Brash Brutes: Aarakocra Part 2

This morning I watched Jim Murphy's video on flying monsters in D&D and, after looking at the monsters in Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica (GGR), I had to write this long-awaited follow up to my first post about screeching death turkeys. Hopefully I get it done and posted before I leave for Thanksgiving dinner.
  In the video, Jim mentions how he misses flyby attacks, which was a great way to present a new kind of challenge, new risks to parties at all levels of play, and are sorely missed in 5e. I also love flyby attacks and, to me, it's what makes aarakocra in Dark Sun what they are. Without it, they aren't much more than another obnoxious creature aside from their appearance and death shrieks. With it — along with everything I talked about in the first Brash Brutes post — they become a terror of the wastelands. One aarakocra on its own is a challenge for a new party of adventurers. However, their sly takeoff and flyby attack trigger opportunity attacks. If they didn't, I know that the first party I threw them at would have been killed unless the most extreme rolls were made. Even a few aarakocra minions (creatures that die from any hit) would be almost impossible to defeat for low-level parties. I always find it interesting when small details like that have such a big impact on the way that games play out, and they're always things I love fiddling with.

Quick aside before I get into things: In GGR, I realized after seeing the arclight phoenix in the monsters section that 5e's version of the flyby attack is in the form of a simple ability:

"Flyby. The [creature] doesn't provoke opportunity attacks when it flies out of an enemy's reach."

I knew it did exist in 5e, but for some reason it never clicked with me that I could make the aarakocra have this ability and make an actual attack based around simply moving some distance. For now, however, I'm sticking with the way I've been doing. But if I go back through these posts and my own notes and update all my creatures, that'll be a big consideration.

For this follow up, I've had notes for several higher CR aarakocra lying around, and when I came back to them today I noticed that, despite knowing that removing the "this may provoke opportunity attacks" line from their flyby attack, all of them had the base, unchanged flyby attack from the low-CR aarakocra. Even the 5-7 CR undead ones. I don't remember why I never changed it, or if there was even a reason behind it, but it got me thinking more about the consequences of keeping that very important line and the consequences of removing it.

If I want to make anything more brutal than it already is, there's a lot I can change besides the creatures' stats: the number of enemies in the encounter, the way they are encountered (ambush, when they're exhausted, etc.), the equipment they have, the environment (weather, terrain, etc.). For the Athasian birdfolk, the two I tend to focus on are how many there are and how the characters encounter them. In my first encounter with them ever, there was some ambushing going on, and the party only fought one warrior and later fought a few minions. So, how would things have looked if — maybe when they were a level or two higher — they had faced multiple warriors instead? The rules on Reactions in combat and Opportunity Attacks make it more complicated, though.
  During combat, we should assume that each character only has one reaction each round. If they use that reaction by making an opportunity attack on a huge bird zipping past them, then they can't do that again until their next turn. Since each character only has so many reactions to use in every round of combat, the more aarakocra there are using flyby attacks then the more likely the characters are to run out of reactions. Even if there are a couple of warriors, if they flyby the same character each round, then that character can only make an opportunity attack on one of the two. Or three, or four, and so on. And, of course, characters still have to land their attacks in order to do damage, so even minions with low AC will still be a big threat in large numbers without any way to deal massive area or other multiple target damage. So, the more aarakocra there are in the encounter, the more likely each one is to have a more powerful flyby attack.

To me, this isn't just interesting from a combat encounter design and math perspective, but also from a world-building one. Aarakocra on Dark Sun, and in other worlds, are dangerous. But aarakocra are brutal in groups. That flyby attack they have, even with the downside of provoking more attacks, makes them inherently brutal. Anyone traveling the sandscapes of Athas alone who faces one and lives to remember it won't travel alone ever again, and is easily one of the many reasons why people travel in small parties or large caravans in this world. Just as my players were keen to note where they encountered the aarakocra in their mini adventure and how they naturally hated the creatures, people in the world would react similarly. Maps traded between merchants have aarakocra nests marked on them, caravan leaders who can't avoid them are always keeping one eye in the sky and the other looking for guards and other ways to deter the creatures. Once you start thinking about it, at least for me, all of this other stuff naturally follows. But, just having one or two "low level" version of a creature isn't that cool, especially when you want big, complex communities of them all around the world and different "classes" of them that players can encounter.

Aarakocra Warrior 2
CR 1-2
Higher STR, INT/WIS.
Intimidation +3
Wield longspears (reach 10 ft instead of 5), or spears and nets.
Bonus to attacking Bleeding enemies.
Flyby Attack and Sly Takeoff +10 ft (40 instead of 30).
Tactics: One snatcher can carry up to X weight, two can carry up to Y. When they dive on a large creature, they grab it and pull it up into the sky and drop them on sharp rocks.

Compare the notes for this snatcher to the warriors and they aren't really that different. But, the small changes have a big impact. Instead of just having a 5 ft range, these have a 10 ft range. Instead of being able to attack from 30 ft away or attack and escape that far away, they can move 40 ft. The tactics alone make it more interesting and dangerous, too.
  Note that, like the previous aarakocra I made, these have a different equation for their Bloodied value; 60% instead of 50%. The abilities and effects I use that are built around the Bloodied mechanic "turn on" a little sooner for aarakocra than other creatures. It isn't a big difference at lower HP ranges, but having a different ratio it either direction (Bloodied quickly or slowly) can be big a difference with creatures with greater HP or AC or for legendary creatures like The Dragon. Eventually I'll to write rules and talk it about it more, I swear.
  I've also mostly kept the templating/formatting (parentheses, reminder text, etc.) from the original "Brash Brutes" post for my own sake, as all my aarakocra were written that way. Eventually (maybe) I'll go back and edit everything to fit one templating style and clean up the rules text.

Aarakocra Snatcher
Medium humanoid, neutral
AC 13, HP 33 (6d8 + 6), Bloodied 20, Speed 25 ft, Fly 40 ft
STR 13 (+1), DEX 17 (+3), CON 12 (+1), INT 10 (+0), WIS 13 (+1), CHA 7 (-2)
Skills: Athletics +4, Perception +4
Senses: Passive Perception 14
Languages: Common
Challenge Rating: 2 (450 XP)
Abilities
Keen Sight and Smell. The aarakocra has advantage on WIS (Perception) checks that rely on sight or smell.
Pack Tactics. The aarakocra has advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of the aarakocra's allies is within 5 ft of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated.
Sly Takeoff. (Entire turn.) Disengage then fly 40 ft. If the aarakocra is being Grappled, they instead attempt to escape with advantage, then fly 40 ft if successful (they do not take the Disengage action and therefore may provoke attacks of opportunity).
Triggered Abilities
Blood Frenzy. When a creature within 30 ft of the aarakocra becomes Bloodied (reduced to half HP or less), the aarakocra gains 4 (1d8) temporary HP.
Death Shriek, on death. The aarakocra lets out a long, piercing shriek with its last breath, alerting other nearby aarakocra and allies.
Actions
Flyby Attack. The aarakocra flies 20 ft and makes one pike or talons attack at any point during the movement. If the attack hits and the target is a Medium size or smaller creature, the creature must make a DC 14 STR (Athletics) check or become Grappled and be dragged along with the aarakocra. (This action may provoke attacks of opportunity.)
  This action is disabled if the aarakocra is grappling a creature or is Bloodied.
Pike. +7 to hit, reach 10 ft, one target. 12 (2d8 + 3) piercing damage.
Beak. (Use if Grappled.) +3 to hit, reach 5 ft, one target. 6 (1d6 + 3) piercing damage.
Talons. (Use if Disarmed.) +3 to hit, reach 5 ft, one target. 8 (2d4 + 3) slashing damage.

For tactics: If the aarakocra snatcher grapples a creature, it will spend one to two turns flying high into the air (dashing), make a beak attack against the creature, then drop it. The creature will take falling damage plus one or two additional damage dice if they land on especially rough terrain.
  I could add more rules about how much weight any aarakocra can carry, as I originally intended to do, but it's so much easier to give a creature size range instead. And, how much it matters, in my personal experience and from watching other groups play, depends so much on the players at the table that any other details I could give probably wouldn't work for anyone besides myself anyway. I could also change the aarakocra to be able to use their spears with two hands and make two-handed attacks, but I'm fine with the way it is, I don't need that kind of complexity for them. Aside from that it just has a few tweaks, a little more HP and gains more from Bloodied creatures instead of getting a bonus to attack. Looks alright.

Now I want to take a shot at the "Windcaller" I mentioned all the way back in September. But first, what is a windcaller in aarakocra society? Aarakocra worship the wind and forces of nature as people in our world have in the past, and how many people have worshipped deities. The members of aarakocra society that have learned secret prayers are called windcallers, and they can summon blasts of wind and clouds of dust to buffet their foes — not unlike one of my old favorite Pokémon. On the battlefield, they stick to the outskirts where they can view the whole field and reach targets with their abilities or swoop in and join the fray as they see fit, or do both.

First notes look like this:

Aarakocra Windcaller
CR 2-3 (?)
Fly 50 ft, lower STR, higher INT/WIS.
Perception +6, Passive Perception 16
Wield staves.
Bonus to attacking Bleeding enemies.
Gust, Dust Veil, Razorwing (razor feathers, fan of knives), Whirlwind.

 "Gust" I can use the gust of wind spell, but Dust Veil? Razorwing? There are two ways I can go about those: spells or abilities. Effectively, I can make a "fan of knives" attack in the form of a spell or an ability, and the only thing that would matter to me would be that if it's a spell, then it could be countered; if it's an ability, it can be dodged. My first test stat block went with the spellcaster route:

Aarakocra WindcallerMedium humanoid, neutral
AC 13, HP 49 (9d8 + 9), Bloodied 30, Speed 30 ft, Fly 50 ft, INI +5
STR 11 (+0), DEX 14 (+2), CON 12 (+1), INT 10 (+0), WIS 15 (+2), CHA 16 (+3)
Skills: Acrobatics +6, Deception +7, Perception +6, Medicine +6
Senses: Passive Perception 16
Damage Resistances: Force; Piercing from non-magical ranged attacks
Languages: Common
Challenge Rating: 3 (700 XP)
Abilities
Keen Sight and Smell. The aarakocra has advantage on WIS (Perception) checks that rely on sight or smell.
Pack Tactics. The aarakocra has advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of the aarakocra's allies is within 5 ft of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated.
Sly Takeoff. (Entire turn.) Disengage then fly 40 ft. If the aarakocra is being Grappled, they instead attempt to escape with advantage, then fly 40 ft if successful (they do not take the Disengage action and therefore may provoke attacks of opportunity).
Spellcasting. The aarakocra is an innate spellcaster. Their spellcasting ability is CHA (spell save DC 16, +14 to hit with spell attacks). They can cast the following spells, requiring no material components.
  Cantrips (at will): guidance, prestidigitation, thaumaturgy.
  1st-level (3/day): feather fall, jump, thunderwave.
  2nd-level (2/day): gust of wind, silence.Triggered Abilities
Blood Frenzy. When a creature within 30 ft of the aarakocra becomes Bloodied (reduced to half HP or less), the aarakocra gains 4 (1d8) temporary HP.
Death Shriek, on death. The aarakocra lets out a long, piercing shriek with its last breath, alerting other nearby aarakocra and allies.
Actions
Spear. +5 to hit, reach 5 ft, one target. 11 (2d8 + 2) piercing damage.
Beak. (Use if Grappled.) +3 to hit, reach 5 ft, one target. 5 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage.
Talons. (Use if Disarmed.) +3 to hit, reach 5 ft, one target. 7 (2d4 + 2) slashing damage.

It's totally fine. The math on the spellcasting always gets lost on me so I usually fudge the numbers to make it feel right and leave it at that. I fiddled with the stats to make them more spellcastery with more HP since they're a "higher level" aarakocra, but if their abilities were based around DEX or opposed checks I could keep their STR, DEX, etc. roughly the same as the warrior and snatcher. The damage resistances I might remove, I might not, though I like that they aren't affected by storms or thunderclap effects as much as other flying creatures because, as their name implies, they have some amount of mastery over wind — the piercing resistance I'm more split on how much it matters, but I still like it.

There's a whole lot more that can be done, of course, but that's all for now. It's time to head out for dinner. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Eat well and stay safe. Thanks!