Ti-khana Pterosaur, Giant
Large monstrosity (shapechanger), neutral evil
Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points 39 (6d10 + 6)
Speed 10 ft., fly 60 ft.
STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|
16 (+3) | 17 (+3) | 12 (+1) | 5 (–3) | 12 (+1) | 11 (+0) |
Skills Acrobatics +5, Perception +3
Senses passive Perception 13
Languages —
Challenge 2 (450 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +2
Shapechanger. The ti-khana giant pterosaur can use its action to polymorph into a Large snake (speed 30 ft. but cannot fly), or back into its true form. Its statistics are the same in each form, except for the speed changes noted. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn't transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies.
Dive. If the ti-khana giant pterosaur dives at least 30 feet straight toward a target and then hits it with a Bite attack on the same turn, the target takes an additional 9 (2d8) piercing damage.
If a creature is riding the giant pterosaur when it dives, the rider must succeed at a DC 15 Dexterity (Athletics) check or a DC 15 Wisdom (Animal Handling) check or fall prone while remaining in their saddle. If the rider fails the check by 5 or more, the impact knocks them off the pterosaur: the rider takes 10 (3d6) bludgeoning damage and falls to the ground, landing prone in an unoccupied space adjacent to the target of the dive attack. If hitting the ground would do more than 3d6 falling damage, the rider takes that amount of damage instead.
Flyby. The ti-khana giant pterosaur doesn't provoke an opportunity attack when it flies out of an enemy's reach.
Keen Sight. The ti-khana giant pterosaur has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
Innate Spellcasting (Pterosaur Form Only). The ti-khana giant pterosaur's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 1#). The ti-khana can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
Magic Resistance. The ti-khana has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.
Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) piercing damage plus 5 (2d4) poison damage.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.
Hit: 8 (2d4 + 3) slashing damage. If the target is a creature that is Medium size or smaller, it is grappled (escape DC 13). Until this grapple end, the target is restrained, and the pterosaur can't use its claws on another target. The giant pterosaur can then take to the air and carry off its victim, using Plummeting Doom on its next turn.
Plummeting Doom. If the ti-khana giant pterosaur has a creature of Medium size or smaller restrained in its claws, it can use its action to fly up into the sky and then dives while releasing its grip, smashing the grappled victim into the ground. This does 8 (1d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage plus an additional 14 (4d6) bludgeoning damage for every Plummeting Doom action the pterosaur took while it had its victim restrained, up to a maximum of 78 (21d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage for five rounds spent preparing the plummet. For example, if the pterosaur takes three rounds to build up height and speed, the victim takes 50 (13d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage. The victim can make a DC 15 Athletics (Dexterity) check to roll with the impact, which reduces the damage by 10 (3d6) bludgeoning damage.
If a victim escapes the pterosaur's claws and falls, they normally drop from a height of 30 feet for every Plummeting Doom action the giant pterosaur took. (At the end of a fall, a creature takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet it fell, to a maximum of 20d6. The creature lands prone, unless it avoids taking damage from the fall.)
Description
An enormous flying reptile whose wingspan can exceed 30 feet, a ti-khana giant pterosaur bears little resemblance to any natural pterosaur. They can vary greatly in appearance depending on the whims and donor creatures the yuan-ti used to create them. A typical yuan-ti giant pterosaur resembles an oversized
Pteranodon with teeth lining its long stabbing beak and a tail that ends in a triangular stabilizer. The pterosaur usually has naked leathery skin covered in small scales, but some have bodies covered in feather-hair like a normal pterosaur. It does not have the flat-soled hind feet of a Pteranodon, which are rather human-like and built for walking, but raptorial taloned feet like a hawk's.
Flying Attack Dogs. Ti-khana giant pterosaurs are often used as attack beasts by yuan-ti, who train them to respond to whistles or flag signals.
Winged Predators. A ti-khana giant pterosaur is a carnivore and they are not fussy about what flesh they eat, whether it's a living victim or decaying carrion. They normally hunt prey of Medium size or smaller, preferring Small creatures the size of sheep. The giant pterosaur is able to seize victims of up to human size in its hawk-like talons and carry them into the air, where it will savage them with its jaws or hurl them to the ground. They also like to make flyby attacks: slashing with their beaks and flying away before their target can respond.
Aerial Mounts. Some elite yuan-ti ride ti-khana giant pterosaurs, usually using them as scouting and combat platforms. These creatures can carry up to 480 pounds through the air, the weight of a couple of Medium sized creatures, although they cannot fly very far with such a load.
Feral Populations. Despite their wildly varying appearance and bloodlines, ti-khana pterosaurs are able to breed with others of their kind and lands of savage, mountainous jungle support wild populations of them. Feral ti-khana pterosaurs tend to slowly lose their ti-khana traits over the generations. Many have lost their Innate Spellcasting and/or Shapechanging abilities and are less intelligent than true ti-khana, with brains no more developed than a normal pterosaur's, but they often keep their other ti-khana traits such as Magic Resistance. No matter how devolved a feral ti-khana pterosaur becomes, it always retains its venomous bite.
Creatures of the Yuan-ti. Over millennia of experimentation, the yuan-ti have transformed various scaly reptilian animals into monstrosities that share some of their traits. Called ti-khana, these prized pets are carefully trained to serve their ophidian masters. All ti-khana are resistant to magic like yuan-ti and possess the innate ability to detect magic. The majority of ti-khana also have venomous fangs, the ability to transform into a poisonous snake, and some kind of supernatural or magical attack.
Ti-khana require the dark magic and alchemy of the yuan-ti to breed and develop their powers. Ti-khana can survive in the wild, but it is unlikely they can reproduce properly without the yuan-ti's arcane treatments. It is possible some types of ti-khana can mate with their unaltered relatives or lay viable eggs with their own kind. However, feral offspring can not develop ti-khana abilities without yuan-ti intervention so, at best, would grow into beasts resembling the ti-khana's mundane ancestors.
Breeding and training ti-khana is usually performed by specialist yuan-ti spellcasters, but an edifice can be enchanted to perform this task for one or more strains of ti-khana. This allows ancient yuan-ti sites to have a population of ti-khana "guarddogs" even if no yuan-ti has visited them for millennia.
(Based on a monster from the
Fiend Folio (2003).)
