The barbarian gave a cocky grin as he slung his axe from off his shoulder and marched towards the owlbear. He ignored the cries of the ranger, certain that a beast such as the one before him no longer presented a threat to him. His self-assuredness vanished as the beast unleashed a piercing shriek and revealed a vast pair of wings. A single flap was enough to briefly lift the monster into the air - and unleash a great swirling gust that careened towards the cocky berserker.
The shrike serves as a middle ground between the owlbear and the skraev, which matched perfectly with the level that they are found at in Dauntless. Like the skraev, its numbers are based on those of the owlbear, but increased to an appropriate level. More than that, it borrows a few abilities from the owlbear with some minor modifications. Bloodcurdling Screech has a shorter cooldown and Shrieking Advance is only one action but has the minute long cooldown. This actually serves to represent the shriek followed by the charge the shrike occasionally performs. It usually follows up this charge with another one of its attacks, which I specifically why I wanted this to be a single action. It can use Shrieking Advance and then follow it up with Shrieking Swoop or Slashing Gust. The former might actually be the shrike's most unique ability, letting it make a long, low glide while diving at victims with its claws, not increasing its multiple attack penalty until after both Strikes. Meanwhile, Slashing Gust is based on the skraev's gust but lacks the cold damage and ability to immobilize people. It uses a high DC and limited use area damage. Meanwhile, its Whirling Winds borrows from the skraev again with unlimited use area damage and a moderate DC. Again, I liked the idea of the shrike having a maintained effect to use rather than having its whirlwind just be another line of damage effect.
The lantern is inspired by the shrike's lantern from the game of Dauntless and had to be carefully balanced. Haste can't target multiple creatures until a character can cast 7th-rank spells, which is way too early for this. As such, I limited it to a held item with a short duration and short range, which I think is enough.
Pathfinder 2e:
Owlbears are very simple creatures in Pathfinder First Edition, and that remains fairly true for the shrike. Much like the 2e version, it has howling cyclone and razor wind and then also has glide to use its Flyby Attack with instead of actually having a Shrieking Swoop. It also has Death From Above, potentially letting it take advantage of its flight while also demonstrating the leap and slam it will sometimes perform. Improved Overrun can help represent its charge though notably, the 1e version lacks the fear-inducing factor of the 2e version.
Pathfinder 1e:
Blue's D&D 5e:
ENCOUNTER HOOKS
Skraevs are effectively heftier owlbears with a little mix of aerial abilities, meaning that anywhere you would use an advanced owlbear, you could use these guys instead. They're pretty simplistic creatures, an so nothing is really standing out - they make fun random encounters at appropriate levels or whenever you need wild animals to savage the party.
If you're interested in joining the discussion on what creatures/builds I'm working on or just discussing your own homebrew works, check out our Discord! If you want to get some teasers or help us get to our yet unlisted milestones for extra content, check out the Twitter.
You can also check out the video on the YouTube channel!
Have a monstrous Monday!
Comments