Girallon's Rend

[Galfridus]

Girallons have 4 claw attacks. Their Rend ability kicks in when they hit with "both" claws. Does this mean any two hits causes a rend, or do they have to hit with four claws to rend?

 

[kreynolds]

Looks like they forgot to fully update the writeup after they swiped it from another monster, like a Troll or something. I'd say it would only require two hits to use their rend ability.

 

[strongbow]

Yes, they can technically rend twice. Girallons are the nastiest CR 5 creature in the book. A half-fiend, flying (with half fiend bat wings) that charges up Poison before attacking is an especially nasty encounter. With one more hit die, they gain an extra feat. May I suggest Flyby attack? Since all 4 claws are listed together, a girallon will get all 4 claws even on a charge action. Flyby attack girallon is very memorable, trust me.

I stand corrected. My rules lawyer friend told me wrong. Thank you Dr. Zoom. Of course, you could haste the girallon...

 

[Dr. Zoom]

Since all 4 claws are listed together, a girallon will get all 4 claws even on a charge action.

No it will not. You get one attack on a charge, just like you get one attack on a standard action. If the girallon used all its claws as one attack, it would be written "claws +12 melee," not "4 claws +12 melee." The girallon must use a full attack action to get all its listed attacks. This is explicitly stated on page 7 in the MM.

 

[shilsen]

Since all 4 claws are listed together, a girallon will get all 4 claws even on a charge action.

A creature only gets a single attack on a charge action (or any time it has moved more than a 5 ft step), regardless of how the attacks are listed. For example, a roper has "6 strands +11 ranged" and a dislacer beast has "2 tentacles +9 melee", but if either moves more than 5 ft and attacks, it only gets a single attack. The only exceptions to the rules are certain creatures such as a lion (pounce) or hydra, but these have special abilities, which the girallon does not have.