D&D 5E What's D&D's closest equivalent to buzzard-people?

[Piratecat]

Monsters, not PC races: if I want something that's effectively a humanoid carrion-eating buzzard, what's the closest monster (from this or previous editions) to adapt? I'm considering aarakockra and harpies, but I'm sure I'm missing something obvious.

Thanks for any ideas!

 

[Boarstorm]

Vrock?

Depends I guess on if you want it to be a race or just a monster.

Edit: Oooh, refluffed kenku... "Carrion-ku". I like it.

 

[Authweight]

Kenku might be somewhat close to what you're looking for. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenku

 

[Savage Wombat]

Harpies are definitely buzzards, or vultures. (Buzzard is a weird term in ornithology.) But they have other baggage you may not want. Honestly, if you want the carrion-bird-humanoid, you use tengu/kenku. Or Vrocks.

I suspect the existing stats don't really reflect what you want them for - do you want some kind of "carrion-eating" powers?

 

[Plane Sailing]

Or ghoul-variants of any of the bird people?

You could also have Perytons as classic birdlike carrion eaters, although I think Harpies are a good choice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peryton_(Dungeons_&_Dragons)

 

[Tormyr]

I can't think of any specific creature other than the vrock. That means reskinning and doing your own.

Depending on how extensively you need this race, I would reskin several different creatures out of the MM. I am assuming you want something that has a fly speed built in. Each would make it easier for a different CR. Aarakocra, Angel, Axe Beak, Vrock, Flying Kobold, Harpy, Mephits, Giant Vulture, Wyvern. And those are just the creatures that could work that already have a fly speed built in. Then you can swap out powers from other creatures.

 

[Astrosicebear]

 

[Nebulous]

Yeah, harpy crossed with aarocraka.

Maybe tell us what you want it to do and we can brainstorm one or two racial traits to slap on an a harpy or vrock.

 

[Joe Liker]

I'd go with any or all of the above, based mainly on the challenge level I wanted to match.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Alternatively, you can go with a humanoid that's already scavenger-like as a base, and then just add a fly speed. Gnolls, for instance.