Init: +3. Senses: darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +3. Ac: 21, touch 11, flat-footed 18 (+3 Dex, +10 natural, -2 size).
Hp: 104 (11d10+44).
Fortitude: +11. Reflex: +10. Will: +6. Defensive Abilities: slippery. Immune: cold, disease.
Speed: 20 ft., fly 80 ft. (average). Melee: bite +17 (2d6+8) 2 talons +17 (1d8+8 plus grab). Space: 15 ft.. Reach: 15 ft.. Strength: 26. Dexterity: 17. Constitution: 19. Intelligence: 8. Wisdom: 17. Charisma: 10.
Base Attack: +11. Cmb: +21 (+25 grapple). Cmd: 34 (42 vs. grapple).
Feats: Awesome Blow, Flyby Attack, Hover, Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack, Wingover.
Skills: Escape Artist +11, Fly +13. Racial Modifiers: +8 Escape Artist.
Languages: Aklo. Special Qualities: no breath, share defenses, starflight.
Environment: cold mountains. Organization: solitary, pair, or flock (3-12). Treasure: none.
Description: Larger than an elephant, this scaly, bird-like creature has a vaguely horse-like head and vast, slime-encrusted wings.
Special Abilities
As a free action, a shantak can extend its no breath ability and cold immunity to a single creature touching it. It can withdraw this protection as a free action. A shantak's scales seep slippery slime. This grants the creature a +8 bonus on all Escape Artist checks and to its CMD against grapples, and imparts a –5 penalty on all Ride checks made by creatures attempting to ride a shantak. A shantak can survive in the void of outer space. It flies through space at an incredible speed. Although exact travel times vary, a trip within a single solar system should take 3d20 hours, while a trip beyond should take 3d20 days (or more, at the GM's discretion)—provided the shantak knows the way to its destination.Shantaks speak in a shrill voice that sounds like glass grinding against stone. They are intelligent creatures and cannot be trained as mounts—a would-be shantak rider must use diplomacy or magic to secure a shantak's cooperation as a mount, and even then, shantaks have a tendency to deliberately strand riders in dangerous areas.
Many shantaks have a strange and irrational fear of certain creatures, such as the faceless nightgaunts said to dwell in certain remote mountains, or specific types of harpies or gargoyles in more civilized regions. A shantak avoids confrontations with these types of creatures if possible.
A shantak's ability to travel the gulfs of space ensures that these scaly, bird-like creatures can be found on numerous worlds. Yet despite this unique ability, shantaks are generally quite reluctant to seek out new worlds unless faced with no other option, for a shantak knows well that an attempt to fly to an unknown world could easily result in being lost forever in the gulfs of space.