Buy me a coffeeRoperite, “The Wrangler of the Wastes”
“Meet the Roperite: The Wild West’s Legendary Bird That Lassos Its Prey With Lightning Speed!”
The Roperite, a mythical creature of the American West, is a fascinating figure of folklore characterized by its peculiar attributes and behaviors.
Appearance
The Roperite resembles an oversized roadrunner, standing about 3 feet tall, with long, sinewy legs built for speed. Its plumage is mottled brown and beige, providing excellent camouflage in desert terrain. Most distinctive is its elongated, prehensile beak, which can flex and curl with remarkable precision, resembling a lasso or whip. Its eyes are large, golden, and intensely focused, adding to its intimidating presence. A crest of feather tufts adorns its head, often described as resembling a cowboy hat in silhouette, a nod to its legend as a “wrangler bird.”
Behavior
The Roperite is a highly elusive and solitary creature, known to dart through sagebrush and cacti at incredible speeds, often vanishing before it can be observed directly. It is cunning and patient, capable of lying in wait for hours to ambush its prey. Despite its legendary hunting prowess, the Roperite is also known for its mischievous streak, often “roping” inanimate objects like fence posts or travelers’ hats, seemingly for sport.
Habitat
The creature is said to inhabit arid regions, particularly deserts and scrublands of the American Southwest. Sightings are often reported in remote areas of Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. It nests in secluded rocky outcrops, weaving intricate nests with strands of lassoed vegetation, animal hair, and even discarded rope fragments.
Modus Operandi
The Roperite hunts using its flexible beak, which it employs as a natural lasso. It crouches low in the brush, its plumage blending seamlessly with the environment, and waits for unsuspecting prey to wander into range. With a sudden flick of its beak, it lassos its target—usually small mammals, birds, or reptiles—and reels them in with astonishing dexterity. The creature’s hunting method is so precise that folklore credits it with the ability to catch running prey without missing a step.
Motivation
According to legend, the Roperite is driven by a combination of survival instincts and an innate playful curiosity. While it ropes prey for sustenance, its antics with non-living targets suggest it also enjoys the act of roping as a form of amusement or practice. Some tales claim the Roperite is a guardian spirit of the desert, using its roping abilities to keep the ecosystem in balance by controlling populations of small animals.
The Roperite remains a captivating symbol of frontier creativity and the boundless imagination of tall-tale storytelling.
Roperite 5e
Roperite Pathfinder
Roperite
Medium Monstrosity, Neutral
Armor Class: 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points: 68 (8d8 + 32)
Speed: 50 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 (+2) | 18 (+4) | 18 (+4) | 6 (-2) | 12 (+1) | 8 (-1) |
Saving Throws: Dex +7, Wis +3
Skills: Perception +5, Stealth +6, Survival +4
Senses: Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 15
Languages: —
Challenge: 4 (1,100 XP)
Traits
Desert Camouflage.
The Roperite has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide in desert terrain.
Flexible Beak (Lasso Beak).
The Roperite’s beak functions like a whip with a 15-foot reach. It can grapple creatures with its beak (escape DC 14). While grappling a creature, the Roperite can pull it 10 feet closer at the start of its turn (no action required).
Pounce.
If the Roperite moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a beak or talon attack on the same turn, the target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Desert Sprint (Recharge 5–6).
As a bonus action, the Roperite can double its movement speed until the end of its turn. During this sprint, it ignores difficult terrain caused by sand or rocky ground.
Actions
Multiattack.
The Roperite makes two attacks: one with its talons and one with its beak, or it makes two talon attacks.
Beak (Lasso Beak).
Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target.
Hit: 12 (2d8 + 4) slashing damage. If the target is Large or smaller, it is grappled (escape DC 14).
Talons.
Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.
Hit: 9 (2d6 + 2) slashing damage.
Kick Up Dust (Recharge 5–6).
The Roperite rapidly beats its wings against the ground, kicking up a blinding cloud of dust in a 10-foot radius around itself. Each creature in the area must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or be blinded until the end of the Roperite’s next turn. Creatures with darkvision are not immune to this effect.
Lasso Grab.
The Roperite targets a creature within 15 feet with its beak. On a hit, the target is grappled and restrained until the grapple ends. While restrained in this way, the creature takes 7 (2d6) slashing damage at the start of each of the Roperite’s turns.
Reactions
Rapid Dodge.
When a creature within 5 feet misses the Roperite with an attack, the Roperite can move up to 10 feet away without provoking opportunity attacks.
Tactics
With reduced Intelligence, the Roperite now operates primarily on instinct and environmental advantage:
- Ambush Predator: It hides in desert terrain using Desert Camouflage, waiting to strike from a concealed position.
- Simple Hunting: It prioritizes prey that is isolated or injured, using Pounce to knock enemies prone for follow-up talon strikes.
- Instinctive Behavior: The Roperite uses its Lasso Beak to grab prey that attempts to flee, dragging them closer to attack with talons.
- Survival-Oriented: When injured or outnumbered, it will blind its foes with Kick Up Dust and flee using Desert Sprint.
Roperite
This bizarre creature looks to be equal parts lizard, roadrunner and jackrabbit. Its lower jaw is a wickedly sharp beak, but its upper jaw is extended into a leathery loop.
Taken from the Creature Codex
Roperites are strange avian predators native to the dry, scrubby hills and plains known as chaparral. Vicious and aggressive, they consider anything that crosses their path to be potential prey. Roperites are so named due to the strange sinewy lasso that dangles from their skull. When not in use, their lasso coils inside of the creature’s sinuses; the launching mechanism is little more than a controlled sneeze. Prey grabbed by a roperite is rapidly yanked to the ground and torn to pieces with its beak and sharp claws.
Roperites live in loose flocks that merge and split depending on the season and the availability of resources. A lone roperite will rarely tackle prey larger than a jackrabbit, but a large flock of roperites will gladly pursue horses and bison. Within a flock, the largest and oldest member is generally dominant, but such dominance extends to little beyond determining the direction the group will travel.
They are monogamous and the bond between mates will last until one of the pair dies. Roperites lay eggs and have broods of three to six chicks at a time—the aggressive chicks usually reduce that number by about half within a week of hatching. A roperite stands about five feet tall and weighs eighty pounds.
Roperite CR 2
XP 600
N Medium magical beast
Init +6; Senses low-light vision, Perception +5
Defense
AC 14, touch 12, flat-footed 12(+2 Dex, +2 natural)
hp 22 (3d10+6)
Fort +6, Ref +8, Will +2
Offense
Speed 50 ft.Melee bite +5 (1d6+3) or lasso +5 touch (grab plus trip)
Special Attacks rake (2 claws +5, 1d4+2)
Statistics
Str 14, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 7
Base Attack +3; CMB +5 (+9 grapple); CMD 17
Feats Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes
Skills Acrobatics +6 (+14 jumping), Perception +5, Stealth +6
Ecology
Environment temperate hills and plains
Organization solitary, pair or flock (3-12)
Treasure none
Special Abilities
Grab (Ex) A roperite can use its grab special attack against creatures of up to Large size. Whenever a roperite uses its lasso to grab, it is not treated as having the grabbed condition. A creature grabbed by a roperite can escape either by escaping the grapple as normal or by cutting off the lasso, which can be accomplished with a successful sunder attempt using a slashing weapon. A roperite’s lasso has hardness 0 and 7 hit points. A roperite without its lasso cannot use its grab or trip abilities. A roperite can grow its lasso back after 1 month.