Firebird

Picture a giant eagle, 10 to 20 feet across the wings, but duller witted. A gorgeous orange-yellow flame wraps its whole body, and its eyes burn a blue-white so bright it hurts to look at them.

Talons and beak are its main weapons, each dealing 1d8. When it dives, that damage doubles, it gains +6 to hit, and every hit also scorches the target for 12d6 fire damage. They sweep over ships, snatching sailors and torching sails; tinker gnome vessels are favorites, since a torch-like tongue of flame lets the bird cut through the hull after the gnomes and the giant hamsters that power their ships.

Its fiery sheath makes a 10-foot radius too hot for melee without magical protection, vaporizes normal missiles and halves damage from large ones. It can be harmed only by magical weapons of at least +1, and any weapon that strikes it must save vs. magical fire or be ruined. Its inner fire also propels it through space (SR 10).

Keen eyes mean surprising one succeeds just 5% of the time, even at the nest, where mates sleep in turns.

Firebirds nest in asteroids or gnomish starship wrecks, melting hollows with their flame tongues and fanning the molten rock or metal into wild sculpted forms, then lining them with molted feathers that glow like coals to warm the young. A nest has a 50% chance of 1-4 eggs, and separately a 25% chance of 1-4 chicks.

A pair builds onto its nest for life, and pairs sometimes link nests into rookeries near living worlds or asteroid reefs rich in prey. Only magic survives the heat, so all treasure is magical; 10% of nests have 1d4 random magic items fused into their walls. Their power passes into the nest, so a melted ring of protection makes it sturdier.

Ecologically it is a hawk that eats small pests, and it counts starship crews among them: easy, tender, conveniently packaged meals.

Adventurers hunt them back for feathers used in elixirs of life. A shed feather sells for up to 1,000 gp, and an adult carries 1d3x10 usable ones.