Keen Sight and Smell. The vulture has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight or smell.
Mimicry. The vulture can mimic animal sounds and humanoid voices, as well as the sounds of objects it has heard. When it speaks a language, it can only speak in phrases it has heard. A creature that hears the sounds can tell they are imitations with a successful DC 14 Wisdom (Insight) or Intelligence (Investigation) check. The creature has advantage on the check whenever the vulture imitates a humanoid voice in a language that the creature can understand.
Pack Tactics. The vulture has advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of the vulture's allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated.
Stench. Any creature that starts its turn within 5 feet of the vulture must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until the start of the creature's next turn. On a successful saving throw, the creature is immune to the stench of any scourge vulture for 24 hours.
Bestial Subtype. This creature is bestial, meaning the spells animal messenger, beast bond, beast sense, locate animals or plants, and speak with animals affect the creature as if it were a beast.
Multiattack. The vulture makes two attacks using its beak.
Beak. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (2d4 + 2) piercing damage, plus 13 (3d8) acid damage and 7 (2d6) poison damage.
Caustic Puke (Recharge 5–6). The vulture vomits nauseating acid in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 27 (6d8) acid damage and 14 (4d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. Until the start of the vulture's next turn, any creature that starts its turn within 5 feet of the area is subjected to the vulture's Stench trait, and it has disadvantage on the saving throw.
Description
The bird-like fiends called scourge vultures are native to the plane of Carceri, but these vile and hardy creatures have made nests all across the Lower Planes. Some are able to escape to the Material Plane or the Shadowfell, where they continue to reproduce, circling the sky over dismal plains, festering swamps, and lifeless deserts.
Foulness Resistance. Scourge vultures are known for their bodily hardiness. Their feathers are incredibly tough despite their flexibility and light weight. Their feathers and their internal organs are also completely immune to even the most powerful acids and poisons. For these reasons, artificers often make use of scourge vulture body parts when crafting magical armor.
Ravenous Competition. Scourge vultures happily eat carrion and scavenge just like regular vultures, but they also enjoy hunting living prey when they have the oppor-tunity, swaming their victims as a small flock. They will not eat each other unless as carrion, but once their flock has incapacitated or killed their prey, the vultures will usually begin fighting each other for access to the best parts of the resulting meal.
Dark Vulture Lords. When scourge vultures nest in the Material Plane or in the Shadowfell, they separate themselves from each other, claiming small territories for their own. Their mysterious nature allows them to gather and lead large flocks of regular vultures, driving the vultures to act unnaturally. The birds hunt instead of scavenging, ceaselessly attacking humanoids and their livestock like a starving pack of wolves. Only slaying the scourge vulture that leads the flock can return the birds to their natural behavior.
Devils, demons, and yugoloths are not the only creatures native to the lower planes. All manner of wild beasts live as fiends among the lower planes. Some of them, such as the canine hell hounds and the equine nightmares, are well known to adventurers, while others are more enigmatic. The following fiends are native to the lower planes but live like wild, feral beasts.
Sometimes, these fiends can be summoned into the Material Plane or other planes. In rare cases, a group of wild fiends can find suitable environments to reproduce in another plane, and a small population may begin to live there, such as in a hellish volcano, poisonous jungle, frozen wasteland, or death-choked hollow.
Comments