Displacer beast

A displacer beast, also known as a dirlagraun, was a monstrous magical creature.

Description
Displacer beasts were large cat-like creatures, sometimes described as panther or puma-like with six legs and a pair of long tentacles sprouting from their shoulders. They were covered in a pelt of blue-black fur. They were usually about 9 feet long and weighed as much as 500 pounds, but the occasional mutant could be twice this size. In some versions, they were considered to be emaciated.

Abilities
Displacer beasts used their innate magic to bend light, making them appear to be a foot or two from their actual positions.

Displacer beasts were not very intelligent, but they were more so than animals and could even speak some Common.

Ecology
These monsters lived in small groups or preferred to be alone. Many humanoids trained them to act as guards or pets, such as members of the Unseelie Court and onis.

Society
Like many big cats, displacer beasts often were pack hunters, although they were sometimes encountered alone.

Uses
Displacer beasts' hide was a valuable commodity, used to create highly sought-after enchanted items such as Kumakawa hide armors and cloaks of displacement.

History
The beast appears to have originated in the Feywild. In the Feywild they were trained by the Unseelie court for hunting purposes. Eventually the Displacer beasts broke free of the fey's control and roamed causing chaos wherever they went. After they left captivity, the Unseelie court sent out blink dogs to track and drive the Displacer beasts out of the Feywild and into the materiel plane.

Another theory posited that displacer beasts had their origin in Bhaal, the Lord of Murder, who brought forth the first displacer beast, Shantu, using the a corrupted moonwell on the island of Gwynneth in the Moonshae Isles.

Notable Displacer Beasts

 * The elf druid Wyllow had a displacer beast companion called Crissann named after a human mercenary wizard she had befriended many years ago. Halaster turned her against Wyllow and she was forced to kill the mercenary.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
 * Novels
 * Darkwell
 * The Ring of Winter
 * Video Games
 * Curse of the Azure Bonds • Eye of the Beholder • Gateway to the Savage Frontier • Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance • Dungeons & Dragons: Eye of the Beholder • • Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear
 * Board Games
 * Faerûn Under Siege
 * Card Games
 * AD&D Trading Cards
 * Organized Play & Licensed Adventures
 * Through Twilight Boughs &bull; When the Lights Went Out in Candlekeep
 * Through Twilight Boughs &bull; When the Lights Went Out in Candlekeep