Cuero, Sporewing

Family: Cuero

Large aberration, neutral

Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 152 (16d10 + 64)
Speed 10 ft., climb 10 ft., fly 40 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
18 (+4)	16 (+3)	18 (+4)	6 (-2)	15 (+2)	9 (-1)

Skills Stealth +6
Senses blindsight 15 ft., darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages Common
Challenge 6 (2,300 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Camouflage. A sporewing gains double the normal proficiency bonus on Stealth checks in areas where tall grass, trees, or similar vegetation is present. If prone on the ground where vegetation is present, it gains advantage on Stealth checks.

ACTIONS

• Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage. Instead of dealing damage, the sporewing can grapple the target (escape DC 15).
• Blood Drain. As a bonus action, a sporewing can use its lamprey-like mouth to drain the blood from a grappled, incapacitated, or restrained target within 5 feet. This attack automatically hits and deals 14 (2d8 + 5) piercing damage, plus the target gains one level of exhaustion due to blood loss.
• Sticky Sporecloud (1/Day). An area with a 20-foot radius is affected as if by fog cloud. All Medium or smaller creatures must make a DC 12 Strength saving throw or be restrained for 1 round. All non-sporewings must also make a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or be stunned for 1 round. These spores also stick to creatures for 1 minute, making invisible creatures visible and causing creatures coated in spores to suffer disadvantage on Stealth checks.

ABOUT

Farmers who graze their cattle near slow-moving rivers or placid lakes warn their neighbors when rumors of a cuero pass from village to village. These strange, flat creatures haunt waterways in search of large prey to satisfy their voracious appetites. When more passive, cueros lie in wait at the bottom of a lake or river for suitable prey to swim overhead. In lean times, cueros sit just beneath the water’s surface near the shore and stay perfectly still until an animal comes near to drink. They sometimes even bury themselves in the muddy banks of a river to surprise passersby. Their upper surface resembles wet, wrinkled cowhide, or perhaps a drowned animal, but its underside is dominated by a toothy maw. A cuero is over 10 feet across, with a long dangling tail, and weighs around 600 pounds.

Sporewings. Sporewings are cunningly evolved variant cueros, adapted to life outside of the water. Their hunting and mating habits are similar t their aquatic cousins, but they have developed buoyant air-sacs that enable them to hover and fly, using their muddy coloration while clinging to the ground or to mounds of vegetation to hide their presence before launching themselves into the air to unleash their entangling spores onto their victims and gnawing them to death once they have been overcome.