Mandible Bident (Patreon)

Weapon (trident), uncommon (requires attunement)

This chitinous, two-pronged weapon still shudders with predatory instinct, magically biting down on creatures it hits. Once on each of your turns when you hit a Medium or smaller creature with this magic bident with a melee attack, you can force that creature to make a DC 13 Strength or Dexterity saving throw (its choice). On a failed save, the creature is grappled by you and is held in place by the weapon. A creature can use its action to make a DC 13 Strength check, freeing itself or another creature within its reach from this grapple on a success. You can't use the weapon to attack another target while it's grappling a creature in this way, but you can choose to deal 1d8 bludgeoning damage to the grappled creature automatically in place of any attack you'd make with it as part of the Attack action, as the weapon's pincers clamp down tightly around the target.

You can release a creature from the bident's grapple on your turn (no action required). The weapon releases a creature from its grasp early if you let go of the weapon or are incapacitated.

The pilgrim had studied the wild H'rethi. He knew what of nature's signs to avoid, from dragons' storms to the subtle shifting of elemental dunes, and especially the canyon-pits of the antlions.

Yes, he had studied the desert and the dangers that sprang from it. He had done what he could to be prepared for the journey ahead of him.

However, he had never studied its people. And while he made sure to avoid the tell-tale signs of the desert's antlions, mandibles were nevertheless closed upon him by a strange weapon, wielded by a hunter hidden only but an inch beneath the sand. Fear gripped the man's heart even tighter than the weapon's pincers.

However, it would not linger there long.