Vrock

Few demons are as despised as the vrocks. These fiends embody the worst traits of the demonic race: betrayal, rage, and hatred. Vrocks are used by other demons as shock troops, but are always watched carefully, as they tend to turn sides at the last minute. Such is their chaotic nature. Vrocks delight in slowly slaying mortal creatures and feasting on their warm entrails while the still-living victim watches in horror. Much like the vultures they appear to resemble, vrocks will scavenge meat from any kill they can find.

Appearance
This creature looks like a cross between a large human and a huge vulture. It has strong, sinewy limbs covered with small gray feathers, a long neck topped with a vulture head, and vast feathered wings. A vrock appears to be a vulture-like demon with knobby skin covered in wart-like growths. These growths often explode at a moment’s notice, releasing a cloud of spores that burrows into the flesh of anything around the fiend. A vrock stands 8 feet tall and weighs 500 pounds.

Vrocks serve as guards to more powerful demons and as flying assault troops in the abyssal wars.

Known Vrock

 * Arrikk: From Hellbound: War Games, page 65
 * The Cuckoo: Standing Stone (presumably referenced again in Heart of Nightfang Spire)
 * Grzzlat: I2 Tomb of the Lizard King (on the random encounters table)
 * Jaazzpaa: Dungeon #25 "The Standing Stones of Sundown"
 * Rhunad: Heart of Nightfang Spire
 * Shaakat, Rejik, and Morbaat: The Paladins, book two of the Forgotten Realms' Double Diamond Triangle Saga by James M. Ward and David Wise.

Combat
Vrocks are vicious fighters who like to fly down into the enemy and cause as much damage as possible. They prance about in battle, taking briefly to the air and bringing their clawed feet into play. Despite their advantage in mobility, the vrocks’ deep love of battle frequently leads them into melee combats against heavy odds.


 * A vrock’s natural weapons, as well as any weapons it wields, are treated as chaotic-aligned and evil-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.


 * Dance of Ruin (Su) : To use this ability, a group of at least three vrocks must join hands in a circle, dancing wildly and chanting. At the end of 3 rounds of dancing, a wave of crackling energy flashes outward in a 100-foot radius. All creatures except for demons within the radius take massive damage. Stunning, paralyzing, or slaying one of the vrocks stops the dance. The save DC is Charisma-based.


 * Spell-Like Abilities : At will—mirror image, telekinesis, greater teleport (self plus 50 pounds of objects only); 1/day—heroism. Caster level 12th.


 * Spores (Ex) : A vrock can release masses of spores from its body once every 3 rounds as a free action. The spores automatically deal a small amount of damage to all creatures adjacent to the vrock. They then penetrate the skin and grow, dealing additional damage each round for 10 minutes. At the end of this time, the victim is covered with a tangle of viny growths. (The vines are harmless and wither away in a few days.) A delay poison spell stops the spores’ growth for its duration. Bless, neutralize poison, or remove disease kills the spores, as does sprinkling the victim with a vial of holy water.


 * Stunning Screech (Su) : Once per hour a vrock can emit a piercing screech.


 * Summon Tanar’ri (Sp) : Once per day a vrock can attempt to summon 2d10 dretches or another vrock with a 35% chance of success. This ability is the equivalent of a 3rd-level spell.


 * Skills : Vrocks are extremely observant.