Cleon
Legend
Hmmm, why don't we allow them to take any bird form? Or specify a list of birds from the SRD/CC?
The original Monstrous Manual writeup is vague about what bird forms a Bird Maiden can take, all it says is "They can assume many bird shapes, including falcons, swallows, parrots, and even (at 8th level) giant eagles".
However, The Ecology of the Bird Maiden article from Dragon #218 offers a table to specify what bird forms they can take (reproduced below), and adds a note that "It is rumored that evil bird maidens are able to shapechange into ravens, blood hawks, and giant vultures."
Well I do want them be able to take on a range of bird forms dependant on their class level or HD limit, I do fancy their being some differences in "vocabulary" between two Maidens of the same ability to reflect differences in their ethos & nature. e.g. an evil bird maiden may have the form of a Condor instead of a Giant Eagle, but its combat stats will be the same. In any case, I'd want the differences to be basically cosmetic.
We could leave it to flavour text, I suppose.
Bird Maiden Bird Form Table from Dragon #218
Level | Bird form | AC | MV | HD | THAC0 | #AT | Dmg |
2 | Parakeet | 9 | 1, Fl 24 | 1/2 | 20 | 1 | 1 |
3 | Swallow | 8 | 1, Fl 30 | 1-1 | 20 | 1 | 1 |
4 | Parrot | 6 | 1, Fl 30 | 1+1 | 19 | 1 | 2-4 |
5 | Falcon | 5 | 1, Fl 36 | 1-1 | 20 | 3 | 1/1/1 |
6 | Owl | 5 | 1, Fl 27 | 1 | 19 | 3 | 1-2/1-2/1 |
7 | Eagle, Wild | 6 | 1, Fl 30 | 1+3 | 18 | 3 | 1/2/1-2/l |
8 | Eagle, Giant | 7 | 3, FL 48 | 4 | 15 | 3 | 1-6/1-6/2-12 |