Shrew, Giant
by Sheldon MorrisGiant shrews look like large, brown-furred rats with long snouts. They can burrow, climb, or jump. The eyes of a the shrew are so weak that the creature is not affected by light or the lack of it. A shrew uses radarlike squeaks to "see" its surroundings, in a similar manner to bats. Since it needs echos to "see", a shrew dislikes open areas, and remains underground most of the time. Magical silence will "blind" a shrew.
A shrew is a very quick creature, and its attacks so ferocious - attacking the head and shoulder areas of defenders - it has been known to cause even experienced warriors to retreat in fearful surprise.
They only eat insects and vegetable mater, but they are so nervous and aggressive that they are likely to attack anything that comes within 20 feet of them.
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GIANT SHREW
Small beast, unaligned
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Armour Class 12
Hit Points 13 (3d6 + 3)
Speed 40 ft., borrow 10 ft.
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STR|DEX|CON|INT|WIS|CHA
9 (-1)|15 (+2)|12 (+1)|2 (-4)|11 (+0)|4 (-3)
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Skills Athletics +1, Perception +2
Senses blindsight 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius), passive Perception 12
Challenge ¼ (50 XP)
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Echolocation. The shrew can't use its blindsight while deafened. While deafened, it has disadvantage on attack rolls, and attack rolls against it have advantage.
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ACTIONS
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.
Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage.
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REACTIONS
Ferocious Bite. When the shrew hits a target with its bite attack, it will attack that same target the with a second bite attack. This second bite attack has advantage. If the second bite attack hits, the target must succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
Design Notes: This one was a lot more fun than I was expecting. I originally had it as a simple Multiattack with 2 bites, but wasn't sure about how, or even if, I would include the fear effect, especially since this was only bordering on being a CR 1/4 creature (instead of CR 1/8). Thus, I decided to try out using the reaction to get in the second attack, if the first one hit, and have the fear effect dependant on that as well. Seemed like a good compromise.