Harpies are flying monstrosities with female human and vulture features whose voices can, depending on the type of harpy, charm their prey with an otherworldly song or frighten them with a terrible screech.
Description[]
Appearance and sound[]
Harpies have the head, torso, and arms of a human and the legs and wings of a vulture.[3] The seafaring harpies encountered by the Mighty Nein appeared to be like naked women with long, stringy hair, wings, and hawk-like, taloned legs; they would have had beautiful countenances except that their mouths featured shriveled lips and sharpened, broken teeth.[4]
Harpies in the Salted Bluffs have speech that sounds somewhat birdlike, but more articulate and guttural.[5]
The gorefeather harpies of the Cyrios Mountains are larger and more grotesque than seafaring harpies, with more-jagged teeth, gray skin, black feathers, and a thick, oily, dark-brown sweat that coats their wings and makes them matted but shiny. The largest of them is the matron of the group.[2]
Abilities[]
When dealing with humanoids, bluff harpies tend to lead with a song that incapacitates their prey, then follow up with their claws and the clubs they carry.[6] The seafaring harpies encountered by the Mighty Nein had no clubs, attacking only with their claws.[7]
- Luring Song: The harpy sings a song, and each humanoid and giant within 300 feet who can hear the song makes a Wisdom saving throw. Creatures that succeed on a saving throw are immune to that harpy's song for the next 24 hours. Creatures that fail the saving throw are charmed until the song ends; meanwhile, they are incapacitated and must move directly toward the harpy, even through damaging terrain and opportunity attacks. Such charmed creatures ignore other harpies' songs. Each time such a charmed creature takes damage and at the end of each turn, they can repeat the saving throw. The harpy must use a bonus action on each of its subsequent turns to continue the song.[8]
- Multiattack: The harpy can make one attack with its claws and one with its club,[3][6] or both attacks with its claws.[7]
Gorefeather harpies[]
Gorefeather harpies have different abilities than typical harpies. They lead with their terrifying screech, then follow up with claws.
- Gorefeather harpies are resistant to necrotic damage.[9]
- Gorefeather harpies' "song" is a screech that causes creatures to be frightened rather than charmed.[10]
- Gorefeather harpies do not carry clubs, instead attacking twice with their claws for their multiattack.[11]
Society[]
Harpies are seen to live in small tribes led by a matron.[12] They are opportunistic hunters and pillagers who flee when they meet resistance.[12][13] They tend to live among mountains or seaside cliffs, and sometimes attack ships at sea. They keep valuable trophies from their kills in their nests.[14]
History[]
Harpies created a nuisance for the miners who carved a cliffside path through the Salted Bluffs.[15]
"The Path to Whitestone" (1x27)[]
Vox Machina tried to cleave to the narrow mining paths of the Salted Bluffs to avoid detection on their approach to Whitestone. Along the way, they had to leave their horses behind to cross a gap; a short time later they noticed a group of harpies attacking the area where they had left the horses. The horses had distracted the harpies from the party.[16]
"O Captain, Who's Captain?" (2x36)[]
While approaching the Inkclaw Reef, the Mighty Nein's ship was attacked by harpy raiders at night. The harpies started shredding the ship's sails, sang a song to try to incapacitate their prey, and tried to carry away members of the crew before being forced to retreat; they had not expected as much resistance as they got.[17] Nott butchered some meat from the wing of a harpy who had fallen on the deck as it died, and Caduceus started decomposing the remains to see what would grow on it.[18]
"Misery Loves Company" (2x93)[]
The Mighty Nein encountered gorefeather harpies on the way to Isharnai's hut. The party first tried bargaining for the harpies to let them pass. During their brief discussion, the harpies revealed that they knew of the hag and called her a "mean witch". Caleb offered them the jar of Beads of Nourishment and a horse, but the matron found the "boba" disgusting and attacked. In the battle that followed, Nott spent a full round getting drunk to shake off the fear from the harpies' screech, and finished the harpy matron with a clumsy but lucky head shot.
Adventure hooks[]
In the adventure hook Crow's Nest in the original Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting sourcebook, set in 812 PD, the Ashwing tribe of harpies commandeers a recently abandoned pirate ship, and though most of the harpies are just pillaging for fun, the harpy grandmother seems to be looking for something specific near the Salted Bluffs.[12]
In the adventure hook Break a Few Eggs in Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, set in late 835 or early 836 PD, the aarakocra of Vol'antim want the party to help destroy a nest of gorefeather harpy eggs because they believe the matron of the clan has made a pact with a dark entity to make her brood stronger with each generation, but destroying the eggs would push the harpies toward even greater violence.[19]
In the Unwelcome Spirits adventure in the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, adventurers may encounter bluff harpies in the Brokenveil Bluffs.[6]
Notable harpies[]
- Captain Silvercomb, a harpy grandmother leading the Ashwing tribe in the Salted Bluffs.[12]
- Uada, matron of the gorefeather harpies of the Festerwill Pool region.[20]
References[]
- ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 256. See also pp. 66 and 136.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 See "Misery Loves Company" (2x93) at 1:00:57.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 See D&D: Monster Manual, 5th ed., p. 181.
- ↑ See "O Captain, Who's Captain?" (2x36) at 2:57:06.
- ↑ See "The Path to Whitestone" (1x27) at 3:05:16.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 256.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 See "O Captain, Who's Captain?" (2x36) at 3:08:55.
- ↑ The harpy's song is described. See "O Captain, Who's Captain?" (2x36) at 2:53:15.
- ↑ See "Misery Loves Company" (2x93) at 1:29:50.
- ↑ See "Misery Loves Company" (2x93) at 1:16:22.
- ↑ See "Misery Loves Company" (2x93) at 1:25:33.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 48.
- ↑ See "O Captain, Who's Captain?" (2x36) at 3:10:10.
- ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 66. See also p. 256
- ↑ See "The Path to Whitestone" (1x27) at 3:05:16.
- ↑ See "The Path to Whitestone" (1x27) at 3:06:35.
- ↑ See "O Captain, Who's Captain?" (2x36) from 2:45:24 through 3:17:55.
- ↑ See "O Captain, Who's Captain?" (2x36) at 3:22:32.
- ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, pp. 92–93.
- ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 66.
Art:
- ↑ Depiction of a harpy, by Jesper Ejsing from D&D: Monster Manual, 5th edition, page 181. This page contains unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Wizards of the Coast Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
- ↑ Fan art of a gorefeather harpy, by Clara (source). Used with permission.
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