Monster Class - Harpy

Save for the tattered wings and taloned feet, this creature resembles a feral woman with a wild look about her.

Harpies have an innate talent for understanding the minds of others, and in addition to their captivation abilities make excellent torturers and spies. While they are sometimes used for these purposes by more powerful evil creatures, most harpies are on their own, living in small tribes and family groups and preying on the outskirts of civilization.

Harpies have the upper body of a humanoid and the lower body of a reptile, with scaly, clawed feet and hands. They have filthy, tangled hair on their heads; black eyes; and possess wings which render them capable of flight. Harpies appear wildly different in different lands. Some seem like an amalgam of vultures and women, while others bear the regal markings of hawks or falcons in their feathers. Rare clutches of harpies in isolated and tropical parts of the world even have colorful feathers akin to parrots.

Alignment: Harpy tend towards evil as most are dedicated to their own self-interest and pure freedom at any cost.

Harpy Racial Traits
• +2 Strength, +2 Wisdom, -4 Intelligence: While a harpy is both brutal and cunning, they tend to be quite savage. • Medium: Harpies are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.

• Monstrous Humanoid: Harpies are monstrous humanoids.

• Slow Speed: Harpies have a base speed of 20 feet. • Darkvision (Ex): Harpies can see perfectly in the dark up to 60 feet.

• Thick Skin (Ex): A harpy’s thick skin grants her a +1 natural armor bonus to her AC.

• Languages: Harpies begin play speaking Common. Harpies with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Auran, Draconic, Elven, Gnome, Infernal, and Sylvan,

Hit Die: d10.

Starting Wealth: 5d6 × 10 gp (average 175 gp.) In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

CLASS SKILLS
The harpy’s class skills are Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Fly (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Perception (Wis), Perform (song) (Cha), Ride (Dex), Stealth (Dex), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str). Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier.

CLASS FEATURES
All the following are class features of the harpy monster class. Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A harpy is proficient with all simple weapons, plus the morningstar. Harpies are also proficient with light armor, but not with shields.

Ability Score Increases: As a harpy gains levels, her ability scores increase as noted on Table: Harpy. These increases stack and are gained as if through level advancement.

Talons (Ex): At 1st level, a harpy gains 2 talon attacks. These are primary attacks that deal 1d4 points of damage plus the harpy’s Strength modifier. At 4th level, the damage die of these talons increases to 1d6.

Wings (Ex): At 2nd level, a set of feathered wings sprouts from the harpy’s back. She can use these wings

to glide, negating damage from any fall and allowing 20 feet of forward movement for every 5 feet of descent. She glides at a speed of 30 feet with average maneuverability. She cannot use her wings to actually gain altitude; she merely coast in other directions as she falls.

At 5th level, her wings grow stronger, and she gains the ability to fly at a speed of 60 feet with average maneuverability. At 7th level, her fly speed increases to 80 feet.

While a harpy is encumbered or wearing medium or heavy armor, her fly speed is reduced by 10 feet.

Deceptive Edge (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, a harpy gains a +2 bonus on Bluff and Stealth checks. These bonuses increase to +4 at 5th level.

Captivating Song (Su): At 3rd level, a harpy gains the ability to infect the minds of those who hear her song. As a standard action, a harpy can begin to sing, captivating all creatures within range that hear her unless they succeed at a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 the harpy’s Hit Dice + the harpy’s Charisma modifier). A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected by the same harpy’s song for 24 hours. After the harpy begins her song, it requires a standard action each round to keep singing.

A victim under the effects of the captivating song moves toward the harpy using the most direct means available. If the path leads them into a dangerous area such as through fire or off a cliff, that creature receives a second saving throw to end the effect before moving into peril. Captivated creatures can take no actions other than to defend themselves. A victim within 5 feet of the harpy simply stands still and offers no resistance to the harpy’s attacks. This effect continues for as long as the harpy sings and for 1 round thereafter. This is a sonic mind-affecting charm effect.

At 3rd level, a harpy’s captivating song has a range of 10 feet. This range increases to 20 feet at 4th level, 50 feet at 5th level, 100 feet at 6th level, and 300 feet at 7th level.