AC 13 (natural armor)
HP 85 (9d10 + 36; bloodied 42)
Speed 0 ft., burrow 40 ft., fly 40 ft. (hover)
Proficiency +2; Maneuver DC 14
Senses tremorsense 60 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages —
Stone Glide. The shark can burrow through nonmagical stone. While doing so, it doesn’t disturb the material it moves through. The shark can’t be harmed by stone weapons or projectiles, as such weapons pass right through them.
ACTIONS
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d10 + 4) piercing damage. If the target is a Large or smaller creature, it is grappled (escape DC 14). While grappled in this way, the target gains the stone shark’s Stone Glide trait, and the stone shark can’t bite a different creature. If the target escapes the grapple while it is inside stone, it takes 27 (5d10) force damage and is shunted to the nearest unoccupied space outside the stone.
Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
REACTIONS
Tail Swat. When a creature the stone shark can see hits it with a melee attack, the shark attacks that creature with its tail.
Combat
The shark begins its turn hiding inside stone. It flies from its hiding place, tries to grapple a creature with its bite, and if successful retreats into stone. It replies to opportunity attacks with its tail swat. It retreats when it can swim away with a fresh kill. It may also retreat if it is bloodied , but not if any of its enemies are also bloodied. A bloodied stone shark may follow potential prey for some time and launch a surprise attack when they are distracted.
Legends and Lore
With an Arcana or Nature check, characters can learn the following:
DC 10 Though often encountered in dungeons and caverns on the Material Plane, stone sharks are native to the Plane of Earth.
DC 15 Stone sharks can “swim” through stone as if it were water.
DC 20 As if they weren’t bad enough already, stone sharks can also fly. Only water, earth, and metal seems to stop them
A dorsal fin slices through stone, leaving no trail behind. Suddenly, a shark bursts out of the cobblestone floor, seizes an adventurer in its jaws, and sinks back into the rock.
Glide Through Stone. Stone sharks are eyeless monsters that resemble white hammerhead sharks. They glide through stone and air as effortlessly as water. Able to sense the vibrations of their prey from within stone walls and floors, they are virtually impossible to detect except when they burst forth to attack.
Subterranean Terror. Stone sharks are native to the Plane of Earth. Even creatures that can pass through stone, like xorn , fear them. In a dungeon or Underland cavern, a stone shark is a true terror, since it can attack at will and retreat to safety within a solid surface. The sight of a fin surfacing along a cobbled floor can send even the most experienced adventurers running for the exit.Thankfully, stone sharks can’t glide through earth, and so few stone sharks have been sighted on the surface.
Bloodflower Fields. Stone shark hunting grounds are often covered with fields of bloodflowers, tiny crimson flowers that sprout from stone and don’t require light to bloom. The connection between the flowers and the shark isn’t fully understood, but bloodflowers are thought to be native to the Plane of Earth.
1–2 On the hunt, passing through stone walls and flying through rooms and passages
3–4 Hiding in a stone floor, stalking an unsuspecting group—perhaps the adventurers
1 In a stone hall, a set of footprints ends in a pool of blood
2 A dorsal fin slides along a distant surface
3 Terrified humanoids with confused descriptions of a shark attack
4 Bloodflower blossoms
Stone sharks are native to the Plane of Earth but some have migrated to the depths of Underland.
CR 3–4 stone shark
CR 11–16 3 or 4 stone sharks