Man-Drake
A duck that becomes a dashing, dim-witted druid around the full moon and spends those nights hopelessly courting swanmays who want nothing to do with him.
Appearance
Most days this creature is simply a duck. From time to time, though, it becomes a strikingly handsome, charming and rather stupid human, elf or half-elf man. All its sons, hatched or born, inherit the trait, changing first at adulthood and afterward whenever the moon is full, for 1-4 days at a stretch.
Combat
In human form each one is a druid of level 1d6, fixed for life, with randomly chosen spells. He wears no armor but may fight with a club, staff or similar simple weapon.
Habitat and Society
Man-drakes endlessly woo swanmays, who are appalled and ignore them. When no swanmay is around to witness his absurd gallantry, he mopes in solitude, attended only by 1-6 ordinary ducks. He has nothing to do with the mandrake plant.
More: Monsters starting with M · Dragon Magazine monsters · All monsters A-Z
Statistics
| Climate/Terrain | Temperate/Wetlands |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Very rare |
| Organization | Solitary (bachelor) |
| Activity Cycle | Day |
| Diet | Herbivore |
| Intelligence | Low-Average (5-10) |
| Treasure | 10% chance of V per hit die |
| Alignment | Chaotic neutral |
| No. Appearing | 1 |
| Armor Class | 7 |
| Movement | 12, Fly 12 (B), Sw 9 |
| Hit Dice | 1-6 (as per druid of level 1-6) |
| THAC0 | As per druidic level |
| No. of Attacks | 1 beak bite, or by weapon type in human form |
| Damage/Attack | 1-2 or by weapon |
| Special Attacks | Spells |
| Special Defenses | Spells |
| Magic Resistance | Nil |
| Size | T (1' tall as duck) to M (5-6' tall as human or elf) |
| Morale | Average (9) |
| XP Value | 65 to 975 (max.) |