By Alan McCoy from Dungeons & Dragons: Fundamentals
How to build challenging encounters against a Griffon
Note: This has been prepared utilizing only the 5E Core Rules. The Griffon can be found in the Monster Manual page 174.
(While not actually in the scope of the is article, because Griffons have been popularized as flying mounts in various video games, I feel that it is important to mention that the process of becoming a Griffon Rider is demanding, time consuming and expensive. Success almost always requires expert advice. Only the richest of kingdoms can afford to establish and maintain a force of Griffon Riders).
Described as a creature with head and wings of a giant eagle and the body of a lion, the griffon has been a creature of myth and legend since time beyond memory. Obviously, they do exist. Some have been trained as mounts and are used by elite units of specially trained warriors.
The care, feeding and training of griffon as a mount is a long and expensive process. It requires the griffon to have been raised ‘from the egg’ preferably in the presence of the potential rider and requires the guidance of an expert in the raising and training of these creatures. It takes at least one year for a Griffon to achieve full growth. Flight for the griffon itself is possible after six months but gaining the strength and body mass to lift a rider requires maturity.
A potential rider is, for their own safety, forbidden to interact with horses or herd animals of any kind during the training cycle. This is because the horse is the natural and preferred prey of the griffon. Exclusively carnivore, they hunt herd animals in general and horses specifically. They will ignore other prey if horses are available. The scent of a horse, or indeed any herd animal can cause a griffon, even a freshly fed one, to exhibit a hunter response and treat the source of the scent as prey. In time, this response can be controlled, but it is never fully gone, even in the hands of the most skilled of trainer-riders.
Horses are terrified by the screech of a griffon. Instinct often overcoming training, the horse bolt for cover, its instinct directing it to get under cover to avoid the pounce. If many horses are involved, instinct will cause them to scatter widely. Instinct giving the herd the survival tactic of limiting the number of targets.
In the Wild, Griffons prefer to nest on high rocky clifftops, both for instinctual defense and enable them to scan for potential prey. They defend their nests fiercely, knocking non-flying invaders to their deaths or by attempting to shred the wings of flying invaders.
Step 1) Let’s Review what we know about the Griffon
They are classified as a Large Size Monstrosity.
They are physically extremely strong and tough and very nimble, especially in the air. While they operate on an instinctual level as far as intelligence, they are quite cunning. In the wild they form cooperative groupings called “Prides” that act both for defense and the hunt.
They are as fast as a man on the ground (30-feet/round) and capable of great speed in the air (80-feet/round).
They have exceptional eyesight granting them a natural proficiency in Perception (+3), they have a passive perception of 15.
A wild griffon has can neither speak nor understand language. A trained griffon will understand commands given in the language it was trained in and might have learned to respond to some other words heard often enough.
Step 2) Determine the probable Strategy
Untrained, wild griffons are instinctive fighters that aggressively protect their nests. They usually have at least one member of the pride on high watch, keeping an eye on the surroundings. When spotted, they will let loose with a screech to alert the others. Observation has concluded that there are different screeches that tend to indicate different things, prey vs danger for example.
Once detected, an appropriate response will be mounted, either to facilitate the hunt, or to drive away dangers.
For the most part, griffons will avoid man-size and shaped creatures that do not bother them. If the group has horses in it however, the likelihood of attack is quite high. Wild Griffons will tend to ignore a humanoid that separates from and abandons their mounts.
Trained Griffons are always accompanied by their riders, these riders are usually armed with lances, bows or magic.
Step 3) Determine Tactics
If attacking on the Flat – the Griffon will utilize its great speed to swoop in rake with its massive front eagle claws.
If the target is medium size or smaller, it will attempt to grapple the target and launch into the air with it. In order to keep this within reason, weights in excess of 90 pounds will slow the griffon by ten feet, weights in excess of 180 pounds will prevent take off due to encumbrance. Once taken to an appropriate height, usually remaining movement, the prey will be dropped.
Falling damage is 1d6 HP per 10 feet of fall, the victim lands prone.
If attacking climbers – the Griffon will utilize its great speed to swoop in and knock off intruders to force them to fall to their deaths.
I suggest you moderate this as a SHOVE attack and opposed strength check. Due to the Griffon’s speed and keen eyesight it should be given advantage on attack rolls and the strength check. It knows where and when to hit. Those targets knocked from their perches will fall, taking appropriate damage.
Freshly killed targets may then be eaten.
If attacking as a mount – The Griffon is an extremely fast and stable platform for either mounted Archers trained to seek out enemy spell-users and disrupt spells, or for spell users to utilize as a safe platform from which to launch spells of mass destruction on an enemy below.
In almost all cases, a mounted griffon will be armored from below, either magically or with at the very least tough hide. Distance and speed of travel will also make them difficult targets.
Step 4) DM Tips and Observations
The griffon lacks an important ability that its great speed obviously merits; it should have a the ability to “FLYBY” an opponent (see Spined Devil, MM page 78) and avoid provoking attacks of opportunity when it enters an opponents space and either does not attack (Riders actions) or attacks only with its claws. Failing this, the range of the Claw attack should be extended to 10 feet vs the current 5 feet, enabling them to stay out of range of ground attacks.
The griffon should be given the ability to ‘ACTION SURGE’ for the purposes of Grappling a grounded target for a later drop, or for a shove attack for those that could be knocked from high terrain to fall to their deaths.
The beak attack is essentially useless except as a finisher. Instead I propose that they be given a double-rake attack with the rear claws that is only usable on creatures that they have grappled. This attack would have Range 5 and do 2d6+4 slashing damage. Note that as the target is grappled, it will be incapable of returning the attacks unless it escapes.