Rapiertails
| Statistic | Value |
|---|---|
| Climate/Terrain | Mostly hills and mountains |
| Frequency | Very rare |
| Organization | Solitary |
| Activity Cycle | Day |
| Diet | Carnivore |
| Intelligence | Average (8-10) |
| Treasure | C |
| Alignment | Chaotic Evil |
| No. of Appearing | 1 (1-4) |
| Armor Class | 4 |
| Move | 6, Fl 24 (A) |
| Hit Dice | 5-9 |
| THAC0 | 5-6 HD : 15; 7-8 HD : 13; 9 HD : 11 |
| No. of Attacks | 5-9 (same as Hit Dice) |
| Damage/Attack | 1-6/1-6/1-8/1-6 (per tail) |
| Special Attacks | Lightning bolts 4-24 (4d6) |
| Special Defenses | Nil |
| Magic Resistance | Nil |
| Size | L (7'-9' long) |
| Moral | Steady (11-12) |
| XP Value | 5 HD : 975; 6-7 HD : 1,400; 8-9 HD : 2,000 |
Description
Rapiertails appearance is much like a wyvern and from a far distance may be mistaken as one. Though it's smaller size and many tails give it away upon closer inspection. They are greyish in skin colour and have reptilian like hides which acts as effective armour. Perhaps a rapiertails most distinguished feature is the fact it has more than one tail. Rapiertails have 2-6 tails, and the more tails the higher it's hit dice. (Hit dice is equal to 3 + the number of tails the creature has.)
Combat
Rapiertails gets it name from it extraordinary ability to use it's tails in combat. The creature can use it's claws, bite, and tails to attack any number of opponents near it. It's claws do 1d6 points of damage as does each tail, but it's bite does 1d8 points of damage. Besides this a rapiertails can also shoot forth a lightning bolt from its eyes and strike an opponent doing 4d6 damage or half if saving throw is made. It can attack this way up to five times a day but beyond that it will not have energy to use this attack again until eight hours of rest. Also since rapiertails is an effective flyer it can hover which enables it to use it's many attack forms or it can dive from above. In this attack form only two possibilities can happen. Either the rapiertails attacks straight into a single creature doing a tackle procedure or it attack by a fly by whipping all creatures to either side of it with it tails. The type of attack it does depends whether it considers a whole group of creatures to be the threat or just a single individual. Either attack form uses the same bonuses and penalties of a charge. A successful hit does twice normal damage, but the creature must climb to an height of 480 yards to do this attack. Normal a rapiertails only does this kind of an attack in the first attack round.
Habitat
Rapiertails prefer more temperate climates and are more likely to be found in warmer regions. Rapiertails are excellent warriors and they know it. They love killing for any reason and have learned to appreciate treasure. Not so much as a means of worth but a way of showing of power. They make their homes almost anywhere, sides of cliffs, in caves, on islands, and in large trees. They lair the area with the treasures they have collected and build nest. They do not appericate anything their nest and kill all that enter it, including other rapiertails.
Ecology
Rapiertails will be found together for a short time when mating. In this case their will be two parents and one or two eggs or hatchlings. Hatchlings are born with 2 tails (use a 1d3 to determine hit points) and do only half damage and can only move half the normal speed. Depending on how old they are hatchlings normally will not know how to fly (mainly because shortly after learning to fly they leave to live on their own.) When mating the rapiertails will have a nest built to have their young born in where their treasure will not be located. Just because two rapiertails share a moment doesn't mean they are going to trust the other.