D&D Homebrew Monster of the Week: Aberrant Hound

“Any idea what it is?”

“Alien, but that’s about it.”

“Agreed. You think there’s more out there?”

“Gods above I hope not.”

– Two adventurer’s first encounter with a dead Aberrant Hound.

Been a little while and for that I apologize but after completing one full circle in out creature types with the compendiums, we are returning to Aberrations with the Aberrant Hound! Since we covered the general rulebook for Aberrations back with the Abductor during the start of this blog, I won’t get into the nitty-gritty of Aberration rules (spoiler: there isn’t really a hard set of rules), but a quick refresher:

• Aberrations are alien and unsettling, often hailing from dimensions beyond the world’s setting. This means they can often be anything and have any set of tools at their disposal and fit in some form or fashion.
• Aberrations typically focus on mental superiority and/or manipulation (Beholders being extra vain and highly intelligent while Mindflayers and Aboleths turn others into thralls through mind control). While not needed, Aberrations typically have some sort of mental ability to put them at advantage.
• They do not act like normal creatures. Alien biology and mannerisms lead Aberrations (or at least the feral Aberrations) to act far differently from what their counterpart from the material plane might act.

These aren’t hard rules that every DM needs to follow, but this is kind of the checklist I follow when making statblocks or prepping encounters using Aberrations. To me, if an Aberration doesn’t have that extra push to be something unique, then there’s little reason to use it in place of any other creature type.

Aberrant Hounds: The Overview

Aberrant Hounds are a versatile monster, capable of both being a challenging single mini-boss foe for lower level parties as well as attacking in packs to attack as a group against mid level parties. While that is a strength, it’s also a bit of a weakness. The Aberrant Hound sadly has little identity due to its versatile nature and frankly, I’m not entirely sure what I wanted it to be. I believe this creature would work best as a pseudo pack hunter, ravenous and agile but also quick to get aggressive amongst themselves, leading to possible infighting. At the bare minimum, Aberrant Hounds are aggressive, nimble, and stealthy hunters that almost exclusively stick to the shadows and the night in order to ambush unsuspecting prey. Using their specialized abilities to hide in shadows and striking at a distance is exactly what I want them to do, but the statblock only leans into this partially so some heavy revisions are in order.

Stats and Abilities:

The Aberrant Hound is a jack of all trades, master of none in a way. With its weakest stat being CHA at an 8, there’s little the Aberrant Hound is going to struggle against except something that would reposition them like a Vortex Warp or Banishment spell, though if a party has that option they would likely save it for something stronger. Clocking in at CR 4, this creature is of menial threat once players get to around level 5-6, but even 2-3 can become problematic. The Aberrant Hound has a heavy focus on DEX and STR, similar to the Abductor, and in a way I want this revised version to play similarly: focusing on hit and run ambush tactics to start before going in to grapple and separating its prey through brute force. Being a pack monster, the AC and Hit Points likely need to be tweaked marginally as if even one is a bit too tanky even on a moderate size, having larger packs of these spells a death sentence unless the players get real lucky.

• Stats and Skills: With good STR and DEX and moderate CON, INT, and WIS, Aberrant Hounds almost need to be made dumber in the revisions. As they are, their mental stats don’t spell out the almost feral and wild nature I now have envisioned for these creatures. Additionally, I might bump their CON up marginally at the cost of lowering their AC. These creatures aren’t exactly armored but should still be able to take a hit or two comfortably. With proficiency in Perception and Stealth, these creatures are expert ambush hunters, using their natural advantage in shadowy conditions to ambush and separate prey from others to quickly feast before returning to the fray.
• Resistances, Immunities, and Senses: Honestly, I’m not too certain why I marked these creatures as resistant to Necrotic damage. nothing in their kit screams unholy or malignant. They just are creatures that attack via shadowy ambushes, but aren’t exactly made of shadows. In all honesty, I would consider replacing this resistant with Poison damage at most, but that doesn’t feel like it fits either. A vulnerability to Radiant damage however is very thematic. I imagine that in their home realm, Aberrant Hounds live in near perpetual darkness or dim light, prowling craggy and barren wastelands in the search of food. In the sudden presence of a blinding and harmful light, an Aberrant Hound would likely freak out and quickly flee before returning to stalk later, much more cautious a second time around. The massive line of sight Aberrant Hounds have with their 120ft. of Darkvision is a necessity for how often these creatures prowl and hunt during the night. The only thing I would really change about this section of the statblock is their Languages. With how feral and wild I’m imagining these creatures would be I doubt they would really be able to speak any language, instead being more akin to a pack of wolves using their own form of communication only they know.

Passive Abilities and Actions:

Being comprised almost entirely of inky shadows, it makes sense for the Aberrant Hound to be able to squeeze through narrow crevices and gaps to continue hunting or chasing prey. This also allows it to thrive in close quarters arenas such as building interiors and allows it to be a lot more aggressive as it can semi-easily flee if pushed into a corner.

If the shadow that the hound is occupying becomes disrupted or illuminated (this must be a deliberate attempt at the shadow or cover the shadows space if its an area of effect), the hound is forcefully ejected from the shadow to a unoccupied space within 5ft. of the shadows original location unharmed. While melded with a shadow, the hound can move to any space with a connected shadow, including the shadows of other creatures. When the hound inhabits a shadow of a living creature, the target must make a Wisdom (Perception) contest against the hounds Dexterity (Stealth) check.

This feature… is bad. While it’s cool from a thematic standpoint, it accomplishes nothing and leads nowhere. None of the other features pair well or play off of this ability so it’s just kind of worthless. I do like the idea of Aberrant Hounds being able to slink and meld into shadows but it needs to have an ability or feature that it can play off of. Here is a possible revision that could work:

Shadow Meld. As a bonus action, the Aberrant Hound can merge into a shadow within 5ft. of itself. While merged with the shadow, the Aberrant Hound is considered Invisible and cannot be targeted by any weapon or spell attacks. A successful DC 14 Wisdom (Perception) check can reveal the location of the merged Aberrant Hound. While merged with the shadow, the Aberrant Hound can travel along any shadowed ground so long as the shadow connects to another shadow on the ground. If the Aberrant Hound attacks or the shadow it is inhabiting is disrupted (Light, Fireball, Frost-Brand light, etc.), it appears in an unoccupied space within 5ft. of the shadow.

While I’m still not thrilled with this feature and it’s still a rough re-draft, I feel this is a bit more concise of an idea I had for the Aberrant Hound and what I imagined this feature would bring to the table.

This might be tweaked as whether or not the attacks of the Aberrant Hound remain the same or not are in the air. This should have between 2-3 attacks as it is a nimble creature with an aggressive nature so we will see how I feel at the end of this after reviewing the rest of the statblock.

While I had the idea of a grappler style monster initially, spending some more time to think on it I don’t think that would vibe nearly as well due to how dangerous being able to grapple a PC and drag them into the shadows would be. If I intend on keeping Aberrant Hounds as pack style, aggressive, hit-and-run fighters that ambush, attack, and hide again to ambush once more. I honestly might change the damage and bump it up to be around the 20 damage mark and not have it featured in the Multiattack feature, but that remains to be seen.

Much like the Bite attack, I’m not quite sure where I want the damage numbers on this to be, but as a basic attack. I think it’s fine. If I change Bite to do more damage, I think either bumping the damage up or having three Claw attacks in turn would be a suitable tweak.

I really like this idea but it needs some slight tweaks. Initially, I thought having this only be usable while under the effects of Shadow Meld, but it kind of messes with their ambush tactics if they reveal themselves while performing a ranged attack. Instead, an idea I like more is that this feature is a concentration based gimmick where the Aberrant Hound can make an attack that still deals damage, but two of their hands now remain deep in portals that are clinging to their prey as the close the distance and maul them with claws and bites. This gives the Aberrant Hound both a solid ranged option and an ability to lock down other creatures that it wants to distance from or separate.

This feature I feel needs to be removed. While the Aberrant Hound’s body is an shadowy, inky, and amorphous mass, there’s nothing that really states or shows an actual ink-like substance as apart of it’s body. Like sure it looks gooey and viscous looking, but I wouldn’t say its actual acidic ink or slime. I need to deliberate more on a possible replacement, but perhaps a teleportation or a wall of clawing hands erupts from the ground could both be suitable replacements.

Revisions

Sometimes the best tool a homebrew creator can have is another set of eyes to look over and help revise. u/BreadforPain1 on Reddit was momumental in helping me with some revisions for this monster and so the credit for these next ideas go to them:

1. Shadow Meld. As a bonus action, the hound magically melds into a shadow within 5 feet of it (the shadow must be in dim light or darkness). While melded:
   • The hound is heavily obscured.
   • It can’t be seen or targeted by attacks or other effects originating from outside the shadow unless those attacks or effects would also affect the shadow (such as the daylight spell or an effect that deals fire damage to the area).
   • The hound can use its full movement to magically shift to and appear in any other shadow it can see within 60 feet. This movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks.
   • The hound can use a bonus action to de-meld, appearing in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the shadow. If a bright light source illuminates the shadow, or if the hound takes radiant damage while melded, it is forcibly ejected into the nearest unoccupied space within 5 feet of the shadow’s original location (unharmed except for the triggering damage). If the hound melds into the shadow of a living creature, that creature must succeed on a Wisdom (Perception) check contested by the hound’s Dexterity (Stealth) check or remain unaware of the hound’s presence. While melded with a shadow, the hound can move to the shadows of other creatures

Riftstrike. (Recharge 5-6). The hound creates a rift in reality and slips one of its limbs through, allowing it to make a melee weapon attack from up to 30 feet away. melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 30 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (3d6 + 4) slashing damage.

Shadow Grasp (1/day). Shadowy tendrils erupt from the shadows beneath creatures in a 20-radius originating from the hound (the area must be dim light or darkness). Each creature in the cone must make a DC 14 Strength saving throw, taking 21 (6d6) necrotic damage and becoming restrained by the grasping shadows until the end of its next turn on a failed save, or half as much damage and not restrained on a success.

The changes to Shadow Meld are almost exactly what I wanted and so I am very thankful for u/BreadforPain1 putting my ideas into words and structuring them in a way I was struggling to. As for Riftstrike and Shadow Grasp, I do think Shadow Grasp will be the replacement for Ink Spray as it feels a lot more cohesive and fitting for the Aberrant Hound, but I still have some slight tweaks to make. Riftstrike I really do like being a grapple/restrain gimmick so I don’t think I will change it from the revisions I mentioned earlier. Shadow Grasp I would change to a recharge from a 1/day feature and change it form an AoE centered on the Aberrant Hound to either a line based gimmick or choosing 3 targets similar to the Scorching Ray spell.

While it took a while to get to where I wanted it, I’m much happier with this creature’s statblock now than I was before I made this post. While tough, these revisions have been excellent and very needed for these statblocks. Stick around next time to see what beasties I got waiting for you in a couple weeks! Apologies for the sudden drop in posts. I recently moved and have been struggling to get back into the rhythm of work again, but here’s hoping things start getting back into gear now!