The Hellseeker Cockatrice Problem
In DCC, the Hellseeker Cockatrice reads harmless. Three hit dice, armor class 14, a peck for 1d3 and a tail for 1d3. Nobody rolls initiative in fear. That is the trap. The numbers on the damage line are not where this thing does its work.
The peck carries a DC 13 Will save or petrification. That is a single failed roll turning a character into scenery, attached to an attack that otherwise does less than a dagger. The tail adds a DC 12 Fort save against blood loss, so a graze becomes recurring damage that follows the party down the corridor. Two attacks, two saves, two entirely different failure states to track. Damage was never the threat.
Then there is the 30 foot fly speed, which means the cockatrice picks its angles and the melee crowd does not. It strikes, lifts, and returns to a face nobody can reach. Petrification pressure from above, bleed pressure from the last pass. The stat block is polite. The tactics are not.
At the table: Perch it on a ledge out of reach, open with the peck on the fighter who charged ahead alone, and let one botched DC 13 Will save teach the marching order.
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