Cuero

Family: Cuero

Large aberration, neutral

Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points 152 (16d10 + 64)
Speed 10 ft., swim 40 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
20 (+5)	15 (+2)	18 (+4)	6 (-2)	15 (+2)	9 (-1)

Skills Stealth +5
Senses blindsight 15 ft., darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages Common
Challenge 6 (2,300 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Camouflage. A cuero gains double the normal proficiency bonus on Dexterity (Stealth) checks in water, and if prone in water it gains advantage on Stealth checks.

ACTIONS

• Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage. Instead of dealing damage, the cuero can grapple the target (escape DC 15).
• Blood Drain. As a bonus action, a cuero 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.
• Muddy Cloud. A cuero can flap about in the water within 10 feet of a riverbed or lakebed and stir up mud, silt, and other debris. All water within 30 feet becomes heavily obscured for 2d6 rounds. In flowing water, this duration is halved, or reduced to 1 round if the water is running exceptionally fast.

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.