Black slaadi,[2] also known as void slaads,[1] were a rare and powerful variety of slaad with unparalleled powers of entropy.[1][2]
Description[]
Black slaadi were inherently different to other slaadi; rather than being batrachian monsters with actual bodies, black slaads were simply voids, areas of insubstantial darkness in the shape of humanoid toads.[1][2] Their prehensile tongues were 15 ft (4.6 m) long and their eyes were akin to gleaming stars that shimmered with malice.[2]
Personality[]
Though typically chaotic neutral like most slaadi, black slaadi had a tendency towards evil behavior,[2] possibly as a result of their origins.[1]
Abilities[]
Black slaadi eclipsed even some ancient dragons in terms of strength, possessing many of the same powers of white slaadi. Like them, black slaadi could harness raw chaos, an incredibly dangerous substance that caustically dissolved most things like acid, which they could spit at their foes in globs or deliver with a touch of their dexterous tongues.[2]
Their power over degradation was even more fearsome than that of the white slaadi; they could blast foes with rays of entropy, create black, harmful voids, and even a swipe of their raking claws made it more difficult for their victims to recover.[1] Black slaadi shared several of the spell-like abilities of the white slaadi as well as their ability to summon others of their kind, with the added benefit of more powerful magic and the option to summon white slaadi themselves.[2]
Combat[]
Black slaadi took advantage of their superior vision to outmatch their enemies, using their truesight ability to see past trickery involving spells like invisibility and blur while creating deeper darkness to fight within since most creatures couldn't see within it.[2] They teleported across the battlefield, rending their opponents and blasting them with entropic power.[1]
Society[]
Black slaadi were known to become clerics, supposedly serving and perhaps even worshiping the slaad lords.[2]
Ecology[]
Like green and death slaadi, white slaadi that survived for over a century were known to enter a period of self-isolation, reappearing after over a year as black slaadi.[2] However, the process was potentially different from that undertaken by their lesser counterparts. When ordinary slaadi underwent the process of exile, there was a high chance that they would fail and be reabsorbed into the primal chaos of Limbo.[4] Black slaadi, on the other hand, were formed when slaadi had their physical forms engulfed by the entropic energies of the Abyss, transforming them into living embodiments of the destructive force.[1][5]
The energy that composed the void slaadi was similar to that wielded by the Lord of Entropy, Ygorl. Sometimes Ygorl personally selected certain void slaadi to undergo a special transformation, with his touch turning them into special black slaadi known as entropics. Entropics were his closest followers, but far more fragile than normal black slaadi and far more direct, simply charging directly into combat and only attacking from range when unable to reach their enemies.[5]
What made them dangerous was that upon death they would transform into entropic voids, drifting, barely sentient black holes that pulled enemies towards them until destroyed. A destroyed void was still problematic, since in their wake they left only a pocket of nothingness from which, if the slaadi had fought alongside Ygorl, a new entropic would likely appear.[5]
Appendix[]
See Also[]
Notes[]
- ↑ Though listed with a challenge rating of 25 in the original publication, the Epic Level Handbook later had an errata published that changed the black slaadi's challenge rating to 29.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Mike Mearls, Stephen Schubert, James Wyatt (June 2008). Monster Manual 4th edition. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 237.239. ISBN 978-0-7869-4852-9.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 Andy Collins, Bruce R. Cordell (July 2002). Epic Level Handbook. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 217–219. ISBN 0-7869-2658-9.
- ↑ Epic Level Handbook Errata (Zipped PDF). Wizards of the Coast. (2006-02-06). Archived from the original on 2016-11-01. Retrieved on 2018-09-06.
- ↑ Edward Bonny (September 1995). “The Dragon's Bestiary: Lords of Chaos”. In Wolfgang Baur ed. Dragon #221 (TSR, Inc.), p. 72.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Ari Marmell, et al. (December 2009). The Plane Below. Edited by Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, et al. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 144–145. ISBN 978-0-7869-5249-6.