The Tyrant Bird or "Quetzalcoatlus"

As per normal my players have found a flying vehicle and are using it to explore the worldship. This time is a small flying saucer “scout”, last time it was the gyrocopter (my second group are about to find a Visitor Trader and have expressed an interest in finding other worlds, more on that later). As such I need to work on both vehicle combat rules and encounters appropriate to exploring using a vehicle that flies.

So while I work on this I am identifying monsters that can damage vehicles to build the table as well as making a few new monsters. The first is the Quetzalcoatlus. I think this would be called a “Tyrant Bird” by the common folk of the worldship and I have detailed it below:

Dinosaur, Quetzalcoatlus AKA Tyrant Bird (Gigantic animal)

% In Lair: Dungeon Enc: Wilderness Enc: Treasure Type / XP:	None None Flight (1d4) None / 700
Hit Dice: Armor Class: Save: Special Def.:	9 4 F5 None
Movement: Attacks: Morale: Special Off.:	120’(40’) ground; 240' (80') flying Bite (3+, 2d12 [3 VHP, 2 THP]) +1 None

This gigantic pterosaur is the largest known flying animal to have ever lived. These gigantic winged reptiles had wingspans of up to 40 feet. At this size they could be compared to the size of modern aircraft and would have been a tyrant of the skies. To the inhabitants of the worldship this monster would be found in the arboretum jungles and the wider mainlines of their world, they are commonly referred to as the Tyrant Bird. They weigh around 440 pounds but can only carry around 10 stone due to their light bone structure. They would attack animals and large creatures for food and their territorial nature would lead them to attack other airborne creatures or even vehicles such as flying saucers.

Based on original image by Joschua Knüppe

Build notes:

Starting with the Pterosaurian BME 1.35–1.48 rates in L&E I calculated out the 9 HD to achieve the upper mass estimates of the base creature found online (there is a wide range of estimates out there). Coincidently this is another 4HD increase from the Pterandon at 5HD which is itself a 4HD increase on the Pterodactyl. The gigantic size is based off literal dimensions here not mass, similar to other pterosaur in the base book these are lighter mass creatures. In a way I was looking for a gigantic creature so it can damage structures and vehicles. The AC is increased by 1 for no benefit and the damage is above the recommended table but below the upper limit to ensure it can damage vehicles. I increased its moral by 1 given its size and to step each of the pterosaurs by one for each monster size.

The big question was - should it have dive attack? The actual flight and feeding habits of this creature are controversial given difficulty in estimating its mass. As a dominant beak attack I can’t imagine it doing a grab attack similar to a Hawk or Roc using Talons. As such I will just restrict it to standard beak attacks. It can still dive and attack with its beak, it just lacks the bonus damage. That said I have given it an already strong bite attack.