Image accessed from Wikipedia, published by user “RD 77″ under the Creative Commons License. Accessed here
[Another repeater for those of you with the Bestiary 5. Again, my version occupies a rather different design space than the “official” version. And yes, that’s a photo. There are real crabs that actually look like this.]
Heikegani A crab the size of a small dog scuttles forth, its shell bearing ridges and stripes forming a leering demonic face.
In bays and shoals where massive battles have been fought, the seas have
run red with the blood of slain soldiers. The scavenging invertebrates
of these places feed well on such bounty, but their descendants are
forever changed. The resulting crabs are marked with shells that
resemble the battle masks of a samurai and are haunted by their ghosts.
The possessing spirits imbue their hosts with only a slight modicum of
intelligence, but they react violently if their crab bodies are harmed,
lashing out with spectral blades. Due to this supernatural protection,
the heikegani, or samurai crabs, are rarely disturbed by either
predators or fishermen, and can live hundreds of years scuttling along
the coasts and seafloors.
Heikegani are somewhat more aggressive than other crabs of their
size, as their supernatural abilities protect them from retribution. As
such, heikegani are active predators as often as they are
scavengers—although they will rarely attack a party of humans, a lone
halfling or gnome may find themselves prey. Their ghostly intelligence
has no humanity to it, but they do find themselves attracted to metal
items, perhaps in memory of the weapons and armor their souls once used.
Heikegami lairs are decorated with scraps of iron, silver and bronze,
and the occasional valuable may be found there.
Shores of Swords 