Water Drake [Dark Sun]

Pale gray-blue and the slenderest of its family, the water drake has a blowhole set in the back of its head. All four of its feet are webbed and tipped with sharp triangular claws made for digging, gripping prey and raking. Its tail is narrower and flatter than other drakes', a superb paddle in water.

Caught on land, a water drake withdraws into its water and fights from there whenever possible. It often sends a psychic clone to scout trespassers, then tries psionic banishment on the strongest of them to rattle the rest. In melee it strikes fast and hard with claws (1d8+10) and jaws (4d6), and sweeps its tail (3d10) if enemies get on its flanks. Every 15 days it can gate a sphere of elemental water 30 feet across from the elemental plane of water.

Psionic sciences: banishment, clairvoyance, psychic clone, telekinesis, teleport and tower of iron will. Devotions: mind thrust and psionic crush on the attack; mental barrier and mind blank for defense; and body equilibrium, chameleon power, contact, control body, dimension walk, dimensional door, dream travel, ESP, invisibility, poison sense, psionic drain, time shift and wrench.

It is rarely seen because it hates what humankind has done to the world, and it wants nothing to do with people. It avoids most intruders, but any humanoid who enters its lair is killed without a second thought, for these drakes place no value whatever on humanoid lives. They settle by deep water where they can, and many guard tunnels leading to water filters buried far underground. A water drake smells water up to 15 miles away with a 95% chance to judge how much is there, and its webbed feet shift sand in great quantities.

Water drakes like food that has soaked or been stored in water for a good while, though they will happily eat a freshly killed humanoid. They turn up across the desert world, but most live in the humid jungle borderlands.