Shadowhound

A shadowhound is a large black dog with a lashing tail and razor teeth, but no detail shows on its body; it is a moving silhouette. It seems to glide over the ground, never making a sound even when furious or hurt, which imposes -5 on opponents' surprise rolls. Where hell hounds come from the hells and serve the baatezu, shadowhounds are natives of the Abyss bound to the tanar'ri.

Clever pack hunters, shadowhounds have no solid body and cannot truly bite. Instead, anyone who touches or is touched by one feels a deathly chill and takes 1d8 damage. Their nastiest weapon is fear: everyone within 30 feet except the hounds' master must make a normal save or flee in terror. The pack usually uses this to stampede its target, then chases him down.

Fear never touches them, fire and electricity deal only half damage, and cannot be affected by charm monster or similar abilities.

In the Abyss they roam cold underground passages for easy prey. Many tanar'ri lords keep great kennels of them and send packs to mortal worshipers on the Prime. Baphomet has gifted a large pack to the ogres of an icy mountain range, and Zhar'vesh keeps his own kennel for hunting in a serpent-infested forest of his realm.

About 15% of packs met in the Abyss include 1d4 young. Litters number 2d4, and the stronger half immediately eats the weaker. Pups have 1 Hit Die and touch for 1d4, but reach full size in under a year.

Lacking bodies, they cannot eat meat; they feed on the fear they raise by chilling their victims. In the Abyss they clear intruders from places their masters want kept empty, like the roads leading up to a lord's palace, and their ferocity, loyalty and stealth make them superb watchdogs. They are surprisingly easy to tame. A shadowhound attaches itself to a master, always chaotic evil, and obeys any reasonable command until it dies, the master dies, or it finds a stronger or more evil patron and switches sides.