Homebrew Dire Almiraj Species Details

Ecology

The almiraj is a surprisingly dangerous predator. Almirajes’ strong affinity with witches, magical gore attacks, and susceptibility to hexes suggest they have arcane origins, perhaps the result of experiments by witches seeking to deliberately create a new kind of familiar. Reminiscent of a unicorn horn, an almiraj’s most prominent feature serves as both a deterrent and deadly weapon. The almiraj uses its horn to hunt, stalking and spearing prey on the brutal appendage. The horn’s unique magical properties have the gruesome side effect of forcing the almiraj to consume its prey while it still lives, before it turns to stone —when hunting smaller creatures, the almiraj strikes to slow its prey through blood loss and to disable it by maiming its limbs. Occasionally, an enterprising individual will hunt an almiraj for its horn, but success is limited since almirajes are exceptionally vicious, stealthy, and athletic targets —their acrobatic leaps bring their horns within reach of the vital organs of much larger creatures.

Almirajes are fiercely territorial, although they flee if unable to fight on their terms, only to return later to defend their territory. They demonstrate their territorial claims to others of their kind with acrobatic displays and mock horn battles rather than fighting in earnest. Other intruders are met with aggressive posturing and warning calls, though almirajes prefer not to fight. If an interloper refuses to withdraw, however, the almiraj will fight to the death to defend its claim.

It’s unclear how almirajes reproduce, since females are rare and the creatures are always encountered alone. Records indicate that they live for 40 to 60 years and some communities are able to build respectful, if wary, relationships with them.

Familiar

Almirajes are particularly popular with witches as familiars.

Almirajes (pronounced AWL-meer-ahjes), were a variety of fey rabbits with an spiral horn emerging from their foreheads.

Almirajes were quite common in the Feywild, considered a garden variety animal. InToril, they were common in Zakhara. When merchants from that land began to trade with Chult, they brought with them the almirajes to the Chultan Peninsula.

Almirajes resembled large rabbits with a 1-foot-long spiraled horn, usually black in color, in their foreheads, like unicorns.

Behavior

Almirajes were usually timid creatures, considered stupid and unpredictable by some. However, almirajes were also fearless. They were easy to pet and tame, and incredibly faithful to their masters, and spellcasters often sought them to make them their familiars.

Combat

When forced to fight, they could be quite dangerous, ramming against their enemies, stabbing them with their horns. Almirajes were intelligent enough to fight using simple tactics, such as burrowing to move unnoticed and attack an enemy by surprise.

Dire Almiraj Traits

Your almiraj character has a variety of natural abilities, the result of its bond to the Feywild

Darkvision

Accustomed to twilit forests and the night sky, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Magic Horn

While on the creature’s head, an almiraj’s horn is treated as a +1 weapon. Any living creature slain by an almiraj’s gore attack immediately turns to stone (as if by the Flesh to Stone spell, with no saving throw, and the creature is still dead). A severed almiraj horn retains a wisp of its former magic, and counts as a masterwork weapon if used to create a magical dagger or similar small piercing weapon.

Dire Almiraj Adjustments

You Dexterity score increases by 6, your Wisdom increases by 4, your Constitution increases by 3, your Charisma increases by 1, your Strength score reduces by 3, and your Intelligence score reduces by 8. Your tough dire hide grants you a +1 to your Armor Class and 6 additional Hit Points at character creation..

Loyal Steed

You have advantage on saving throws against being frightened and your carrying capacity is multiplied by 2.

Natural Predator

You gain proficiency on Perception and Stealth checks and have advantage on Perception skill checks that rely on hearing or sight.