Varrangoin, Lesser (CR 6)
Medium Magical Beast (Extraplanar)
Alignment: Always chaotic evil
Initiative: +3 (Dex); Senses: darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, Listen +2, and Spot +2
Languages: their own language and Abyssal
AC: 19 (+3 Dex, +6 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 16
Hit Dice: 5d10+5 (32 hp); DR: 10/iron
Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +1
Speed: 20 ft., fly 40 ft. (average)
Space: 5 ft./5 ft.
Base Attack +5; Grapple +7
Attack: Bite +7 melee
Full Attack: Bite +7 melee and 2 claws +5 melee and tail sting +5 melee
Damage: Bite 1d6+2, claw 1d4+1, tail sting 1d4+1 plus poison
Special Attacks/Actions: Breath weapon, death throes, poison
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 11, Wis 11, Cha 8
Special Qualities: immunities, SR 12, varrangoin traits
Feats: Alertness (B); Flyby Attack; Multiattack
Skills: Hide +11, Listen +2, Move Silently +11, and Spot +2
Advancement: 6-10 HD (Medium-size); 11-15 HD (Large); or by character class
Climate/Terrain: Any land and underground (Abyss)
Organization: Solitary or flock (2-12)
Treasure/Possessions: Standard
Source:
Fiend Folio
Breath Weapon (Ex): Each lesser varrangoin has one of four breath weapon types: a 30-foot cone of fire, a 30-foot cone of cold, a 50-foot line of acid, or a 50-foot line of electricity. A lesser varrangoin's breath weapon deals 3d6 points of damage (Reflex DC 13 half) of the appropriate energy type.
Death Throes (Ex): When slain (reduced to -10 hit points), a lesser varrangoin explodes in a 20-foot burst of energy. This explosion deals 3d6 points of damage (Reflex DC 13 half) of the same energy type as the varrangoin's breath weapon.
Poison (Ex): A lesser varrangoin delivers its poison (Fort DC 13 negates) with each successful tail sting attack. Initial and secondary damage are the same (1d6 Dex).
Immunities (Ex): A lesser varrangoin is immune to damage of the same energy type as its breath weapon.
Varrangoin Traits (Ex): Exposure to bright light (such as sunlight or a daylight spell) blinds varrangoins for round. Even after recovering from being blinded, they take a -1 circumstance penalty on all attack rolls, saves, and skill checks while operating in bright light. Varrangoins have acid, cold, electricity, and fire resistance 10.
All varrangoins choose their battles carefully and prefer to attack creatures obviously weaker than themselves. In a battle, arcanist varrangoins try to assume command of the anarchic flocks, but usually have little success. Lesser varrangoins are herded forward in battle, little more than chaff the superior varrangoins use to prolong their own survival. Ragers love the thrill of ripping into an opponent with their claws, though, and follow their lesser kin quickly into combat with spell support from arcanists. Usually, no individual leads a flock or community for long due to the innate chaos of varrangoin society.
One tactic preferred by the arcanists is to use their proficiency with illusion magic to make a flock appear twice or three times as big as it actually is, plunging the ranks of their opponents into chaos as they try to discern which varrangoin is real and which is not.
A lesser varrangoin nearly always begins a fight by attempting to use its tail sting in a flyby attack. It knows that if its poison takes hold, an opponent can't easily avoid its breath weapon, which it uses at the next available opportunity. Lesser varrangoins always attack an opponent from the air. Lesser varrangoin flocks rarely engage in complex tactics since they prefer to mob opponents at random and then break off singly to attack individual creatures.
Extraplanar Subtype
A subtype applied to any creature when it is on a plane other than its native plane. A creature that travels the planes can gain or lose this subtype as it goes from plane to plane. This book assumes that encounters with creatures take place on the Material Plane, and every creature whose native plane is not the Material Plane has the extraplanar subtype (but would not have when on its home plane). An extraplanar creatures usually has a home plane mentioned in its description. These home planes are taken from the Great Wheel cosmology of the D&D game (see Chapter 5 of the Dungeon Master's Guide). If your campaign uses a different cosmology, you will need to assign different home planes to extraplanar creatures.
Creatures not labeled as extraplanar are natives of the Material Plane, and they gain the extraplanar subtype if they leave the Material Plane. No creature has the extraplanar subtype when it is on a transitive plane; the transitive planes in the D&D cosmology are the Astral Plane, the Ethereal Plane, and the Plane of Shadow.