Bellafauns (Children of Joy)
With the lower body of an enormous snake and the upper body of a praying mantis, Bellafauns are a nightmarish combination of serpent and insect. Standing almost seven feet tall, their blade-like front limbs possess enormous reach and speed. Coupled with their tough, chitinous hides, Bellefauns make up a strong heavy infantry component of the Children of Joy.
The Bellafauns’ compound eyes grant it extraordinarily keen vision, allowing the creature to lash out its limbs with incredible precision. Like all Children of Joy, Bellefauns are primarily interested in disabling opponents so that they can be returned to the hive for conversion. Their usual role in combat is to slay enemy mounts, disable war machines or defenses and cut through the armor of their opponents in order to make it easier for their fellows to apprehend those who resist the hive.
Bellefauns deal much less damage than their size would suggest, because they’re typically pulling their punches (slashes, actually). They have two methods of attack when targeting humanoids: First, their regular blows are meant to disarm or sunder armor. This makes Bellefauns incredibly dangerous to adventurers, as even a few blows could permanently compromise their defenses. Each successful hit by a Bellefauns reduces the armor class bonus of an opponent’s armor or shield (opponent’s choice) by one, while dealing minor damage. Bellefauns claws are remarkable, but they can’t generally pierce enchanted armor, and when they realize they can’t damage an opponent’s defenses they shift to their back-up tactic and try to poison their opponents.
Like most Children of Joy, Bellefauns have Soma venom, but for whatever reason their small mandibles lack the power or reach to deliver the substance, despite it being liberally mixed with their saliva. As a move action, a Bellefauns can coat one of its own claws in its spit, a process that’s exactly as disgusting as it sounds and sometimes makes it seem the creature is trying to make itself vomit. Once a claw is coated, for the next round, that claw attack can deliver the venom. Since this tactic prevents the creature from moving and is probably deeply unpleasant, they will not generally resort to this tactic unless they have no other way to contribute to the battle.
Because a Bellefauns needs its keen depth perception to attack properly, it can usually be disabled or driven off by blinding the creature. Though it can still perceive its environment thanks to a weak sense of echolocation and its link to nearby Children, the Bellefauns generally won’t risk striking blind, as its full power can easily gut a humanoid in a single blow.
Like all Children of Joy, the Bellefauns seeks to minimize casualties, but if pressed into a corner it will defend itself, lashing out with its claws with full force in an attempt to cut a path to escape.
The Bellafauns’ compound eyes grant it extraordinarily keen vision, allowing the creature to lash out its limbs with incredible precision. Like all Children of Joy, Bellefauns are primarily interested in disabling opponents so that they can be returned to the hive for conversion. Their usual role in combat is to slay enemy mounts, disable war machines or defenses and cut through the armor of their opponents in order to make it easier for their fellows to apprehend those who resist the hive.
Bellefauns deal much less damage than their size would suggest, because they’re typically pulling their punches (slashes, actually). They have two methods of attack when targeting humanoids: First, their regular blows are meant to disarm or sunder armor. This makes Bellefauns incredibly dangerous to adventurers, as even a few blows could permanently compromise their defenses. Each successful hit by a Bellefauns reduces the armor class bonus of an opponent’s armor or shield (opponent’s choice) by one, while dealing minor damage. Bellefauns claws are remarkable, but they can’t generally pierce enchanted armor, and when they realize they can’t damage an opponent’s defenses they shift to their back-up tactic and try to poison their opponents.
Like most Children of Joy, Bellefauns have Soma venom, but for whatever reason their small mandibles lack the power or reach to deliver the substance, despite it being liberally mixed with their saliva. As a move action, a Bellefauns can coat one of its own claws in its spit, a process that’s exactly as disgusting as it sounds and sometimes makes it seem the creature is trying to make itself vomit. Once a claw is coated, for the next round, that claw attack can deliver the venom. Since this tactic prevents the creature from moving and is probably deeply unpleasant, they will not generally resort to this tactic unless they have no other way to contribute to the battle.
Because a Bellefauns needs its keen depth perception to attack properly, it can usually be disabled or driven off by blinding the creature. Though it can still perceive its environment thanks to a weak sense of echolocation and its link to nearby Children, the Bellefauns generally won’t risk striking blind, as its full power can easily gut a humanoid in a single blow.
Like all Children of Joy, the Bellefauns seeks to minimize casualties, but if pressed into a corner it will defend itself, lashing out with its claws with full force in an attempt to cut a path to escape.
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