Fiona Elliot
Guest Art - Snole Statblock, by MoonshineDM
October 20, 2020

Guest Art #10 is by a dear friend of mine, MoonshineDM! Fiona is an awesome DM and creates a lot of homebrew material for 5E Dungeons and Dragons, so me and her collaborated on these stats for Snoles as a monster! I provided the art, the Sven quote, and some background lore, and Fiona wrote and fleshed out the creature and compiled its stats. I've also included a transcript below the Spiderforst anthology news. Do enjoy!

OTHER SUPER DUPER IMPORTANT NEWS!!!!

The latest Spiderforest anthology Kickstarter is kicking into gear! Threads: Secret Places features 17 themed short stories by artists from the Spiderforest community, including an exclusive Court of Roses short story! Please click the image above and consider pledging and getting your own copy! From now until November 13th!

TRANSCRIPT

"Snails are slow, and moles are slow, so I certainly didn't expect a combination of the two to run so fast! I'm sure our carriage would have outpaced them had they not rammed into it! Goblins and their snoles are crafty." ~Sven Rockscreamer

SNOLE

The Emerald Tree-Sea is host to a plethora of unusual life-forms, twisted by the Old Magics seemingly at random. The snole is one such creature that combines the traits of moles and snails with greater size than either creature usually attains. The result: a voracious feybeast that can ambush prey just about anywhere in the forest, except in the trees themselves.

Smash and Grab. Snoles typically have only one thing on their minds- whether or not to bother eating whatever is nearby. Their highly sensitive noses guide them through the dirt when digging, and their retractable eyestalks help them when above-ground to better track things that try to stay out of their way once they surface.
While they gladly snatch up any leftovers of other creature's hunts, a snole can lash out at prey faster than one can blink- it's been noted that they seem more confused than anything if they are not chewing on a creature within a second of choosing to eat it.

Sink or Swim. Snoles are not only excellent diggers, but excellent swimmers as well. Wild snoles often dig tunnels near rivers and ponds so they can hide exits in the water, and can pop out of them to surprise prey like a freshwater shark.
The only place considered truly safe from a snole is the air, and their shells make it hard to counterattack from such a position. As such, many forest travelers have taken to hiding in trees and throwing down food to satisfy a wild snole temporarily when attacked.

Ride or Die. While most creatures try to stay clear of the snoles, goblins train them as mounts. While on land snoles aren't as fast as most other steeds, goblin tactics mean they don't have to be in order to secure victory, and their versatility can hardly be understated.
Snoles have to be trained from birth, as a full-grown snole has difficulty grasping the concept that goblins aren't food. In fact, snoles were once a great goblin predator before they were tamed. The goblins likely came across the idea when they realized that it is difficult for a snole to eat a creature that is riding on its shell.

SNOLE
Medium monstrosity (Feybeast), unaligned

Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points 45 (1d4 + 5)
Speed 30 ft., swim 30 ft., burrow 15 ft.

STR 16 (+3) DEX 10 (+0) CON 16 (+3) INT 2 (-4) WIS 15 (+2) CHA 5 (-3)

Skills Perception +4
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft., passive Perception 14
Languages --
Challenge 2 (450 XP)

Ambuser. In the first round of combat, the snole has advantage on attack rolls against any creature it surprised
Hold Breath. The snole can hold its breath for up to 15 minutes.
Keen Smell. The snole has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.

Actions
Multiattack. The snole makes two attacks: one with its bite and one with its claws.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1b8 + 3) piercing damage.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d6 + 3) slashing damage.