The very first video game console I had was the Super Nintendo. I was five years old and it came with two games: Super Mario World and Super Mario Kart. One of the first things you encounter in Super Mario World is a green dinosaur that Mario rescues. This green dinosaur ends up being a faithful companion to Mario on his journey and gained a place in my heart as one of the first video game characters I ever knew. In honor of this green hero, I statted up Yoshi, so let’s take a look!

This large reptile is bright green with a set of orange spines down its back. It stands on two feet and has a jovial look on its face.
Yoshi                                CR 8
XP 4,800
NG Medium magical beast
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +12
DEFENSE
AC 19, touch 14, flat-footed 15 (+4 Dex, +5 natural)
hp 68 (8d10+24)
Fort +9, Ref +10, Will +5
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee slam +12 (2d8+3), tongue +7 (grab plus egg lay)
or tongue +12 (grab plus egg lay)
Ranged egg toss +15 (3d6)
Special Attacks egg lay, egg roll (2d8+3, DC 16)
STATISTICS
Str 15, Dex 19, Con 16, Int 8, Wis 13, Cha 16
Base Atk +8; CMB +10 (+14 grapple); CMD 24
Feats Iron Will, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +15 (+23 when jumping), Perception +12; Racial Modifiers +8 Acrobatics (when jumping)
Languages Common, Yoshi
SQ flutter jump
ECOLOGY
Environment any
Organization solitary, pair, or herd (3–10)
Treasure none
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Egg Lay (Ex) Yoshi can maintain a grab as a swift action. If it successfully maintains, it can choose to swallow the grabbed target as a free action, which ends the grab. If the target is swallowed, the target is trapped inside a large egg and takes damage equal to Yoshi’s slam attack. The egg appears in a square adjacent to the Yoshi of its choosing. The creature within the egg is pinned, but can attempt to break free from the egg. The creature can attempt a Combat Maneuver check or an Escape Artist check with a DC equal to Yoshi’s CMD. A creature can attempt to burst the egg with a DC 17 Strength check. The egg shatters after 5 rounds if the creature does not break free on its own. An egg laid with this ability has 20 hit points and hardness 5. The DC to burst the egg is Constitution-based.
Egg Roll (Ex) As a full-round action, Yoshi can encase itself in a large egg and roll to overrun its enemies. While inside the egg, Yoshi gains a +4 bonus to AC against attacks of opportunity and DR 5/—. Yoshi exits the egg at the end of its turn. This ability otherwise functions as the trample ability.
Egg Toss (Ex) Yoshi can throw an egg at a creature within 60 feet. The egg deals bludgeoning damage and shatters upon impact.
Flutter Jump (Ex) When Yoshi does a high jump or a long jump, it travels an additional 50% of the distance determined by its Acrobatics check.

Finding yourself swallowed by a Yoshi can be very dangerous.

Yoshi is a dinosaur from a far-off land known as Dinosaur Island. Yoshi is a member of a race of intelligent dinosaurs also known as Yoshi. The entire species are lovers of fruit, able to consume large amounts of fruit whole. Yoshi can use their tongue to swallow any size of food and their foes, apparently not limited by the size of their own bodies. When a Yoshi swallows a creature, it can either lay it as an egg or spit the creature back out. This appears to be used entirely for defense as Yoshi tend to use their ability to swallow enemies as a means to buy time for an escape. Yoshi are great jumpers and are able to kick their legs at great speed to gain more air time and reach great heights or distances. Most Yoshi are very friendly, offering their services to those in need. They are also great at cooperating with each other, with legends telling of Yoshi traveling great distances to return children separated from their parents. Yoshi come in a variety of colors and some believe that these colors denote further abilities.

Monstrous Origins

Yoshi is fun character with lots of interesting abilities. As with my previous Nintendo characters, I chose to use the Super Smash Brothers version of Yoshi for this writeup. The most obvious thing I wanted to include was Yoshi’s tongue, which is its staple ability. In Smash Brothers, Yoshi can swallow someone it grabs with its tongue and turn them into an egg. This led to the egg lay ability, which I admit is a bit wordy, but I think allows Yoshi’s iconic ability to work in the game. Yoshi also has the ability to roll out in the form of an egg which was easy enough to translate with the trample ability. Egg toss is just a simple ranged attack. Finally, Yoshi’s jump is also iconic so I wanted to replicate it, but rather than try to make a “double jump” in Pathfinder, I opted for a simple interpretation.

That’s it for this week! If you end up introducing Yoshi into your game or you have any request for a future Monstrous Physique, please drop me a line at KnowDirection@hotmail.com.