Skarmory (3.5e Monster)



Summary::You stumble across a roughly human-sized bird of prey, made of a metal that gleams brightly in spite of numerous nicks and scratches. As it spots you, it takes off in a huff, shedding amazingly sharp feathers.

Skarmory is a metallic bird that's only slightly shorter than an adult human. The nature of its body grants it a formidable resilience against physical attacks, but offers little protection from magic.

Combat
Skarmory is virtually impossible to harm with physical attacks; its body is composed of an alloy of the toughest metals in existence, including steel, adamantine, and mithril. However, its powerful muscles and hollow body structure enable it to fly in spite of the adamantine's incredible weight (Skarmory itself is actually remarkably lightweight). Despite its amazing physical resilience, Skarmory is much less capable of withstanding magical attacks. (Because of this, Pokémasters frequently use it in tandem with Blissey &mdash; a Pokémon infamous for its amazing magical resilience and sensitivity to physical attacks &mdash; so that Skarmory and Blissey can cover each other's weaknesses, a combination known quite simply as "SkarmBliss".)

Skarmory's natural weapons are treated as adamantine for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. Its peck attack is a [Flying] effect.

 : Skarmory is utterly immune to any effect that could instantly slay it or knock it out. Skarmory automatically succeeds on saving throws against effects that would instantly kill it, reduce its hp to &minus;10, or otherwise render it dead without actually dealing damage (which includes, but is not limited to, all [Death] effects). If such an effect doesn't allow a saving throw, Skarmory's just plain immune to it. Skarmory can still be killed by inflicting sufficient damage to reduce its hp to &minus;10 or its Constitution to 0, as well as by gaining negative levels equal to its HD, and it may suffer special consequences for being killed by hit point loss, Constitution loss, or negative level gain by certain effects (such as disintegrate). However, as long as Skarmory is at full hp and it has 0 nonlethal damage, it is considered to be under the effect of indomitability. This indomitability effect can't be dispelled or suppressed at all, but it is not in place if Skarmory has even a single point of damage outstanding (whether that damage is lethal or nonlethal doesn't matter, but ability damage &mdash; even Constitution damage &mdash; does not count). Skarmory enjoys its immunity to instant death regardless of its current hp. Furthermore, its Constitution cannot be reduced to 0 if it is not already suffering from Constitution damage, drain, or penalties; instead, the Constitution reduction is mitigated such that Skarmory is left with exactly 1 point of Constitution. Likewise, Skarmory cannot be bestowed with enough negative levels to kill it unless it already has at least one negative level; an attack that would bestow sufficient negative levels to kill it while it has no negative levels instead bestows a number of negative levels equal to its HD &minus;1. Sturdy only prevents Skarmory from being felled by a single attack &mdash; using multiple attacks to wipe out all of its hit points/Constitution/HD in a single round is completely possible (and also a good idea).

A Skarmory with a maximum of 1 hp has a perpetual indomitability effect, and immunity to nonlethal damage, but that's nigh-impossible to arrange. A Skarmory with only 1 Constitution is completely immune to Constitution loss. A Skarmory with only 1 HD is immune to level drain. However, it's still possible (and actually extremely likely) to kill such a Skarmory with an ongoing damage effect or environmental damage. (Poison would also be effective if Skarmory's Steel Pokémon traits didn't render it immune.)

 : Skarmory's feathers are amazingly sharp, and it's capable of using them as weapons as easily as a human can fire a bow. As an attack action, Skarmory can launch a single feather at an opponent, with a range increment of 40 feet. On a successful hit, the feather does 1d6 piercing and slashing damage. (Because it is a ranged attack made in similar fashion to a bow, Skarmory doesn't get to add its Strength modifier to the damage.) The feathers are most effective when aided by gravity; Skarmory takes a &minus;4 penalty to its attack roll if it does not have a 30-degree or greater downward angle from it to the target.

Unlike most natural weapons, this can be used as an iterative attack, much like a manufactured weapon. Skarmory's base attack bonus for the purpose of determining how many attacks it gets is equal to its base attack bonus minus its secondary weapon penalty. Thus, the sample Skarmory can make up to two feather launch attacks in a full attack as though its base attack bonus was equal to 8; the second attack takes a &minus;5 penalty (the penalty is reduced to &minus;2 under the Races of War system). Skarmory can never make more than 4 feather launch attacks in a round, no matter how high its base attack bonus gets.


 *  (Su): A Skarmory can project images of despair into the hearts of those it has panicked, making its prey believe that it is escaping while in fact it is only falling farther into a dark trap. A Skarmory always knows the exact location of any panicked creature within 300 feet of it (those creatures are considered to have no concealment), and any panicked creature is considered helpless against a Skarmory. Pursuit is a continuous ability that can be suppressed or activated as a free action. This move is a [Dark] effect.
 *  (Ex): Skarmory have an amazing ability to dive at their enemies for large amounts of damage. A Skarmory may activate this ability by going into free-fall. If it hits another creature on the way down, or lands on top of a creature, that creature takes falling damage instead of the Skarmory, in addition to slam attack damage. This move is a [Flying] effect.
 *  (Ex): Skarmory may use indomitability as a swift action once per minute. This is an extraordinary ability, so it cannot be dispelled or suppressed by an antimagic field. Unlike the spell, the duration of Endure is only 1 round. Unlike Sturdy, this is effective even when Skarmory is wounded.

 : A Skarmory can fling dust into the eyes of living opponents. A Sand Attack has a range of 25 feet plus 5 feet per two hit dice of the Skarmory. The victim must make a reflex save (DC 10 + Skarmory's Con Modifier + Skarmory's Hit dice), failure blinds the victim for d4 rounds plus one round per point of Constitution bonus the Skarmory has.

 (Su): As a standard action, Skarmory may launch one star-shaped astral energy projectile, plus one more for every three Hit dice it has (maximum 8 projectiles), at its foes. Each projectile strikes unerringly, as magic missile, and does 1d6 + ¼ HD + Charisma modifier damage (the damage is force-type). Skarmory may aim at any number of targets, up to its number of projectiles, as long as no two are more than 40 ft. apart. Swift is only usable a limited number of times per encounter; the limit is equal to Skarmory's Wisdom bonus, minimum 1 use/encounter.

 (Su): A Skarmory may act as if hasted for a number of rounds per day equal to the Skarmory's hit dice plus Charisma modifier. This ability can be activated or suppressed as a free action.

 : Skarmory has Multiattack as a free bonus feat.

 : Skarmory has a +4 bonus on Bluff checks made to feint against an enemy in combat.

 : Skarmory can scatter extremely sharp feathers on the ground as a standard action. These feathers function in all ways like caltrops. Skarmory can scatter these feathers once every 1d4 rounds.

 : Skarmory's armor is an intrinsic part of its very being, and its resilience against physical attacks is nigh-peerless. Nothing except for a direct magical or psionic attack (such as fireball or lightning bolt) can completely bypass its damage reduction; even a maneuver, magic weapon, ongoing magical effect, etc. that normally allows a creature to completely ignore another's damage reduction only ignores ¾ of Skarmory's damage reduction, with the remaining ¼ (rounded up) reducing the attack's damage as normal. The sample Skarmory still has damage reduction 4/&mdash; against attacks that explicitly ignore damage reduction, other than spells, psionics, spell-like abilities, psi-like abilities, and non-physical supernatural abilities (such as a breath weapon) that directly inflict damage.

Advancement
Skarmory's damage reduction is equal to its HD + 5. Its martial defense is equal to its HD + 17.

At 11 HD, Skarmory learns  : The damage die of Skarmory's wing attacks increases by one step, and when it hits with a wing attack, it may make a DC 22 Intimidate check. If it succeeds, its damage reduction increases by 1 for the rest of the encounter. The effect can stack with itself, up to a maximum of +6 DR. This is a [Steel] effect.

At 14 HD, Skarmory learns  : At will, Skarmory can launch a vicious blade of aerokinetic force. This is a ranged touch attack that does 1d4 slashing and force damage per Hit Die and requires the target to make a Will save to avoid being stunned for 1 round. The stun is a [Fear, Mind-Affecting] effect, and the blade itself is an [Air] effect. The move as a whole is a [Flying] effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.

At 17 HD, Skarmory learns  : The threat range for its talons and feather launching becomes 18-20, and they penetrate DR as though they were magic weapons. This is a [Normal] effect.

At 20 HD, Skarmory learns the maneuver-like ability, . This is a boost in which Skarmory cloaks its wings in darkness and slashes with them, gaining a threat range of 18-20 for 1 round. This threat range increase stacks with any other effects that increase threat range, including Slash. This is a [Dark] effect.

With the proper training, Skarmory can learn  . While on the ground, Skarmory can spend a full-round action to rejuvenate itself, as if refreshing maneuvers. Instead, however, Skarmory heals itself for a number of hit points equal to half of its current maximum, and also loses its Flying Pokémon traits until its next turn.