Ningyo

A small fish bursts from the water and looks frantically about. Wet hair sprays droplets in all directions as it shakes its head to and fro, revealing a human face beneath its oily hair. Eight squirming tentacles writhe where whiskers would be.

Small aberration, neutral evil

Armor Class 15
Hit Points 77 (14d6 + 28)
Speed 0 ft., fly 60 ft., swim 60 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
8 (-1) 21 (+5) 15 (+2) 14 (+2) 11 (+0) 7 (-2)

Saving Throws Strength +2, Dexterity +8, Wisdom +3
Skills Deception +1, Insight +3, Perception +3
Damage Resistances acid, cold, fire, necrotic, poison
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Aquan, Common, Deep Speech
Challenge 7 (2,900 XP)

Special Traits

  • Aquatic. The ningyo can breathe only underwater and can hold its breath for 1 hour.
  • Curse of Ill Fortune. When a creature that the ningyo can see attacks the ningyo and misses, the attack is automatically redirected against another creature within 5 feet of the ningyo or the attacker. This attack uses the same attack roll.

Actions

  • Multiattack. The ningyo makes four barbed tentacle attacks.
  • Barbed Tentacle. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d6 + 5) piercing damage plus 5 (1d10) poison damage.

Reactions

  • Share Pain. When the ningyo takes damage, it can choose to take half the damage instead. The ningyo then chooses a creature within 60 feet. The target must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or have disadvantage until the end of its next turn as it is wracked with the pain of the attack.

About

Curse of the Open Sea. Fishermen scream in horror and release their lines when they pull a ningyo from the sea, not only because of its frightful visage, but also because legend holds that ningyo are harbingers of destruction and ill fortune. A fisherman who takes home a ningyo is cursed with bad luck, and a village which sees one dead upon its shores is marked for doom.

Flesh of Eternal Youth. Legend tells that anyone who consumes the raw flesh of a ningyo will live forever. The tale goes that a man caught a ningyo and served it as sashimi to his fellow fisherman without realizing what it was. One man noticed that it was a ningyo and, not wishing to offend his host, told his friends to secretly dispose of their meal. One man, drunk on sake, forgot that he put his ningyo sashimi in his pocket and gave it to his adult daughter when he returned home. The daughter ate it and lived with eternal youth, marrying many lovers and watching them die while she remained young. After 800 years, she returned to her hometown and took her own life.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Creature Codex. © 2018 Open Design LLC; Authors Wolfgang Baur, Dan Dillon, Richard Green, James Haeck, Chris Harris, Jeremy Hochhalter, James Introcaso, Chris Lockey, Shawn Merwin, and Jon Sawatsky.