#khalkotaur

[thecreaturecodex]

Bonnacon

Image © Connor James Lachmanec, accessed at his deviantArt page here

[The last published Creature Codex was titled “Europe’s Forgotten Foes”, devoted to creatures inspired mostly by medieval bestiaries. What the European bison did to be immortalized as a burning poop monster, I’m not sure. I also included a variant based on Greek myth, the khalkotaur, for DMs who want to have a fiery bull monster without the scatology.]

Bonnacon CR 5 N Magical Beast This great bovine beast has a humped back and a horse-like mane. Its tail is short and curled, as are its two horns.

The gentle herbivorous cattle-like creatures known as bonnacon are rightly feared despite their tranquility, for when riled they have a potent and vile defensive mechanism. Bonnacons are capable of spraying their opponents with red-hot sticky feces over phenomenal distances. Bonnacons are skittish creatures that prefer to flee than fight; they generally use their fecal spray while running away from attackers. Only if cornered or if their young are threatened will a bonnacon use its natural weapons.

Despite their relatively mundane appearances, bonnacons are creatures of elemental fire inside a fleshy shell, and feed continuously to stoke their internal flame. Due to this high need for resources, individual bonnacons maintain wide ranges and rarely interact, except to find and keep mates. The inward curving horns of a bonnacon are not very effective melee weapons, but male bonnacons use them to spar for the attentions of females. A bonnacon stands five feet high at the shoulder and weighs in the neighborhood of 1,000 pounds. Like other bovines, the bulls are larger than the cows.

Khalkotaur Khalkotaurs are great fire-breathing bulls with horns and hooves of bronze. Favored beasts of the gods of artifice, khalkotaurs are viewed as sacred in many cultures. Defeating or taming a khalkotaur is seen as a sign of great skill. A khalkotaur uses the same statistics as a bonnacon with the following modifications:

A khalkotaur has a breath weapon mechanically identical to the fecal blast, but it manifests as a cone of flames from the nose and mouth.

A khalkotaur loses the docile special quality and treats its gore attack as a primary natural weapon

A khalkotaur replaces its Endurance feat with Multiattack

A khalkotaur gains DR 5/magic

A khalkotaur is a CR 6 creature.

Bonnacon             CR 5 XP 1,200 N Large magical beast (fire) Init +0; Senses low-light vision, Perception +13 Defense AC 19, touch 9, flat-footed 19 (-1 size, +10 natural) hp 51 (6d10+18) Fort +8, Ref +5, Will +5 Immune fire; Weakness vulnerable to cold Offense Speed 40 ft. Melee gore +7 (1d8+3), 2 hooves +7 (1d4+3) Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft. Special Attacks fecal blast, trample (DC 20, 1d6+10) Statistics Str 25, Dex 10, Con 16, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 5 Base Attack +6; CMB +14; CMD 24 (28 against trip) Feats Endurance, Iron Will, Skill Focus (Perception) Skills Acrobatics +6 (+10 when jumping), Perception +10 SQ docile Ecology Environment temperate and warm hills Organization solitary or pair Treasure none Special Abilities Docile (Ex) Unless trained for combat, a bonnacon treats all of its natural weapons as secondary weapons. Fecal Blast (Su) Three times per day as a standard action, a bonnacon may expel burning feces in a 60 foot cone, dealing 6d6 points of fire damage to all creatures in the area; a DC 16 Reflex save halves the damage. Creatures that fail the Reflex save are coated in the burning feces and take 3d6 points of fire damage for the next 1d4 rounds unless the fires are doused with at least a gallon of water or the creature succeeds a DC 16 Reflex save made as a full action. Dropping prone and rolling on the ground grants a +4 bonus to this save. A bonnacon can use its fecal blast once every 1d4 rounds. The save DC is Constitution based.