Water Strider, Nymph

These small, immature water insects are easily supported by the water’s surface tension.

Nymph Water Strider CR 1/4

XP 100
N Small vermin
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft. (see giant water strider); Perception +4

AC 13, touch 13, flat-footed 11 (+2 Dex, +1 size)
hp 4 (1d8)
Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +0
Immune mind-affecting effects

Speed 30 ft., fly 20 ft. (poor)
Melee 2 claw –1 (1d3–2), bite –1 (1d2–2)

Str 7, Dex 15, Con 10, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 2
Base Atk +0; CMB –3; CMD 9 (17 vs. trip)
Skills Fly +0, Perception +4, Swim +2; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception, +4 Swim
SQ water skating (see giant water strider)

Environment any water
Organization solitary or colony (2–9)
Treasure incidental

A nymph water strider is an immature specimen of the giant water strider—more mature than a caterpillar but not yet an adult. Over the next several months it eats and molts, increasing in size with each molt until it becomes Large and is fully adult. These creatures are shy and more skittish than adults. Lizardfolk hunt wild nymph water striders, and consider them a wonderful delicacy. Boggards and gripplis raise them as food animals, but something about the domestication process makes such nymphs unappealing to lizardfolk. In the wild they frantically flee other creatures that approach them, making them difficult to hunt or corral. Many boggard, lizardfolk, and grippli tribes consider capturing a live nymph a rite of passage to adulthood. A nymph water strider isn’t suitable as a mount for any Large or smaller creature.

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary 4 © 2013, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Authors: Dennis Baker, Jesse Benner, Savannah Broadway, Ross Byers, Adam Daigle, Tim Hitchcock, Tracy Hurley, James Jacobs, Matt James, Rob McCreary, Jason Nelson, Tom Phillips, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Sean K Reynolds, F. Wesley Schneider, Tork Shaw, and Russ Taylor.