What NPCs for tracker party

[HoboKnight]

Heyya,

so I have this black dragon, living in a swamp. She has a lot of minions (lizardfolk, kobolds) and enjoyes torturing captured humanoids. Occasionaly, she likes to offer to their captured "cattle" option of flight - just to hunt them down. She did, however, over the centuries, realize, an additional "hound dogs" (dedicated humanoid trackers) are cool to use just for those pesky cases, when she loses sight or scent of her pray and needs to hover over the swamp for days to finally spot it again.

This black one is not unlike Ramsay Snow - just, draconic, Smaug-size, living in Sword coast, in a swamp.

So, my question is: given their purpose and terrain - what would be best trackers/hunters for such tasks? Lizardfolk with some "marshy hound dogs"? What would that be? I'm not looking for anything with hight CR, more creatures, capable of hunting down CR 1-2 creatures.

Thanks!

[Monster Manuel]

Since they're Kobolds and Lizardfolk, which are playable races, why not just give them some class levels in ranger? If you go with the beastmaster ranger, give them a pet that has the Keen Senses ability, wolves or bears fit the bill, and that can help with the tracking. Although, given the swamp and the reptilian theme, maybe something like an alligator or constrictor snake would be better.

I know the model in 5E is that monsters are statblocks (in this case, Scout NPC statblock with kobold or lizardfolk racial attributes tacked on), in order to make it easier on the DM to not have to build NPCs from scratch every time, but in practice it's sometimes not any easier, when the perfect NPC statblock isn't available. It's great when you suddenly find yourself in need of stats for a throwaway Drow guard, but when you're taking the time to carefully plan out encounters and NPCs, you may as well build them out in some detail.

[KorvinStarmast]

So, my question is: given their purpose and terrain - what would be best trackers/hunters for such tasks? Lizardfolk with some "marshy hound dogs"? What would that be? I'm not looking for anything with hight CR, more creatures, capable of hunting down CR 1-2 creatures.

Thanks! You could go to D&D Beyond and check out the NPC Blood Hunter, but I'd wait a few levels before doing that. It's a CR 5.
Or, you could simply skin the NPC Scout as a Kobold or Lizardfolk.

Finally: Death Dogs. :smallcool: Passive Perception 15; but no survival skill, +1 Wisdom Mod is all the help it gets for tracking.