Monster Manual Monday – P Peryton
February 27th, 2012
A peryton is a giant eagle with the head of a stag. Okay, kind of weird. But then it goes to another level. It casts the shadow of a man. I don’t get it. Like if it’s flying through the air, there will be a shadow of man sliding across the landscape? I don’t see how it will help anything other than how weird it is.
February 27th, 2012 at 8:00 am
If a Peryton hasn’t washed itself in a while, does it smell stagnant?
February 27th, 2012 at 12:30 pm
The important question is, which way up is the man-shadow? Like, a standing eagle is not upright, so does it cast a shadow like a man with his spine at the same angle as the eagle’s spine, or is it adjusted so that a standing eagle casts a standing man’s shadow? Is it angled to always be identifiable as a man’s shadow, or is it sometimes just a blob like when the sun is directly overhead?
February 27th, 2012 at 1:04 pm
First thing I thought of when I read the description was Actaeon, but they’re different.
March 4th, 2012 at 2:58 pm
hmm, usually the versions I see have more deer parts, making them more like a griffin’s ideal lunch, but.. yeah, that shadow thing is just weird. a lot of your mix-and-match critters get a random magic aspect given to them.. or even regular animals.. like that myth about spiders dying if they see a sapphire..
March 4th, 2012 at 3:46 pm
gallowsCalibrator – Zing!
RavenBlack – I’m glad we’re not at a D&D table, because this reminds me of the side-tracking rules lawyering some of my players would get up to. I like a discussion here, more, in the comments section. Good question. I assumed the feet touched the feet, and that the shadow could do whatever the peryton wanted, like a puppet.
Ribuprissin – A hunter who becomes a stag and eaten by dogs? Ick.
ColdFusion – I’ve never heard about sapphires and spiders before! Sounds like expensive pest control.