Pathfinder Second Edition
Compendium
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Blink Dog
At first glance, blink dogs seem to be little more than long-eared, bearded canines with tawny coats. Yet their Intelligent eyes and the blue nimbus of energy that dances across their fur hint at not only the blink dog’s inherent intelligence, but also of their connection to the Occult energies and mysteries that hide beyond the sight of the untrained eye. These honorable creatures are as Intelligent as most humanoids. They live and hunt in large packs, roaming forests, plains, and the hidden places of the world in hunt for evil creatures—particularly those that dwell in the depths of the Ethereal Plane.
Unless acting in concert with specific allies who have proven that their goals are shared, blink dogs tend to avoid other creatures if at all possible. Their packs are constantly on the move and hidden from those that would seek them out. But in times of need, they have been known to come to the rescue of villages and lost travelers. While they have no innate ability to Travel to the Ethereal Plane for extended periods of time, all blink dogs constantly shimmer and ripple between the Material Plane and the Ethereal. They do their best to use their ability to blink to snatch glimpses into the Ethereal Plane and keep track of potential threats that might be Building there, but in practice this tactic yields more of a constant stream of hunches and estimations of Ethereal-based threats. Of course, to a Blink Dog, this constant state of flux is as natural as breathing.
Pack Leadership always falls to a pair—an elder Blink Dog (called an alpha) who relies upon the valued Guidance of a trusted pack mate (the sage). Honor and tradition are keystones of Blink Dog society. They are fiercely loyal, defending the pack or creatures they befriend to the death and maintaining oaths handed down from litter to litter. Though different packs hold different traditions and oaths, their connection through the tales and stories told among their kind and the shared experience of the Movement of stars above weave all blink dogs into an extended Family, a great pack. Through their myths and folklore, blink dogs have names for Celestial phenomena, note births under auspicious stars, and read omens from unusual stellar conjunctions. These Celestial signs are woven into blink dogs’ lifeways; their names contain a reference to the specific constellation under which they were born, and a pack’s sage watches the heavens for signs to help them decide when a pup is old enough for their first hunt.