Blood Feather

AC 16 Natural Armor Initiative +4 (14)

HP 82 (11d8 + 33)

Speed 40 ft., Fly 90 ft.

		Mod	Save
STR	14	+2	+2
DEX	18	+4	+6
CON	16	+3	+5

		Mod	Save
INT	6	−2	−2
WIS	16	+3	+5
CHA	8	−1	−1

Skills +6, +7

Resistances Necrotic, Psychic

Immunities ,

Gear None

Senses 120 ft.; Passive Perception 17

Languages Abyssal understands but cannot speak it., Common understands but cannot speak it.

CR 4 (XP 1,100, or 1,100 in lair; PB +2)

Traits

Pack Tactics. The Blood Feather has advantage on attack rolls against a creature if at least one of the Blood Feather’s allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated.

Blood Frenzy. The Blood Feather has advantage on melee attack rolls against any creature that doesn’t have all its hit points.

Aerial Evasion. When the Blood Feather would take damage from an area effect, it can use its reaction to halve the damage (evasion for flying creatures).

Corrupted Essence. The Blood Feather’s attacks count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks.

Actions

Multiattack. The Blood Feather makes two attacks: one with its Beak and one with its Talons.

Beak. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) piercing damage.

Talons. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8+4) slashing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or gain 1 level of exhaustion (from blood loss).

Screech (Recharge 5-6). The Blood Feather emits a bloodcurdling screech. Each creature within 30 feet that can hear it must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Bonus Actions

Bloody Swoop. The Blood Feather moves up to half its flying speed without provoking opportunity attacks.

Reactions

Aerial Evasion. As above, when affected by an area effect, halve the damage (if it would take half, take none instead).

Legendary Actions

The Blood Feather can take 2 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. The Blood Feather regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.

Detect. The Blood Feather makes a Wisdom (Perception) check.

Wing Buffet. The Blood Feather makes a Talons attack.

Shadow Glide (Costs 2 Actions). The Blood Feather vanishes in a blur of wings and shadows, teleporting up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space it can see.

Description

The Blood Feather, also known as the Bloodhawk, is a dread harbinger of death whose crimson wings haunt the most forsaken corners of Sanctuary. According to the hidden annals of the Horadrim and the whispered legends of remote tribes, these birds were once mere scavengers—carrion fowl eking out a meager existence on the fringes of battlefields and burial grounds. With the coming of the Prime Evils and the shattering of the Worldstone, the fabric of Sanctuary was saturated with malignant energy, twisting the natural order. Over decades, perhaps centuries, the Blood Feathers underwent a monstrous transformation, their bodies growing larger, more cunning, and uncannily resilient. Their feathers, once dusky and unremarkable, are now a deep, iridescent red—each plume veined with black and shimmering as if perpetually wet. Their eyes burn with a baleful, unnatural intelligence, and their hooked beaks are stained by generations of feasting on the damned and dying. To those who know the old omens, the shadow of a Blood Feather circling overhead is a sure sign that slaughter, plague, or demonic incursion is imminent.

The presence of Blood Feathers inspires both fear and dark fascination among mortals. In the shadowy cults of the Burning Hells, these birds are revered as emissaries of Mephisto or Baal, believed to carry the souls of the slain to realms of torment. Some deranged sorcerers attempt to bind Blood Feathers as familiars, seeking to glean forbidden secrets from the birds’ blood-soaked memories. In superstitious villages, their screeches at dusk are said to be the cries of the unburied dead, echoing across blood-soaked battlefields and ruined temples. Blood Feathers are drawn to violence and suffering, often appearing shortly before or after a massacre, as if guided by an invisible hand. Their attacks are swift and merciless—flocks descend in a blur of crimson and shadow, leaving little but gnawed bones and the terror-stricken memories of survivors.

Lair and Lair Actions

A Blood Feather’s lair is a grotesque monument to violence and decay. Perched atop a charred, lightning-struck tree or ensconced within the shattered spire of a desecrated watchtower, the aerie radiates an aura of dread. The entrance is festooned with warped bones—some clearly human, others belonging to monstrous beasts—woven with sinew and tattered remnants of banners from forgotten wars. The floor is a morass of blood-soaked feathers, viscera, and half-devoured remains, crawling with maggots and carrion beetles. Vile sigils, daubed in blood and ichor, mark the stones and wood, perhaps as a ward against rivals or as a blasphemous offering to the powers that spawned them. The stench is overpowering: a cloying blend of rot, copper, and something far fouler, drifting on the fetid breeze. The lair is alive with the ceaseless buzzing of flies and the furtive scurrying of scavengers, while the Blood Feather itself broods in the shadowed heights, its gaze ever-vigilant for both prey and interlopers.

Lair Actions (Initiative count 20, losing ties).

Blood Mists. The Blood Feather summons a cloud of bloody mist in a 20-foot radius. Creatures other than Blood Feathers within the area must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or be blinded until the end of their next turn.
Carrion Call. The Blood Feather calls swarms of lesser carrion birds. At the start of the next round, 1d2 swarms of ravens appear and act on their own initiative.
Gory Gusts. Whipping winds and blood spray create difficult terrain in a 30-foot cone, reducing movement by half until the next round.

Regional Effects

The area within 1 mile of a Blood Feather’s lair is tainted by its presence:

Flocks of scavenger birds gather in unnatural numbers.
The scent of blood lingers on the wind, attracting predatory beasts and deterring herbivores.
Wounds in the area bleed longer and are harder to staunch (healing checks are made with disadvantage).