A pack of baazrags ready to attack. Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast.

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Athas has no mundane Earth animals. Instead of wolves or dogs, you get these things.

The Lore

Baazrags are beetle-lizard things the size of large dogs. In their natural environment, they’re desert predators organized in large but loose packs. Pack members stick close to each other but most fend for themselves, feeding on weeds and small animals and accumulating water in a sac under their shell. When one of them detects large prey it alerts the others, and the entire pack works together for the big meal ticket.

All baazrags are born female, but only a few manage to reach the right size, age, and biochemical triggers to become egg-laying breeders. When a breeder is present, some of the other baazrags will become male, and will help fertilize and defend the eggs. Breeders and other powerful baazrags have some innate psychic sensitivity - proximity to psychic characters irritates them, making them more hostile.

The Numbers

Bazraags are Natural Beasts with the Reptile tag. Like most monster tags, it does nothing by itself but some effects may key off it. Most specimens are Medium, but Whelps are Small and breeders are Large. Their signature trait is Pack Harrier, a passive trait which gives them combat advantage against any target surrounded by two or more of their allies. They have a ground speed of 8, so good lock outrunning them when they find you.

Baazrag Whelp

Baazrags are capable of fighting from the moment they hatch, but they’re still too vulnerable to strike out on their own and so stick close to their mother. When they grow up a little more, they join the other members of the pack in their semi-independent activities.

Whelps are Level 1 Minion Skirmishers with the signature traits mentioned above, plus the Scrambler trait that lets them ignore difficult terrain when they shift. Their bite does the kind of damage you’d expect from a Level 1 Minion, which isn’t anything spectacular.

Baazrag Gnawer

A particularly tenacious hunter that strays a bit further from the pack to act as a scout. It’s usually the first to spot large prey and warn its companions, and when it bites down it doesn’t let go.

Gnawers are Level 1 Skirmishers with 29 HP and all the standard traits. It also has the Latcher trait, which gives it +2 AC when it’s latched onto a victim (see below).

The gnawer’s Bite does a lot of work here. It deals standard damage on a hit and lets the creature latch onto the target, which works like a custom status effect. While the gnawer is latched on a target, it moves when the target moves, without provoking opportunity attacks, and can stop at any unoccupied square adjacent to the target at the destination. It can obviously only latch onto one creature at a time.

While the gnawer is latched, it can use the Gnaw attack, which on a hit deals heavy physical damage, ongoing 5 poison (save ends) and lets the creature detach and shift 2 squares.

The main difference between having a gnawer attached and being grabbed is that the target is not immobilized. Therefore, even though the stat block doesn’t say it, I’d let PCs treat it like a grab for purposes of escaping it early. On the other hand, while a gnawer can only grab one target, multiple gnawers can attach to the same target. Don’t let it happen!

Finally, as a move action, the gnawer can use Bounder to jump 4 squares without provoking opportunity attacks. This is at-will, so it’s a very slippery creature if you don’t have a fighter with you.

Baazrag Swarm

One whelp is nearly harmless, but the whole litter at once is bad news. This is a Medium swarm, counting as a Level 3 Soldier with 46 HP. They have the usual swarm resistances: half damage from melee and ranged attacks, vulnerable 5 against close and area attacks.

Like all Swarms, this one can occupy the same space as its enemies, and its area counts as difficult terrain. It cannot be pushed, pulled or slid by melee or ranged attacks, and can squeeze past any opening big enough for an individual member without penalty. In this case, the members are probably Small. It also has Pack Harrier, and a Hinder aura (1) that slows enemies who start their turns inside. Being inside the swarm also counts as being inside the aura, obviously.

Their basic melee attack is Bloodthirsty Swarm, which deals extra damage against prone targets. Their other attack is of course Pull Down, which damages and knocks prone on a hit.

These things are slightly less dangerous needlefang drake swarms. They’re higher level and do more base damage, but their aura doesn’t give them additional free attacks against prone targets. This means they will probably leave incapacitated PCs alone while other enemies remain in the map, though those would still be fair game if nothing else is in reach.

Baazrag Breeder

A typical baazrag who managed to grow and develop the ability to lay eggs. It’s Large in size, and a Level 5 Brute with 77 HP. I’m guessing not every old-enough baazrag will reach this state - it might be something related to hormones, like in an insect hive.

The breeder upgrades her Pack Harrier trait to Pack Master, and only needs one other adjacent ally to gain Combat Advantage against a target. She can attack with a basic Claw attack or with a Bite that deals bonus damage against prone targets and inflicts ongoing 5 poison (save ends) on a hit.

She also has psychic powers! Psychic Lure is a minor action Close Burst 5 vs. Will that targets one enemy and pulls them 3 squares on a hit. And that irritability when near other psychic sources translates into the Psychic Provocation reaction, which lets the breeder immediately charge anyone who deals psychic damage to her once per turn.

Encounters and Final Impressions

Baazrags look like typical random encounters during wilderness travel, but depending on how the PCs are doing in their trek they could also seek the creatures out to harvest their water sacs and meat.

The first sign of a baazrag pack is the lone scout that will make an effort to call its buddies when it finds the party. Then they’ll swarm the prey and try to pull it down for the kill, but will give up if they think the prey is too tough and the fight is going against them.

Breeders, if present, stay a bit further away and try to lure a lone victim with Psychic Lure. If they manage it, they’ll attack the isolated PC with the help of any nearby young.

Individual adult Baazrags could all be represented by gnawers, though you could also reskin Gray Wolves from the Monster Vault as other baazrag adults. Any and all of these might be found as members of humanoid encounter groups as guard and war animals, just like the beasts they replace.