Camel of the Pearl

Legend says a flood goddess carved these camels from one enormous pearl when the world was new, and they have championed good ever since. They are colossal and white-furred, nearly elephantine, with deep pearly eyes full of calm strength. They speak human languages along with the tongues of giants, genies, and others, and they kneel when talking to smaller folk so as not to tower over them. Those serving as mounts often wear silk, silver, samite, bronze, and gilded leather, yet the finer the gear, the humbler the camel seems.

Healers and teachers first, they cast spells as 7th-level clerics with Wisdom 17. At will, a lick on the face cures disease or neutralizes poison, and thrice daily they may cast create food and water for the poor and hungry. They can turn invisible at will and conjure fool's gold to bribe or pay off evil creatures. Against those who misuse their position, they spoil schemes, usually by teaching the oppressed to stand up for fair treatment.

They never spit, but when truly provoked they fight like war camels: a 1-8 bite and a 2d6 trample. A creature hit by the trample stays down, and further trample attacks against it gain +4 to hit; if a trample misses, the target may rise by doing nothing else that round.

They go wherever they can be useful, carrying burdens gladly while insisting that the people they aid also help themselves. Some desert giants and noble djinn ride them as steeds and badges of rank. They prefer lawful good company yet try to win others over by example. They will even tend those who mean to exploit them, but they see through such tricks and leave once their kindness is bent to selfish ends.

Omnivores, they eat insects, plants, grain, cooked food, and even fish, and can go a month without food or water. Their sweet tooth is a weakness: honey, sugar, mead, date wine, sweets, or ripe fruit may persuade one to linger.

Stories tell of the greatest of their kind, carved from the very heart of the first pearl to carry the gods. Nearly immortal, it still roams after thousands of years, aiding the needy and cursing those who harm it or defy the lawgiving prophet. Dying travelers in the deep desert describe being led to an oasis, healed, and left beside a caravan road to be found by merchants.

It has every power of its lesser kin plus the spells of a 20th-level priest, and it appears solely to travelers who combine goodness with diligence; pious idlers and diligent cheats earn no sympathy. The lazy and malicious may be cursed with poverty, barrenness, genie trouble, the evil eye, or swift aging, curses that usually echo the harm they caused others. A rare few receive a warning first.