Slaad replacements

[frankthedm]

I'll second Frankthedm's comment

Use the exact same stats for Slaad, but give them another look, or even another name.

I've seen this done with great success in other circumstances.

Game ON!

A Yrthak becomes a lot less stupid when you start describing it as a huge mutated bat rather than a pterodactyl with a unicorn horn.

 

[Pants]

I've never really thought frogs were the embodiment of Chaos.

I've got a module that has a couple slaadi invading a lawful evil plane to cause havoc.

What would you recommend for replacements to swap into their place? The party is 5 powerful 16th level characters. d20 sourcebook alternative sources are fine, I have many.

Use Hoardlings. They were updated in a somewhat recent issue of Dungeon (the one with the Whispering Cairn adventure). Change their alignment to just CN and voila, chaos exemplars.

Portals and Planes had Chaos Minions which seemed pretty good from what I remember.

Denizens of Avadnu has the Xxyth which might work (again, change the alignments).

 

[Klaus]

Cool! I didn't know you had full entries for these instead of just the pictures in the fiery dragon cd collection. Do you have alt stats for the other non-OGC ones?

Some.

For all your snakey/humanoid mixes, try the Illujan: http://fierydragon.com/downloads/ccgold_illujan_we.pdf

For real-world animals, try Unfamiliar Familiars:
http://fierydragon.com/downloads/familiars.pdf

Still haven't put stats for the Brain Eater to paper...

The Ogdoad, in real world mythology, are the 8 primordial gods of Egyptian myth, paired in male and female couples, and sometimes represented as frogs or snakes.

 

[Alzrius]

Some.

For all your snakey/humanoid mixes, try the Illujan: http://fierydragon.com/downloads/ccgold_illujan_we.pdf

For real-world animals, try Unfamiliar Familiars:
http://fierydragon.com/downloads/familiars.pdf

Still haven't put stats for the Brain Eater to paper...

The Ogdoad, in real world mythology, are the 8 primordial gods of Egyptian myth, paired in male and female couples, and sometimes represented as frogs or snakes.

Is there a page on Fiery Dragon's website where all of these great free downloads are grouped? I'm having a hard time navigating through the site to find where the freebies are.

 

[Psion]

Portals and Planes had Chaos Minions which seemed pretty good from what I remember.

Word of warning -- the little bad luck ability they get is much more annoying than it might sound at first. But if you have players that are mowing over the opposition, it might be just the ticket.

Denizens of Avadnu has the Xxyth which might work (again, change the alignments).

Xxyth are cool for their own reasons.

Incidentally, I know few people use JH Namegen Gold, but if you happen to use it, I have scripts for generating both Ei'risai and Xxyth. Though you might be able to hammer it into shape for tablesmith or inspiration pad, etcetera.

Example outputs:
[sblock=Ei'risai]
Head: Squid, Hands: Paws, Legs: Lizard, Tail: Prehensile, Hide: Feathered, Other: Diseased, Immunity: Fire
Head: Horse, Hands: Reptilian, Legs: Hyena, Tail: Heavy, Hide: Heavy scales, -10 move, +4 na, Other: Bony protrusions - +2 dmg in grapple, Immunity: Sonic
Head: Weasel, Hands: Hooves, Legs: Ape, Tail: 1 - Heavy 1 - Rat, Hide: Rough/leathery, Other: Extra head, Immunity: Acid
Head: Great cat, Hands: None, Legs: Rat, Tail: Dog, Hide: Sandy, Other: Secretes slime +4 Escape Artist, Immunity: Electricity
Head: Wolf, Hands: Wings, Legs: Bull, Tail: Heavy, Hide: Furry, Other: Features off-center, Joints bend backwards, Horrific odor, Immunity: Electricity
Head: Bear, Hands: Primate, Legs: Hyena, Tail: Heavy, Hide: Rubbery, Other: None, Immunity: Cold
Head: Squid, Hands: None, Legs: Weasel, Tail: Heavy, Hide: Rubbery, Other: Flicking lizard-like tongue, Immunity: Fire
Head: Horse, Hands: Pincers, Legs: Bear, Tail: 1 - Heavy 1 - Stinging, Hide: Feathered and Scaly, Other: Diseased, Immunity: Electricity
Head: Ape, Hands: None, Legs: Great cat, Tail: Heavy, Hide: Inorganic, Other: Extra eyes - half flank penalty, Immunity: Sonic
Head: Bear, Hands: None, Legs: Squid, Tail: Cosmetic, Hide: Heavy scales, -10 move, +4 na, Other: Extra head, Immunity: Cold
Head: Alligator, Hands: Pincers, Legs: Raptor, Tail: Rat, Hide: Rubbery and Heavy scales, -5 move, +2 na, Other: Diseased, Immunity: Electricity
Head: Squid, Hands: Pincers, Legs: Great cat, Tail: Prehensile, Hide: Furry, Other: Giggles constantly, Features off-center, Diseased, Immunity: Electricity
[/sblock]

[sblock=Xxyth]
Medium Greater Xxyth with abilities: Death Throes, and Carapace.
Huge Arch Xxyth with abilities: Soulburn, Corruption, Divide, Shatterer, Soulripper, Wings, Tusks, Scythe Stalks and All-around Vision.
Gargantuan Arch Xxyth with abilities: Cursed Wound, Cursed Wound, Divide, Death Throes, Infernal Wound, Improved Grab and Wings.
Medium Greater Xxyth with abilities: Death Throes, Energy Drain, Haste, Scythe Stalks, Wings and Flailing Tentacles.
Gargantuan Arch Xxyth with abilities: Spell Warp, Infernal Wound, Energy Drain, Energy Drain, Improved Grab, Swallow Whole and Scythe Stalks.
Medium Arch Xxyth with abilities: Soulburn, Cursed Wound, Cursed Wound, Energy Warp, Wings and Scythe Stalks.
Huge Greater Xxyth with abilities: Dark Chant, Trapped Souls, Serpentine Body and Serpentine Body.
Medium Arch Xxyth with abilities: Cursed Wound, Spell Warp, Trapped Souls, Divide, Dark Chant, and Tusks.
Large Arch Xxyth with abilities: Breath Weapon, Soulburn, Aura Eater, Energy Drain, Carapace, All-around Vision, Scythe Stalks and Improved Grab.
Large Greater Xxyth with abilities: Death Throes, Carapace, Swallow Whole and Scythe Stalks.
Large Greater Xxyth with abilities: Weaponeer, Fear Aura, Trapped Souls, and Improved Grab.
Huge Greater Xxyth with abilities: Fear Aura, Death Throes, and Flailing Tentacles.
[/sblock]

 

[Voadam]

I'll second Frankthedm's comment

Use the exact same stats for Slaad, but give them another look, or even another name.

I've seen this done with great success in other circumstances.

Game ON!

I run a 3.5 game but only have the 3.0 MM and the 3.5 SRD, so I do not have 3.5 stats for slaad.

 

[Voadam]

Frogs are symbols of Chaos (and have been since ancient Egyptian times) because of the radical way they transform during their lives, turning from fishlike creatures into beings that are almost humanoid (in the sense that they have four limbs and no tail). Another reason they're associated with Chaos is their connection with water, which is itself a symbol of chaos.

More pragmatically, an amphibious shape is the most sensible one for the constantly changing environment of Limbo, where a watery region might suddenly become dry land or airy void. Frogs, as well-equipped to swim through water or zero gravity as they are to hop on the land or leap across sudden chasms, are perhaps the only shape a being truly adapted to Limbo would take. Maybe a flying bulette would work, too.

I do like the random slaad mutation table from the 3.0 MM, and it's really a shame that they dropped it from the most recent version.

Very cool explanation, thanks. This sort of gives a little more symbolism to Hezrou as well.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Aberrations - these can really embody chaos, to me. I also have the abyss chock full of these bastards (alongside your friendly neighbourhood demons and stuff), so yeah. I'm a big fan.

Actually, I've retyped various other things as aberrations, I like them so much.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Slaad (of all colours) are one of those creatures that I have never used or encountered before in D&D. They seem to be quite commonly used, or at least that is the perception I have gotten. I'm seriously thinking about using them in my campaign soon.

And just to be on topic, I would second the idea of just changing their appearance and leaving the stats the same. It won't take much effort and the players will never know the difference.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Trickstergod]

I started making a chaotic outsider type for my Scarred Lands game, the Ineffable, which represented various aspects of the chaos god of the setting, Enkili. They all had some innate ability to polymorph or at least disguise self and I gave the basic type-template a chart for random deviations from the norm.

Also, just as fiends have a percentile chance to summon up some buddies, I did a similar thing for the Ineffables, except instead of summoning in outsiders, they had a percentile chance to permanently change into another type of Ineffable within a certain hitdie range.

It's been a while since I've looked at that, but I could scrounge about my computer for them, pretty them up and post them somewhere, if'n that's wanted.