Frost Roc
Level 14Attacks
Abilities
A frost roc can see through clouds, fog, mists, and other water vapors.
The frost roc Flies up to its Speed and makes two talon Strikes at any point during that movement. Each Strike must target a different creature. Each attack takes the normal multiple attack penalty.
The frost roc spreads its wings and then flaps them furiously, unleashing a blast of ice-rimed feathers in a 60-foot cone. All creatures in the area must attempt a DC 34 reflex save. The frost roc can't use Frozen Feathers again for 1d4 rounds. Critical Success The creature is unaffected. Success The creature takes 3d6 piercing damage and 5d6 cold damage. Failure The creature takes 5d6 piercing damage and 10d6 cold damage. Critical Failure The creature takes 8d6 piercing and 15d6 cold damage, and is Slowed 1 for 1 minute.
A frost roc gains a +2 circumstance bonus to hit with its beak Strike if the target is Grabbed or Restrained in its talon.
A frost roc can Fly at half Speed while it has a creature Grabbed or Restrained in either or both of its talons, carrying that creature along with it.
Trigger A creature moves into the reach of the frost roc's wing Effect The frost roc makes a wing Strike against the triggering creature. If the frost roc Pushes the creature, it disrupts the triggering move action.
Trigger The monster's last action was a successful Strike that lists Improved Grab in its damage entry, or the monster has a creature Grabbed or Restrained Effect If used after a Strike, the monster attempts to Grapple the creature using the body part it attacked with as a free action. This attempt neither applies nor counts toward the creature's multiple attack penalty. The monster can instead use Improved Grab as an action and choose one creature it's grabbing or restraining with an appendage that has Improved Grab to automatically extend that condition to the end of the monster's next turn.
Trigger The monster's last action was a successful Strike that lists Improved Push in its damage entry Effect The monster attempts to Shove the creature. This attempt neither applies nor counts toward the monster's multiple attack penalty. If Improved Push lists a distance, change the distance the creature is pushed on a success to that distance.
Description
Stories of immense rocs swooping down to carry off livestock or strafing armies into bleeding ruin are popular in taverns, but what many don't realize is that there are even more dangerous magical rocs dwelling in the remote corners of the world. These oversized birds have supernatural abilities linked to the region they favor, but they share one thing with the common roc—their vast size.
Frost rocs are owl-like predators adapted to life in arctic regions. They nest among the craggy peaks of snowcapped mountains or amid rifts of sprawling glaciers, treating the taigas and tundras as their sprawling hunting grounds. Frost rocs are nocturnal and tend to hunt nightly for a few weeks at a time, as the moon is waxing or waning full. They go into short periods of hibernation for the weeks on either side of a new moon, or during prolonged periods of cloud coverage, such as during a storm. They abandon these habits when they're trained to work as mounts or guardians—something that giants or the church of Gorum often does in the remote reaches of the Lands of the Linnorm Kings or the Realm of the Mammoth Lords.
Other Bestial Rocs
Additional varieties of roc have evolved to adapt to remote, hostile environments and, like the frost roc, often possess some form of elemental magic. The albatross-like wind rocs of western Azlant nest among the ragged cliffs of shattered isles, commanding mighty winds with their wings. In remote Arcadian archipelagos, bright pink, long-legged swamp rocs stride through wetlands and use watery magic to aid their hunts. Others doubtless exist in even more remote reaches of the world.