Beast of Malar

A Beast of Malar is a savage shape-changing creature, sacred to the god of the hunt Malar, whose only purpose in life is hunt, pursuit, and slaying of the prey.

Description: Ferocious, Shape-Changing Predator

Malar, god of the bestial hunt, sometimes manifests a spark of primal predation in physical form: the beast of Malar. The beast of Malar can take three types of forms—a land form, a sea form, and a sky form-to pursue prey across land, seas, and skies. In each form, its short fur is glossy black with red fur around its jaws and claws as though stained by the blood it has spilled. The beast of Malar has a muscular and unnatural appearance no matter its form; whether it resembles a bat, wolverine, or shark, there's no mistaking the beast of Malar for a mundane animal. The beast shifts easily between its forms to pursue its prey, using whichever shape suits it best to catch and kill its quarry. Normally only one beast of Malar exists at a time. However, Malar might create multiple beasts to pursue legendary prey or simply display his extraordinary ferocity.

Beasts of Malar can shift between three forms at will. The Hunting Panther form that resembles a panther of the Prime Material Plane with sinister glowing red eyes, Claw Slayer form that is similar to a wolverine, and the Bat form. All the creature's forms have black sheeny fur with red marking that looks like blood splatter on its face, paws, and shoulders.

Abilities: Beasts of Malar's shapeshifting ability also grants them powerful regenerative ability upon the shape change. This regeneration ability can heal even the wounds that are severe or uncurable by the regular regeneration. But the Beasts' killer instinct often stops them from taking advantage of the life-saving regeneration, as they fight to the death. The Beasts' regular regeneration is vulnerable to divine magic and blessed weapons.

Behavior: The Beasts' only purpose in life is the hunt, and they use the three forms' abilities to track and kill their opponents with terrifying effectiveness. The smooth and agile Hunting Panther form is perfect for tracking the unfortunate prey with its sharp senses and speed. The Claw Slayer form has scimitar-shaped front claws and sharp rear claws with elbow hooks that are perfect for quick climbing in pursuit. The Bat form is not the best flier but still is more than capable of tracking and pursuing the prey in the air. Unlike true bats, the Beasts of Malar do not possess echolocation and prefer to keep to the other more deadly forms.

Combat: The Hunting Panther form likes to toy with its prey like many other cats of the Prime Material plane. When faced with multiple adversaries, the Beast in the Panther form dashes past front-line defenders to rend and gore spellcasters. The Panther's pounce can knock the prey down which opens the Beast to its fearsome raking attacks with the front paws.

The Claw Slayer's strategy is grabbing the prey with its sharp teeth and goring the opponent with all four appendages' claws.

The Bat form is not good for combat, but great for scouting.

Ecology: The beast of Malar is not a true animal, so it does not have any other purpose but to hunt and kill. Upon its death, the beast is returned to the Malar's realm only to be rewarded and reincarnated if the deity is satisfied with the creature's hunt.

History: The worshipers of Malar, especially the northern barbarian tribes, evil rangers, dark druids, and the People of the Black Blood celebrated Shieldmeet by commencing a unicorn hunt using the Beasts of Malar. During the rest of the year, the People of the Black Blood hunted the adventurers for sport with the Beasts.

In 1372 DR, they could occasionally be found within the Forest of Lethyr.

Notable Beasts of Malar

• Burak, an infamous half-orcish pirate of the Moonsea in the late 14th century DR had a loyal companion beast of Malar on board of the Flotsam.
• Methim was the companion of Alaffinel, a disgraced half-celestial that was on the run from his kin across the planes circa 1370 DR.