Bird [Forgotten Realms]

Ostriches (3 HD), emus (2 HD) and rheas (1 HD) have most of the adaptations that let birds fly, yet they never leave the ground.

Ostriches roam warm plains and savannas. At eight feet and up to 300 pounds they are the largest ordinary birds, with small heads and flat beaks on long bare necks. Wings spread for balance, they run at 40 miles per hour, and a cornered one kicks for 1d8. Males are black with white wings and tail, females drab gray or brown, and the males' white plumes are prized by hat and dress makers, so ostrich farms are common. A male keeps up to four hens; flocks hold 1d4+1 males with mates and chicks, and all hens share one nest, warmed by females in daylight and guarded by males after dark.

Emus stand six feet and weigh 130 pounds, their stubby wings buried in coarse brown plumage that is darker on top. Rheas resemble small ostriches at three feet and 80 pounds, with three toes instead of two and short tails hidden under long, drooping side feathers that are also fashionable, so they are hunted and farmed. Rheas travel in threes to sixes, up to 25 when mating, and peck for 1d4.

This 12-foot giant stork has murky origins; a link to the roc has been suggested, though only size connects them. Built light like most fliers, it weighs about 300 pounds. When outmatched it fluffs out and raises long neck plumes that make it look two or three feet taller.

Its wide, four-toed feet speed it through swamps, but its legs are weak in a fight, so it bites with a serrated, hook-tipped heron's beak. It eats giant catfish and other big marsh life, and in hard times snakes, lizards and giant spiders, which over centuries made it immune to poison. It hunts by standing frozen in tall reeds for hours, then striking with startling speed (-3 to victims' surprise). Two boobries are a mated pair 75% of the time, with no fewer than 5 hp per Hit Die; otherwise they are juveniles with no more than 4 per die.

Cruel, intelligent and up to eight feet tall, eblis have stork bodies in grey, tan or off-white, black necks, and glossy black needle beaks. Their whistling, hooting speech is nearly impossible for humans to produce but can be understood with training, and 25% of eblis casters speak crude Common. Very agile, an eblis stabs up to four times a round. Feather oil keeps off the weather and grants +1 on saves vs. fire, reducing fire damage by 1 per die.

A village has 2d4 grass huts, each holding a mated pair, with 30% sheltering an egg or chick. They are so well hidden that only a ranger or someone with animal lore making a thorough search will find them. One caster rules, casting 2d4 spells a day at 3rd level, determined by 1d8 rolls on the eblis spell table; repeated results allow repeat castings.

Eblis love glitter and weave it into their nests, so looting takes effort, and sorting real coins and gems from dozens of glass shards and armor scraps is slow. Even the wisest can be bribed with an impressive jewel. They ambush travelers carrying things they covet and relish the kill, though scholars suspect the real evil lies with the casters, warped by some vile deed that grants their power, while common eblis are far milder.