Kuo-toa are an ancient race of fish-men that dwells underground and harbors a deep hatred of surface dwellers and sunlight.
A kuo-toan presents a cold and horrible appearance. A typical specimen looks much like a human body, albeit a paunchy one, covered in scales and topped with a fish's head. The huge fish eyes tend to swivel in different directions when observing an area or creature. The hands and feet are very long, with three fingers and an opposing digit, partially webbed. The legs and arms are short for the body size. Its coloration is pale grey, with undertones of tan or yellow in males only. The skin has a sheen from its slimy covering. The color darkens when the kuo-toan is angry and pales when it is badly frightened. A strong odor of dead fish follows it around.
It wears no clothing, only leather harnesses for its weapons and gear. Typically, a kuo-toan warrior carries daggers, spears, shields, harpoons and weighted throwing nets.
Kuo-toa speak the strange subterranean trade language common to most intelligent underworld dwellers. Additionally, they speak their own arcane tongue and have empathic contact with most fish. Their religious speech is a corruption of the language used on the elemental plane of Water; if a kuo-toan priest is in a group of kuo-toa, it is 75% unlikely that a creature native to the plane of Water will attack, for the priest will request mercy in the name of the Sea Mother, Blibdoolpoolp.
Habitat/Society: Kuo-toa spawn as do fish, and hatchlings, or fingerlings as they call their young, are raised in pools until their amphibian qualities develop, about one year after hatching. The young, now a foot or so high, are then able to breathe air and they are raised in pens according to their sex and fitness. There are no families, as we know them, in kuo-toan society.
Especially fit fingerlings, usually of noble spawning, are trained for the priesthood as priests, priest/thieves, or special celibate monks. The latter are called “monitors” whose role is to control the community members who become violent or go insane. The monitor is capable of attacking to subdue or kill. A monitor has 56 hit points, attacks as a 7th-level fighter and has the following additional abilities: twice the normal movement rate, AC 1, and receives four attacks per round -- two barehanded for 2d4 points of damage (double if trying to subdue) and two attacks with teeth for 1d4+1 points of damage. One hand/bite attack occurs according to the initiative roll, the other occurs at the end of the round.
Subdued creatures cannot be larger than eight feet tall and 500 pounds. Subduing attacks cause only half real damage, but when the points of damage inflicted equal the victim's total, the creature is rendered unconscious for 3d4 rounds.
Kuo-toan communities do not generally cooperate, though they have special places of worship in common. These places are usually for intergroup trade, councils, and worship of the Sea Mother, so they are open to all kuo-toa. These religious communities, as well as other settlements, are open to drow and their servants, for the dark elves provide useful goods and services, though the drow are both feared and hated by the kuo-toa. This leads to many minor skirmishes and frequent kidnappings between the peoples. The illithids (mind flayers) are greatly hated by the kuo-toa and they and their allies are attacked on sight.
The ancient kuo-toa once inhabited the shores and islands of the upper world, but as the race of mankind grew more numerous and powerful, these men-fish were slowly driven to remote regions. Continual warfare upon these evil, human-sacrificing creatures threatened to exterminate the species, for a number of powerful beings were aiding mankind, their sworn enemies. Some kuo-toa sought refuge in sea caverns and secret subter-ranean waters, and while their fellows were being slaughtered, these few prospered and developed new powers to adapt to their lightless habitat. The seas contained other fierce and evil creatures, however, and the deep-dwelling kuo-toa were eventually wiped out, leaving only those in the underworld to carry on, unnoticed and eventually forgotten by mankind. But the remaining kuo-toa have not forgotten mankind, and woe to any who fall into their slimy clutches.
Now the kuo-toa are haters of sunlight and are almost never encountered on the earth's surface. This, and their inborn hatred of discipline, prevent the resurgence of these creatures, for they have become numerous once again and acquired new powers. However, they have also become somewhat unstable, possibly as a result of inbreeding, and insanity is common among the species.
If a kuo-toan lair is found, it contains 4d10 x 10 2nd-level males. In addition, there are higher level fighters in the same ratio as noted for wandering groups. The leader of the group is one of the following, depending on the lair's population:
A priest/thief king of 12/14th level, if 350 or more normal kuo-toa are present, or
A priest/thief prince of 11/13th level, if 275-349 normal kuo-toa are present, or
A priest/thief duke of 10/12th level, if fewer than 275 normal kuo-toa are present
There are also the following additional kuo-toa in the lair:
Eight Eyes of the priest leader -- 6th- to 8th-level priest/thieves
One Chief Whip -- 6th/6th-level fighter/thief
Two Whips of 4th/4th or 5th/5th level (see whip description)
One Monitor per 20 2nd-level kuo-toa
Females equal to 20% of the male population
Young (noncombatant) equal to 20% of the total kuo-toa
Slaves equal to 50% of the total male population
In special religious areas there are also a number of kuo-toan priests. For every 20 kuo-toa in the community there is a 3rd-level priest, for every 40 there is a 4th-level priest, for every 80 there is a 5th-level priest, all in addition to the others. These priests are headed by one of the following groups:
One 6th-level priest if the group is 160 or fewer, or One 7th-level and one 6th-level priest if the group is between 161 and 240, or
One 8th-level, one 7th-level, and one 6th-level priest if the group numbers between 241 and 320, or
One 9th-level, two 7th-level, and three 6th-level priests if the group numbers between 321 and 400, or
One 10th-level, two 8th-level, and four 6th-level priests if the group numbers over 400
Though kuo-toa prefer a diet of flesh, they also raise fields of kelp and fungi to supplement their food supply. These fields, lit by strange phosphorescent fungi, are tended by slaves, who are also used for food and sacrifices.
Kuo-toan treasures tend more toward pearls, gem-encrusted items of a water motif, and mineral ores mined by their slaves. Any magical items in the possession of a kuo-toan are usually obtained from adventuring parties that never made it home again.
Ecology: Not much is known to surface-dwelling sages about this enigmatic, violent, subterranean race, but some of the more astute scholars speculate that the kuo-toa are but one-third of the three-way rivalry that includes mind flayers and drow. It is partially because of this continuing warfare that none of the three races has been able to achieve dominance of the surface world.
