Friday Creature Feature: Dryx

I was going to write all about how spirits are responsible for the concept of vampires and werewolves, but I got kind of busy with other things this week, so that story and the associated stat blocks will have to wait. Here's something freaky to keep you occupied in the meantime.

Oh, but before we dive into the monsterness, let me plug another creature featurin' blog, Paul Ingrassia's Troll Hammer. I didn't do it consciously, but it seems pretty likely that I accidentally swiped the name from here. As he pointed out, of course, we both swiped the name from so many other places that "swiped" isn't really the right word anymore, but hey, it's a cool blog so I wanted to give him a nod.

Anyway, even though it's technically still Thursday, here's the dryx:

DRYX Medium Aberration Hit Dice: 10d8 Speed: 30, Fly 60 Armor Class: 14 (natural) Attack Bonus: +7 Damage: 1d6 (tentacle barb) or magic Special Qualities: Damage Reduction 10/magic, Darkvision Saves: Fort +4 Ref +3 Will +7 Abilities: Str 11, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 15, Wis 11, Chr 14 Environment: any Dryx are a race with no history, born whole from the chaos of the Storm, or perhaps from a multitude of no longer recognizable constituent races. Dryx appear avian for the most part, but with distinctly alien differences. Their heads have four faces, each with one large eye and a beak. Despite their omni-directional gaze, the rest of their bodies seem to be built with a front and a back like other humanoids. Their two legs are bird-like claws and their arms are wings, though more reptilian than avian. From the center of their chests, a cluster of three spiny tentacles sprouts. The dryx despise their own existence, but they despise other sentient beings even more, seeing them as cattle at best, but more likely as vermin. They are, luckily, few in number and scattered. Spell-Like Abilities: At will - polymorph (the healing effect is limited to five points per transformation), web, gaseous form.