Yeth Hound

A yeth hound is 5 feet tall at the withers and roughly 400 pounds, its short coat a flat, lightless black, so in darkness only their cherry-red eyes show. Their heads are nearly human, flat-faced with a jutting nose instead of a muzzle, and their short pointed ears sweep up and back like stubby horns. They smell of cold smoke. Flight makes them silent in motion, yet their eerie howl carries for a mile, and they frequently hunt alongside wicked huntsmen and similar dark powers.

Anyone within 90 feet of a baying pack must save vs. spell or flee in terror, usually to be dragged down and torn apart. Each creature saves once per encounter: failure means panic until the sound fades, success means immunity until the encounter ends. Even the brave are left with fear that resurfaces in the dark; some scholars think the hounds are fear given form. One warrior-poet, after meeting a pack, quit adventuring, barred every dog and wolf from his lands, suffered nightmares for years, and finally dropped dead of a failing heart when coyotes howled in the distance.

Only silver or magical weapons hurt them. Silver deals 1 point per hit, and a magic weapon deals points equal to its plus (2 for a sword +2), or 1 if they have no bonus. Smarter than dogs, they still hunt like a pack: they run prey to exhaustion, ring it, and rush in, biting for 2d4 with no claw attacks. A huntsman who controls them can direct their tactics.

Torches and light spells don't bother them, but daylight does. They always quit the hunt in time to reach their dens before dawn, and no master can force otherwise. Caught in true sunlight, they fade in one round to wander the Ethereal Plane forever, where killing them is permanent.

Powers of the Lower Planes create them as gifts for loyal servants. If a master falls, the pack seeks out another powerful evil one, such as a night hag, vampire or evil wizard, who must be immune to their baying and able to command them, usually by telepathy. They understand speech through magic but cannot talk.

The pack's leader is whichever hound has the most hit points, and the others obey instantly. They never help one another, cannot be swayed by threats or bribes, and enjoy only their prey's panicked screams just before the kill. By day they sleep or pace in an underground den in remote wilderness.

They need to feed only once a lunar month, on warm-blooded prey, preferring demihumans, brownies and similar folk. No natural animal hunts them, and many unnatural ones avoid them.