They're not based on snakes, they're based off of Komodo Dragons. That's why they're called dragons retard, they are named after the lizard.

>>64640686
Shit, you almost had me raging there for a bit.

Dragons are birds of prey + serpents + big cats.

We could mix together three other animals that probably ate our ancestors and make some new dragons.

Owls + lizards + wolves maybe

>>64640636
>Can fly completely silently
>dwell in high places rather than low places
>Summon storms (snow optional) to confuse prey
>you can find their territories by the massive piles of vomited bones and hair (pray the dragon is not a necromancer)
>near-perfect vision

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hoot

>>64640830
he knows southern, northern, and swamp bending.

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>>64640817
>players try to sneak up on an owlgon from behind
>head rotates 180 degrees to stare blankly at them

Someone post that one panel from Mouse Guard

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>>64641212
I gotchu

>>64641245
based anon delivers

>>64640817
you forgot:
>can hear the slightest movement from hundred of feet away

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>>64640802
>We could mix together three other animals that probably ate our ancestors and make some new dragons.
>Owls + lizards + wolves maybe

Too complicated. How about Owl + bear?

>>64640817
>>64641298
However, it is known that owls are minmaxed and have int as their dump stat compared to other birds of prey

>>64640802
>Shark
>Hippo
>Fire Ants
Let's party.

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>>64641348
An owl and a bear? It'll never work out.

>>64641410
>Invasive colonies of highly aggressive Myrpposharks are moving into human settlements all over the world.
>Pray you're lucky enough to be instantly killed by their bites because of how agonizing their venom is.

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>>64641410
>>64641497

It's been done

>>64641410

Okay -

The Horde - amphibious carnivores that swarm in the thousands and descend upon the shore to attack human settlements (the densest concentration of food). Each one is the size of a hippo, with the jaws of a shark, and the ability to spit an acidic and toxic substance great distances. They aren't interested in gold or clever tricks, though they are as intelligent as most dragons, they only want to eat you.

For the rest of their time, they are digesting their food on the ocean floor. The females don't go to the surface ever, and are fed by the males. They grow to enormous size, and protect egg complexes, overlapping nests shared with their neighbors.

>>64640636
Gryphons?

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>>64640802

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>>64640636
Basically it would probably be something like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCAiKsLLprU

>>64641392
So they could be like superfocused omega autists that can concentrate intensely on immediate tasks and use their inhuman senses to deal with them but ultimately is incapable of higher thought? Sort of like a super-well programmed murder machine with no glimmer of sapience to it. Lizard dragons are prideful, sinful, intelligent, ect. They know what they are and revel in it. Owl dragons are blindly driven murdermachines that do not even comprehend the carnage they leave in their wake.

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>>64640772
>Snakes

Hows your Mouse Guard Patrol going anon?

>>64642218

I think it would be scarier if their ultra murder autism still enabled them to speak and interact, they just choose not to because why do I need to have a conversation with my dinner?

In one of the 3.5 splats they go over some of the abberrant races and I think something like the Grell would fit personality wise with Owl Dragons. They don't have fancy caves that are symbols of their vanity they just leave useful shit lying on the floor where they can find it when they want it. When they do talk it's a very straight forward and matter of fact way of speaking and even then it's more like they are thinking aloud in your general direction because they don't recognize food as something to be acknowledged as intelligent or worth discussing things with or to. And when they fight they don't get overly worked up and have a very play by the numbers way of doing it backed up by their powerful bodies and magic abilities.

>>64640636
This isn’t so much combining animals to create a dragon. Dragons are concepts. Fire Flight & Scales

To put owl in there you would be focusing on the concept of Stealth & that sudden ambush, unlike a hawk crying out as it dives (a dragon roaring).

So I propose three other big fears
Stealth Darkness & Spirits

A ghostly owl shaped thing that brings darkness.

You never see it. You never hear it. Only a brave man can slay what they cannot hope to see, & only with magical weapons

>>64642916
It comes in the deep stillness of night. No one dares leave their homes, entire livestock have been taken, the people have had their loved ones taken with little bit whatever fell from their hands when they were grabbed by shadow-y talons.

Very rarely does anyone ever catch a glimpse of what it looks like, sometimes people claim to have feathers that have molted or fallen off.

and the very very lucky speak only of eyes. Large glowing eyes that draw you near to it in the moonlight

I was always under the (probably mistaken) impression that dragons grew out of people trying to interpret dinosaur bones.

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>>64640636
...Er... yeah?

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>>64640817
>Vomiting bones
>Pre-ready Skeletons for necromancy

>>64643182
Alternately

>Owl dragon can resurrect the creatures IN ITS STOMACH and vomit out animated skeletons to attack foes
>Larger ones can carry entire battalions of humanoid skeletons, deployed from on high into unsuspecting towns like paratroopers without the parachutes
>The skeletons will hunt down and subdue threats to the necromancer owl while it makes a roost in the castle, taking over the city.
>Are the party a bad enough band of dudes to liberate the capital from the MEGA DEATH OWL and his band of skeleton shock troopers???

>>64643256
>Instead of Icons of Greed, Owlgons are Icons of Death
>Cold, Impersonal Death
They do not care for gold, they do not care for treasure. Not for status or power or any mortal desire.

The only thing that approaches 'desire' for them is what they feel when they envision a battlefield barren and still. With nothing but pooled blood, cold flesh, and dry bones. They desire death, plain and simple.

And to them, all the world is a tomb, and everyone in it a tomb-raider.

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>>64643256
>>Larger ones can carry entire battalions of humanoid skeletons, deployed from on high into unsuspecting towns like paratroopers without the parachutes
>owlgon is flying skelecoptor aircraft carrier
Stop! I can only get so erect.

>>64643256

>If one has ever had the fortune to survive an attack, they are forever haunted by a strange and faint wailing sound
>In contrast to the stark quiet of the beast, the beings it devours are forever trapped inside of the hell that is it's stomach their souls forced to animate their dead and rotting bodies and serve the whims of their unfeeling master once it discards them from inside of itself
>Even after, men braver then I have faced them and told tales of desperate cries for mercy from the poor bastards even as their bodies bear down on you with crude and terrible weapons or the addition of animal appendages from the various creatures devoured as well.

>>64643526
>Occasionally, the Owlgon gorges itself in preparation for a battle that never comes.
>In the nightmare-cauldron that is it's gut, flesh boils then congeals, bone shift and break, and hair coils ever tighter around pale flesh
>What the beast regurgitates is not a mob of skeletons, but an amalgamation of all the victims consumed in a feeding frenzy, born aloft on twisted limbs and a desire to slam it's rotting mass into the foes of it's horrible master
>As it's torn apart, creatures crawl out of the rotting mass, once-buried under tortured muscle, once again free of the central mass, ecstatic and inconsolable all at the same time as it adds it's natural weaponry to the bloodletting.

>>64643062
>>64642916
Instead of dwelling in peat bogs or volcanoes/mountain caves. The Scathe swells in deep forests. It exudes an unnatural darkness around it that no fire can penetrate. When you find yourself surrounded by the mangled piles of its victims you know it will be too late. The only warning you may get is it’s luminous eyes in a black sky. Scholars do not know if the how the Scathe creates its dark cloud. Only the champion Gundyr ever skew one. Armed with only an Ash wood spear he stood before his village at the edge of the forest. The daughter of Taln had told him the trick of it. To wait seven heat beats after the stars went out. & so he stood, & watched the darkness devour the night sky.
One
Two
Three
Dum-thum dum-thum when young Gundyrs heart
Four
Five!
...
...
He let loose the spear & with a sudden rush of wind the Scathe was slain. The size of a man & blacker than night, it’s feathery form seemed flat. It’s tail feathers long & streaming. He brought the beast to Taln in exchange for his daughters hand & the Sky King obliged. His daughter wove a fine cloak for he new husband & it is said the Gundyr’s cloak allows him to walk in darkness like the Scathe & fly at night without a sound, dancing with his starry bride

>>64643119
No that's definetly a thing that contributed to a lot of dragon myths.

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TRUTHBOMB

>>64640636
Wouldn't those be just white dragons from D&D?

>>64640686
Nice bait you've got there

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>>64645567

White dragons are basically just barbarians that can cast spells when they get old enough. They are still beligerant fucks who just happen to be the short bus riders of dragon kind.

>>64641526
>thought they were cute, like sandshrews and I wanted one
>read up on them and they're more similar to a van in size
fuck that

>>64645665
Huh. For some reason I had it in my mind that they're sneaks. Maybe it's just the general white-on-white thing that polar bears have that made me think that

>>64645696

That's not to say they cant but whites are usually billed as being not only the dumbest of dragons but also the most violent usually

>>64644233
It's still a cute bird. Tits are pretty messy carnivores too but they're damn cute

>>64642676
>"Lemme try talking to the Owlgon"
>"Human?"
>"We'll leave you these shinies if you let us g-"
>"Human tendies?"
>"I- what?"
>"HUMAN TENDIES REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

>>64645579
The anon is almost correct - he just went to wrong continent - dragons probably are based on african monitors.

>>64640636
they'd be dumb

>>64641453
Completely wrong, it's supposed to be an owl with a bear's head

>>64645726
"Most violent" is a pretty competitive category among chromatics though

>>64640802
How far back are we allowed to go for "our ancestors"? Dinosaurs? Fish?

>>64648159
Put an owl head on a T-rex and tell me that isn't terrifying.

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>>64640636
So this with wings, but size of a castle and instead of a gold horde it has a horde of corpses for winter food storage?

>>64640636
Then they'd collect silences instead of treasure and things that exist in silence.
Imagine a great nest, high in the mountains, filled with bones and books, picking through the complete silence, desperate not to step somewhere that'll crack, creak or crunch amongst the remains of a thousand meals and a hundred libraries, knowing you have to do it in darkness because if there is even a hint of light, it will know where you are.
That's what it'd be like.

>>64648376
I ran a "dungeon" once I called the Forest of Silence where the players couldn't speak above a whisper within the misty woods unless it was their turn or the tangled roots of the forest would start to strangle their characters. Made for really tense gameplay when the music (hoots and crickets and other night sounds) was the loudest thing playing.

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>>64648710

>>64640636
Dragons are inspired by dinosaur fossils thus why every culture has stories of them so technically they're already more owl than snake.

>>64651346

They are also amalgams of various creatures as well as spiritual beings for all intents and purposes hence why and how they go from being rutting animals, forces of nature, or gods.

Having a dragon that superficially looks more like an owl then the standard fare isn't stretching anything to it's breaking limits other than people's autism.

>>64643786
I like this. I will be using a “Scathe” in my games

>>64640636

So what should we call these godless monsters?

Looking at wikipedia Owls are from the order Strigiformes so my vote is for Strigons

>>64640636
Humanity would have gone extinct ages ago.

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Trico?

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>>64644233

>>64653320
>teleports behind you

>>64640636
Dragons are likely at least partially based on dinosaur fossils.
Birds, including owls, are evolved dinosaurs.
Therefore, basing dragons on owls would be both accurate and likely make more sense than winged snakes.
As your pic demonstrates, it would also make for a terrifying creature.

>>64653193
That’s a ferret angel

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>>64642784
Ay boys, we got a good idea on this one

>Adventurers and wildlife impaled for miles around a mountain, Vlad style but with bits removed from where it got snacky

>>64656588

Shrike dragons?

Actually, now that my autism is in full gear, what if we made Owl Dragon and Shrike Dragon the high end dragons for Drakes? They are usually the ones that come off as more "bird Like" to me so it makes sense a giant feathered Drake that can turn it's head 180 degrees and look at you with murder in it's eyes while another one, like you said, has gone Vlad the impaler on the nearby areas.

>>64640636
>Comes out at night
>Leaves regurgitated pellets full of Knight armor and princess tiaras all over the place.
>Smallest ones screech like banshees
>Turn their head 180 degrees and are a wisdom archetype.

>>64641772
>Why have you come?
>Can understand what’s being said by a daemonic owl.
Don Bluth really was one of the greatest animators of all time.

>>64641245
Based.

>>64640636
I could see this working out very well if you combine an Owl and some form of big cat in order to have a Sphinx that's incredibly stealthy.

>>64656588
>>64656588
My first time playing Mouse Guard we TPK'd to a fucking shrike.

>>64643328

I like this. But I would say that they are generally lazy creatures. They don't really have the malice to go about destroying places and peoples to make it cold and still like they prefer. So they move to places already abandoned and dead and lay claim to them. Slowly expanding the borders of these places as they circle wider.

Be careful should you wander far away from civilization and suddenly realize you no longer hear the song of birds or the busy sounds of insects. For a Great Owl may be the cause of such unnatural stillness. And while they do not seek out places to destroy, they will enforce the deathly silence they have claimed. The only warning of their presence is a shadow in the moonlight. The only hope you have is not to be noticed.

>>64643786
The fact you could write this up with such apparent ease makes me feel jealous

>>64659579
The thing about owls is that 'not being noticed' is impossible; these things listen for the footsteps of mice in the snow in a massive area. Your only hope is that it is preoccupied, or elsewhere; a great owl could likely hear your heartbeat, let alone your breathing or your cloths moving together.

>>64659765
Thank you anon. I was feeling it must have been shitty since no one said anything. Thanks for the support.

Honestly I do lots of these little microfictions, but rarely save them so it makes me frustrated when I forget what they were about. If you want to write stuff it helps to read a lot & understand the way stories are told in general, I did this by watching a LOT of media & reading a LOT of books

>>64647906
>But what sound does it make?

>>64659901

>The Owl doesn't even bother to hide
>Sitting atop it's mountain perch it's wide golden eyes scan it's kingdom of carrior meticulously scanning ever rock ever leafless tree and ever skull that litters the ground putrid still in it's bile
>You had been careful up to that point, every step measured and cautious until you find yourself about to step on a frail rib bone.
>The Owl's gaze turns in your direction...It's head does it atleast, and scans more rapidly before turning back to it's duty.
>You stifle your bodies desire to suck in air and focus your breath to finally calm yourself. Every step feels like a thousand miles but your task demands you endure.

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>>64640636
Wizards has actually made some neat dragon variations in a couple sets, like Crocodile-based dragons and Tiger-based dragons. It's a shame that they only had a few cards each.

>>64660766
>Hoo?

>>64659901
>>64660930
>to hunt an Owlgon you need the opposite of stealth
>prepare as many alchemical noisemakers and explosives as possible
>make noise in its territory, and keep watch on its flight path
>wear environmentally-suiting camouflage, or prepare an invisibility spell
>detonate explosives and noisemakers when it's close to disorient and confuse it
>slay it during this confusion with your weapon of choice

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>>64640802

I’d like them as some silent sentinel. Like many mythical, you can make deals with them, perhaps they want valuable items or valuable knowledge but if anyone skips out on the deadline they get silent abducted and eaten without warning the next time they venture outside at night.
From the adventurers pov:
>Be me
>Adventurer and my mate
>Break into some old ass, massive mountain cave on rumour of valuable shit inside
>Get busted by some fucking immense bird thing
>It’s gonna fuck us up for pinching it’s books but we promise that we know of some groundbreaking book that it’ll love
>It actually believes it lmao I can’t even read
>We skedadle and don’t look back
>Go to the other side of the world, travelling only by day
>Me and mate are having a drink one night in the local pub, mate pops outside for a piss
>didn’t think it’d be a big deal, we’re a world away
>Totally silence but He doesn’t come back in
>Go outside the next morning, there’s a small piss puddle with two massive scratches either side
>Now 10 years later
>I’ve never been outside at night since
>swear I see a gigantic shape obscure the moon every new an then
>I’ll never see the stars again

>>64666198
This you can never be quiet enough to avoid detection you can only cover your sounds with louder ones.

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a lot of what must be said has been said already, but i'd add that the eyes ought to be the operative element in the monster's construction, in a similar sense to that in which the eyes are the most notable part of an owl to us.
in the same way that dragons kill with fire breath, these creatures would kill with a paralysing glare, before silently descending to pick apart the remnants.
pic related.

>>64670972
I was thinking that it could have a variety of options for what its eyes can do. Such as, a paralyzing gaze, a petrifying gaze, a fear gaze, a charm gaze, or a gaze that prevents the target from lying.

>>64656588
There was an early Horus Heresy book that included that premise. One long chapter of a few Luna Wolves sneaking through a forest of impaled muhreens.

>>64670972
>>64671376
POISONOUS EYES

>>64641212
>>64641245
>>64642516
>Mouse Guard

Shit, this is exactly what I was going to suggest.

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>>64671778

stare into the eyes of the demon

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>>64640636
Seeing as birds and reptiles are closely related it would essentially be sticking some feathers on it. I mean birds are just tiny dinosaurs after all

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>>64640636

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>>64672780

>>64640636
Noctural Roc with flat face?

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They can be agents of a greater evil

>>64672820
I remember seeing this but it looked like just some moe crap. You tell me that this has some dept?

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>>64673981
The characters are pretty cute, but definitely not in a sexual/moe way unless you're quite a pervert.
I don't think there's really some philosophical depth one could write a big post about or something, but the story and characters are very warm and peaceful, making a very relaxing read. It's also interesting that the scale of the world is very small, the protagonists are just a few centimeters highs and the non-humanoid characters are either sapient insects and animals (largest so far has been a cat).

>>64664308
Looks like the po-tun tiger-dragon from akavir

>>64640636
no cus owls didnt exist nor would have preyed over homo-abilis
if you noticed, dragons are an amalgam of three types of creatures that preyed early humans, cuadruped carnivorous mammals, snakes, and predatory birds
see for example how in the americas a dragon is mostly just a giant snake, or a snake with wings

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>>64673174
So you're saying that the owls are not what they seem?

>>64640802
You gotta go really far back in time before you find any of our ancestors that were preyed upon by birds.

>>64640636
Many experts on mythical creatures speak of the terrifying power, the great majesty, the cunning intellect, of dragons. They speak of them as the highest form of being and the only reason humanity still lives is at their mercy and no other reason.
I don't know much about any of that. I don't deal with dragons much. What I do know, is that there are stories about dragons being reasoned with. And stories of heroes sneaking up on dragons. That would be impossible with a Scathe (>>64643786). Scathe listen for heartbeats at night. They know a healthy man from sick livestock from the sound of their heart, and they do this from several miles in the air. Scathe see better at night than a man sees during the day, their great eyes sometimes being mistaken for the moon at night. Scathe fly silently, caravans travelling at night sometimes lose their trailing members and don't notice until the next morning. Scathe are intelligent, its true. But you don't reason with them. If a Scathe wishes to speak to you, it has already decided what it intends to do with you, and if it doesn't, you will never be dead, or never catch it.

Dragons, to me, represent a kind of cultured world. One which can be understood and dealt with in a normal way. Scathe are the embodiment of the uncultured natural world. A perfect predator which you can only deal with on its terms.

Now, boy, I want you to reconsider that request from the Lord. Just because you've killed a few wyrmlings doesn't mean you're ready to take on everything this world has to offer. If you'll excuse me though, its getting dark, and I don't like being outdoors at night. I think you know why.

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“Me’n’me mate y’see we’s broke into some old dusty Mountain cave on’th rumors of gitteres and valuables ‘n’ such stuff...Tha’s when we saw’s it. Bigger ‘n’ any bird we’ve ever saw, eyes as big’s your head and unblinking. It dinna move nary a muscle, it just stared at us with them saucer plates for eyes…” Me mate dinna get a finger to his hilt when it swooped down off its perch, silent as a ghost and landed on toppa us wit claws the length of swords. We wuz dead, done for I figured, probably pissed me knickers I’s wager. Me mate whimpered a bit but steeled himself for the last call when it let us go. It...it whispered y’see quiet and low like when yer pa gets REAL angry at ya and canne muster the rage to yell at ye. “You Came For My Books...Is That So?” it said. That's when I had the bright idea to tell it ta let us go and we’ll get ‘em a hundred new groundbreaking books that it’ll love. The daft ole thing actually believed us! “One Month.” It said. So we hightail it outta there, trail o’ piss betwix our legs!”
“We nev’r looked back, crossed the Gulf of Raz and a thousand leagues of sea ‘n’ sand to some tiny village near Kentespo figured it’ll ferget all about us. Well one night me mate and I are havin a pint or three at the local pub and he pops off for a pisser. That's the last time I saw ‘em. Nothin left but a puddle of piss and claw marks. None’a locals heard a thing. That was ten years ago, T’aint been outside at night since… kus every once in awhile i'll catch’a glimpse ‘o‘ him, obscuring the moon like a shadow… I'll never see the stars again.”
inspired by >>64670546

>>64676266
Emu Wars

>>64678935
Kino anon, fund it

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>>64678935
This does work brilliantly, particularly in a fantasy setting.
Knowledge is power, and wielding arcane will is also power.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_J1VCCC_So

>>64679680
That is a damn creepy noise.

>>64679672

Natural necromancers who have no desire for anything we consider normal and only want to eat and accumulate knowledge.

It'd be funny to think a group gets contracted by a Beholder because it was being stalked by an owl dragon

>>64679913
We have brought it to book-wryms now.

>>64643062
Do they also make weird shapes in your crops and probe the village freaks and weirdoes?

>>64640817
Basically The Great Owl from Nimh?

>>64640686
ngl mate, that's some quality ass bait

>>64657291
I honestly never even thought about that but you're 100% right.

>>64675894
Can you read? It's 'what if' dumbass, not 'why not'.

>>64670972
>Incredible senses that can hear a twig snap from miles away or detect heartbeats
>Incredible vision and 360 head rotation
>Silent, rapid flight
>Paralyzing glare
>Talons that kill in a single strike
>patrols an ever-widening domain of silence from atop a mountain crag
>Highly intelligent and wise, but also incredibly aloof, rarely deigning to speak to such lowly beings as humans

Scathe/Strigons are shaping up to be pretty damn terrifying.

>>64681447
I'm a bit in love with them. "How do we kill this?" is the foundation of all of my most fond encounters, and arcane dragons and other 'normalized' creatures dont inspire that question without a lot of setup. But even if a Scathe/Strigons stats weren't all that (minmaxed to hell for sneak attack and sweet fuck all else) the mechanics it possesses are monstrous.

>>64670972
>>64681447
So, is this glare just a Hold Person, or some kind of fear effect?

>>64681495
Fear effects arn't a thing in 5e arn't they? Mechanically I'd think a Hold person in a ray makes sense.

To balance it out, it can only focus down on whoever it's looking at.

>>64681509
Fear exists in 5e, it just causes paralysis usually but it definitely exists. I believe Paladins and Barbarians get specific resistance at later levels. I'd say fear suits right, because those are the sort of characters I'd imagine not being caught like rabbits in the headlights.

>>64681509
This. I was definitely envisioning (pun not intended) a Hold Person type effect- as long as it meets your gaze, you're incapable of moving. Would be an incredible followup for if you somehow managed to avoid getting skewered by its talons on its first strike.

>By luck or magic or incredible senses, you managed somehow to avoid the Scathe's initial dive, and now it stands before you, barely visible in the gloom.
>You ready your weapon, hands trembling slightly but resolved to face this creature
>Without moving its body, it rotates its head to look at you
>Baleful glowing eyes that seem to swallow all else meet yours, and although your opportunity is clear- to strike in the brief flicker of a moment while it turns its body to face you- you find yourself unable to move
>Unable to call out to your companions for help
>The Scathe calmly seizes you in one talon, piercing your armor like soft cloth, and carries you away

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Should we have unique variants of this owl dragon?

We already brought up the Puking necromancer, what about one that can casually turn invisible for brief moments before attacking?

>>64671961
>birds and reptiles are closely related
Where did you get the idea that theropods and reptiles are closely related?

>>64681509
Fear definitely exists. Usually it gives you disadvantage to attack the target you're afraid of, and you can't move closer/must move away from the target on your turn.

>>64681619
I like the idea of a snowy owl that can temporarily turn into a small blizzard. That'd be similar to the invisibility, but with a slightly better tell, and more useful for breaking off to ambush again.

A variant based on burrowing owls might also be interesting.

>>64681652

Without being too ironic maybe they are the most down to earth (literal and figuratively speaking) They might at least hear you out before they just try to murder you with thier talons that can crush boulders with ease because they can dig up the earth to make their caves.

>>64678935
When the attempt to suggest an accent makes it practically unreadable, you're doing it wrong.

What we've learned hereis that real owls are so overpowered that all we need to do is make them big and now they're as scary as dragons.

>>64682114
Except for the part where they are really, really, dumb compared to other birds of prey

>>64682126
Yeah, but arguably that's because they don't even need to be smart because of their OP traits.

>>64682030
If you can't read that, you might be retarded.

>>64682161
Get fucked, it's spastic writing at best and only a retard would pretend they can read it.

>>64682194
>t. retard

Guess nobody should ever writefag anything on this board because wurds r hard guis

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>>64682194
I'm mildly embarrassed for you. That's not even a particularly thick rendering of an accent.

>>64671778
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20151105-if-it-has-to-a-horned-lizard-can-shoot-blood-from-its-eyes

>>64682229
>>64682237
You faggots think shit like that is acceptable, go take a long walk off a short pier and rid us of your retardation.

>>64682251
>am I retarded?
>no, clearly everyone else is wrong

dig yourself a little deeper there

>>64682269
W't e'r 'a see y' ga' derra' me d'gad duh.

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>>64682251
It's not my fault you can't read, friend.

>>64682310
Na' j' yarra f'lt ye sook ser m'ch dak ye ch'bi kuun.

>>64682229
Well, I guess proper language is indeed hard.
Never write anything ever again, until you master it.

>>64682295
>>64682330

I dare you to quote a single section from the post you're complaining about that leaves off more than a single letter from a word.

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>>64682330

>>64682341
You have to be 18 to post here. Generally, that means you need a reading level that would actually allow you to not break down in confusion whenever somebody writes "y'see"

>>64682347
>Me’n’me
>y’see
>T’aint (whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean, sounds like something you faggots lick)

>>64682377
Who knew Mark Twain was such a shit writer?

>>64682377
>n
>y

Oh geez I wonder what words these could be standing for in this context guys this is really scary I don't know how to read well that could be anything like guys I'm really confused please help

>>64682413
Re-read, spastic. The request was for words missing more than one letter. I obliged.

>>64682438
Yes. And I made that request knowing you would point to those two examples in the first line that are incredibly obvious to anyone reading that they mean 'and' and 'you'.

Congrats on confirming how big of a retard you are.

Take note: this is the shit ruining /tg/. This is why creativity has been so dead here lately.

>>64682476
>asked a stupid question
>got shown to be an ass
>"hurr durr I knew you'd prove me wrong, you're such a retard!!1!"
Nice damage control, kid.

>>64682030
Get glasses, 4 eyes

>>64682497
>somebody online dares you to do something
>oblige without thinking of the consequences, i.e. how stupid it makes you look
It doesn't even matter if the dare guy intended it. You are still fucking illiterate and a retard.

>>64682508
How's about you turn 360 degrees and walk away?

>>64682530
>still too retarded to see they got shown up
>"hurr durr you proving them wrong makes you illiterate!!!1!"
Pretend not to samefag all you like, you got your shit pushed in, cunt.

>>64682497
>b-but I read the first sentence and the answer was obvious!
No shit. It's obvious to everyone because we can read.

You knew which words were missing more than one letter, and you listed 3 of them. That's a far cry from 'practically unreadable'

>>64682540
Don't be fucking retarded. He didn't ask for examples of what made it unreadable, he asked for examples where more than one letter was missing. They're not the same thing, you dumb fuck.

>>64682539
>s-samefag!

Yeah, because there's no chance that multiple people know how dumb you are

>>64682547
Now, think very hard about why he would ask for that.

>>64682547
Yes. I asked for examples of where more than one letter was missing. You gave 3 examples. That is a miniscule amount of words for a post that large.

If you have trouble reading that, you are retarded.

>>64682550
There's no chance multiple people can be as fucking retarded as you.

>>64682560
See >>64682553
>>64682558

Less than 1 minute apart. There is, on the other hand, a very high chance that one person here is as retarded as you. It's you

>>64682553
So that morons like you could conflate the two.

>>64682558
You can't even read your own shitty posts. You asked for a SINGLE example where a word was missing more than one letter. I gave you 3 just to really show you how fucking retarded you were being. And now you're trying to shift the goalposts to save face. You fucked up. Deal with it, you pathetic cunt.

>>64682575
I already told you I don't give a shit whether the guy intended it. It's sufficient to prove you're a faggot pretending he can't read to insult someone, and clinging a little too hard on who burned whom rather than the topic at hand, which is the legibility of an accented post. Probably because you have no ground on which to stand relevant to that topic.

>>64682575
Wow, you really are braindead. Again you focus too much on the question rather than why it was asked. All you did was do the work of showing exactly how stupid someone would have to be to not be able to fill in those missing letters.

And here you are, still grasping onto the fact that you answered the question like it means something. Congrats. Gold star. You answered it. You definitively proved that "me'n'me" and "y'see" are words in that post.

Now, care to back up how "me'n'me" and "y'see" are impossible to understand?

>>64682372
I'm not confused by your butchery of language.
What I am displeased by it at the same time as I am impressed by it.

>>64682618
You're fucking retarded, you still don't understand what's even happening.

>>64682621
How can you be this fucking dense? I didn't list those words because they're impossible to work out, you fucktard. I listed them because he fucking asked for an example of a word missing more than 1 letter. That's it. End of. Chew your shoulder elsewhere, you fucking spastic.

>>64682653
>get called out after doing a dumb
>beg the other guy to leave you alone
Come on, man.

>>64682672
>doesn't understand what's happening
>shitposts anyway
You're a waste of flesh.

>>64682680
Coming from someone who didn't even "understand" I was a separate person until someone pointed him to timestamps. Have you considered the possibility that there are individuals who are cognizant enough to understand, and then still disagree with you?

>>64682701
Great, so you're apparently some other retard that not only doesn't understand what's going on, but being just as retarded as some other guy who made a post that was fuck all to do with you. You sure are a winner, little buddy!

>>64640636
Every master needs minions
Crowbolds

>>64681638
Theropods were dinosaurs, dinosaurs are reptiles...
Where did you get the idea they aren't?

>>64682940
Since when were dinosaurs reptiles?

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Why owlgons? The majestic creatures of the night should be giant drabats.

>>64683340
Since always. Like how lizards are reptiles, or snakes are reptiles.

>>64683727
i know this is bait but come on man

>>64683768
It's not bait at all. Where are you having difficulty?

>>64683768
literally google, dinosaurs are considered warm blooded reptiles

>>64683350
>t. Tom Howard

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>>64682844
I disagree, owls work better alone.
Maybe you could have other creatures trying to survive on its territory though.

>>64682844
>>64684523
I'd say the best suggestion was already made here >>64643256

>>64678935
thanks for writing my story up on, you did it good justice. dont mind that autistic eyelet.

>>64684728
You're just as shit as him, desu.

So the obvious question at this point (so this doesn't turn into another brainstorming session that goes nowhere) is: What would the Scathe/Owlgon/Great Owl's stats be?

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>>64681438
:(

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>>64684872

>>64685177
this is for a cr4 encounter. im working on a Elder owldrake that does all the necromancy

>>64685177
I like this. Replacing my next open world encounter with this and four giant owls. Maybe add advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or sight.

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>A scathe? Never heard of it. Elaborate.

>>64684750
sorry, i cant understand your dialect

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Here's what I got for the Elder Owldrake.

>>64678935
Nice work, anon.

>>64685890
A tail attack? You forgot to replace it with something more appropriate. Unless it is much more closer to a dragon than I thought.
Would also replace the cold breath with some blizzard ability too.

>>64640636
Could easily just reflavor a Roc's stat block I bet.

....Wait, what if I did that instead. It's just what my Feywild campaign needs!

>>64643180
Is Mouse Guard worth the read?
I gave the 1st chapter a try and enjoyed it, but it moved a little fast for my taste.

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>>64686036
I had something like this in mind for its design. So it retains some aspect of its draconic lineage. and the blizzard power is neat but i feel would be too op with it constantly generating skellies. Maybe an arctic variant could work?

>>64670774
Owlosaurus
Large Monstrosity
STR 19 (+4)
DEX 13 (+1)
CON 17 (+3)
INT2 (-4)
WIS 12 (+1)
CHA 5 (-3)

Skills Perception +5
Senses passive Perception 15
Languages -
Challenge 2 (450 XP)

Multi Attack- Makes two attacks with is claws
Keen Senses- Has advantage on Perception checks

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d10 + 4) piercing damage.

Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d8 + 4) slashing damage.

>>64643256
Reminds me of the Owl Matriarchs in Tooth and Tail.

>>64647615
WE

>>64685890
Damn dude, that's fantastic

>>64686085
Oh, the breath thing was just about the ability name, in term of mental image rather than mechanics. I was picturing a giant owl using a breath weapon through its relatively small beak and thought causing a pseudo blizzard by flapping its wings looked much better.

>>64664308
Don't remind me of the wasted potential of the last dozen or so blocks.

>>64686105
Had?

Cool thread. What reason would a party have to hunt an Owl dragon, apart from potential treasure? Would Owldragons be a threat to towns/villages, do they hunt livestock or are their eyries far from civilization? Etc

>>64686372
ONE

>>64686450
Magical feathers for scribing spellbooks and scrolls

>>64686456
JOB

>>64686450
Olwdrakes horde not gold or silver but knowledge. And knowledge is not only power, but the only TRUE power.

So in my setting, Owldrakes (Owl dragons) make nests inside ancient wizard towers and dense magical forests, venturing out to scour the countryside for books, tomes and scrolls in an effort to horde away the magical text.

They will prey upon traveling hedge wizards and adventures to eat their flesh, collect their magical items and turn their remains into undead servants to tend to their ever growing library.

Their feathers are highly sought after for magical quills, components to craft powerful wands, staves and rods while their lairs are known to house many rare and sought after spellbooks and scrolls.

>>64686606
Probably this is a good reason.

I also liked another idea in the thread, about how Scathe desire silence and will essentially kill or subjugate an ever-expanding radius of wilderness as they age. Eventually, this radius might encroach on a place people live, or cover part of an important road or trade route. If this happens, everyone who comes within that area, especially at night, is taking their life in their hands.

>>64686726
Or the opposite, people want to open a new trade route and learn the hard way why nobody use that mountain pass.

>>64686606
>>64686551
Nice I like this, a wizards guild or a court mage could hire the party to get some feathers. Due to the danger the reward would be substantial, maybe even the expectation that the party would not fight the beast but attempt to sneak in and steal some of the moulted feathers.

>>64686893
Fuck you could really run almost a horror/survival game that way that would be fun as hell if everyone was on board.

>be regular folk-tier surveyors, merchant caravan, whatever working to open new trade route
>Uneventful trip so far
>In quiet woods
>Notice one morning that one of the pack animals is just gone
>Can't find it after searching, proceed
>Next morning two of the guards are gone
>Have heard folk stories about this place being bad, figure they're just superstitious fools who fled
>Gradually figure out what's going on but by then it's too late- the Scathe has already killed off almost all the guards and crippled the caravan's means of travel
>Now have to survive in the Scathe's woods and somehow escape as it methodically hunts you down

>>64686726
THERE WILL BE SILENCE IN THE LIBRARY.

Im going to add this to my description.

>>64685477
I’m
>>64643786
I just wanted a better name than “owldragon” or any of its derivatives. Scathe just sounds like a badass real monster name for a shadowy silent super owl.

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Tried my hand. I'm not the best at NPC creation so be nice please. I'm struggled to phrase the necromancy aspect.

>>64687033
> After a few disappearances
> Everyone stay on guard during the night, trying to see the mysterious assailant
> The night is long, silent and cold, when suddenly the moon flicker...

>>64686085
What does the blizzard power do already ? I don't remember it being specially strong or see the synergy with skellies

>>64687160
yea thats why i omitted it from the base owl drake. im making a snow variant that will drop the necromancy for generating fields of cold, blizzards and summoning ice elementals.

>>64687042
Older Scathe that have gained the ability to animate the bones of their victims could use them to patrol their domain by night and kill 'pests' that would disturb the quiet. Things like coyotes or whatever loud animals your setting has, that the Scathe itself can't be bothered to deal with directly. Imagine just a bunch of mangled dessicated monstrosities of bone and fur and (occasionally) remnants of clothing, patrolling through the forest in unearthly quiet, falling upon any who disturb the hush and ripping them apart

>>64687221
No what I mean is : you think "Blizzard" would be too strong for the Necromancy Owl.

But what does Blizzard do ? I remember it being a kinda average spell that does frost damage if you don't do a constitution save. But I may be wrong.

>>64687331
there's a 5e spell called ice storm which could work.

Ice Storm
4th-level evocation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 300 feet
Components: V, S, M (a pinch of dust and a few drops of water)
Duration: Instantaneous
A hail of rock-hard ice pounds to the ground in a 20-foot-radius, 40-foot-high cylinder centered on a point within range. Each creature in the cylinder must make a Dexterity saving throw. A creature takes 2d8 bludgeoning damage and 4d6 cold damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Hailstones turn the storm's area of effect into difficult terrain until the end of your next turn.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, the bludgeoning damage increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 4th.
Classes: Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard
Subclasses: Ancients Paladin, Arcane Trickster Rogue, Destruction (Stream) Cleric, Eldritch Knight Fighter, Land (Arctic) Druid, Tempest Cleric, Raven Queen (UA) Warlock
Source: PHB, page 252

>>64687456
I'd reduce the bludgeoning damage some and add some kind of effect that obscures vision, seems to me that was one of the main functions of the ability- it would facilitate repositioning or retreat to stealth after the initial sneak attack, disorient enemies, and do a bit of damage. For a creature that prefers to make single, powerful attacks from stealth or by surprise, that would be a great ability.

>>64687456
Oh. Thanks. I'm retarded. I somehow tough blizzard was a real spell, was super OP and that nobody ever told me.

>>64687505
Even just the cold damage + vision obscuring/disorientation + the difficult terrain effect would be pretty fantastic.

>>64687456
>>64687505
There is also Sleet Storm which is a level lower but focuses on debilitating effects rather than damage

>>64688065
>reading description of that spell
>it also douses flames
Didn't really think of that but that's a pretty great addition too... since this is probably a night encounter, dousing your flames would be a huge advantage for the Scathe.

>>64640636
Owl legends or actual owls?

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Made a Scathe variant that adds the spells Ice Storm and Sleet storm as innate spells and replaces the giant skeleton with a Tree Blight.

>>64685890
>mention of Frightful Presence

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>>64688333
I saw that and made edits. Here's the updated version.

>>64640636
Then owlbears would be dragonkin.

>>64688311
Don't the Cone of Silence feel redundant with the Zone of Silence regional effect ?

>>64688443
shoot, you have a point. what do you suggest I replace it with?

>>64688468
Not him but I don't even necessarily think it needs replacing. Have the regular owldrakes have Cone of Silence and the Scathe have Zone of Silence, since it's essentially just a way more powerful version of the same and marks an established creature with a territory that it has built up an influence in. Or leave it in for utility if fighting outside the region of its lair I guess, though I feel like that'd be uncommon. I'm really enjoying these by the way, I feel like your mechanics are capturing the flavor really well.

>>64688468
Uh, the Zone of silence cover nicely the "Fog of Darkenss" that was mentioned earlier and illustrate nicely the fact everything is dead, so there is no sound (feat it better than "Create a cone of Silence" honestly I don't know where this come from, or simply missed the post).

Maybe something to illustrate it's turbo murder-autism like speaked of at the start of the thread ? Something like a short "burst of adrenaline" ?

Should we archive this?

>>64685890
I would like to suggest adding sneak attack to the stat block. A lot of the writing suggests a creature who attacks and kills prey in a single dive.

>>64688624
Maybe tack on the ability to use sneak attack against paralyzed enemies also for synergy with Lunar Gaze. After all really sneak attack gets its advantage from the target being totally unable to respond or prepare, which paralysis would also do.

>>64688603
Is this a good description?
>/tg/ brainstorms on the concept of owl-dragons as dark cold and stealthy counterparts to traditional dragons, before finally statting them.

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here's an update. Added the sneak attack as a reaction to anyone who fails the luna gaze and removed the redundant cone of silence.

>>64672780
oh my

>>64689410
Make Sneak Attack the same as the regular mechanic. Doesn't paralysis grant Advantage to attackers, anyway?

>>64640817
They're also up all night, every night, hunting the unwary in the open, instead of taking long naps in caves.

A serpent-dragon, you might live with, as long as no one pokes it. An owl-dragon? No one gets to sleep. Ever.

>>64689836
yea it grants advantage and is a guaranteed crit so the 6d6 sneak attack on top of the claws as a crit would ruin any players day. My rationale for the reaction instead of a normal sneak attack is to reflect the Murder autism of an owl to make the sneak attack compulsory instead of a tactical decision. This has the added benefit for less than honorable players that decide to use one of their own as baits since he's forced to attack and leave stealth, it could leave him vulnerable for a short while since he can't immediately leave or hide. (i think. playtesting is necessary.)

>>64690091
I mean, it seems like the owl HAVING to lock eyes with someone before making its deadly attack is antithetical to the stealthy predator concept.

>>64690278
Here's how i pictured it. the party is well within the zone of silence and darkness, the Scathe perched high above in a tree in stealth. it reveals itself through the luna gaze which paralyzes two of the party members while animated impaled skeletons drop from the trees to attack the others. with the party distracted and divided, he targets one of the paralyzed victims and drops silently from the skies dealing his critical sneak attack grapple and carries his victim off into the skies while the skeletons continue to harass the party unable to save their companion from a grizzly death.

>>64690278
>>64690367
it makes sense to me this way since i've always interpreted the sneak attack as an opportunistic precision strike more so than a stealthy takedown since the ability does not require the user to be in stealth, only have advantage.

>>64690091
>>64689410
>Yfw my current character is so much of a combat/murder autist he would trivialize this check, probably survive a round of angry owl attack and wack a good chunk of it's pv in return
Yup. He might have grown into too much of a one minded retard.

>>64683727
Dinosaurs weren't reptiles.

>>64690413
I think you misunderstand. I take issue with how the owl can't use sneak attack in any way otber than its glare.

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>>64691881
>he doesn't know

>>64692320
Dinosaurs were, unlike owls, birds.

>>64681262
That fucking thing was nightmare fuel. Fund it.

>>64692320
Pterosaurs , mosasaurs and pleiosaurs were reptiles sure. Not dinosaurs though.

>>64640802
Go back to your Trilateral Commission meetings Jordan Peterson.

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So is a scathe just a big owl or a cat-owl with wings? I would prefer the former to not confuse it with fuck-huge griffins.

>>64696990
A really big owl, but maybe with a slightly extended appearance; longer legs so it can fight a bit like a secretary bird against human sized foes and compete with other flyers better.
I'm personally pretty biased towards >>64686085 image. Longer legs are important for any fight that isnt just a one-sided assassination, or territorial disputes against other large flyers. Claws on the wingtips achieve this, and the longer tail is a nice aesthetic to round it off.

>>64696990
>>64678935 is how I'm picturing what a Scathe looks like, a giant owl built like a dragon with four limbs, wings and a tail.

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>>64640636

>>64695910
But seriously though, what if dragons were based on lobsters?

>>64690278
>>64690367
>>64690413

So also add a normal sneak attack, but keep the reaction to simulate the murder autism?

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>>64697686
>breathes fire underwater

>>64697866
>greek fire.

or brimstone

If this thread is still alive in the morning I'll post my completed Owldrake/Elder/Scathe statblock with flavor text and images.

>>64698141
I'll be waiting nigga

Well I certainly know what I'm adding to my homebrew's spooky forest. Excellent thread.

>>64698263
This is one of those rare, creative yet compelling threads where everyone seems involved & on roughly the same page. I wish we had more like this

>>64698396
We just need an interesting prompt like OP had. What's another mythological creature to prose with?

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>>64698463

>>64698551
Reminds me of Kirin. What is it?

>>64640636
dragons are based on cats

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>>64698877

I don't remember what it's suppose to be called in the anime but the general idea was more just a horse or horse like creature that ate flesh because I find the idea interesting.

That and the first time seeing this was the anime Blood Reign where the MC fights a demon called Crazy Fang only for it to be revived later to merge with the main bad guy

>>64698989
>horse like creature that ate flesh
Sounds like a nightmare minus the fire mane. At least I remember nightmares eating flesh. Haven't seen one since 2e though. Man I miss 2e.

>>64645696
The black ones are sneaks.

>>64699014

We can always bring Bicorns into the spotlight. Like many mythological monsters I was introduced to them via SMT suppoedly they are supposed to be bull like creatures with human like faces that eat the flesh of husbands who are devoted to their wives

The SMT version was suppose to be a corrupt version of a unicorn that was depraved and debaucherous

>>64698989
Sounds like a boghtmaw.

>>64698989
I actually kinda like using your reasoning for the mythology. A horse that gained unholy power because one day it grew curious as to how the flesh of its owner might taste.

>>64699654

I actually hadn't thought of it like that but that's pretty fucking neat.

So a warhorse is stuck in the middle of no where with it's rider dead and barely hanging on to the saddle. With nothing else to eat the horse, out of desperation, ate the rotting meat of it's former master and became a flesh eating monster that craved more. It soon learned how to speak and express it's desire as it grew in power

>>64691881
Yeah, they were.

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>>64640686

>>64640636
>enter lair
>it does a 360 with its head to spook you

>>64689357
well that's mildly terrifying

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>>64699203
Did someone say SMT?

Horse monsters seem a bit off, because the things a horse anatomy of is physically super limited... they basically just run in straight lines, or curves at best. A horse running someone down might be a bit spook, but polearms have been pretty good against that basically forever.

Cats and birds make great bases, because ambush predators that are capable of moving and fighting in ways that humans cant possibly keep up with makes for terrifying monsters. No matter how much you change a horse, I have some doubt you could make something cool that still feels uniquely like a horse; otherwise you just have a scary shapeshifter/mage/demon that just happens to look like a horse but doesn't really act or 'feel' like one.

Maybe something that possesses or infects horses? Finding an evil horse in the wild would be a bit spooky, but having the horses at the local stable suddenly smart enough to escape, quietly wander the village looking for people, grabbing sleeping children through windows, that sort of thing would be much scarier because it gets you when you're completely unprepared.

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>>64701564
To be fair, it's a spirit with an owl form rather than a giant owl.

>>64702148
You just described a slasher flick but the killer is just a horse. I love you for this.

>>64702148
Add some snake qualities - weirdly sinuous neck, smoother movement, excessive teeth (horse teeth are pretty weird to start with).

What I'm really saying is anyone talking about monster horses needs to read Summer of Blood and the Bridle.

>>64702528

One of the creepy things i imagine is the horse that can hyper extend it's mouth open so imagine one that has viper like fangs t hat allows it to chomp down and grab onto victims and drag them away.

Combine this with it's natural abilty to stomp and kick and you have a potent killer and it doesn't even need to hide. I think it'd be more frightening that this ting can run out in the open and you are powerless against it but even when your hiding in a hut it'll smash at the walls or use it's snake tongue to open windows and grab things.

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>>64702678
A bit like this?

But really, boghtmaws. It's hard to find a good descriptive bit that's under 2k characters, so halfway through this chapter:

>https://archiveofourown.org/works/12476960/chapters/28708232#workskin

>>64640636
Okay, just throwing out an idea of how a Scathe could interact with players without trying to kill them.

Seeing how Scathe and Owldrakes are being of silence, wisdom, and death, I think a truely ancient one could learn the ultimate fate of the universe.
The ultimate end fate of our universe is most likely an infinite energy-less void where the only solid objects around are solid masses without any elements lighter than iron or heavier than lead.

If the world Scathe’s live in has an ending like this, I think that they would find this fate to be wonderful in their eyes. So one who has learned of this fate might be somewhat amicable to others, if only in a nihilistic “I need not kill since all shall die anyway” sense.

So, to elaborate on this slasher flick horse monster, some things fall in pretty neatly if you've been around horses. A horse has a pretty nasty bite, if you make it able to open its mouth a lot more (like a dog) and have some fangs to impale you on to drag you off, thats pretty spooky. A horses neck can already be weirdly sinuous looking, but once 'changed' it becomes able to extend a little as well as being more snakelike in its movements.

Now if an adventurer is fighting this thing mano a mano like one might fight a bear, its still probably not that dangerous no matter how spooky. Its movement is limited, its offense is limited and telegraphed, and its going to have a tough time vs a party of adventurers kitted for danger. But make its hooves have a slightly spongy nature on the bottom, like a thick black mould, and it'll move more or less dead silent down a road or through a town. Now you have a slasher flick horse monster that'll work for a murder mystery style adventure, or even just a horrific random encounter when the party gets awoken by their own horses trying to eat their faces.

Now, I feel like it needs one more 'aspect'. I'm thinking its not much more intelligent than a horse, maybe just with some more predatory instincts and a suspicious knack for locks/latches/doors, no spells or particularly obvious magic. What's it called? Is it a symptom of a bigger problem (something unleashes this infection on horses) or a parasitic threat of itself (magical parasite/infection that only horses get, but spreads in a weird way or maybe humans or other things can be carriers)?

Maybe it's an airborne magical disease, that incubates for anywhere between a few days to a few weeks, or even months, before the horse suddenly 'changes' one night. Some bogs and marshes are rumored to be cursed, and any horse that goes there comes back mad. If a rider is suspected of having been there, his horse is murdered while he sleeps, and any town he's passed through consider murdering their own valuable horses. Maybe a wizard unleashed this as a curse on an equestrian farm or house or knights group, but after the horses ate their owners and mounts they all scattered in different directions, lurking the countryside and infecting any other horses they find whilst avoiding human interaction.

Travellers who tell tale of a strange horse that approached them and their mount fearlessly one night. Their usually placid horse became shaken and restless, so the traveller flees before the strange riderless horse gets too close. When he found an inn, he told the strange story before retiring; hearing strange noises later, the patrons found the man half devoured by his own horse in his sleep. The other horses present were watching with a strange look, and were all put down by their owners out of a fear of the glint in their eyes, and the strange substance on their hooves.

>>64641392
>>64642218
Owls are pretty smart and can be trained. No Crow/Raven smart but close enough to parrots. I can't say all breeds of owls are like this but I've seen some from different breeds.

>>64686080
The pacing is not perfect, but it is very much worth it

>>64699763
Kinda makes sense, warhorses were trained to bite (and kick) anyway by some trainers.

>>64703315
They might start to just protect their zone of silence rather than expand it, as well.

>the scathe starts learning entropy magic to hasten this beautiful end

>>64703315
Does this truly offer some kind of interaction?
It sounds more like something the owldrake would say with little to no replies possible.

>>64703633>>64703688
I'd use the hoof-mold as the vector and potential identifier.
Any horse that walks through a patch of the mold or the path of an infected horse will become infected.
Also those knowledgeable in the condition know to try washing the hooves of suspected horses, if the grime doesn't come off you must act like nothing is the matter and reach weapons asap.

>>64705803
Interactions would likely depend on the story or quest the players are going on. Maybe they could become a Dark Parton for one of the players.

>>64705803
Interactions would likely be similar to any other great beast of power.

>>64707709
>>64707744
That's really niche though, it would be more advisable to create something that can easily come up if the party meet such a creature and you don't want it to become a fight encounter.

>>64641526
I remember a campaign where we tamed one of those on a nat 20 animal handling.
That campaign ended because having a giant tunneling beast surviving off good berries was too much (we were new so we didn't concede the busted nature of goodberry)

>>64640636
Does anyone have the bit about church-sized owls from "My tank is fight!"?.

>>64705803
I imagine a somewhat amicable creature, scatterbrained and switching subjects for no reason. Not insane but not really tied to the moment either. It listens to requests by PCs and will even grant them, if it takes nearly no effort on its part. Something like giving the PCs a book it already owns or telling them about something it knows would be very easy. Getting it to leave it's territory would be near impossible though.
And through every conversation it would always be trying to make the PCs embrace its worldview. Like a particularly unzealous and lazy cultist.
>Oh, yes. That book. I got that a few years... Hundred years? Thousand? No decades is right... Ago. Don't know why you want it though. It just has some little spells in it. It's not like it's going to change anything in the long run. Perhaps you'd want to stay here in the nice and quiet? Wait out all that... Businesss you seem so concerned over. The quiet is so much nicer.

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as promised here's my Owldrake flavor text and stat blocks as a google doc.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wRZG_wpML9Zh61AthlS62XWtYNZ8TUHbTIm3iayieZQ/edit?usp=sharing

ill post the stat blocks as images below

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>>64709447

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>>64709472

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>>64709494

>>64709447
Holy shit dude, the flavor text you have for that is incredibly good. Really well done.

>>64709641
Thanks anon, I appreciate it.

>>64709447
Impressive write-up. Could be quite useful for a more “naturalistic” setting.