Wandering Wednesday: Sleeping with the Fishes

Greetings, fellow DnD anglers! Thank Pelor that we’ve made it to hump day. That means it’s time for another delightful Wandering Wednesday installment! Let’s go.

We’ve got two underwater undeads for you to reel into your Wandering Monster collection. Our game group is getting antsy for some high-sea antics, and today’s 3D prints will fit like a glove for that salty environment. DM Ben doesn’t like going into new settings unless he has enough miniatures and scatter terrain to build cool, engaging encounters, so he told us to “get to work.”

We’ll kick it off with a mighty Shark Skeleton by mz4250. As usual, this fierce predator is a free download. There’s even a wacky walking version to try, but today we’ll focus on the traditional swimming version. We recommend mixing your resin with plenty of Siraya Tech Tenacious so this more fragile print doesn’t snap and break your heart.

Since this Bitey McBiteface is a very clean 3D print to paint, DM Ben didn’t mind getting “volunteered” to color it up.

• Prime Flat Black | Slapchop Base.
• Fins P1: Layer FAN Thundereous Blue.
• Fins P2: Drybrush/Edge FAN Wolf Grey + Blue Wash.
• Eyes: Matte Black.
• Teeth: GSW Parchment.
• Skeleton P1: ASP Pallid Bone.
• Skeleton P2: Drybrush Citadel Karak Stone.
• Skeleton P3: Drybrush Citadel Ushanti Bone.
• Skeleton P4: Edge with Citadel Screaming Skull.
• Wash: Soft Tone.

For the base, we painted the wood with ASP Tidal Wave, followed by AK Interactive’s amazing Atlantic Blue Water Gel. We might circle back and do a little GSW Sea Foam Texture around the fins (to show a little movement).

Our next non-living aquatic fish is this Fishbone miniature by the mighty Schlossbauer. This small-body, big-bite creature is also a free download. It’s a two-piece pack that includes the main fish and a stand to represent it floating/swimming. Be patient and go slow when attaching the base to the mini. We originally painted two of these, but one literally crumbled in our hands because we pushed the bottom base in too hard. We’re still not over it.

DM Ben batch-painted both STLs to save precious hobby time. We already had a pretty good aquatic paint scheme from our upright Shark Hybrid miniatures. However, we felt that was a bit too bright for something probably roaming the ocean depths. So the darker fin skin appealed to us more and gives us more color tones in the future. Those huge teeth are our favorite detail of the model.

These big ol’ overbites could make a great decoy that suddenly springs into action, luring adventurers into a false sense of security by playing dead at first. Let’s look at the stats:

Giant Zombie Shark | CR 5

• AC: 13 | HP: 113 | Spd: 50 ft
• Attack: Bite: +9/3d10+5 piercing damage.
• Blood Frenzy: Advantage on attacks if target doesn’t have full HP.
• Pack Tactics: Advantage on attacks if within 5 ft of an ally.
• Undead Fortitude: Con Save + damage taken when HP hits zero.

Zombie, Cavefish | CR 1/2

• AC: 18 | HP: 20| Spd: 40 ft
• Attack: Bite: +5/1d6+2 piercing damage.
• Stench: Start a turn within 5 ft, Con DC 10 or be poisoned.
• Pack Tactics: Advantage on attacks if within 5 ft of an ally.
• Undead Fortitude: Con Save + damage taken when HP hits zero.

DM Ben tweaked both of these stat blocks. We used the official D&D Shark monster but increased its HP total and attacks a bit to make it more menacing. Also, there isn’t an official Fishbone D&D monster, so we used the pre-made Cavefish and made these nasty chompers really quick/high reflexes.

Now all that’s left to do is update our table and add yet another nifty on-decker for all your DnD roaming monster needs.

Until next time!