Horned beasts are an extinct breed of devils with a superficial resemblance to minotaurs, which now only exist through summoning by the horn of Geryon.[1]
Description[]
Appearance[]
Horned beasts are humanoids with cloven hooves easily mistakable for minotaurs.[1]
Personality[]
Horned beasts lack intelligence, but not cunning.[2]
Abilities[]
Horned beasts are mighty devils whose goring charge can knock foes aside. Upon death they burst into a deathly inferno that scorches anything nearby. As with many devils, they possess darkvision.[2]
Combat[]
Horned beasts wield greataxes in combat.[2] Typically they are summoned by Geryon after he softens up his enemies from afar and is prepared to enter melee.[1]
Society[]
During his exile from the Nine Hells, the company of conjured horned beasts was normally the most he had for company.[2]
Horned beasts speak Supernal.[2]
Ecology[]
Calling upon horned beasts using the horn of Geryon requires vitality from the user and conjures them within a short distance of the summoner, after which they remain in the world only briefly.[2] Despite the resemblance, horned beasts have no known relation to minotaurs.[1]
Publication history[]
D&D 4th edition[]
The horned beast appeared only in Dungeon #176 (Mar 2010), p.Codex of Betrayal: Geryon, the Broken Beast, by Ari Marmell.
An unrelated creature with the same name named appeared in the D&D 3.5 sourcebook Tome of Magic, which Marmell also worked on. However, it is a different creature, a quadruped magical beast rather than a fiend.