Nawidnehr

Nawidnehr (NAH-widd-near) or simply Sharkweres are an obscure antherion from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Making their debut and to date only appearance in "Monstrous Arcana: The Sea Devils", the sahuagin splatbook, nawidnehr are massive sharks with high intelligence and the ability to freely shapeshift into any humanoid of Huge size or smaller that they have seen. And, like a greater wolfwere, nawidnehr can take on forms of any gender, so the cute Aquatic Elfmaid you're flirting with at the dockside tavern may in fact be a male sharkwere anticipating luring you outside for dinner.

You might expect nawidnehr and sahuagin to get on like a house on fire, since sahuagin already get on great with weresharks, and you'd actually be wrong: sahuagin hate and fear the sharkweres, who may possibly have a touch of demon somewhere in their ancestry - nawidnehr are voracious predators who are also actively sadistic, craving the destruction of life they can find, with a particular hatred for humanoids (and also weresharks, just like wolfweres and werewolves). As a result, sahuagin make up one of the mainstays of the nawidnehr diet, alongside other aquatic humanoids like sea elves, merfolk, and koalinths as well-as ocean-going members of the landfaring races. When humanoids aren't available, sharkweres rapaciously hunt every seafaring creature in their immediate area until they have emptied it of life before moving on to a new territory to ravage. Whilst they can't stand to leave humanoids in peace, they are capable of restraining their bloodlust enough to take advantage of their shapeshifting powers, typically posing as a fisherman, marooned sailor or other friendly seafaring to trick their way aboard a ship, or using the body of a sahuagin to climb aboard a ship to attack its crew and/or passengers.

In their natural form, nawidnehr resemble 30' long great white sharks, but with a much more complex coloration; specimens dwelling in cooler waters tend toward dark blue, with dots or bands of gray or muddy yellow. Some cool water specimens are brown overall, with red and tan speckles. Warm water specimens tend toward brighter colors — such as blue-green or yellow — with yellow or white spots, or stripes. All nawidnehrs have pale underbellies, usually a lighter shade of the prevailing color on their upper bodies.

Nawidnehr may have been inspired by one of the crappier Jaws sequels, because they have the unique ability to produce magical cries, earning them the nickname "roaring shark". In humanoid form, this becomes a "haunting song" that requires all listeners in a 50ft radius to pass a save vs. spell or be paralyzed by fear for 1d4+4 rounds. In shark form, their roar is a 50ft long, 25ft wide Breath Weapon that knocks all targets caught in it unconscious for 2d4 rounds if they fail a save vs. breath weapon. They prefer to open combat with a roar attack, but have been known to make surprise attacks by lunging upwards at victims from below, like the great whites they resemble.

Obviously, nawidnehr prefer to fight in the water, where they can employ their true form - they use humanoid form to lure victims close to the water, then try to yank them in before shifting back to being a giant shark. Like a wolfwere, a sharkwere can only be hit by weapons that are either enchanted (+1 or better) or made of Cold Iron. They attack with a wicked 5d4+5 damage bite that has the extra addendum of letting the nawidnehr automatically swallow whole any man-sized or smaller creature it hits if they beat the victim's THAC0 by 5 or more.