Thanksgiving Serving #4: Dire Turkey

It's Thanksgiving this week and what better time to fill in some gaping holes in the D&D Monster Manual. Unexplainedly, the turkey was left out and adventurers everyywhere have been deprived of the chance to encounter one of these beautiful birds of prey(ed upon).

The Dire Turkey is the 4th entry in this Thanksgiving series. Not a creature that should be ignored, this turkey can sometimes be found in and amongst a normal turkey flock. Watch out if you don't take those turkeys seriously enough.

Dire Turkey CR 1/2
hp 8 (HD 2d8 )

N Small Animal (Swarm)
Init +3; Senses Listen +4, Spot +5

AC 15, touch 14, flat-footed 13
Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +3

Speed 40 ft.; fly, average 50 ft.
Melee +3 (1d4+3, talon; 1d4+1 bite)
Base Atk +3

Abilities Str 10, Dex 17, Con 12, Int 3, Wis 12, Cha 4

Description: Dire turkeys have the same gobbles and clicks as wild turkeys But they are slightly larger and more aggressive and without fear. They can commonly be found in flocks of normal turkeys and usually acts as their guardians. A flock gains a sense of security with a dire turkey around so it is less likely to flee in panic. Oh yeah, and dire turkeys taste awful.

Combat: At all times a dire turkey will use both its talons and its bite. This type of turkey fights to the death and is not easily intimidated. A dire turkey that attacks as part of a swarm gets its own separate attack.

DM Tips and Tricks
- Hiding a couple of dire turkeys in a normal flock of turkeys should be enough to put a sense of fear in your characters' party. Especially when you describe the great horned turkey with the red eyes that just did you 4 points of damage. Should be enough to put them on their guard and make them do a double take.

- Send your party after a rare species of wild turkeys that live in a remote mountain section. Their powdered beaks can be extremely useful in making fear spells. Have the wizard sending them on the quest hint at a terrible guardian. But terrible is all relative in comparison to a regular turkey. Have the special flock protected by a number of dire turkeys.

All artwork in this series was provided by the ever-popular Devil Dan, a fan-favorite over at the Dundjinni mapping forums. Check out his recent free Monster Art Pack recently released on the download page. Although well-known for his top-down views of creatures, Devil Dan graciously produced a number of fabulous front view shots for this series.

dDemonicAngels is the online identity of Bil White, a freelance writer living in Montreal. Bil's 'dire' need to fill in the turkey gaps in the Monster Manual are slowly getting to him. Only two more left. Whew!

Comments (1)

1  Written by kepli, on 21-11-2007 03:07 This week is getting better and better   What's next? A Zombie Turkey perhaps?

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