BARGHEST

Of the various monsters inhabiting the rifts of the Planes of Gehenna, the barghest is certainly the most common and one of the most fearsome. These beings tend to live in isolation even from one another, each having its own stronghold and force of servitors and ruling despotically.

At times, however, a barghest will spawn, and its litter of 6 will be sent to the Prime Material Plane to feed and grow. Those which survive will eventually return to Gehenna, but while they are yet young they must feed upon the lives of men. Barghest whelps will be found alone or in pairs on the Prime Material Plane, generally living near isolated communities of humans or with bands of goblins.

Barghests are able to assume the forms of large war or wild dogs at will.

They are at times known as devil-dogs, a misnomer. Their natural shape is very much the same as that of a large goblin, and when barghests dwell amongst goblins, they retain their normal form. While goblins recognize and worship barghests, other races find them to be virtually indistinguishable from these goblins. Their goblin hosts fear and serve barghests, going to great lengths to bring them human sacrifices. The barghests, in turn, slay the powerful enemies of the goblins and generally enrich the treasure possessed by their hosts.

When barghest whelps first come to the Prime Material Plane they are relatively weak, having but 6 (1d8) + 6 hit dice. For each energy level of human life whelps slay and devour, they gain 1 hit point; 8 such levels effectively give them another hit die and an additional hit point per die.

(Zero level humans gain barghests only one-half an energy level, so they are less desirable prey than are exceptional persons.)

Likewise, as hit dice are gained, the barghest also becomes more powerful. Its armor class increases by 1 place with each additional hit die, and its Strength grows from an initial 18/00 to 24; damage increases accordingly, as does magic resistance and Intelligence. 

When a barghest eventually attains full growth and power, it is able to shift itself to the Planes of Gehenna, where it will search out its own reeking valley rift.

What treasure barghests gather into their own strongholds upon the Planes of Gehenna is not known, although it is rumored to be great. Whilst dwelling on the Prime Material Plane, however, they possess none personally.

Barghests are able to perform the following spell-like magic, 1 operation per round, at will: 

— shape change to canine/goblin-like form, 

— change self, 

— levitation, 

— misdirection, 

— project image.

Once per day the following spell-like powers can be employed: 

— charm (person or monster), 

— dimension door, 

— emotion.

When in its canine form, a barghest is able to move at double its normal movement rate (30" maximum), pass without trace, and become 75% likely to be unnoticed when motionless so that it can surprise opponents 50% of the time (3 in 6).

These creatures are hit only by +1 or better magic weapons. Barghests are not particularly vulnerable to any attack form, but, if in their canine shape, they take the risk of failing to save vs. a magical fire attack such as a fireball, flame strike, or meteor swarm. Fire does absolutely no damage to barghests, but if they fail to save against such an attack while in canine form they are hurled back to their own plane. Weaker barghests returning thus are most likely to be slain or enslaved by their more powerful fellows. Even if they are not so treated, they cannot return to the Prime Material Plane without some form of outside assistance.

As already noted, the barghest in its whelp stages appears much the same as a goblin of large size, although as it grows larger and stronger, there is a darkening of skin from yellow toward a bluish red. Its adult skin color is blue. The eyes of the barghest are glowing orange when it is excited, but otherwise they are indistinguishable from those of a goblin.

Their canine forms can be those of any typical large dogs, and in these forms it is almost (95%) impossible to tell them from normal dogs, except that other dogs will fear and hate them, attacking at every opportunity.