BX Monsters A to Z: Hellhound

 Time for another monster! We're still working through the H-critters, and next up is the hellhound.

By the book, a hellhound is a large canine monster, reddish-brown in color and the size of a small pony ("That's quite strong, that is!" -- Eddie Izzard). It is impervious to normal fire, and highly intelligent (saving as a fighter of its full HD rather than half), often dwelling either deep in dungeons or in hot, fiery places such as volcanoes, and consorting with fire giants and other fire-loving creatures.

Mechanically, the hellhound is a bit odd. Its Armor Class of 4 is quite a bit tougher than one would expect. Its Hit Dice run anywhere from 3 to 7; apparently whoever designed the monster either wanted it to be flexible with regard to the levels of parties it could be used against, or to create uncertainty for players, or perhaps both. Its physical attack is a pretty standard bite for 1-6 damage. Its movement seems a bit slow and lumbering at 120' (40'), equal to an unencumbered human but slow compared to wolves (180' (60')) and dire wolves (150' (50')). They're encountered in groups of 2-8, and their morale is a very solid 9, so good luck driving them off. 

The hellhounds signature ability is a fiery breath, presumably directed against a single target, as no area of effect is given, which does 1-6 points of damage per Hit Die of the hound; save vs. breath weapon for half. A hellhound has a 2-in-6 chance per round of using its breath attack and 4-in-6 of biting instead. Given its high intelligence, it can be inferred that this represents a period of "recharging" the breath attack, or else it would make no sense for it to use its bite attack at all.

Hellhounds also have a 75% chance of detecting invisible creatures or objects. Presumably this ability is magical or supernatural in nature, rather than being a function of a keen canine sense of smell, since no such ability is noted for wolves. And once more, we're reminded that they save as fighters of their full HD, because apparently that is Very Important (or more likely, escaped the notice of a distracted or mentally fatigued editor). 

Interestingly, no method of determining a hellhounds Hit Dice is given. There is no obvious method of dice-rolling that would yield a result fitting the given range, either. Nor do we know whether all the hounds in a pack have the same HD, or whether each should be determined separately, or if perhaps we might determine the bulk of them on a d4+2 and the alphas with one more HD, or something like that.

Hellhounds have a pretty crappy Treasure Type for their power level, specifically Type C, which tends to consist of a lot of silver and copper and not much else. 

I'll be honest here, the hellhound is one monster I absolutely do not like. It's a big dog that breathes fire for damage, and hangs out with other fire-monsters. Even its color is the most boring possible. Colossal yawn. If I were going to make changes to the hellhound, I'd have to rebuild it from the ground up, starting with its aesthetic. It's supposed to be a Bob-damned hound from hell, not a miniature furry dragon, nor a house pet for giants. Let's see if I can come up with something better:

Armor Class: 5
Hit Dice 4**
Move: 180' (60')
Attacks: 1 bite
Damage: 1-6 + special
No. Appearing: 2-8 (2-8)
Save as: F:4
Morale: 9
Treasure Type: E
Alignment: Chaotic

A hellhound is a large dog-like monster, the size of a pony, jet black in color, with eyes that glow a hellish red. Infernal fires burn within it: fire and smoke curl from its jaws, and a smell of brimstone emanates from it. It is immune to normal fire, and takes half damage from magical fire, or none on a successful saving throw if the attack allows one. Hellhounds are fiendishly cunning, able to utilize clever deceptions and pack tactics against enemies. 

In combat, hellhounds bite for 1-6 points of damage, and the victim must save vs. death ray or any flammable materials carried or worn will ignite with magical flames, burning for 1-4 rounds, inflicting 1-6 damage per round and ruining the items if they burn more than 1 round. The flames cannot be extinguished before burning out on their own except by magical means. Hellhounds can also emit a bone-chilling howl, causing all enemies within 120' to save vs. spells or suffer a paralyzing fear, reducing movement by half and imposing a -2 penalty to all attack rolls for the next full turn or until the hounds are slain. If the save is made, that creature is immune to further howling for the rest of the encounter. Additionally, hellhounds have the supernaturally ability to detect invisible creatures and objects with 75% chance of success. Hellhounds will devour the souls of intelligent creatures they slay if allowed to feed for a turn after combat ends, making it impossible to raise or resurrect the victims. 

If five or more hounds are encountered, one will be an alpha with 6 Hit Dice, increasing the pack's morale to 10. Hellhounds are creatures of evil, and may offer service to other evil creatures or characters, usually demanding souls in payment.