Hippogriff

While doing the usual browsing to prep this entry, I was surprised at how sketchy the details on hippogriffs were—even to Renaissance-era writers, they seem to be a byword for rare and/or fantastic.  And they’re equally sketchy in-game—sitting somewhere between griffons and pegasi in the aerial food chain.  One area where hippogriffs do stand out is maneuverability—with the Dodge and Wingover feats, they can turn on a dime, performing aerial acrobatics to foil predators and foes.  And while they’re less intelligent than griffons, they’re also less demanding as mounts, making them a good option for militaries that can’t afford griffons’ proud and particular natures.

The griffon wings of the Fendaril elves are legendary, having kept the forest nation safe for a millennium.  Envious of their aerial superiority, the human nation of Middlemark has just unveiled an air force of hippogriff-riding crossbowmen and alchemist bombers who now patrol the Fendaril border with brazen openness—perhaps as a precursor to future hostilities.

The zebra-striped Talisar hippogriffs soar on thermals above that fertile grassland.  They prey on wildebeests and flee from the red-feathered, charcoal-furred griffons with whom they share the skies.  The kite-winged barred hippogriffs dwell in box canyons where no predators but the most agile wyverns can menace them.  The osprey-marked griffins of the Prayerful Coast hunt for swordfish, tuna, and hippocampi and nest on the cliffs where only the kittiwakes, gannets, and leprechauns can reach them.

Teuflandt has finally escaped the yoke of its former lords, a cabal of sadistic flagellants who worshipped the cleansing power of pain and treated with fiends.  Their stain lingers, however.  In particular, the majestic Teuflandt hippogriffs have gone extinct…or rather, they have been permanently altered: fiendish blood corrupting the breeding colonies has resulted in flocks of bat-winged hippogriff monstrosities.

—Pathfinder Bestiary 2 156