Armadillephant

Magic fused an elephant with an armadillo to make this beast. It is mostly elephant, but wears the armadillo's hard banded armor, has curved digging claws on its forelegs, and swings a long armored tail. Apart from the armor it looks just like a normal African elephant.

Built for war, it combines a war elephant's power with an armadillo's shell, shrugging off punishment while dealing plenty. Each of its two tusks deals 2-16, and at the same time it tramples with both forefeet and constricts with its trunk for 2-12 each. Many carry a howdah for a general and his aides, often mounted with crossbows or similar weapons, and its arrival in the enemy line is often enough to force a morale check.

Some live in wild elephant herds and breed with them (90% of calves are ordinary elephants, 10% armadillephants), and their toughness tends to make them herd leaders. Most, though, are made for war and spend their lives in an army's care. Humanoid deities create the majority as gifts for worthy tribes, so orcs, goblins and gnolls are their usual riders. A human or demihuman wizard could make one, but those gods regard such creation as their own right and may take offense.

Tribes treasure the beasts and go to great lengths to keep them healthy, often valuing one above any single warrior, which breeds resentment among the keepers, though in some armies the handler holds high honor. Trained, an armadillephant digs trenches, latrines and pit traps far faster than a work crew, so expect pit traps around any humanoid camp that has one.

The meat is delicious, but the animal is too precious to butcher. One killed in battle becomes a feast, preceded by a ceremony thanking the gods for a beast that aided them and then made them stronger. Eating the heart is thought to grant fearlessness, and the chief usually claims it. The hide makes fine armor, too stiff for small races except as shields, but hill giants and anything bigger can make decent suits from it, and it also serves as crude barding for normal elephants.