Black Shuck

The size of a pony, this stately, black hound has a disturbingly intent gaze.

Black Shuck (CR 5) XP 1,600 N Medium outsider (native) Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., scent; Perception +10 --- AC 17, touch 12, flat-footed 15 (+2 Dex, +5 natural) hp 51 (6d10+18) Fort +8, Ref +7, Will +5 Defensive Abilities selective invisibility --- Speed 40 ft. Melee bite +10 (1d6+6 and trip) Special Attacks gaze --- Str 19, Dex 15, Con 17, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 17 Base Atk +6; CMB +10; CMD 22 (26 vs. trip) Feats Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Power Attack Skills Intimidate +10, Perception +10, Stealth +11, Survival +10 Languages Common (cannot speak) --- Environment any land Organization solitary Treasure none --- Gaze (Su) 1d3 Con damage, 30 feet, Will DC 16 negates. The save DC is Charisma-based. Selective Invisibility (Su) As natural invisibility, except the black shuck may, as a swift action, grant one creature within 30 feet the ability to see it for 1 round as if it weren't invisible.

Spawned by the violent deaths of travelers in remote locations, black shucks are hound-like creatures that prowl the wilderness of the mortal world, marking those that are doomed to die in the wild. A black shuck is naturally invisible, though it can reveal itself to one individual at a time in order to seal that unfortunate's fate through the use of its baleful gaze.

A black shuck is driven to seek out those already at risk of violent death, usually travelers in dangerous areas. It chooses a single target from all potential victims and attempts to seal that target's fate with its gaze attack. The black shuck avoids killing its target outright, appearing just long enough to weaken its target and then retreating, leaving the victim to die at the hands of other nearby perils. Whenever possible, the black shuck avoids forms of confrontation more direct than its gaze attack.

Though a black shuck's role as a harbinger and agent of death is often viewed in a negative light, a black shuck is neither evil nor sadistic. To a black shuck, death is merely a journey that all mortals make; there is nothing cruel about ushering travelers further along the path when the risks they take have already pointed them in the right direction.

Undeath is a harder subject for black shucks. Some conclude that the undead have already experienced death, and have thus completed the most important part of their journey. Others feel that the undead have instead inverted death, and must be destroyed. Accordingly, a given black shuck may be either indifferent to the undead, or driven destroy them.