AD&D - Using the Guand in your Campaign
The Gaund is one of those monsters you probably flipped past and forgot. It showed up in Dragon Magazine issue 46, courtesy of Ed Greenwood... and it deserves more love.
It looks like a lizard, but not your average dungeon crawler. This thing is fast, powerful, and a nightmare in tight spaces. It moves on all fours, leaps like a spring trap, and climbs walls and ceilings like it’s nothing. The first time it drops down on your party, expect chaos.
The Gaund doesn’t use magic. It doesn’t speak. It communicates with strange whistles and clicking sounds, like something from a horror movie echoing through a cave. That alone sets a tone.
Drop it in the middle of a ruined cliffside temple. Use it in an abandoned mine tunnel. Anywhere that offers vertical space or places to cling and stalk. The party hears clicking above them... then a shadow lands.
These things don’t fight alone. They hunt in small packs. They test their prey. They attack the weakest first, then fade into the dark if the fight turns. If one is killed, the others get bolder, more aggressive... almost like they are learning as they go.
Want a story hook? Someone hires the party to investigate strange disappearances in a canyon. All that’s left behind are claw marks and gear dropped mid-run. Maybe a wandering wizard tried to tame one and failed. Maybe there's a nest... and now you’ve got young Gaunds to deal with.
This is not a random encounter monster. This is an ambush, a puzzle, and a fight that forces your players to look up, check their footing, and watch their flanks.
One Gaund is a problem. A few of them together... that’s a session.
