Water Weird [Water Kin Elemental]

Until it moves, a water weird is indistinguishable from the water that holds it: a still well, a decorative fountain, a cistern or basin. A detect invisible spell cast on the pool tells the caster that something there is wrong, but gives no hint of what. When prey comes near, the water stirs and gathers itself into a coiling serpent shape, a process that needs two full rounds.

Once its serpent body has formed, the weird strikes with the attack ability of a 6 Hit Die monster. A creature it hits must make a saving throw vs. paralyzation or be hauled into the water. Each round a victim stays submerged calls for another save, and any failure means the victim drowns.

Its fluid form shrugs off most punishment. Edged weapons such as swords and axes deal only 1 point per hit, while maces, hammers and other blunt weapons do full damage. Cold acts on it like a slow spell. Against a fireball it takes half damage on a failed save and none on a success. Most other attacks have no effect.

Bringing a water weird to 0 hit points with these methods does not kill it. The creature simply splashes apart, then rebuilds its serpent form two rounds later and attacks again. The one sure end is purify water, which unravels its life essence and destroys it outright, though each casting accounts for only one weird: three of them require three castings.

If a weird touches a water elemental, it can try to seize command of it by rolling 11 or higher on 1d20. A failed roll means it cannot try again during that encounter.

Water weirds are solitary. When two or three share a pool, it is only because the hunting there is good. Many of those on the Prime Material plane are held by magical bindings, usually laid by a wizard who summoned them to serve, and they constantly look for a way to slip those bonds and go home. They are quite intelligent, so a party that finds a way to talk with one and offers something it wants may avoid a fight. Their chaotic temperament means any such deal can collapse without warning.

Scholars have never worked out exactly how water weirds sustain themselves. Their nature as elemental beings makes them hard to study, but they clearly draw nourishment from the energy given off when a creature drowns inside them, perhaps in a manner related to the way will-o-wisps feed.