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Harpy

Challenge
str
12
dex
12
con
12
int
10
wis
10
cha
14

AC 11 

HP 38 (7d8 + 7; bloodied 19)

Speed 20 ft., fly 40 ft.


Proficiency +2; Maneuver DC 11

Saving Throws Wis +2

Senses passive Perception 10

Languages Common


ACTIONS

Multiattack. The harpy attacks twice with its claw.

Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d6 + 1) slashing damage.


BONUS ACTIONS

Luring Song. The harpy sings a magical song. Each humanoid and giant within 300 feet that can hear it makes a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw . On a failure, a creature becomes charmed until the harpy fails to use its bonus action to continue the song. While charmed by the harpy, a creature is incapacitated and ignores other harpy songs. On each of its turns, the creature moves towards the harpy by the most direct route, not avoiding opportunity attacks or hazards. The creature repeats its saving throw whenever it is damaged and before it enters damaging terrain such as lava. If a saving throw is successful or the effect ends on it, it is immune to any harpy’s song for the next 24 hours.

Combat

The harpy uses its Luring Song continuously whenever enemies are within 300 feet. It prefers to attack creatures charmed by it and tries to evade creatures that attack it in melee. It flees if it is bloodied while no creatures are charmed by it.


Legends and Lore

With a History or Nature check, characters can learn the following:

DC 10 Harpies blend the features of humanoids and birds. Their magical songs ensorcell the minds of the weak-willed.

DC 15 A creature fascinated by a harpy’s song can’t resist its lure, even if it means walking off a cliff.

DC 20 Harpies congregate in close-knit flocks. Insulting one harpy usually angers all of them.

Description

Harpies are humanoids with raptor features: wings in place of arms, talons for feet, and feathered torsos and legs. They spend their lives on the wing, untethered to anything but their family. 

Luring and Tracking. Harpies are dangerous hunters, trailing prey from the sky or luring them close with their haunting voices. While some harpies avoid humanoids, others hunt them for sport or—in particularly lean times—for food. 

Harpies are incredibly protective of one another. An entire flock may respond if even one of its members is wronged. What’s worse, harpies rarely forgive a slight. An aggrieved harpy might harass the focus of its ire—ransacking their campsites and befouling their food—for months or even years before finally killing them.

Artistic and Scholarly Inclination. Most harpies organize themselves into nests led by a matriarch who oversees the education of the young. With no written language, harpies conduct much of their schooling through guided flights, songs, and storytelling. These traditions make harpies exceptional historians and cartographers. Their knowledge and bird’s-eye-view maps are coveted the world over. 

Nature’s Intermediary. Most harpies reside in coastal areas or forests far from settlements. They are avid hunters, fishers, and foragers. Many can predict the weather simply by sensing subtle changes in the wind. Adventurers who befriend harpies find that they make excellent scouts, though persuading a harpy to leave its flock is often a difficult feat. 

Behavior

1 Singing from a high peak or other perch

2 Flying overhead: attack on sight, but will spare anyone with an instrument

3 Looking for prisoners to fill the cages in their lair

4 Working on an opera

5 Following a wounded victim

6 Hunting harpy-hunters

Signs

1 Large feather

2 Distant beautiful singing

3 Vultures flying overhead

4 Gnawed bones

Encounters

Harpies can be found in any outdoor environment, especially forests with tall trees and mountains with high cliffs.

CR 0–2 1 or 2 harpies ; harpy with 1d6 vultures ; siren

Treasure 45 gp, snowflake-shaped silver brooch (25 gp), cloak of elvenkind

CR 3–4 3 or 4 harpies ; harpy with 1 or 2 giant vultures ; 3 sirens

Treasure 3 local maps (75 gp each), coral comb (25 gp), 3 spell scrolls of magic mouth (these harpies can cause a magic mouth to use Luring Song)

CR 11–16 harpy queen (statistics of erinyes ) with 3 or 4 harpies

Treasure 700 gp, 900 sp, shabby harpsichord (75 gp), 3 rare books of music (100 gp each), silver and opal crown (750 gp), ring of telekinesis

Monster Type Description

Monstrosities are magical beings usually native to the Material Plane. Some monstrosities combine the features of beasts and humanoids, like centaurs . Others have bizarre or unnatural appearances, like many-tentacled ropers . Monstrosities could only arise in a world suffused with magic.