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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6120149" data-attributes="member: 4937">Slaads (and modrons for that matter) can be used anywhere you want to introduce an extraplanar power where it the means and motivations of the power are such that the PC's are likely to be placed in a moral delimma.  Slaad can have good means and bad motives, or bad motives but good means.  They can want something that the PC's might be sympathetic to, and the PCs will have to decide whether to side with the Slaad or try to thwart them.  For example, suppose the PC's thwart an assassination attempt on the young crown prince - a mere 12 year old boy.  They discover that the would be assassins are Slaad.   Frustrated, the Slaad contact the PC's and try to explain to the PC's their viewpoint.  Slaad seers have learned that the young boy will grow up to be a very terrible tyrant.  He'll establish a cruel, soulless, and dominating empire which will last for centuries before falling in blood, commit genocide, burn cities, trample down all sorts of fine and beautiful things, and will be personally responsible for the deaths of hundred's of thousands of people.   Moreover, the PC's can see by interacting with the young boy that he does seem arrogant, cruel, and ambitious.  He's very charming and prodigiously intelligent, but he says things that are scary and foreboding.  No one else seems to be that concerned by the Prince's behavior.  The Slaad just want to avoid centuries of banal art and static ugly colorless lives where people live each weary day the same as the previous one, and they don't understand why can't the PC's see the necessity of this?  If you knew that a kid was going to grow up to be The Dark Lord, would you stop him?  If not, what would you do?One of the posts I never got around to making in my Slaad thread was a list of adventure ideas involving the Slaad and the Slaad Lords I created.  Some of them were quite low level.   For example, Ofingreshiritfik's adventure idea is for 1st level characters.  The player's arrive in the aftermath of a natural disaster - an earthquake, which caused a devestating fire.  Unbeknown to them, but perhaps known to a few of the wise in the city, the 'natural' disaster was actually Ofingreshiritfik passing through the city.  All the descruction, and subsequent death, was his doing.  After departing the plane, he stranded a number of his agents, most of which quickly died.  One however was found quite sickly by a young CN friendless girl of sorcerous blood (1st level sorcerer), who in the process of caring for it accidently bound it has her familiar - saving its life.  She now treats the creature as her pet.  Her parents believe she has an imaginary friend.  The girl herself knows that her new pet is naughty, and gets into trouble when she's not around to take care of it, but believes the crimes to be confined to childish mischief and vandalism.   In fact, the creature has 'innocently' been killing some of the children that bullied her.   The PC's are asked to investigate the murders, with the trail eventually leading to this innocent 9 year old girl with an 'imaginary' friend.   Once they figure out what is going on, they have to figure out a just way to deal with the problem.   If her real nature and relationship to the crimes is revealed, the girl will be executed.   If the girl's familiar is killed, not only will she be traumatized, but she'll possibly be pushed toward evil and in any event she won't stand idly by and let it happen without lots of persuasive and insightful counseling.These stories can't be done if the Slaad are mere monsters and inherently evil in their nature.   They can occupy 'gray' areas in a way that demons or angels can't (or rather IMO shouldn't) be.</blockquote>

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