Alternate Names: Carrion Hounds, Charnel Dogs, Ghoul-Hounds
“The ghoul is seldom alone. In the wake of its passing come the dogs of famine, whose muzzles show the teeth of men. They circle the graveyards like wolves, yet it is not the beast they resemble, but something made mockery of by the tomb.”
—Livre de la Charogne, French, Brother Renault of Poitiers, 1357
Bonefield Hounds are kin to ghouls yet distinct enough to stand apart. Where ghouls gather in warrens beneath graveyards and necropolises, the hounds roam. They range across abandoned cemeteries, plague pits, and forgotten battlefields, moving from one to the next in restless hunger. Unlike their cousins, they have no society, no speech, and no rites—only the pack.
At a glance they resemble gaunt, hairless dogs, but closer inspection reveals their wrongness. Their eyes are disturbingly human, expressive and watchful. Their mouths bristle with yellowed, human-like teeth ill-suited to the muzzle that contains them, but perfectly adapted to strip flesh in ragged chunks. Some specimens bear forepaws stretched into long digits, half-paw and half-hand, giving them a grotesque dexterity.
The Bonefield Hounds feed as ghouls do, but their feral nature makes them far more dangerous. They hunt in packs, chasing down the living as readily as they scavenge the dead. Their hunts are marked by a bone-shaking howl that grips prey with supernatural dread—even seasoned grave-robbers and hardened soldiers have frozen in place, unable to flee as the pack closed in.
Some death cults believe the hounds are harbingers of Mordiggian, released to claim flesh for the charnel god’s table. More likely, they are simply predators who fill the dark places where the dead are left untended—feral carrion-eaters that mock humanity with their grotesque, half-familiar features.
Bonefield Hounds, ghoul-kin predators
char. rolls average
STR 3D6 × 5 50–55
CON 3D6 × 5 50–55
SIZ 2D6 × 5 35
DEX 4D6 × 5 70
POW (2D6+6) × 5 65
HP: 8–9
Average Damage Bonus: None
Average Build: 0
Move: 12 (loping gait)
Combat
Bonefield Hounds are usually encountered in packs of 1D6+3.
Attacks per Round: 1 (bite or claw)
Claw (paw/hand) 55% (17/7), damage 1D4 + damage bonus
Bite 35% (22/9), damage 1D6 + damage bonus
Howl of Dread opposed POW vs. POW; on failure, target is frozen in terror for 1D3 rounds.
Dodge 35% (17/7)
Skills: Climb 40%, Stealth 50%, Track by Scent 70%.
Armor: 1-point leathery hide.
Spells: None
Sanity Loss: 0/1D6 to see a Bonefield Hound.
