As the name implies, lesser sphinxes are less powerful than their cousins, the better-known sphinxes of lore and sphinxes of valor. Rather than having a humanoid head like greater sphinxes, hierocosphinxes resemble birds of prey, while criosphinxes possess features that resemble horned sheep. Despite their animal visages, lesser sphinxes are eloquent and wise. Some scholars speculate that it is possible for a lesser sphinx to change into sphinx of lore or an sphinx of valor over time.

Lesser sphinxes often serve greater sphinxes, forming a small pride led by a greater sphinx or a designated lieutenant. However, instead of guarding a location alongside their sphinx of lore or sphinx of valor master, lesser sphinxes are given the task of protecting a separate area. Usually nearby, these auxiliary locations lie along the path to the primary place of stewardship. They provide additional challenges to supplicants in search of the greater sphinxes.

Like greater sphinxes, some lesser sphinxes eventually grow weary of their responsibilities as guardians and break away from their divine command. Unlike sphinxes of valor and sphinx of lore, lesser sphinxes can wander far away from their former dens, finding new places for themselves in the world at large. Such cases are very rare, but unbound sphinxes have been known to found and lead humanoid groups.

Criosphinx#

These ram-headed sphinxes are the most likely of their kind to abandon neutrality and are sometimes of lawful good alignment, in contrast to their somewhat fiendish appearance. Associated with love and vigor, criosphinxes represent the sanguine side of creatures otherwise known for their phlegmatic attitudes.

Although less likely than hierocosphinxes to ignore divine commands, those unbound criosphinxes that do exist are more likely to interact with human society. Such criosphinxes are often attracted to serve human royalty or take on the mantle of leadership themselves. Many monuments and statues of sphinxes from antiquity may actually depict criosphinxes rather than the sphinxes of lore they more resemble, with ancient artisans attempting to “humanize” these great figures for future generations.

Hierocosphinx#

Where criosphinxes embody the sanguine or optimistic aspect of the sphinx, the hawk-headed hierocosphinx tends toward the choleric or plain bad tempered. Many of these creatures are lawful evil in alignment and created to serve the commands of evil deities. Unbound hierocosphinxes usually choose a life of angry solitude, though some become great tyrants over lesser creatures.

While a criosphinx presents adventurers with exacting challenges out of pride and devotion to its master, the hierocosphinx may deny a supplicant their due reward— even if they have completed its task—out of pure spite. The hierocosphinx justifies its actions in such cases by pedantry: any deviation from doing the task exactly as explained will allow the hierocosphinx to declare it a failure.

Sometimes mistaken for griffons, hierocosphinxes are easily distinguished by their leonine manes and forelegs. The intelligence of griffons and hierocosphinxes is a stark contrast between the two: griffons are unintelligent, while hierocosphinxes are fully sapient beings mentally similar to humans. Even though they are different, griffons and hierocosphinxes have been known to interbreed. Any offspring possess a random patchwork of feline and avian features, and rarely show any hierocosphinx intelligence.