| Climate/Terrain: | Shallow sea floor |
|---|---|
| Frequency: | Common |
| Organization: | Solitary |
| Activity Cycle: | Day |
| Diet: | Carnivore/Scavenger |
| Intelligence: | Animal(1) |
| Treasure: | Nil |
| Alignment: | Neutral |
| No. Appearing: | 1-8 |
| Armor Class: | 2 |
| Movement: | 2 |
| Hit Dice: | 2 |
| THAC0: | 19 |
| No. of Attacks: | 1 |
| Damage/Attack: | 1d8 |
| Special Attacks: | Nil |
| Special Defenses: | Spines |
| Magic Resistance: | Nil |
| Size: | S (3' long) |
| Morale: | Steady (11) |
| XP Value: | 65 |
Wiwaxia is a small, bottom-crawling creature a yard in length, protected by hard scaly plates and fourteen long spines (seven per side). This animal is more of a scavenger than a carnivore, but it will attack live prey when an opportunity presents itself.
Wiwaxia's toothy jaws slant slightly backward, while the toothless center bulges forward. The animal attacks by crawling forward, pressing the bulge against the target and causing the jaws to spring forward and snap shut, doing 1d8 points of damage. Because of its armor, Wiwaxia is hard to damage, and anyone who presses a melee attack will take 1d10 points of damage from the bladed, swordlike spines. In the BUGHUNTERS game, the creatures armor reduces all attacks by six damage points and two lethality ratings. This creature is not much of a threat to alert characters in the open, but cleaning out an area infested with these creatures will be a dangerous nuisance.