Badger

Badger

Species	weasel
No. Appearing	2-5
Behaviour	subsocial
Range	steppe, woodland
Size	35 in. long
Weight	33 lbs.
Intelligence	3
Armour Class	7
Hit Dice	1+2
Action Points	6
Max. Stride	{{{stride}}}
THAC0	20
Hp/Die	d4
Attack Forms	claw/claw & bite
Damage	1-3/1-3 & 1-4
Special Attacks	+2 to hit in burrow

Short-legged weasels with short, wide bodies, with limbs for digging. Badgers are common throughout the woodlands of Europe, extending through temperate and subarctic forested and woodland areas, including coolies and riverbanks throughout the Russian steppe. They also occupy parts of China, Mongolia and Turkestan, where prairie occurs; they do not dwell in areas of sparse grass.

They can attack with a dangerous, lightning speed, their attack flurry belying their relative small bodies and few hit points. They are fierce when cornered and will attack with a +2 to hit when in their burrows and defending their family. They have little fear of humans and can often be found moving about villages or even in plant and orchard parklands inside city walls.

Badgers have been trapped and hunted commercially for their pelts, though they are considered to be inferior furs, mostly used for trimming garments.

In some parts of Europe, most notably in the British Isles and France, badger baiting is popular, in which dogs and badgers are made to fight in pens for amusement and betting.

Chamitataxus

Also known as a giant badger, the chamitataxus is a carnivorous tunneling beast with profoundly powerful claws, capable of digging into actual soft rock such as coal seams, potash or sandstone at a rate of 20–25 cubic feet per day. It is known that many do this merely to dig out a sufficient cave in order for the female to give birth to her brood, but it has been observed that chamitataxus badgers will, if they locate a dungeon, dig down into the various layers of open space in order to hunt humanoids and other meaty creatures.

The creature is slower than its smaller cousin and does not receive the +2 bonus in its lair. It does retains all and perhaps more of the small badger's ferocity, so that denizens of dungeons have some fear of a chamitataxus opening a tunnel into their lair and carrying off their small children. Often, these giant badgers will take prey upwards to their primary dens to share the carcass among family members.

Rumours that a species of giant badger exists that are intelligent, able to use tools and which dwell in large, subterranean societies is entirely unsubstantiated. No evidence of such intelligence exists.

See Bestiary.