Ever since they were domesticated from feral wolves, dogs have been known as one of mankind’s most faithful companions. Even ordinary, non-shinobi dogs are fiercely loyal to their masters, and in Konoha there’s an entire clan dedicated to the rearing of shinobi dogs.
This contract summons a variety of different dogs. The lowest ranks (the ninken; literally “ninja dogs”) are in fact groups of dogs trained in the ninja arts that are loyal to a small group of people. Each major village usually has a few teams of ninken loyal to them, and even the minor villages typically have their own team.
The two dog spirit summons are literally that: incorporeal spirits, perhaps even ghosts, of dogs. Despite their rather unsettling nature, they are, like the ninken, very helpful and loyal summons, willing to engage in combat or assist as necessary when working towards their summoner’s goals.
That changes at the higher ranks of the contract. The “Mountain Dogs” would be better known as giant wolves. They, and the canine avatar Oguchi-no-Makami, are anything but trusting or subservient. By signing the contract, the summoner has in effect become a member of their pack.
With the dogs, the summoner is their master; with the wolves, the summoner is a lowly member of their pack. The wolves will fight to defend their pack, viciously and to the death if necessary, but that pack member had best remember their place.
Summoning all 8 of their Ninken team, the shinobi uses a bit of their own blood to give the dogs a scent trail. Following the scent, the team dives underground and travels to its target. Once there they burst up from the earth and bite down on the target, keeping them immobilized for a short while.
Effects: Before this technique can be used, you need to get some of your own blood onto the target. This can be accomplished one of two ways. The first, if your opponent has damaged you with a piercing or slashing weapon and is still carrying it, there will be enough blood on it. Alternately, you can cut your hand with a slashing weapon as a Speed 4 action that deals 10 points of damage (which cannot be reduced) to yourself. After doing so, you have 25 IC to hit your target with a basic unarmed attack; if it takes longer than that, you need to cut yourself again.
Once an enemy has blood on them, Tracking Fang can be used; your ninken team appears by you and dives underground. They will attack your target X/2 IC later, where X is the number of yards that target is from you; if they move away, the time until the dogs attack is increased, but no matter what the ninken team will eventually find them. No penalties other than Fatigue are applied to your Accuracy with this technique. Similarly, you can use this against someone who you can’t see (because they’re in stealth) as long as they’ve been marked. Being hit by Tracking Fang will immediately remove a stealthed individual from stealth.
When the dogs do attack, it is defended against as if it was whatever Speed this technique was when you performed it. If it hits, the target suffers a -8 immobilization penalty, and you and they both roll Survival. The penalty lasts for 2 IC for every point you beat their Survival roll by, with a minimum of 10 IC.
If the victim takes a total of 300 or more points of area-of-effect damage (before reductions), the effect ends immediately, and all of your ninken are unable to be summoned for four weeks (as discussed in Summons -> Ninken -> Terms of Contract).
The Inugami is said to be created by the death of a starving dog buried up to its neck and left to die with food just out of reach. As the myth goes, the spirit will then serve its former master, but at times will remember how its life ended and turn upon whoever bound it to that fate.
Whether or not there’s any truth in that story, the canine contract does provide the ability to summon these spirits. They look like elongated, white-bodied dogs with brown heads and paws. They don’t speak, and aren’t affectionate by any means, but will serve the shinobi who summoned them faithfully. After being called it flies towards its unfortunate victim and vanishes into their body.
Effects: Choose a single target to be cursed by the Inugami. While cursed, the target suffers a -3 penalty to Accuracy and their d20 rolls. This includes Accuracy, defenses, skill rolls, and Stamina and Chakra Exhaustion–but not damage for attacks which roll d20s for damage.
This penalty lasts until the target rolls a natural 15 or higher on one of their affected d20 rolls, at which point the curse is broken. If they roll a natural 20 while affected by the curse, it is instead reflected upon the shinobi who summoned the Inugami, who must then break it by the normal means. (If they in turn roll a natural 20, it is once more reflected upon the victim, until someone breaks it without rolling a 20).
Notably, there is no defense against this curse; it cannot be dodged, blocked, or so on.
Not only is the Inugami able to curse an enemy but it can also take over a person’s body. Ordinarily, this is incredibly difficult to do; however, if a shinobi wishes it they may willingly give themselves over to possession by the Inugami. While ordinary people possessed by an Inugami begin to act like dogs themselves, shinobi are able to stave off the worst of that.
Effects: The severity of any Bleed, Paralysis, Shock, and Poison effects you are suffering from is reduced by X for the duration of the possession. If this reduces a Poison to 0, it will not automatically negate any other effects of that poison. Every 10 IC you recover X Hit Points, or X Vitality if you aren’t missing any Hit Points.
Any time you take an action and roll a 5 or less on a d20, you suffer from a Stun 5 effect after the action is completed, as you must contend with keeping your canine instincts under control.
Each of the ninken teams has a distinct uniform signifying their village orientation, and yes, dogs wearing forehead protectors or shirts with village insignia does look ridiculous. From there, each of the 8 dogs is usually of a breed that would be well suited to their chosen specialty. The ninken teams seem to be separated by village and also by generations. What this means is that the team of ninken your grandpa summoned are not the ones you’re going to be summoning.
“X” is the number of Ninken you are summoning at once, and “Y” is the number of times you have used Kuchiyose no Jutsu to summon your ninken in the past week (OOC day).
Ninken are some of the most loyal of all summons, and in most cases are happy to help their summoners. Even if mildly abused, the ninken will continue to do what their summoners ask.
They’re talking dogs that use ninja skills, what’s not to love?!
No ninken are poodles, chihuahuas, or other small, annoying, yappy dogs.
Vitality: 400
STR: 50
RES: 50
CHA: 30
DEX: 50
AGI: 50
Accuracy: 21
Dodge: +11
Damage Bonus: 3.3
Genjutsu Defense: +8
Movement: 2 yards per IC.
Athletics: +10
Awareness: +10
Chakra Control: +10
Espionage: +10
Resistance: +15
Stealth: +10
Survival: +15
Ninja Training
Despite not having enough Chakra Control, each of the Ninken has the equivalent of the abilities Wall Walking and Water Walking.
Tireless
Ninken do not need to make Stamina or Chakra Exhaustion rolls when they act. If forced to by an outside force (such as Suffocation), they have +5 to their rolls.
Tracking Fang Technique
If the shinobi uses the Tracking Fang Technique jutsu while one or more ninken are present on the battlefield, they will all burrow underground. They are effectively removed from combat until the end of that technique’s duration, at which point they return to fight normally. Rather than immediately un-summoning themselves after taking 300 damage (as would be normal for Tracking Fang), they take damage normally (though taking that much damage will still end Tracking Fang, as discussed in its effects).
Might of the Meek
Ninken are loyal followers of their summoners (even if they most loyal when given something to eat), and are in fact capable of learning from them (no matter what people say) to perform adequately beside their summoners throughout their lives. Whenever you summon a Ninken, subtract the minimum XP required to summon it (1000 XP) from your Earned XP: that is the X value to determine what bonuses, if any, it gets from the following modifiers. X has a maximum of 4000.
In all cases, you round down. The bonus to skill rolls only applies to skills the summon has listed.
Standard Actions (Speed as normal)
This Summon may use Block, Dodge, Move, and Search actions as described in the Combat chapter of the PHB without spending any of the summoner’s AP. In addition, they can use Escape Grapple (E-rank Grapple jutsu) without having to pay any cost for its use.
Bite (Speed 10, AP 6)
The standard method of attack for a canine is the bite and takedown, something they’ve been doing for millenia. Attacking at the feet and legs, this counts as a basic unarmed attack and inflicts 5d10 Blunt damage. If the canine succeeds by 5 or more, it can make a automatic grapple check. If the canine wins the grapple check, the opponent does not suffer the normal penalties for being grabbed, but may break free using the normal methods; the main purpose of this is enabling use of the Takedown ability (below).
Takedown (Speed 6, AP 8)
After getting a good bite down on an opponent, the canine gives a good shake and tug, aiming to drag their target down to the ground. This can be used while the canine is grappling a foe, make a grapple check, if succesful the target is knocked prone and still trapped in the grapple. A prone person has -3 accuracy, -2 to defensive actions, and moves at reduced speed (check grapple, or half if the canine loses the grapple).
Track (Speed 20, AP 5)
The canine uses their superior senses, usually those of smell, to track down their quarry. This uses a survival roll with a +5 bonus to follow tracks towards a target. The difficulty of the check is based on the conditions. A standard non-ninja requires only a 15 to track. A shinobi normally requires a 20, but if they are trying to cover their tracks they get an opposed survival check, or a stealth check at -5. For each day old the track is the difficulty to track increases by +2. Rain or shifting ground conditions imposes a +5. Heavy rainfall, mudslides, or tracking over running water imposes a +10.
Used in combat, this is a Survival roll with a +5 bonus against the Stealth TN of any hidden individuals. The dog may then Point Out whoever they’ve found, as per the normal rules for that action.
The Leader
The most charismatic of most Ninken teams, the leader can act without using the summoner’s AP.
The Brute
Called for when a little muscle is needed, the Brute has a STR of 90, a Damage Bonus of 6.0, and a +5 bonus to grapple rolls.
Bloodhound
In addition to following tracks, the Bloodhound can also be given a bit of blood from a bleeding target or a garment of clothing with the target’s scent to follow. Additionally, the bloodhound can use survival instead of awareness to notice a target in stealth. The bloodhound has a +10 bonus to its Survival rolls, and in combat does not need to spend the summoner’s AP to use its Track ability.
Bombsniffer
The Bombsniffer can use Survival to check for traps rather than Awareness or Espionage, and has a +5 bonus to doing so. In addition, it can sniff the remains of a detonated explosion and attempt to track the one who prepared or detonated the explosive tags.
Scout
The Scout has an Awareness skill of +15. It may use the Search and Point Out actions (as described in Chapter 3) without using any of the summoner’s AP. It uses Search as a Speed 4 action.
Tiny
The Tiny dog has a Stealth skill of +20, and can use its Bite attack without breaking Stealth, though each time it does so its Stealth TN is reduced by 5. It may use the Hide and Improve Hiding abilities as described in Chapter 3, without spending any of the summoner’s AP. It can hide from anyone who is suffering from a -4 or greater visibility penalty.
Acrobat
The Acrobat is fast and agile, having an Athletics skill of +15, a movement speed of 3 yards per IC, and a dodge bonus of +16 (in place of the normal +11, not on top of it).
Spy
The Spy is a master of disguise and manipulation, having an Espionage skill of +15 and also the unique ability to use the ninjutsu art of Henge no Jutsu, though doing so has a Chakra cost of 15, and it cannot be maintained for more than half an hour.
The ninken are a very laid-back and devoted group of creatures, showing extreme loyalty in most cases to their summoners. As such, they’re usually fine with whatever task needs to be done, unless the summoner wants one of them to risk their life for the summoner’s own material gain.
They’re also one of the few summons that will fight other animals of the same contract. Ninken will work against shinobi who’ve signed the canine contract, and even other ninken teams, as long as they’re from a different village; a team of Sand ninken will have no problem fighting a team of Leaf ninken and their master.
That said, regardless of village affiliations the ninken will have nothing to do with the Mountain Dogs or Oguchi-no-Makami. If either of those are summoned into battle against them, the ninken will promptly flee with their tails between their legs and unsummon themselves.
Unlike most summons, you can also summon ninken repeatedly in the same week (OOC day).
If a dog has all its Vitality depleted, that particular ninken cannot be summoned for four weeks. The Tracking Fang Technique cannot be used if one or more of your dogs are recovering after such an event.
The Mountain Dogs (or wolves, as westerners know them), are always summoned in a pair. They appear as two giant wolves with grey coats and white undersides. While they’re capable of speaking, they prefer not to, instead usually opting to growl their distaste. Unless the summoner is considerably more powerful than them, they’ll assertively bully their own summoner around.
The wolves’ shoulders reach the height of a single-story building’s roof, and they’re nearly thirty feet long from the nose to the tip of their tail.
If the summoner has less than 5000 XP, the Mountain Dogs will view them as a lower member of the pack and expect them to follow orders. At this level they won’t be willing to do much beyond protect the summoner; if called on when the summoner isn’t in genuine trouble or facing down another summoned animal, it’s unlikely that they’ll help at all.
If the summoner has 5000 to 6000 XP, the Mountain Dogs will view them as barely an equal. They’ll look for reasons to bully the summoner around and nip at them in a show of dominance. They’ll grudgingly speak from time to time, but will avoid doing so more than they have to. At this point the summoner is seen as a rival for dominance.
Above 6000 XP, the Mountain Dogs are subservient, acknowledging the summoner as the leader of their “pack.” They still won’t be quite as agreeable as the ninken, and will expect to be treated reasonably well, but turnabout is fair play in terms of them being bossed around.
Vitality: 2400
STR: 100
RES: 100
CHA: 100
DEX: 120
AGI: 100
Accuracy: 40
Dodge: +25
Damage Bonus: 8
Genjutsu Defense: +30
Movement: 10 yards per IC.
Athletics: +20
Awareness: +25
Resistance: +20
Stealth: +30
Survival: +40
Hamstring
Whenever a mountain dog strikes someone with their Bite attack, that person’s movement speed is reduced by 5% for the next 25 IC. This ability stacks with itself, up to a maximum of 10 times. All stacks of Hamstring expire 25 IC after the most recently applied one. For example, if you were hit by Hamstring 12 times, once every 10 IC, the last time being on IC 123, you would be at -50% movement speed until IC 148. This does not stack with immobilization; whichever provides the higher movement speed reduction overrides the other (though this has no bearing on immobilization’s accuracy and dodge penalties).
Large
Against anyone who is not Large or larger in size, their physical damage bonus is doubled (meaning all ninja except those with the Large Unique, Akimichi in Baika X = 6+, or Summons with the Large, Huge, or Titanic attributes). They halve any knockback effects due to their size.
Pack Tactics
Wolves excel at attacking as a group. Whenever anyone with the Pack Tactics ability acts on the same initiative count and makes a melee-range unarmed, any number of them may declare they are using Pack Tactics. When using Pack Tactics, the target uses the Speed of the slowest attack (that is, the one with the highest numerical Speed) to determine which interrupts their target can use, but must defend against each attack separately. The sum of the Speed of the defenses that the target wishes to use must be valid to use against that speed. For example, if both wolves attack with a Speed 10 Bite, the target’s defenses cannot have a total Speed greater than (10/2) 5. They could dodge and parry, or dodge both, but two parries would be impossible (Speed 3*2 = 6).
Pack Membership
The summoner of the Mountain Dogs gains the Pack Tactics ability as long as at least one of the wolves remains in battle.
Strength of Many
The Mountain Dogs are able to fight more effectively alongside a worthy summoner. They add (the summoner’s unarmed taijutsu Accuracy bonus)/5 to their own Accuracy; this does not include the base 10, and ignores Fatigue and status effects. Similarly, they add (the summoner’s Dodge bonus)/5 to their own Dodge bonus, with the same rules.
Tireless
Mountain Dogs do not need to make Stamina or Chakra Exhaustion rolls when it act. If forced to by an outside force (such as Suffocation), they have +15 to their rolls.
Standard Actions
The Mountain Dogs can use the Block, Dodge, Move, and Search actions as described in Combat without spending any of the summoner’s AP.
Bite (Speed 10, AP 6)
The preferred attack for a canine is the bite and takedown, something they’ve been doing for millenia. Whereas a smaller dog would go for the legs, the mountains wolves have no need to do so. A bite is a basic unarmed attack inflicting 12d12 Blunt damage. If the attack hits by 5 points or more, it may automatically use its Takedown attack (see below).
Intercept (Speed 20, 15 AP)
Wolves are already apex predators in their natural environments; the summoned versions adapt most of the techniques they would use for hunting prey when fighting their enemies. This may be used as an Interrupt against anyone who’s spent 10 or more of the last 20 IC moving, with a range of (5)*(the number of IC the target spent moving in the past 20 IC) yards. The wolf lunges for them, attempting to simultaneously bite and tackle them. This deals 6d20 Blunt damage, receives only half the Mountain Dog’s damage bonus, and is an automatic Surprise Attack. If it hits, it inflicts a Stun 12.
Takedown (Speed +6, AP 4)
After hitting with their bite attack by 5 points or more, the mountain dog may attempt to savage its victim and throw them to the ground. This requires an opposed grapple roll; if successful, the damage from Bite is increased by 25% and the target is knocked prone as if by the E-rank Trip taijutsu. Notably, this cannot be used against someone who’s already prone.
Track (Speed 20, AP 5)
The canine uses their superior senses, usually those of smell, to track down their quarry. This uses a survival roll with a +5 bonus to follow tracks towards a target. The difficulty of the check is based on the conditions. A standard non-ninja requires only a 15 to track. A shinobi normally requires a 20, but if they are trying to cover their tracks they get an opposed survival check, or a stealth check at -5. For each day old the track is the difficulty to track increases by +2. Rain or shifting ground conditions imposes a +5. Heavy rainfall, mudslides or tracking over running water imposes a +10.
The mountain dogs are feral wolves, and as such care nothing for the world of ninja. Instead, they care only about their own pack and territories. Generally speaking, they’ll be only minimally inclined to assist a summoner unless that shinobi’s wishes align with their own.
That said, if the summoner is in danger, they will generally rush to their pack’s defense. However, if the summoner bit off far more than they could possibly handle, and should have (by the wolves’ judgement) realized that ahead of time, odds are the wolves will let them get what they deserve. A member of the pack who is a detriment to its safety will simply be left to fend for themselves.
For other issues, it’s a matter of needing a connection to pack or territory. Protecting prospective mates, hunting grounds, prey, or fellow ‘pack members’ (which is to say, allies) from assailants or outside interference are all completely acceptable reasons to call on the Mountain Dogs.
On the other hand, asking them to show up to kill a random bystander or an enemy who isn’t worth their time, or to flaunt their power for the summoner’s sake, will typically earn the summoner a bite for their insolence–and count as a Breach of Contract.
Oguchi-no-Makami, the “True God of the Great Mouth”, has a mythical status and is believed by some to be a force of nature, or an incarnation of nature itself. Stories can be found across the world of a giant wolf-spirit by that name guarding an ancient forest. Of course, none can agree about the size of guardian spirit, or which forest it’s protecting, so most shinobi concur that it’s nothing more than a legend.
Even so, there’s at least one very real being by that name. Oguchi is a giant white wolf, more than fifty feet tall at the shoulder and over a hundred feet long. Lending some credence to the story, it’s able to maneuver forests (and cities, and similarly crowded areas) without disturbing a single leaf, despite its incredible size. While Oguchi is dwarfed by many of the other avatars in sheer size, it’s still a powerful creature, one that should not be underestimated.
Oguchi is fierce and powerful, bowing to no one. Its summoners are members of its pack asking for help, not entitled masters calling it into battle to serve them. Many summoners with this contract can report Oguchi simply ignoring their attempts to summon it; the common consensus is that he’ll only appear when his “pack” is in danger.
What exactly this constitutes is unclear, but summoning the Mountain Dogs into battle before it is likely to help. As with all wolves, Oguchi is quick to show dominance, and does not tolerate division among the pack. Oguchi is quick to quell any disagreements, and always ready to protect his (or is it her?) possessions.
Yes, possessions: Oguchi considers both the land and his pack to be its rightful property, and will fight savagely to protect them.