Ravenkin

Ravenkin look like enormous ravens or crows, with black plumage, long straight beaks and wings spanning about five feet. They often wear bits of sparkling jewelry to set themselves apart from common birds.

Their own speech sounds like squawking and shrieking to outsiders, and 80% also speak the common language of the humans and demihumans around them.

A ravenkin flutters around a foe's head, sometimes landing briefly and gripping with its talons, waiting for an opening at the eyes. Its talons do no harm, so it has only a beak attack for 1d3. On a natural 19 or 20, though, it strikes an unprotected eye and blinds it, giving -2 on all attack rolls. A second such hit takes the other eye, leaving the victim fully blind. Only magic like heal or regeneration can repair these wounds.

All ravenkin cast spells, memorizing them beforehand as humans do, but with spoken words alone, needing no material or somatic components. Three-quarters can use three 1st-level spells a day. Another 20% also manage two 2nd-level spells daily, and the remaining 5% add one 3rd-level spell a day.

They live long, and many elders claim a hundred winters. Names include age, so a new chick might be called Kareeka Twomoons and an old sage Shreeaka Fiftyautumns.

They breed slowly: 8 in 10 eggs never hatch, which some blame on the land's evil. A community holds 150+5d10 birds, half of them females who fight as males do and 10% young who do not fight. Families nest in copses they claim as territory, and around 500 ordinary crows usually live nearby. The ravenkin cannot command these birds but train them superbly as lookouts and hunters.

Ravenkin ignore travelers unless approached, and even then stay suspicious until newcomers prove themselves friends. Earning their trust is worth a great deal, for they know an astonishing amount about the evils of the misty dread realm. Wandering seers insist that every raven in the land serves as the ravenkin's eyes, and given how fast they gather news, that may be barely exaggerated.

They eat insects, berries and carrion, and in truth almost anything. They find hunting tiresome and love meat that has gone a little off, so carrion makes up most of their diet.