Manticore

This fearsome creature has the body of a lion, the wings of a dragon, the face of a snarling man, and a tail of dripping spikes.

Mythic Manticore CR 6/MR 2

XP 2,400

LE Large magical beast (mythic)

Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +9

Defense

AC 19, touch 11, flat-footed 17 (+2 Dex, +8 natural, –1 size)

hp 77 (6d10+44)

Fort +9, Ref +7, Will +3

DR 5/epic

Offense

Speed 30 ft., fly 50 ft. (clumsy)

Melee bite +11 (1d8+6), 2 claws +11 (2d4+6)

Ranged 4 spikes +9 (1d6+6 plus poison)

Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.

Special Attacks mythic power (2/day, surge +1d6), poison, pounce, skewer

Statistics

Str 22, Dex 15, Con 18, Int 7, Wis 12, Cha 9

Base Atk +6; CMB +13; CMD 25 (29 vs. trip)

Feats Flyby Attack, Hover, Weapon Focus (spikes)^M

Skills Fly –3, Perception +9, Survival +4 (+8 when tracking); Racial Modifiers +4 Perception, +4 Survival when tracking

Languages Common

Ecology

Environment warm hills and marshes

Organization solitary, pair, or pride (3–6)

Treasure standard

Special Abilities

Poison (Ex) Spike—injury; save Fort DC 17; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d4 Str; cure 2 consecutive saves.

Skewer (Ex) If a mythic manticore confirms a critical hit with a spike, the spike pins the target to the ground or a nearby surface. If the target is using winged flight, the spike snares its wings. The target is considered grappled by the manticore (though the manticore is not considered to be grappling) and must escape the grapple to move from its square. A flying creature must escape on its turn or plummet to the ground. As a swift action, a mythic manticore can expend one use of mythic power to skewer all targets hit by its spikes that turn, even if the attacks weren't critical hits.

Spikes (Ex) With a snap of its tail, a mythic manticore can loose a volley of four spikes as a standard action (make an attack roll for each spike). This attack has a range of 180 feet with no range increment. All targets must be within 30 feet of each other. The creature can launch only 24 spikes in any 24-hour period.

A mythic manticore is a nightmarish creature, perhaps the result of crossbreeding with poisonous drakes, decadent sphinxes, or aberrant chimeras. A voracious eater, a mythic manticore may devour an entire corpse, as well as its weapons and armor, leaving nothing but a bloody stain on the ground and a few organs it finds unpalatable. Any metal bits it eats are digested and used to grow its deadly spikes. Some are known to dine on giant venomous snakes and spiders with the intent of making their poison even more powerful.

A mythic manticore uses its thrown spikes to hold prey in place from a distance so it can leap upon it and tear it apart. It is especially fond of skewering the wings of a flying creature, forcing it to plummet to the ground where it becomes easy pickings. Its weakness-inducing poison makes it especially dangerous to winged mounts, as the poisoned creature may find itself unable to carry a rider.