Water Skate, Spurred

Large beast, unaligned

Armor Class 13
Hit Points 60 (8d10 + 16)
Speed 40 ft. (30 ft. on the surface of a liquid)

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
12 (+1)	17 (+3)	15 (+2)	3 (–4)	10 (+0)	6 (–2)

Senses passive Perception 10
Languages —
Challenge 1 (200 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Water Walker. The spurred water skate can move across the surface of water as if it were harmless, solid ground. This trait works like the water walk spell.

ACTIONS

• Stabbing Forelimbs. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) piercing damage. The target is grappled (escape DC 12) if it is a Medium or smaller creature and the skate doesn’t have two other creatures grappled. Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained. If the target is in a liquid, the skate can hold it under the surface, and the target risks suffocating.

ABOUT

The spurred water skate is a diurnal carnivore. It has weak mandibles, but the adaptations enabling it to move on the water make it a powerful hunter. The distribution of the spurred water skate’s weight, along with leg bristles that create and hold air bubbles at the surface, allow it to stand on top of even moderately choppy water and move without sinking. The insect’s sharp forelimbs are powerful enough to kill weaker prey outright, but it prefers to use its limbs to grasp targets and submerge them until they drown.

Because spurred water skates move effortlessly across wet surfaces, they are desirable mounts in the swamps and marshes they inhabit. Cueyatl (Creature Codex, p. 68) and smaller lizardfolk train and ride the insects.