From Loyal Dog to Battle Hound - Scaling Companion Statblocks That Grow with Your Party
Dogs are some of the most common companions in fantasy adventures, but an ordinary dog can quickly fall behind once the party starts gaining levels.
So I wanted to give them a proper progression path: Dog → Guard Dog → War Dog → Battle Hound. A simple pet can gradually become tougher, better trained, and capable of surviving alongside an adventuring party without suddenly turning into a completely different magical creature.
And the progression doesn’t stop there. The full dog section also includes stronger options such as the Warhound Alpha, Guardian Mastiff, Blink Dog, and Greater Blink Dog, with higher-level abilities focused on guarding allies, leading packs, protecting companions, and filling more specialized roles in encounters.
These statblocks are from Growing Pets and Animals Statblocks, a manual built around the idea that pets, mounts, scouts, familiarlike companions, and ordinary animals should be able to grow alongside the campaign instead of becoming irrelevant after a few levels.
The book contains 60+ animal statblocks covering dogs, cats, bats, owls, ravens, horses, panthers, tigers, spiders, scorpions, eagles, frogs, lizards, rats, and more, with progression chains that take many of them from ordinary animals into increasingly capable companions or encounter creatures.
The rules page also includes suggested advancement schedules for standard, gritty realism, low-magic, and high-magic/epic campaigns, so the DM can decide how quickly a companion grows rather than tying every game to the same progression speed.
After the original version performed well, I went back and created a full V2 update, commissioning and licensing new artwork throughout the book, cleaning up the presentation, revising existing material, and adding new statblocks and expanded progression paths. If you already own the manual, you can simply download the updated version again from DriveThruRPG.
You can also subscribe to the newsletter for updates on Mythological Items, launching on Kickstarter this September with 300+ magic items inspired by myths and legends from around the world. Subscribers can also download a free 30-page preview.
For more creatures, items, previews, and upcoming projects, you can also visit my DriveThruRPG, Linktree, or r/JonnyDM.