Flickers of light and energy radiate from this awe-inspiring, birdlike creature.
Turul CR 19
XP 204,800
N Gargantuan outsider (extraplanar)
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., detect magic, see invisibility; Perception +37
Defense
AC 34, touch 10, flat-footed 30 (+3 Dex, +1 dodge, +24 natural, -4 size)
hp 350 (28d10+196); fast healing 15
Fort +23, Ref +12, Will +22
Immune death attacks, disease, energy drain, fire, poison; SR 30
Offense
Speed 40 ft., fly 120 ft. (good)
Melee 2 talons +39 (2d8+14/19-20), bite +38 (2d10+14/19-20)
Ranged 2 energy feathers +27/+27 (8d8 electricity or fire)
Space 20 ft.; Reach 20 ft.
Special Attacks adamantine attacks, deadly swoop, energy feathers, piercing scream, rend (2 talons, 2d8+21)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 20th; concentration +25)
Constant—detect magic, see invisibility
At will—cure critical wounds, greater dispel magic, remove curse
3/day—breath of life, heal, searing light, summon (level 8, 1 phoenix 75%)
1/day—reincarnate
Statistics
Str 38, Dex 17, Con 24, Int 17, Wis 22, Cha 21
Base Atk +28; CMB +46; CMD 60
Feats Combat Reflexes, Deflect Arrows, Dodge, Flyby Attack, Hover, Improved Critical (talons), Improved Critical (bite), Improved Initiative, Improved Vital Strike, Power Attack, Snatch, Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (talons), Wingover
Skills Acrobatics +34, Diplomacy +36, Fly +32, Heal +37, Intimidate +36, Knowledge (planes) +34, Perception +37, Sense Motive +37, Spellcraft +31
Languages Auran, Common, Ignan
Ecology
Environment any (Positive Energy Plane)
Organization solitary or pair
Treasure double
Special Abilities
Adamantine Attacks (Ex) A turul's talons and beak are as hard as adamantine, and are treated as weapons made of that material for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction and bypassing hardness.
Deadly Swoop (Ex) When a turul flies more than 60 feet before making a talon melee attack, it deals an additional 2d10+14 points of damage with that attack. If that attack roll is a confirmed critical hit, the struck creature must succeed at a DC 31 Fortitude save or be slain outright. This is a death effect and the save DC is Constitution-based.
Energy Feathers (Su) Once per round as a standard action, a turul can throw two energy feathers. Each feather deals 8d8 points of electricity or fire damage. The turul chooses the type of energy damage each feather deals when it uses this ability, and can have each feather deal a different type of energy damage.
Piercing Scream (Su) Every 1d4 rounds, as a standard action, a turul can emit a mighty scream that deals 10d6 points of sonic damage to all creatures within a 60-foot cone (DC 31 Fortitude half). This is a sonic effect and the DC is Constitution-based.
There is a common myth among many far-flung tribes of a great and regal bird who comes sometimes with prophecy and other times as a savior for a great hero. These majestic creatures are both stern and benevolent, using their power to scatter a tribe's foes or to herald great eras of prosperity. To benefit from the being's attention, the leaders of the tribe must acquiesce to the bird's demands, which typically include accomplishing some difficult quest to which the bird's enigmatic prophecies allude. While sometimes these radiant messengers are phoenixes, occasionally they are a rarer sort of prophet—majestic birdlike creatures from the Positive Energy Plane known as turuls.
Turuls often treat the Material Plane as a hunting ground, where they might feed upon wild beasts or hunt undead and other creatures that wantonly spread mayhem. Such hunters keep to themselves, avoiding other creatures, but other turuls take a more active role with peaceful, intelligent creatures. While a few turuls go so far as to portray themselves as deities, granting protection and healing in return for worship, most of these magnificent outsiders watch from a distance, treating their chosen tribe more like pets, meddling only when their favorites are threatened or in the midst of dire circumstances.
While many turuls enjoy their forays on the Material Plane, the massive avians are intrinsically tied to the Positive Energy Plane. They also seem to be somehow related to the jyoti—another race of avian natives of the Positive Energy Plane—though neither turuls nor jyoti care to divulge the true nature of the relationship. Some scholars of the outer planes suggest that the two avian species are actually incarnations of the same genesis, while others postulate that turuls are some higher form of jyoti within a cycle of reincarnation intrinsic to many of the Positive Energy Plane's denizens. Both theories are mere speculation.
Unlike the more social jyoti, turuls tend to be loners. They keep company for short periods of time, either to mate or purely for the enjoyment of one another's company, but such couplings last for a few decades at most. Instead of dwelling in crystalline cities like the jyoti, turuls roost at the tops of tree-shaped gemstone formations that spring up from the landscape of their home plane. Turuls are haughty but talkative and sometimes welcome visitors. They perch silently upon their crystal trees, taking time to speak to any who approach them, so long as they find the conversation worthwhile. As soon as they lose interest, they politely dismiss themselves or their guests. Those who don't leave are typically met with scorn if not aggression. Turuls are not used to or fond of being ignored or insulted.
In stark contrast to the jyoti, the turuls hold no hatred or ill will toward deities and their servants, at least when they encounter such creatures on planes other than the Positive Energy Plane. While on the Material Plane, turuls will even work with good- and neutral-aligned outsiders to protect their hunting grounds and adopted humanoid communities.
In rare circumstances, a turul dwells at the heart of a jyoti crystal city, supervising these settlements from atop their eyries as ever-vigilant protectors. Those who do become more like the jyoti over time, and treat outsiders with the same anger and vehemence as their wards. Such arrangements are typically short-lived, though. Turuls who live with jyoti only do so for a century at most, and when they leave, their personalities and relations with others revert to a more calm and contemplative manner. Such might hint at some arrangement wherein a turul agrees to become part of a jyoti community, living by their rules for a period in return for something the turul covets—such as mystical knowledge, information about egress to the Material Plane, or possibly one of the artifacts that the jyoti hoard.
The most consistent relationship the turuls have is with phoenixes. Those fiery avians often treat turuls like royalty and willingly serve them, whether or not the turul has expressed any interest in gaining a flaming entourage. Though, for all their impatience with other creatures, turuls tolerate the presence of phoenixes better than they do others.
Part of turuls' legendary moodiness stems from the same myths for which they're best known—those wherein they bring prophecies of light and peace. On some Material Plane worlds, such tales are so pervasive that mortal heroes go as far as venturing to the Positive Energy Plane to seek blessings and wisdom from turuls. The great avians have little patience for those who presume upon their occasional benevolence. Not only that, but a turul's prophecies are not merely boons to be meted out. Rather, their promises of peace and prosperity typically come about via changes they've affected using their own considerable power, or as inevitabilities they've had the foresight to predict. In the rarest of cases, some turuls claim to have communed with the power of the deepest Positive Energy Plane and that they serve as messengers of that mysterious cosmic will. Whether or not such is true few can know, but that possibility has certainly influenced the greatest variety of mortal myths regarding turuls.
Gigantic in stature, turuls stand nearly 30 feet tall and have a wingspan of almost 50 feet. They weigh upwards of 15 tons. While they reside on the Positive Energy Plane, turuls are effectively immortal. They age only when traveling from their home plane.
