Moat Cat

Wizards create moat cats by fusing newts with big cats like cheetahs or mountain lions. The result has a feline build but smooth, slick skin, a heavy lizardlike tail, gills behind the jaw, and green slit-pupiled eyes. Color follows the newt: usually black, red, or brown, spotted with a contrasting shade such as white on black or black on red.

Breathing air and water alike, a moat cat waits fully submerged and bursts up at anyone nearby, giving victims -3 on surprise rolls. It bites and claws with its forepaws; if both front claws land, it rakes with the hind pair for 1d4 each. Fleeing ashore is no escape: it can sprint at speed 30 for three rounds, then must rest three full turns before sprinting again.

Like the newts in its making, it is utterly silent. No growl warns its prey, so most intruders learn of it only as it lunges, usually far too late.

Needing water close by, a moat cat strays at most about a mile from its moat to hunt and always comes back to eat and sleep, an accidental loyalty that keeps it on guard. One sheep-sized meal every other week suffices; it gorges, then lazes for a day while digesting. Bribing it with food is unreliable, since it prefers live quarry. A thief who dumps a goat carcass in the water hoping to sneak by will likely find the cat coming for him instead.

Though some live wild in rivers, ponds, or lakes, they are bred as moat guardians. Training works only if begun very young, so their masters keep a hold monster or charm monster spell ready to protect expected guests.

Its skin must stay wet; every full hour out of water deals 1d6 hp. Like true amphibians, it cannot survive salt water. Females leave jellylike eggs that hatch 20-50 (1d4+1 x 10) cubs, more than half of which the adults eat, so only 1-4 per brood usually mature. Cubs are legless, tadpole-like swimmers with 1 HD, swim speed 6, and a 1-3 hp bite. At one year they gain a Hit Die, grow legs, and come ashore to learn hunting from their parents; they are adults at two and live 12 to 15 years.