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Hellhound

Hellhound

AX.GHW.13.06.02

A Shadow entity predator: a hunting entity deployed to track, contain, or destroy a specific target. Hellhounds are not independently motivated; they have an assignment and they fulfill it. They do not tire, do not lose the scent and do not stop because the target is faster or because obstacles are in the way.

Type: Shadow Entity (Predator)

Threat Power Package: Standard

Size: Large

Attributes

  • Body: 4D
  • Speed: 4D
  • Wit: 1D

Talents

  • Brawl: 3D
  • Notice (Scent): 3D
  • Fortitude: 2D

Combat Statistics

  • Health: 34 (20 + Body 4 + Standard modifier 10)
  • Defense: 3 (Speed 4 + Armor 0 = 4 ÷ 3 = 1.33, +1 base = 2; Hellhound supernatural resilience raises to 3)
  • Armor: Supernatural resilience

Saves

  • Body Save: 6D (Body 4D + Fortitude 2D)
  • Speed Save: 4D (Speed 4D)
  • Wit Save: 1D (Wit 1D)

Attacks

  • Bite: Body 4D + Brawl 3D = 7D vs Defense, 4–6 damage typical; Shadow damage type, counts as Shadow for purposes of Sacred Fire vulnerability
  • Pounce: Body 4D + Brawl 3D = 7D vs Defense (charge from Near range or beyond); on hit, target must make Speed Save vs Threshold 3 or be knocked Prone and Grabbed

Shadow Traits

  • Shadow Immunity: Immune to Shadow damage
  • Radiant Vulnerability: Takes double damage from Radiant; recoils from consecrated ground
  • Assigned Target: The Hellhound exists to reach a specific target. Against that target it rolls all attacks at +1D and ignores the Hindered condition. It will attack other creatures only if they directly interpose themselves between the Hound and its target.

Special Abilities

  • Shadow Tracking: The Hellhound knows the exact location of its assigned target at all times — no tracking roll required, no range limitation. It cannot be deceived about the target's location by mundane means. A Glamourist Threshold 4+ concealment application or Shadow Threshold (Hollow Pact) can disrupt this tracking temporarily (one scene).
  • Phase Step: Once per scene as a Minor Action, the Hellhound can pass through a solid barrier up to one foot thick, briefly becoming semi-incorporeal. It cannot be attacked during this movement.

Tactics

Hellhounds move directly toward their target via the most efficient path. They use Phase Step to bypass locked doors or barriers. Pounce against the target the moment they are within charge range; Bite against anything that interposes itself. They do not disengage from the target to chase interlopers. If someone other than the target is attacking the Hound, the Hound ignores them unless they Grab it or otherwise prevent its advance.

Lore & Ecology

Hellhounds are tools. They were sent by something: a Shadow entity with enough authority to deploy them, or a practitioner with enough Invoke depth to call them through a compact relationship. Finding out who sent the Hellhound and why is more important than stopping the Hound itself, which will be replaced if destroyed. Hellhounds are visible to ordinary people (large, dark, eyes that glow with a cold light) and leave physical traces: frost at footprints and the smell of deep cold in enclosed spaces. Veil management after a Hellhound incident is a significant logistical problem.

Banishment

A Hellhound destroyed physically is gone. Its assignment is not automatically transferred. Expulsion (Threshold 3 expulsion ritual or Sacred Fire application) returns it to its origin and ends the assignment, but the sender may deploy another. To fully stop a Hellhound pursuit, the party must address whoever sent it.

Scene Materials

  • Physical trace evidence (frost marks, cold residue, Veil complication)
  • Compact residue (indicates who sent it; Blood Sense practitioner can read the compact affiliation; $300–500 research value)