Appearance of the manticore

In my prior post on the manticore in art history, I explained that the manticore has appeared in popular culture with wildly diverse features. What follows is some general descriptions I wrote a long time ago. I'm not sure what to do with it, so I'll present it here as inspiration maybe.

Appearance

The manticore's appearance may vary quite dramatically between individuals. Sages have divided such varying descriptions into different species entirely, but in truth all of them are one species. They always have humanoid faces with pleasing voices and sharp teeth, sometimes multiple rows. The rest of the head may be humanoid or feline, sometimes with large manes or hairstyles. Sometimes they have horns.

Their humanoid and feline aspects are highly variable. A manticore could have the face of a man, elf, or orc, and the body of a lion, tiger, panther, jaguar, or snow leopard. They might be quadrupedal, bipedal or walk on their knuckles like apes.

Their body might be furred or covered in scales. Sometimes they possess wings, feathered like a bird or webbed like a bat. Their forequarters may be a mix of human and feline. Sometimes they have paws, other times hands tipped with claws. Their hindquarters may be feline or display the hooves of a goat or other odd-toed grazer.

The tail varies wildly. It may be no different from a lion or tiger, broad like a horse or wolf, covered in barbs, an enlarged scorpion's tail, end in a spiked club, end in a crab-like pincer, or it may be a live biting snake or dragon's head. The tail may be venomous or shoot quills like darts.

Many other mutations are possible. A manticore's appearance may easily overlap with the Homeric chimera, German chimera, Tudor/Topsell lamia, and Greek sphinx I mentioned in prior art history posts.

Not the usual faces

The iconic manticore has a humanoid face with a mouth full of shark's teeth, which represents the duality between their bestial hunger and their beautiful voices. However, that is far from the only manifestation of a manticore's duality.

A manticore could have a pleasing humanoid face set above a toothy maw: the human face might have its own mouth to speak pleasingly, or lack one entirely. Alternately the manticore might have a toothy maw which opens to reveal a pleasing humanoid face.

Or it could be a faceless cyclops.

Random tables

People always love random tables. Here are some I devised to randomly generate manticores.

Table 1: Sex/gender (roll 1d4)

1. male
2. female
3. both
4. neither

Table 2: Facial features (roll 1d10) [the sex of the face and body need not match]

1. hirsute man with vaguely leonine features
2. hirsute man with cheshire grin, three rows of teeth
3. elderly satyr (gain horn attack)
4. comely woman, often with inexplicable hair accessories
5. ugly old hag, sometimes bearded or beaked
6. comely woman with a beard
7. monkey, typically a baboon or an aye-aye
8. doppelganger (change face at whim)
9. faceless cyclops
10. two faced: one humanoid (roll 1d6), the other a toothy maw

Table 3: Forequarters (roll 1d6)

1. Big cat
2. Bear
3. Ape
4. Sloth
5. Giant rodent
6. Roll twice, hybrid thereof

Table 4: Hindquarters  (roll 1d6)

1. Roll on forequarters table
2. Even-toed hoofed animal (deer, cattle, goat, etc)
3. Single-toed hoofed animal (horse, zebra, donkey, etc)
4. Odd-toed hoofed animal (rhino, elephant, tapir, etc)
5. Dinosaur
6. Roll twice, hybrid thereof

Table 5: Tail weapon (roll 1d8)

1. scorpion tail (venomous sting)
2. pincer tail (pinch)
3. snake-headed tail (venomous bite)
4. spiked clubbed tail (bludgeon)
5. porcupine tail (shoot spines)
6. Roll twice, gain all attacks
7. Roll thrice, gain all attacks
8. tail is not a natural weapon, roll on table 6

Table 6: Cosmetic tail (roll 1d6)

1. long tail ending in tuft of fur, like a lion
2. long tail covered in short fur, like a tiger or panther
3. long, bushy tail like a snow leopard
4. short, bobby tail like a wild cat
5. long, bristly tail like a horse
6. medium, furry tail like a wolf

Table 7: Cleavage (roll 1d4) [regardless of sex]

1. Not visible
2. Display humanoid cleavage (gain charm attack effective only against men)
3. Pendulous utters like a cow or goat (can be milked for whatever reason)
4. Both of the two previous results

Table 7 is a joke that references Topsell's lurid and silly depiction of the lamia. The text described it as a quadrupedal monster with the face and breasts of a woman, and the illustration depicted it with noticeable male genitals. This "lamia" used its cleavage to hypnotize men before devouring them.