Shrew, Giant Venomous
- Armor Class
- 4 [15]
- Hit Dice
- 1
- Attacks
- Bite (1d6)
- Special
- poison, swift second bite on natural 19-20
- Move
- 18
- HDE/XP
- 2/30
Description
Giant shrews resemble giant rats, but are larger, being up to 6' long, and darker in color. They have a very fast metabolic rate and must eat almost constantly. Giant shrews are omnivorous, and aggressively defend their nests and the immediate territory around them.
Giant shrews move so swiftly that when a bite attack rolls a natural 19-20 they may immediately bite a second adjacent opponent.
A few giant shrew species (generally no more than 5% of those encountered) are venomous. The bite of such a giant shrew will kill the victim unless a saving throw against poison is made. A victim bitten twice in a round need only save once for that round, but of course will have to save again in subsequent rounds if bitten again.
Shrew Notes
Giant shrews resemble oversized rats, but they are larger, darker, ravenously hungry, and extremely territorial. Their speed no longer grants two automatic bites each round: when a bite attack rolls a natural 19–20, the shrew may immediately bite a second adjacent opponent.
Venomous giant shrews are uncommon variants, represented here by a separate individual entry. Their bite kills a victim that fails a saving throw against poison. A victim bitten twice in the same round need only save once for that round, but must save again in later rounds if bitten again.
See Also
Other creatures in the Shrew category: Shrew, Giant.
Source note: This creature is converted from Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game, 4th Edition Release 142, © 2006–2025 Chris Gonnerman. The Basic Fantasy textual material is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International; this page adapts that creature to White Box.