| Characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Alignment | Neutral |
| Type | Aberration |
| Publication history | |
| Source books | Monster Manual II (3rd edition) |
| First appearance | White Dwarf #12 |
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, a hook horror is a bipedal, subterranean monster that looks like a vulture-like humanoid with bony hooks in place of hands.
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The hook horror was introduced to the D&D game in the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.
The hook horror was first published in White Dwarf #12 (April/May 1979), in the "Fiend Factory" column, originally submitted by Ian Livingstone,[1] which was later reprinted in Best of White Dwarf Articles (1980). The hook horror then appears in 1981 in the first edition Fiend Folio (1981).[2]
The hook horror was detailed in Dragon #131 (March 1988), in the "Ecology of the Hook Horror".[3]
This edition of the D&D game included its own version of the hook horror, which first appeared in the module Quest for the Heartstone (1984), and then appeared as a type of hook beast, in Creature Catalogue (1986),[4] and the Creature Catalog (1993).[5]
The hook horror appeared in the Blackmoor campaign setting in the module City of the Gods (1987).
The hook horror appears first in the Monstrous Compendium Greyhawk Appendix (1990),[6] and is reprinted in the Monstrous Manual (1993).[7]
The hook horror also appears in the Greyhawk setting in the module Flames of the Falcon (1993).
The hook horror appears in the Monster Manual II for this edition (2002).[8]
The hook horror appears in the Monster Manual for this edition (2008).[9]
The hook horror is an aberration that stands about nine feet (274 cm) tall and weighs almost 350 pounds (160 kg). It has a mottled grey exoskeleton, which is extremely thick and dense, and as difficult to breach as metal armor. Instead of hands/paws/claws, its front limbs end in 12-inch-long (30 cm) razor-sharp, blade-like hooks. These hooks are, of course, the hook horror's primary method of combat. Its legs are similar to those of a bird, and its head is shaped like that of a vulture, including the hooked beak. Its eyes, however, are multifaceted like that of an insect. It is thought that the hook horror is distantly related to the cockroach, despite its bird-like qualities.
Hook horrors have their own language, communicating in a series of clicks and clacks. In a cave, this eerie sound can echo a long way and can be used to estimate cavern sizes and distances, much like the sonar of a bat.
The horror RPG Chill has a different creature with the same name.
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