A cilops, which is a giant centipede with one big angry eye on its head. Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast.

This post is part of a series! Click here to see the rest.

The Lore

Cloud rays look like gigantic flying stingrays, and are among some of the rarest and most majestic specimens of Athasian fauna. They float in from the Sea of Silt to feed or rest, and despite their prodigious size they’re rarely dangerous unless bothered.

These creatures subsist mostly on psychic, entropic, and magical energy, so they only need a comparatively tiny amount of physical food to keep going. They land on the ground to sleep, covering themselves in sand and debris for camouflage. There are many stories about travelers who pitched their tents on a nice spot of high ground only to later find themselves desperately clinging to the back of a cloud ray when the creature took flight.

Cloud rays dream of distant places when they sleep, and sometimes they disappear to those places instead of taking flight the usual way. When threatened, the creature can consciously tap into this ability to teleport short distances.

The Numbers

Cloud Rays are Elemental Beasts, whose size varies depending on their age. They can crawl on the ground at speed 4 and fly at Speed 12 with Hover capability. They have an affinity for storms, with Resist 15 Lightning and Thunder.

We’re going through the entries here in increasing order of level, which is the reverse of what the book does.

Cloud Ray Pup

This young individual is Large, translucent, and relatively delicate for its size. It’s a Level 21 Minion Skirmisher. Pups fly around in clusters near other creatures that can provide them with food - most commonly cloud ray elders, but sometimes other aerial predators that tend to leave lots of left-overs. If their intended prey is still moving, they sting it until it stops, and then set down to eat.

Their sting is Reach 3 and deals thunder damage. They can employ it as part of a Gliding Attack that lets them move their speed and make the attack at any point along the way. They don’t provoke opportunity attacks when moving away from the target of their sting.

As a minion, a single hit will take the pup down, but it can use Dream Resurgence once per encounter to remove itself from play when it reaches 0 HP and reappear at the start of its next turn within 10 squares, with its 1 HP restored. It will probably use this opportunity to run away if nothing is forcing it to stay, so the PCs don’t need to feel bad about giving this beautiful creature a good whack to get it to bother someone else.

Cloud Ray Adult

Adults cruise the skies continuously, only descending to rest or to attack land-bound prey. Sure, it eats little for its size, but for a Huge creature that can still mean its infrequent meals consist of a whole person or similarly sized animal. Adults are Level 23 Elite Skirmishers with 424 HP.

The adult has a much stronger version of the pup’s Sting, with Reach 4. It can also use a Reach 1 bite that deals more damage and grabs the target. Targets grabbed by the bite have a -4 to their escape rolls, which have escape DCs of 34 for Athletics and 36 for Acrobatics. The ray can grab at most one target like this. The Unhindered trait lets the cloud ray pull the victim along when it moves. Either of these attacks can be used as part of Gliding Attack, which lets it attack twice during the movement and otherwise works like the pup’s version.

A ray that finds itself surrounded can use Wing Storm (Close Burst 3 vs. Fort, recharge 5+) to deal thunder damage and push targets 3 squares on a hit, also knocking them prone. This creates a lightly obscured zone that lasts for a turn, from all the dust it kicks up.

Once per encounter, while bloodied, the ray can use Dream Flight to teleport 15 squares, carrying its grabbed victim with it if it has one. It makes Close Burst 2 attack vs. Fortitude on arrival, dazing an slowing those it hits.

A grabbed victim can be attacked with further bite attacks and with Crush, a minor action attack vs. Fortitude that deals as much damage as the bite.

An adult on the hunt will try to grab its chosen prey and fly away, biting and crushing the victim until it’s dead. If their prey proves too feisty, they’ll drop it from a great height to soften it up, and then grab it again. Repeat until done.

Cloud Ray Elder

This majestic Gargantuan beast is a Level 25 Solo Controller, on par with elder dragons from other worlds. Its control over storms lets it project an aura (3) of Undulating Winds, which deals 15 thunder damage to enemies that start their turns inside and lets the elder slide them 3 squares to another square within the aura.

Also, its Flat Body lets other creatures enter and occupy the elder’s space - they’re standing on top of the ray! This means it’s equal parts enemy and terrain during a fight. If it took flight because you tried to camp on its back, it will be the only terrain for the fight.

Obviously if you’re on top of the ray, you’re also inside its aura, so it will try to slide you off its back. This follows the rules for forced movement into hazardous terrain, so you get a save to grab on before you tumble to the ground. If you pass, you end up prone at the ray’s edge.

The elder’s is Reach 5 Sting deals immediate and ongoing thunder damage (save ends). Its favorite attack enhances the sting with magic for a Thunder Lash, which deals physical damage to its primary target and triggers a secondary close burst 5 centered on that target that deals thunder damage to all enemies it hits and pushes then 3 squares. On a miss it deals half damage.

It’s also large enough that its bite upgrades to Scooping Bite: this is a Close Blast 5 instead of a melee attack, and it can grab up to three targets it hits. Unhindered is here and lets the elder fly away with its mouthful of victims. Gliding Menace works like Gliding Attack, but lets the elder specifically use Thunder Lash and Scooping Bite as its two flyby attacks.

Like the adult, the elder can Crush its grabbed victims with a minor action. Fortunately they don’t have penalties on their escape rolls, but the base DCs are higher since the elder is higher level.

If bloodied, the elder uses Dream Flight to teleport away. It works just like the adult’s version, but the daze upgrades to Stunned on the first failed save and Unconscious on the second.

Encounters and Final Impressions

Cloud Rays are almost always only found together with other cloud rays, with a flock of pups following a group of adults or a single elder around. They’re not sapient but I think they’re smart enough not to attack heavily armed PCs without provocation. Encounters are more likely to start when a PC runs into a ray at rest, and even then a fight is not certain.

I imagine you can have a good adventure about PCs trying to prevent another armed group from killing cloud rays, and in this case the creatures would not be smart enough to distinguish the PCs from the hunters if a fight broke out.