Reaver Beaver

Medium monstrosity, neutral evil

Armor Class 13
Hit Points 85 (10d8 + 40)
Speed 20 ft., swim 40 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
18 (+4)	16 (+3)	19 (+4)	7 (-2)	16 (+3)	10 (+0)

Skills Perception +5, Stealth +5
Senses passive Perception 15
Languages understands Druidic but can’t speak
Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +2

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Keen Smell. The beaver has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
• Lumberjack Hatred. The beaver has advantage on attack rolls against any creature that is wielding an axe.

ACTIONS

• Multiattack. The beaver attacks twice: once with its bite and once with its tail.
• Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6 + 4) piercing damage plus 3 (1d6) acid damage.
• Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d10 + 4) bludgeoning damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be forced prone. If the target is already prone, it takes an extra 7 (2d6) bludgeoning damage.
• Spit Acid. Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, range 30/60 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (4d6) acid damage.

REACTIONS

• Tail Sweep. When a creature within 5 feet of the beaver that the beaver can see stands up from a prone position, the beaver attacks the creature with its tail.

ABOUT

When seen from a distance, there is little to distinguish the reaver beaver from its more innocuous namesake, save its much larger size. Upon closer examination, the differences become obvious and terrifying. Glowing red eyes filled with hate squint over a snarling, acid-coated maw dominated by two incisors the size of daggers. A thick, leathery tail covered in jagged barbs extends from the back of a stocky frame which is up to 8 feet long and can weigh over 300 pounds.

Prevailing wisdom suggests that evil druids created reaver beavers as a weapon to unleash upon settlers and despoilers of nature, but no one can claim to know the monsters’ origins for certain. What is known for sure is that reaver beavers possess a malicious intellect entirely out of line with their animalistic forebears and that they are driven to terrorize anyone who encroaches upon their domain.

Hunters, farmers, and miners are all often targets of their predations. Reaver beavers seem to harbor a specific hatred for lumberjacks; often the first signs of a nearby colony of reaver beavers are the remains of a destroyed lumber camp or sawmill. Survivors who can speak of the assault are rare, but the monsters’ grisly tendency to gnaw off their victims’ legs and leave the shredded appendages behind leave little doubt as to the culprits.

Reaver beavers are equally as industrious as normal beavers, but, in a perverse echo of their natural kin, they favor not wood as their primary building material but rather the bodies of their victims. Horrific corpse dams upriver from settlements can obstruct the flow of water as well as befoul it with disease.

Reaver beavers’ colonies are constructed in the same way, often supplementing humanoid corpses with those of other animals to create obscene mounds of rotting flesh. These gruesome dens are usually built near the shore of a lake and extend underneath the surface, with the entrance accessible only by diving beneath the fetid water.

In combat, reaver beavers unleash volleys of acidic spittle before swarming forward in an ungainly rush. They often work in tandem with disturbing coordination, one attacking a target’s legs to topple them to the ground, the other using its powerful tail to pulverize the now-prone victim.