Nereid (CR 4)

Medium Fey (Aquatic and Extraplanar)
Alignment: Usually chaotic neutral
Initiative: +7 (+3 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative); Senses: low-light vision, Listen +7, and Spot +7
Languages: Aquan


AC: 16 (+3 Dex, +3 deflection), touch 16, flat-footed 13
Hit Dice: 3d6+3 (13 hp)
Fort +2, Ref +6, Will +4
Speed: 30 ft., swim 40 ft.
Space: 5 ft./5 ft.
Base Attack +1; Grapple +0
Attack: Touch +4 melee or dagger +4 melee
Full Attack: Touch +4 melee or dagger +4 melee
Damage: Touch - drown, dagger 1d4-1/19-20
Special Attacks/Actions: Drown, spell-like abilities, summon water elemental
Abilities: Str 9, Dex 17, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 12, Cha 16
Special Qualities: Deflection, displacement, resistance to cold 10 and fire 10, shawl, speak with animals
Feats: Improved Initiative; Weapon Finesse
Skills: Escape Artist +9, Handle Animal +9, Hide +9 (+17 in water), Knowledge (the planes) +7, Listen +7, Ride +5, Spot +7, Survival +1 (+3 on other planes), Swim +7, Use Magic Device +9, and Use Rope +3 (+5 involving bindings)
Advancement: By character class
Climate/Terrain: Temperate aquatic
Organization: Solitary or splash (2-4, plus 1-2 octopi, squid, or porpoises)
Treasure/Possessions: No coins; 50% goods (metal or stone only); 50% items (no scrolls)

Source: Stormwrack

Drown (Su): A nereid can make a special touch attack to try to fill an opponent's lungs with water. The opponent can resist this effect with a DC 16 Fortitude save. On a failed save the opponent begins to drown. The save DC is Charisma-based and includes a +2 racial bonus.

Spell-Like Abilities: At will - air breathing (DC 16); 3/day - control currents; 1/day - control water (DC 19), wall of ice (DC 17). Caster level 10th. The save DCs are Charisma-based.

Summon Water Elemental (Sp): Once per day a nereid can attempt to summon 1d3 Small water elementals or a single Medium water elemental. The summoned elementals remain for 1 hour or until slain. This ability is the equivalent of a 5th-level spell.

Deflection (Ex): A nereid adds a deflection bonus to AC equal to its Charisma bonus.

Displacement (Su): A nereid's shimmering form makes its true location difficult to surmise. Any melee or ranged attack directed against it has a 50% miss chance unless the attacker can locate the nereid by some means other than sight. A true seeing effect allows the user to see the nereid's position, but see invisibility has no effect.

Shawl (Su): Every nereid is wrapped in a delicate shawl of seafoam white, to which its essence is bound. A nereid whose shawl is destroyed quickly fades and dies within 1 hour. Cruel individuals coerce the service of nereids by stealing their shawls, and a nereid so deprived will do everything in its power to regain the item. A nereid's shawl can be taken while it is worn by using the disarm action, though this is a difficult task. Treat the shawl as a well-secured item, which means that you must first pin the nereid before you can use the disarm action (and even then, the nereid gains a +4 bonus on its roll to resist the attempt).

Speak with Animals (Su): Nereids can speak with animals, though only simple concepts can be communicated (as the speak with animals spell).

Skills: Nereids have a +8 racial bonus on Hide checks underwater because of their near transparency while submerged.

A nereid has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.

A nereid relies on concealment and camouflage to avoid danger, and it does not attack unless in the most desperate circumstances (such as retrieving a stolen shawl). Nereids use their water magic to hold back attackers and summon elemental allies to assist them in combat.

Aquatic Subtype

Creatures with the aquatic subtype always have swim speeds and thus can move in water without making Swim checks. An aquatic creature can breathe underwater. It cannot also breathe air unless it has the amphibious special quality.

Extraplanar Subtype

A subtype applied to any creature when it is on a plane other than its native plane. A creature that travels the planes can gain or lose this subtype as it goes from plane to plane. This book assumes that encounters with creatures take place on the Material Plane, and every creature whose native plane is not the Material Plane has the extraplanar subtype (but would not have when on its home plane). An extraplanar creatures usually has a home plane mentioned in its description. These home planes are taken from the Great Wheel cosmology of the D&D game (see Chapter 5 of the Dungeon Master's Guide). If your campaign uses a different cosmology, you will need to assign different home planes to extraplanar creatures.

Creatures not labeled as extraplanar are natives of the Material Plane, and they gain the extraplanar subtype if they leave the Material Plane. No creature has the extraplanar subtype when it is on a transitive plane; the transitive planes in the D&D cosmology are the Astral Plane, the Ethereal Plane, and the Plane of Shadow.