Bestiary/Hell Hound
 | |
| General | |
|---|---|
| Type | Monster |
| Category | Animals |
| Alignment | Evil |
| Karma | −3,400 |
| Fame | 3,400 |
| Behavior | Attacks on sight |
| Speed | Medium |
| Stats | |
| Strength | 102–150 |
| Dexterity | 81–105 |
| Intelligence | 36–60 |
| Hit points | 66–125 |
| Stamina | 81–105 |
| Mana | 36–60 |
| Damage | 11–17 |
| Armor | 30 |
| Taming | |
| Tameable | Yes |
| Min. skill | 85.5 |
| Control slots | 1 |
| Bondable | Yes |
| Rideable | No |
| Favorite food | Meat |
| Resources | |
| Carving | 1 raw ribs |
The Hell Hound is a fire-breathing dog that attacks on sight. It needs 85.5 Animal Taming. Oddly, its script gives it no skills at all.
Overview
- In-game name: a hell hound
- Corpse: a hell hound corpse
- Behavior: it attacks the nearest target it sees and fights in melee.
Stats
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Strength | 102–150 |
| Dexterity | 81–105 |
| Intelligence | 36–60 |
| Hit points | 66–125 |
| Stamina | 81–105 (same as its Dexterity) |
| Mana | 36–60 (same as its Intelligence) |
| Melee damage | 11–17 |
| Armor rating | 30 |
| Fame / Karma | 3,400 / −3,400 |
Skills
Its script sets no skills, so every skill, including Wrestling, Tactics and Magic Resistance, is 0. This looks like an oversight in the script, but it's how the creature currently works.
Abilities
Fire breath
The hell hound breathes fire at its target.
- Chance: 50% each time it gets a chance to act in combat, then it waits 30–45 seconds before it can breathe again.
- Damage: 5% of the hell hound's current hit points (a full-health hell hound deals about 3–6). A wounded hell hound's breath does less damage.
- Range: it needs line of sight to you, and it can reach as far as it can see.
- It stands still for about a second while it breathes.
- A peacemade (pacified) hell hound can't breathe fire.
- A tamed hell hound keeps its fire breath and uses it for you.
Taming
| Requirement | Value |
|---|---|
| Minimum Animal Taming | 85.5 (below this you have no chance) |
| Control slots | 1 |
| Maximum owners | 5 (each previous owner makes it harder to tame) |
| Bonding | Yes |
| Rideable | No |
| Favorite food | Meat |
- Success chance. For a first-time tame, your chance of success at the end of an attempt is about 29% at 100.0 skill, and it improves as your skill rises. Every previous owner adds 6 points to the difficulty.
- Don't hurt it. If it takes any damage during your attempt, taming fails with "The animal is too angry to continue taming."
- Stay close. You must stay within 6 tiles of it and keep a clear path to it.
- Obedience. Once tamed, how often it obeys depends on your Animal Taming and Animal Lore (taming counts four times as much as lore). With both at 85.5 it obeys about 70% of the time, and at about 90.4 it reaches the 99% maximum. Below 85.5 the chance drops quickly, to as low as 22%.
- Re-taming. If you've owned this one before, taming it again always succeeds ("That wasn't even challenging.").
- After its first tame, its skills would drop to 90% of their wild values, but since they're all 0 nothing changes. Its stats don't drop.
Pack instinct
Hell hounds hunt better in groups. When several of your pets from the same pack group (the canine group: wolves, dogs and hell hounds) attack the same creature while standing next to it (within 1 tile), each gets extra melee damage:
- 2 pets: +25%
- 3 pets: +50%
- 4 pets: +75%
- 5 or more: +100%
All the pets must have the same owner. The bonus only applies against other creatures, not against players.
Bonding
Only the owner can bond with a hell hound, and they need at least 85.5 Animal Taming (base skill). Feed it to start bonding, then feed it again after 7 days to finish. When you see "Your pet has bonded with you!", it's done.
Loot
Every hell hound carries:
- 5 Sulfurous Ash
- Gold: about 90–225 in total (from its "Average" and "Meager" loot)
It may also carry:
- A magic weapon, armor, shield or jewelry (up to 5 chances, from about 5% down to 0.2% each)
- A musical instrument (well under 1%: about 0.5%)
Carving
Use a blade on the corpse to get:
- 1 raw ribs
Location
- The Deceit brazier (a scripted item named for the dungeon Deceit): double-clicking it from within 2 tiles summons one creature picked at random from a list of about 90, and this is one of them. The brazier warns players who step next to it ("Heed this warning well, and use this brazier at your own peril"). It works once every 15 minutes and places the creature within 5 tiles. The summoned creature is set to attack the closest target, even if it would normally leave you alone, and it stays within 5 tiles of the brazier.
Tips
- It attacks on sight.
- At 100.0 skill each attempt has about a 29% chance.
- With 0 Wrestling and 0 Tactics it misses a lot and hits weakly in melee; its fire breath (about 3–6 damage at full health) is its main threat.
- It shares the canine pack group with wolves and dogs.
- Its corpse always holds 5 sulfurous ash.