Hound of Ill Omen (CR 6)

Hound of Ill Omen (Curse, Outsider)
CR 6

XP 2,400
Curse, Outsider

The hound of ill omen (only one is thought to exist) is a legendary monster that appears when a living creature offends their deity. Often appearing in a form associated with its deity, the hound can manifest as a shadowy, translucent wolf about 5 feet tall at the shoulder. Only the offender can see the hound, and only they are affected by the hound’s attack. The hound cannot be attacked or driven away by any known means.

The hound unleashes a booming howl (audible only to its intended target) that curses the target. This curse causes the next 1d10 wounds the target takes to automatically be confirmed as critical hits. This curse does not activate special abilities or qualities relying on a critical hit (such as the vorpal special quality). Thus, a cursed target hit by a vorpal longsword would automatically take double damage but would not automatically suffer the effects of the vorpal special quality.

Until the target suffers the requisite number of wounds, no form of natural healing cures any damage the target takes. Likewise, any caster attempting to cast a healing spell on the cursed target must succeed on a DC 20 caster level check, or the spell has no effect on the cursed creature.

The victim receives no save to avoid the howl’s effects and it cannot be removed by any means short of a god’s magic, but if remove curse is cast on the target within 10 minutes after the howl, the effects of the curse are halved (i.e., only 1-5 wounds automatically confirm as critical hits).

Curse of Ill Omen

Type curse
Effect damage dealt to target are critical hits; natural healing does not heal; magical healing requires a DC 20 caster level check to succeed


Section 15: Copyright Notice

Hound of Ill Omen from the Tome of Horrors Complete, Copyright 2011, Necromancer Games, Inc., published and distributed by Frog God Games; Author Scott Greene, based on original material by Mike Roberts.

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