DHAX: Monster Conversion - Lone Wolf to D&D adjacent and Call of Cthulhu 5e

The snickering, ghoulish Dhax.
Gary Chalk.

One of the monsters from Lone Wolf that made an impression on me - the Dhax from Castle Death.

Canine skull, caracal ears, whale-like hide (or black scales, or short fur), webbed forepaws with retractable claws, and hoof-like feet - they're pack hunters, skilled trackers and craving for fresh meat. 

Sometimes armed with devastating Power Staves - these are not of Dhax manufacture, but are attuned only to them. 

The Dhax are intelligent and cruel, but their lifecycle, culture (material or otherwise) and non-predatory habits are unknown.

Dhax for Old School D&D Adjacent.

Armour Class +4     Hit Dice 6     Move 125% Normal Human     Morale 9 

• Claw/claw/bite for 1-6/1-6/1-8
• Dexterity min. 15 (+2 AC included)
• In their dungeon lairs, surprised only on a 1.
• Keen sense of smell and highly developed tracking skills: surprise on 1-3.
• Intelligent - at least high human average (12).
• Power Staff: damage as mace, morning star or staff (or just use d8) + d6 for baleful energy 
• save vs. wands to avoid 2d6 baleful energy blast/ bolt (60' range); recharges on a 1-2 on d6 at the end of each round.
• trying to pick up and use a Power Staff causes d6 baleful energy damage to non-Dhax per round. And it won't work for you.
• as an alternative to the above, a Dhax Power Staff is equivalent to an Int 9 Ego 12 sentient sword which tries to take control of anyone who touches it - you deliver yourself to the Dhax. If it fails to master you, take d6 damage and leave it alone.
• On death, Dhax immediately begin to smoulder, then burst into flames and are reduced to fused and stinking clinker in a matter of moments: 2-8 hits to anyone within 10'.

Rich Longmore's Dhax, giving it the old Anubis via Russ Nicholson vibe.

DHAX, Ghoulish Snickering Trackers for CoC 5e.

The Dhax are (d6):

1. Ancient astronauts once worshipped as gods, long since trapped on Earth.
2. From the Dreamlands, but physically present in the waking world at certain times, in certain places, or when certain words have been spoken.
3. One of the lesser known types of Ghoul.
4. One of the lesser known monstrous humanoid species of Earth.
5. Extra-terrestrials accidentally or deliberately transplanted to Earth by the Mi-Go.
6. Formless Spawn bound into this form by the will of Nyarlathotep at the behest of some long dead sorcerer.

I've no particular ideas on how the Dhax fit into a Mythos setting (canonical or otherwise) - I just like 'em.

STR 4d6 (14)     CON d6+12 (15-16)     SIZ 2d6+8 (15)     INT 2d6+6 (13)     POW 2d6+6 (13)

DEX 3d6+3 (13-14)

Hit Points 15               Damage Bonus +d4     Move 10

Weapons:

• Eight-fingered Claw Swipe 50%, d6
• Powerful Bite 30%, d8, automatic against grappled targets
• Power Staff:
• Strike 65%, d6 + db + d6 baleful energy
• Bolt 100%, 2d6 and destroys armour, point-for-point (Dodge, Jump or block to avoid injury)
• non-Dhax attempting to handle a Power Stave must match their current magic points with the Dhax's POW or lose d6 magic points per round - at 0 magic points, the victim will deliver themselves willingly to the Dhax in their lair. The same magic points vs. POW match is required to release a Power Stave once it has been taken up
• On suffering a death blow, the Dhax bursts into flame and burns to almost nothing in a matter of moments - 2-8 fire damage to anyone within 10' when this happens.

Armour: 2-point hide.

Skills: Tracking 60%, Sense of Smell 80%, Swim 70%, Jump DEX x3, Sneak 75%, Snicker Ghoulishly 85%, Dodge DEX x2

Spells: roll under INT on d20 for d6 spells

Habitat: Forbidden necropolises, nameless cities, lost temples. 

Sanity Loss: 0/1d6 to see the Dhax; 0/d2 to hear their ghoulish snickering and the soft thump of their hooves echoing through the tunnels ahead.

Commentary.

I found some 2e AD&D stats in a very unofficial looking Monstrous Compendium supplement that I probably shouldn’t haven’t been looking at/ for online:

AC +4 Mv 12 HD 3 Att. d4x2/d6 or weapon Size M (4’-6’tall) Morale Average  INT 8-10

How the author came up with the stats, I don't know - because this seems more like a rung on the humanoid threat ladder, rather than monsters 'among the most powerful of all the mutant guardians’ - ‘so evil, cunning and physically strong that they resemble the Agarashi’ (Bestiary of the Beyond, p. 92).

By a crude measure, Lone Wolf could be a 7th level character (one with numerous special abilities, too) when they encounter the Dhax, and there's a good chance of being killed - even without going toe-to-toe.

There's no mention of their signature weapon - the Power Stave - either; there's nothing beyond the stats, pic and reference to the book of origin. It is significantly more formidable if given the special abilities and the Power Stave described above.

(Converted to Coc, this Dhax would have characteristics close to that of a Ghoul, which has characteristics close to that of a Normal Human.)

Sam Manley. From the LW Bestiary of the Beyond.
Just looks a bit like something on the humanoid threat scale, or an AD&D demon.

Bestiary of the Beyond and https://www.lonewolfitalia.com/ are -I suppose- canon sources and helpful (the Dhax, as far as I'm aware, didn't feature in the Lone Wolf d20 game), but I'm mainly going by my memories of playing through Castle Death, Gary Chalk's somewhat ambiguous attitude towards fur and scales, and where my imagination took me.

While they're described as mutants, hybrid of human and beast, I think there's a definite whiff of the demonic about them.