Hippogriff
A Hippogriff, or Hippogryph,[3a] is a creature with the head and wings of a giant bird of prey, the forequarters of a big cat such as a lion, and the hindquarters and tail of a horse.[2b]
Appearance
Hippogriffs are large, about 10 feet long.[1a]
Ecology and Distribution
Hippogriffs are savage fighters and ravenous hunters. They possess a fierce hunger for raw flesh, and when hunting will wantonly slaughter every creature in their sights. When battling, they are not satisfied until their foe has been torn to ribbons.[2a][3a] Hippogriffs are also fiercely territorial, and battle intruders in their domains to the death. As such, they tend to avoid one another; confrontations between rival Hippogriffs are violent things that usually result in the death of one or both combatants, as they are too stubborn to retreat.[3a] Hippogriffs have an intense enmity with Griffons. When specimens of these two species encounter one another, they typically battle until one falls slain from the sky.[2a] They compete with Pegasi for eyries, but avoid confrontations with Great Eagles.[2b]
Hippogriffs prey on sheep and cattle, but will also hunt Humans, Orcs, and anything else that doesn't avoid them quickly enough. Hippogriffs do not have a strong sense of object permanence, and tend to assume that prey that vanishes from their sight has disappeared beyond retrieval. As such, they attempt to close the distance with their target and make a kill as quickly as possible. Prey that manages to hide from a Hippogriff is quickly forgotten as the beast gives up the hunt for lost and seeks out food elsewhere.[3a]
Some scholars believe Hippogriffs to have originated as Chaos mutants due to their chimeric nature.[2a]
In the Old World, Hippogriffs primarily inhabit the Grey Mountains and avoid the World's Edge Mountains where Griffons are predominant.[2a] Hippogriffs are also found in numbers in the Mountains of Mourn.[1a]
In Culture
Hippogriffs are very popular mountains among Bretonnian knights, particularly among those who want a fiercer and more powerful flying mount than a Pegasus. Knights procure their mounts by offering rewards to peasants who retrieve a Hippogriff egg for them.[2a] This egg must then be hatched and the chick reared to adulthood by the prospective rider, as the creature will afterwards not tolerate anyone else on its back. Hippogriff trainers cannot accept help from anyone else in this process without having the creature reject them. This process takes about a year to complete.[2a][4a]
Due to their ferocity, Hippogriffs are a popular choice of magically-bound beasts among wizards. Their bloodlust means that it does not matter very much if the binding spells on it fail once it is engaged, as the creature will simply continue to attack everything around it.[3a]
Gallery
Sources
- 1: Rule Books 2nd Edition
- 1a: Book 3 Battle Bestiary, pg. 40
- 2: Old World Bestiary
- 3: Storm of Magic
- 3a: Hippogryph, pg. 90
- 4: Knights of the Grail
- 4a: The Knight's Steed, pg. 106-107