A lot of people are posting on the PH's for these things. My bard was killing manticores and griffs in the zone for xp the other day (and wooley rhinos, mammoths, savage frost giants, etc.), the numbers did seem to alternate on my tracking. Seems like there was a half hour to an hour delay between killing a manticore and a griffon spawning, and vice versa. I don't need the eggs, but in 5 kills, two of which were elder griffons, 2 eggs dropped, but I think they both dropped off the lesser ones. Manticores make great charmed pets, btw, one of the best pets I ever charmed, but their poison is very nasty. I only got poisoned once, but it took my 51 Bard over half down before it faded.
Anyway, here's a Bard tactic, (druids and chanters may want to experiment with these as pets too)... charm a manticore with Solon's Bewitching Bravura (my CHA=124, and it lasts way longer than 18 seconds now, maybe 2 or 3 minutes), sic it on a griff or giant (or whatever). Lay some Tuyans' Chants (DoTs) on the target and help your pet. When the target turns, slow it with Selos Consonant Chain and let pet finish it. If charm breaks before target is dead, re-charm manticore, sic it on target, and slow target (who's now chasing you)with Consonant Chain. Once dead, tell pet to sit down, loot the kill, when charm breaks, let the manticore chase you while you track down your next victim, charm the manticore again, repeat the whole process. You can kill several mobs with one manticore, and when its health gets low, charm it and sic it on another manticore, but don't help it. When the new manticore kills it, use the new one as your pet. The nice thing is, the elder griffs will be rooting, snaring, kicking and scratching the manticore instead of you. You just stand by and toss in dots and slows, and rake in the xp. When your mana gets low from all the charming, DoT kite what's left of your manticore and get xp for him too. Just always know where he is, and don't let him hit you, or you may actually have to put away your trusty drum and strum the ol' guitar once he's dead.
Naturally, druids and chanters will need to adjust their tactics to suit their class-specific skills. Bards with drum equipped can easily outrun even elder griffons, but bard charms break much more frequently. I only had to put down my drum once all day, and that was the time I let my former pet catch up and slap me with its poison. Did me around 700-800hp over time. Ouch!
Syreen Valkyrja, 51 Bard, Xegony
Edited, Wed Jan 8 01:08:51 2003