humans have domesticated the dog, so too have the dwarves domesticated the bear. The hearth bear is the end result of countless generations of selective breeding. The dwarves have created about two dozen different breeds of hearth bears, which are just as varied as domesticated dogs. The dominant breeds are about three feet tall at the shoulder, and about as large as a large—though very stocky—dog. Hide color ranges from black, blonde, brown, white, and a host in-between.

Hearth bears are omnivorous and surprisingly gentle creatures. Specialized breeds exist for hunting, guarding, and even racing. Ever protective of their children, dwarves bred into the hearth bears the instinct to protect dwarven children. Legends of wild hearth bears raising human children in the wilds are common in some frontiers.

Combat

Hearth bears are trained to fight. They can stand on their hind legs to fight from as if they were bipedal creatures. They cannot wield weapons of any sort but fight with their claws and teeth. Dwarves unleash packs of hearth bears to hunt down foes that attempt to escape battle or otherwise bolster dwarven ranks.

Skills: * A hearth bear has a +2 racial bonus to Swim checks.

In the Spheres

A typical dwarven citadel will have at least a pair of hearth bears for every fifty dwarves, often more. The dwarves are extremely protective of their hearth bears, such that it is a hanging offense to sell a hearth bear to anyone other than a dwarf. Nevertheless, smugglers and thieves have introduced the hearth bears to ports all over the Known Spheres. They still remain rare beyond dwarven realms.