Simurgh

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

Description
Simurghs had a male or female human face with the body of a giant eagle. 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.

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

They could cast the following spells: detect invisibility, know alignment, infravision, shape change (birds or human only), speak with animals/monsters (birds or human only).

A simurgh could spread its wings and hypnotize any creature viewing them.

Habitat/Society
More than half of these solitary creatures were female. Most avian creatures obeyed simurghs and many freely followed them like admirers. These strange flocks were only encountered far from human settlements.

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.

Ecology
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

 * Card Games
 * AD&D Trading Cards