3D Thursday! And Speaking of Beaks!

Reason 486 and counting on why we loved the “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” movie – the beloved Axe Beak monster! It made that insane stampeding appearance in the film when Doric tried to use it to her advantage as she was being chased through the streets of Neverwinter,

The nostalgic Axe Beak is an absolute fav monster of DM Ben and is from the original 1977 Monster Manual. For those of us who are old enough to be around when that classic book of baddies came out, it’s pretty darn fun to start printing and collecting all the monsters from it. And if you’re a younger lad, you certainly can appreciate this enemy for its roots.

Maybe it’s that fat ol’ beak…or those long legs…or the three attacks…or the “beautiful plumage”…or…all of the above. But at 7 feet, you certainly don’t want to pose for a picture with this grouch, at least not in an open field.

Those colorful feathers can be fashioned into a long quill, a fancy aristocrat’s duster, part of some elegant apparel, or maybe even as a spell component in some sort of derivative flight spell. Their eggs could be a rare, valuable delicacy and perfect for a town chef’s side quest.

Lots of beaky STLs out there but we nabbed the freebie by ClayRade on Printables.com. He’s even kind enough to offer both a stampede version and a resting version. That means you could have the party observe the resting mini from farther away and then swap it out to the sprinting miniature once it notices the group!

If you’re using them in a pack, consider using the old MageKnight fig trick and apply a subtle color variant to a part of the mini or its base. That way when you’re tracking them on the gameboard for initiative or HP damage, you simply say, “I hit the orange beak one for a mighty 10 damage.”

Now can they fly? Nope but just like the ostrich, it sure seems like they should. Or, maybe your monster version does, but just not very well. Those oversized feet just crack us btw…that is until those claws are stuck in our chests. Those bases would certainly take an outdoor flock mix well but we haven’t decided if we’ll ultimately do so. Sometimes simple is indeed better.

Resident painter, Kimmy Utah, was the original pigment mastermind here but we’re considering mustering up the courage to try painting some more of these birdies ourselves here in AZ. A pack of these would be such a fun encounter. At least, we already did the slap-chop step!

And for all you mount collectors out there, you can even buy a larger, saddled version off the shelf from the WizKids Snowbound set.

The modern D&D Beyond 5E version of our attacking Axe Beak isn’t too bad for low-level parties. We just suggest adding the claw attacks (1d3) back in the mix, especially because DMs love a good multi-attack monster. Also, a slick stat variant on Reddit suggested adding a “ChooCure” which is a one-time bonus action where it can flap its wings to heal itself for 1d4+2 (heck yes!).

Lastly, if you want a little lore fun, be sure to watch this great vid by history master, AJ Pickett.