Ragewing (CR 3)
Small Aberration
Alignment: Always neutral
Initiative: +3 (Dex); Senses: blindsight 120 ft.
AC: 16 (+1 size, +3 Dex, +2 natural), touch 14, flat-footed 13
Hit Dice: 1d8+2 (6 hp)
Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +5
Speed: 20 ft., fly 40 ft. (good)
Space: 5 ft./5 ft.
Base Attack +0; Grapple -6
Attack: Bite +4 melee
Full Attack: Bite +4 melee
Damage: Bite 1d6-2
Special Attacks/Actions: Empathic bond, incite rage, radiation pulse
Abilities: Str 6, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 2, Wis 16, Cha 19
Special Qualities: fire resistance 10, hivemind, wound transfer
Feats: Track; Weapon Finesse
Skills: Hide +9 and Survival +5
Advancement: 2-3 HD (Medium-size); 4-9 HD (Large aquatic); 10-20 HD (Huge aquatic)
Climate/Terrain: Warm marsh
Organization: Solitary, brood (2-5), or swarm (5-20)
Treasure/Possessions: None
Source:
Dragon #280
Dragon Compendium Vol. 1
The ragewing is not a physically powerful creature. If hard pressed, it can bite an aggressor. Its primary method of hunting is insidious. A ragewing has the ability to telepathically bond with another living creature; they use this bond to send victims into fits of rage that force the victim to attack nearby creatures. Once the dust settles, the ragewing settles down on the kills to feed.
Blindsight (Ex): A ragewing has no visual organs but can ascertain all foes within 120 feet using sound-, scent-, and vibration-detecting organs. Ragewings cannot detect other creatures in the water unless the ragewings are moving in it.
Empathic Bond (Su): As a standard action, a ragewing can attempt to create an empathic bond with a single living creature within 30 feet. The target can resist the attempt with a successful Will saving throw (DC 14). Once the ragewing has established an empathic bond with a creature, it can maintain the bond indefinitely as long as it remains within 30 feet of the victim. If the ragewing is ever more than 30 feet away from the target, the bond is broken, though it may be reformed if the ragewing comes back within range. A creature who successfully saves is immune to this ability for one day.
Note the presence of the bond does not change the target's feelings of hostility toward the ragewing. There is a 50% chance that a ragewing is accompanied by a bonded creature (suitable to the ragewing's environment) when it is encountered.
Incite Rage (Su): A ragewing can incite rage in a creature it has formed an empathic bond with. The bonded creature can resist the rage if it makes a Will saving throw (DC 14). Inciting the rage is a full-round action for a ragewing. A creature that succumbs to the rage perceives all creatures within 60 feet of itself as enemies, and it attacks them immediately with whatever weapons it has available. Note that this includes the ragewing, which often hides or flies out of reach of an enraged creature to protect itself. If the ragewing moves more than 30 feet away, however, the bond is broken and the rage ends prematurely without further side-effects.
An enraged creature cannot use skills or abilities that require patience and concentration, such as moving silently or casting a spell. The victim can use any feats he might have except Expertise, item creation feats, metamagic feats, and Skill Focus (if it is tied to a skill that requires patience and concentration). Finally, the character cannot activate magic items while in the rage. This rage lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 plus the victim's Constitution modifier. After the rage ends, the victim is fatigued.
Radiation Pulse (Ex): The ragewing continually absorbs ambient radiation. When it is excited or threatened, it flushes the radiation it has absorbed. This expulsion takes the form of a pulse of visible light. A ragewing can emit a pulse once per hour. Any living creature within 15 feet of a ragewing when it does this must make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 14) or become dazzled, suffering a -1 penalty to all attack rolls for 1 hour.
Sightless creatures are immune to the ragewing's radiation pulse.
Hivemind (Su): A group of at least five ragewings within 60 feet of each other can join their minds together as a free action to form a single acting mind that allows the ragewings in the swarm to act in a coordinated manner against enemies. This grants a ragewing in the group a dodge bonus to its Armor Class if it and at least four other ragewings participating in the hivemind can see the attacker (and thus anticipate the attack). A ragewing gets a +2 competence bonus to attacks against any creature that at least four other ragewings in the hivemind can see. Ragewings that have established an empathic bond with another creature cannot join in a hivemind.
Wound Transfer (Su): The most amazing ability a ragewing possesses is the ability to heal wounds by siphoning the life of a bonded creature into itself. Any ragewing that is struck for damage that has an active empathic bond can transfer all damage to its bonded creature. For example a ragewing bonded to a treeleg strangler is struck by a razortail's tail attack. The tail attack does 5 points of damage, but since the ragewing is bonded with the treeleg strangler, the strangler suffers the 5 points of damage and the ragewing escapes unharmed.
Each time a ragewing makes use of the power, the bonded creature receives a new saving throw (DC 14) to break free of the bond; otherwise the damage transferred, but the link is lost. A ragewing can only transfer an amount of damage equal to its current hit point total. Thus, a ragewing with 3 remaining hit points can only transfer 3 of the points of damage it suffers in the following round to the creature it has bonded.