Sphinx

[hcobb]

A Sphinx has the same body layout and two hex size as a Gryphon (page 90), except that they have a humanoid rather than an Eagle's head and they are all wizards. ST 2d+20 DX 1d+9 IQ 2d+8 MA 14 ground, 20 flying. Mana 2d+8 and 1d in extra skill points above their IQ.
Lion claws on their paws give them +2 damage over a human's bare handed attack (-2 DX to kick into their side hexes, -4 DX to kick into their rear hexes), plus any unarmed combat talents (at double cost because they're wizards.)
While they appear to be unarmed they all know various levels of the Staff spell and are able to use the occult (but not mundane) Staff attacks and have a Mana stat as above. In addition they all know Literacy (how can they write with those paws?), a few languages (which they speak with a strange accent, unless they have the Scholar talent (which isn't double cost for them)) and they all know Sex Appeal.
Their modus operandi is to appear alone before an isolated humanoid traveler and make a Sex Appeal attempt in the form of a riddle. (Having cast spells such as Look Your Best, Persuasiveness, Whisper, Image or Illusion (of themselves or a humanoid equivalent of themselves) or Silent Movement in preparation.) Sometimes they attack and devour their targets, sometimes the targets appear to leave willingly with them. Some of the abductees reappear at random locations months later unable or unwilling to recount their adventures and having learned a random talent (for heroes) or spell (for wizards) in the meantime. If the Sphinxes have a gate network or a civilization they hide these very well indeed.
It is theorized that these humanoid abductees are used as slaves because the new talent is usually in crafting (anything from Potter to Mechanician) and the spells learned are usually those useful in crafting and enchantments (Aid, Repair, Analyze Magic, Weapon/Armor Enchantment, even Alchemy.)

[Skarg]

Nice!

If you let sphinxes do bare hand damage for their ST, +2, and learn Unarmed Combat, do you let dragons do that too?

Seems like they could probably write OK with their claws. Dip one in ink, or just carve.

[hcobb]

I've got a bit of a backstory on these critters.

Their charm ability depends on mutual affection towards their pets and as immortals they can't afford to linger on grief, bitterness or boredom.

So when Sphinx needs a new patio she abducts a random human rather than getting her own paws dirty. She trains him to do the job exactly the way she wants it done and then once the job is done she sends her pet back to live with the humans. She tends to forget exactly which group of humans she picked him up from, but aren't they all the same?

She can't keep her pet forever and she doesn't want to deal forever with the grief of having watched him grow old and die. So she sends him back no worse for wear and has a lovely patio to remember that summer for thousands of years, until she grabs another human to turn that spot it into a garden or whatever.

If the first human she encounters is ugly, unpleasant or disobedient then it's lunch time, but he asked for it. A brief moment of anger that's quickly forgotten.

The scenario use is to have a Sphinx show up once during a campaign to grab an NPC that the PCs were counting on to give them some specific information. The players can either side quest for a few months while they wait for the return (and then search all over again), find some other source, or arrange a raiding party against a well protected and well shielded unknown location.