Negative LA-Assignment : Resurrection, but no diamond here

[Beni-Kujaku]

Hell Hounds

The hellish hound who hounds in Hells, it's the Hell Hound! There are few ways to make a name more basic than that. And I'm not gonna lie, it does not make up for that with its stats.

Hell Hound, 4 RHD: +2 in all physical, -4 in Int and Cha, an average bite attack, and a supernatural ability (breath weapon) that you are probably never going to use. What? Have I searched for "generic chassis for every unplayable monster in the manual" by mistake?

Outsider RHD are good, but the stats really are as underwhelming as they get. And with they body shape, they won't even be able to wield a weapon, except a mouth weapon. Which will prevent them from using their ability to add 1d6 fire damage when they bite people! At least they are fast (40 ft), have a bit of natural armor, and some racial skill bonuses (power is power, as Xykon said, which would make them decent rogues. And finally, there are the subtypes. Those, I can get behind. Fire immunity and Law+Evil on any weapon it wields? That is not unique, but at this level, it is still pretty rare, and that will be useful up until the high levels. How many parties have been annoyed by DR/Evil and Law because their casters didn't prepare aligned weapons?

The Hell Hound is a mixed bunch, but in the end I do not think it deserves more than 2 RHD. The chassis is too basic, the ability scores are too low. With DNLA, they might even be really good at DLA-1, but I don't wanna give them a DLA-0, they are way too weak for that.

Nessian Warhound, 12 RHD: Surely with a chassis that bland, the evolved version will have added some interesting abilities, right? Of course not, who am I kidding. At least the stats have a bit of personnality now. +16 Str, +4 Dex, +10 Con, -6 Int (It's even dumber! How is it even dumber?), -4 Cha. And now the breath weapon deals 3d6 instead of 2! Woo! This is somewhat better than the Hill giant (+2 in all physical stats, full BAB, and the good subtypes), but not incredibly so. I think that makes it worth a pretty weak 8 RHD, and similarly weak DLA-1. There is simply too little in there to make it interesting.

And with this one, we have completed the first table of monsters from the Monster Manual covered by Inevitability (except dragons). Next time, we start the second table, with the good old Kraken!