Breaking News: Kuo-Toa Not Froggy Anymore

[Fallen Seraph]

When it comes to mer-people I prefer mine a little more sinister, for example this one (my own drawing):

The orange-sack around the waist is the egg sack.

 

[Orius]

What, not Mer-People or Sea Elves?

I thought you needed at least one race that can furnish imperilled undersea princesses.

They aren't fish. Well, ok merfolk are half-fish, but that different from being all fish.

 

[Orius]

Sahuagin: sah-HWAH-gin

Huh. So I was pronouncing it right.

Ixitxachitl: iks-it-ZATCH-i-til or ik-zit-zah-chih-tull

I think most players probably kill them faster than they can pronounce the name.

dictionary.com says nereid is: neer-ee-id

Well, it's Greek mythology, so it shouldn't be too hard to find the pronunciation for that.

 

[Orius]

IIRC, the kuo-toa are being tied more heavily with aboleths. Apparently, they are some lesser devoted slave race that lives and breathes for the aboleths. Aboleths don't have to even use their mind-powers apparently since from birth, young kuo-toa are slavishly devoted to the aboleths.

Blech. We already have that, they're called skum. Kuo-toa were ok the way they were, though maybe WotC felt they weren't popular enough.

 

[Orius]

All of those are good, except the Locathah, who don't seem to have anything interesting to do or to interact with the PCs about.

I concur. Not enough D&D campaigns really get into undersea adventuring (often because of stuff like breathing underwater) for them to be really necessary. Even though they're neutral (and thus will be more aggresive, especially if they feel threatened), they also tend to keep to themselves in a way that doesn't really make them interesting in a campaign. There's no real "hook" in the concept that makes me excited about using them. And they're often connected with merfolk, which doesn't help them distinguish themselves.

 

[The Little Raven]

Blech. We already have that, they're called skum. Kuo-toa were ok the way they were, though maybe WotC felt they weren't popular enough.

Ugh. Skum. Part of that hack fantasy writer trend of changing a C into a K and thinking they're clever... even worse than ending names with "ai" or putting a hyphen in or (God forbid) an apostrophe.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Ugh. Skum. Part of that hack fantasy writer trend of changing a C into a K and thinking they're clever.

I basically agree. The kuo-toa can take over some of the aboleth stuff without loosing too much of their own thing, since aboleth are very much in the "cthonian monstrosity" mold, too. I like the "whips" (clerics) and the "monitors" (monks) division, and I like the theocratic model that earlier editions had for them, and aboleth certainly can fit in that religious hierarchy as "mortal god-kings" or somesuch. Perhaps the aboleth are consorts for the Deep Queen Blipdoolpoolp? That'd rock my boxers pretty okay.

Still, if 4e makes them too skum-like, or too servile, and removes some of their cool divine-spellcasting-theocratic angle, it won't be so neat.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

The horror...the horror....

Makes one wonder if such a creature could actually exist?

 

[DaveyJones]

People are thinking way too narrowly if they think the game only has room for one fish-person race.

and you also have the aquatic versions of land dwelling races. umber hulk, troll, elf, and hobgoblin come to mind

 

[hong]

Actually, there's plenty of room for locathah and skum... in the Feywild and Shadowfell, if shadow giants and fomorians can be taken as a precedent.