K9 Unit - What can they search for?

[blackjack50]

So I am coming in to the third game of the guard campaign. It has been running just fine with a small gang activity under current. The players now have some sailors that don’t like them, but as a result of some of the conflict they are now having to deal with searches on people coming in the dock wards of Water Deep. So I have 2 questions.

What I am going to do is have the players interact with the “K-9 unit” on a warrant. What I am thinking is having some sailors connected to my local gang activity. The gang has been involved in burglary and theft.

1)What are some things they could be smuggling/stealing that a Dog could be used for? I mean there is drugs and booze...but that’s all I’ve really come up with.

2) Should someone bitten be considered grappled? There is the DC 11 strength check or be knocked prone. Should they be counted as grappled too? Or should they be considered grappled if the dog bites them? I was thinking of a 5-10 foot movement speed if they don’t get knocked prone but the dog is able to bite.

[Man_Over_Game]

So I am coming in to the third game of the guard campaign. It has been running just fine with a small gang activity under current. The players now have some sailors that don’t like them, but as a result of some of the conflict they are now having to deal with searches on people coming in the dock wards of Water Deep. So I have 2 questions.

What I am going to do is have the players interact with the “K-9 unit” on a warrant. What I am thinking is having some sailors connected to my local gang activity. The gang has been involved in burglary and theft.

1)What are some things they could be smuggling/stealing that a Dog could be used for? I mean there is drugs and booze...but that’s all I’ve really come up with.

2) Should someone bitten be considered grappled? There is the DC 11 strength check or be knocked prone. Should they be counted as grappled too? Or should they be considered grappled if the dog bites them? I was thinking of a 5-10 foot movement speed if they don’t get knocked prone but the dog is able to bite.

On the Prone aspect, since these are trained dogs, you can probably afford to jack up the DC, or have Disadvantage to Save against it. If you do change it to a grapple, make it a special grapple that reduces the dog's speed by 0 while the creature is conscious and hostile.

On the smuggling, a few ideas are Component Pouches, bootleg healing potions, weapons, gunpowder, Clones of a Wizard, stolen spellbooks, invisibility potions (potentially illegal in cities), or any good that is being levied. People were often smuggled, too.

[blackjack50]

On the Prone aspect, since these are trained dogs, you can probably afford to jack up the DC, or have Disadvantage to Save against it. If you do change it to a grapple, make it a special grapple that reduces the dog's speed by 0 while the creature is conscious and hostile.

On the smuggling, a few ideas are Component Pouches, bootleg healing potions, weapons, gunpowder, Clones of a Wizard, stolen spellbooks, invisibility potions (potentially illegal in cities), or any good that is being levied. People were often smuggled, too.

Good point about the speed. I think I will do that. I thought about bumping the DC up a tad, but the criminals are pretty weak right now. They are small timers really. Not really warriors. So my players have had a good mix of combat and RP. I am about to ramp up the difficulty a bit on them though. Since they angered the sailors I’m thinking about throwing a riot at them after they shut down the smuggling ring. It depends on the next game.

I think untaxed potions is a great idea. That way I can have a reason to have a “Boston Tea Party” type riot. My players have been pretty above board and only the monk has flirted with corruption and excessive force after smacking a pervert noble around. That should hopefully get resolved this next game.

[Sparky McDibben]

On a point about people, there's a couple different ways to go there. You could have them be human trafficking victims or refugees fleeing a crisis. Or, if you really want to scare the crap out of your players, you just describe that the inside of a crate/cargo box/what have you] is littered with decaying bones and covered in claw marks. The floor has been pulled up, and a large hole has been mauled into the deck planking. Something's on the ship with them. Something...hungry.

For extra creepy points, maybe have it be a rakshasa, doppelganger, dybbuk, or other shapechanger. Or maybe its a monstrous spellcaster with alter self. Maybe its hidden itself in the cargo hold - but maybe its killed one of the sailors and is wearing their face. Maybe one of the backup cops from the PC's unit goes missing and reappears with a slightly weird accent as the shapechanger shifts again. To be clear, the goal of the monster isn't to kill the PCs - it doesn't even want to engage them. But it really wants to get past them into Waterdeep. Might be a great way to set up a recurring villain!

[olskool]

Some of the things real-life k9s can do...

Detect Drugs, Chemicals (like explosives), track a SPECIFIC TARGET IF you have an object with that target's scent on it, Detect Living beings by Smell OR Sound (sentry dogs) at around 10 TIMES a human's perception range.

Dogs also seem to be able to "sense" unusual phenomena like the approach of a bad storm, certain illnesses in humans and other dogs, or supernatural beings. The various magical disciplines such as Wickin or Vodoo caution against having dogs present at various rituals because they can become violent or aggressive during the ritual in question. This is often cited as the dog sensing otherworldly phenomena and lashing out in fear of what they are sensing.

[Knaight]

They can search for anything. Train them to bark on command, get them to bark at whatever, leverage that bark into probable cause, and search whatever you damn well please. In some jurisdictions you might need to add a step where you get a search warrant based on the bark, but you can probably get away without it as a rule.

In terms of what the dogs can actually find, mostly it's tracking individual people and fairly volatile substances sealed poorly.

[Telok]

If the local tariffs are high enough smuggling bolts of cloth, or even flour, can be profitable.

Does the local smithing guild have a political chokehold on the city council? 300% tariffs on imported metal goods. Suddenly smuggling silverware is highly profitable.

[blackjack50]

So I’ve got it so that the K-9 unit is going to be used for tracking smugglers because my players definitely have it headed for a riot over their handling of the sailors (actually harder on them than the Xanathar gang lol). I’m going to have the sailors smuggling potions, ale, and foodstuffs. I’m kind of happy this turned in to what it did. I may looking for riot squad advice next. But I have some ideas on that.

[Kurt Kurageous]

Use the grapple RAW in PHB (p195) for a dog grabbing and holding a subject. No special rules needed.

Since their are already advantaged on smell, its only a question of training. The K9 units I knew would sit when they detected the thing they specialized in. Barking is not always best tell.

[Vogie]

So I’ve got it so that the K-9 unit is going to be used for tracking smugglers because my players definitely have it headed for a riot over their handling of the sailors (actually harder on them than the Xanathar gang lol). I’m going to have the sailors smuggling potions, ale, and foodstuffs. I’m kind of happy this turned in to what it did. I may looking for riot squad advice next. But I have some ideas on that.

You can steal from the incredibly amusing IRL story of the Swiss Cheese Mafia (https://thinkgrowth.org/the-swiss-cheese-mafia-1dd096425f0d?gi=163d22a1c942) (also available as a Podcast (https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/10/10/355177578/episode-575-the-fondue-conspiracy)), and drop it into your city.

So the smugglers are smuggling cheese, which already tends to have a smell.

When it comes to a Riot Squad, I've always thought it'd be cool to have a Eldritch Smite Bladelock 7/Arcane Archer 3 blend to use Ghostly Gaze and Piercing Arrow to sight and shoot their targets through walls.

[Vogie]

Tangentially related - Having heard parts of the new album by the Mountain Goats, a "Cadaver Sniffing Dog" should be considered at some point in the future.

[blackjack50]

Tangentially related - Having heard parts of the new album by the Mountain Goats, a "Cadaver Sniffing Dog" should be considered at some point in the future.

I have a friend who is a contractor for the State of Florida and federal government with his Company. He trains scent dogs and uses is hired by different departments for fugitive/search and rescue incidents. He also has Cadaver dogs in the event of natural disaster (which he had to use in the last major Hurricane in North Florida).

But yea. The K9s worked great and are a fun mechanic for guards. I’m going to run another one of these watch/gaird campaigns in the not too distant future. I’m going to see if my friends will want a to be K9 or SWAT (less RP, more combat).