Gorynych

3e
2e

Gorynych

3e
2e

3rd Edition Statistics^[1]

Size

Huge

Type

Dragon

Alignment

Usually chaotic evil

Challenge rating

12

2nd Edition Statistics^[2]

Size

Gargantuan

Alignment

Chaotic evil

General Information^[1]^[2]

Movement

Flying

Vision

Darkvision, low-light vision

Activity cycle

Any

Diet

Carnivorous

Intelligence

Average

Language(s)

Common, Draconic, Orc

Favored climate

Temperate

Favored terrain

Mountains

Appearance

Average length

40‒50 ft (12‒15 m)

Average weight

8‒10 tons (7,300‒9,100 kg)

Skin color(s)

Blue-green

Typical build

Draconic

Distinctions

Three heads & tails

History

Based on

Zmei gorynych article at Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

Gorynychs were ferocious, draconic monsters that would attempt to eat almost anything they came across.^[1]^[2]

Description[]

Gorynychs were massive creatures, some 40‒50 ft (12‒15 m) long snout-to-tail, and weighed 8‒10 tons (7,300‒9,100 kg). They had appropriately massive wings, and, most distinctively, three wolfish heads and three tails that each split into many whiplike ends (as many as twelve ends had been recorded).^[1]^[2]

Behavior[]

Gorynychs were ferocious and bestial creatures, but cunning.^[1]^[2]

Abilities[]

Gorynychs lacked the magical abilities, the fear aura, and the breath weapon of true dragons, but their sheer physical might tended to make up for the lack.^[1]^[2]

Combat[]

Gorynychs were terrors in combat, using their three heads, claws, and the six largest tail-whips with a bestial cunning and ferocity that meant they had been recorded shredding enemies with their claws, grappling them with their tails, and even ripping victims in half between two heads. Additionally, cutting off a tail or head did little to slow the beasts down.^[1]^[2]

Ecology[]

Gorynychs were unusual in their biology in that, while each head had a brain capable of handling all bodily functions on its own, the three brains had only one mind shared between them. Thus, the gorynych had only one mind (and the heads could not be turned against each other), but all three heads slept at once. They also could not be surprised from behind thanks to both their sharp hearing and flexible heads.^[1]^[2]

Gorynychs preferred to live in windy, desolate mountains, making their lairs in great caverns, which were often littered with claw marks, shed scales, the occasional treasure, and bones. They avoided regions where humans were frequent but would make note of any nearby roadways or isolated settlements.^[2]

Gorynychs laid eggs, and hatchlings were driven out of the nest almost immediately after hatching. They attained full growth in only nine years, and gorynychs could live as long as four centuries.^[2]

They were carnivores and typically the apex predator of their territory. They had no language of their own and minimal understanding of whatever the dominant language in the area was, and they rarely interacted with other intelligent species. Other magically powerful and competitive creatures such as other dragons and beholders were known to attack them.^[2]

Gorynychs had been recorded living in northeastern Faerun.^[3]