Thaarak Hound

Level:

Creature Type: Outsider

Alignment: Evil

Environment: Any

Attack: Bite, breath, dance of death

Special Qualities: Fear, DR 3/Law

Organization: Solitary, pair, or gang (5-10)

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After meeting one of the daelkyr’s hunting hounds, my advice to the adventurer encountering it for the first time would be: run. Of course, given the creature’s dogged (ahem) persistence and quick speed, that’s not especially likely to work. And while the tharaak hound may be amused by entreaties for mercy or surrender, that avenue isn’t likely to meet with success. So, fight you must, though the odds be long. Perhaps you’ll have time to scratch out a loving good-bye to a friend, mate, or mother on a nearby stone or wall.

In combat, be sure that your wizard and cleric prepare any potential victims with Remove fear, Deathward, and Protection Against Acid. As accomplished adventurers know, casting a preemptive Remove Fear gives all of the allies protection for some time. The Protection Against Death effects makes the target proof against a lucky phantasmal killer that the hound is likely to summon. Finally, the acid immunity serves good stead given the tharaak’s breath that deals damage not just once, but in the minutes that follow as it seeps into the skin and internal organs. Stoneskin and other general defensive enchantments remain good ideas as well, given the strength of the monster’s bite. Offensive spells against the tharaak are frequently fruitless anyway, given that the hellspawned whelp possesses a resistance to spell energy that make the drow of Xen’drik envious. Add to that, it has excellent saving throws, as it is an outsider.

The hound possesses a minor degree of damage reduction against all weapons save Lawful ones, which is an oddity for a daelkry-spawn, as they are normally vulnerable to Byeskh.