Hippogriff

Hippogriff

Species	beast
No. Appearing	2–8
Behaviour	subsocial
Range	savanna, steppe
Size	16 hands at the withers
Weight	1,100 lbs.
Intelligence	4
Armour Class	5
Hit Dice	5+5
Action Points	8
Max. Stride	17
THAC0	18
Hp/Die	d4+d6
Attack Forms	3: beak; two talons
Damage	beak (2–16); talon (2–12)
Special Attacks	back kick, +2 to hit while diving, ethereal flight

Hippogriffs are steeds born of a mare and a griffon, noted for their speed and their furious demeanour when wild, as well as their remarkable ability to remain in flight for long periods. The beast is infamous for its part in the myth of Bradamante and RuggieroBradamante and Ruggiero], lovers who were adventurers in the 9th century.

It is difficult to encourage a griffon to mate with a mare, requiring considerable knowledge in animal husbandry. Death occurs often. Though writers often make the mistake of depicting the resulting hippogriff as male, as described in Ludovico Ariosto's poem Orlando furioso, the resultant hippogriff is always a filly.

Though it is born by the mare, a mammal, there is an egg, which weighs around 54 lbs. From this, with care, the hippogriff emerges with soft talons and a beak. The young filly is meek and mild for the first few weeks, enabling a husbandman who comes across the animal in the wild to secure the beast in a cage before its mood changes, usually late in the fourth week of life. At that time the talons and beak harden and the beast turns extremely vicious; training the beast to accept a rider usually takes a year. Attempts to breed hippogriffs in domestic menageries have failed.

Mares of a distinctive type are led into the wild in mid-April, into known breeding areas that have been observed to attract griffons year after year. The selection of these mares is deliberate, favouring strong hindquarters, deep lungs and a steady temperament, as lesser stock rarely survives the process. Griffons will often sense if the mare is not truly alone, so the mares are usually abandoned outright, with handlers withdrawing well beyond scent and sight. Many of these mares are never seen again, either taken by the griffon or lost to the hazards of the wild.

Those that return are searched for during the month of May, ranging over wide tracts, by which time pregnancy can be determined by experienced hands and the mares led home to give birth under close supervision. The gestation is short and irregular, and the birth itself is dangerous, requiring both restraint and careful handling if the egg is to be preserved intact. Hippogriff cots, where the practice is maintained, will sometimes obtain four or five offspring in a successful season, though many years yield fewer, or none at all.

Advantages

The hippogriff's front feet are heavy talons with sharp edges. The hooked beak is more powerful, catching its prey in a dropping, side-tearing motion that will throw stunned victims to the left or right. If approached from the rear, a hippogriff will kick with its back hooves together, causing 2–20 damage on a single hit. If using this attack, it will still fight with its beak but the talons will not be employed that round.

The wild beast will tend to fly skyward before beginning its attack, dropping from a height of 60 to 80 feet in a single round, diving at a single victim on the ground with both talons and beak with a +2 chance to hit (THAC0 14). Hippogriffs do not carry victims off; they prefer to kill and then eat the carcass on the ground. If stunned, there is a 50% chance a wild hippogriff will break off the fight and seek a meal elsewhere.

Behaviour

Hippogriffs are able to fly continuously for 6 to 9 days at a time. They are curiously able to fly through spatial ether, so that they have been known to break the Earth's atmosphere, with a natural ability to plane shift. This is not fully understood. Hippogriffs have been known to fly as far as the Moon, though there is no known example of the beasts flying further into space.

The typical lifespan of a hippogriff is 40 years, provided it survives its first year and is properly broken to the saddle. Despite their mixed origin, they do not breed true; hippogriffs, like mules, are barren, and each generation must be produced anew through the same uncertain and hazardous method.

Hippogriffs can be trained and ridden if the character possesses the necessary sage ability.

See Bestiary