Dinosaur, Oviraptor (3.5e Creature)

Dinosaur, Oviraptor

Oviraptor

CR 1

	N Small Animal (Psionic)
Init/Senses	+3/Listen +2, Spot +2
AC	16, touch 14, flat-footed 13 (+1 size, +2 natural)
hp	12 (3 HD)
Fort/Ref/Will	+3/+6/+3
Speed	40 ft.
Melee	Beak +5 (1d6+3) or 2 claws +5 (1d3+3)
Space/Reach	5 ft./5 ft.
Base Atk/Grp	+2/-5
Abilities	Str 6, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 8
SQ	Low-light vision, psi-like abilities
Feats	Weapon Finesse
Skills	Bluff +5¹, Hide +7, Listen +2, Spot +2
Advancement	—
Possessions	-
Mimicry (Ex)	An oviraptor can perfectly mimic familiar sounds, voices, and accents. This ability does not enable the oviraptor to speak languages it can’t normally speak. To duplicate a specific individual’s voice, an oviraptor makes a Bluff check; a listener familiar with the voice being imitated must succeed on an opposed Sense Motive check to discern that the voice isn’t genuine.
Psi-Like Abilities (Ps)	An oviraptor can use the following psi-like abilities: at will - detect psionicsXPH, 3/day - distractXPH.

Resting on a stone is a coyote-sized creature which seems halfway between a bird and a reptile. Its legs, chest, and lower tail is covered in green, snake-like scales. Its back, its long neck, and the upper half of its lizard-like tail are all covered in white feathers; the end of its tail has a broad fan of sky-blue feathers. The creature's head is mostly covered in blue scales, with highlights of a variety of other colors. On its head are a sail-like crest, a beaked mouth, and round-pupiled eyes with amber irises. Their forearms are adorned with sky-blue pinions; they terminate in green-scaled claws. The beast looks toward you, tilts its head, and opens its mouth. You hear an uncannily human voice greet you: "Hello! Good bird-thing! Hello!"

The oviraptor's beaked jaw is specialized for breaking through the tough shells of its prey. Though it is primarily ovivorous², it is known also to eat mollusks, crustaceans, lizards, and arthropods. It supplements this diet with a small quantity of shelled nuts, leaves, herbs, and grasses.

¹Oviraptors have an innate +6 bonus to Bluff; this aids them both in their mimickry and in their preferred combat tactic (feinting). ^XPHThese powers can be found in the Expanded Psionics Handbook.

²An ovivorous creature subsists primarily on the eggs of other species.

Non-Psionic Oviraptors: If a psionic dinosaur does not fit your campaign or setting (or if you cannot access the Expanded Psionics Handbook), simply remove its psi-like abilities and the psionic subtype.

Strategies and Tactics

Oviraptors are unlikely to combat creatures larger than themselves. They choose to fight only when cornered, unless they are certain they are in no immediate danger. They can use their distract psi-like ability to catch mobile prey unaware (if they cannot find easier prey), though they more readily use this to distract potential predators as they attempt to flee or hide. They use their detect psionics psi-like ability when they notice a creature that interests them; if they detect the presence of psionic ability, they are unlikely to attack or flee, instead approaching with curiosity. Psionic creatures which share a habitat with oviraptors are unlikely to show aggression to one. The oviraptor can also mimic noises it has heard, in a manner similar to the mimicry of a parrot. It most often uses this to lure prey which it has already targeted with distract, though it can also use this ability to mimic the noises which regional psionic species use to communicate. Through this second usage, it can act strategically with such psionic species; typically, those species use this to their advantage by training the oviraptor to effectively serve as a hunting animal.

Ecology

Environment: Oviraptors primarily inhabit alluvial steppes, deserts, and shorelines marked by sandy dunes. Their diet ensures that the more fecund species in these regions do not overpopulate, ensuring that what little food can be found in these regions is not consumed entirely within a generation. They can also be found in urban areas near these regions, as their intelligence, curiosity, mimicry, and affection toward psionic individuals makes them desirable as household pets. They are even traded outside these regions as exotic pets for a significant sum; distant kings might keep them as rare and expensive pets, or they may even consider these animals a culinary delicacy. Therefore, when found in urban places, they are most often encountered in households, on farms (where they fend off other scavengers in trade for a portion of the eggs and produce), or on the dinner tables of noble houses.

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