Yzobu

This four-legged animal with a long-horned, bovine head looks like a cross between a horse and a long-haired yak.

Yzobu (CR 1)

Large Animal
Alignment: Neutral
Initiative: +1
Senses: Low-Light Vision, Scent; Perception +6
Aura: stench (DC 13, 10 rounds)

Speed: 40 feet
Space: 10 feet

Defense

Armor Class: 13, touch 10, flat-footed 12 (+1 Dex, +3 natural, -1 size)
Hit Points: 13 (2d8+4)
Saving Throws: Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +1

Offense

Melee: gore +3 (1d8+3)
Reach: 5 feet

Special Attacks: stampede, Trample (1d6+3, DC 13)

Statistics

Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
14 (+2)	13 (+1)	14 (+2)	1 (-5)	12 (+1)	5 (-3)

Base Attack Bonus: +1
CMB +4
CMD 15

Feats: Weapon Focus (gore)

Skills: Perception +6

Languages:

Special Abilities

Stampede (Ex)

A stampede occurs if three or more creatures with stampede make a trample attack while remaining adjacent to each other. While stampeding, the creatures can trample foes of their size or smaller, and the trample's save DC increases by +2.

Ecology

Environment: Cold Hills or Plains
Organization: solitary, pair, or herd (3-30)
Treasure: none


An yzobu is a herd animal found in cold hills, plains, and mountains. It stands roughly the height of a horse, but has a bulkier frame. Its head is more bovine, with a pair of thick, slightly curved horns protruding from the sides of its flat forehead and four smaller prongs jutting from the top. The fur of an yzobu is long and shaggy, protecting it from the harsh winters of its habitat. This pelt accumulates a pungent secretion from the yzobu's body that gives it a strong odor that those unaccustomed to the creatures find sickening.

Like the hobgoblins who use them as mounts and beasts of burden, yzobus (called \"battle yaks\" by their war-mongering handlers) live in complex social groups. These immense herds can number in the thousands, and present quite a problem to ranchers, explorers, and pioneers who encounter them while traversing the open plains and hills where the yzobus graze. A single herd can range over a spread of tens of thousands of square miles in a year, devouring all the grass and small vegetation in the region, trampling what they can't eat, and forcing other creatures—including humanoids—to move elsewhere or suffer the same fate.

Yzobus are extremely aggressive, and fight ruthlessly to defend even the weakest member of their herd, making them difficult pests to deal with, and even more difficult to train for service or war. Hobgoblins have grown skilled at the process, and keep a fair number of tamed yzobus. They breed these with wild yzobus every few generations to keep them fierce.

Yzobu Companions

An yzobu can be taken as an animal companion or mount by cavaliers, druids, hunters, and rangers.

Starting Statistics: Size Medium; Speed 40 ft.; AC +1 natural armor, Attack gore (1d6 Ability Scores Str 14, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 2, Wis 11, Cha 4; Special Qualities low-light vision, scent.

7th-Level Advancement: Size Large; AC +3 natural armor; Attack gore (1d8 Ability Scores Str +8, Dex -2, Con +4; Special Qualities stampede, stench, trample.