It’s kind of odd to see this guy so late from the actual devil section of the book. I mean, it’s a hell hound! Hell is literally the most important thing about it!
Lore: Predators of the Nine Hells
There really isn’t much here. These are more of a spice than a main dish. They’re a great compliment to a hell-themed campaign. But on their own? Well… would you have ever swallow a handful of cilantro by itself?
Wandering Archeron and the Lower Planes, Hellhounds make for excellent servants to those with blackened hearts. Hunting in pacts, they’ll attack and feast upon prey they deem weak enough to kill. They are loyal servants, but they will turn on their master if they aren’t allowed to satiate their evil hunger.
It’s a fine bit of flavor text. But in terms of creating a narrative? You’ll need something else. This thing is not a piece of chicken or steak. It’s just a bottle of cilantro.
Design: A Good Dog, For All Dogs Are Good
Aw, who’s a good boy? Who wants the souls of the innocent? Who wants them? Huh? Do you?
Dog jokes aside, this design is pretty boring. Sure, it looks like a hellhound! But it doesn’t have any creative flare to make it stand out. It’s just black and red dog with an internal fiery glow.
Why not go all the way with it? Give it a flaming body and blood-red, furless skin! Make the shit a flaming skeleton! I dunno! Just do something to make it look more hellish than a fire doggo!
TL;DR: boring. Next.
Stats: Pack of Fire
This is an incredibly simple, low-level monster. Good for a starter enemy in a hell campaign. But not much else.
Killing it isn’t much of a challenge. Its AC isn’t bad, nor is it especially high, and its HP is average for a low-level beast. Sure, it’s immune to fire. But at this level, that’s only going to be a mild inconvenience for wizards or sorcerers.
It’s got some fairly strong attacks, though. Sure, its basic bite isn’t that much to worry about, even with the extra fire damage. But its Fire Breath is fucking nasty for low-level, dude. If you fail the DEX save on that, you’re in for a rough time. Hell, you might be anyways if you’re a less durable class.
It does have a few abilities to help it out, though. Keen Hearing and Smell don’t do much aside from making it hard to sneak up on it. But Pact Tactics are much more dangerous; so long as it has an ally within five feet of it, it has advantage on attack rolls. The more hell hounds you throw at your players, the more dangerous they are.
This is a simple and kind of boring fight, regardless of how many there are. Unless you start thinking outside the book (which you should; it’s D&D, after all), the fight will boil down to a simple slugfest. Fun for a while? Yes. But not especially memorable in the grand scheme of things.
Placement
This is a pretty lame monster. Its lore isn’t especially deep or interesting, its design is generic, and its stats make for a simple and forgettable battle. This is not an especially memorable entry.
With all that in mind, let’s put the Hell Hound on the Best of the Bestiary!
- Beholder
- Death Tyrant
- Dragon Turtle
- Green Dragons
- Red Dragons
- Blue Dragons
- Black Dragons
- White Dragons
- Silver Dragons
- Couatl
- Behir
- Aboleth
- Sea Hag
- Bronze Dragons
- Brass Dragons
- Copper Dragons
- Gold Dragons
- Chuul
- Gibbering Mouther
- Chimera
- Death Knight
- Fomorian
- Bone Devil
- Dracolich
- Faerie Dragon
- Night Hag
- Green Hag
- Ankheg
- Storm Giant
- Hill Giant
- Empyrean
- Efreeti
- Grimlock
- Dao
- Cloud Giant
- Drow (all four of ’em)
- Shadow Demon
- Marilith
- Drider
- Aarackockra
- Azer
- Demilich
- Spectator
- Marid
- Harpy
- Half-Dragon
- Cambion
- Fire Giant
- Animated Armor
- Banshee
- Basilisk
- Yochlol
- Bulette
- Cloaker
- Darkmantle
- Doppelganger
- Ghoul and Ghast
- Ettin
- Pit Fiend
- Erinyes
- Chain Devil
- Bearded Devil
- Barbed Devil
- Spined Devil
- Ice Devil
- Djinni
- Nalfeshnee
- Glabrezu
- Chasme
- Grell
- Barlgura
- Horned Devil
- Balor
- Shadow Dragon
- Vrock
- Dretch
- Gnolls (all three)
- Goristro
- Hezrou
- Manes
- Frost Giant
- Duergar
- Quasit
- Dryad
- Flumph
- Goblin
- Githyanki
- Planetar
- Imp
- Clay Golem
- Flameskull
- Displacer Beast
- Carrion Crawler
- Githzerai
- Grick
- Rug of Smothering
- Bugbear Chief
- Bugbear
- Flesh Golem
- Vine Blight
- Twig Blight
- Needle Blight
- Bullywug
- Hellhound <—————————-
- Ettercap
- Gas Spore
- Cockatrice
- Lemure
- Solar
- Deva
- Gorgon
- Griffon
- Cyclops
- Centaur
- Ghost
- Fire Elemental
- Water Elemental
- Air Elemental
- Stone Giant
- Deep Gnome
- Dinosaurs (All six of them)
- Iron Golem
- Stone Golem
- Earth Elemental
- Galeb Duhr
- Flying Sword
- Crawling Claw
- Violet Fungus
- Shrieker
- Gargoyle
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