A
dire great white shark is larger and more aggressive than smaller sharks. Utterly fearless, it preys on anything that crosses its path, including whales and ships. Dire great white sharks are found in almost all coastal and deep waters.
Capable of leaping out of the water to catch it's prey, a dire shark hangs in a seemingly motionless way for a few seconds, before it falls back into the water. Dire sharks weigh approximately 3,400 pounds (1,542 kg) and use that weight to their advantage to bump ships or tail slap something out of the way. Their bodies are flexible and allow them to thrash from side to side, usually after they have bitten prey.
Dire Great White Shark
Huge beast, unaligned
Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points 163 6d20+100
Speed
Swim: 50ft
Skills Perception +3
Damage Vulnerabilities Bludgeoning and Piercing damage specifically from using a metal-tipped Arrow, a metal Crossbow, a metal Dagger, a metal Rapier, a Spear with a metal tip, or a metal Trident. It's only vulnerable to the metallic piercing weapons mentioned, because those are the only weapons that can pierce this shark's hide.
Condition Immunities Grappling
Senses blindsight 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Challenge 7 (3,000 XP)
Blood Frenzy. The shark has advantage on melee attack rolls against any creature that doesn't have all its hit points.
Jump. The shark can jump 5 feet out of the water to bite its prey, whether creature or object.
Grappled Thrashing. If the shark succeeds in biting a creature, it is immediately grappled. As a bonus action, the shark can thrash to and fro, essentially shaking the creature violently.
Tail Slap. As a reaction, the shark can jump and slap either a creature or an object with its tail.
Water Breathing. The shark can breathe only underwater.
Actions
This shark can use all actions and bonus actions in a single turn, provided it targets the same creature for each.
Bonus Action: Jump. The dire great white shark can jump 5 feet out of the water to bite its prey, whether creature or object.
Bite and Grapple. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 46 3d10+6 piercing damage, and the creature is grappled. If grapples a creature during a jump, the grappled thrashing occurs above the water, before the dire great white shark and the creature fall into the water. The shark does not suffer any ill effects from hitting the water, but the creature takes 4
3d10+6
force damage.
Bonus Action: Thrashing. Melee Weapon Attack:
+9
to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11
3d10+6
internal force damage from being shaken.
Reactions
Tail Slap. Melee Weapon Attack:
+9
to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11
3d10+6
bludgeoning damage.
If there are any DMs/GMs out there who'd like to comment on whether the dire great white shark is over- or under-powered or about right, I'd love it! Have not yet DMed/GMed, so I'd appreciate your input.
are powerful predators that have existed on Toril for ages and they have very few natural predators. They epitomize the mysteries of the deep where many ferocious creatures live. They have two rows of jagged triangle-shaped teeth which have sawtooth edges and have a bite force of 2 tons. By way of comparison, the average commoner's bite strength is 20 times weaker.
Motivated by food, a dire shark will migrate as far as 12,427 miles (20,000 km) as it follows good food sources along their own migration paths. Food sources include seals, sea lions, bony fish, and even other sharks. A dire shark is also mean enough to count humanoids as a food source, and delight in attacking ships in hopes that several humanoids will fall over the ship's railing to become a tasty feast.
Their coloring helps them sneak up on prey. When looking down at a dire shark, the gray coloring helps the shark to blend into the depths. When looking up at a dire shark from below, the shark's white belly helps blend it into the sunshine above. And, when viewed from the side, it's hard to discern the outline or silhouette of a dire shark. All of these characteristics make it difficult for lesser creatures to spot a dire shark, until it's almost upon them.
Inspired by the SRD's Hunter Shark and Giant Shark.
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