The manticore's attack routine appears to be either claw/claw/bite or tail spikes. The tail spike attack is listed as a single attack which deals 1d6 per spike thrown, up to a maximum of 6 spikes/round. So if I'm interpreting it correctly, the manticore makes a single attack throw and deals up to 6d6 damage if it hits, but cannot split up a spike attack between multiple targets. Do I have that right? As a follow-up, if a manticore drops its target with a tail spike attack, may it cleave? If so, does cleaving allow it to exceed the 6 spikes/round limitation? If not, then may it hold spikes in reserve if it wishes to have an opportunity for cleaving?
As a secondary question, given the manticore's human face, it would stand to reason that it can speak. How intelligent is a manticore, and what languages should it know? I have a notion that any given manticore has only a 20% chance to understand any languages. The rest of them routinely vocalize by mimicing phrases they have heard (for which they've an uncanny talent), but do not actually understand what they're saying. Given the manticore's taste for human flesh, that means the phrases they are most likely to mimic consist of prayers, imprecations, screams of terror, pleas for mercy, and the like. Those that cannot understand speech will parrot these phrases in response to any attempts to communicate, and many of them will fall into this habit in battle as well, even if they do understand the spoken word.