Render

Nine feet of muscle, claw and fang, the render is covered in short black fur matted with slimy sweat. Its teeth and claws run 5 to 9 inches, the claws usually caked with its last kill. Its glowing amber eyes seem to plant terror in victims moments before death. It loathes all life.

The render is fearless and startlingly fast for its size, giving foes -2 on surprise rolls anywhere but open ground. It has 60-foot infravision. Meeting its eyes requires a save vs. paralyzation; failure leaves the victim rigid with fear for 13 rounds unless the fear is dispelled sooner. It attacks with two claws and a bite; when all three connect it rips the victim for another 2d10. Anyone who survives more than 40 damage from it in a round must save vs. death magic or fall to 0 hit points at its mercy.

It regenerates 4 hit points each round (8 while berserk), like a troll, even below -10. To kill it permanently, over half the damage dealt by the time it reaches -10 must be electrical. It has 30% magic resistance and ignores poisons, charms and holds. Ordinary weapons cannot hit it, silver and cold iron do only 1 point per hit, and magical weapons work normally. Below half its hit points it goes berserk, doubling its attacks and improving to AC -4.

In the dungeons of a secretive cabal's mountain fortress, a wizard let a summoned tanar'ri kill a prisoner for sport while misreading a scroll spell. The magic killed him and merged the fiend with the dying human. The result butchered hundreds of the cabal before fleeing to the wild hills southward, its hunting ground ever since. It recalls neither past life, and attempts to repeat the accident have all failed. The cabal wants it back, but its wizards and troops have lost forty men trying.

Its fused existence is constant pain, eased briefly only by killing and eating, so it is always on the hunt. It can digest anything organic, fresh or not, eats at least twice daily and more for pleasure. It is the only one of its kind and cannot breed.