100 Avian Beasts

What would a campaign be without creatures to befriend or slay? Take to the skies with this list of avian beasts that are ready at your command, or ready to kill. From the tiniest humming bird to the largest of thunderbirds, these winged creatures will bring whimsy and excitement to your adventure. Or, if you've ever wanted to feel like a pirate with an enchanted parrot on your shoulder, this is the guide for you! Will you farm them for precious magical feathers, or ride them like a grand plumed steed? These birds, bats and beasts are ready to swoop in to take charge of any terrain. Add the flair of these feathered foes to your next campaign for a colorful twist your party won't see coming. Are you brave enough, or are you chicken?

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Here are some sample results:

• Hover Badger: These odd beasts are as comical looking as they are deadly. Characterized by black, wiry fur with white stripes running from their head to their stubby tail; their wing membranes enable them to hover when divebombing prey and intruders. They make their burrows at the base of trees, using the roots as nourishment during long winters. They eat the birds and rodents that visit the tree, and divebomb passerbys from the tree's branches. Their claws are two inches long and serrated for digging through hard dirt. They are known to gouge out eyes and maul faces before floating to the ground and latching onto ankles and shoes.
• Piccadilly Pecker: Every spring, young workers with quick nimble hands hunt these odd little birds for a big payoff from local merchants. Characterized by their large white frill of feathers, delicate purple crest and needle-like beak, they bore holes into trees to eat Buggle Borers, purple beetles that sicken trees with their toxic secretions. The Piccadilly Pecker is able to filter all toxins from its body and can consume even the most polluted of water or food. Their stomachs are used as a filtration system to purify water, but they come at a high price due to the short hunting season and the difficulty in capturing the birds without rupturing the stomach.
• Soot Faerie: Common in polluted urban areas, especially around factories, Soot Faeries are the size of a humming bird. Their small bodies are covered in a puff of black and grey feathers and their long needle-like beak is what makes them so dangerous. They use their beak to suck blood from people and animals, spreading disease wherever they go. They, however, are immune to most diseases, including the plague. Their beaks can be crushed into a powder and used as a strong poison similar to arsenic. Assassins often hunt Soot Faeries to collect rewards from the city sanitation committees, then keep the carcasses in order to make poison for their hits. A clever double scheme.
• Oil-slick Duck: Another pest that city sanitation committees pay handsomely for removal is the Oil-slick Duck. These birds breed quickly, as they raise clutches of eggs three times a year and feed on the abundant insects in the area. They excrete a highly flammable, black oily substance wherever they go. This puts overcrowded cities and urban areas at risk for fire. The oil is toxic and, on hot days, evaporates into the air to create a miasma of poison gas. The birds themselves are fairly harmless and quite easy to catch, but killing them releases their acidic blood that is corrosive and eats through flesh and bone.
• Sludge Swan: Slag pools and runoff ponds are the home of the nasty Sludge Swan. They are large, flightless birds with paddle-like feet. Their grey, water-proof feathers are covered in an oily secretion that protects them from irritants in the foul waters they swim in. Despite their foul odor, this secretion is prized as a polish for armor that helps to protect the wearer from corrosive acids and other irritants. The oil is also believed to ward off disease, and nobles often rub it onto their skin, despite it making them stink like sulfur.

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