This man-sized, crab-like monstrosity clings tenaciously to the rough stone, its enormous pincers held out menacingly before it.
The cave fisher is a highly specialized predator that dwells in caves. The creature's mode of hunting is unique-it clambers up a cave wall to settle on a ledge or in a crack, typically at a height of at least 30 feet. Ledges overlooking bridges and lower ledges overlooking chasms are favored hunting grounds for the cave fisher. The creature lies in wait until prey approaches within 60 feet, at which point it extrudes a thin cord of silk at blinding speed, lashing at the target as with a whip. The filament is incredibly sticky, and once the fisher strikes food with it, it reels in its meal to feed, trusting its position on a higher ledge to prevent any allies the meal may have from molesting it as it eats. Collections of bones and lengths of discarded filaments are sure signs of cave fisher habitation. A cave fisher produces its filament from glands in its body; when it reels in a victim, it generally eats the filament along with its meal. It's impossible to harvest new filaments from a dead cave fisher, but filaments harvested from living ones are incredibly light and strong, functioning as silk rope once the sticky adhesive on a length decomposes (which generally takes 3d6 minutes). A cave fisher's filament glands are useful in constructing sovereign glue and similar sticky magical items. A single cave fisher's glands count as 100 gp worth of raw materials, offsetting the total cost of the item's final creation. Although cave fishers have many superficial similarities to crabs, they do not fare well in water and aren't very good swimmers. Nevertheless, many cave fishers lair upon ledges overlooking swift-f lowing subterranean rivers, giving them a relatively steady stream of food, especially in cases where such rivers are used as trade routes. Those who ply these rivers frequently travel with a few spare slaves or some unwanted livestock, and when they approach a known cave fisher haunt, they send down the unfortunate animal or slave on a raft to distract the monster's hunger. A cave fisher is 7 feet long and weighs 400 pounds.
The cave fisher lairs on ledges and cliffs underground, where it can quickly strike and reel in its prey. Its lair is always littered with bones and gear from its previous victims. The cave fisher is a 7-foot long insect-like creature with a hard outer shell. The cave fisher's snout fires a strong, web-like adhesive filament it uses to reel in its prey. Often, the ground and walls nearby are covered with this filament. The cave fisher's preferred method of attack is to anchor itself to its ledge and string its filament across the ground of its lair. When a living creature touches or passes near the filament, the fisher attempts to trap it and reel it in. If the cave fisher fails this, it can fire its filament at an opponent up to 60 feet away. Another favored method of attack for the cave fisher is to secret itself in a crack or a ledge above a cavern and dangle its filament down onto unsuspecting creatures passing below it (DC 20 Perception check to notice the filament).