A grotesque beast with the muscular tail, bulbous head, and rubbery, slime-covered flesh of a hideous eel, the torso and webbed legs of this amphibious predator resemble those of a misshapen canine. Needle-sharp teeth fill the creature’s menacing jaws.
Eel Hound CR 2
XP 600
N Medium magical beast (aquatic)
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +5
AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 13 (+3 Dex, +3 natural)
hp 19 (3d10+3)
Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +2
DR 2/cold iron
Speed 30 ft., swim 40 ft.
Melee bite +8 (1d6+6 plus grab)
Special Attacks grab, slick spittle, slithering bite
Str 19, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 6, Wis 13, Cha 16
Base Atk +3; CMB +7; CMD 20
Feats Power Attack, Weapon Focus (bite)
Skills Acrobatics +7, Perception +5, Stealth +7, Swim +12
Languages understands Sylvan
SQ amphibious
By spending 2 rounds dribbling spittle on an area, an eel hound can cover a 5-ft. square with its slippery saliva. This area is treated as if under the effects of grease, but it lasts for 1 hour.
When an eel hound moves adjacent to an enemy and makes a bite attack, it may immediately make a 5-ft. step into an adjacent square next to its enemy. If another eel hound already occupies that square, it can continue on to the first empty square still adjacent to that same enemy.
Environment temperate rivers and marshes
Organization solitary, knot (2â12)
Treasure none
The ferocious hunting packs of aquatic fey, these amphibious menaces often serve such masters as river trolls, lorelei, and nixies. Predatory beasts as dangerous on land as they are in the water, the hounds are themselves a type of fey, sharing their masters’ capricious cruelty and vulnerability to cold iron. The hounds’ chilling hunting cries inspire their masters to a killing frenzy as they pursue foes, both on land and in the water. Few other creatures appreciate eel hounds’ lithe power and cruel grace, instead noting only their grotesque form and unnerving savagery.
In the wild, eel hounds typically nest among marshes, rivers, and beds of seagrass and reeds. They mate in spring, the females giving birth to litters of small, almost legless young. These pups remain near their parents for several months, their parents eventually driving them off to join a new pack or start one of their own. Pack members are protective of their young, all adult hounds raising them in common.
Eel hounds are ambush predators, their packs preferring to hide among the muck and algae of riverbanks, only to suddenly burst forth burst in a massive pack of wriggling, darting forms. One or two watch from concealment, with the rest of the pack hidden among the water’s miry depths until their leaders’ calls signals them to attack. Quickly slithering along their prey’s flanks, they rapidly surround it, latching on with their powerful jaws. Non-aquatic prey is dragged into the depths, there to drown. Similarly, eel hounds often force aquatic prey up onto dry land, letting such creatures die of suffocation.
Possessed of a low cunning, they prepare ambushes by vomiting forth their slippery spittle near locations where land animals come to drink or along game trails, surging forth to attack prey while it is off balance. Eel hounds understand Sylvan, with those dwelling near the habitations of humans or other races picking up a few words in other tongues. They communicate with each other using a guttural Sylvan dialect, but few other creatures can decipher any meaning from the hound’s garbled vocalizations. Even their fey masters find it nearly impossible to understand their incomprehensible attempts at speech.
Midgard Bestiary for Pathfinder RPG, (c) 2012 Open Design LLC; Author: Adam Daigle with Chris Harris, Michael Kortes, James MacKenzie, Rob Manning, Ben McFarland, Carlos Ovalle, Jan Rodewald, Adam Roy, Christina Stiles, James Thomas, and Mike Welham.