Vulture

Common vultures are two to three feet long, with wings five to seven feet across, greasy blue-black feathers and a bald pink head.

Vultures are cowards that wait for a meal to stop moving, though a group of six or more may mob a victim that is only feebly stirring. They peck for 1-2 damage per bite and use their talons to pin food rather than to wound. If the victim fights back, they hop out of reach and keep their grim vigil.

Whenever a creature falls in vulture country, the birds show up 1d6+6 rounds later. Anything dead, unconscious and wounded, or magically asleep or held counts as food. If the remaining combatants are more than 20 feet from the bodies, the vultures land and start eating at once.

Flocks wander warm, open country, where rising warm air keeps them aloft for hours and the wide views help them spot food. Hens lay 1d4+4 eggs that hatch in two months, and chicks fly at four months. Their diet has made them naturally resistant to disease and organic poisons, so rotten or diseased flesh does them no harm.

Vultures soar high, scanning with keen eyes for anything limping, staggering or down. They glide lower to check whether it is merely asleep; if it turns out to be hurt or dead, they settle down to eat.

Giant vultures run three to five feet long with ten- to 12-foot wings, and they are fiercer than common vultures: once they go after a meal, they will not retreat until something actually hits them. Their habit of trailing the wounded makes them useful scouts. Hand-raised birds can be taught to associate food with one kind of creature, humanoids for instance, and to keep to a set region, so their trainers find that quarry by tracking the flock. Eggs and hatchlings sell for 30-60 gp.

The largest natural scavenger birds, condors are three to six feet long with wings of 13 to 20 feet, glossy black feathers, and a head either bald or covered in black pinfeathers. They prefer cliffs and mountains, soar for hours, and seldom land except to eat or sleep. Hens lay 1-2 eggs a year, and chicks take two years to mature. Eggs and hatchlings bring 30-60 gp and can be raised as spotters or retrievers; small riders (size S or less) can even break them as flying mounts. A condor bears as much as 80 extra pounds, gripped in its talons or on its back. Pinion feathers fetch 1 sp apiece and lesser wing feathers 1 cp, while a whole condor brings 5-10 gp.