Spectral Hound

Native to the Astral Plane, a spectral hound visiting the Prime appears as a pale, see-through phantom dog whose eyes are shapeless pits of total black.

Spectral hounds are superb trackers that can stay on a trail for days. They track as rangers with a base score of 25 and can move at full speed while tracking whenever their adjusted score is 20 or more. When an obstacle blocks the trail, they can travel astrally around it. Sharp senses let them notice invisible beings 50% of the time and grant +2 on surprise rolls.

Most are domesticated hunters that love a fight and chase eagerly. About a quarter mile from the quarry they start baying happily, which warns the prey but also draws its attention while the hounds' companions slip around the flanks as the dogs charge the front. Skilled handlers can order them to stay silent. Hunting alone or in small, unhandled packs, they are patient and sly, quietly trailing prey for days until its guard drops. Many victims learn they were followed only when a pack bursts out of the dark before dawn.

A hound's bite deals 2d6 points of damage, and the victim saves vs. spell or begins to fade, slowly turning translucent like the hound. The change takes 24 hours. Halfway through, the victim can no longer hear or speak to anyone who has not faded, though to him it seems the world, not himself, is turning ghostly. His gear, from weapons and armor to spell components, drops away untouched, and since he cannot hold objects he cannot eat or drink. Physical attacks no longer harm him, but mental and energy attacks do. After 12 more hours he vanishes completely onto the Astral Plane, where he can grip objects again (though few lie around for the taking) and may seek any ordinary way back to the Prime.

Before that final slip, the victim can be restored by a teleport, dimension door or remove curse, or a sprinkle of dust of appearance, applied directly to him. Dimension door and teleport used this way do nothing except halt the fading.

Powers great and small on the Outer Planes raise these hounds as sentries and to follow trespassers home. Any randomly met hound has a 20% chance of being led by another extraplanar being, perhaps a tanar'ri, a vorthani or a titan. Wild hounds are rare but sometimes prowl the Astral Plane for prey. A pair of wild hounds is always mated; larger packs are a mated pair with pups, or one or two related females and their suitors.

Tame hounds need much the same care as ordinary dogs: food, grooming, exercise and training. Wild ones hunt or scavenge as chance allows, eating almost anything they can get their teeth into.