Hell hound

A hell hound was a big, powerfully built dog with short, rust-red fur; its markings, teeth, and tongue were sooty black.

Description
Hell hounds were the dogs of the Nine Hells. They appeared to be canines with emaciated features, fire spouting from their red glowing eyes, and smoke pouring from their fanged mouths. The average hell hound stood 4.5 feet (1.4 meters) at the shoulder and weighed about 120 pounds (54.4 kilograms).

Combat
Hell hounds preferred to hunt in packs and would use their fiery breath on an opponent first and then close in for the kill.

Hell hounds used wolf-like tactics. They organized in packs, surrounding their prey, and attacked one at a time until the target became fatigued or fell to the ground. If singular attacks did not seem to be effective, the pack would each breathe a gout of flame at the target. The pack then charged in all at once to slay their prey with fiery bites.

Ecology
While hell hounds were found in the Plane of Hell, they were also regularly seen in the Plane of Fire and the mortal world. Fire giants and other fiery creatures made use of hell hounds as guard dogs and hunting beasts.

Locations
Hell hounds were found in the Elemental Plane of Fire, the Nine Hells, and the Abyss.

They were also found in the Peaks of Flame in Chult, where there were portals to and from the Plane of Fire.

Notable Hell Hounds

 * Kurkle, a canomorph whose natural form was a hell hound.

Notable Appearances
During the Time of Troubles of 1358 DR, a pair of hell hounds were summoned at the House of the Moon, a temple of Selûne in Waterdeep, while a false avatar of the goddess resided there (in fact Shar). High Priestess Naneatha Suaril left the hell hounds to attack Onyx and Timoth when they were caught infiltrating the place, but they slew the beasts and carried on.

Appearances

 * Comics:
 * Lunatics


 * Computer Games:
 * Gateway to the Savage Frontier
 * Secret of the Silver Blades
 * Treasures of the Savage Frontier


 * Novels:
 * Ironhelm
 * The Gossamer Plain
 * The Last Mythal trilogy
 * Son of Thunder