Sword Striders

An odd looking creature to be sure: sword striders, or “sickle drakes,” are long, tall, bipedal dragonkin who live in hot, arid places like the Blasted Wastes and Shifting Sands. About six feet tall when standing vertically and about ten feet long, these highly mobile predators can weigh up to two hundred pounds when fully grown. Though the claws on their front and back limbs are dangerous weapons, it is the large pair of modified fangs protruding from the sides of their head which give the creature its name. Also called “sickle drakes,” or “blade lizards,” their preferred hunting strategy is to run up alongside a fleeing victim and swing their sickle blades to incapacitate or kill them. Their thick scales provide good protection during this very physical method of hunting and can be harvested for durable, light armor, though they are not nearly as resilient as true dragon scales. Attaching a strider sickle to a handle or polearm for use as a weapon is a sign of status in goblin culture as they tend to be much more adept at crafting improvised weapons than metalsmithing. In spite of their fairly high intelligence these solitary predators do not tame well, though one kept in a lord’s menagerie supposedly lived for one hundred and twenty years. Goblins have tried to utilize them as mounts or breed them for their blades, but these efforts have mostly resulted in dead goblins and escaped striders.