“I didn’t even want a pet at first. My kids had been begging for weeks to get them something, and they kept promising they’d clean after it, feed it, play with it, love it, and everything. I reluctantly agreed, but once we arrive at the shop, we couldn’t get enough of them. Their playful little coos and tiny little smiles. I remember thinking as we were leaving, ‘How could I only grab one?’”
– Survey recording how much recent pet adoptions effected new owners.
Axopins: The Overview
First member of the Beast Compendium is the Axopin, a cutesy and friendly creature often found in pristine ponds and rivers. A somewhat chimeric mix of turtles, axolotls, and fish taking features of all three to differentiate from the more “normal” wildlife within the realms. These are not creatures to fight as much as they are flavor for the world and options for the Wildshape or Polymorph features/spells, which is largely the only reason they have a statblock to begin with at all. A large section of the Beast Compendium consists of these types of creatures as, at least to me, the Beast category in D&D is meant for believable creatures and ones that either exist or could feasibly exist within our own world. These creatures lack a lot of magical abilities and deeper mechanics aside from “hit hard, take a hit well” in the upper challenge ratings when compared to the other creature categories in D&D.
Axopins use their sturdy shells to help protect themselves from predators both by withdrawing into it when threatened, but also using the reflective scales lining the shell to help blend into the clear waters of their home. Axopins lack a lot of the raw strength needed to survive in harsh environments of the realm, so they often nest within calm waters in secluded ponds and rivers with plenty of nooks and crannies to hide in. Using their fish-like tails, Axopins can quickly swim through the water or bat away possible attackers, though such methods are more difficult to deter larger creatures.
Stats and Abilities:
Axopins rely on defense rather than offense, using the environment around them to slip away and hide rather than stand and fight. If pushed into conflict, Axpoins must rely on their defensive shell rather than any bites or slaps of the tail due to its minimal offensive prowess.
When compared to last week’s Abductor statblock, the Axopin leaves a lot to be desired across the board. Lower stats, no dangerous gimmicks, no real offensive capabilities or defensive bulk to speak of. That is the level of difference I wanted across all my compendiums, I wanted creatures who could level towns with a single breath but also creatures who could only survive when in a pack or in a group. I do not think I would ever run a combat encounter with a party fighting a school of Axopins, but having the stats of the Axopin on hand for niche situations like Polymorph or Wildshape or if the party adopts one and bites someone’s hand is the main reason for this work. I don’t typically statblock frivolous creatures, but the will be most common here in the Beast Compendium.
- Stats and Skills: The Axopin focuses more on evasion and escape rather than combat prowess as seen by its lower STR score compared to its decent DEX score and with its only proficient skill being the Stealth skill. While looking at mental scores, Beasts tend to be weighted weirdly in D&D as sentience and human-level cognitive function is usually associated with around a 7 INT score. That’s why creatures such as Orcas have an intelligence of around 3 despite being an incredibly smart animal. All this to say, while an intelligence of 1, the lowest you can go without literal loss of function in D&D, might seem harsh, it is what 70% of Beasts in D&D are labeled with. WIS is more of a survival and instinct stat so typically Beasts will have a much higher WIS score than INT as they are more in tune with their instincts than cognitive thoughts. Lastly with CHA being the social skill, its important for creatures of this kind to communicate with one another, but typically this is undesirable by other creatures. So having a moderately low CHA score is appropriate for these social animals as they effortlessly communicate with others of their kind but are incredibly hard to discern what each sound is from an outside perspective.
Passive Abilities and Actions
The meat and bones of this statblock will be much less juicy than that of the Abductors, but the Axpoin does still have a couple tricks up its sleeve:
Amphibious. The axopin can breathe air and water.
Just like many semi-aquatic creatures, Axopins can breathe both on land and in the water, allowing for them to be encountered in multiple areas and allowing them to hide from terrestrial or avian predators.
Keen Smell. The axopin has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
Like many animals, Axopins have a heightened sense of smell to help navigate their surroundings and help avoid the scents of known predators.
Refractive Shell. While underwater, the axopin has advantage on stealth checks.
Axopins use their naturally reflective shells to help hide their presence by blending into the shimmering waters. In murkier habitats like swamps and marshes, this can often be detrimental as it draws unnecessary attraction, leading Axopins to stay in cleaner waters.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) piercing damage.
One of the Axopins basic attacks. A simple bite that in all honesty, feels misplaced despite most every other feral creature in D&D having a Bite attack. The Axopin just doesn’t scream “strong bite force”, especially at the damage this can do (for reference, a Commoner who is considered the average non-adventuring person has 4 hit points).
Tail Slap. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) bludgeoning damage.
This should be the Axopin’s main offensive means as it’s the Axpoin’s most prominent feature aside from its shell. That said, this should not be the Axopin should not be relying on physical prowess over evasion and defense.
Withdraw. When the axopin is targeted for an attack, it can withdraw into its shell, increasing its AC by +2 for that attack.
The first Reaction skill talked about in this series this ability allows the Axopin to avoid an otherwise successful hit by hiding into its sturdy shell. Reactions are a special kind of ability a creature can take in response to an action occurring around them. For example, the Shield spell can only be casted when the individual is targeted by an attack roll and will offer a +5 bonus to the caster’s AC until the start of their next turn. Certain features can also allow creatures to either make additional attacks or move across the board suddenly using a Reaction.
Revisions:
While I am quite happy with this statblock for what it is, it is not without issue. For starters, as a CR 1/4 creature it is the same equivalent difficulty as a goblin which seems wrong. While I’m not opposed to having beastial and feral creatures be enemies for a party of players, the Axopin leaves a lot to be desired as an enemy in combat. As such, I believe the best course of action is to lower its CR to 0 and remove its Bite attack. The tail of the Axopin is the strongest offensive part of its body and should not be outclassed by a bite force that shouldn’t even be there to begin with. Additionally, many CR 0s, especially of the Tiny size category only deal 1 damage on their attacks, so that would replace the Axopin’s current average damage of 5, making it much more realistic in its combat prowess. The Axopin should be little more than a pet for the party or an option for the Wildshape class feature or Polymorph spell and as such, it should not have too much of a combat presence. A reason players might choose to use this to disguise as over a regular fish would be because of the defense offered in the Reflective Shell and Withdraw abilities.
The first of many cutesy critters to debut from the Beast Compendium so stay tuned with more being unveiled. If you have any comments/revisions of your own feel free to reach out and lend a hand! Until next time, hope to see all of you again next week!
The Speer-Head Lounge 