Those evil slaad.

[coyote6]

In my campaign the slaadi are breeding the ant-centaurs of Mechanus with halflings. Part of their chaotic nature tells them to stop, but at this point they just can't help themselves; it's hobbit formian.

That, sir, was worthy of Irregular Webcomic.

 

[Spatula]

If you consider Neutrality to be a mixture of Good and Evil, then the complete lack of Good shifts the Slaadi into Evil. If you consider Neutrality to be the absence of Good and Evil, then the presence of Evil shifts the Slaadi into Evil.

What presence of evil are we talking about?

 

[the Jester]

I have a species of slaad imc called the 'singing slaad' that likes to play practical jokes, make music (and the slaad definition of performance is quite different than a human's) and follow adventurers around 'helping' them.

 

[rkanodia]

People who are neutral with respect to good and evil have compunctions against killing the innocent but lack the commitment to make sacrifices to protect or help others. Neutral people are committed to others by personal relationships.

I'd say that the slaad as used in modules/games are pretty much evil. Does anyone have a vision of them that fits neutrality well?

 

[Anabstercorian]

Ravers, basically. They party, they steal food and cook it in to elaborate feasts which they share liberally, they create wild pieces of art that range from the lovely to the... not lovely, which they give away for free, they have sex as much as ninjas flip out, and they move on before they ever have to deal with the consequences of their actions. They like loud music and tipping cattle. Sometimes when they're drunk they go mutilate a bunch of farm animals or molest the farmers daughter, and generally leave those damn pellets everywhere.

Instead of pellet implantation killing the host, it should transform the host in to a slaad (or rather, slaad-like creature), much as a chaos beast transmutes others to chaos beasts. However, this transformation just causes the creature to become mottled and warty (or otherwise amphibious) and lose all sense of responsibility or obligation, turning chaotic in alignment (good/evil unchanged).

 

[rkanodia]

Hmm, raver-nomad-artiste slaads sounds like a pretty good idea. As for the egg pellet thing, some slaads can already infect a humanoid with a disease that turns them into a slaad if uncured. So all you'd have to do is remove the egg implanting ability and give all slaads the transformative disease ability.

 

[Gez]

That, sir, was worthy of Irregular Webcomic.

I'm sure Piratecat reads it regularly. Or he's an alt of David Morgan Mar. Hi, Dave!

They slide a portion of mechanus into Acheron where, by alignment, they belong in their current incarnation.

Yep. I think their existence in Mechanus is just a transition in their slow fall to Acheron. Something corrupted an Arcadian Queen, thus affecting her whole hive. She brought a whole layer of Arcadia with her in Mechanus, and now she's grabbing as much of the Clockwork Nirvana as possible before she leaves the plane, in order to take all that she can take with her in her fall.

One could do an interesting campaign about this corruption, and about finding who or what the corrupter is... Before it starts again!

 

[Lord Pendragon]

I've always considered the Borg Lawful Neutral, too.

How can the complete destruction of sentient civilizations for personal gain be anything but evil?

If you consider Neutrality to be a mixture of Good and Evil, then the complete lack of Good shifts the Slaadi into Evil. If you consider Neutrality to be the absence of Good and Evil, then the presence of Evil shifts the Slaadi into Evil.

What presence of evil are we talking about?

The complete disregard for sentient life. The destruction of said life for personal gain. Specifically from the MM:

Blue slaadi gather to wage horrific battles against other societies and their own. They are bullies that value only strength and power.

Green...[slaadi] are self-centered, arrogant louts that think only of themselves. They lust after magical power...

How are these guys not evil?

 

[Zappo]

You're just jealous you didn't say it first.

I think the word is "proud".

 

[dead]

Hmm . . . I was thinking this very same thing not long ago because I had some slaadi come through an accidental planar rift under the city. I thought to myself: What's usally chaotic neutral? . . . barbarians, of course! Anyway, taking that archetype, I made my slaadi think they could take what they wanted when they wanted, but they didn't kill anyone in the city above. All they were doing was killing horses (to eat) and robbing jewelery stores with their passwall ability.

They were accumlating quite a horde under the city but then the PCs came along.

Now, I had fully planned for the PCs to resolve the situation with diplomacy. They didn't, however. They disliked the slaadi's arrogant attitude and the opinion that they could do what they wanted. Anyway, unfortunately my PCs mistook their monstrous appearance to = evil. They didn't connect the fact that the slaadi had, infact, not harmed anyone (except horses). So the PCs attacked and killed them all.

So the poor slaad is vilified once again.