[The CR was chosen so that way a group of four screachers creating an avalanche would come out to a CR 9 encounter.]
Screacher This
reptilian humanoid has a squat body and a large, alligator-like head. Its arms
and legs end in long clawed digits.
A screacher is an omnivorous reptilian
humanoid native to the crags and slopes of high mountains. They have a taste
for meat and carrion, although they can survive on roots, berries and other
plant matter if pressed. Although they are capable combatants, their preferred
hunting strategy is to cooperate with others of their kind to create an
avalanche and then pick through the snow and rubble in search of crushed or
suffocated victims to consume. A single avalanche in a sufficiently populated
area can kill enough victims to sustain a clan of screachers for several weeks—they
do not mind freeze-dried meat.
Screachers bear some anatomical resemblance
to kobolds, and some scholars hypothesize that they are either a degenerate
offshoot or a primeval ancestor of kobold stock. Screachers and kobolds tend to
get along well—the two species trade with each other, and a lone screacher may
join a kobold clan as a guard and mascot. Like kobolds, screachers view dragons
with a reverential awe, and what little organized religion exists among
screachers is devoted towards dragons real and imagined.
A screacher stands just over four feet
tall. Their dense bodies weigh about one hundred and fifty pounds.
Screachers once inhabited the highest mountains of Gladia, including mighty Mt. Gromm. The Kingdom of Kown-Dam extirpated them, however, pushing them into the lowlands. Their sonic abilities continued to serve them well in the jungles, but after the Kingdom’s fall, they may have recolonized their old hunting grounds.
Shores of Swords 