Kenku

A kenku looks like a hawk built along human lines and dressed in human clothes. It has both arms and wings, and folded across its back the wings can pass for a bulky backpack from a distance. Kenku stand 5 to 7 feet tall, with mostly brown plumage, white underfeathers and facial markings, and brilliant yellow eyes.

Every kenku has the skills of a 4th-level thief and is a capable fighter, usually armed with a quarterstaff or scimitar. Without a weapon it attacks with two claws for 1d4 each, using hand claws on foot and foot claws in flight, plus a 1d6 beak. Kenku generally avoid killing unless a foe's survival would endanger them. They are masters of disguise, with a 50% chance to pass as human, though their disguises often give them suspiciously large noses.

Power grows with Hit Dice. At 3 Hit Dice a kenku knows one 1st-level wizard spell, typically magic missile, and once every 30 days can shape change for up to seven days. At 4 Hit Dice it adds a second 1st-level spell (shocking grasp is common) and can turn invisible at will for as long as it likes. A 5-Hit Die leader adds a 2nd-level spell, commonly web or mirror image, and can use call lightning like the priest spell of that name.

Kenku dwell secretly among humans and demihumans, and most people never know they are there. Five or fewer means two 2-HD and three 3-HD members. Six or seven means a 4-HD leader, three 3-HD kenku and the rest at 2 HD, and a group of eight adds a 5-HD supreme leader.

They do not speak; their birdlike squawks are meaningless, and they seem to talk to each other telepathically. With outsiders they rely on pantomime, symbols and sign language. Kenku may seem friendly and generous, handing out treasure that turns to dust within a day and offering wordless advice crafted to steer people into trouble they would otherwise have avoided. As a rule, there is only a 5% chance a kenku truly helps.

Their real social structure is a mystery, since they either refuse to discuss it or lie. Known lairs are small underground rooms or cave systems, and sages suspect large communities, including kenku of 6 or more Hit Dice with stronger magic, hide in deep caverns.

Kenku of 3 Hit Dice or fewer are brash schemers who have posed as gods to pocket worshipers' offerings. Older ones are subtler and prefer to kidnap wealthy people for profit.

Kenku breed like large birds. Clutches of 2-4 eggs hatch in 60 days into naked, helpless chicks with 1 hit point that gain another each month. In six to eight months they are fully feathered 1-HD kenku able to fend for themselves, and only then start learning thievery, fighting and disguise; a captured chick knows only what it learned before capture.

Kenku raised in captivity are valued as servants, with eggs selling for about 250 gp and chicks for 300-500 gp, but this is slave trading with all its complications. A kenku that finds captive kin will try to free them in secret and, if it can, kidnap the dealer or owner. Kenku always avenge their slain.