Cerberi

Amid a chorus of snarls and a mist of blood-flecked foam, a monstrously powerful hound lopes forth. Yet, like the victim of some monstrous torture, every strip of the beast’s hide has been peeled away, leaving wet sinew and bulging tendons exposed. Most terrible, though, is the creature’s head, or rather, heads, bone, fangs, and flame uniting in three identically terrible canine visages.

Source Pathfinder #28: The Infernal Syndrome pg. 84
Originally posted on Archives of Nethys

The mythical watchdogs of Hell, cerberi bear the bodies of terrible, powerful hounds and the essences of fiends. Relied upon by villains and frightful beings as guardians and gaolers, these three-headed canine abominations possess far greater cunning than their flensed, bestial appearances would suggest a terrible intellect they pour largely into malice and enjoyment of their victims’ tormented ends.

Cerberi draw upon a legendary pedigree, all reputedly tracing their lineage to Cerberus, a single primordial evil beast said to still guard the foundations of of Hades, deathly realm. Brethren to hell hounds, cerberi loathe their distant kin, viciously attacking such hellspawn if not kept at heel by a tyrannical master. Such are the cruel devices of Hell, though, that brazen hatred breeds ingenuity and new evils. Thus, within the depths of the infernal realm, amid the indomitable pits and fortresses of Malbolgia, devils work at nightmarish beast pens, forcibly breeding monstrous hybrids. Born in fury and profanity, Malbolgian cerberi rage forth, ferocious three-headed hell hounds the size of bulls and more than willing and capable of slaughtering their loathed Nessian warhound kindred.

A typical cerberi stands a broad 4 feet tall and weighs over 200 pounds, while a Malbolgian cerberi can reach over 6 feet in height and weigh upward of 400 pounds.

Cerberi CR 6

XP 2,400 LE Medium outsider (evil, extraplanar, lawful) Init +6; Senses Darkvision 60 ft., soul scent; Perception +15

DEFENSE

AC 18, touch 12, flat-footed 16 (+2 Dexterity, +6 natural) hp 76 (8d10+32) Fort +10, Ref +8, Will +4

OFFENSE

Speed 40 ft. Melee 3 bites +11 (1d6+3 plus cerberus’s jaws) Special Attacks rend (2 bites, 1d6+4 or 3 bites, 1d6+6)

STATISTICS

Strength 16, Dexterity 14, Constitution 19, Intelligence 6, Wisdom 15, Charisma 9 Base Atk +8; CMB +11; CMD 23 (27 vs. trip) Feats Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, Stand Still Skills Acrobatics +13 (+17 jumping), Perception +15, Sense Motive +4, Stealth +13, Survival +13; Racial Modifiers +4 Survival when tracking undead Languages Infernal (cannot speak)

ECOLOGY

Environment any (Hell) Organization solitary, pair, or pack (3-9) Treasure incidental

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Cerberus’s Jaws (Su) Curse – bite; save Fort DC 18; effect forbidden to leave plane. Any creature afflicted by this curse is affected as if by a more potent and persistent version of the spell dimensional anchor. This effect is treated as the spell, though it has no visual expression. Spells attempting to move multiple creatures from a plane that also target those affected by Cerberus’s jaws work normally for all but the cursed. In addition to spells, the cursed cannot make use of portals or similar extraordinary methods of leaving a plane, finding themselves either physically barred from such passages or having the effect simply fail to function for them. remove curse ends this effect as normal. The save DC is Constitution-based. Soul Scent (Su) This ability functions as the Scent ability, except that cerberi gain a +4 bonus on Survival checks made to find or follow the tracks of the undead. In addition, they can detect the passage of soul stuff with this ability, allowing them to Track incorporeal undead just as normal creatures.