Bestiary | Monsters | Cockatrice | Special Abilities | Petrification
A
cockatrice's bite causes flesh to calcify and harden—multiple bites can cause a living creature to fossilize into
stone. Each time a creature is damaged by a
cockatrice's bite attack, it must succeed on a DC 12 Fortitude save or take 1d4 points of Dexterity damage as its flesh and bones stiffen and harden. (This slow
petrification does not alter a bitten creature's natural armor.) A creature that is reduced to 0 Dexterity by a
cockatrice's bites immediately turns completely to
stone, as if
petrified by a
flesh to stone spell. Every day, a creature
petrified by a
cockatrice in this manner can attempt a new DC 12 Fortitude save to recover from the
petrification, at which point the victim returns to flesh with 1 Dexterity (and thereafter can be restored to full Dexterity by
natural healing or
magic as normal)—but after a
petrified creature fails three of these Fortitude saves in a row, the
petrified state becomes permanent. A creature restored to flesh via
magic has its Dexterity damage caused by
cockatrice bites removed, but not any existing Dexterity damage from other sources. A
cockatrice is immune to the
petrification ability of itself and of other cockatrices, but other
petrification attacks affect them normally. The save DC is Constitution-based.
