Sight Hounds

Sight hounds are artificial creatures created through a combination of obscure but well-documented alchemic processes. Their exact appearance varies between manufacturers and depends on the mix of sample tissues used in growing them, but most sight hounds look like mid-sized dogs with pointy ears, fluffy coats, curled tails, and large blocky heads. The common feature they all have is the villi array.

The top of a sight hound's head and neck from the top of their muzzle to their withers is covered in a dense pelt of sensory tentacles and villi that let them see and track energy fields and abstract concepts. They have rudimentary eyes at the ends of the stalks to avoid running into obstacles, but most of their vision isn't aimed at the physical world.

Making sight hounds is cheap, but training them is difficult and expensive. It takes a skilled trainer to teach a hound to recognize what a lie looks like, the exact shades of different types of magic, or the nuances of the electromagnetic spectrum. The best of them graft on a rudimentary villi array of their own, replacing an eye and section of skull with the new sensory organ to better understand what their charges see.

Emotion is the one thing all sight hounds instinctively understand. When you're happy, they know. When you're scared, they know. And when you say they're good, they know you mean it.

Roscoe

Roscoe is an exceptionally large mastiff. He's not very bright and is terrified of loud noises (like combat), but he's very gentle and loyal. No one owns Roscoe. He's his own dog, but he'll stay with the party through any hardship. Roscoe loves belly rubs and pets, thinks he's a lap dog, and he will slobber on you. 

"Good boy"

Roscoe's solid presence and encouraging boofs give an advantage to saves against fear. He won't fight but he'll stand by and bark supportively. He won't let himself be hit by enemies and he won't abandon his people. 

"What's wrong, boy?"

His keen senses let him detect threats and alert friends with a warning boof. The party can't be ambushed while Roscoe is with them. If there's an opportunity to hide, the party can use Roscoe's warning to prepare and get a surprise round against approaching enemies.

"Roscoe? What are you eating? What's in your mouth?! Roscoe! Spit it out!"

Roscoe has a habit of rooting around and scarfing down random things. Occasionally he throws them back up. When the party stops for a rest or runs into an obstacle there's a 40% chance Roscoe will throw up something unlikely, but useful, he's eaten. It will be completely spit-covered. 

Unlikely-But-Useful Things (d12)

1) Ring

2) Marbles (small pouch of 10)

3) Folding pocket knife

4) Pocket first aid kit (waterproof)

5) Chalk (box of three sticks)

6) Wax paper (smells like meat/cheese)

7) Key

8) Small coil of wire (3')

9) Coin

10) Gem

11) Stoppered glass vial (oil, water, holy water, alcohol, empty, unknown potion)

12) Cake of beeswax

Roll one D12 to see if the item is:

1 - 6 Mundane

7 - 10 High quality or made with precious materials

11 - 12 Magic

When bringing up an item, Roscoe makes audible horking noises that may alert nearby creatures.

(Roscoe is originally from an item I contributed to a list of d30 followers in the OSR discord.)