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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6120128" data-attributes="member: 4937">I'm strongly opposed to that.  I don't believe that the Slaad need to be made more monstrous.  Monstrousity is not the essential nature of Chaos.  Horror at some level shouldn't even be on the table.  Again, I think this view is heavily influenced by Chaos in its original conception being 'the black hats', 'the foes', and the general bias of 'chaotic evil is evil but more evil' and 'lawful good is good but more good' that afflicts D&D's theology/cosmology.  The Slaad are already too monstrous to be well suited for their role in the cosmology.  If you make them more monstrous, all they are is demons that are aren't affected by Prot. Evil and Smite Evil.   The demonic and the monstrous should be avoided in favor of the whimsical and the simply strange.  A bit of monstrousity goes a long way, and should be balanced by things which are attractive and sympathetic.   I honestly do not thing Chaos is an unappealing philosophy for most players, and indeed quite the contrary.  Most American players are practically incapable of playing a Lawful character IME.  Chaos is not an 'alien' philosophy.  Therefore, making it incarnated by things that are strange and unappealing is rather bizarre.Slaad are not monsters; they are 'fey' (in the sense of the adjective, rather than the noun).  They are inscrutable.  They are capracious.  Some of them can be monstrous, but they can also be companionable and sympathetic.  Things from the far realm don't have these characteristics.  Zazzashef is strange looking, but not unattractive.  Haskismet is just bizzare looking, but not as I see 'her' monstrous.  She's so ugly she's cute, like a pet frog or turtle.  Kluigbuul isn't meant to look frightening, but comic.   The only reason I didn't make them more humanoid and more attractive in their preferred form, is I was afraid it would suggest that they are more human in their emotions and motivations (you get this problem even with how fiends are conceptualized at times!).   A few of the Lords I created are as is suggested by the text tending toward evil, and or so portrayed in a more monstrous manner by my text but even then many of those Lords are pitiable like handicapped children in a way that consciously monstrous fiends never would be.  Most of them can shapechange into rather sympathetic humanoid forms, and that would be one of the more common ways of interacting with them.</blockquote>

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