Appearance: brown upper body with black splotches and stripes, white underbelly and feline-like legs also with black splotches, eagle beak and long, lynx-like ears. feathered crests line the shoulder blades and scruff. icy blue eyes. Shoulder height: 6 feet.
(Credit goes to Verridith for the design, https://gryffs.com for the base art.)
Personality: Alex is a typical Grandmane gryphon, proud and fiercely loyal. He tends to prefer peace and quiet, but will fight ferociously if necessary.
Abilities: As a Grandmane, Alex has a good deal of stamina and strength. His powerful wings and soaring ability can carry him for many miles as long as all he's doing is flying. He also has an elemental affinity for both fire and darkness, but using these magical abilities drains his stamina faster, and if he's not careful, he can drain so much energy that he will free fall, or simply run out of energy to fly at all. If he pushes himself too far with either his magic or flight, he can also collapse and faint, or worst case, die from exhaustion.
His fire magic mainly manifests as small fireballs conjured at his claw tips, which he can then shape with his paws into a larger fireball to hurl at enemies. He can conjure these fireballs in small quantities even if he is also using his darkness magic, but if he wants to do a lot of large fireballs, he cannot do darkness magic at all.
His darkness magic can manifest as an overwhelming shadow cast by his wings, or shadow shards thrown from his tail tip. In battle, he must choose to do one or the other, as both would require too much energy, especially if he's in flight. He can combine the shards with small fireballs, but if he does shadow wings, he cannot do any other magic. If he already has done some of the shards or fireballs, it will weaken the effect of the shadow wings.
The shadow does not require the presence of a light source behind/above him, though that can heighten its effectiveness. The magical shadow cast is generally larger and darker than a typical shadow, and weakens those in its area. The amount it weakens is dependent on how much energy he has to spend on the casting, how long he can cast it, and how many are under the shadow. Those under the shadow, whether friend or foe, will feel their energy levels dip, sometimes just enough for a yawn, other times enough to nearly make them faint.
Due to the coverage area not discriminating between enemies and allies, Alex tends to not use the "shadow wings" (as he calls it) often. He'd rather use the more directed ability of the shadow shards that he can conjure and throw with the end of his tail. To do so, however, he has to essentially hover once it's been conjured so he can throw it. To practice his aim, he will sometimes take pebbles and rocks into flight and fling them at trees. These shards of shadow have a similar affect as the shadow wings, but in a more directed manner. About 100 low level shards (the sort to cause a yawn or general sleepiness) uses roughly the same amount of energy as a shadow wings cast of the same level.
If his energy level is high enough, and he is not flying (nor needs to fly anytime soon), Alex can combine his fire and darkness affinities to create shadow-fire minions resembling gryphon chicks. These shadow-fire chicks require commands from Alex, such as "attack that enemy" or "clean those dishes." However, as indicated, this ability takes up an extreme amount of energy, especially if he conjures an entire hoard. One or two would not drain him too much, but the more he conjures, the more time he requires to rest before he tries flying or concentrating on anything else.
(Credit goes to Verridith for the design, https://gryffs.com for the base art.)
Personality: Alex is a typical Grandmane gryphon, proud and fiercely loyal. He tends to prefer peace and quiet, but will fight ferociously if necessary.
Abilities: As a Grandmane, Alex has a good deal of stamina and strength. His powerful wings and soaring ability can carry him for many miles as long as all he's doing is flying. He also has an elemental affinity for both fire and darkness, but using these magical abilities drains his stamina faster, and if he's not careful, he can drain so much energy that he will free fall, or simply run out of energy to fly at all. If he pushes himself too far with either his magic or flight, he can also collapse and faint, or worst case, die from exhaustion.
His fire magic mainly manifests as small fireballs conjured at his claw tips, which he can then shape with his paws into a larger fireball to hurl at enemies. He can conjure these fireballs in small quantities even if he is also using his darkness magic, but if he wants to do a lot of large fireballs, he cannot do darkness magic at all.
His darkness magic can manifest as an overwhelming shadow cast by his wings, or shadow shards thrown from his tail tip. In battle, he must choose to do one or the other, as both would require too much energy, especially if he's in flight. He can combine the shards with small fireballs, but if he does shadow wings, he cannot do any other magic. If he already has done some of the shards or fireballs, it will weaken the effect of the shadow wings.
The shadow does not require the presence of a light source behind/above him, though that can heighten its effectiveness. The magical shadow cast is generally larger and darker than a typical shadow, and weakens those in its area. The amount it weakens is dependent on how much energy he has to spend on the casting, how long he can cast it, and how many are under the shadow. Those under the shadow, whether friend or foe, will feel their energy levels dip, sometimes just enough for a yawn, other times enough to nearly make them faint.
Due to the coverage area not discriminating between enemies and allies, Alex tends to not use the "shadow wings" (as he calls it) often. He'd rather use the more directed ability of the shadow shards that he can conjure and throw with the end of his tail. To do so, however, he has to essentially hover once it's been conjured so he can throw it. To practice his aim, he will sometimes take pebbles and rocks into flight and fling them at trees. These shards of shadow have a similar affect as the shadow wings, but in a more directed manner. About 100 low level shards (the sort to cause a yawn or general sleepiness) uses roughly the same amount of energy as a shadow wings cast of the same level.
If his energy level is high enough, and he is not flying (nor needs to fly anytime soon), Alex can combine his fire and darkness affinities to create shadow-fire minions resembling gryphon chicks. These shadow-fire chicks require commands from Alex, such as "attack that enemy" or "clean those dishes." However, as indicated, this ability takes up an extreme amount of energy, especially if he conjures an entire hoard. One or two would not drain him too much, but the more he conjures, the more time he requires to rest before he tries flying or concentrating on anything else.