D&D Basic Monsters: Wolf

A small step back today, to the common, or grey wolf. Maybe not the most exotic of beasts, but never the less a creature that has sparked more than its share of myths, tales and folklore. Interestingly this cousin and forefather of "man's best friend", the dog, is usually seen as an enemy of man, and children are just as likely to be scared by tales of "the Big Bad Wolf" as those of ghosts, trolls or the bogeyman.

In medieval times and earlier, wolves were common in Europe, but constant friction between men and wolves lead to intense hunting leading to extinction of the species in many countries. For instance, in Britain the last wolf in England was hunted to extinction as early as the sixteenth century, during the reign of king Henry VIII, though the species persevered in Scotland until 1684, when the last one was killed.

Not surprisingly, the wolf has been with D&D pretty much since the start, though they've usually had to take second row to other, more fantastic wolf-like creatures, such as the Worg, the Dire Wolf , the Winter Wolf or the Werewolf.