Rukh

Rukh (adult)

(Creature)

Type

Magical beast

CR

10

Environment

Warm mountains or deserts

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Images of rukhs

Source: Bestiary 4, pg(s). 228

Rukhs are gigantic two-headed magical beasts that resemble vultures and haunt the clear, blue desert skies. While vultures are scavengers, a rukh cares little about whether its meal is dead or alive.

Appearance

These creatures closely resemble their smaller vulture cousins, but are massive and have two heads. Unlike most bird feathers, their black feathers are greasy. Their beaks are huge and devastating in combat, and can strike with their longsword-sized talons hard enough to shear through stone. Adult rukhs typically stand 35 feet tall with a wingspan of at least 60 feet, and typically weigh around 800 pounds, although specimens larger than this are quite uncommon.

Habitat and ecology

Rukhs prefer to hunt in desert environments and avoid prey their own size. Their preferred prey are large animals, such as horses or camels, although they happily eat lone humanoids and often attack small caravans. With no trees large enough to support their massive nests, rukhs usually nest atop cliffs or mountains. A rukh can roam up to 100 miles from its lair amongst snow-topped mountains to its hunting grounds in the desert.

Rukhs are the some of the most deadly and opportunistic hunters that dwell in the desert. Despite their vulture-like appearance, rukhs are most closely related to rocs, Golarion's other enormous avian predator.

Juvenile rukhs

Despite not being related to vultures, however, the behaviour of juvenile rukhs is remarkably similar; they hunt in small flocks of up to ten birds and prey on the dead and dying. The primary difference is that young rukhs do not wait for the desert to finish off their victims. Thus, the sight of a flock of two-headed birds tends to send most desert dwellers into a panic.

Most young rukhs do not make it to adulthood, as they are often hunted for food; their large bodies can easily feed ten people for several days and their fresh corpses fetch a high price—up to 30 gold pieces—in desert cities like Katapesh.