In a similar vein to the lili, I'm not sure how common this creature is in Chinese mythology it supposedly comes from because I can only find two whole sources that it comes from. A relatively simple creature, it was nevertheless fun to design and work on a somewhat less complex creature. So here's the carnivorous cow - the aoyin!
There wasn't a lot of information that I could find on the aoyin - merely that it was a multi-horned, carnivorous ox with straw-like fur that dwelled in the mountains of China. This did give me some extra room to work but I wasn't trying to get too crazy with this creature. Settling on CR 4, I decided on magical beast and then gave it scent to better track down prey. Its AC is slightly lower for its CR than usual, which I sought to balance with a higher than average pool of HP - as well as a surplus of attacks. Gore was an obvious inclusion as was a bite, and I added the hooves because look at those things in the picture. It'd hurt like Hell to get hit by one of those.
With all of that, I had pretty much captured the basics of the aoyin, at least as far as any descriptions I could find went. But I decided to take some artistic liberties to give it Impaling Gore, allowing it to grapple targets with its horns. This is somewhat modeled after the Hamatula Strike feat, which allows you to grapple an opponent with a piercing weapon. But even after giving the aoyin that, it still felt kind of bare bones, which led me to include the Body Bash ability in which the aoyin swings its massive horned head and an unfortunate victim at another nearby target. After this, I picked out a pretty standard array of feats, including Lightning Reflexes to shore up its poor Reflex save. Given that aoyin were said to dwell in mountainous regions, I gave it the Climb skill to navigate some parts of that terrain.
Pathfinder 1e:
Per usual, the PF2e aoyin was a pretty straight adaptation of the 1e version though I moved its bull rush ability specifically to its horns, mostly to give it some extra things that it can choose to do. However, whenever I design a creature for PF2e, I like to see if I can come up with a reaction, if one would be thematically appropriate. Since Attacks of Opportunity in 2e are very rare, I love giving a monster its own unique reaction it can use, which led me to the idea of Twisting Horns in which the aoyin catches an errant attack in its horns and then tries to tangle it in them, pulling the weapon free of its foe's hands. Given how Disarm works in 2e, its unlikely that the aoyin gets it in this attempt, but it does set it up for its next turn to do something a little different than just make its regular Strikes, which I think is fun.
Pathfinder 2e:
Blue's D&D 5e Version (https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/XSVlrnPq)
ENCOUNTER HOOKS
Snow Trouble: With a fearsome winter around the corner, an aoyin or herd of them decide to stockpile food for the upcoming months but don’t want it to spoil too quickly. Capturing some humanoids, the aoyin drive them back to their cavern home, which they then block off with boulders. The heroes are requested to brave the blizzard, climbing up the mountain to the cave of the aoyin, which they must then find a way inside to save the captives before the aoyin realize there are intruders and murder their prisoners out of spite.
Herd of Hurt: A savage ettin has managed to tame a herd of aoyin through sheer force, using them to assist it in hunting prey but otherwise treating them as regular cattle. The aoyin have attempted to overthrow the ettin’s control but the savage giant has brutally beaten any such challengers to death. When he and the herd come to threaten the heroes, they must face an overwhelming force – or try to subvert the carnivorous cattle into turning upon their two-headed master.
If you want to join in on the discussion of monsters I'm building, talking about the homebrew content you're working on, or just hang out with a bunch of PF/D&D nerds, come join our Monster Monday Discord! I try to discuss monsters and character builds I'm working on there with people and we even get a few games together now and then to test monsters out.
Have a Monstrous Monday!
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