Shapechanger. The ti-khana war pterosaur can use its action to polymorph into a Huge snake (which cannot fly), or back into its true form. Its statistics are the same in each form, except for the speed changes noted. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn't transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies.
Dive. If the ti-khana war pterosaur dives at least 30 feet straight toward a target and then hits it with a Bite attack on the same turn, the target takes an additional 13 (3d8) piercing damage.
If a creature is riding the war pterosaur when it dives, the rider must succeed at a DC 15 Dexterity (Athletics) check or a DC 15 Wisdom (Animal Handling) check or fall prone while remaining in their saddle. If the target fails the check by 5 or more, the impact knocks them off the pterosaur: the rider takes 10 (3d6) bludgeoning damage and falls to the ground, landing prone in an unoccupied space adjacent to the target of the dive attack.
Flyby. The ti-khana war pterosaur doesn’t provoke an opportunity attack when it flies out of an enemy’s reach.
Keen Sight. The ti-khana war pterosaur has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
Innate Spellcasting (Pterosaur Form Only). The ti-khana giant pterosaur's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 12, +4 to hit with spell attacks). The ti-khana war pterosaur can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
- At will: detect magic
Magic Resistance. The ti-khana war pterosaur has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (3d6 + 5) piercing damage plus 9 (2d8) poison damage.
If a victim escapes the pterosaur's claws and falls, they normally drop from a height of 30 feet for every Plummeting Doom action the giant pterosaur took. (At the end of a fall, a creature takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet it fell, to a maximum of 20d6. The creature lands prone, unless it avoids taking damage from the fall.)
Description
A ti-khana war pterosaur is a titanic reptile taller than a giraffe with vast membranous wings that could cover a house. Its dagger-beaked head is longer than a human's height, in some cases twice as long if the pterosaur has a long head crest, and ornamented with colorful scales and plates of horn. The rest of its body may be a dull grey, brown or green in color or as gloriously hued as a tropical bird, depending on the tastes and skill of the yuan-ti who bred the beast. A war pterosaur is frighteningly fast and agile for a creature its size, both on the ground and in the air. It walks and runs on all fours, using the "hands" where its wings fold back as its forefeet.
Death From Above. War pterosaurs were originally intended to serve as aerial cavalry mounts for elite yuan-ti forces, although they are intelligent enough to fight effectively by themselves or alongside allied monsters. A ti-khana war pterosaur can carry a single Large rider, such as a Yuan-ti abomination, or three or four Medium riders in a lightweight howdah, typically a group of yuan-ti malison archers.
Flying Spitfires. All ti-khana are venomous, but a war pterosaur is unusual in having two sets of venom glands. One set produces a relatively normal deadly venom it delivers with its bite, the other set produces a strange glutinous liquid that spontaneously explodes when mixed with its venom and exposed to air. Called Venomflame, a war pterosaur can use special ducts and grooves in its fangs and palate to spit this mixture with impressive range and accuracy. War pterosaur handlers routinely "milk" their charges of Venomflame, which the yuan-ti use in traps, incendiary weapons and works of alchemy.
Creatures of the Yuan-ti. Over millennia of experimentation, the yuan-ti have transformed various scaly reptilian animals into monstrosities that share some of their traits. Called ti-khana, these prized pets are carefully trained to serve their ophidian masters. All ti-khana are resistant to magic like yuan-ti and possess the innate ability to detect magic. The majority of ti-khana also have venomous fangs, the ability to transform into a poisonous snake, and some kind of supernatural or magical attack.
Ti-khana require the dark magic and alchemy of the yuan-ti to breed and develop their powers. Ti-khana can survive in the wild, but it is unlikely they can reproduce properly without the yuan-ti's arcane treatments. It is possible some types of ti-khana can mate with their unaltered relatives or lay viable eggs with their own kind. However, feral offspring can not develop ti-khana abilities without yuan-ti intervention so, at best, would grow into beasts resembling the ti-khana's mundane ancestors.
Breeding and training ti-khana is usually performed by specialist yuan-ti spellcasters, but an edifice can be enchanted to perform this task for one or more strains of ti-khana. This allows ancient yuan-ti sites to have a population of ti-khana "guarddogs" even if no yuan-ti has visited them for millennia.
(Based on a monster from the Fiend Folio (2003).)
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