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Large beast, unaligned
Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 45 (6d10 + 12)
Speed 35 ft.
Senses passive Perception 9
Languages —
Challenge 3 (700 XP)
Quills and Plates. If the drake is hit with a melee attack by a creature within 5 ft. of it, the attacker takes 4 (1d6) slashing damage if the attack is from behind or 4 (1d6) piercing damage if it is from any other side. A creature can choose to maneuver their melee attacks around the quills/plates at the start of their turn, but must make such attacks at disadvantage.
Relentless (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest). If the drake takes 15 damage or less that would reduce it to 0 hit points, it is reduced to 1 hit point instead.
ACTIONS
Multiattack. The drake makes three claw attacks. It can trade two claw attacks for a tail attack, but cannot make the tail and claw attacks against the same target.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 6) slashing damage.
Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d8 + 6) bludgeoning damage. If the target is a Medium creature, it must succeed a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If it is a Small or smaller creature, it also is pushed back 10 ft on a failed save.
BONUS ACTIONS
Aggressive. The drake moves up to its speed toward a hostile creature that it can see.
REACTIONS
Unbridled Fury. In response to being hit by a melee attack, the drake can make one melee weapon attack with advantage against the attacker.
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As its name implies, the common drake (Hystronyx vulgaris "Common porcupine claw") is the most readily encountered nonavian dinosaur in Kaimere and the most regularly encountered thescelosaur.[1] These are the face of dinosaurs for the peoples of Kaimere, found on every continent of the Known World, in just about every habitat, from the north western jungles of Ni'Khar all the way down to the most southern of the Khalin Islands, and their domesticated form is one of the most common and versatile livestock on the planet.
Adaptable. The common drake is so widespread because, as its range implies, they are comfortable in a wide range of temperatures and humidities, from the cold temperate jungles of Pakardia to the out right desert heat of the Houzie Prairie. They are also proficient swimmers, easily crossing continents and island hopping to establish new populations or intermix with resident ones. This latter point is something commonly observed among Hystronyx and the genus is something of a taxonomic nightmare to classify: most consider them all one species due to how easily wild populations integrate with each other, not to mention feral stock interbreeding with all populations. On the other hand though, these populations are extremely variable in morphology, with hip height ranging between 3-5 feet and weight ranging from 300 pounds to a ton in the largest bulls. Because of this, some researchers argue they should be considered distinct species. Even so, wild species regularly interbreed as the drake is adaptable and mobile. The Crescent population alone show traces of prairie, Pakardiant jahdrok, Qajarith domesticate, Free-States rokil, and Arvelith forest drakes.
A Dinosaur's Dinosaur. As stated above, the common drake is, to many peoples of the Known World, the quintessential dinosaur in no small part due to their success but also the myriad of adaptations they have that have allowed that success. Not just their comfort in just about any environment and the fact they can eat just about anything (though they are primarily herbivores), but also the sharp, keratinized plates on their tail deterring rear assault supplemented by barbed, detachable quills along their back, although both these traits are exaggerated in males. The quills in particular are good indicators of this, with the size of the quills correlating to age and testosterone levels.
Common drakes generally live in troops of related females, generally led by the eldest female, and a few males who differ to the dominant male, usually the largest. Quite often several troops will live together as a herd for defense of both nests and young against predators although they still only forage in smaller troops. As archetiposaurs, common drakes are, after a three month incubation, born without teeth and dependent on their parents and relatives for protection and sustenance in the form of crop milk, though by a month old they are able to feed themselves. Females reach maturity at a year old and usually remain with their mother's troop but sometimes join other troops after mingling with the herd, while males are driven off at the age of two and form bachelor troops and integrate into unrelated herds.
While they still prefer to flee when presented with the opportunity to do so, they are not as fast or agile as many of the predators that hunt them and often must fight as a result. Fortunately, Hystronyx has accouple traits that make them fairly proficient in a brawl, especially the males: in addition to their quills, the claws are vicious weapons and in males they are paired with spurs on the wrists to deal additional damage. Though as stated they prefer to flee, in defense of their young fighting is their first instinct, circling up around their offspring and harassing any predator that would approach with beak and claw. Males can be especially aggressive, charging predators like leopards without much provocation in an effort to eliminate threats to their young. The common cockatrice on of their most prolific predators, gobbling up draklings and mobbing adults when opportunity presents, though the thick hide and fat of males certain helps in protecting them from a predator who's main killing method is a talon to the throat. Common cockatrices are known to bring down drakes several times their size, but the drakes give back as good as they get and its not unheard of for one to have died by the claws of the other.
Caroled and Tamed. As social animals without much fear of strange creatures and able to eat just about anything, it should come as no surprise that domestication was inevitable. They were in fact one of the first to be domesticated by the First Children upon arrival to Pakardia and took quite well to domestication, quickly reducing the size of their plates and losing their quills altogether, though the fact that this reappears in feral populations after only a few generations shows it was retained in some capacity. Though the First Children didn't find them especially important for their own sustenance, preferring the enchanted grains they brought from their lost homeland and insects, domestic drakes were essential in the feeding of homunculi[2] and sustained their great armies of these monsters.
Once their civilization collapsed and the first children disappeared, the domesticated drakes quickly turned feral and reintegrated with wild populations, although unsurprisingly this made later redomestication by Kaimerans fairly easy. The Ages of Demons, Witches and Dark Ages of Kaimere all saw independent domestication of common drakes and regular integration of wild stock has resulted in good health in the population overall. Most people in the Known World have common drakes, with breeds specialized for meat, livestock guarding, labor, and even mounts for war and sport. In breeds that do still possess quills, they must be trimmed before they can be mounted and saddled, which combined with the spurs and aggression of males requires some fairly high maintenance grooming, but with a little work, drakes prove highly versatile livestock. The meat of drakes is highly regarded, often even preferred over beef as they can pasture in a wide range of terrain and grow faster on significantly less food. As nesters that push to capacity, females can easily lay a dozen large eggs every week as long as they are not fertilized and are presented with plenty of food, making them prized producers as well. This versatility, both in the wild and in fenced farms, shows the common drake to be in every sense of the word a success and one of the most important large herbivores in the Known World.
Variant:Morphs and Domesticates
As stated above, the common drake has many different morphs that reflect its range of environmental tolerance. Most are robust bruisers but there is some variation that could impact the statblock above.
- A Forest Common Drake has the following trait:
- Forest Camouflage. The drake has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide in forests, woodlands, or other terrain of abundant foliage.
- The drakes of the Houzie Prairie are the most distinct looking among the wild populations, being the most gracile. A Prairie Common Drake has a Strength of 15 (+2), a Dexterity of 16 (+3), and the following trait:
- Grassland Camouflage. The drake has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made in grasslands, savannas, or other non-desert terrain that is mostly open spaces.
Domesticated drakes, descended from the now extinct Qajarith species and are typically the most distinct and smallest of the morphs. A Domestic Common Drake is a Medium creature that has a CR of 2 (450 XP), 39 (6d8 + 12) hit points, and generally lacks the Aggressive and Quills and Plates traits. Some breeds may still have quills that require trimming, but the plates are extremely reduced so a creature does not take slashing damage when attacking a domesticated drake from behind. Breeds may be Large, in which case, use the hit points as above. War breeds may have the Aggressive trait as well as the following:
- Charge. If the drake moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a claws attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
A labor breed drake may have the following trait:
- Beast of Burden. The drake is considered to be a one size larger animal for the purpose of determining its carrying capacity.
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