| Climate/Terrain: | Ruins, subterranean, urban |
|---|---|
| Frequency: | Very rare |
| Organization: | Solitary |
| Activity Cycle: | Any |
| Diet: | Carnivore |
| Intelligence: | Average (8-10) |
| Treasure: | Nil |
| Alignment: | Chaotic neutral |
| No. Appearing: | 1d4 |
| Armor Class: | 6 |
| Movement: | 6, Fl 24 (C) |
| Hit Dice: | 5 |
| THAC0: | 15 |
| No. of Attacks: | 2 |
| Damage/Attack: | 1d4 (claw)/1d4 (claw) |
| Special Attacks: | Poison |
| Special Defenses: | Nil |
| Magic Resistance: | Nil |
| Size: | T (3' wingspan) |
| Morale: | Steady (11) |
| XP Value: | 650 |
The tabi are small, winged creatures about the size of house-cats. They are inveterate gossips. scavengers, and thieves.
A tabi's body is compact and apelike, covered with long golden fur. Their wings are leathery and very thin.
Adults weigh about 15 pounds. A living tabi emits an odor that smells like rotting meat, noticeable in still air at ranges of up to 100 feet.
Tabi are intelligent and clever. They speak Common and their own tongue.
Combat: A tabi attacks with its claws, which drip a crystalblue venom. A victim of a claw attack must make a successful saving throw vs. poison or become deluded for 2d6 turns. Deluded victims attack the creature nearest them immediately. They can use a weapon if they were holding one when they were poisoned, but otherwise they attack with their bare hands. Deluded victims cannot cast spells or use spell-like abilities or psionics. A neutralize poison spell ends the delusion.
Tabi can pick pockets, hide in shadows, and move silently with a 40% chance of success. They prefer to attack from ambush but are careful to hide downwind from prey so their stench doesn't give them away.
Habitat/Society: Tabi can live almost anywhere, but like rats they prefer places where there is food to steal or scavenge. Tabi have an insatiable hunger for information of any sort and usually have a large repertoire of local rumors and legends. Tabi gladly trade this information for high-quality food or other information, but they are not known to be particularly truthful. Tabi constantly gossip among themselves, and anything one tabi knows quickly spreads to all the other tabi in the area.
Certain high-level wizards know a spell that binds a single tabi into their sewice. Such tabi generally serve as informants and spies.
Ecology: A tabi can live up to 150 yean, though most of them live less than half that long in the wild. Tabi become fully mature by age six. A female tabi bears a single infant about seven months after mating. Tabi infants are dependent on their mothers for about 18 months, though they learn to fly bv the time they are three months old.