Simurgh

Simurghs, or the “King of Birds”, were avian creatures of Zakhara known to protect good-hearted lawful beings.

Description
Simurghs had the body of a giant eagle, with the face of a human. Their feathers were metallic orange in color. These creatures had two pair of golden wings that could propel it quickly through the air. A simurgh’s long tail feathers could make a peacock jealous.

Abilities
Simurghs had an innate ability to cast the the following spells: detect invisibility, know alignment, infravision. They could also cast the spells shape change and speak with animals, but their effects were limited to birds and humans.

A simurgh could also spread its wings, causing any creatures that viewed them to be hypnotized.

Combat
Simurghs were pacifists and would rarely enter into combat, even to save others.

Society
More than half of these solitary creatures were female.

Simurghs only kept a lair when mating, which occurred roughly every six years. A suitable lair would be a mountain cavern that was deep in the wilderness. These lairs were often guarded by giant eagles and even rocs until the young simurghs were old enough to fend for themselves.

These creatures did not collect wealth or treasure.

Relationships
Most avian creatures obeyed simurghs and many freely followed them like admirers. These strange flocks were only encountered far from human settlements.

Usages
The beautiful creatures were frequently hunted for their splendid plumage. If freely given, a simurgh’s tail feather had wondrous magical properties. These feathers radiated continual light and could hypnotize any creature within 50 ft. These feathers were used to make a robe of scintillating colors and also ingredients for making a potion of rainbow hues. When used as a quill, they could be used to inscribe scrolls for color spray, hypnotic pattern, rainbow pattern, prismatic spray, prismatic wall, and prismatic sphere.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * A Dozen and One Adventures
 * Card Games
 * AD&D Trading Cards