Dungeon & Dragons: Great Wight Shark

James over at Gonzo History is running a competition inspired by Gary Gygax’s antics designing the original D&D monsters.  Legend goes that young Gary, looking for fantasy monsters to populate his dungeons, got a bag of cheap plastic monsters from Hong Kong and made up names and rules, bringing  Rust Monsters, Bulletes and Owlbears to life for the first time.  James’ challenge is to do the same and win fabulous magic prizes.

The competition rules I took to heart were:

  1.  Find something cheap and nasty and plastic.  Not any of this blog’s regular finely-detailed fodder, but something entirely unsuitable for real miniature modelling.  (“Did you try company X‘s miniatures?” you could snark.)
  2.  Reinvent it as something different.  It’s a challenge about creating a fresh iconic monster.  No point finding a cheap plastic toy dragon and painting it to be a … dragon.
  3. It’s explicitly not a modelling or painting challenge, so don’t expect to win with technical excellency.

Presenting the Great Wight Shark:

Dungeons and Dragons Soulfish

Putting the “soul” in sole fish.

This monster started life as a free gift with some CBBC kids magazine.  I was initially drawn to it because of the armour-plated head, which I thought could be transformed into a cool fantasy fish-helmet.  I also thought I could sculpt a samurai armour visor on top and make it into an Oriental Knightfish.  But then I realised the toy was not just green but GLOW IN THE DARK.  Rather than squander this gimmick under putty and paint I decided to harness it to portray a fish spectre.

Dungeons and Dragons Soulfish

She’s a shark, and she glows in the dark.

I added bloodsplatter to create visual interest, and also to attach it to a gaming base.  There’s a steel pin running through the bark base through the bottom jaw of that I’ve disguised as blood dripping out its maw and running off the lowest point of its chin.

Here are the stats, 1st edition Monster Manual style:

GREAT WIGHT SHARK

FREQUENCY: Uncommon
NO APPEARING: 1–6
ARMOUR CLASS: 5/10
MOVE: 15″
HIT DICE: 5
% IN LAIR: 10%
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
NO OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACKS: 2D4
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Nil
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Silver or magic weapons to hit
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Animal
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
SIZE: L
PSIONIC ABILITIES: Nil
ATTACK/DEFENSE MODES: Nil

The Great Wight Shark is an undead giant plate-skinned fish, existing on the normal and negative material planes. They are found haunting the places where their inshore waterways once were – where lakes have dried up or rivers have changed course over time.

Great Wight Sharks will attack if their territory is invaded, and can work cooperatively in packs of up to six to hunt prey. Their semi-material jaws, originally for punching through the thick shells of freshwater prey, can penetrate even a knight’s plate armour. Great Wight Sharks have heavily armoured heads and thick thoracic shields with an armour class of 5, though they are very vulnerable to attacks to their fleshy hindquarters where their armour class is 10.

Commonly sighted with other aquatic undead species including Stingwraiths, Ethery Eels, Kelpie Kelp, Tadpoltergeists and Vampiranhas.

Dungeons and Dragons Soulfish
A Great Wight Shark ambushing along the ancient path of the Garradsbane River.

Great Wight Sharks are unable to leave the bounds of their prehistoric waterways, which will at first be indistinguishable from regular land. However, the boundaries past which the sharks can’t move can be worked out with clues such as the ruins of old bridges, old maps, or baiting them and seeing how far they pursue.

Shouts out to contest sponsors Chaotic Henchmen Productions, Oakbound Studios, Otherworld Miniatures, Grant Howitt and of course Monster Man.

Curis

Curis has painted for Games Workshop, Forge World, Warlord Games, Mantic Games, Avatars of War, Wargames Foundry, Studio McVey and many others. He's won at Golden Demon and Salute. He publishes monthly painting tutorials on Patreon.

19 thoughts on “Dungeon & Dragons: Great Wight Shark

  • December 1, 2017 at 10:52 am
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    Damn, that is a good monster.

    The gore splatters are exceptional.

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    • December 1, 2017 at 12:43 pm
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      Thanks Zhu! I’m quite proud of how they turned out. It’s actually the second time I did them – the first time I went overboard and covered the front half. It looked like a goujon that had been dipped in ketchup. I had to soak him in paintstripper overnight. Sometimes less is better.

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    • December 1, 2017 at 12:44 pm
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      Beyond good? Beyond evil? Beyond your wildest imagination?

      Reply
  • December 1, 2017 at 12:00 pm
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    I love the archeomonster look of him. Great idea and the glow in the dark wins it all !

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    • December 1, 2017 at 12:47 pm
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      Thanks! The glow in the dark effect is a challenge to catch on camera!

      Reply
  • December 1, 2017 at 9:26 pm
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    Great looking rendition of a mystical Dunkleosteus!

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    • December 14, 2017 at 11:53 am
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      Dammit! Everyone knows what Dunkleosteus are. It’s something obscure that it took a while to find out.

      Reply
  • December 2, 2017 at 8:23 am
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    I love this monster. I’m tempted to throw some at my players now. We aren’t even engaged in any role play currently, I’ll actually make them fight one for reals. Well, 1-6 of them :D

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    • December 14, 2017 at 11:54 am
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      Throw them at your players be all means. Being a rubbery plastic they bounce well.

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  • December 3, 2017 at 3:37 am
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    That’s super cool. Seriously well done there mate – the model looks really great on it’s own merits as well, based and blooded like that.

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  • May 8, 2018 at 7:18 pm
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    So THAT’S why as a kid I had a cheap rubbery toy monster that I later remembered looking suspiciously like the Rust Monster from D&D. I always wondered!

    Amazing post, for so many reasons. The wight shark is very clever. I tried acrylic glow paint on a figure once, alas the results were underwhelming :/

    Reply
    • May 11, 2018 at 1:51 pm
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      My childhood was full of cheap plastic knock-offs. I’d really love to own a Spanish Teenage Mutant Hero Turtle moulded in neon yellow with a black mask on.

      Reply
  • May 19, 2018 at 2:51 am
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    Great wight shark, Tadpoltergeists, vampiranas; thats gold Jerry, GOLD!

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    • May 24, 2018 at 1:35 pm
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      Thanks Steve! Those names were the most fun I had in writing the post.

      Reply

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