SRD 5.2.1, p. 275

Cockatrice

A scrappy chicken-like monster with a mean bite.

CR 1/2 → Tier 1 Small Monstrosity Skulk

Motives & tactics

Ambush, flee when outnumbered, protect territory

SRD 5.2.1

AC 11

Initiative +1 (11)

HP 22 (5d6 + 5)

Speed 20 ft., Fly 40 ft.

Score Mod Save STR 6 −2 −2 DEX 12 +1 +1 CON 12 +1 +1 INT 2 −4 −4 WIS 13 +1 +1 CHA 5 −3 −3

Immunities Petrified

Senses Darkvision 60ft

Passive Perception 11

Languages None

Daggerheart

Difficulty 11

Thresholds 6 / 12

HP / Stress 3 / 2

ATK +1

Bite Melee · 1d6+2 phy

Experience Sneaky +2

Actions

Petrifying Bite. Melee Attack Roll: +3, reach 5 ft. Hit: 3 (1d4 + 1) Piercing damage. If the target is a creature, it is subjected to the following effect. Constitution Saving Throw: DC 11. First Failure: The target has the Restrained condition. The target repeats the save at the end of its next turn if it is still Restrained, ending the effect on itself on a success. Second Failure: The target has the Petrified condition, instead of the Restrained condition, for 24 hours.

Features

Petrifying Bite — Passive: When a standard Bite attack hits, the target must make a Finesse Reaction Roll (12). On a failure, the target is Restrained. After the target takes their next action, they must repeat the roll. On a success, they are no longer Restrained; on a failure, they are Petrified. While Petrified, the target is turned to stone and can’t act for 24 hours.

Designer's note

This was the first 5e monster I ever converted, so I wanted to start this website with a newer, more accurate version of it. It was originally ported for a one-shot where the players needed to gather different ingredients for a winter feast and celebration. There were so many people wanting to play that I got my brother-in-law to help run a table for me. His players fought several cockatrices and drove them off without anyone being petrified.

Why Skulk?

I see cockatrices as fragile creatures. They use hit-and-run tactics while hiding and being sneaky. Their goal is to turn their prey to stone so they can easily protect themselves and their nests. So Skulk naturally felt like the correct adversary type.

Petrifying Bite

This is the defining ability of the cockatrice and why it is a classic dangerous monster, especially for low-level adventurers. If a party fights just a few, they can easily all be turned to stone by a few bad rolls. Because 5e uses 10 as the standard difficulty for checks and this save is DC 11, staying right in the middle of the 2d12 curve felt right, which gave a Finesse Reaction Roll of 12. This keeps the cockatrice a dangerous enemy without being extra punishing at low levels.

Why Finesse instead of another trait?

Finesse is the trait of “utmost control” and felt like the correct choice for this reason. You have to control your body and push past the effects of Petrifying Bite.

Other stats

The rest of the stats and decisions on how to convert the cockatrice were fairly straightforward. The goal was to keep it simple, since the unique thing about it is its Petrifying Bite. I took the Adversary Stat Block Benchmarks and stuck to them on the lower end, with one exception: lowering the major threshold by 1. The cockatrice doesn’t need a lot of HP, Stress, or high damage thresholds. It is fine just being a weak-to-average monster with nothing of note except for its nasty bite.

Additional Notes

In the Designer’s Note, I talked about how the cockatrice was the first creature I converted for Daggerheart. My brother-in-law ran a version almost identical to this one. The biggest difference was how the Petrifying Bite worked. Since it was a one-shot where the players were on the clock, it didn’t have a 24-hour petrification effect. Instead, they had to either take a rest or suffer 2 points of damage to break it. That kept real consequences for being turned to stone without stopping the players from finishing the story in the roughly 24 hours before the feast.