Silver Dog

Witnesses describe a large, slender hound that seems more dream than flesh, its long coat flowing like liquid mercury, with a regal face, keen eyes and a heavy mane. Silver dogs appear only at night, glinting like polished steel in starlight. They give off no warmth, so infravision cannot find them; only normal sight works.

A silver dog never fights. It avoids anything it senses and runs when found, but thinking creatures who spot it tend to chase it.

Noticing one in a dark forest requires a Wisdom check. Anyone who succeeds must then save vs. spell or be smitten by its grace and spend 1d10+4 rounds trying to catch it alive and unhurt, while the dog races at full speed ever deeper into the trees. Afterward the character may keep going or quit, but is often lost and far from friends by then.

Besides 90% magic resistance, the dog is immune to every spell except a short list of charms and enchantments. Priest magic that works: hold person, command, quest, remove fear, confusion, and charm person or mammal. Wizard magic that works: sleep, friends, suggestion, hypnotism, emotion, confusion, charm monster, hold monster, domination, demand and binding.

Capturing one, by net or by spell, ends in one of two ways. A captor who is anything but true neutral, or who is neutral but means it harm, sees the dog disintegrate as the wizard spell and loses 1,000 XP. A true neutral captor with no ill intent gains 1,000 XP and a wish, and once the wish is granted the dog vanishes as if by teleport without error. Slaying a cornered dog costs the killer 1,000 XP.

Their dens are said to lie in the deepest woodlands, yet no pup, bone or dropping has ever been found near one. Each silver dog appears to live entirely alone.

Silver dogs have been seen consuming only water and moonlight. To feed on the moon one stands on a lonely cliff lifting its muzzle skyward as though howling, though it makes no sound. Doubtful as that diet sounds, it would explain why the dogs ever leave the deep forest.

Druids revere them as forest guardians whose numbers track the forest's health: one sighting a year means the woods thrive, one a decade means they are failing. So druids chase the dogs too, and the usual wish is that a druid of their forest see a silver dog every season for the next ten years.