Hellhound (2024)

Summary[]

Hellhounds are magical dhole/fox/jackal/dog/wolfdog/hyena/Coyote/wolf/dingo/wild dog-like hybrid creatures with deep rust/red colored short hair with a black tongue and teeth who specialize in hunting and their fiery bite attack.

Hellhounds are not usually found in existance in prime material plane. However, they are sometimes summoned by people for various duties or were summoned at one point and bred. Hellhounds are inherently evil.

It is believed that some wizards mayuse hellhound parts as components in their spells.

Key Events[]

• First appeared on RollPlay early in Week 3 as the party was escorting Marrrr 's caravan from Haven, following them stealthily for miles. The party approached the hellhound causing it to back off. The party began to head back to the caravan after losing interest in this "dog", as they perceived it. The dog then rushed the party and breathes flames from his mouth atAbigael. The killing blow to the hellhound is dealt by Bregor who shot an arrow at the hellhound's face, pinning its jaws together with the arrow and killing it. After killing this creature, four more hellhounds attack the caravan. The party kills this pack of hellhounds, save one who retreats, but not before suffering injuries to the caravan, including two horses dying, Vincent and Marrrr being seriously injured, and Marrrr's 6 year old brother being killed. Bregor skins the hellhounds and removes their teeth.
• The Hellhounds would later appear as apparent allies to the Ogres that served the Hill Giant.

Habitat/Society[]

Hell hounds are native to those extradimensional planes notable for their hot, fiery landscapes. There they roam in packs of 2d20 beasts. The hell hounds on the Prime Material plane are summoned there to serve the needs of evil creatures. Most of them later escape to the wild.Hell hounds may have 4 to 7 (1d4+3) Hit Dice. The more Hit Dice a hell hound has, the larger it is and the more damage it causes. Each pack is led by a 7-Hit Die hell hound. The leader drives off other 7 HD rivals, who form their own packs.

The diet of hell hounds is similar to that of normal canines. They roam a wide area of 1d10+4 square miles centered on their den. Pack territories may overlap.They do not easily reproduce on the Prime Material plane. Only 5% of encounters include puppies. Such puppies are born in litters of 2d4. They burp flame uncontrollably at least once a day. The flames are harmless aside from the tendency to set fire to anything flammable in the area. Newborn puppies are at 10% of the adult growth; they quickly grow an additional 5% each month and reach full adult growth (4 HD) in 1½ years.

While growing they can attack with their incendiary bite. Hell hound puppies up to two months old inflict 1 point of damage. Older ones add an additional 1 point for each additional six months of growth.Prey is usually eaten where it is slain, though hell hounds occasionally haul a carcass back to their den for later meals. Hell hounds are also similar to normal canines in that they may act as retrievers. Some objects are specifically sought; this is especially the case in trained hell hounds. Other hell hounds are simply playful and use the retrieved items as toys.

They especially like noisy bags and pouches filled with their late victims' treasures. Flammable containers eventually burn and spill their contents in or around the den. Parchments are rarely found here unless protected by nonflammable containers.

Ecology[]

Hell hounds have little place in the ecology of the normal world. They are dangerous annoyances prone to cause fires wherever they hunt. Hell hounds cause more forest fires than any other creature except for humanoids. Hell hounds have their uses, though. Because of their ability to easily detect hidden or invisible creatures, hell hounds make excellent watch dogs, especially for intelligent monsters such as fire giants. Hell hounds can be domesticated if raised from puppies, but there is a 10% chance each year that domesticated hell hounds go wild.