Let's Read The Monster Manual II: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Fight Them

[Vessyra]

I think that the "skeletons doing things that they did in life" is pretty neat. It gives them a creepy factor, as well as providing more differences from zombies. Most importantly, it also provides the evil lich a way to get an undead army of defenders without having to home-brew up a secret evil ritual of permanent control. All you have to do is murder a bunch of CR 1/4 guards, animate the remains, then stick 'em up next to a doorway. They'll guard the doorway while attacking any living creature that comes near, something that the undead lich doesn't have to worry about. A few might not do as they did in life, but eh, why would the lich care? S/he can just make more.

And as for the Yuan-Ti... boy, do I love those things. A whole slew of different CR's allowing for a whole campaign of combats, and the intelligence that allows them to carry out the most insidious of plots. The lack of a large army further reinforces this need for intelligence, and it also mean that the PCs could, feasibly, take down the entire Yuan-Ti city on their own, once they reach high enough level and respond with a plot of their own. Truly, they can serve any adventure save for one of brute force.

[DerKommissar]

Anyone up for the slaadi? Its quite the project - i can do it, but it‘ll take some time and want to clearify it first, not that multiple people are working independently on their own write up...

[the_brazenburn]

Anyone up for the slaadi? Its quite the project - i can do it, but it‘ll take some time and want to clearify it first, not that multiple people are working independently on their own write up...

I'll take yeti then.

[PhoenixPhyre]

I'll take yeti then.

But don't post it yeti.

[the_brazenburn]

But don't post it yeti.

Probably won't get around to it for a week or so.

[Shining Wrath]

These dirt-shoveling skeletons might have a difficult time of it when they encounter rock.

I've been writing a review of the Slaadi, but it's been a slow going. I think I'm going to post the yuan-ti section instead.

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Yuan-Ti

Introduction
The yuan-ti, who have been in D&D since the AD&D days, play into much older myths of human-snake hybrids and evil intelligent snakes (though the most obvious human-snake hybrids from myth, the naga of Indian mythology, are rather less sinister than the yuan-ti). Capable of plans both subtle and overt, the yuan-ti make for fairly versatile foes, aided by the fact that they are both organizationally capable and have a CR range that can be made to fit many purposes; a pureblood spy can be used to challenge a 1st-level party, or a trio of abominations supported by a cadre of malisons, fighting on a temple platform above a nest of vipers, can be the centerpiece of a mid- to high-level battle.
Since this is a review of the Monster Manual, I'm going to ignore the content from Volo's for the most part.

Spoiler: Lore

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In 3.5, the Monster Manual did not present the yuan-ti with the kind of specific intensity that we see here. It was quite tempting to me to just change the alignment, since neutral snake-people are difficult to find and there wasn't that much going for the yuan-ti as villains in the core rulebooks. I'm still of the opinion that non-evil snake-people should make more appearances, but it's difficult to bring myself to throw out the lore they have here. The idea of this lost empire turning to horrific acts as part of the ancient history of the setting is highly evocative. Discussions about how the yuan-ti attempt to bring others under their control through indirect means and use promises of wealth and power to lure in victims and pawns bear a certain thematic tie to snake-associated concepts like poison and hypnotism, and broaden the horizons of DMs attempting to use the yuan-ti in various ways. One might even have a city where the yuan-ti are in the process of making inroads, and are furthering a plan long-running enough that they haven't gotten to the "horrible crime against humanity" stage, and will have no appearances of implementing that, regardless of how deep the PCs try to dig.
There's a lot presented here, both in the large main blocks and in the smaller details, such as the line about the abomination being said to "resemble" the intent of the serpent gods. This raises some questions, like "Why isn't the yuan-ti race closer to the intent of the serpent gods?" and "Why are the almost-perfect ones 'abominations'?" It seems likely that the names we have for the kinds of yuan-ti are names granted by their enemies, so what do the yuan-ti call themselves? Volo's expands, of course, on the yuan-ti, and I think that it does add a lot, but it adds onto a good foundation in the Monster Manual, rather than rescuing a monster which had been lackluster before. The insert about them having cast off their sanity seems a little off the mark, since nothing else they do seems really insane, so much as spectacularly evil, but since it's an in-universe source, it's fair to think of it as representing an incorrect outsider's understanding of the yuan-ti.
We're given three deities for the yuan-ti, and are told there could be more, so DMs can feel free to add things to suit the immediate needs of the campaign. The three can be characterized as "old guard," "charismatic upstart," and "insane nihilist." To be honest, I don't see why any yuan-ti (who explicitly "don't love the gods," but worship them only as stepping stones to more power) would work for a deity whose end goal is the consumption of all things when other gods are available. If Dendar gets around to devouring the world, it sort of limits one's possibilities for advancement. Sseth is interesting in that he promises to reverse the apparent steady decline of the yuan-ti, but no method for that is presented. Given that the other two deities favor, respectively, terrorizing innocents in order to prepare the whole world for destruction and "maintain[ing] traditions of living sacrifice," it's possible that Sseth is behind the subtler, more moderate approach of the yuan-ti, the one that involves making friends (pawns) and allies rather than trying to brute-force world conquest in a world replete with powerful threats. The idea that Sseth might be pretending to be Merrshaulk as well as presenting himself as the alternative is interesting, and has merit; this way, he doesn't have to fight the traditionalist elements among the yuan-ti.
A quibbling matter I have with the presentation of the yuan-ti is that they are all described as wholly self-serving and lacking in emotional attachment, yet the leaders "readily sacrifice" their followers. While I can quite easily see self-serving and coldly detached leaders as being willing to sacrifice their lessers for a tactical advantage, when those lessers are similarly self-serving and lack real loyalty, those leaders might not be able to sacrifice their followers. The half-bloods and purebloods are not unintelligent and will most likely be able to recognize a hopeless fight; they will definitely suspect they're being used as cannon fodder if they see their commander turn into a snake and leave. I would therefore suspect yuan-ti "morale" to be shaky, even though they are not particularly cowardly, simply because each individual is going to make selfish decisions and prioritize survival over tactical cohesion. For this reason, I'd fill the positions of cannon fodder with human cultists and mercenaries or charmed snakes, with the real yuan-ti of any caste being inclined to retreat the moment things look dicey.

Art
We see a picture of the sorts of environments that the yuan-ti inhabit before we see any pictures of them. The illustration works well, in my opinion. It demonstrates aspects of yuan-ti architecture that are described in text in the 3.5 Monster Manual, such as the use of ramps rather than stairs and the use of circles. If you look closely, the ramp in the foreground has parallel lines as though it had once been a staircase and was converted into a ramp via laying parallel courses of wedge-shaped stones on top. There are lots of serpent statues, which makes sense for the yuan-ti; unlike some other serpent people (such as those of the Two-Headed Serpent campaign for Pulp Cthulhu), the yuan-ti were once human, and aspired to be more like snakes. Really unsubtle serpent motifs make a lot of sense for their architecture, particularly if, as is implied by the growth of enormous trees atop the terraces and roofs, these temples are from the ancient, pre-transformation days of yuan-ti history. One wonders how, or if, they prevent the plants from causing the collapse of the buildings. The decline mentioned in a couple of places in the text is well-illustrated by the overgrowth.

The malison's artwork really sells the idea of the yuan-ti as a hybrid of human and snake, a creature unnatural and patched-together from disparate parts, if fairly elegantly. It also makes the malison seem quite fearsome. The eyes are focused on the viewer with a disturbingly predatory focus, and the fact that the human torso stands in such contrast to the serpentine head helps underscore the fact that there's something wrong here. By contrast, the abomination looks almost like it could be a natural creature, and a fairly attractive one at that, gleaming in gem tones like a hummingbird. Their weapons are a little odd, and neither resemble what I would call a "scimitar"; the abomination wields something that looks like certain Chinese illustrations of glaives, particularly as the handle looks like it continues behind the stat block, whereas the malison's blade seems very heavy, and its curve seems more like that of a khopesh than of a scimitar.

The pureblood's portrait is subject to a few issues. She's wielding a dagger, which is appropriate to the pureblood's role as an infiltrator and spy, but isn't reflected in the stat block. The established lore has them wearing heavy, concealing clothing in order to mask their serpentine features, but her scaled shoulders and slitted eyes are exposed for all the world to see. She's wearing a low-cut, limb-baring dress that seems ill-suited for either infiltration purposes or general wearing in yuan-ti society; too much of her serpentine nature is obvious for her to be seducing (or even really talking to) victims in human society, while in a society obsessed with leaving humanity behind in order to become more snake-like, I would imagine that a dress that shows off very human legs and breasts would be unfashionable. The pose is also a little odd, with the legs and right arm each individually seeming like part of a figure on the move, yet combining to make a stationary pose; the left arm holds a dagger with the blade facing downward to strike, but the thumb and forefinger are toward the blade, forcing an awkward twisting of the arm for any such usage of the dagger.

Spoiler: Mechanics and Tactics

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Quickly focusing on languages, the yuan-ti should replace Draconic with their own language. Scales aside, they have little in common with dragons, and as inheritors of an ancient cultural legacy, they would be expected to have their own proudly maintained cultural traditions and ethnic identifiers, most notably language. Bonus points would be awarded for making it part of the same language family as Common.

The yuan-ti, as might be expected for somewhat-humans who walk around with their chests exposed, have low Armor Classes. They have respectable hit point totals for their CRs, but when they're so easy to hit, they won't survive much concentrated fire. Saving throws are not particularly good and are wholly pinned to ability scores, though magic resistance means they will perform respectably against the party spellcasters. Battle master fighters and others who have access to nonmagical saving throw effects will enjoy getting their hands on yuan-ti. There is strangely no particular resistance to charm or fear effects, which I would expect from creatures that are supposed to be purely calculating and near-emotionless.

As one might expect of honor-less snakes, they can dish it out better than they can take it. Even the humble pureblood can do a multiattack with a scimitar. The other varieties can and should use their longbows as a default, since longbow damage exceeds their bite damage and getting into melee with PCs is a recipe for taking large amounts of damage. As a DM, I'd rule that the smaller sorts of snakes (and definitely snake swarms) do not interfere with ranged attacks, being low to the ground. A significant portion of their damage comes from poison, which is fairly simple to guard against with clerics and paladins in the party. A DM might rule that since poison works internally, it might be difficult for yuan-ti to notice if the poison is having any effect on enemies; they could be resisting or ignoring the poison, or perhaps they just have a lot of HP. Perception checks might be involved. Once melee is joined, a mixture of attacks are available; the constrict ability is notable as an option to pin melee attackers who make the mistake of over-extending from the rest of the party. I'm not fond of how Wizards seems to think constriction is something that can be done at extension and thus gives it additional reach, compared with the scimitar and bite attacks. They did something similar with the salamander, and that's not really how constriction works.

There are three sorts of yuan-ti malison presented. The option to mix and match types is an opportunity to exchange ease of bookkeeping for diversity in combat. There are no listed social differences between the malison types, but if I were fleshing out the yuan-ti, I'd make them into different sub-castes, operating in different fields. I am not fond of the type 2 malison, the one which replaces a human's arms with snakes. It's odd as far as transformations go, because unlike the others, it doesn't transform homologous body parts (a head for a head), instead replacing a body part with most of the body of a separate creature. It also seems like a colossal handicap in day-to-day life. Moreover, if the abomination, basically a serpent with humanoid arms, is the ideal, then a human with snakes for arms, essentially the opposite in terms of transformation, should be some sort of maligned failure. I could see type 2s as being some sort of outcast or untouchable group, or even like driders are for the row, but I'm more likely to just pretend they don't exist.

As far as magic goes, the malison is noted as using suggestion to get people to surrender, but as all the yuan-ti have that ability, they should all be using it whenever it seems appropriate. In particular, yuan-ti should use suggestion when they are caught out of an advantageous position. Animal friendship means that the only yuan-ti that are ever fought by themselves are pureblood infiltrators; everyone else should have at least a few snakes to serve as distractions and traps for enemies. The abomination has fear for additional crowd control in combat, which is always a good thing; fear is a very potent control spell, balanced mostly by virtue of fear being commonly resisted. Just remember that paladins' auras of courage have a limited radius, and that there will be areas within the 30' cone of the fear spell that lie outside of that radius. The yuan-ti are noted as having "foul sorcery" as well as a very robust religious hierarchy, so magic of multiple kinds can be fairly easily tacked on (as Volo's did) to give additional punch and tactical diversity.

It's a notable exception to normal rules of shapechanging that yuan-ti in the form of snakes do not revert to their normal form if they die. Yuan-ti assassins should use this; in the event they are caught and killed, it would seem that they are only unusually aggressive large snakes.

Self-serving in the extreme, intelligent enough to recognize a dangerous opponent, and lacking in any sense of honor, yuan-ti should only be fighting from either advantageous positions or at the very last ditch, defending a point that they cannot lose (and even then, some of them might decide it's not worth it). Flight or surrender should be the immediate next option if the yuan-ti are not properly prepared for a fight. Ambushes should be common, aided by malisons and abominations disguised as ordinary snakes and by the respectable Stealth scores of all three yuan-ti castes. In general, since yuan-ti are intelligent, capable of organization and alteration of the environment, and tactically minded, fights against them should resemble set-piece battles full of cunning maneuvers and counter-maneuvers, rather than simply rolling dice against a set of numbers on a spreadsheet. The DM will want to break out the battle mat (or the miniatures, or the glass sheets and dry erase markers) in order to properly do justice to the sorts of combats people will have against the yuan-ti. Any environment built by yuan-ti should have snake-sized holes they can slip through and colonnades they can use for cover, darting out to fire volleys from their bows, while intruders are swarmed from all sides. Carpets of snakes should fill pits and open areas, and seemingly decorative switchbacks and corners on terraces should serve to limit the number of yuan-ti archers that can be hit by any one fireball or lightning bolt. Disposable human mercenaries, magically dominated slaves, charmed snakes, and similar minions should be used to muck up enemies and absorb damage. A large beast should be kept in reserve in a cage somewhere, to be released if and when someone shows up with poison immunity. "Very amusing, mammal. Enjoy the behir."

Hooks
The yuan-ti are not mechanically or thematically suited to be cannon fodder enemies, randomly attacking small villages for no reason in the fashion of orcs and gnolls. Adventures involving them should begin with plenty of investigation and intrigue. When it comes down to the climactic encounter, players should be ready to dramatically shout "Enough games, serpent!", eager to finally end the machinations of the yuan-ti. That said, as mentioned before, there's plenty of room for non-hostile (if uneasy) interactions with the serpent-people; the yuan-ti should always be on the lookout for mercenaries and agents, and should be offering their aid and making bargains in ways that make people accept with gritted teeth and the sense that the long-term consequences will be significant.

• Plausible Deniability:The city of Inadhess holds a thousand wonders and a million horrors. Unlike most other yuan-ti cities, this is fully open to visitors, who are (at least overtly) unmolested as they browse its enormous markets for rare and exotic goods and marvel at the ancient temples towering overhead. In exchange for marvelous spices, devious poisons, and beautiful works of art, visitors trade dark favors, weapons more advanced than the antiquarian designs of the yuan-ti's arms, and the lives of their fellow men, who are brought in bondage in the thousands and led to the temple summits for sacrifice and consumption. A great festival is coming up, one of the most ancient and honored rites in Merrshaulk's name. Thousands of people are to be culled, and among them are some of the PCs' friends, who were brought here by slavers whose trail the PCs are following. The PCs inquiries have brought little fruit, but one day, they are met by a malison who claims to be in a position to make them an ally. The serpent-headed man whispers that he is an agent of Sseth, whose ascendancy in Inadhess can be cemented through the sabotage of this festival. If the followers of Sseth were to overtly move against the priests of Merrshaulk on the eve of this festival, it would cause an uproar that would damage Sseth's standing, but the PCs would be seen as an outside force without political consequence. The agent of Sseth whispers that if the festival were sabotaged, the intended sacrificial victims would be saved, and says also that he knows where the priests of Merrshaulk have withdrawn in meditation before the rites, isolated and comparatively unguarded. It would be a foolish question to ask if they could trust this yuan-ti, but should the PCs act on the information given anyway?
• Cold-Blooded Pursuit: A yuan-ti infiltrator has been revealed and is, in true yuan-ti fashion, attempting to flee rather than face consequences. The king has charged the PCs with not simply capturing the fleeing spy, but tracing it back to its masters. Clever and subtle, the fugitive has an existing network of contacts, both witting and unwitting, to draw on, and has canny tricks and countermeasures that limit the effectiveness of even divination magics. In a chase across entire kingdoms, can the PCs win this game of cat and mouse?
• History Lesson: A woman wearing head-to-toe coverings, in the fashion of the desert nomads, wishes to hire the PCs as guards and assistants for an expedition into the long-abandoned ruins in the Wastes of Pride, a once-verdant land now swallowed by deserts. Once the expedition reaches the ruins, the players start noticing a large number of serpent motifs on the murals and reliefs in the ruined palaces, and the woman seems as though she is looking for something specific in the catacombs filled with countless ancient human corpses. What's going on here?
• Enlightened Self-Interest: The PCs are contacted by a couatl, which informs them that it has been appearing to a nearby yuan-ti cult, pretending to be an avatar of Sseth. It has gradually been attempting to soften their stances towards other sentient races by convincing them of the long-term efficacy of mutual cooperation and honorable conduct. Of course, being yuan-ti, they still eagerly plot all manner of atrocities, and it is regarding one such plot that the couatl has come, seeking the PCs' aid. The yuan-ti are planning on exacerbating ethnic tensions in the nearby human city so that they can persuade corrupt patricians to round up the ethnic minority and then sell them to the yuan-ti on the cheap for use as slaves and sacrifices. The couatl obviously doesn't want this to happen, but can't directly forbid it without endangering its cover. It needs cunning heroes to find a way to make the plan fail in a way that doesn't sour the yuan-ti on the concept of negotiating and cooperating with humankind.

Verdict
A well-fleshed-out class of enemies, one with potential to make the centerpiece of great adventures and campaigns, or even to act as untrustworthy allies. Good without the Volo's treatment and even better with it, these monsters are an excellent addition to the D&D game.

That fourth hook is epic. Can you save the endangered people without resorting to wholesale slaughter?

[DerKommissar]

Slaadi will be done latest by monday

[DerKommissar]

Slaad

Introduction
Next in line are the Slaadi. They are a genuine D&D Creation and trace back to 1st Edition. Those Toad-like chaotic creatures have kind of a Lovecraftian vibe to them and are in general quite unique and fresh. And they come in colors…

Art
The art is well done! They all have an alien appearance and are in postures which make sense for their ‘role’. I particularly like the Green Slaads’ Witch-Doctor-Style. They even included a chest-buster Tadpole. The only two criticism I have are that the Gray Slaad isn’t carrying its Greatsword and that the Death Slaad looks too big in my opinion (and again: no Greatsword), but that’s just nitpicking. Overall great evocative pictures. [Maybe someone with more knowledge about biology can comment if their overall anatomy makes sense at all :) ]

Fluff
The origin of the Slaadi is Limbo, which used to be an ever-changing Chaos with no rules whatsoever. Then Primus from Mechanus tried to install some order by infiltrating Limbo and leaving some kind of lawful-stone behind. This didn’t work out for long but left some kind of lawful mark on limbo and the stone was the origin of the Slaadi (“Spawning Stone”). The Slaadi then drove out all the Modrons from Limbo and are now one of the original inhabitants.

The Slaadi reproduce by injecting either eggs (red slaad) or diseases (blue slaad) into a humanoid host who then either incubates a tadpole that consumes the body and grows into a blue slaad (egg) or transforms the host into a red Slaad (disease). Except if the host is a magic user able to cast at least 3rd level Spells, then the host instead turns into a Green Slaad, who has magical powers itself. The Green Slaad can over time “unlock knowledge” to turn into a Gray Slaad, a mightier form of the Green Slaad. The Gray Slaad can then eat a Death Slaad to turn itself into a Death Slaad, the strongest version presented in the Monster Manual.

The Slaadi follow a basic might-makes-right philosophy with Death Slaadi being on top. Blue and Red Slaadi want to reproduce, Greens are more intelligent and want to climb up the ladder to Gray (picking up a Greatsword for whatever reason), who then want to become Death Slaadi. Death Slaadi are infused with necrotic energy and are evil and destructive. They are the ones enabling the others to create new Slaadi, as only they can plane shift themselves and others, so they could introduce Blues and Reds to other planes where humanoids exist in abundance. A small squad could infect a whole town with ease, so that could spawn potentially a lot of new Slaadi at once.

*edit*: One thing I forgot to mention is that Slaadi can also spawn from the spawning stone and Im pretty sure that this will happen in a random fashion. As Slaadi are so chaotic that the ones presented in the book are only possible options, so you can make up new ones on the spot if you wish so.

There is also the variant that most Slaadi have a part of the Spawning Stone embedded in their head. This splinter can be removed by powerful magic or a surgery endangering the Slaad. Whoever has the shard controls the Slaad. But the magical removal option is only for really high powered beings and only worth it for controlling Death Slaadi and the surgical removal requires you to pin down the Slaad and carries the risk of damaging them – but with their regeneration it’s not a real danger.

All in all the Fluff is okay in my Opinion, it is a very complicated story after all. With the 5 presented Slaadi you get a ‘closed system’ where everyone makes sense alone and in respect to the other ones, so I think that anyone new to D&D can get an easy access to those chaotic creatures.

I see the point of the whole ‘Spawning-Stone-Embedded-Shards” Variant, though I think it’s poorly executed:
Cast Imprisonment (9th lvl), Wish (9th lvl AND temporarily lose your ability to cast, get a STR of 3 and maybe never cast wish again) or pin it down and do a DC20 Medicine check (something a commoner could do with a lucky roll). I think they went a bit too far with this one – either skip the Medicine Check or lower the Spell Requirements and add a save for the Slaad.

Purpose and Tactics
The Slaadi are interesting opponents in a well-rounded package:
Good defense with rather high HP/AC, Magic Resistance, Regeneration, Elemental Resistance. They have interesting side abilities, like telepathy, dark vision and out-of-combat Spells. And all of them sport a bite/claw/claw routine with either nasty rider effects or offensive spells. The reds and blues are straight up brutes, while the Green-Gray-Death evolution gains more spells up the ladder. The only odd thing is that the Greens have a ranged attack, which the Gray/Death Slaadi loose. The strongest magical option they have IMO is at-will Major Image which they could use for all kinds of shenanigans. Fireball is also nice, especially as they can target their own guys (resistance to fire, magic resistance and regeneration).

On a more strategic level:
Their way of reproduction is interesting and should be taken into consideration: They need a humanoid host to create red/blue/green Slaadi. I’m not an expert about Limbo, but it seems that there are not many humanoids living there, so it’s tempting for them to infiltrate other dimensions. Only the Blue/Red Slaadi can produce offspring that way, though they have no means to plane shift. The Death Slaad can’t create new Slaadi, but it has the ability to plane shift others. I like that they made a vice-versa dependency between the higher and lower ranks. So a Black Slaad and 8 other Slaadi could plane shift e.g. to the material plane and thanks to their eggs/phages create a foothold there to spread. The Black Slaad could then just return to Limbo the next day and leave them there fending for themselves. As the eggs hatch considerably longer than the disease a Slaad party like this could be very efficient: 5 Reds, 2 Blues, 1 Green. Clearing them out would be quite the task for a normal militia and if they move from remote village to remote village they could increase their numbers greatly and send out new small packs of fresh slaadi to spread over the country.
Their regeneration and resistances makes it unlikely for them to die outside of combat: they can fall off cliffs and a few moments later are fine again. They can wade through burning houses or freezing cold. As long as it’s less than their total HP and less than 11dmg/Round they are fine, so they can survive many places that others would simply die.

Hooks
A local duke summons the heroes, as recently a Slaad infestation started. It’s always the same scheme: A group of Slaadi appears out of nowhere, takes over a village and infect the people living there. When the troops arrive and they are done fighting the Slaadi with rather high casualties they receive news that there has been another attack already. The duke can’t keep this up for much longer as he is losing too many of his people and soldiers. Are the Heroes able to end this threat?

A strange old man is posting notes in the local taverns that he is looking for brave adventurers. It turns out that he is a Gray Slaad in disguise. His overlord is an exceptionally evil Death Slaad and the Gray Slaad wants to end him, as his madness and bloodlust goes too far even for a Gray Slaad. He wants to set up a trap to ambush the Death Slaad and he even offers to dispose of the Death Slaads corpse, which he says is highly toxic…

The Party encounters a strange Group in the Woods: A Red, a Blue and a Green Slaad who are constantly arguing with each other. With them is a weird woman named Angelica who seems to be already driven mad by her three companions. According to Zitz, the Green Slaad, they have a mission to fulfill, but they don’t know why and even worse how: Angelica has to be returned to her ‘home planet’, a fact that Angelica herself confirms. She doesn’t know the name of the Planet though, only that her fathers is king there and awaits her desperately…

Verdict
I like the Slaadi in general and I think this version is a good compromise between fluff and playability. A solid group of monsters for mid-to-high level games, which can be used for (very) random encounters as well as for campaign long plotlines.

[Ronnocius]

Slaad

Introduction
Next in line are the Slaadi. They are a genuine D&D Creation and trace back to 1st Edition. Those Toad-like chaotic creatures have kind of a Lovecraftian vibe to them and are in general quite unique and fresh. And they come in colors…

Art
The art is well done! They all have an alien appearance and are in postures which make sense for their ‘role’. I particularly like the Green Slaads’ Witch-Doctor-Style. They even included a chest-buster Tadpole. The only two criticism I have are that the Gray Slaad isn’t carrying its Greatsword and that the Death Slaad looks too big in my opinion (and again: no Greatsword), but that’s just nitpicking. Overall great evocative pictures. [Maybe someone with more knowledge about biology can comment if their overall anatomy makes sense at all :) ]

Fluff
The origin of the Slaadi is Limbo, which used to be an ever-changing Chaos with no rules whatsoever. Then Primus from Mechanus tried to install some order by infiltrating Limbo and leaving some kind of lawful-stone behind. This didn’t work out for long but left some kind of lawful mark on limbo and the stone was the origin of the Slaadi (“Spawning Stone”). The Slaadi then drove out all the Modrons from Limbo and are now one of the original inhabitants.

The Slaadi reproduce by injecting either eggs (red slaad) or diseases (blue slaad) into a humanoid host who then either incubates a tadpole that consumes the body and grows into a blue slaad (egg) or transforms the host into a red Slaad (disease). Except if the host is a magic user able to cast at least 3rd level Spells, then the host instead turns into a Green Slaad, who has magical powers itself. The Green Slaad can over time “unlock knowledge” to turn into a Gray Slaad, a mightier form of the Green Slaad. The Gray Slaad can then eat a Death Slaad to turn itself into a Death Slaad, the strongest version presented in the Monster Manual.

The Slaadi follow a basic might-makes-right philosophy with Death Slaadi being on top. Blue and Red Slaadi want to reproduce, Greens are more intelligent and want to climb up the ladder to Gray (picking up a Greatsword for whatever reason), who then want to become Death Slaadi. Death Slaadi are infused with necrotic energy and are evil and destructive. They are the ones enabling the others to create new Slaadi, as only they can plane shift themselves and others, so they could introduce Blues and Reds to other planes where humanoids exist in abundance. A small squad could infect a whole town with ease, so that could spawn potentially a lot of new Slaadi at once.
As Slaadi are so chaotic that the ones presented in the book are only possible options, so you can make up new ones on the spot if you wish so.

There is also the variant that most Slaadi have a part of the Spawning Stone embedded in their head. This splinter can be removed by powerful magic or a surgery endangering the Slaad. Whoever has the shard controls the Slaad. But the magical removal option is only for really high powered beings and only worth it for controlling Death Slaadi and the surgical removal requires you to pin down the Slaad and carries the risk of damaging them – but with their regeneration it’s not a real danger.

All in all the Fluff is okay in my Opinion, it is a very complicated story after all. With the 5 presented Slaadi you get a ‘closed system’ where everyone makes sense alone and in respect to the other ones, so I think that anyone new to D&D can get an easy access to those chaotic creatures.

I see the point of the whole ‘Spawning-Stone-Embedded-Shards” Variant, though I think it’s poorly executed:
Cast Imprisonment (9th lvl), Wish (9th lvl AND temporarily lose your ability to cast, get a STR of 3 and maybe never cast wish again) or pin it down and do a DC20 Medicine check (something a commoner could do with a lucky roll). I think they went a bit too far with this one – either skip the Medicine Check or lower the Spell Requirements and add a save for the Slaad.

Purpose and Tactics
The Slaadi are interesting opponents in a well-rounded package:
Good defense with rather high HP/AC, Magic Resistance, Regeneration, Elemental Resistance. They have interesting side abilities, like telepathy, dark vision and out-of-combat Spells. And all of them sport a bite/claw/claw routine with either nasty rider effects or offensive spells. The reds and blues are straight up brutes, while the Green-Gray-Death evolution gains more spells up the ladder. The only odd thing is that the Greens have a ranged attack, which the Gray/Death Slaadi loose. The strongest magical option they have IMO is at-will Major Image which they could use for all kinds of shenanigans. Fireball is also nice, especially as they can target their own guys (resistance to fire, magic resistance and regeneration).

On a more strategic level:
Their way of reproduction is interesting and should be taken into consideration: They need a humanoid host to create red/blue/green Slaadi. I’m not an expert about Limbo, but it seems that there are not many humanoids living there, so it’s tempting for them to infiltrate other dimensions. Only the Blue/Red Slaadi can produce offspring that way, though they have no means to plane shift. The Death Slaad can’t create new Slaadi, but it has the ability to plane shift others. I like that they made a vice-versa dependency between the higher and lower ranks. So a Black Slaad and 8 other Slaadi could plane shift e.g. to the material plane and thanks to their eggs/phages create a foothold there to spread. The Black Slaad could then just return to Limbo the next day and leave them there fending for themselves. As the eggs hatch considerably longer than the disease a Slaad party like this could be very efficient: 5 Reds, 2 Blues, 1 Green. Clearing them out would be quite the task for a normal militia and if they move from remote village to remote village they could increase their numbers greatly and send out new small packs of fresh slaadi to spread over the country.
Their regeneration and resistances makes it unlikely for them to die outside of combat: they can fall off cliffs and a few moments later are fine again. They can wade through burning houses or freezing cold. As long as it’s less than their total HP and less than 11dmg/Round they are fine, so they can survive many places that others would simply die.

Hooks
A local duke summons the heroes, as recently a Slaad infestation started. It’s always the same scheme: A group of Slaadi appears out of nowhere, takes over a village and infect the people living there. When the troops arrive and they are done fighting the Slaadi with rather high casualties they receive news that there has been another attack already. The duke can’t keep this up for much longer as he is losing too many of his people and soldiers. Are the Heroes able to end this threat?

A strange old man is posting notes in the local taverns that he is looking for brave adventurers. It turns out that he is a Gray Slaad in disguise. His overlord is an exceptionally evil Death Slaad and the Gray Slaad wants to end him, as his madness and bloodlust goes too far even for a Gray Slaad. He wants to set up a trap to ambush the Death Slaad and he even offers to dispose of the Death Slaads corpse, which he says is highly toxic…

The Party encounters a strange Group in the Woods: A Red, a Blue and a Green Slaad who are constantly arguing with each other. With them is a weird woman named Angelica who seems to be already driven mad by her three companions. According to Zitz, the Green Slaad, they have a mission to fulfill, but they don’t know why and even worse how: Angelica has to be returned to her ‘home planet’, a fact that Angelica herself confirms. She doesn’t know the name of the Planet though, only that her fathers is king there and awaits her desperately…

Verdict
I like the Slaadi in general and I think this version is a good compromise between fluff and playability. A solid group of monsters for mid-to-high level games, which can be used for (very) random encounters as well as for campaign long plotlines.

Thanks for the review. I agree with your comments and am seeking a way to implement slaadi in my current game. Something I found interesting is that they are chaotic neutral alignment - for some reason I assumed they were chaotic evil.

[Envyus]

Thanks for the review. I agree with your comments and am seeking a way to implement slaadi in my current game. Something I found interesting is that they are chaotic neutral alignment - for some reason I assumed they were chaotic evil.

Death Slaadi are.


Anyway. I should point out that Slaadi don't just spawn in their normal way. They also come out of the Spawning Stone as well.

[VoxRationis]

I'm glad to see the writeup! I started a writeup some time ago, but life got in the way of finishing it. I wasn't really feeling the idea of completing the tactical assessment, but I've got some hooks I like.

I found the idea of gray slaadi having to consume an entire death slaad in order to advance somewhat odd. Either they have distensible stomachs, or it doesn't have to be all in one sitting. I've got this image of my head of a very glum gray slaad, very full, sitting in front of half of a death slaad corpse with a look of weary resignation.

Also, the slaadi stick out to me in that they inflict a terminal condition, which is fairly rare in this edition. This makes them useful for adventure design in that they impart an impetus to continue on the adventure and not rest constantly.

Spoiler: Hooks

Show

Cat and Mouse: The Reverend Hardy Nuyi, days before his retirement, rescued the party from a red slaad, but a few days later at dinner, he said he felt ill, and then a slaad tadpole burst out of his chest. It's scurried off somewhere in the nooks and crannies of the abbey, and if it isn't hunted down, it's going to metamorphose into an even more powerful green slaad.
The Most Dangerous Livestock: The Academy is an isolated community all its own, a self-sustaining fiefdom on a small island, wholly dedicated to the upkeep of the school at which the most talented youth are taught gentle, utilitarian magics that help make the world better. When a student attains the third level of spells, they graduate, and leave the Academy to seek their fortune—or so they were told. The night of graduation, the PCs are assailed by massive toadlike creatures in the night and carried through a swirling portal to a prison on another plane. Through a narrow, barred window, they see an enormous, intricate monolith suspended in a swirling elemental void. The guards on patrol, humanoids in all-concealing plate, mutter about "implantation" and "extraction." In the corner, a piece of graffiti says "SLAAD EAT YOVR INSIDES THE GEMS CONTROL THEM." Where are the PCs? How do they get out alive?

[DerKommissar]

Death Slaadi are.


Anyway. I should point out that Slaadi don't just spawn in their normal way. They also come out of the Spawning Stone as well.

Thanks for the reminder! I updated my review as I just forgot about that.

About the chaotic neutral alignment:
To me it is indeed a bit counter-intuitive as well, as I so far only encountered them as enemies (in Video Games or Table Top). But I'm glad they are not, because the whole 'this race and all its members is just born evil' strikes me as a weird way of presenting a group of creatures in a game in the 21st century. Especially as there is an absolut measurement for alignment, so creatures ARE evil/good/etc. (just hit them with a spell that affects only alignment XY and you'll see) but at the same time their actions AND their motivations matter. So alignment is both: absolute and relative... *mind blows up*

I have to admit though, that I stopped following the whole alignment thingy back in 3.5 and I'm not really qualified to talk about 5e in this regard, as I read the "alignment doesn't matter so much anymore in this edition" and thought like "alright, fine with me" and skipped over everything talking about alignment...

[JackPhoenix]

If death slaadi come from grey slaad eating a death slaad, where did the first death slaad came from? And does that mean there's only a limited number of them, and you can permanently lower that number if you destroy their corpses or otherwise prevent grey slaadi from eating them?

[Kadesh]

Presumably the Spawning Stone, which tied them the Slaad to their toad-forms and the ultimate power of Ygorl. That, or the Greater Power of Wish.

[DerKommissar]

If death slaadi come from grey slaad eating a death slaad, where did the first death slaad came from? And does that mean there's only a limited number of them, and you can permanently lower that number if you destroy their corpses or otherwise prevent grey slaadi from eating them?

I think the spawning stone in limbo is exactly the opposite of the gear-thingy in mechanus: there is no rule to what it spawns, green, blue, white, prismatic, red and blue, you name it. IMO the ones presented in the MM are just the ones where kind of rules exist what happens afterwards, i.e. they can reproduce or evolve. But nothing's unthinkable. The lack of yellow ones is just a sign of chaos and a proof of concept ;p

[Kadesh]

I think the spawning stone in limbo is exactly the opposite of the gear-thingy in mechanus: there is no rule to what it spawns, green, blue, white, prismatic, red and blue, you name it. IMO the ones presented in the MM are just the ones where kind of rules exist what happens afterwards, i.e. they can reproduce or evolve. But nothing's unthinkable. The lack of yellow ones is just a sign of chaos and a proof of concept ;p

Although 3.0 edition, the Spawning Stone is somehow puts a limit on Chaos to prevent the formation of Slaadi more powerful than the Slaad Lords Ygorl and Ssendarm, IIRC.

[Ronnocius]

Death Slaadi are.


Anyway. I should point out that Slaadi don't just spawn in their normal way. They also come out of the Spawning Stone as well.

I forgot that death slaadi were the exception; however I was still surprised the other slaadi were not evil.

In general I follow alignment rules loosely if at all and regularly have individuals who break the mold (orcs, hobgoblins). The only creatures I have an 'innate alignment' (which is not the same as a permanent alignment which can not be changed) are celestials, fiends, gnolls, other extraplanar races (slaadi, modrons).

[Vessyra]

I love the slaadi because they're so terrible and bicycle. They're also have greenly shoes for upside right flying speed. My favourite part about them, though, is the gravitational chair backward 2n1quarhes022-sh'(!jdbrh

[DerKommissar]

I love the slaadi because they're so terrible and bicycle. They're also have greenly shoes for upside right flying speed. My favourite part about them, though, is the gravitational chair backward 2n1quarhes022-sh'(!jdbrh

LOL :D

BTW its called „graveytational chair“ ;)

[DerKommissar]

Anyone up for the spectre? Otherwise I‘ll do it...

[odigity]

Updated collection thread: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/shows...7&postcount=35

[DerKommissar]

Specter

Introduction

The Specter is a very generic creature: a bit bland and no surprises.

Art

The Art is all in all nice. A bit more flashy than the other undead and also quite metal. Maybe they painted it in normal colors and then decided to just print a negative of it.

Fluff

Fluffwise they are rather boring: They get created when the soul is ripped from the body and then they wander the world. They don’t remember anything, their goal is to snuff out live cause they hate it – hell, they can’t even talk. Oh and of course they don’t like sunlight, because it’s a source of live. With water, earth etc. they are fine for whatever reason.

IMO a creature that has “meaningless cannon-fodder” written all over it.

There is a variant, the Poltergeist, with a higher CR and genuine invisibility. It can knock objects and creatures around and does force instead of necrotic damage. I don’t know why they didn’t make a statblock for those, as they seem a bit more interesting.

Purpose and Tactics

Their high fly speed and many resistances make them a frustrating enemy for low-level parties, all thanks to them being incorporeal. In 3e this trait was notorious for incorporeal creatures hiding in the ground and attacking from there, so therefore I think they added the “takes damages if it ends its turn in an object” clause – whatever sense that makes, as IMO you either are incorporeal or you are not. They hit quite hard, especially when they crit and the life drain ability makes them great candidates for the attrition game. They also have sunlight sensitivity but Darkvision (like everyone). They didn’t even bother enough to give them some kind of “life vision”, so that e.g. in their vision living beings light up big red and they can sense them through walls etc. as their only motivation would suggest.

Their main purpose is to be a nameless (it wouldn’t even remember), silent (it can’t speak) and purposeless (there is life – I kill life) enemy to everyone, who you can kill without care, interest or remorse.

Hooks

Some generic ideas how to use them:

Ritual place for necromancers.

Poltergeist infests a house.

Random enemy in a random place.

Edit: A necromancer obtained an evil artifact: everyone slain in its vicinity is turned into a specter und the necromancers control.

Verdict

In my opinion the most uninspired Monster so far in this otherwise great book. If you got some ideas, please post them, but IMO they included the Monster to have an incorporeal undead of CR 1.

[strangebloke]

Eh, I think there's a lot you can do with them, if only due to the incorporeality. To my mind they're best used as tools to ambush the party's back line.

They absolulety are mooks that can't drive the narrative, but then so are the zombies.

I've had fun with a soul-sucking weapon that was overpowered as heck for the level that the PCs got it at, but had the drawback that whenever it killed someone, it sucked their soul out and left an angry spectre floating about.

[Shining Wrath]

It's ok to have an occasional remorseless killer. They have an intelligence of 10 so they know exactly what they are doing; this is not a shark, this is a creature that wants to exterminate all life.

They work very well in a classic Gygaxian dungeon with narrow hallways separated from other rooms by 5' of wall. Pop out of wall, attack wizard, pop back through wall. Teach the party how to use readied actions.

[VoxRationis]

I was kind of hoping for some James Bond jokes...

Anyway, I'll get started on the sphinx.

[DerKommissar]

It's ok to have an occasional remorseless killer. They have an intelligence of 10 so they know exactly what they are doing; this is not a shark, this is a creature that wants to exterminate all life.

They work very well in a classic Gygaxian dungeon with narrow hallways separated from other rooms by 5' of wall. Pop out of wall, attack wizard, pop back through wall. Teach the party how to use readied actions.

Except they can’t really do this in this edition anymore *shrugs*
But I’m with you, thats the way to use them. I just hoped they would give them at least „life sense“ and the ability to talk...

How about:
A guy they wanna snuff out, but he promises them more victims if they let him live. And they start to follow him as he brings more and more victims, so in the end he really is starting to lead them for his own gain...
but as it is in the MM thats not possible. But its how i would play them.

[JackPhoenix]

Except they can’t really do this in this edition anymore *shrugs*

Why couldn't they? They don't stay in the solid wall, they move through, attack, and move through to empty space again.

They can actually do that in 5e, unlike 3.5, because you couldn't split your move in 3.5 without a feat. Meaning that once the incorporeal undead poked out of the wall to attack, it was stuck in place until its next turn.

[VoxRationis]

Well, a lot of the incorporeals had Flyby Attack, if I remember correctly.

[JackPhoenix]

Well, a lot of the incorporeals had Flyby Attack, if I remember correctly.

Only Greater Shadow and Dread Wraith had Spring Attack. Nothing else does. At least not in MM.

[Nidgit]

Except they can’t really do this in this edition anymore *shrugs*
But I’m with you, thats the way to use them. I just hoped they would give them at least „life sense“ and the ability to talk...

How about:
A guy they wanna snuff out, but he promises them more victims if they let him live. And they start to follow him as he brings more and more victims, so in the end he really is starting to lead them for his own gain...
but as it is in the MM thats not possible. But its how i would play them.

I think the suggestion is not to hide in the walls but on the other side of them. The specter can pop between corridors with enough time to size things up and attack whichever PC they feel like.

Some other possible Specter ideas:
A series of Specter attacks in different towns suggests that something more nefarious is afoot. Can the party track down the source of these wayward souls?

Folks in these parts tell the story of Ghost Town and the blight that surrounds it. One day, they say, everyone dropped dead and a blight has covered the town and the surrounding area ever since. Dare the PCs investigate further?