Merlin (small hawk) Familiar gaming stats?

[Jasryn1]

Hello, I am looking for the gaming stats for a specific breed of hawk: the merlin, the smallest of the hawks. I figure it must hopefully have improved maneuverability, or AC for being smaller than most hawks.:smallcool:

I tried Googling the stats, but it's not anywhere. The closest I got was a wizard named Merlin who had a crow familiar.

BY the way, for a Pseudodragon familiar, does the master get improved Hide scores, since his familiar can turn invisible (or according to 3.5 is a living Cloak of Elvenkind?) That only makes sense.

[GilesTheCleric]

Welcome to the playground. There's a few things here that work differently than on other message boards, so if you haven't already, I recommend reading the forum rules. Other things are unofficial, such as blue text. Around here, folks take it to mean you're being sarcastic. I'm betting you're not being sarcastic, though ^^

In D&D, you don't get a lot of non-fantastic bird choices. From what I can tell, there's only a couple published: (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/lists/monsters&tablesort=5&tablefilter=animal) eagle, hawk, albatross, raven, owl, vulture, and ibis. If it's a significantly smaller bird (a smaller size category), then you could always take the existing hawk and give it a size change (MM1 314).

[Kraken]

Regular hawks are small, so you'd want something diminutive. I believe the only diminutive bird that exists in the game is the thrush, which is tucked away in the alternative familiars section of the DMG on page 203.

[Deophaun]

Hello, I am looking for the gaming stats for a specific breed of hawk: the merlin, the smallest of the hawks. I figure it must hopefully have improved maneuverability, or AC for being smaller than most hawks.:smallcool:
Specific breeds aren't going to be something you'll find stat-ed out in official material. Also, the only way size would affect it is if it's Diminutive in size, like a bat or a frog. The merlin hawk is Tiny by those standards.

That said, the hawk in the SRD has one feat, Alertness, that you can trade out for another. Replacing it with Dodge wouldn't be an unreasonable thing to do.

[Jeff the Green]

Specific breeds aren't going to be something you'll find stat-ed out in official material. Also, the only way size would affect it is if it's Diminutive in size, like a bat or a frog. The merlin hawk is Tiny by those standards.

That said, the hawk in the SRD has one feat, Alertness, that you can trade out for another. Replacing it with Dodge wouldn't be an unreasonable thing to do.

Yeah, it's not going to be significantly different from the regular hawk.

Rather than Dodge I'd recommend Hover. (I'd recommend it for all falcons, actually.) They can't fly backwards like a hummingbird and so don't have Good maneuverability, but hovering is a pretty big part of their hunting strategy.

[Jasryn1]

:miko:
Welcome to the playground. There's a few things here that work differently than on other message boards, so if you haven't already, I recommend reading the forum rules. Other things are unofficial, such as blue text. Around here, folks take it to mean you're being sarcastic. I'm betting you're not being sarcastic, though ^^

In D&D, you don't get a lot of non-fantastic bird choices. From what I can tell, there's only a couple published: (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/lists/monsters&tablesort=5&tablefilter=animal) eagle, hawk, albatross, raven, owl, vulture, and ibis. If it's a significantly smaller bird (a smaller size category), then you could always take the existing hawk and give it a size change (MM1 314).

Thanks! I figured that it should be a hawk's, only smaller, so add +1 to AC from small to tiny.

(Small wonder I chose a merlin for my familiar...after all, I am running a mage in a fantasy role playing game!):smallsmile:

Oh, and the whole reason I chose BLUE is NOT to be sarcastic, far from it! I was simply trying to get someone's attention to my question, instead of having it sit here for weeks ere somebody noticed....
:smallsmile:

[Jasryn1]

Yeah, it's not going to be significantly different from the regular hawk.

Rather than Dodge I'd recommend Hover. (I'd recommend it for all falcons, actually.) They can't fly backwards like a hummingbird and so don't have Good maneuverability, but hovering is a pretty big part of their hunting strategy.

Um...which book is "Hover" listed in?:smallwink:

[Jeff the Green]

Um...which book is "Hover" listed in?:smallwink:

Uhh... Monster Manual, I think. It's in the SRD here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsterFeats.htm#hover), though.

Also, regarding size, hawk is already tiny, so you'd have to shrink its dimensions to <1 ft to make it a smaller category. Which is a merlin's prey, not the merlin itself.

[Deophaun]

Thanks! I figured that it should be a hawk's, only smaller, so add +1 to AC from small to tiny.
Hawks are already tiny. It's eagles that are small.

[VoxRationis]

Monster Manual.
Incidentally, only the kestrel, to my recollection, really hovers, and it cheats by using the wind favorably.

[Jeff the Green]

Monster Manual.
Incidentally, only the kestrel, to my recollection, really hovers, and it cheats by using the wind favorably.

Kestrels are by far better at it, but in the right conditions most falcons and even some larger raptors like red tail hawks will.

[Jasryn1]

Hawks are already tiny. It's eagles that are small.

That makes sense. I saw one in the 1990 movie Merlin and the Crystal Cave. The child merlin (a boy about ten or twelve years) follows a merlin into the hills, and finds his teacher. The bird looked pretty small.:smallsmile:

[hamishspence]

Size classes don't always exactly match up to the recommended ones.

Some creatures are shorter (nose to base of tail) and lighter, than their size category would indicate.

A roc, for example, is Gargantuan - but only 30 ft from nose to base of tail, not 32, and only 4 tons, not 16.



Also, regarding size, hawk is already tiny, so you'd have to shrink its dimensions to <1 ft to make it a smaller category. Which is a merlin's prey, not the merlin itself.
A merlin, it should be noted, is less than 1 ft long, on average -though some females reach 13 inches long:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin_(bird)


If you take the approach that, as with the roc, it's nose to base of tail (rather than tip of tail) that determines size class (but also, that a bird can be as little as a quarter of the normal minimum weight for its size class) then male merlins are comfortably into Diminuitive size, though they might be Tiny (by weight)- being a little over a quarter of the minimum Tiny weight.

However, that rule might not apply at small sizes.

Perhaps comparing them to the specifically Diminuitive thrush might work? The Mistle Thrush is comparable to the male merlin - though female ones are larger and heavier than thrushes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistle_Thrush

[Phelix-Mu]

This is an awesome thread.:smallsmile:

[Urpriest]

For Pseudodragons, first, they can't turn invisible, they've just got a chameleon-like ability to blend in. Second, Improved Familiars don't give their masters skill bonuses, that's one of the tradeoffs for them being Improved.

[Jeff the Green]

Size classes don't always exactly match up to the recommended ones.

Some creatures are shorter (nose to base of tail) and lighter, than their size category would indicate.

A roc, for example, is Gargantuan - but only 30 ft from nose to base of tail, not 32, and only 4 tons, not 16.


A merlin, it should be noted, is less than 1 ft long, on average -though some females reach 13 inches long:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin_(bird)


If you take the approach that, as with the roc, it's nose to base of tail (rather than tip of tail) that determines size class (but also, that a bird can be as little as a quarter of the normal minimum weight for its size class) then male merlins are comfortably into Diminuitive size, though they might be Tiny (by weight)- being a little over a quarter of the minimum Tiny weight.

However, that rule might not apply at small sizes.

Perhaps comparing them to the specifically Diminuitive thrush might work? The Mistle Thrush is comparable to the male merlin - though female ones are larger and heavier than thrushes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistle_Thrush

The mistle thrush is enormous, though. Also, there's a bit of a problem comparing thrushes to falcons: their shape. Falcons are short for their size with long wings; thrushes have long bodies and short wings. The issue is more that there are lots of true hawks that are the same size as a merlin.

[hamishspence]

Not with 6 ft wings though - which was the upper limit for the "hawk" statblock (before one starts needing to use the "eagle" statblock for an adequate representation).

The D&D hawk is closer to a goshawk or a buzzard, than a sparrowhawk.

[Jeff the Green]

Not with 6 ft wings though - which was the upper limit for the "hawk" statblock (before one starts needing to use the "eagle" statblock for an adequate representation).

The D&D hawk is closer to a goshawk or a buzzard, than a sparrowhawk.

...they don't know much about raptors, do they? It's not at all uncommon to find eagles (even the archetypal species, the golden eagle) with wingspans of under six feet. Heck, the Aquila type specimen, the booted eagle, has a wingspan of about 4 ft.

[hamishspence]

I'd probably use the Hawk statblock to represent a booted eagle.

A Small creature is still bigger and chunkier than a domestic cat (which is Tiny)- makes more sense for the larger eagle species.

MM p272
"A typical eagle is about 3 feet long and has a wingspan of about 7 feet. The statistics described here can describe any similar-sized diurnal bird of prey."

MM p273
"These creatures are similar to eagles but slightly smaller: 1 to 2 ft long, with wingspans of 6 feet or less."