Dread RocCreature 15

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Source Pathfinder #166: Despair on Danger Island
Perception +26 (low-light vision)
Languages none
Skills Acrobatics +23, Athletics +31
Str +9, Dex +3, Con +7, Int -4, Wis +2, Cha +0

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AC 36; Fort +28; Reflex +25; Will +24;
HP 290
Speed 20 feet (fly 60 feet)

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Beak +30 (+25, +20) to hit (reach 15) 3d10+18 Piercing
Talon +30 (+26, +22) to hit (agile, reach 15) 3d8+18 Slashing
Wing +30 (+26, +22) to hit (agile, reach 30) 2d6+15 Bludgeoning

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Low-Light Vision

The monster can see in dim light as though it were bright light, so it ignores the Concealed condition due to dim light.

Wing Rebuff

Trigger A creature moves from beyond the reach of the roc's wing to within the reach of the roc's wing.

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Effect The roc makes a wing Strike against the triggering creature. If the roc Pushes the creature, it disrupts the triggering move action.

Dreadful Screech (mental, auditory, emotion, fear)

The dread roc screeches terrifyingly. Each creature in a 120-foot emanation must attempt a DC 32 will save. Regardless of the result, creatures are temporarily immune for 1 minute.

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Critical Success The creature is unaffected.

Success The creature is Frightened 1.

Failure The creature is Frightened 2.

Critical Failure The creature is fleeing for 1 round and Frightened 3.

Flying Strafe

The roc Flies up to its Speed and makes two talon Strikes at any point during that movement. Each Strike must target a different creature. Each attack takes the normal multiple attack penalty.

Snack

A roc gains a +2 circumstance bonus to hit with its beak Strike if the target is grabbed or restrained in its talon.

Snatch

A roc can Fly at half Speed while it has a creature Grabbed or Restrained in either or both of its talons, carrying that creature along with it.

Improved Grab

The monster can use Grab as a free action triggered by a hit with its initial attack. A monster with Improved Grab still needs to spend an action to extend the duration for creatures it already has Grabbed.

Improved Push 15ft

Requirements The monster's last action was a success with a Strike that lists Push in its damage entry.

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Effect The monster automatically knocks the target away from the monster. Unless otherwise noted in the ability description, the creature is pushed 15 feet. If the attack was a critical hit, this distance is doubled.

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Legendarily massive raptors capable of carrying off elephants as prey, rocs are typically about 30 feet long from beak to tail and have a wingspan of 80 feet or more. While their beaks are hooked to rip flesh from bone, their hunting strategy involves grabbing their prey in their powerful talons and then dropping it from great heights before feeding. This method creates a massive amount of carrion, which guarantees that rocs are followed by flocks of opportunistic scavengers, such as ravens and buzzards, who find it easy to steal bits of the larger birds' meals. Rocs, for the most part, don't mind these creatures, which sometimes get gobbled up along with the rest of the roc's food.

Rocs usually nest among mountaintops and cliffs inaccessible to all but the bravest of terrestrial dwellers. They are long-range predators that hunt both land and sea in search for massive prey to sustain them and their young. Rocs are antisocial and lone hunters who compete with each other in fierce aerial battles to protect territory. But about once a decade, a mating couple pairs up to raise their chicks. Once the chicks are old enough to hunt on their own, the parents separate to once again engage in lone hunting.

Particularly skilled druids or rangers might capture and train a roc to serve as a flying mount or hunting companion, though examples of such an incredible feat of domestication are few and far between. The easiest way to rear a roc is to do so from the moment it hatches, since the chick imprints on the first creature it sees. Acquiring a roc egg is by no means an easy feat, though, and is often a death sentence for the would-be egg-snatcher.

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Traits