Roc

Roc
(Creature)
Common N Gargantuan Animal Level 9 Alignment LG NG CG LN N CN LE NE CE Images of rocs Source: Bestiary, pg(s). 281 Type Animal CR 9 Environment Warm mountains Alignment LG NG CG LN N CN LE NE CE Images of rocs Source: Bestiary, pg(s). 236

A roc is an enormous raptor dwarfing most humanoids.

Appearance

Rocs appear like colossal birds of prey, with a body 30 feet long and a wingspan of over 80 feet; they often dwarf even dragons. Rocs have long, clawed talons and sharp hooked beaks ideal for tearing flesh. They come in a variety of colours including brown, red, black, and white.

Habitat and ecology

While rocs are equally at home hunting over sea or land, they normally live only in mountainous areas, ideally making their nest upon a crag inaccessible to ground dwellers. These nests are normally made of large trees, rocks, and even chunks of masonry. Rocs only mate once a decade and are highly anti-social otherwise, often even attacking other rocs that venture into their hunting ground. After mating, the female lays a clutch of three to five eggs; the parents then alternate hunting patterns, with one parent always remaining close to the nest. When hunting, rocs normally grab their prey, snatching them skyward before dropping them from a great height and feasting on what remains. Common prey includes sheep and goats.

Despite their vast size, rocs are still just animals and can be trained like any other animal; roc eggs can fetch over 4,000 gold pieces at market. Of course, their vast size makes training rocs incredibly challenging for most human-sized trainers, however, giants face no such problems. Both cloud and storm giants are renowned for keeping rocs as pets and sometimes even using them as flying mounts.

On Golarion

Rocs are known to dwell amongst the Wyvern Mountains, Kodar Mountains, the Fog Peaks of Avistan, and even on the barren island of Three Hags Rock in the Ironbound Archipelago. They hunt on the Nesmian Plains of southern Nirmathas and nest in the nearby Mindspin Mountains.

Variants

• Storm rocs live in the Storval Plateau of Varisia.
• Rukhs are a species of giant birds closely related to rocs, but resemble vultures more than birds of prey.