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Vultur Aye Matacone 101

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by

Dale
in

Original Life Forms:

  • Mammal: Aye-aye
  • Bird: Vulture
  • Reptile: Matamata Turtle
  • Gastropod: Cone Snail

Appearance: This creature presents a truly bizarre and unsettling silhouette. Its body is hunched and avian, like that of a vulture, covered in patchy, leathery, dark-brown skin rather than feathers. Sprouting from its back are two broad, leathery wings that allow for masterful soaring on thermal currents. Its back is covered by a flattened, ridged carapace, reminiscent of a matamata turtle’s shell, providing both camouflage and protection. The head is monstrous, combining the enormous, sensitive ears and large, luminous, forward-facing eyes of an aye-aye with the snorkel-like nose of the matamata. Its mouth is a powerful, sharp-edged beak designed for tearing flesh. However, when opened, it reveals two pairs of large, ever-growing incisors, like those of a rodent, used for gnawing through bone and tough hides. In place of a tongue, a muscular proboscis is coiled within its mouth; this appendage can be fired outward with incredible speed, ending in a sharp, chitinous, harpoon-like radula. Its front limbs are long and thin, ending in hands with vulture-like talons, but with one exceptionally long, skeletal, and flexible middle finger on each hand, which it uses for probing and percussive foraging.

Size: The Vultur-Aye Matacone is a medium-sized creature. It stands roughly 3 to 4 feet tall in its hunched posture, with a wingspan that can reach 10 to 12 feet. It is deceptively heavy due to its dense carapace, weighing between 80 and 120 pounds.

Speed: On the ground, it is slow and awkward, with a shuffling, walking speed of 20 feet. It prefers not to travel on land. In the air, however, it is a master, with a flying speed of 60 feet. It is particularly adept at soaring, able to stay aloft for hours with minimal effort, riding thermal updrafts to great heights.

Stat Modifiers:

  • Strength: +1
  • Dexterity: +2
  • Constitution: +3
  • Intelligence: -3
  • Wisdom: +6
  • Charisma: -5

Skills:

  • Perception: Its senses are phenomenally acute. It combines the telescopic eyesight of a vulture with the oversized, sensitive ears of an aye-aye, allowing it to spot and hear potential meals from extreme distances.
  • Survival: It is an expert scavenger, able to locate carrion, identify safe nesting sites, and endure harsh climates with ease.
  • Athletics: It is a powerful and graceful flier, capable of complex aerial maneuvers when necessary.

Behavior: The creature is primarily a high-altitude scavenger, spending most of the daylight hours soaring in vast, lazy circles high above the landscape, searching for the dead and dying. When not flying, it is a patient ambush predator. Its rocky, shell-like back allows it to lie motionless on the ground or a cliffside for hours, appearing as little more than an oddly shaped boulder. It will use its long, skeletal finger to tap rhythmically on rocks, wood, or the ground, listening with its oversized ears for the sound of grubs or small burrowing animals beneath the surface. While it prefers to let others do the killing, it is more than capable of hunting. If living prey wanders close, it will remain perfectly still before firing its venomous harpoon-tongue. It does not engage its target directly; instead, it shoots its barb, retracts the proboscis, and waits patiently, sometimes for over an hour, for the potent neurotoxin to do its work. Once the target is dead, it will descend to feed.

Diet: Its diet is primarily carrion. It is an unfussy eater, consuming rotting flesh that would be toxic to other creatures. It uses its powerful beak to tear away hide and muscle, and its rodent-like teeth to gnaw through bone to access the rich marrow inside. It also supplements its diet with large insects, grubs, and any small to medium-sized animal it can kill with its venomous harpoon.

Emotions: The Vultur-Aye Matacone is an embodiment of patient, pragmatic opportunism. It does not exhibit aggression, fear, or any recognizable social emotions. Its entire existence is a calm, cold calculation of energy expenditure versus potential reward. It will wait for days for a meal rather than risk a fight. Its primary emotional state appears to be one of perpetual, detached watchfulness.

Environment Where Found: This creature thrives in arid, open landscapes that provide excellent visibility and thermal updrafts for soaring. It is most commonly found in rocky badlands, vast deserts, deep canyons, and on high, windswept plateaus. It builds its crude nests on inaccessible cliff faces and in mountain crags, far from the reach of ground-based predators.

Tags: Aberration, Airborne, Ambusher, Badlands, Carrion-eater, Desert, Feral, Mountain, Patient Hunter, Solitary, Venomous, Scavenger, Ranged Attacker, Soarer, Armored, Cliff-dweller, Bone-eater, Percussive Hunter, Opportunist, Leathery Wings

Age The Vultur-Aye Matacone has a long lifespan, a trait common among creatures that soar high above immediate threats and rely on a patient, low-risk survival strategy. If undisturbed, an individual can live for 50 to 70 years. They are slow to mature, reaching reproductive age at around eight years. They lay one or two large, thick-shelled eggs in a crude nest of scavenged bones and dried vegetation, typically situated on a high, inaccessible cliff ledge. The parents offer minimal care beyond defending the nest from aerial rivals. Upon hatching, the fledglings are covered in a dark, downy fuzz, and their carapace is soft and pliable. After several months, the adults will force the young from the nest to learn to fly, a perilous first flight that results in a high rate of mortality.

Height On the ground, the creature adopts a low, hunched posture, standing between 3 and 4 feet tall at the shoulder. Its most impressive dimension is its wingspan, which consistently measures between 10 and 12 feet across, giving it a massive and intimidating silhouette against the sky. From the tip of its beak to the end of its short tail, it is approximately 5 feet long.

Weight An adult Vultur-Aye Matacone weighs between 80 and 120 pounds. This weight is deceptive, as the creature appears leaner than it is. A significant portion of its mass, up to a third, is concentrated in the dense, stone-like carapace on its back. This shell, combined with powerful flight muscles, makes the creature much heavier than its avian frame would suggest.

Speed Its terrestrial movement is a slow, rocking waddle with a speed of about 20 feet. It is clumsy and vulnerable on the ground and will avoid landing unless it is feeding, nesting, or lying in ambush. In the air, however, it is a master of energy efficiency with a flying speed of 60 feet. It does not possess the agile burst speed of a falcon but instead relies on powerful, deep wing beats to catch thermal updrafts. Once at a sufficient altitude, it can soar for hours without flapping, covering vast distances across the badlands with minimal effort while it scans the ground below.

Other Interesting Information The creature’s harpoon-like proboscis is a marvel of biological engineering. It can be fired with a burst of pneumatic pressure to a maximum effective range of 30 feet. The barbed tip is made of hardened chitin designed to hook into flesh, tethered by a tough, elastic ligament that allows for retraction. The venom delivered is not a paralytic but a fast-acting cardiotoxin. Upon injection, it causes rapid heart failure, felling even medium-sized prey within minutes. The production of this venom is metabolically expensive, and the creature can typically only fire its harpoon once or twice a day.

Its percussive foraging is a highly advanced form of active echolocation. The long, thin middle finger taps on surfaces like rock or petrified wood with incredible rapidity. Its large, dish-like ears are precisely angled to capture the returning sound waves, analyzing the reverberations to build a detailed acoustic image of any cavities, fissures, or organisms hidden within. This allows it to find hibernating lizards or colonies of grubs deep inside solid-seeming materials.

The four large incisors in its beak are used exclusively for processing food. Like a rodent’s, these teeth grow continuously and are self-sharpening. After its beak has torn away the soft tissues of a carcass, the creature uses these powerful teeth to methodically crack open femurs and skulls to get to the nutrient-rich bone marrow, a food source inaccessible to most other scavengers.

While they are solitary creatures in their hunting and nesting habits, they can be found in silent, temporary congregations at a large kill or massive carcass. There are no squabbles or vocalizations. A rigid hierarchy is immediately understood through posture and size alone. The largest individuals will feed at the center while smaller or younger ones wait patiently at a distance, moving in to pick at the scraps only after their superiors have had their fill and moved on.

An encounter with a Vultur-Aye Matacone is often a consequence of venturing into the desolate, high-altitude regions of the world, while a deliberate search for one is a dangerous undertaking motivated by the promise of unique and immensely valuable rewards. Adventurers might be driven by the needs of alchemists, artificers, or the burgeoning airship trade.

A primary reason to actively hunt this creature lies in harvesting its extraordinary biological components. The venom delivered by its harpoon-tongue is chief among these treasures. It is a complex and fast-acting cardiotoxin, a substance that can stop a heart in minutes. This makes the venom gland a priceless commodity in the world of espionage and political intrigue. A spymaster would pay an immense sum for a stable supply to create silent, untraceable assassination tools. Conversely, the very properties that make it a deadly poison also make it invaluable to medical science. An advanced apothecary in a metropolis might theorize that a micro-dose of the toxin could be used to create powerful medicines for restarting a failing heart or regulating a magically-induced arrhythmia. A commission to acquire a live, unruptured gland would be a task for only the most skilled and discreet adventuring parties. Beyond the venom, the firing mechanism itself—the muscular, pneumatic proboscis—is a marvel of natural engineering that would be coveted by artificers seeking to develop new forms of silent, ranged weaponry or high-speed projectile tools.

The creature’s unique sensory organs are also highly sought after. The large, luminous eyes, capable of spotting movement from miles away, and the oversized ears, tuned to perceive the most subtle sounds, are considered pinnacle biological components. When carefully preserved, they can be integrated by a master craftsman into helmets, goggles, or other headwear, creating gear that grants its user superhuman sight or hearing. Such items would be commissioned by scout guilds, information brokers, or wealthy nobles who desire a supreme advantage in awareness. The durable, ridged carapace is also of interest; being both light and strong, it can be worked into unique pieces of armor or, more creatively, used as an aerodynamic plating for the hulls of racing airships, where stability and weight are critical concerns.

Encounters are often not the result of a hunt, but of conflict with the expanding infrastructure of civilization. In a world reliant on zeppelins, griffon riders, and trade airships, the Vultur-Aye Matacone can become a significant aerial hazard. While it may not attack an airship out of aggression, its territorial nature or simple curiosity could prove disastrous. A creature might attempt to land on the gas-bag of a slow-moving freighter, puncturing it with its talons, or it might fire its venomous harpoon at a griffon rider or a crew member visible on a deck, mistaking them for prey. To protect vital trade routes, a shipping consortium or a national government might hire a party of adventurers to clear out nesting sites from the canyons and cliffs along a designated flight path.

A party could also stumble into the creature’s path by accident. Adventurers charting a course through a treacherous mountain pass or a deep, unexplored canyon might inadvertently make camp too close to the creature’s nest, provoking a defensive, territorial response. More commonly, a party might find themselves in the creature’s presence after a battle of their own. After defeating a band of desert raiders or another monstrous beast, the adventurers, wounded and resting among the dead, have unknowingly created a beacon for any scavenger in the area. The silent descent of one or more Vultur-Aye Matacones, drawn by the scent of fresh carrion and seeing the exhausted adventurers as little more than warm bodies guarding a meal, would lead to a tense and dangerous standoff.

From the corpse of a Vultur-Aye Matacone, a harvester with a steady hand and diverse knowledge can procure a range of rare and valuable ingredients. Each part of this unnatural amalgamation holds unique potential for artisans, alchemists, and engineers across the world of Saṃsāra.

Cardiotoxin Gland and Harpoon The most sought-after component is the complex venom apparatus. This consists of the muscular proboscis, the coiled ligament, the venom gland itself, and the sharp, chitinous radula harpoon at the tip. The venom is a potent, fast-acting cardiotoxin that causes catastrophic heart failure. Alchemists pay enormous sums for the gland to produce nearly untraceable poisons for political intrigue, or to study its properties to create powerful cardiac stimulants used to revive the dying. The barbed harpoon tip, harder than steel, is often fashioned by weapon-smiths into the head of a masterwork crossbow bolt or dart, renowned for its ability to punch through armor and remain lodged in its target.

Marrow-Gnawing Incisors The four large, rodent-like incisors are exceptionally valuable to artisans and engineers. Composed of a unique biological material that is both incredibly hard and self-sharpening, they are ideal for use as cutting tools. When mounted, a single incisor becomes a chisel that can carve stone or petrified wood with ease. Industrial operations integrate them into the cutting heads of steam-powered tunneling machines and rock drills, where they can endure immense stress and wear far longer than conventional steel bits.

Aerodynamic Carapace The flattened, ridged shell on the creature’s back is surprisingly lightweight for its durability. While it can be worked into a shield or piece of armor that provides excellent protection against falling debris or blunt impacts, its true value is in aeronautics. The specific shape and ridges of the carapace interact with air currents in a unique way, providing stability with minimal drag. Airshipwrights, especially those who build racing zeppelins and griffon-jockey saddles, prize sections of the shell, using them to craft rudders, stabilizers, and winglets that grant superior handling and speed.

Percussive Finger The creature’s long, skeletal middle finger is a strange and esoteric component. It is not merely bone, but a complex tool dense with nerve endings, used for its unique method of percussive foraging. Diviners and mages who specialize in sound or earth magic covet this finger, using it as a ritual focus or a powerful dowsing rod to find hollow spaces, hidden chambers, or underground water sources. An artisan might fashion it into a unique musical instrument capable of producing haunting, percussive tones.

Man Who Tapped at World’s Heart

It was that a man lived in a city. The city was made of stone walls and closed doors. The man was called the Listener, for he was always listening. He did not listen for songs or for kind words. He listened for secrets. He pressed his ear to the stone walls to hear the secret thoughts of the people inside. He pressed his ear to the ground to hear the secrets of the deep earth. But the stone was quiet. The earth was quiet. The man was sad. He thought, “The world is a box with a lock, and I cannot hear what is inside. I wish to hear the world’s heart.”

A man came to the city, a man with skin like burned leather who came from the great deserts. He told a story in the drinking house. He spoke of a beast on the highest rocks. He called it the Sky-Watcher. He said, “The Sky-Watcher is old. It knows the secrets of the stone. It has a hand, and on the hand is a finger. The finger is long and thin, like a bone needle. The beast does not strike with the finger. It taps. Tap-tap-tap on the rock. And it listens. It hears the worm in the wood. It hears the crystal in the deep rock. It hears the sleep of the mountain. With this finger, it hears the world’s quiet heart.”

The Listener’s own heart heard this. The story was a key. He thought, “I must have this finger. This sound-finger. Then I will tap on the box of the world and learn all secrets.”

So the man left the city of walls. He walked toward the mountains that touched the sky. The way was long. His feet became hurt. His skin became burned. But his wanting was great. He climbed the highest rock. There, on the ledge, was the Sky-Watcher. It was as the story said. It was old and still, with great ears and wide eyes. It looked at the Listener. It was not angry. It was only watching. On its hand was the long, bone finger.

The Listener knew he could not fight this beast. It was of the high places, and he was only a man. The Sky-Watcher looked at him, and then it looked at the rock. It lifted its long finger and tapped. Tap-tap-tap. A sound like gentle rain on a dry leaf. The beast put its great ear to the stone and listened. Then it looked at the Listener again, as if to say, “What will you give for such a secret?”

The Listener understood. A secret for a secret. A knowing for a knowing. He sat on the rock before the great beast. He opened his mouth and he told it all his secrets. He told it the secret of the baker who stole flour. He told it the secret path through the king’s garden. He told it the secret name of his childhood dog. He spoke for a day and a night, and he emptied his heart of every secret it had ever held. He gave his knowing to the beast.

When he was done, he was empty. The beast was pleased. It raised its hand. The long, bone finger broke off from its hand, with no blood and no sound. It fell upon the rock before the Listener. The Sky-Watcher, full of the man’s small secrets, opened its leathery wings and flew into the quiet sky, leaving the man with his prize.

The Listener took the sound-finger and returned to his city. He was full of joy. He went to a rich man’s house and tapped on the iron door of his money-room. Tap-tap-tap. He heard the shape of the gold inside. He went to the great library and tapped on a closed book. Tap-tap-tap. He heard the words sleeping on the pages. He walked the streets, tapping on the stones, and heard the water running in the pipes below and the rats in their nests. He knew all the secrets.

But the joy became a poison. He tapped on the door of a woman he loved. Tap-tap-tap. He heard the love in her heart, but he also heard a small, secret doubt she kept hidden. He tapped on a fresh apple. Tap-tap-tap. He heard the tiny sound of the worm turning at its core. The secrets were not treasures. They were sharp stones. The world’s heart was not a beautiful drum. It was a great noise of pain and sorrow and things ending. The sound of it all never stopped. He could not make his new ear be quiet.

The man could not stand the noise of knowing. He went to the highest bridge in the city and he held the bone finger in his hand. He wanted silence more than he had ever wanted secrets. But the finger felt like it was his own. He could not let it go. And so, he held the sound-finger to his head one last time, to hear one final secret. He jumped.

The Moral: Some doors are not meant to be opened, and some secrets are heavier than any stone.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Dungeons & Dragons

Badlands Carrion-Stalker Large monstrosity, unaligned

Armor Class 16 (natural armor) Hit Points 95 (10d10 + 40) Speed 20 ft., fly 60 ft.

STR 14 (+2) DEX 15 (+2) CON 18 (+4) INT 5 (-3) WIS 22 (+6) CHA 5 (-3)

Skills Perception +10, Survival +10 Senses passive Perception 20 Languages — Challenge 5

Keen Sight and Hearing. The carrion-stalker has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight or hearing.

Siege Monster. The carrion-stalker deals double damage to objects and structures with its beak attack.

Soaring Flight. The carrion-stalker can remain airborne for hours, expending minimal energy while riding thermal currents. It cannot be knocked prone while flying.

Actions

Multiattack. The carrion-stalker makes one attack with its Beak and one with its Talons.

Beak. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d8 + 2) piercing damage.

Talons. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d6 + 2) slashing damage.

Venomous Harpoon (Recharge 5–6). The carrion-stalker launches a venomous barb from its proboscis at one creature it can see within 60 feet of it. The target must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the target takes 7 (2d6) piercing damage and must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 22 (4d10) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Call of Cthulhu

The High Desert Watcher A creature of unnatural patience and lethal efficiency, the High Desert Watcher is a terror of arid climes. It circles for days on silent, leathery wings, its great eyes seeing all. From its mouth, it can launch a tiny, bone-like dart with pinpoint accuracy, a needle of venom that brings a swift and silent end. Its appearance is a disturbing fusion of mammal, reptile, and bird, a thing that should not be.

STR 70 CON 80 SIZ 65 DEX 75 INT 20 POW 70

HP: 14 Damage Bonus: +1d4 Build: 1 Move: 4 / 12 (Flying) Magic Points: 14

Attacks Attacks per round: 1

Tearing Beak: 45% chance, inflicts 1D8+DB damage.

Venomous Dart: 75% chance, range 30 yards. This attack is notoriously difficult to see coming. A target must make a successful Dodge roll with a penalty die. On a hit, the victim takes only 1 point of damage but must immediately make an Extreme CON roll. Failure means death from cardiac arrest in 1D3 rounds. Success means the victim takes 2D8 damage as their body fights the toxin. The creature can fire its dart only once per hour.

Armor: 3 points of bony carapace on its back; 0 points elsewhere.

Skills: Spot Hidden 90%, Listen 70%.

Spells: None.

Sanity Loss: 0/1D6 Sanity points to witness this unnatural creature. 1D4/1D10+2 Sanity points for a character who is hit by the venomous dart and understands the fate that awaits them.

Blades in the Dark

The Bone-Gnawer of the Wastes A solitary horror that haunts the desolate plains outside the city. Some say they are ancient, pre-cataclysmic demons, while others claim they are the result of a demented spirit-warden’s experiments with animal souls. It is known for its terrifying patience and the single, silent, venomous dart it fires from its mouth to kill from afar, leaving its victims to die alone before it descends to feast on their bones.

Threat: A Tier IV, elite, ranged assassin.

Qualities: Airborne, Patient Predator, Lethal Ranged Toxin, Armored Carapace, Uncanny Senses, Bone-Gnawing.

Drives: To find easy prey (the weak, the dying, the isolated); to remain at a safe, untouchable distance; to consume every part of a kill, especially the bones.

Mechanics & Clocks: The Bone-Gnawer is a threat of distance and inevitability. The crew may not even see it clearly before it attacks.

  • [6-Clock] The Heart-Stopper Venom Finds Its Mark: Start this clock when the Bone-Gnawer attacks. Tick it to represent its aim closing in. When full, a PC is struck by the venomous barb. This inflicts Level 3 Harm “Cardiac Arrest” and they will die in minutes unless the toxin is neutralized by rare alchemicals or strange magic.
  • [4-Clock] It Descends to Feed: Once a target is down, start this clock. When the clock is full, the creature lands and begins to methodically break apart the body with its powerful beak and teeth, making retrieval or rescue much more difficult.
  • [8-Clock] Gnawing Through Cover: If the crew is hiding behind something, the Bone-Gnawer may land at a distance and begin methodically tearing apart their shelter with its powerful beak.

Knave

Vulture-Shell Level 6 Hit Points 24 Armor Defense 15 Morale 8

Attack: Beak (d8) or Venom Harpoon (d4) Qualities: Armored Back. Attacks targeting the creature from a higher elevation have disadvantage.

Flight. The creature can fly. Its movement is 120ft in the air.

Keen Senses. The Vulture-Shell has advantage on all saves made to avoid being surprised.

Venom Harpoon. Once per day, the creature can fire a venomous barb from its mouth at any target within 120ft. On a hit, the target takes d4 damage and must immediately pass a Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the target’s heart stops, and they die in d4 rounds. There is no cure for this venom short of magical intervention.

Bone-Gnawer. The creature’s beak attack deals double damage to inanimate objects, such as wooden shields, doors, and stone walls.

Fate

The Watcher on the Wind This creature is less a direct combatant and more a patient, looming threat. It represents the inevitability of death in the wastes, a silent judge that watches from above and delivers a swift, final verdict to the weak or unwary.

Aspects

  • High Concept: Patient Sky-Borne Predator
  • Trouble: Cowardly Opportunist; Avoids a Fair Fight
  • Other Aspects: My Gaze Misses Nothing; A Heart-Stopping Barb on My Tongue; Shell Like a Stone

Skills

  • Great (+4): Notice
  • Good (+3): Shoot, Survival
  • Fair (+2): Fly, Fight
  • Average (+1): Physique, Will

Stunts

  • Heart-Stopper Barb: Because it has a Heart-Stopping Barb on its Tongue, when the Watcher succeeds with style on a Shoot attack, it can choose to inflict the Failing Heart situation aspect with two free invokes on the target, instead of simply gaining a boost.
  • Soaring Vantage Point: Because My Gaze Misses Nothing, the Watcher gains a +2 bonus to create advantages with Notice when it is airborne and observing ground targets.
  • Armored Carapace: Its Shell Like a Stone provides Armor:1 against physical attacks, but only to its back. Attacks from the front or below bypass this armor.

Stress: [1] [2] [3] Consequences: One mild, one moderate, one severe.

Numenera & Cypher System

Aey-Vulturan Scavenger A strange creature that has perfectly adapted to life in arid, desolate environments. It is a fusion of multiple organisms, resulting in a hyper-specialized scavenger and opportunistic hunter. It soars on thermals for days, its strange senses scanning for death or weakness.

Level: 5 Health: 15 Damage Inflicted: 5 points Armor: 2 Movement: Short, with a flying speed of Long. Modifications: All tasks involving long-distance perception are level 8.

Combat The Aey-Vulturan Scavenger avoids direct confrontation. Its primary method of attack is its Venom Harpoon, a ranged attack that can target a creature up to a long distance away. The harpoon itself inflicts only 1 point of damage. However, a creature struck by the harpoon must immediately make a level 7 Might defense task. On a failure, the creature’s heart begins to fail, and it will die in one minute. A GM Intrusion could shorten this time dramatically or cause the venom to affect a piece of equipment instead, such as a vehicle’s power source. The creature can only use this attack once every hour.

If forced into close quarters, its beak inflicts 5 points of damage. Its bone-gnawing teeth allow it to ignore 2 points of armor on any inanimate object it attacks, such as a character’s shield or a vehicle’s plating.

The creature will always flee if wounded or confronted by a superior force, using its powerful wings to quickly ascend out of reach.

Pathfinder

Carrion Vulture-Maw Creature 5 N, Large, Beast, Air

Perception +15; darkvision, echolocation (precise) 20 feet Skills Acrobatics +13, Athletics +10, Survival +13 Str +3, Dex +4, Con +4, Int -4, Wis +6, Cha -2

AC 22; Fort +13, Ref +15, Will +11 HP 75 Resistances poison 5

Soaring Retreat [reaction] Trigger A creature moves into a space where it could make a melee Strike against the Vulture-Maw. Effect The Vulture-Maw Flies up to half its fly Speed. This movement does not trigger reactions.

Speed 20 feet, fly 60 feet

Melee [one-action] Beak +12, Damage 2d8+5 piercing. This attack deals double damage to objects. Melee [one-action] Talon +12 (agile), Damage 1d10+5 slashing. Ranged [one-action] Venom Harpoon +14 (range increment 60 feet), Damage 1d4+5 piercing plus Vulture-Maw Venom.

Vulture-Maw Venom (poison, virulent) Saving Throw DC 22 Fortitude; Maximum Duration 6 rounds; Stage 1 2d6 poison damage and drained 1 (1 round); Stage 2 3d6 poison damage and drained 2 (1 round); Stage 3 4d6 poison damage and drained 2 (1 round).

Savage Worlds

Badlands Snapper This bizarre flying creature is the terror of desert caravans and explorers. It stalks its prey from miles above, a silent speck in the sky, before delivering a single, lethal, needle-like projectile from its mouth.

Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6 (A), Spirit d6, Strength d8, Vigor d8 Skills: Athletics d10, Fighting d6, Notice d10+2, Shooting d8, Survival d8 Pace: 4; Parry: 5; Toughness: 8 (2)

Special Abilities

  • Armor +2: A thick, bony carapace covers its back.
  • Beak: Str+d6. This is considered a Heavy Weapon against inanimate objects (shields, barriers, etc.).
  • Flight: The Snapper has a Flying Pace of 12″ and an Acceleration of 3″.
  • Keen Senses: The creature gains a +2 bonus to all Notice rolls.
  • Lethal Dart: The Snapper can fire its venomous harpoon using its Shooting skill. Range 12/24/48. Damage 2d4. This is a Heavy Weapon. On a hit with a raise, the target must make a Vigor roll at -2. Failure results in death after one round. Success means the target is still Stunned. A regular hit requires a standard Vigor roll to avoid becoming Stunned. The Snapper can only use this attack once per encounter.
  • Hardy: The creature does not suffer a wound from being Shaken twice.

Shadowrun

Canyon Watcher A paracritter commonly found nesting in the remote, irradiated canyons of the southwestern desert states. Corporate xenobiologists theorize it is a unique evolution of a vulture that underwent a SURGE III expression after nesting near a cache of magical waste. Its patience is legendary, as is the lethality of the single, bone-like dart it can project from its mouth.

Attributes

  • Body: 7
  • Agility: 4
  • Reaction: 5
  • Strength: 6
  • Willpower: 5
  • Logic: 1
  • Intuition: 6
  • Charisma: 1
  • Edge: 4
  • Essence: 6.0

Derived Stats

  • Initiative: 11 + 2D6
  • Physical Condition Monitor: 12
  • Stun Condition Monitor: 11
  • Defense Rating: 7

Skills: Close Combat 4, Perception 7, Stealth 5, Exotic Ranged Weapon (Harpoon) 6

Critter Powers

  • Armor: The creature’s bony carapace provides a rating of 8 Armor.
  • Enhanced Senses (Hearing, Vision): The creature gains +3 Edge on any Perception tests involving sight or sound.
  • Flight: The creature can fly with a speed of 40 meters per round.
  • Natural Weapon (Beak): This attack has a Damage Value of 8P and an Armor Penetration of -3. It is particularly effective against barriers.
  • Venom (Harpoon): This is an Injection-vector Toxin with a Power of 10. The effect is Physical Damage; the target resists with Body + Willpower. The toxin has a Speed of 1 Combat Round and deals 10P damage, with an AP of -5.

Starfinder

Xenobasher Vulture Creature 5 XP 1,600 N Large magical beast Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., superior low-light vision; Perception +16

Defense EAC 17; KAC 19 Fort +9; Ref +9; Will +6 Defensive Abilities Fortification (25%); DR 5/—

Offense Speed 20 ft., fly 60 ft. (average maneuverability) Melee beak +14 (1d6+9 B & P; critical demolish) Ranged venomous barb +11 (1d4+5 P plus cardiotoxin)

Statistics STR +4; DEX +2; CON +3; INT -4; WIS +5; CHA -2 Skills Acrobatics +11, Athletics +16, Survival +11

Ecology Environment arid mountains and canyons Organization solitary or pair

Special Abilities Cardiotoxin (Ex) Type poison (injury); Save Fortitude DC 13; Track Constitution; Frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; Effect progression to impaired, then disabled, then terminal (target dies); Cure 2 consecutive saves. Demolish (Ex) The creature’s beak is powerful enough to shatter stone. It ignores the first 10 points of Hardness of any object or structure it attacks. Superior Senses (Ex) The Xenobasher Vulture’s eyesight and hearing are exceptionally keen, granting it a +5 racial bonus to Perception checks.

Traveller

Raptor-Turtle This large flying predator is typically encountered on arid worlds with high plateaus and deep canyons. It is an ambush predator and scavenger, using its incredible eyesight to spot prey from miles away before launching its signature biological projectile—a venomous, harpoon-like tongue—with lethal accuracy.

Animal Profile: A A A 3 A 1 Hits: 20 Speed: 10m (Flying 40m) Armor: Armour-5 (Heavy Carapace) Weapons:

  • Beak: Melee (cut) 4d6 damage.
  • Venom Harpoon: Ranged (special) 100m range.

Skills: Athletics (flying)-2, Recon-3, Survival-1

Traits:

  • Flyer (Atmosphere): The creature can fly in an atmosphere.
  • Sensor (Telescopic Vision): The creature ignores the first DM-4 of penalties due to range for visual Recon checks.
  • Territorial: The creature will attack anything that enters its perceived nesting grounds.
  • Toxin (Lethal): Injection. A creature hit by the Venom Harpoon must make an END 12+ check or die in 1d6 rounds.
  • Weapon: The creature has two natural weapons, a beak for close combat and a ranged venom harpoon.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay

Carrion-Shell Gryphon Not a true Imperial Gryphon, this foul beast is a creature of the desolate places, found nesting in the Grey Mountains and the badlands beyond the Worlds Edge Mountains. It is a patient killer, watching travelers from on high before loosing a single, deadly barb from its throat, waiting for the potent venom to do its work before descending to crack open the bones of its victim.

Main Profile

  • WS 50
  • BS —
  • S 55
  • T 50
  • I 45
  • Ag 30
  • Dex —
  • Int 10
  • WP 50
  • Fel —

Secondary Profile

  • A 2
  • W 28
  • SB 5
  • TB 5
  • M 4
  • Mag —
  • IP —
  • FP —

Traits

  • Armour (Body and Wings): 3
  • Fear: 2
  • Flight: The creature has a flying Movement of 10.
  • Keen Senses: The creature gains a +20 bonus to all Perception tests.
  • Size (Large): Its Weapon attacks gain the Damaging quality.
  • Venom (Lethal): The creature’s ranged harpoon attack uses a special rule. It does not use Ballistic Skill and is instead an Opposed Test of the creature’s Initiative vs the target’s Dodge. If the creature wins, the target must make a Hard (-20) Toughness test. On a failure, they die in 1d4 rounds with no chance to prevent it short of powerful magic.
  • Weapon (Beak) +9: This attack has the Armour-Piercing and Hack qualities.
  • Weapon (Ranged Harpoon): Range 20 yards. See Venom trait. This may only be used once per hour.