Negative LA-Assignment : Resurrection, but no diamond here

[Beni-Kujaku]

Feral Yowler

And we're back to (relative) normalcy with what is (with the hell hound) probably one of the most generic name there is. And lo and behold, it's also a canine! It yowls? It is feral? Then it is a feral yowler! Seriously, there is so much more to this monster than just being "feral", it's just a shame that it isn't reflected in its name. The feral yowler is the product of experiments meant to cross-breed a displacer beast with something else (most probably a shadow mastiff, considering it has Trip and a weaker version of Bay as well as a weaker version of the displacer beast's Displacement) using copious amounts of necromantic powers, to the point that the resulting beast not only looks almost as undead as a krenshar, but is completely immune to energy drain and negative energy as a whole. The thing is, if you're a necromancer, it's a bad idea to create something that is immune to your best spells, that you also can't command (since it is a Magical Beast and not a true Undead). The feral yowlers obviously rebelled, and fled in the wild, where their violent nature and lowish intelligence make them attack anything and everything. I'm not even sure they can really mate.

As a PC, the feral yowler is really not that bad, with a variety of useful abilities (Fast Healing 3 is really nice, and Minor Displacement and Trip on a 7 RHD full BAB chassis make it really good in melee), absolutely excellent ability scores with the crippling exception of Intelligence (Str +8, Dex +6, Con +16, Int -4, Wis +4, Cha +6) and a few situational but useful abilities (immunity to energy drain may save your butt once in a while and Yowl of Fear, while weak, may combo well with Intimidating Rage or Never Outnumbered to make a lot of people terrified for really long). However, the impossibility to hold a non-mouthpick weapon (and even then, losing your Trip) or manipulate items is a real issue, and the claw-claw-bite routine will only take you so far. Medium size is also not ideal for a bruiser. In the end, it deserves some negative LA, but really not much, and I think 6 RHD and DLA-1 should make the feral yowler playable.

What do you think of this? If you were a necromancer, would you create a feral yowler knowing the risk of it escaping if it meant having a chance to create a better creature later? Next time, we'll review the Geriviar, as a good introduction to the high-level giants from this book. Have a nice day!