Catoblepas

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Catoblepas Y
HP 54 - 97
HD 14
XP 901
Speed 8
AC 10
EV 2
Will 93
Attack1 36 (gore: plain)


Resistances None
Vulnerabilities None
Habitat land
Intelligence Animal
Uses Uses nothing
Holiness Natural
Size Big
Type yak, catoblepas
Flags
A sluggish black buffalo, its hide encrusted with dull scales. It carries its hog-like head just above the ground, protected by a stiff mane of bristles, joined to its body by a neck as long and loose as an emptied intestine. Man and beast alike would be wise to steer clear of this creature, as its fearsome breath is known to turn flesh into stone.

"So passed he over the island, taking with him the two brothers of Anaxius; where he found the forsaken knight attired in his own livery, as black as sorrow itself could see itself in the blackest glass: his ornaments of the same hue, but formed into the figures of ravens which seemed to gape for carrion: only his reins were snakes, which finely wrapping themselves one within the other, their heads came together to the cheeks and bosses of the bit, where they might seem to bite at the horse, and the horse, as he champed the bit, to bite at them, and that the white foam was engendered by the poisonous fury of the combat. His impresa was a Catoblepta, which so long lies dead as the moon (whereto it hath so natural a sympathy) wants her light. The word signified, that the moon wanted not the light, but the poor beast wanted the moon's light."

-Sir Philip Sidney

Useful Info

Catoblepases are enormous yak-genus monsters, bigger and bulkier than even death yaks. Although they move slowly, they hit very hard and can incapacitate characters at range with their petrifying breath attacks. These breath attacks create clouds of calcifying dust that may slow you and eventually petrify you if you remain standing in them. At that point, the catoblepas will take advantage of your inability to move by dealing gruesome damage in melee. Fortunately, unlike most yaks, they do not appear in packs, though one Lair:8 layout can place them near herds of death yaks. They can be found in the deeper portions of the Lair and occasionally in the middle-to-lower portions of the Dungeon.

Spells

Spell set
Slot1 Petrifying Cloud (2d6)
Slot2 Petrifying Cloud (2d6)
Slot3 none
Slot4 none
Slot5 none
Slot6 none

Tips & Tricks

  • Although no equipment provides petrification resistance, characters with high experience levels have a better chance of resisting petrification, and the clouds will not effect you unless you end your turn standing in one. It's fairly easy to avoid being turned to stone, but this makes kiting more difficult.
  • Their breath attacks can affect monsters too.