Fantasy Monster: Cadaverous Capon

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Cadaverous Capon

A bloated, decaying, oversized chicken with remnants of feathers falling off.

CR 1; 400 XP

NE Small Undead

Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +0

Aura wild trashing (5 ft.)

Defense
AC 12, touch 12, flat-footed 11 (+1 Dex, +1 size)
hp 16 (3d8+3)
Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +3

Defensive Abilities gliding fall; Immune undead traits

Offense
Speed 30 ft.

Melee beak and talons +3 (2d4)

Statistics
Str 10, Dex 13, Con —, Int 1, Wis 11, Cha 13

Base Atk +2; CMB +1; CMD 12

Feats Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative
Skills Acrobatics +2 (+12 leaping), Intimidate +4, Stealth +9; Racial Modifiers +10 Acrobatics when leaping

SQ spread the taint

Ecology
Environment urban, ruins
Organization solitary, pair, or a brood (3—8)
Treasure none

Special Abilities

Gliding Fall (Ex) A cadaverous capon can beats its wings while jumping or falling, gaining listed bonus to Acrobatics checks while leaping and suffering no damage while falling.

Spread The Taint (Su) A cadaverous capon can mate with a hen, which will proceed to lay tainted eggs. While majority of them will be unviable, a few will hatch and the resulting chicks will grow into young roosters that will suddenly die and turn into new generation of cadaverous capons after 2d6 months. Eating food containing tainted eggs produces a supernatural sickness (disease, ingested; DC 13; onset 1d3 hours; frequency 1/hour; effect 1d3 Str and Con damage; Cure 3 consecutive saves. People killed by the sickness tend to spontaneously reanimate as lesser undead after 1d4 days).

Wild Trashing (Ex) All concentration checks made while adjacent to a hostile cadaverous capon suffer —4 penalty.

Cadaverous capons are a disastrous results of attempts to create magical chickens that would regrow their flesh after being eaten. It doesn't work. It can't be done. And yet, misguided researchers seek to reach that inane goal time after time.

Wealthy monasteries seem to be cursed with flocks of cadaverous capons particularly often—it is as if gluttonous monks were particularly prone to hubris of creating self-replenishing delicacies, or maybe specifically targeted with poetically cruel necromancies.

Risen Roosters (CR 1) are even more insidious threat. While they have the same statistics and abilities as Cadaverous Capons, they look and behave like regular roosters until provoked into aggression (such as when anyone attempt to slaughter them for meat, or when they witness violent death of a sapient being).