Hound of the Gloom

This powerful quadruped vaguely resembles a huge dog or bear. Its massive, hairless body ripples with extraordinary musculature. Its hide is sleek and milky-white in color, and bony plates cover its head and protect its eyes. Long tentacles ring the head like a lion’s mane. Two of the tentacles, longer than the others, end in oddly humanlike hands.

Hounds of the gloom remain a mystery. No records of appearances by such creatures go back farther than ten years. Since then, sightings have become more numerous each year. Fortunately, the beasts are still rare in most regions.

Sages speculate that the creatures might be distant relatives of displacer beasts that lived deep underground, and only within the last decade moved close enough to the surface to encounter civilized races or even the subterranean-dwelling dwarves. Whether a desire for fresh hunting grounds or simply an opportunity to indulge their base curiosity resulted in the hounds moving toward the surface of the world, they seem here to stay.

Hounds are aggressive and fierce, but they are not dumb animals. When hunting, a hound makes use of terrain to gain any possible advantage. They are normally solitary, but mated pairs have been encountered. These work together to kill or drive off any threats to their young. Despite the danger presented by such fearsome parents, some of the more evil subterranean races have taken up the practice of capturing young hounds to raise and train. Specifically, the neogi, the drow, the grell, and the mind flayers all see a use in the powerful beasts. If a pup is taken young enough, it accepts its new world easily, especially if it’s well fed and allowed to fight. Some underground races have also trained hounds as gladiatorial beasts to fight and die in arenas.

An average hound of the gloom weighs about 1,000 pounds. Hounds understand Undercommon but do not speak any humanoid language (although they can converse with each other in their own language).

Combat

Hounds ambush victims by leaping directly into melee. They use their natural climbing ability to reach a point above their target, then leap down in a deadly pounce from above. The creatures attack with bite, foreclaws, and the two larger tentacles surrounding their heads, which are much longer than the others. These two tentacles have a reach of 10 feet and end in fi ve-fi ngered hands that look almost identical to human hands, except they have strong, sharp claws instead of nails.

Once engaged, a hound uses its bite and claw attacks against a single foe. A target that withstands several blows or one that deals the hound a significant amount of damage is the target of the hound’s poisoned hands.

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, the hound must hit with a tentacle attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking attacks of opportunity.

Poison (Ex): Injury, Fortitude DC 23, initial and secondary damage 1d8 Dex. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Pounce (Ex): If a hound of the gloom charges a foe, it can make a full attack, including two tentacle attacks.

Skills: Hounds of the gloom have a +4 racial bonus on Listen and Spot checks. They have a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks and can always choose to take 10 on Climb checks, even if rushed or threatened.

Source: Lords of Madness, page 153. Corrected average hit points from 154 to 138.