A kirre, looking like a horned green tiger with eight legs. Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast.

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The Lore

Kirres manage to feel like exotic alien creatures both to us in the real world and to characters in Athas. To us, it’s because they have eight legs and a pair of horns. To Athasians, it’s because they’re fur-covered mammals.

These felines live in Athas’ rare forests and jungles, such as the Crescent Forest and the same Forest Ridge where halflings live. They gather in small prides, and are clever and cautious hunters.

Instead of simply charging in, a kirre who isn’t desperately hungry will stalk its prey for hours to evaluate its capabilities and behavior, and will adapt its tactics to ensure their success. With some, they might be extra-sneaky and attack when the prey’s guard is down. With others, they might harass and make noises to scare the prey into making a foolish mistake.

The book entry mentions that kirres are only one of several species descended from ancient great cats. Other names mentioned are tigones and “the reptilian lirr”, though these two aren’t present in the book.

The Numbers

We only have one stat block here.

Kirre

The kirre is a Large Natural Magical Beast, and a Level 13 Skirmisher with 131 HP. It has a Speed of 8.

It has two basic attacks: a bite and a slightly weaker claw that slows for a turn on a hit. The Double Attack at-will ability lets it make two claw attacks in one action.

Springing Pounce lets the kirre bite, shift 4 squares, and bite again. This becomes a nice fight opener when combined with the Scattering Leap move-action encounter power, which lets the beast jump 6 squares, push adjacent enemies at the destination 2 squares, and then shift 2 squares to follow one of those enemies. The Pounce recharges when the creature is bloodied, which also makes it useful for escaping a dicey situation.

Once per encounter it can also use a Forceful Roar that attacks the Fortitude of enemies in a Close Blast 3. On a hit it deals force damage, pushes 2 squares, and knocks prone.

When an enemy moves to a square where it flanks the kirre, it can use its Barbed Tail to fend then off, making a Reach 2 melee attack that knocks prone and inflicts 10 ongoing damage (save ends) on a hit.

Encounters and Final Impressions

Kirres are smart enough to ally with creatures of other species, though they demand that their allies be at least as smart as themselves. Those who aren’t will be treated as prey instead. This is a low bar for other sapient creatures to clear, which means they will sometimes even accept humanoids as pack mates. They can be most often found in the company of halflings, though goliaths and giths that live in greener areas are also known to ally with kirres.

They’re regular monsters, but their spread of abilities means they fight like elites! An encounter featuring a pair of kirres and a handful of humanoid allies will give PCs quite a fight.