Hordling

Description

This ugly, almost hyena-like beast has a powerful body that tapers down from front to back. It is dark-hued, with a fang-lined jaw, beady eyes, a coarse, spiny coat, inadequate hind legs, and a limp tail.

These howling, jabbering abominations were created in the heart of chaos and exist only to consume. Hordling packs relentlessly haunt the barren lands, looking for any creatures to eat, regardless of how small or pitiful a meal they may provide.

As creatures go, hordlings are both revolting and terrifying to behold. Their tapered, fang-filled maws dominate their over-large heads. Small, beady eyes are set atop the head, with inadequate ear holes just behind. The body tapers from front to back, with powerful front shoulders and peculiarly small hammocks. Thick plates of cartilage along the back provide protection to the neck and back, favorite targets of rivals.

Hordlings are covered with a dark, spiny fur that is often tattered, patchy, and covered in dirt. A pathetic looking tail, bearing a small tuft at the end, drags along behind the creature. Almost every hordling is born with irregularities and deformations to their body, but any handicapped individuals are quickly weeded out of the packs at an early age.

When their numbers grow too great for the land to support, the hordling instinctively form great hordes and advance out of their lands destroying all in their path. Ravenous beyond measure, these hordes will flow forth without stopping to rest. They will not cease advancing until nearly all are slain or have starved to death. Fortunately, major incursions of this type are quite rare, only happening once every few centuries. More often their numbers are culled by constant fights between the packs.

Combat

The hordlings attack en masse, with the front ranks biting down to hold the prey while the remainder of the pack closes in to tear off swaths of flesh.

Attach (Ex): A hordling that hits with its bite attack latches onto the opponent's body with its powerful jaws and automatically deals bite damage each round it remains attached.

An attached hordling can be struck with a weapon or grappled itself. To remove an attached hordling through grappling, the opponent must achieve a pin against the creature.

Ferocity (Ex): A hordling is such a tenacious opponent that it continues to fight without penalty even when disabled or dying.

Also in this section of the source

Hydra, Chimerical

Author: Robert J. Hall.

Huge Magical Beast (Chaotic)

This great, reptilian beast has a powerful body, long tail, and a number of heads at the end of long necks. Each of the heads and necks has a different hue and appearance.

Although named for a creature with the heads of different creatures, a chimerical hydra is the by-product of raw, chaotic energies that have warped the form of a hydra in a strange manner. How this came to pass is a mystery, but the power that produced this monstrosity must be formidable indeed.

Each head of a chimerical hydra bears a different coloration pattern and possesses a unique breath weapon. The remainder of the body is oddly formed, with irregular bulges, pits, striations, varying textures, and mismatched limbs and necks. The tail is a strange bundle of tentacles of different hues, lengths, and shapes.

A chimerical hydra is identical to a standard hydra, except as noted below.

Special Attacks: Breath weapon.

Breath Weapon (Ex): The breath weapon of a chimerical hydra's head depends on the head color, as summarized on the table below. Regardless of its type, a chimerical hydra's breath weapon is usable once every 1d4 rounds. Most breath weapons allow either a Reflex or a Fortitude save. The DC for the save against each breath weapon is 10 + ½ chimerical hydra's original number of heads + chimerical hydra's Con modifier.

To randomly determine the color and breath weapon for a chimerical hydra's heads, roll 1d12 for each head and consult the table below.

Challenge Rating: A chimerical hydra has the same challenge rating as a pyrohydra or cryohydra with the same number of original heads.