Heraldic Servant IV

A horse-headed swimmer with a long coiled tail that propels it in rocking surges. On land, like the dolphin, it floats in a magic field, swimming through the air at knee to head height. Its brown and green scale plates protect it like field plate. The humanoid keeps scales and colors and adds webbed hands and feet (16, swimming 16), throat gills and a stringy mane; both forms have 120-foot infravision. It head-butts and tail-slaps as a sea horse and punches for 1d4 per fist as a humanoid. In either form it can raise a cold fire shield (as the wizard spell), and three times daily it can polymorph self (likewise a 4th-level wizard spell) into a man-sized, nonmagical creature familiar to it or its bearer, for up to an hour each time, using that creature's natural attacks. A coastal city's lord governor bears it and, in contact, gains its infravision and an at-will cold fire shield.

Lion's head and forepaws, fish's body and tail. On land it gains a crude flight, drifting just above the ground and pushed slowly along by its tail. Its humanoid form looks much the same but adds broad webbed hind feet and gills behind the ears (12, swimming 8). The head is AC 5 and the scaled body AC 3, which takes nearly every blow; the humanoid has AC 5 and may don armor. Claws and fangs are its weapons. When both claws connect, the target is mauled, losing any attack not yet made that round, and the sea lion bites at +4 for double damage. Up to three times a day, declared before rolling, it may roar instead of biting, forcing a save vs. spell on each foe within 20 yards to avoid the effect of a fear spell. Its bearer, the lord governor of a harbor town, fights as under a potion of heroism and can breathe water while in contact, or while bearing the arms with the servant at rest.

A small but deadly deer whose antlers are edged and tipped with honed glassteel. The humanoid is a stocky, muscular human covered in short, dark brown fur, with a bony ridge where antlers would sprout. It gores with its antlers, and a charge doubles the damage, enough to kill most foes. As a humanoid it fights with a pair of +1 glassteel short swords that are part of its body, two attacks with each, and a +1 Strength bonus, for four attacks of 1d6+2. Wearing armor would cost it two attacks, though magical protection is fine. In both forms it is always protected from normal missiles. A countess bears it and, through contact or by holding the arms while the stag rests, gains that missile protection and the +1 damage.

Graceful and poised, it has a gold beak and gleaming black plumage. Its human-like shape is invariably a woman of bewitching elven beauty, with dark eyes, long black hair and a cloak of feathers, still able to fly as the spell at maneuverability A. At will, but only once a day against a given person, it can attempt a charm; the victim saves vs. breath weapon, and only the gods are immune. Magic resistance only grants +1 per 10% or part thereof, total charm immunity +10, yet a natural 1 still fails. Charmed foes can do nothing to hurt the swan or its bearer, and those who resist still need +1 weapons to hit it. It can also issue a command, as the priest spell, to anyone it has charmed; an order such as 'die,' 'surrender' or 'leave' that stirs negative feeling grants a new save against the charm. The humanoid shares every power and keeps a dagger for protection. One count bears it, and in contact gains its protection from weapons below +1 and the power to fly, as the spell, three times daily. Legend speaks of a white swan servant using suggestion instead of command, to avoid stirring rejection.