Hippogriff

A horse's ears, neck, mane, body and hind legs meet an eagle's face, wings and forelegs in a beast roughly as big as a light horse. Its hide is russet, golden tan or brown, its feathers usually a different shade, its beak ivory or golden yellow.

It fights with two eagle talons for 1d6 each and a shearing beak for 1d10.

Hippogriffs favor lonely temperate and tropical country, especially rolling hills that make takeoff easy. A herd claims 1d4x10 square miles of range, somewhere in which a naturally defended nest shelters the young under constant guard. A herd has 1-3 adult males, as many mares, and young. In 25% of herds at least one mare is carrying a foal; the 10-month gestation is split, half in the womb and half in an egg, and twins occur 1% of the time.

Foals walk at hatching and nurse for two weeks while the beak is soft, then live on food their mother brings up. They eat meat at four months but kill clumsily (-4 to attack and damage) and fly at six months (18, class D) with a -2 penalty. Yearlings match adults but breed only at three years. Wild hippogriffs eat plants, fruit and game as large as bison, avoiding carnivores except humanoids: short of meat, they may attack small parties and carry the dead home, where belongings tend to scatter. Tidy creatures, they haul carcasses and debris downhill. They love sparkling glass, crystal and gems, and males may hoard a little cache under brush and lay it out to court mares.

Hippogriffs are close kin to griffons, mixing eagle with horse where griffons mix eagle with lion, and may have arisen as griffon prey; their weapons give them a fighting chance, and they gather in bigger groups to offset the griffon's edge. Pegasi are also relatives but shun them for eating meat. As mounts they keep their full speed but drop to class D maneuverability, and they are less likely than griffons to devour their riders. One caught before four months can be tamed and trained, though it will likely need flying lessons and must be taught which few species count as food, humanoids excluded. An egg is worth 1,000 gp on the market and a youngster 2,000-3,000 gp. Captives breed poorly, since wild ones must learn the skill, like flight, before capture. Adults may agree to carry riders who give them food or protection.