Monster Monday: Sawfish, A Toothy Sword-Faced Fish

Today's Monster Monday is the sawfish, a large shark with a tooth-lined sword nose that it sweeps back and forth to shred fish. Okay, actually sawfish aren't sharks, they are rays. And their noses (rostra) aren't lined with teeth, they are modified tooth-like scales (dermal denticles). But there are a similar group of saw-nosed sharks, but they are much smaller than the sawfish, which grows up to about 23 feet in length.

Common sawfish (pristis pristis); Photo by David Iliff (License: CC-BY-SA 3.0), via Wikimedia

With that said, sawfish are awesome monsters and I am surprised they haven't appeared in a Bestiary yet. Not only does their saw-nose make for a memorable combat experience, but it can also be fashioned into a macuahuitl. If you are going for a more prehistoric experience, saw-nosed sclerorhynchids lived from about 130-55 million years ago - most were Small-sized like modern saw-nosed sharks, but onchopristis was 26 feet long with an 8 foot saw lined with barbed teeth. There was also the saw-nosed ichthyosaur eurhinosaurus that you can find back in this old post.

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2018 Jonah Bomgaars.

This brownish-grey, flat-bottomed shark sweeps its long, saw-like nose back and forth through the water

Sawfish        CR 2

XP 600

N Large animal (aquatic)

Init +2; Senses low-light vision, blindsense 60 ft.; Perception +4

DEFENSE

AC 14, touch 11, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +3 natural, -1 size)

hp 22 (4d8+4)

Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +0

OFFENSE

Speed swim 50 ft.

Melee saw +6 (1d6+4)

Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.

Special Attacks saw sweep +4/+4 (1d6+3)

STATISTICS

Str 16, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 1, Wis 9, Cha 3

Base Atk +3; CMB +7; CMD 19

Feats Weapon Focus (saw)

Skills Perception +4, Stealth +9, Swim +11; Racial Modifiers +6 Stealth

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Saw Sweep (Ex)

As a full-attack action, a sawfish can make two separate saw attacks at a -2 penalty, dealing saw damage plus strength.

ECOLOGY

Environment warm oceans and rivers

Organization solitary

Treasure none

Sawfish are large, shark-like fish notable for their long, flat noses lined with teeth on both edges. They can grow up to 25 feet long with saws up to five and a half feet in length. They live in warm coastal waters, lagoons, and brackish estuaries, although they sometimes venture far up river. Sawfish are bottom-dwellers, laying flat against the sandy bottom and using an array of electro-chemical sensors on their nose to detect prey swimming above them in the murk. When a school of fish or squid swim close enough, it darts up and rapidly sweeps its saw back and forth, slashing and stunning prey that it can then eat at its leisure. Sawfish also use their saws in defense against predators. They are hunted by humans for their meaty fins and for their saws, which make impressive trophies or even weapons.

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Plot Hooks and Encounter Ideas

• The buried treasure is on an island in the center of a lagoon full of sawfish.
• A tribe of adaro have captured a giant sawfish and are using it to terrorize the coastal halfling villages.
• It is said that Tjacarr the Impermeable's skin is immune to the blows of metal weapons. But you have hear rumors of an island where the warriors fashion metal-less swords from the noses of sawfish.

Sharp-eyed patrons who have been keeping track of my monster posts on Patreon may have noticed that I've skipped a couple of monsters. Don't worry, they are still on their way. The reason they are delayed is that I have been learning to paint on my tablet PC because I want to start doing original illustrations for most of my monsters. Here is a sneak preview of next week's monster, from an in-progress painting:

-your chondrocranial d20 despot