Critters III! Now also in 5e!

[Bhu]

https://foundation.app/@averkin/foundation/18774


Perrault's Crow
Huge Aberration
Hit Dice: 18d8+90 (171 hp)
Initiative: +6
Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares), Fly 120 ft. (Good)
Armor Class: 20 (-2 Size, +2 Dex, +10 Natural), touch 10, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +13/+29
Attack: Bite +19 melee (3d6+8)
Full Attack: 1 Bite +19 melee (3d6+8) and 2 Claws +17 melee (2d8+4) and 2 Lesser Claws +17 melee (1d8+4)
Space/Reach: 15 ft./15 ft.
Special Attacks: Frightful Presence
Special Qualities: Darkvision 120 ft., Second Sight, DR 10/Magic, SR 20
Saves: Fort +11, Ref +8, Will +12
Abilities: Str 26, Dex 14, Con 20, Int 4, Wis 12, Cha 14
Skills: Climb +8, Listen +8, Search +4, Spot +8, Survival +4
Feats: Alertness, Flyby Attack, Improved Initiative, Improved Snatch, Multiattack, SKill FOcus (Search), Snatch
Environment: Temperate Forests
Organization: Unique
Challenge Rating: 9
Treasure: None
Alignment: Neutral
Advancement: 15+ HD (Huge)
Level Adjustment: ---

"Listen closely, I'll only be drunk enough to ever tell this story once. There's a reason we avoid the Sonian Forest at certain times of the year. At one time a man named Jean Perrault lived in a small pavillon hidden there. He was an odd man. Never attended Church or any other social function. He only came to the village for parcels and supplies. God alone knows where half the things he ordered came from. Some of them stank, or were marked hazardous. When he went on his frequent trips, he would return with strange devices, and even stranger books. People began to whisper that he was into the occult. Probably because he was."

"His other singular obsession was a crow. It was an odd crow. Piebald, with milky eyes. You could always see it somewhere, staring. We all thought it was blind, yet somehow it kept on living. We assumed Perrault fed it, but no one knew how it could get about without hitting anything. The townsfolk started referring to it as Perrault's familiar. If we only knew the truth."

"Eventually his odd behavior exceeded our tolerance. I was a boy of 14 at the time. A mob had formed to oust him, and my father took me along because he wanted me to 'learn what it was to be a man.' Apparently being a man meant joining a lynching party that was frothing at the mouth in fear, and destined to spiral out of control. Even as a boy I could see what was coming. At least i thought I could. It erupted into violence as expected, but Perrault, wily rogue that he was, had a surprise for us. Four men died before we even got to his house. He'd trapped the path leading to it. The door was open when we got there. Perrault was gone, but his handiwork wasn't. He'd opened a door to somewhere, and something had come through. A great many somethings in fact. I ran when they tore the first man in half. Most of the people who went in died that day. We never found Perrault, but we did kill most of his creations."

"I was hiding in the town hall afterwards, and overheard everything. Perrault had become obsessed with the idea that his crow not only wasn't blind, but could see things the rest of us couldn't. He had it in his head that there were many overlapping realities, and that his crow could see the weak points in them that allowed one to cross over from one world to the next. He used it to open a doorway to somewhere, but in his journal he noted that whatever he expected to find on the other side, he wasn't fool enough to cross over himself. He sent small beasts of the forest that he trapped instead, to watch what happened to them. They were...changed. Horribly. And whatever was on the other side kept pushing them back over to our side of the door. Perrault had some manner of keeping them at bay. Likely he kept them around on the chance we did what we did."

"And then there was the crow. After it ripped out the Mayors eyes, it fled through the door. It comes back every so often, when the door is open. It's not just a crow anymore. We never did find Perrault. Maybe one of his pets ate him. Maybe he's up there still, whatever he might be now. Avoid the forest, especially on New Years Day. And don't pursue this any further. The town has a way of making sure people who ask about the crow disappear."

Frightful Presence (Ex): The Crow can unsettle foes with its mere presence. The ability takes effect automatically whenever the Crow attacks, charges, or flies overhead. Creatures within a radius of 120 feet are subject to the effect if they have fewer HD than the Crow. A potentially affected creature that succeeds on a DC 21 Will save (Save DC is Charisma based) remains immune to that Crow’s frightful presence for 24 hours. On a failure, creatures with 4 or less HD become panicked for 4d6 rounds, those with 5-10 HD are Frightened for 4d6 rounds, and those with 11 or more HD become shaken for 4d6 rounds.

Second Sight (Su): The Crow permanently has the benefits of a True Seeing spell (Caster Level equal to it's HD). It also can see into other planes of existence in areas where the barriers between worlds are week, and can see portals between realities that are normally invisible.

Combat: The Crow seems to prefer to do Flyby attacks, snatching up one victim at a time.