Hell hound

Hell hounds were fiery beasts found within Acheron and the Nine Hells.

Description
Hell hounds resembled monstrous dogs with powerful physiques, standing between high at the shoulder and weighing about. Their fearsome forms were covered in short, rust-red or red-brown fur and their eyes glowed red. The markings on their bodies as well and their fangs and tongues were the color of soot, and they reeked of sulfurous smoke. Nessian breeds were the size of draft horses, coalblack canines normally equipped with infernal chainmail shirts.

Personality
Hell hounds, being intelligent beasts of law, could be trained and commanded by various entities across the planes, but their inherent malice limited their versatility. Outside of retrieving specific objects, hell hounds could only be trained to kill, abandoning or betraying masters that forbade them from sating their merciless hunger. Even if not specifically trained, they stole items from their deceased victims to use as playthings, such as noisy bags or pouches containing a victim's treasures, toying with them until the flammable components eventually turned to ash and the remains littered their dens.

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.
 * Narthor and Zerebor, two pet hell hounds kept by the fire giant Duke Zalto.

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:
 * Eye of the Beholder
 * Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon
 * 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