Green slaad

Green slaadi, also known as curse slaads, were unusually intelligent slaad shapechangers and spellcasters. Spawned from skilled arcane practitioners that underwent the slaad reproductive process, the gloating toads could eventually evolve into the more magically skilled gray slaads.

Description
Green slaadi were physically similar to blue slaadi, standing at least tall but often sharing their height, weight and build, albeit being more gangly. Their skin was mostly a pale, mottled green, but otherwise was also identical to that of the blue slaads. They had high foreheads, wide mouths and long claws, although by slaadi standards their claws were actually short, and the frog-like bipeds had the ability to take on other humanoid forms.

Personality
Green slaadi were utterly selfish beings that thirsted for magical might and got defensive about their weaknesses. By the standards of the common slaads, green slaadi possessed a great amount of intelligence,  having some knowledge of the arcane and being skilled in deceit and intimidation. However, given the primitive nature of red and blue slaadi, sizable intellect by their standards translated to the average intellect of ordinary mortals,  and they could still fall victim to loutish behavior. Their primary flaw was their arrogance and haughtiness, as during times of victory they had been known to waste time boasting and blustering.

Abilities
While by no means weak, having strength somewhat comparable to that of the blue slaadi, green slaads weren't particularly adept at melee. Instead, they specialized in the use of spell-like abilities, and had been reported to be capable of casting the spells fear, darkness, telekinesis, invisibility, detect invisibility, detect thoughts, detect magic, locate object, produce flame, shatter, and even different forms of fireball, although no individual green slaad was known to be able of casting all of them.

They could also polymorph themselves into humanoid forms of various sizes, typically those of their former hosts or selves, and the transformation couldn't be dispelled by outside forces, although they could turn back whenever they wanted and reverted to normal upon death. Truesight would reveal their slaad forms, but the change was still physical, altering their bodies and not their clothes. They had the power to summon other green slaadi, as well as red, blue and possibly even gray varieties.

Other reported strengths included an immunity to non-enchanted weapons, the ability to teleport others, manipulate chaotic energy either in bolts or bursts and travel between planes. Purportedly, their forehead symbols functioned similarly to phylacteries; so long as they were intact when a green slaad was killed, they would reincarnate as a blue slaad after 24 hours and turn back into green slaads after a year and a day had passed.

Combat
Green slaadi favored using their spell-like abilities to fight from afar, hurling energy at their foes and teleporting other slaads into close quarters. They did what was in their power to keep other foes at bay and possessed enough self-preservation instinct to avoid fighting to the death, but wouldn't hesitate to enter melee combat if pressed. Despite their concern for their safety, they were known to stop and brag to their enemies even in the middle of combat, their egotism overpowering their better judgement.

Society
Green slaadi could operate in pairs or in gangs with up to five or six members, but would only do so if it would help them accomplish their immediate goals. They were often born with significantly greater status than red and blue slaadi and normally acquired much more over time.

Ecology
When an arcane spellcaster, or sometimes just a sufficiently powerful host, was transformed by a blue slaad's chaos phage or used by a red slaad to hatch a tadpole, the result was sometimes a green slaad. As opposed to when the process yielded red or blue slaadi, where the parent abandoned them to be raised by the slaad of the opposite color, green slaadi were nurtured and favored by both types with careful concern. They properly matured at around 10-12 years old and were already of higher status than their parent.

Metamorphosis
In their unending search for more magical power, green slaadi, at some unknown point in their lives, eventually discovered the means to instigate a permanent magical transformation. Knowledge of the transformation wasn't learned as much as it was unlocked, instinctively and unpredictably figured out late in their lives. The realization could take years or decades to come across, most commonly taking about a century or more, and slaadi that survived to such an age normally retreated into isolation for a minimum of a year. The lucky few that came back returned as gray slaads, having instantaneously transformed into the higher form after a certain point, fortunately for them with their memories intact. However, the majority never completed the metamorphosis and never returned, presumably having dissolved into the raw, primordial chaos of Limbo after being broken down into their basic essences.

Subraces
There also existed variant green slaadi known as madjacks that suffered from insane visions so infectious that they extended beyond their own psyches. They could project madness into the minds of others, sometimes just as a reaction to being harmed, and let loose horrible croaks that ruined the minds of those nearby. Unlike ordinary green slaads, they had no qualms about diving into combat and sowing chaos amongst their adversaries, although if seriously hurt they tried to retreat and mentally damage their enemies from a distance.

Notable Green Slaadi

 * Grellon the Green, a powerful slaadi born from a pit fiend who knew the paths of Gehenna, Hades and Carceri, and served as a charitable guide and protector for travelers in the lower planes. It was thought by herself and others that she was compelled to balance the cruelty of her environment through good acts and that she would become meaner if taken to the upper planes, although it was hard to test such a theory since other slaads acted strangely protective of her and she could only be found if she wished to be.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Tales of the Outer Planes • Dungeon #84, "The Harrowing" • Out of the Abyss
 * Video Games
 * Neverwinter Nights: Tyrants of the Moonsea
 * Organized Play & Licensed Adventurers
 * Dark Pyramid of Sorcerer's Isle
 * Card Games
 * Blood Wars