Gloom Hound
| Medium Magical Beast (Extraplanar, Evil) | |
| Hit Dice: | 6d10+12 (45 hp) |
| Initiative: | +6 (+2 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative) |
| Speed: | 90 ft. |
| Armor Class: | 16 (+2 Dex, +4 Natural), Touch 12, Flat-footed 14 |
| Base Attack/Grapple: | +6/+9 |
| Attack: | 1 bite +9 melee (1d6+4) |
| Full Attack: | 1 bite +9 melee (1d6+4) |
| Space/Reach: | 5 ft./5 ft. |
| Special Attacks: | Vampiric touch |
| Special Qualities: | Darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, fast tracker, magic immunity, spell resistance 11 |
| Saves: | Fort. +7, Ref. +7, Will +2 |
| Abilities: | Str 17, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 11 |
| Skills: | Listen +4, Spot +4, Survival +13 |
| Feats: | Alertness, Improved Initiative, Track (B) |
| Environment: | Plane of Shadow |
| Organization: | Solitary or pack (2d4) |
| Challenge Rating: | 3 |
| Treasure: | Standard |
| Alignment: | Neutral Evil |
| Advancement: | 7-12 HD (Medium); 13-18 HD (Large) |
| Level Adjustment: | - |
This creature is a 6 ft. long wolf-hound with shaggy grey hair and unpleasantly elongated muzzle. Its eyes resemble spinning vortices of pale grey vapour, while its slimy black tongue is often found hanging from its mouth.
"I'd sooner leap into the jaws of a goristro than be chased by gloom hounds again. They don't give up. They'll chase you across the plains. They'd chase you through Gomdulla's Canyon. They'd even kill the flash-beast that was eating you, just beause they'd scented you three weeks ago. Mark my words: there's something seriously wrong with the gloom hound."
- Anne Price, An Interview With A Shade
Gloom hounds are the products of another experiment of Gomdulla, a shadow dragon dwelling in a canyon within the Plane of Shadow. The gloom hounds are not actually undead, but derived from mutated shadow mastiff stock. They do not speak, but understand Draconic.
CombatA gloom hound usually attacks with its vampiric touch effect. It switches to its bite when the opponent seems immune to the negative effect. A pack of gloom hounds tend to chase a prey down, tiring it out before cornering it for the kill.
Magic Immunity (Ex): A gloom hound is immune to spells and spell-like effects with darkness and light descriptors.
Fast Tracker (Ex): A gloom hound can move at its normal speed while tracking without incurring the normal -5 penalty to survival checks. It can move at twice its speed while tracking, suffering only -10 penalty to survival checks.
Vampiric Touch (Su): A gloom hound can lash out its tongue to create a vampiric touch spell effect (2d6 damage, CL4).
Racial Skills: A gloom hound gains +8 racial bonus on survival checks. It gains +8 racial bonus on hide checks when it is in a shadowy environment.
Habitat/SocietyGloom hounds are ultimately loyal to Gomdulla the shadow dragon. They gather their own treasure, burying it in the ground. When gloom hounds are encountered, there is a 25% chance that they are within a quarter of a mile of their burial site. Their pack organisation is similar to that of the wolf, with a single alpha male having breeding rights.EcologyGloom hounds are known to compete with other predators in the area, being very violent, competitive and territorial. Their intelligence and pack tactics often give them a serious edge, while their draining powers mean that they rarely suffer casualties. The few deaths among gloom hounds that occur are usually brought about by disease, or through Gomdulla's displeasure. Their chief enemy species is the shadow mastiff; shadow mastiffs and gloom hounds always attack each other on sight.
Original concept by Gloomwing in Shadegate.Converted (v3.5) by Seraph.
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