Medium monstrosity, chaotic evil

Armor Class 13 (natural armor)
Armor Class (suggested) 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 33 (6d8 + 6)
Speed 20 ft., fly 60 ft.
Speed (suggested) 40 ft., fly 80 ft.

Proficiency Bonus +2
Proficiency Bonus +3 (5th Edition Advanced Mode)

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
16 (+3)	12 (+1) *14 (+2)	13 (+1)	9 (-1)	12 (+1)	10 (+0)

Skills Perception +5
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Senses passive Perception 15
Languages understands Common and Elvish but can’t speak
Challenge 2 (450 XP)

Combat Accuracy (suggested). The peryton adds its dexterity modifier to all its hit rolls and damage rolls.

Dive Attack. If the peryton is flying and dives at least 30 feet straight toward a target and then hits it with a melee weapon attack, the attack deals an extra 9 (2d8) damage to the target.

Flyby. The peryton doesn’t provoke an opportunity attack when it flies out of an enemy’s reach.

Grab on the Fly (suggested). If the peryton succeesfully hits with both talons attack while performing the Dive Attack, then a target of Small or smaller size is automatically grappled. The next round, the target may attempt to escape the grapple (escape DC 13) or can attack the peryton with disadvantage. The peryton can release the grapple at any moment and have the target suffers appropriate fall damage.

Hunter’s Mark (suggested). The peryton designates a chosen target and gains advantage on all hit rolls against that target.

Keen Sight and Smell. The peryton has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight or smell.

ACTIONS

• Multiattack. The peryton makes one gore attack and one talon attack.
• Multiattack (suggested). The peryton makes three attacks, one with its gore and two with its talons.
• Gore. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage.
• Gore (suggested). Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (4d4 + 5) piercing damage.
• Talons. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (2d4 + 3) piercing damage.
• Talons (suggested). Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d4 + 5) piercing damage.

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Peryton: The Heart-Eating Monster of D&D

High above the mountains and rocky hills of most lands flies a sharp-eyed monster known as the peryton. Intelligent, patient, and malevolent, it watches and waits for prey — to pluck their hearts out.

DESCRIPTION

A peryton is a monstrous creature that combines the features of a stag and an eagle. It has a feathered body, wings, and talons like a giant eagle, but its head is that of a demonic-looking deer with fangs and antlers. Its feathers are usually dark green or gray-green, while its hair and antlers are blue-black or purple. Its eyes are orange-red and glow or glitter menacingly. A peryton’s most peculiar trait is its shadow, which does not match its own shape, but rather that of whatever creature whose heart it last devoured, usually a human. Some legends say that perytons were once humans who were cursed by the gods for their wickedness.

Perytons do not adorn themselves with trinkets, nor arm themselves with weapons. Their language is a collection of roars and screeches, and often sounds as if a peryton were either injured or enraged. Some creatures, with a keen sense of smell, claim that a peryton smells like a human, while others are filled with an irrational fear upon catching first scent.

COMBAT

Perytons are vicious and bloodthirsty predators that hunt for the hearts of living creatures, especially humans. They prefer to attack from the air, diving at their prey with great speed and force. They use their razor-sharp talons and fangs to rip and tear at their victims, and their antlers to gore and impale them. Perytons are also very resilient, resisting most nonmagical weapons with their tough hide. They are cunning and ruthless, often working in pairs or small groups to ambush and overwhelm their prey. Perytons are not easily intimidated or frightened, and will fight to the death unless severely outnumbered or outmatched.

Perytons have only a secondary interest in prey as food. Their main interest in humanoid creatures is the heart of their prey. They attack with their sharp horns, since their claws are too weak to use in melee. When a peryton chooses a target for combat, it locks itself into a duel that nearly always ends in either the peryton’s death or that of its target. A peryton will never switch targets during combat, no matter the tactical situation. On rare occasions, the creature can be driven off, but it will continue to stalk its prey, and return at a later time.

Some perytons choose to swoop at a target. In this form of attack, the peryton climbs several hundred feet in the air and then plunges at the target, dropping with awesome speed. This is an extreme maneuver that the peryton will only attempt if combat is going poorly, or if it believes it has a chance to achieve total surprise.

Another common tactic is for the peryton to seize a Medium target and then lift off with the prey in its talons. The peryton climbs so rapidly that most targets do not react until they are at least 100 feet in the air and facing a plummet if they manage to escape the peryton’s grasp.

HABITAT / SOCIETY

Perytons dwell in temperate forests, hills, and mountains, where they can find plenty of cover and prey. They are territorial and aggressive, often clashing with other predators or intruders. They have a rudimentary social structure, forming loose flocks of four to eight members, usually led by the strongest or oldest female. Perytons mate for life, and produce one offspring every two years. The young are born with their own shadows, but lose them after their first kill.

Perytons sometimes take humans and humanoid creatures alive and hold them captive in their nests until they are needed as food (90% likely for nonhumans, 25% the case for humans) or for reproduction. Because of this, the peryton nests may have treasure scattered about, as well as 1d4 unhatched eggs.

Perytons roost in caves high atop cliffs or on mountain peaks. They settle in nests of 2d4 creatures, each nest independent of any other, and no two nests being within several miles of one another, except for unusual circumstances – like a dwarven community in the mountains providing them with plentiful prey.

ECOLOGY

Perytons are omnivorous, but have a strong preference for meat, especially human hearts. They believe that by eating the hearts of their victims, they can regain their lost shadows and souls. Some scholars speculate that this is a twisted form of atonement for their original sin, while others suggest that it is a sign of their depravity and madness. Perytons have few natural enemies, as most creatures avoid them or fear them. They are sometimes hunted by adventurers or bounty hunters who seek their feathers, antlers, or claws for their magical properties or value. Perytons have a lifespan of about 20 years in the wild.

A female peryton requires a fresh, beating heart to reproduce, and human hearts are the preferred variety. Once a peryton has eaten a heart, its shadow changes into that of its normal form and the creature becomes fertile for 3d6 hours. Unhatched peryton eggs can be sold for 10d12 gp apiece.