Rose & Kingfisher: Random Advancement (Dog)

One of my players just rolled up a Really Good Dog... But I've been using a lot of the various 'random advancement' tables, and there doesn't seem to be any table for dogs! So I had to write my own. A small contribution to the OSR's excellent dog content.

EDIT: the mysterious blog that I templated this table off've has been uncovered through the magic of Google Plus! so thanks a Perttu Vedenoja, having the baseline to go off've made this a lot easier :)
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By SunaSoldier

01-3: Charisma increases by 2

04-06: Dex increases by 2

07-09: Pick Str, Con, Int, or Wis. That stat increases by 1.

11-13: You’re actually surprisingly good at climbing ladders.

14-15: One of your teeth is magic. By taking -1 to damage you can overcome magic resistances of most creatures. The -1 is cuz you can only bite with one side of your mouth, so if you roll this again the -1 goes away, and then after that your bite counts as a +1 weapon, and so on.

16-17: You can jump twice the normal distance vertically. You can also work a little somersault in there, if you want to .

18-20: Such a cute pup; you get to add your charisma bonus as well as your dex to your AC.

21-23: You get +2 to initiative. If you roll this again, you just get +1, but it keeps stacking. If you’re ever completely surprised, you at least get a bonus action (5e term)

24-26: You can Dash or Disengage as a bonus action.

27-29: Your move speed inceases by 10 feet. Stacks every time you roll.

30-33: Dog farts let you release an effect like a troglodyte stench once per short rest (maybe more if you’ve eaten some really gassy food, but then you don’t get to control exactly when it goes off!) (All creatures within a 5 ft range must succeed on a Constitution saving throw [DC 8+Proficiency+Cha OR Con bonus, whichever is better] or be poisoned until the start of the creature's next turn. On a successful saving throw, the creature is immune to the stench of all dog farts for 1 hour.

34-36: You go up a rank in doggy nobility. Use whatever system for factions, or the 5^th edition one, whichever is most convenient. See an upcoming post for the ‘Dog Clans’ faction info! Sorry, I couldn’t fit it all in here, but I’ll link to it once’ it’s written <3

37-39: You’re part wolf! This doesn’t do much, but it does allow you to have access to a place that is normally ‘no dogs allowed’ or dodge a spell that targets only dogs- cuz you’re not a dog! Also wolves treat you as a (slightly embarrassing) cousin, rather than a decadent traitor of all wolfkind.

DiTerlizzi, OBVS

40-44: Pick a kind of animal, or roll 1d6: 1- goats, 2- horses, 3- cats(booo!), 4- fish, 5- snails, 6- Pigeons & Seagulls. You know that kind of animal’s language.

45-47: All dogs go to heaven, so if you die you can count on a dog angel showing up to escort you to paradise. This is true of ALL dogs, not just ones who roll this power! Your special power is you always know when an action you take would be ‘not good’- that is, something that would endanger the whole ‘going to heaven’ thing, but isn’t immediately obvious. It won’t endanger YOU going to heaven though, obviously. Although it should be noted that if you’re ACTUALLY awful, you might turn into a cat.

48-50: If you bork at a spoopy ghost, IT gets spooped instead of you! Undead with fear attacks have to save as if against their own fear (and if they’re normally immune to fear they’re not immune to this, cuz they’re scaring THEMSELVES- only robot ghosts are maybe immune, unless they’ve learned to love)

51-53: Dogpile! You can join a grapple, regardless of however many people are already in the grapple, and the normal rules for doing so. No penalties. Yes, this will make whatever overly-complex grappling rules even more messy; you don’t care, you just jump in there.

48-50: You can either shove a creature back ten feet or knock it prone in addition of doing your regular damage on a melee hit, if you declare your intent and take a -2 penalty to hit. They can be no larger than a bear (or an ogre, or something in that ballpark) for this to work, and they get to save to just take the damage and keep their footing. If you roll this again, no more size restrictions. Re-roll the third time you’d get this.

51-53: Once per session you may gluttonously devour a week’s worth of rations in one turn. You heal d6 hit points. Pigging out does not heal any special or critical effects, only abstract hit points. Reroll if you get this result again.

54-55: Sic ‘em dog! Once per fight, another character can use an action to get you to do something.

56-57: Things you hit tend to stay hit. add +1 to damage you do. If you roll this again, increase the bonus by 2, so second roll is +3, third +5, fourth +7, and so on.

58-59: +2 to saves against illusions and stuff. You also are no longer fooled by that ‘pretending to throw a stick but then the real stick is still in their hand’ thing that humans do. As often. That +2 also applies to wisdom checks to know when someone’s faking you out.

60-61: Iron stomach. You can eat really gross things (like even grosser than a normal dog) without getting sick. You don’t have to save against normal rancid food or whatever, but in a situation where you have to save (someone put black lotus powder in your kibble), you get a +2 to Poison and Disease saves against stuff that you eat.

62-63: If you’re fighting a skeleton or a creature made out of a significant quantity of bones*, then when you hit them with your bite you can steal one of the bones. This deals triple your normal bite damage, and choose one: 1: steal a leg bone-creature’s speed is halved. 2: arm bone- one less attack per round, or if they only get one, they have disadvantage on that attack. They’ll probably chase you to get the bone back, unless they’re already busy in combat.

If you roll this again, it now works on constructs, then after that pick another kind of thing it works on. You’re probably not actually stealing the orc’s ENTIRE arm if you do that, but you’re putting that limb out of commission for the fight. Probably.

Genius artist unknown

64-65: Dirty Biter. You know better than to fight fair. Once per encounter, you may declare that you are fighting dirty before rolling to hit – you get +2 to-hit for your next attack, and if it hits the target is stunned for d3 rounds (as if they were surprised and unable to act, so your backstabby friends might want to take advantage of that) in addition to taking regular damage. Probably from getting bit in the groin, let’s be honest, but any discernible weak point will allow this to work. If you get this again, get sneak attack +1d6 (like a thief or rogue)

66-67: Herding instinct. If you’re working with groups of herbivores, you can make them do what you want with Charisma or Diplomacy, whatever your system uses. Undomesticated animals can be herded with disadvantage. If you get this again, you can use it on even ridiculous or fantasy animals, like triceratops or hippogriffs (although you might want to be able to fly for that one-maybe you nip them if they try to take off?). If you roll this again, maybe you can use it on sheep-like groups of people? Or just re-roll.

68-69: You’re super good at dodging. +1 AC. Treat it like an extra bonus from Dex, except your Dexterity score doesn’t actually go up. This bonus is double if you use it actively, like taking the Defense action on your turn in 5e.

70-71: You may befriend any one animal, or monster of animal level intelligence. It must be solitary when encountered. No dice rolls are necessary, you simply make a new friend who will follow you and be loyal as long as you treat it well. You may only use this ability once. Reroll if you get this result again.

couldn't find attribution for this one either, please tell me if you do

72-73: You must have some Elven Moonhound in you! Roll on the Elf chart. If you get a result like "Gain a spell slot as usual" you get it as a spell-like ability, if appropriate, otherwise for something more suitably elf-dog-ish.

74-75: You must have some Tunnel Setter in you! Roll on the Dwarf chart.

76-77: You can snatch the missiles out of the air with your teeth, like someone was throwing a stick for you. Works once per turn.

78: The rumours are true – that thing you wanted? The Collar of Best in Show? The Human Whistle? The thighbone of Tyroganon Ferox? That really good belly rub? It’s there. 4 sessions worth of adventure away or less. Tell your Referee, who then must place it.

You must have a fair shot at it – like any other treasure, but there’s no guarantee you will get it. If you don’t get it by the fourth session you can keep trying or let it go and roll again on this table. However, if you choose to roll again and then you do get the thing somehow anyway, you lose whatever gimmick you rolled. your Ref needs to think up some clever reason why.

79: You’re a really excellent watchdog! You’re never surprised when you’re keeping watch, and your companions are able to rouse themselves immediately when they hear your warning barks.

80-81: Your crit range extends by one (so you do criticals on a natural 19 and 20 when you first get this, 18-20 the second time around, and so on).

82-83: You’ve seen some shit. Immune to fear effects. If you re-roll this, your companions get +2 to saves vs. fear if they can witness your resolve, then +4 and so on.

84-86: Pick an environment you’ve spent a lot of time fighting in: city, dungeon, wilderness, desert, sea, etc. Whatever it is, you can now anticipate wandering monsters a round ahead of time in that environment and are immune to (mundane) surprise there. If you re-roll this, pick another environment or get an extra round of anticipation, your choice.

87-88: Nimble lil dog! Any time you would normally save for half damage, you take no damage on a successful save. If you roll this again, you take half damage even if you fail your save.

89-90: Spooky moves! As a reaction when you get hit, reduce the incoming damage by half. Only works once per turn.

I think this is ye olde history art

91-92: You can force a morale check on an enemy group by just growling and barking, even if they outnumber you (but they should probably get a bonus of some sort in that case). This takes no action, but you can do it only once per encounter. Failure means they either run away or freeze in fear (so no fighting retreats). Only works on intelligent enemies with less HD than you (or HD1, in case you get this at first level). If you reroll this, you get to treat your level as 2 higher when using this.

93: Fleabag. Sure, you’re always scratching, but once per fight you can give them to an enemy within 5 feet. They get -1d4 to all attack rolls, saves, and skill checks, until they get a remove curse or a flea collar or something.

94-95: Get stronger/tougher/more limber. Increase a random physical attribute score by +1, up to your maximum value. If you would go over that, pick one of the other two to add to instead. If you’ve somehow maxed out everything already, no re-rolls.

96-97: Add an extra weapon damage die to critical hits. (or, increase multiplier by one if that sort of lingo pleases you.)

98-99: Vorpal bite. If you roll a natural 20 against something with a head in melee and it’s level/HD is equal to or less than yours, it doesn’t have a head anymore. (Effectiveness of head loss may vary depending on the enemy, your Referee will tell you.)

Treat your level as one higher than it actually is (for purposes of decapitation only) for each re-roll of this.

00: Your latent Magic Dog powers manifest. Pick any spell with a level less than your own if you were a wizard. You can cast it once per day, but only on yourself (and your best friend I guess if it’s a healing spell)