Thaarak Hound

Type: Evil Outsider (List)

Race: Hellhound (List)

Sub-race: Thaarak Hound (List)

Monster Manual classification: Hell Hound

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Rare: No

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

CR:  ♦12Normal ♠15Elite ●♦21Epic Normal ●♠44Epic Elite

Attack: Bite (Piercing, Evil), Claw (Slashing, Evil), Breath weapon: Acid Breath; Acid Blast, Dance of Death, Cyclonic Blast

Special Qualities: Fear Aura, DR  ♦5/Lawful, 10/MagicNormal

Habitats:

• Against the Demon Queen (quest)
• Delirium
• Dreams of Insanity
• Entering the Gate Chamber
• Escort the Expedition
• Hold for Reinforcements
• Invaders!
• Tempest's Spine
• The Keeper's Sanctuary — Big room on west side
• The Library of Threnal
• The Missing Expedition
• The Prisoner — Guarding the ladder after you defeat the beholder by the shrine. On epic, two accompany each beholder. Epic DR:  ●♦15Epic Normal ●♥15Epic Hard
• The Xorian Cipher
• Legendary Tempest's Spine

Description: Tharaak hounds mainly engage in melee combat trying to slash and bite their opponents down. Should those attacks not quickly dispatch their enemies however, they will use their more advanced abilities: Acid Blast and Dance of Death.

Dance of Death

Dance of death is a Tharaak main special ability. They will stand up on their hind legs and start to dance while focused on one opponent. Their dance takes around 4-5 seconds and when complete can scare even the bravest adventurers to death. It works exactly like the spell Phantasmal Killer upon completion. However note the Hound is very vulnerable while in this dancing state as he must stand on his 2 hind legs to complete it. A powerful enough blow will knockdown the hound and interrupt his dance (any damage dealt has a chance of knocking down the hound). You can also negate it with either deathblock items or a deathward spell. Once knocked down, continue to attack the hound and with some effort you should kill it, if not perhaps attempt to trip it to keep it down when it gets back up. While hounds are somewhat resistant to trips when standing on all 4 legs, they have far lower strength saves than most four legged creatures of similar level.

Fear Aura

A Thaarak hound's mere presence strikes fears into its enemies. Anyone nearby must make a fairly low will save or be feared, as the fear spell. Negate this with greater heroism or other fear immunity items/abilities.